The Danger of Criticism

14 Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.

Living to Please Others

15 We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves.

⁷ Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.

²² When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.

⁷ However, 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. ⁸ It’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.

⁹ But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. ¹⁰ For 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? ¹¹ So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer^[a] for whom Christ died will be destroyed. ¹² And when you sin against other believers^[b] by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. ¹³ So 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.

Paul and Apollos, Servants of Christ

3 Dear brothers and sisters,^[a] when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people.^[b] I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. ² I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,

⁸ So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.

⁹ I wrote to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us. ¹⁰ When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the evil accusations he is making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church.

²¹ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to stumble.^[a]

¹⁰ If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement.

¹⁹ And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.