1 Corinthians 8

Food Offered to Idols

8About food offered to idols: ^gWe know that “we all have knowledge.” ^hKnowledge inflates with pride, ⁱbut love ^jbuilds up. ²If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it. ^k3But if anyone loves God, ^lhe is known ^mby Him.

⁴About eating food offered to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.” ⁿ⁵For even if there are so-called gods, ^owhether in heaven or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”—

⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father. ^p

All things are from Him, ^q

and we exist for Him.

And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ.

All things are through Him,

and we exist through Him. ^r

⁷However, not everyone has this knowledge. In fact, some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food offered to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸Food will not make us acceptable to God. We are not inferior if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat. ^s9But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block ^tto the weak. ¹⁰For if someone sees you, the one who has this knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols? ¹¹Then the weak person, the brother for whom Christ died, ^uis ruined ^vwby your knowledge. ^x12Now when you sin like this against the brothers and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if food causes my brother to fall, I will never again eat meat, ^yso that I won’t cause my brother to fall.