Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

^15 (A) Instead, he will choose one of your own people to be a prophet just like me, and you must do what that prophet says. ¹⁶ You were asking for a prophet the day you were gathered at Mount Sinai^[a] and said to the Lord, “Please don't let us hear your voice or see this terrible fire again—if we do, we will die!”

¹⁷ Then the Lord told me:

Moses, they have said the right thing. ¹⁸ So when I want to speak to them, I will choose one of them to be a prophet like you. I will give my message to that prophet, who will tell the people exactly what I have said. ^19 (B) Since the message comes from me, anyone who doesn't obey the message will have to answer to me.

²⁰ But if I haven't spoken, and a prophet claims to have a message from me, you must kill that prophet, and you must also kill any prophet who claims to have a message from another god.

Praise the Lord for All He Has Done

Food Offered to Idols

8 In your letter you asked me about food offered to idols. All of us know something about this subject. But knowledge makes us proud of ourselves, while love makes us helpful to others. ² In fact, people who think they know so much don't know anything at all. ³ But God has no doubts about who loves him.

⁴ Even though food is offered to idols, we know that none of the idols in this world are alive. After all, there is only one God. ⁵ Many things in heaven and on earth are called gods and lords, but none of them really are gods or lords. ⁶ We have only one God, and he is the Father. He created everything, and we live for him. Jesus Christ is our only Lord. Everything was made by him, and by him life was given to us.

⁷ Not everyone knows these things. In fact, many people have grown up with the belief that idols have life in them. So when they eat meat offered to idols, they are bothered by a weak conscience. ⁸ But food doesn't bring us any closer to God. We are no worse off if we don't eat, and we are no better off if we do.

⁹ Don't cause problems for someone with a weak conscience, just because you have the right to eat anything. ¹⁰ You know all this, and so it doesn't bother you to eat in the temple of an idol. But suppose a person with a weak conscience sees you and decides to eat food that has been offered to idols. ¹¹ Then what you know has destroyed someone Christ died for. ¹² When you sin by hurting a follower with a weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³ So if I hurt one of the Lord's followers by what I eat, I will never eat meat as long as I live.

A Man with an Evil Spirit

(Luke 4.31-37)

²¹ Jesus and his disciples went to the town of Capernaum. Then on the next Sabbath he went into the synagogue and started teaching. ^22 (A) Everyone was amazed at his teaching. He taught with authority, and not like the teachers of the Law of Moses. ²³ Suddenly a man with an evil spirit^[a] in him entered the synagogue and yelled, ²⁴ “Jesus from Nazareth, what do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are! You are God's Holy One.”

²⁵ Jesus told the evil spirit, “Be quiet and come out of the man!” ²⁶ The spirit shook him. Then it gave a loud shout and left.

²⁷ Everyone was completely surprised and kept saying to each other, “What is this? It must be some new kind of powerful teaching! Even the evil spirits obey him.” ²⁸ News about Jesus quickly spread all over Galilee.