1 Corinthians 8:8-10
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
8 [a]Now food will not bring us closer to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better off if we do.(A) 9 But make sure that this liberty of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.(B) 10 If someone sees you, with your knowledge, reclining at table in the temple of an idol, may not his conscience too, weak as it is, be “built up” to eat the meat sacrificed to idols?
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- 8:8–9 Although the food in itself is morally neutral, extrinsic circumstances may make the eating of it harmful. A stumbling block: the image is that of tripping or causing someone to fall (cf. 1 Cor 8:13; 9:12; 10:12, 32; 2 Cor 6:3; Rom 14:13, 20–1). This is a basic moral imperative for Paul, a counterpart to the positive imperative to “build one another up”; compare the expression “giving offense” as opposed to “pleasing” in 1 Cor 10:32–33.
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