Twenty - I Corinthians - 8

8:1  With reference to food that has been offered in sacrifice to idols-- We are aware that all of us have knowledge! Knowledge breeds conceit, while love builds up character.

8:2  If a man thinks that he knows anything, he has not yet reached that knowledge which he ought to have reached.

8:3  On the other hand, if a man loves God, he is known by God.

8:4  With reference, then, to eating food that has been offered to idols-- we are aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.

8:5  Even supposing that there are so-called 'gods' either in Heaven or on earth--and there are many such 'gods' and 'lords'--

8:6  Yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom all things come (and for him we live), and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come (and through him we live).

8:7  Still, it is not every one that has this knowledge. Some people, because of their association with idols, continued down to the present time, eat the food as food offered to an idol; and their consciences, while still weak, are dulled.

8:8  What we eat, however, will not bring us nearer to God. We lose nothing by not eating this food, and we gain nothing by eating it.

8:9  But take care that this right of yours does not become in any way a stumbling-block to the weak.

8:10  For if some one should see you who possess this knowledge, feasting in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is a weak man, become so hardened that he, too, will eat food offered to idols?

8:11  And so, through this knowledge of yours, the weak man is ruined-- your Brother for whose sake Christ died!

8:12  In this way, by sinning against your Brothers and injuring their consciences, while still weak, you sin against Christ.

8:13  Therefore, if what I eat makes my Brother fall, rather than make my Brother fall, I will never eat meat again.