1 Corinthians 8

CHAPTER 8

Take Care with Your Liberty

¹Now concerning ^athings sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have ^bknowledge. Knowledge ^cpuffs up, but love ^dbuilds up.

^2aIf anyone thinks that he has known anything, he has not yet ^bknown as he ought to know;

³but if anyone loves God, he ^ahas been known by Him.

⁴Therefore, concerning the eating of ^athings sacrificed to idols, we know that ¹an idol is ^bnothing in the world, and that ^cthere is no God but one.

⁵For even if ^athere are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,

⁶yet for us ^athere is one God, ^bthe Father, ^cfrom whom are all things and we exist for Him, and ^done Lord, Jesus Christ, ^eby whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

⁷However, not all men ^ahave this knowledge; but ^bsome, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸But ^afood will not ¹commend us to God. We neither lack if we do not eat, nor abound if we do eat.

⁹But ^asee to it that this ¹authority of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the ^bweak.

¹⁰For if someone sees you, who have ^aknowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be built up to eat ^bthings sacrificed to idols?

¹¹For through ^ayour knowledge he who is weak ^bis ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.

^12aAnd in that way, by sinning against the brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin ^bagainst Christ.

¹³Therefore, ^aif food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again—ever, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.