What Does 1 Corinthians 8:1 Mean in the King James?
Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The hidden test of knowledge is what it does to shared life: it can inflate the knower, while love builds a household.
THE MEANING
Knowing what is permitted does not by itself make another person stronger; possession of an answer can enlarge the knower’s self-image while leaving shared life untouched. Love turns what is known into support for others, so the question is not only whether something is known, but whether it builds.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that having the right answer automatically makes me mature or beneficial to others. Knowledge can be accurate and still fail to strengthen anyone.
THE ROOT
γνῶσις
gnōsis
GROWS FROM
γινώσκω
ginōskō
To know, recognize, or perceive.
The word family includes knowing and being known, with a sense of knowledge that can come through encounter. Here the verse reveals that even real knowledge can inflate the self instead of serving another.
ALSO GROWS
ginōskō: To know or perceive.
γινώσκω
This related verb shows the wider family’s sense of knowing through encounter.
gnōstos: Known, recognized, or familiar.
γνωστός
The same family includes both knowing and being known, adding a relational dimension to the knowledge the verse describes.
φυσιοῖ
physioi
GROWS FROM
φυσιόω
physioō
To inflate, puff up, or make proud.
“puffeth up” in this verse is physioi. The verb pictures swelling, not simply increasing: what expands is the knower’s self-importance. The verse sets this swollen growth beside house-building, showing two different effects knowledge can have.
ALSO GROWS
phȳsa: A bellows or bladder; something that swells with air.
φῦσα
This related word gives the image of inflation a physical shape: expansion can be empty swelling.
physiōsis: Puffing up or arrogance.
φυσίωσις
This noun names the inflated condition, making clear that the verse describes a change in the self, not simply the possession of facts.
οἰκοδομεῖ
oikodomei
GROWS FROM
οἶκος (oikos) + δέμω (demō)
House + build: to build a house.
“edifieth” in this verse is oikodomei. The Greek word is house-building language: edification is construction that gives shared life support. Love’s work here has shape and structure, not just warm feeling.
ALSO GROWS
oikos: House or household.
οἶκος
The word begins with a home, placing the idea of building in the life people share.
oikodomē: Building, construction, or edification.
οἰκοδομή
This related noun names the structure being built, showing how love makes a shared life more able to stand.
THE PATTERN
Capacity becomes life for others when it serves love’s shared building; when it turns inward, it inflates the self.
Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.THE THREAD
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.Both verses use γνῶσις (gnōsis, knowledge) and ἀγάπη (agapē, love or charity). This later verse sharpens the contrast: knowledge without love leaves the person nothing, showing that the issue is not whether knowledge is present, but what love does with it.
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