8 Next is your question about eating food that has been sacrificed to idols. On this question everyone feels that only his answer is the right one! But although being a “know-it-all” makes us feel important, what is really needed to build the church is love. ² If anyone thinks he knows all the answers, he is just showing his ignorance. ³ But the person who truly loves God is the one who is open to God’s knowledge.

⁴ So now, what about it? Should we eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god, and that there is only one God, and no other. ⁵ According to some people, there are a great many gods, both in heaven and on earth. ⁶ But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created all things^[a] and made us to be his own; and one Lord Jesus Christ, who made everything and gives us life.

⁷ However, some Christians don’t realize this. All their lives they have been used to thinking of idols as alive, and have believed that food offered to the idols is really being offered to actual gods. So when they eat such food it bothers them and hurts their tender consciences. ⁸ Just remember that God doesn’t care whether we eat it or not. We are no worse off if we don’t eat it, and no better off if we do. ⁹ But be careful not to use your freedom to eat it, lest you cause some Christian brother to sin whose conscience^[b] is weaker than yours.

¹⁰ You see, this is what may happen: Someone who thinks it is wrong to eat this food will see you eating at a temple restaurant, for you know there is no harm in it. Then he will become bold enough to do it too, although all the time he still feels it is wrong. ¹¹ So because you “know it is all right to do it,” you will be responsible for causing great spiritual damage to a brother with a tender conscience for whom Christ died. ¹² And it is a sin against Christ to sin against your brother by encouraging him to do something he thinks is wrong. ¹³ So if eating meat offered to idols is going to make my brother sin, I’ll not eat any of it as long as I live because I don’t want to do this to him.