1 Corinthians 8

⁷But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that they eat such food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.

²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

³The one who eats everything must not belittle the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted him.

⁴So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.

¹⁴But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

¹⁴I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, brimming with knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

¹²Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.

³If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

¹²Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

³If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching,

⁴he is conceited and understands nothing. Instead, he has an unhealthy interest in controversies and disputes about words, out of which come envy, strife, abusive talk, evil suspicions,

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

⁸I know your deeds. Behold, I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut. I know that you have only a little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.

⁹As for those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.

¹⁷So the Lord said to Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”

⁷The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him.

¹⁹Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”

⁹Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

⁹But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

³⁹Know therefore this day and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

¹⁹Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?

²⁰No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.

⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

⁴Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

⁵For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

²⁴Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

⁸Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

²⁸But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah.

⁴He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

¹³Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up—the altars to burn incense to Baal—are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

¹¹Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.

¹⁷For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.

³⁶For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.

³Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.

¹⁰Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?

²But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.

³The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

¹⁶For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.

¹⁷He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

⁴So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.

¹⁴I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.

²⁸But if someone tells you, “This food was offered to idols,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience—

²⁹the other one’s conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?

⁹Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰For if someone with a weak conscience sees you who are well informed eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols?

²²Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

²³But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that is not from faith is sin.

¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree together, so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be united in mind and conviction.

¹¹My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.

¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

⁹Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.

¹³“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

²⁰If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:

²¹“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?

¹³For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

²⁰Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block.

²¹It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.

¹⁶Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

¹⁹They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

¹Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions.

²For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.

²⁴No one should seek his own good, but the good of others.

²⁸But if someone tells you, “This food was offered to idols,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience—

²⁹the other one’s conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?

⁴So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.

²³But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that is not from faith is sin.

²⁰No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

²The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.

¹⁴I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.

¹⁵If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died.

¹We who are strong ought to bear with the shortcomings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

²Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

¹³Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.

³³as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.

²⁰Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block.

²¹It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.

⁶But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

⁴⁵Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

¹²The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

²⁵If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the Lord intended to put them to death.

⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”

⁵“Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied.

⁴Then Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David; he has not sinned against you. In fact, his actions have been highly beneficial to you.

⁵He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”

²¹It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

³We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry.

¹²“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.

¹⁹Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law.