Take Care with Your Liberty

8 Now concerning ^(A)food sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have ^(B)knowledge. Knowledge ^[a](C)makes one conceited, but love ^(D)edifies people. ^2 (E)If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he has not yet ^(F)known as he ought to know; ³ but if anyone loves God, he ^(G)is known by Him.

⁴ Therefore, concerning the eating of ^(H)food sacrificed to idols, we know that an ^(I)idol is ^[b]nothing at all in the world, and that ^(J)there is no God but one. ⁵ For even if ^(K)there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, ⁶ yet for us ^(L)there is only one God, ^(M)the Father, ^(N)from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and ^(O)one Lord, Jesus Christ, ^(P)by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

⁷ However, not all people ^(Q)have this knowledge; but ^(R)some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸ Now ^(S)food will not bring us ^[c]close to God; we are neither ^[d]the worse if we do not eat, nor ^[e]the better if we do eat. ⁹ But ^(T)take care that this ^[f]freedom of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the ^(U)weak. ¹⁰ For if someone sees you, the one who has ^(V)knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will his conscience, if he is weak, not be strengthened to eat ^(W)things sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ For through ^(X)your knowledge the one who is weak ^(Y)is ruined, the brother or sister for whose sake Christ died. ^12 (Z)And so, by sinning against the brothers and sisters and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin ^(AA)against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, ^(AB)if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to sin.

Paul’s Use of Freedom

9 Am I not ^(AC)free? Am I not an ^(AD)apostle? Have I not ^(AE)seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not ^(AF)my work in the Lord? ² If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the ^(AG)seal of my ^(AH)apostleship in the Lord.

³ My defense to those who examine me is this: ^4 [g](AI)Do we not have a right to eat and drink? ^5 [h](AJ)Do we not have a right to take along a ^[i]believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the ^(AK)brothers of the Lord, and ^[j](AL)Cephas? ⁶ Or do only ^[k](AM)Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from ^[l]working? ⁷ Who at any time serves ^(AN)as a soldier at his own expense? Who ^(AO)plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not ^[m]consume some of the milk of the flock?

⁸ I am not just asserting these things ^(AP)according to human judgment, am I? Or does the Law not say these things as well? ⁹ For it is written in the Law of Moses: “^(AQ)You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.” God is not concerned about ^(AR)oxen, is He? ¹⁰ Or is He speaking entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written ^(AS)for our sake, because ^(AT)the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing in the crops. ^11 (AU)If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? ¹² If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we ^(AV)did not use this right, but we endure all things ^(AW)so that we will cause no hindrance to the ^(AX)gospel of Christ. ^13 (AY)Do you not know that those who ^(AZ)perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share ^[n]from the altar? ¹⁴ So also ^(BA)the Lord directed those who proclaim the ^(BB)gospel to ^(BC)get their living from the gospel.

¹⁵ But I have ^(BD)used none of these things. And I have not written these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than that. No one shall make ^(BE)my boast an empty one! ¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for ^(BF)I am under compulsion; for woe to me if I do not preach ^(BG)the gospel. ¹⁷ For if I do this voluntarily, I have a ^(BH)reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a ^(BI)commission nonetheless. ¹⁸ What, then, is my ^(BJ)reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel ^(BK)without charge, so as ^(BL)not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹ For though I am ^(BM)free from all people, I have made myself ^(BN)a slave to all, so that I may ^(BO)gain more. ^20 (BP)To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the Law, I became as one under the Law, though ^(BQ)not being under the Law myself, so that I might gain those who are under the Law; ²¹ to those who are ^(BR)without the Law, I became ^(BS)as one without the Law, though not being without the law of God but ^(BT)under the law of Christ, so that I might gain those who are without the Law. ²² To the ^(BU)weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become ^(BV)all things to all people, ^(BW)so that I may by all means save some. ²³ I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

^24 (BX)Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives ^(BY)the prize? ^(BZ)Run in such a way that you may win. ²⁵ Everyone who ^(CA)competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable ^(CB)wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶ Therefore I ^(CC)run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as ^[o]to avoid ^(CD)hitting air; ²⁷ but I strictly discipline ^(CE)my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.