What Does 1 Corinthians 10:30 Mean?
If I share by favor, why am I spoken against for that for which I give thanks?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?THE KEY
“Grace” and “giving thanks” belong to the same Greek word-family, so gratitude names the favor already present in what you receive.
THE MEANING
You receive as a sharer through favor, and you give thanks for what you receive. The verse asks why that same grateful act becomes grounds for accusation. Another person’s condemnation does not erase the favor you recognize in the act.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that someone else’s accusation, by itself, proves your thankful reception is wrong.
THE ROOT
χάριτι
chariti
GROWS FROM
χάρις (charis), stem χαρ- (char-)
Favor, graciousness; a gift freely given.
“by favor” in this verse is chariti. The word translated “give thanks” in this verse comes from the same word-family as “grace.” Thanksgiving, then, is more than a response after receiving: its very word carries the recognition of favor.
ALSO GROWS
eucharisteō: Give thanks, acknowledge favor
εὐχαριστέω
This is the word for “give thanks” in the verse, joining thanksgiving directly to the favor named by grace.
charisma: A gracious gift
χάρισμα
It names favor as something received, illuminating the verse’s picture of partaking through grace.
μετέχω
metechō
GROWS FROM
ἔχω
echō
Have, hold; in this verb, the sense extends to sharing in or partaking.
“share” in this verse is metechō. The word translated “partaker” presents you as someone sharing in what is received, not merely looking at it from outside. That makes the question sharper: why does this participation, received with thanks, become a target of accusation?
ALSO GROWS
metochos: Sharer, partner
μέτοχος
This related word describes someone who participates with others, bringing out the shared dimension of partaking.
metochē: Participation, sharing
μετοχή
It makes explicit the participation contained in the act of partaking.
THE PATTERN
Thanksgiving marks what is received as favor and accompanies its sharing.
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be thrown away when it is taken with thanksgiving.And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he handed them out to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were reclining, and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.And when he had said this, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in the face of them all, and when he had broken it, he began to eat.THE THREAD
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be thrown away when it is taken with thanksgiving.Both verses join receiving with thanksgiving, and the Greek word-family behind “thanksgiving” carries the same favor-root heard in “grace” here. The connection makes the verse’s question vivid: a thing received as favor and met with thanks is still being spoken against.
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