Give no offense to follows the Greek quite literally, but Good News Bible‘s expansion, “Live in such a way as to cause no trouble … to,” makes the meaning much clearer in English. Continuous action over a period is implied. The root idea of the word translated no offense is the opposite of causing harm by causing someone to stumble over something. In the New Testament it is used metaphorically, for example, in Acts 24.16, speaking about having “a clear conscience,” and Phil 1.10, where the word has the meaning “undamaged.” In the present verse it means “not causing (moral or spiritual) damage to anyone else.”

Greeks: see comments on 1.22-24.

The church of God: see comments on 1.2. There and in this verse Paul probably means the local Christian community in Corinth.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .