Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 8 - New International Version (2024)

Concerning Food Sacrificed to Idols

8Now about food sacrificed to idols:^(A) We know that “We all possess knowledge.”^(B) But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. ²Those who think they know something^(C) do not yet know as they ought to know.^{(D) 3}But whoever loves God is known by God.^[a](E)

⁴So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols:^(F) We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world”^(G) and that “There is no God but one.”^{(H) 5}For even if there are so-called gods,^(I) whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), ⁶yet for us there is but one God,^(J) the Father,^(K) from whom all things came^(L) and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord,^(M) Jesus Christ, through whom all things came^(N) and through whom we live.

⁷But not everyone possesses this knowledge.^(O) Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak,^(P) it is defiled. ⁸But food does not bring us near to God;^(Q) we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

⁹Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block^(R) to the weak.^{(S) 10}For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?^{(T) 11}So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed^(U) by your knowledge. ¹²When you sin against them^(V) in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.^{(W) 13}Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.^(X)

Footnotes

1. 1 Corinthians 8:3 An early manuscript and another ancient witness think they have knowledge do not yet know as they ought to know. ³But whoever loves truly knows.

Cross references

1. 1 Corinthians 8:1 : ver 4, 7, 10; Ac 15:20
2. 1 Corinthians 8:1 : Ro 15:14
3. 1 Corinthians 8:2 : 1Co 3:18
4. 1 Corinthians 8:2 : 1Co 13:8, 9, 12; 1Ti 6:4
5. 1 Corinthians 8:3 : Jer 1:5; Ro 8:29; Gal 4:9
6. 1 Corinthians 8:4 : ver 1, 7, 10; Ex 34:15
7. 1 Corinthians 8:4 : Ac 14:15; 1Co 10:19; Gal 4:8
8. 1 Corinthians 8:4 : ver 6; Dt 6:4; Ps 86:10; Eph 4:6; 1Ti 2:5
9. 1 Corinthians 8:5 : 2Th 2:4
10. 1 Corinthians 8:6 : S ver 4
11. 1 Corinthians 8:6 : Mal 2:10
12. 1 Corinthians 8:6 : S Ro 11:36
13. 1 Corinthians 8:6 : Eph 4:5
14. 1 Corinthians 8:6 : S Jn 1:3
15. 1 Corinthians 8:7 : ver 1
16. 1 Corinthians 8:7 : Ro 14:14; 1Co 10:28
17. 1 Corinthians 8:8 : Ro 14:17
18. 1 Corinthians 8:9 : S 2Co 6:3; Gal 5:13
19. 1 Corinthians 8:9 : Ro 14:1
20. 1 Corinthians 8:10 : ver 1, 4, 7
21. 1 Corinthians 8:11 : Ro 14:15, 20
22. 1 Corinthians 8:12 : Mt 18:6
23. 1 Corinthians 8:12 : Mt 25:40, 45
24. 1 Corinthians 8:13 : S Mt 5:29