8
“As for the Matter of Food Sacrificed to Idols”
1 Now as for the matter of food sacrificed to idols: We know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Yes, but knowledge makes people arrogant, whereas love builds people up.
2 If someone thinks he has come to know something, he still does not have the necessary knowledge.
3 If someone loves God, however, this person is known, chosen, by God.
4 With regard to the eating of food sacrificed to idols, therefore, we know that the idols of the world are completely worthless, man-made objects, and that there is only one true God.
5 Indeed, even though people may say that there are other gods in heaven or on the earth (and there are, in fact, many rulers and many lesser spiritual authorities),
6 we ourselves know that there is only one true God, the Father, by whose will the whole creation came into existence, and that we exist for him; and only one Lord, Jesus the Messiah, through whom the whole creation came into existence, and that we exist through him.
7 Not everyone, however, is firmly grounded in this knowledge. Some, in fact, are still so sensitive to anything having to do with idol-worship, that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, it feels to them like the worship of a real god, and their consciences, because they are so weak, are defiled.
8 It isn’t food that will bring us into the presence of God. We are no worse off if we don’t eat, and no better off if we do.
9 Still, you must make sure that this freedom of yours doesn’t somehow turn into this: An occasion for the weak to stumble into sin.
10 Suppose someone whose conscience is weak notices ˢyou reclining for a meal, for example, in an idol’s temple; though it may not be wrong to you because of what you know to be true, that person will be emboldened to go against what his own conscience says is right and eat food sacrificed to idols, won’t he?
11 Indeed, the weak person is ushered to his disaster by ˢyour knowledge—your brother or sister for whom the Messiah died!
12 In fact, when ᵖyou sin against your brothers and sisters in this way, and assault their conscience in its weak state, it is the Messiah against whom you are sinning.
13 For this reason, if it is food that is causing my brother or sister to stumble into sin, I will never eat meat again—if it means helping to keep from falling into sin my brother or sister.