Book of Common Prayer

¹⁴ So then, my dear brothers, do not worship idols.

¹⁵ I talk to you as people with good sense. Decide for yourselves about what I say.

¹⁶ We ask God to bless the cup at the Lord's supper. When we drink from this cup it means that the blood of Christ is for us all. We break the bread. When we eat this bread, it means that the body of Christ is for us all.

¹⁷ The bread is all one loaf. In the same way, we are many people but we are one body. We all eat from the same loaf.

¹⁸ See what the Jews do. Those who eat the sacrifices all eat things that are sacrificed.

¹⁹ What do I mean by saying this? Is the food that has been given to idols really something holy? Or is an idol really something like God?

²⁰ No. What I mean is this. Those people give the food to bad spirits and not to God. I do not want you to have anything to do with bad spirits.

²¹ You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of bad spirits. You cannot eat food at the table of the Lord and at the table of bad spirits.

²² Do we want to make the Lord jealous? Are we stronger than he is? No!

²³ We are free to do anything we want to do. Yes, but some things do not make people better. It is better if we do not do such things.

²⁴ A person must not think only of himself. But he should think of the other person as well.

²⁵ Eat any meat that is sold at the market. Do not ask any questions about it because you think, `Is it wrong to eat it?'

²⁶ The holy writings say, `The earth belongs to the Lord and everything that is in it.'

²⁷ If one who is not a believer asks you to come and eat, if you want to go, then eat the food he gives you. Do not ask any questions about it because you fear it might be wrong to eat it.

²⁸ But if anyone says to you, `This food has been given to an idol,' then do not eat it. Do not eat it because of the one who told you and because it might seem wrong. I mean it might seem wrong, not to you, but to him.

²⁹ Since I am free, is it wrong for me to eat just because someone else thinks it is?

³⁰ I thank God for my food. So why should anyone say it is wrong for me to eat what I thank God for?

³¹ So, whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do everything to bring praise to God.

³² Do nothing that will make Jews, or Greeks, or those who belong to the church of God, turn away from God.

³³ I, also, try to please everyone in all I do. I do not think of what will be good for me, but I think of what will be good for many people. I want them to be saved.

11 Do as I do, for I am doing as Christ did.

²⁸ Jesus came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarene people. There were graves in that place. Two men came from among the graves to meet him. They had bad spirits in them. They were so bad and strong that people feared to pass that way.

²⁹ They shouted, `Jesus, Son of God, what do you want to do to us? Have you come here to punish us before it is our time?'

³⁰ Many pigs were eating in a place far from them.

³¹ The bad spirits begged Jesus, `If you drive us out of these men, let us go into the pigs.'

³² Jesus said, `Go!' The spirits came out of the men and went into the pigs. All the pigs ran fast down the steep hill into the sea. They died in the water.

³³ The men who cared for the pigs ran to the town. They told everything and what had happened to the men who had the bad spirits.

³⁴ All the people in the town came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to go away out of their country