1 Corinthians 8
8
Meat sacrificed to false gods
1Now concerning meat that has been sacrificed to a false god: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes people arrogant, but love builds people up. 2If anyone thinks they know something, they don’t yet know as much as they should know. 3But if someone loves God, then they are known by God.
4So concerning the actual food involved in these sacrifices to false gods, we know that a false god isn’t anything in this world, and that there is no God except for the one God. 5Granted, there are so-called “gods,” in heaven and on the earth, as there are many gods and many lords. 6However, for us believers,
There is one God the Father.
All things come from him, and we belong to him.
And there is one Lord Jesus Christ.
All things exist through him, and we live through him.
7But not everybody knows this. Some are eating this food as though it really is food sacrificed to a real idol, because they were used to idol worship until now. Their conscience is weak because it has been damaged. 8Food won’t bring us close to God. We’re not missing out if we don’t eat, and we don’t have any advantage if we do eat. 9But watch out or else this freedom of yours might be a problem for those who are weak. 10Suppose someone sees you (the person who has knowledge) eating in an idol’s temple. Won’t the person with a weak conscience be encouraged to eat the meat sacrificed to false gods? 11The weak brother or sister for whom Christ died is destroyed by your knowledge. 12You sin against Christ if you sin against your brothers and sisters and hurt their weak consciences this way. 13This is why, if food causes the downfall of my brother or sister, I won’t eat meat ever again, or else I may cause my brother or sister to fall.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians 8
8
Knowledge Insufficient. 1Now in regard to meat sacrificed to idols:#8:1a] Meat sacrificed to idols: much of the food consumed in the city could have passed through pagan religious ceremonies before finding its way into markets and homes. “All of us have knowledge”: a slogan, similar to 1 Cor 6:12, which reveals the self-image of the Corinthians. 1 Cor 8:4 will specify the content of this knowledge. we realize that “all of us have knowledge”; knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up.#Rom 15:14 / 1 Cor 13:1–13; Rom 14:15, 19. 2If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But if one loves God, one is known by him.#Rom 8:29; Gal 4:9;
4So about the eating of meat sacrificed to idols: we know that “there is no idol in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”#10:19; Dt 6:4. 5Indeed, even though there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth (there are, to be sure, many “gods” and many “lords”), 6#This verse rephrases the monotheistic confession of v. 4 in such a way as to contrast it with polytheism (1 Cor 8:5) and to express our relationship with the one God in concrete, i.e., in personal and Christian terms. And for whom we exist: since the Greek contains no verb here and the action intended must be inferred from the preposition eis, another translation is equally possible: “toward whom we return.” Through whom all things: the earliest reference in the New Testament to Jesus’ role in creation. yet for us there is
one God, the Father,
from whom all things are and for whom we exist,
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom all things are and through whom we exist.#Mal 2:10 / Rom 11:36; Eph 4:5–6 / 1 Cor 1:2–3 / Jn 1:3; Col 1:16.
Practical Rules. 7But not all have this knowledge. There are some who have been so used to idolatry up until now that, when they eat meat sacrificed to idols, their conscience, which is weak, is defiled.#10:28; Rom 14:23 / Rom 14:1; 15:1.
8#Although the food in itself is morally neutral, extrinsic circumstances may make the eating of it harmful. A stumbling block: the image is that of tripping or causing someone to fall (cf. 1 Cor 8:13; 9:12; 10:12, 32; 2 Cor 6:3; Rom 14:13, 20–21). This is a basic moral imperative for Paul, a counterpart to the positive imperative to “build one another up”; compare the expression “giving offense” as opposed to “pleasing” in 1 Cor 10:32–33. Now food will not bring us closer to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better off if we do.#Rom 14:17. 9But make sure that this liberty of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.#Rom 14:13, 20–21. 10If someone sees you, with your knowledge, reclining at table in the temple of an idol, may not his conscience too, weak as it is, be “built up” to eat the meat sacrificed to idols? 11Thus through your knowledge, the weak person is brought to destruction, the brother for whom Christ died.#Rom 14:15, 20. 12When you sin in this way against your brothers and wound their consciences, weak as they are, you are sinning against Christ. 13#His own course is clear: he will avoid any action that might harm another Christian. This statement prepares for the paradigmatic development in 1 Cor 9. #Mt 18:6; Rom 14:20–21. Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to sin.
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