Common English Bible CEB
New Revised Standard NRS
1 Now concerning meat that has been sacrificed to a false god: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes people arrogant, but love builds people up.
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Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
2 If anyone thinks they know something, they don't yet know as much as they should know.
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Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge;
3 But if someone loves God, then they are known by God.
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but anyone who loves God is known by him.
4 So concerning the actual food involved in these sacrifices to false gods, we know that a false god isn't anything in this world, and that there is no God except for the one God.
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Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "no idol in the world really exists," and that "there is no God but one."
5 Granted, there are so-called "gods," in heaven and on the earth, as there are many gods and many lords.
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Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords—
6 However, for us believers, There is one God the Father. All things come from him, and we belong to him. And there is one Lord Jesus Christ. All things exist through him, and we live through him.
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yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7 But not everybody knows this. Some are eating this food as though it really is food sacrificed to a real idol, because they were used to idol worship until now. Their conscience is weak because it has been damaged.
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It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8 Food won't bring us close to God. We're not missing out if we don't eat, and we don't have any advantage if we do eat.
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"Food will not bring us close to God." We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.
9 But watch out or else this freedom of yours might be a problem for those who are weak.
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But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
10 Suppose someone sees you (the person who has knowledge) eating in an idol's temple. Won't the person with a weak conscience be encouraged to eat the meat sacrificed to false gods?
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For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols?
11 The weak brother or sister for whom Christ died is destroyed by your knowledge.
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So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed.
12 You sin against Christ if you sin against your brothers and sisters and hurt their weak consciences this way.
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But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
13 This is why, if food causes the downfall of my brother or sister, I won't eat meat ever again, or else I may cause my brother or sister to fall.
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Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.