Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Corinthians 8:4

"Concerning therefore the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is [anything] in the world, and that there is no God but one." — 1 Corinthians 8:4 (ASV)

The word translated “food” (GK 1111) is sometimes translated “meat,” since the subject involves altar sacrifices and the meat market. The main thing to remember in connection with such meat is that the idol before which it was sacrificed and the god it represents are actually nothing—i.e., nothing as to personal reality and power. There is only one true God in the entire universe (cf. Dt 6:4–9; 1 Kings 18:39; Isaiah 45:5).