1 Corinthians 10:18–33

¹⁸Consider the people of Israel: Are not those who eat the sacrifices fellow partakers in the altar? ¹⁹Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too. ²²Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

²³“Everything is permissible,”^d but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is edifying. ²⁴No one should seek his own good, but the good of others.

²⁵Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, ²⁶for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”^e

²⁷If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience. ²⁸But if someone tells you, “This food was offered to idols,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience —^{f 29}the other one’s conscience , I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience? ³⁰If I partake in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

³¹So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. ³²Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God— ³³as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.