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1 Corinthians 8
1Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
2But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know.
3But anyone who loves God is known by him.
4Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
5For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”—
6yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus , through whom are all things, and we live through him.
7However, that knowledge isn’t in all men. But some, with consciousness of an idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat are we the worse, nor if we eat are we the better.
9But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak.
10For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol’s temple, won’t his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?
11And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake died.
12Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against .
13Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.
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Questions this passage answers
Can the Bible be trusted?
Scripture claims to be true and invites examination rather than avoiding it. It says God's word is truth and that it stands when everything else fades, and the New Testament writers appeal to eyewitnesses, named places and public events rather than to private experience. Trust in Scripture is finally trust in the God who speaks in it, and the clearest reason a Christian gives for that trust is that Jesus treated these writings as God's own word.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
Scripture speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person rather than a force. Jesus calls him another Counselor whom the Father sends, and says he teaches, reminds, guides, convicts and speaks. Peter calls lying to the Holy Spirit lying to God. He is the one who gives new birth, dwells in believers, produces Christlike character, and always points to Christ rather than to himself.
How do I resist temptation?
Scripture says God always provides a way of escape, that temptation begins with desire inside us rather than with God, and that the ordinary means of resisting are watching, praying, walking by the Spirit, hiding God's word in the heart, and fleeing rather than negotiating. It does not promise that temptation stops, and it sends the tempted person to a High Priest who was tempted himself and can be approached for help.
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
The New Testament says yes and puts the claim in a form that can be tested rather than admired. Paul lists named witnesses and a group of over five hundred still living when he wrote. The accounts describe a body that could be touched and that ate, not a vision. They also record the first alternative explanation, that the disciples stole him, and record who paid for it. Scripture treats the resurrection as the point on which everything stands or falls, and says so in those words.