1 Corinthians 8 — FBV

8Verse 1Now about “food sacrificed to idols.”⁺So “we all have knowledge” about this subject. Knowledge makes us proud, but love strengthens us.^{Verse 2}If anyone thinks they know anything, they don't know as they really should know!^{Verse 3}But whoever loves God is known by God.^{Verse 4}So regarding eating food sacrificed to idols: we know that there are no such things as idols in the world, and that there is only one real God.^{Verse 5}Even though there are some things called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth—in fact there are many “gods” and “lords.”^{Verse 6}But for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom everything was made, and he is the goal of our existence; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom everything was made, and he is the means of our existence.^{+Verse 7}But not everyone has this “knowledge.”⁺Some who up to now have been so used to idols as a reality that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience (which is weak) tells them they have defiled themselves.^{Verse 8}But food doesn't gain us God's approval! If we don't eat this food, we're not bad, and if we do eat this food, we're not good.^{Verse 9}Just take care not to use this freedom you have to eat food sacrificed to idols to become offensive to those with a weaker attitude.^{Verse 10}If another believer sees you who have such “better knowledge”⁺eating food in an idol temple, won't his weak conscience be convinced to eat food sacrificed to idols?^{+Verse 11}By your “better knowledge” the weaker believer is destroyed, a believer for whom Christ died.^{Verse 12}In this way you sin against other believers, wounding their weaker consciences, and you sin against Christ.^{Verse 13}So if eating food sacrificed to idols would cause my fellow believer to stumble, I will never eat such meat ever again, so that I don't offend any believer.