¹⁴ I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong.

¹⁵ Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.

⁴ Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.

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.

² For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables.

¹⁴ “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.^[a]”

¹⁵ But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”

⁸ “‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.^[a]’

⁹ “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’

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?

²⁸ Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.

²⁵ So you may eat any meat that is sold in the marketplace without raising questions of conscience.