Lockman - Bible questions and answers

		1 Cor 8:1 Now about food sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge [concerning this]. Knowledge [alone] makes [people self-righteously] arrogant, but love [that unselfishly seeks the best for others] builds up and encourages others to grow [in wisdom].
		1 Cor 8:2 If anyone imagines that he knows and understands anything [of divine matters, without love], he has not yet known as he ought to know.
		1 Cor 8:3 But if anyone loves God [with awe-filled reverence, obedience and gratitude], he is known by Him [as His very own and is greatly loved].
		1 Cor 8:4 ¶ In this matter, then, of eating food offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world [it has no real existence], and that there is no God but one. [Deut 6:4]
		1 Cor 8:5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,
		1 Cor 8:6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things [that have been created], and we [believers exist and have life and have been redeemed] through Him. [Mal 2:10]
		1 Cor 8:7 ¶ However, not all [believers] have this knowledge. But some, being accustomed [throughout their lives] to [thinking of] the idol until now [as real and living], still eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and because their conscience is weak, it is defiled (guilty, ashamed).
		1 Cor 8:8 Now food will not commend us to God nor bring us close to Him; we are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better if we do eat.
		1 Cor 8:9 Only be careful that this liberty of yours [this power to choose] does not somehow become a stumbling block [that is, a temptation to sin] to the weak [in conscience].
		1 Cor 8:10 For if someone sees you, a person having knowledge, eating in an idol's temple, then if he is weak, will he not be encouraged to eat things sacrificed to idols [and violate his own convictions]?
		1 Cor 8:11 For through your knowledge (spiritual maturity) this weak man is ruined [that is, he suffers in his spiritual life], the brother for whom Christ died.
		1 Cor 8:12 And when you sin against the brothers and sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience [by confusing them], you sin against Christ.
		1 Cor 8:13 Therefore, if [my eating a certain] food causes my brother to stumble (sin), I will not eat [such] meat ever again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.

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