| New Living Translation | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. | 1About food offered to idols: We know that "we all have knowledge." Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up. |
| 2Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. | 2If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it. |
| 3But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes. | 3But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. |
| 4So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. | 4About eating food offered to idols, then, we know that "an idol is nothing in the world," and that "there is no God but one." |
| 5There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. | 5For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth--as there are many "gods" and many "lords"-- |
| 6But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live. | 6yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from Him, and we exist for Him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through Him, and we exist through Him. |
| 7However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. | 7However, not everyone has this knowledge. In fact, some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food offered to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled. |
| 8It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do. | 8Food will not make us acceptable to God. We are not inferior if we don't eat, and we are not better if we do eat. |
| 9But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. | 9But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak. |
| 10For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? | 10For if someone sees you, the one who has this knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, won't his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols? |
| 11So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. | 11Then the weak person, the brother for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge. |
| 12And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. | 12Now when you sin like this against the brothers and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ. |
| 13So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble. | 13Therefore, if food causes my brother to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won't cause my brother to fall. |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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