Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Corinthians 10:31 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 31. 31Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse directs eating, drinking, and everything toward God's glory.
Read It With
- 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1
Read 1 Corinthians 10:31 with 10:23–11:1. This verse directs eating, drinking, and everything toward God's glory. The complete unit establishes: Paul permits ordinary market and hospitality food without anxious investigation, but when food is explicitly identified as sacrificial the believer should abstain for the informant's conscience; the controlling aims are another's good, God's glory, avoidable non-harm, and imitation of Paul's Christ-centered concern.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The final food unit translates a firm worship boundary into flexible ordinary life governed by conscience, mission, and another person's good. At 10:31, the distinct clause is “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all.”
Follow the Context
- Lawfulness is again qualified by benefit and edification.
- Seek another person's good rather than only one's own.
- Market food may be eaten without interrogation because creation belongs to God.
- Hospitality food may likewise be received.
- Explicit sacrificial identification creates a conscience-based reason to abstain.
- Freedom remains thankful without becoming another's object of condemnation.
- All conduct aims at God's glory and another's salvation.
- Paul's imitation is bounded by his imitation of Christ.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all”
In plain language: This is the verse's opening clause in the pinned KJV.
It contributes specifically to Seek Another's Good and God's Glory inside 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1.
Why it matters: The verse carries enough interpretive or pastoral weight to require the full unit and its explicit limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Seeking another's profit does not require appeasing abuse, prejudice, manipulation, or every claim of offense.
What Remains True
At 1 Corinthians 10:31, Ordinary freedom serves God's glory when it seeks another's real good and communicates allegiance truthfully.
How It Can Shape Life
- For 1 Corinthians 10:31, Ask what an action signals in context, disclose relevant facts, accommodate genuine vulnerability, and refuse both anxious scrupulosity and arrogant liberty.
Teach It Back
Explain 1 Corinthians 10:31's contribution to 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1. Include the surrounding argument, the named interpretive uncertainty, and one use the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1 — Seek Another's Good and God's GlorySources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Whose conscience is in view and why another conscience should affect liberty are debated. The unit consistently centers communicative meaning and another's good.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, repeated terms, and original-language discussion.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text file 1Cor.txt, 10:23–11:1
Open the 1 Corinthians Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible - 1 Corinthians with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005-2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-level syntax, KJV-era wording, textual variants, and interpretive alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1 print view with translator, study, and textual notes
Open the official NET 1 Corinthians PDFLexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Independent morphology and lexical-range cross-check for material Greek claims.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data repository morphology and lexical records for 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1
Open source ↗modern open commentary
1 Corinthians
Eric C. Redmond
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: Whole-letter movement, Corinthian setting, bibliography, major alternatives, and verse-level interpretation.
Exact location: Redmond, The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary: 1 Corinthians, introduction and section on 10:23–11:1
Open source ↗modern open access doctoral dissertation
Emotional Rescue: Idolatry and Affective Conversion in 1 Corinthians 8-10
Marshall McKee Evans
University of California, Santa Barbara, 2020
Supports: Relation of idol-food instruction, Israel's Scriptures, worship, rights, and neighbor-directed freedom.
Exact location: Evans, Idolatry and Proper Worship: Paul's Use of the Old Testament in 1 Corinthians 8:1-11:1, UC dissertation (2020), repository abstract and chapter description
Open source ↗