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.

⁹ But ^(A)take care that this ^[a]freedom of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the ^(B)weak. ¹⁰ For if someone sees you, the one who has ^(C)knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will his conscience, if he is weak, not be strengthened to eat ^(D)things sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ For through ^(E)your knowledge the one who is weak ^(F)is ruined, the brother or sister for whose sake Christ died. ^12 (G)And so, by sinning against the brothers and sisters and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin ^(H)against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, ^(I)if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to sin.

¹³ Therefore let’s not ^(A)judge one another anymore, but rather ^[a]determine this: ^(B)not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s or sister’s way. ¹⁴ I know and am convinced ^[b]in the Lord Jesus that ^(C)nothing is ^[c]unclean in itself; but to the one who ^(D)thinks something is ^[d]unclean, to that person it is ^[e]unclean. ¹⁵ For if because of food your brother or sister is hurt, you are no longer ^(E)walking in accordance with love. ^(F)Do not destroy with your choice of food that person for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Therefore ^(G)do not let what is for you a good thing be ^[f]spoken of as evil; ¹⁷ for the kingdom of God ^(H)is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and ^(I)peace and ^(J)joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For the one who ^(K)serves Christ in this way is ^(L)acceptable to God and approved by other people. ¹⁹ So then we ^(M)pursue the things ^[g]which make for peace and the ^(N)building up of one another. ^20 (O)Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. ^(P)All things indeed are clean, but ^(Q)they are evil for the person who eats ^[h]and causes offense. ^21 (R)It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother or sister stumbles.

¹³ For you were called to ^(A)freedom, brothers and sisters; ^(B)only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but ^(C)serve one another through love.