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1 Corinthians 8 :: New International Version (NIV)

Concerning Food Sacrificed to Idols

1Co 8:1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
1Co 8:2Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.
1Co 8:3But whoever loves God is known by God.[fn]
1Co 8:4So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.”
1Co 8:5For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”),
1Co 8:6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
1Co 8:7But not everyone possesses this knowledge. 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, it is defiled.
1Co 8:8But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
1Co 8:9Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
1Co 8:10For 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?
1Co 8:11So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
1Co 8:12When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
1Co 8:13Therefore, 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.
NIV Footnotes
An early manuscript and another ancient witness think they have knowledge do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves truly knows.
An early manuscript and another ancient witness think they have knowledge do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves truly knows.
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