1 Corinthians
Chapter 8
1 About food given to idols, we understand that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes one proud, but love builds up.
2 If someone thinks they know something, they don’t know it as well as they should.
3 If anyone loves God, that person is known by God.
4 About eating food given to idols, we understand that an idol means nothing in the world, and there is only one God.
5 Even though some are known as gods, whether in heaven or on earth (and there are many gods and many lords),
6 For us, there is only one God, the Father, from whom everything comes, and we live for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom everything is made, and through whom we live.
7 However, not everyone knows this: some people still think of the meat as connected to the idol and eat it with that belief. Because their understanding is weak, it makes them feel guilty.
8 Eating food does not make us closer to God; if we eat, we are not better; if we don’t eat, we are not worse.
9 But be careful that your freedom does not cause those who are weak to stumble.
10 If someone sees you with knowledge eating in the temple of an idol, won’t a person with a weak conscience feel encouraged to eat food offered to idols?
11 Will your knowledge cause your weak brother to be lost, for whom Christ died?
12 But when you do wrong to your brothers and sisters, hurting their weak understanding, you also do wrong to Christ.
13 If food causes my brother to sin, I will not eat meat as long as the world exists, so I don’t make my brother sin.