| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. | 1Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. |
| 2If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. | 2Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. |
| 3But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. | 3But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes. |
| 4Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” | 4So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. |
| 5For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— | 5There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. |
| 6yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. | 6But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live. |
| 7However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. | 7However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. |
| 8Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. | 8It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do. |
| 9But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. | 9But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. |
| 10For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? | 10For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? |
| 11And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. | 11So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. |
| 12Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. | 12And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. |
| 13Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. | 13So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
|
