1 Corinthians 8 · Verse 12

1 Corinthians 8:12

But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
1 Corinthians 8:12, King James Version

1 Corinthians 8:12 in other translations

BSBBy sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
WEBThus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
ASVAnd thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ.
YLTand thus sinning in regard to the brethren, and smiting their weak conscience--in regard to Christ ye sin;
DARBYNow, thus sinning against the brethren, and wounding their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
BBEAnd in this way, doing evil to the brothers, and causing trouble to those whose faith is feeble, you are sinning against Christ.
WebsterBut when ye thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

What does 1 Corinthians 8:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
12. wound their weak conscience--literally, "smite their conscience, being (as yet) in a weak state." It aggravates the cruelty of the act that it is committed on the weak, just as if one were to strike an invalid. against Christ--on account of the sympathy between Christ and His members (Mt 25:40; Ac 9:4, 5).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 12. But when ye sin so against the brethren. This is designed further to show the evil of causing others to sin; and hence the evil which might arise from partaking of the meat offered to idols. The word sin here is to be taken in the sense of injuring, offending, leading into sin. You violate the law which requires you to love your brethren, and to seek their welfare, and thus you sin against them. Sin is properly against God; but there may be a course of injury pursued against men, or doing them injustice or wrong, and this is sin against them. Christians are bound to do right towards all.

And wound their weak conscience. The word wound here (τυπτοντες, smiting, beating) is taken in the sense of injure. Their consciences are ill-informed. They have not the knowledge which you have. And by your conduct they are led farther into error, and believe that the idol is something, and is to be honoured. They are thus led into sin, and their conscience is more and more perverted, and oppressed more and more with a sense of guilt.

Ye sin against Christ. Because,

(1.) Christ has commanded you to love them, and seek their good, and not to lead them into sin; and,

(2.) because they are so intimately united to Christ, Jn 15:1, etc., that to offend them is to offend him; to injure the members is to injure the Head; to destroy their souls is to pain his heart and to injure his cause. Mt 10:40. Comp. Lk 10:16.

(a) "But when" Mt 25:40,45

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 12 But when ye sin so against the brethren - Against Christians, who are called by the Gospel to abhor and detest all such abominations. Ye sin against Christ - By sending to perdition, through your bad example, a soul for whom he shed his blood; and so far defeating the gracious intentions of his sacrificial death. This is a farther intimation, that a person for whom Christ died may perish; and this is the drift of the apostle's argument.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 Corinthians 8:7-13

Eating one kind of food, and abstaining from another, have nothing in them to recommend a person to God. But the apostle cautions against putting a stumbling-block in the way of the weak; lest they be made bold to eat what was offered to the idol, not as common food, but as a sacrifice, and thereby be guilty of idolatry. He who has the Spirit of Christ in him, will love those whom Christ loved so as to die for them…

Read the full comment on 1 Corinthians 8:7-13 →

1 Corinthians 8:12 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

οὕτωςhoutōsThusG3779
δὲdethenG1161
ἁμαρτάνοντεςhamartanontessinningG264
εἰςeisagainstG1519
τοὺςtoustheG3588
ἀδελφοὺςadelphousbrothersG80
καὶkaiandG2532
τύπτοντεςtuptonteswoundingG5180
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
τὴνtēn<the>G3588
συνείδησινsuneidēsinconscienceG4893
ἀσθενοῦσαν,asthenousanbeing weak,G770
εἰςeisagainstG1519
ΧριστὸνChristonChristG5547
ἁμαρτάνετε.hamartaneteyou sin.G264

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 1 Corinthians 8:12

  • Matthew 18:6

    But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

  • Matthew 25:45

    Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

  • 1 Corinthians 12:12

    For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

  • 1 Samuel 2:25

    If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.

  • Acts 9:4-5

    And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

  • 1 Samuel 19:4-5

    And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good: For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?

  • Matthew 18:21

    Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

  • Genesis 20:9

    Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

  • Exodus 32:21

    And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?

  • 1 Samuel 24:11

    Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it.

  • Exodus 16:8

    And Moses said, This shall be, when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.

  • Matthew 18:10

    Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
when.
Ge 20:9; 42:22; Ex 32:21; 1Sa 2:25; 19:4,5; 24:11; Mt 18:21
ye sin against.
12:12; Ex 16:8; Mt 12:49,50; 18:10,11; 25:40,45; Ac 9:4,5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 1 Corinthians 8:11

    And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

  • 1 Corinthians 8:12

    But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

  • 1 Corinthians 8:13

    Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

Read all of 1 Corinthians 8

1 Corinthians 8:12 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
De esta manera, pues, pecando contra los hermanos, é hiriendo su flaca conciencia, contra Cristo pecáis.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Or en péchant ainsi contre les frères, et en blessant leur conscience qui est faible, vous péchez contre Christ.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Wenn ihr aber also gegen die Brüder sündiget und ihr schwaches Gewissen verletzet, so sündiget ihr gegen Christum.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Sic autem peccantes in fratres, et percutientes conscientiam eorum infirmam, in Christum peccatis.