1 Corinthians, 8

1. Now about food which has been dedicated to false gods. We are well aware that all of us have knowledge; but while knowledge puffs up, love is what builds up.

1. Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." "Knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up.

2. Someone may think that he has full knowledge of something and yet not know it as well as he should;

2. If any one imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

3. but someone who loves God is known by God.

3. But if one loves God, one is known by him.

4. On the subject of eating foods dedicated to false gods, we are well aware that none of the false gods exists in reality and that there is no God other than the One.

4. Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "an idol has no real existence," and that "there is no God but one."

5. Though there are so-called gods, in the heavens or on earth -- and there are plenty of gods and plenty of lords-

5. For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth -- as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords" --

6. yet for us there is only one God, the Father from whom all things come and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come and through whom we exist.

6. yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

7. However, not everybody has this knowledge. There are some in whose consciences false gods still play such a part that they take the food as though it had been dedicated to a god; then their conscience, being vulnerable, is defiled,

7. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through being hitherto accustomed to idols, eat food as really offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

8. But of course food cannot make us acceptable to God; we lose nothing by not eating it, we gain nothing by eating it.

8. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.

9. Only be careful that this freedom of yours does not in any way turn into an obstacle to trip those who are vulnerable.

9. Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

10. Suppose someone sees you, who have the knowledge, sitting eating in the temple of some false god, do you not think that his conscience, vulnerable as it is, may be encouraged to eat foods dedicated to false gods?

10. For if any one sees you, a man of knowledge, at table in an idol's temple, might he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?

11. And then it would be through your knowledge that this brother for whom Christ died, vulnerable as he is, has been lost.

11. And so by your knowledge this weak man is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.

12. So, sinning against your brothers and wounding their vulnerable consciences, you would be sinning against Christ.

12. Thus, sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

13. That is why, if food can be the cause of a brother's downfall, I will never eat meat any more, rather than cause my brother's downfall.

13. Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother's falling, I will never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to fall.