Food Offered to Idols

1 Corinthians 8

1 Now a concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have b knowledge. c Knowledge 1 puffs up, but love 2 edifies. 2 And d if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.

4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that e an idol is nothing in the world, f and that there is no other God but one. 5 For even if there are g so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), 6 yet h for us there is one God, the Father, i of whom are all things, and we for Him; and j one Lord Jesus Christ, k through whom are all things, and l through whom we live.

7 However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, m with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is n defiled. 8 But o food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. 9 But p beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become q a 3 stumbling block to those who are weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will not r the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? 11 And s because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? 12 But t when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, u if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

  1. Cross References
    Acts 15:20
    But that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
    1 Corinthians 8:4
    Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
    1 Corinthians 8:7
    However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
    1 Corinthians 8:10
    For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols?
  2. Cross References
    Romans 14:14
    I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
  3. Cross References
    Romans 14:3
    Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.
  4. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 13:8 - 12
    Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
    Galatians 6:3
    For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
    1 Timothy 6:4
    He is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 41:24
    Indeed you are nothing, And your work is nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.
  6. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 4:35
    To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.
    Deuteronomy 4:39
    Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
    Deuteronomy 6:4
    Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
    1 Corinthians 8:6
    Yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
  7. Cross References
    John 10:34
    Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods" ' ?
  8. Cross References
    Malachi 2:10
    Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another By profaning the covenant of the fathers?
    Ephesians 4:6
    One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
  9. Cross References
    Acts 17:28
    "for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'
  10. Cross References
    John 13:13
    You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.
    1 Corinthians 1:2
    To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
    Ephesians 4:5
    One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
    1 Timothy 2:5
    For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.
  11. Cross References
    John 1:3
    All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
    Colossians 1:16
    For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
    Colossians 1:17
    And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
    Hebrews 1:2
    Has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.
  12. Cross References
    Romans 5:11
    And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
    Revelation 4:11
    "You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created."
    Revelation 5:9
    And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
    Revelation 5:10
    And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.
  13. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 10:28
    But if anyone says to you, "This was offered to idols," do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience' sake; for "the earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness.
  14. Cross References
    Romans 14:14
    I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
    Romans 14:22
    Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
  15. Cross References
    Romans 14:17
    For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
  16. Cross References
    Galatians 5:13
    For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
  17. Cross References
    Romans 14:13
    Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.
    Romans 14:21
    It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.
    1 Corinthians 10:28
    But if anyone says to you, "This was offered to idols," do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience' sake; for "the earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness.
  18. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 10:28
    But if anyone says to you, "This was offered to idols," do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience' sake; for "the earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness.
  19. Cross References
    Romans 14:15
    Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.
    Romans 14:20
    Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense.
  20. Cross References
    Matthew 25:40
    "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
  21. Cross References
    Romans 14:21
    It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.
    1 Corinthians 10:32
    Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God.
    2 Corinthians 6:3
    We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed.
    2 Corinthians 11:29
    Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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