we are fully aware that an idol is nothing in the world,
and that there is no God but One.
008:005 For if so-called gods do exist, either in Heaven or on earth--
and in fact there are many such gods and many such lords--
008:006 yet *we* have but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things
and for whose service we exist, and but one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom we and all things exist.
008:007 But all believers do not recognize these facts. Some, from force
of habit in relation to the idol, even now eat idol sacrifices
as such, and their consciences, being but weak, are polluted.
008:008 It is true that a particular kind of food will not bring us
into God's presence; we are neither inferior to others if we
abstain from it, nor superior to them if we eat it.
008:009 But take care lest this liberty of yours should prove a hindrance
to the progress of weak believers.
008:010 For if any one were to see you, who know the real truth
of this matter, reclining at table in an idol's temple,
would not his conscience (supposing him to be a weak believer)
be emboldened to eat the food which has been sacrificed
to the idol?
008:011 Why, your knowledge becomes the ruin of the weak believer--
your brother, for whom Christ died!
008:012 Moreover when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their
weak consciences, you are, in reality, sinning against Christ.
008:013 Therefore if what I eat causes my brother to fall, never again
to the end of my days will I touch any kind of animal food,
for fear I should cause my brother to fall.
009:001 Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Can it be denied that I
have seen Jesus, our Lord? Are not you yourselves my work
in the Lord?