1st Corinthians 8:1-13 Food Offered to Idols
Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that
‘all of us possess knowledge.’ Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the
necessary knowledge;
but anyone who loves God is known by him.
Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know
that ‘no idol in the world really exists’, and that ‘there is no God but
one.’
Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven
or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords—
yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are
all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom
are all things and through whom we exist.
It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge.
Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of
the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being
weak, is defiled.
‘Food will not bring us close to God.’
We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.
But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow
become a stumbling-block to the weak.
For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in
the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be
encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols?
So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom
Christ died are destroyed.
But when you thus sin against members of your family,
and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling,
I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them
to fall.
The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized
Edition), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division
of Christian Education of the
National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.
All rights reserved.
