| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. 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. |
| 2The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. | 2Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. |
| 3But the one who loves God is known by God. | 3But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes. |
| 4So 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. | 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 even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and 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 but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came 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. |
| 7But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that they eat such food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it 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. |
| 8But food does not bring us closer to God: We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better 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. |
| 9Be careful, however, that your freedom does not 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 someone with a weak conscience sees you who are well informed eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged to eat food sacrificed 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? |
| 11So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. | 11So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. |
| 12By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, 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 what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to 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. |
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