1 Corinthians 8
8
Regarding meat offered to idols
1-4Now as to the question of obtaining meat which has been first sacrificed on one of the city altars (and meat is not often purchasable nowadays which has not been killed in this way). The idea of course in the minds of those who have been accustomed in the past to partake of these sacrifices is that there is some connection between the meat so sacrificed and the god to whom it has been rendered as a sacrifice. That is a very fixed idea in the minds of many, that to enter the precincts of the temples, purchase the sacrificial meat as prepared by the priests and their acolytes and take it home with you, is to subject yourself to all sorts of evil influences from the spirits, gods, devils who haunt these scenes and acts of worship. 5Now recollect our point of view — that these gods or demons, however real they may be to those that believe in them, a vast congregation indeed of gods and masters of all kinds, so called and so believed, — well, all that world of supposed beings has nothing whatever to do with us, and their images are absolutely nothing at all. 6That is our knowledge, our science — One God alone, from whom come all things, and for whom alone we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom comes the universe, the sum total of all things, inclusive of ourselves whose means of existence are found in Him alone. This divine oneness and allness is our faith, and contrariwise an idol is nothing, and a god is nothing. 7But do all possess this spiritual science? Alas! no, many there are to whom these beings, of which they were quite recently worshippers, are still somewhat of a dread reality, and to see any one of the brethren enter an idol’s shrine and there purchase the meat which is sold in it, alarms the conscience of those whose faith has not yet won clear of the fear of these things. 8Now to you and me food is a small matter. Meat will not bring us any nearer to God; whether we eat it, or not, makes no difference to our condition. Our fulness, or our wants are dependent on things spiritual, not on physical food. 9But it is important that he whose faith still exists fearfully and haltingly should not be led by your example to do that which is going to have a darkening and dangerous effect upon his mind. 10For if with his weak conscience and his fears and semi-belief in the beings he has so recently rejected, he return to their shrines and take a part in their feasts, is it not likely that this will have an influence upon his mind, and work on him to his own destruction? 11And so your clearer knowledge is likely to rob him of his chance to escape, you are doing your best to make the way out more difficult for him, and so defeat the very purpose of Christ’s death, which was to free our weak minds and souls and consciences from idols. 12O sooner than that, sooner than handicap him in his fight with the old falsehoods, what a small matter it would be to eat no meat again for ever! 13Yes, we all have some knowledge perhaps but remember this — knowledge by itself only tends to make us self-satisfied: it is love that builds.
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Translated in 1916, published in 1937.
1 Corinthians 8
8
1 Now concerning those things that are sacrificed to idols: we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but charity builds up.
2 But if anyone considers himself to know anything, he does not yet know in the way that he ought to know.
3 For if anyone loves God, he is known by him.
4 But as to the foods that are immolated to idols, we know that an idol in the world is nothing, and that no one is God, except One.
5 For although there are things that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, (if one even considers there to be many gods and many lords)
6 yet we know that there is only one God, the Father, from whom all things are, and in whom we are, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and by whom we are.
7 But knowledge is not in everyone. For some persons, even now, with consent to an idol, eat what has been sacrificed to an idol. And their conscience, being infirm, becomes polluted.
8 Yet food does not commend us to God. For if we eat, we will not have more, and if we do not eat, we will not have less.
9 But be careful not to let your liberty become a cause of sin to those who are weak.
10 For if anyone sees someone with knowledge sitting down to eat in idolatry, will not his own conscience, being infirm, be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols?
11 And should an infirm brother perish by your knowledge, even though Christ died for him?
12 So when you sin in this way against the brothers, and you harm their weakened conscience, then you sin against Christ.
13 Because of this, if food leads my brother to sin, I will never eat meat, lest I lead my brother to sin.
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