New Testament in a Year

¹⁹ Am I suggesting that an offering made to idols means anything, or that an idol itself means anything? ²⁰ Hardly! What they offer, they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become partners with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot dine with the Lord and dine with demons, ²² or you’ll provoke the Lord to jealousy, won’t you? Are we stronger than he is?

All to the Glory of God

²³ Everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up. ²⁴ No one should seek his own welfare, but rather his neighbor’s.

²⁵ Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without raising any question about it on the grounds of conscience, ²⁶ for “the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”^{[a] 27} If an unbeliever invites you to his house and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you, raising no question on the grounds of conscience. ²⁸ However, if someone says to you, “This was offered as a sacrifice,” don’t eat it, both out of consideration for the one who told you and also for the sake of conscience. ²⁹ I mean, of course, his conscience, not yours. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience? ³⁰ If I eat with thankfulness, why should I be denounced because of what I am thankful for?

³¹ Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. ³² Don’t become a stumbling block to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, ³³ just as I myself try to please everybody in every way. I don’t look out for my own benefit, but rather for the benefit of many people, so that they might be saved.