Chapter 8

¹About food that has been offered to idols, it is true, as you say, that we all have some knowledge on that matter. Knowledge gives people airs; love is what builds up character. ²If a man thinks he has acquired some knowledge, he does not yet know it as well as he ought to know it. ³But if a man loves God, God is known by him. ⁴As to eating things, then, that have been offered to idols, we all know that no idol has any real existence, and that there is no God but one. ⁵For supposing there are so-called gods in heaven or on earth—and indeed there are plenty of such gods and lords— ⁶yet for us there is just one God, the Father, who is the source of all things, and for whom we live, and just one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom everything was made and through whom we live. ⁷But it is not everyone that has this knowledge; for some, through being long accustomed to idols, still eat meat that has been sacrificed to them as really offered to an idol, and their consciences, being oversensitive, are troubled. ⁸But food is not going to affect our standing with God. We are none the worse if we do not eat it, and none the better if we do. ⁹But you must take care that this right of yours does not prove a hindrance to the overscrupulous. ¹⁰For if somebody sees you, who are intelligent about this matter, attending a dinner in an idol’s temple, will not he, with his sensitive conscience, be led to eat meat that is offered to idols? ¹¹For this overscrupulous brother, for whom Christ died, is ruined by what you call your knowledge. ¹²But in sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their too scrupulous consciences, you are really sinning against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if what I eat makes my brother fall, I will never eat meat again, rather than make my brother fall.