And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
Parallel translations
- WEB And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died.
- KJV And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
- BSB So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
- NASB For through your knowledge the one who is weak is ruined, the brother or sister for whose sake Christ died.
- NLT So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Through your "knowledge" the weak brother—one for whom Christ died—is destroyed. Insisting on your freedom can spiritually ruin someone Christ loved enough to die for.
Overview
Paul raises the stakes to their highest: the weak believer is one "for whose sake Christ died." To despise such a person's conscience by flaunting one's liberty is to set one's rights above the value Christ placed on that soul. The cross becomes the measure of how we treat fellow believers. If Christ gave His life for this brother, surely we can give up a meal for his sake.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Rom 14:15Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.
- Rom 15:1–3Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
- 1 Cor 8:13Therefore if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.
- 1 Cor 10:33even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.
- Rom 14:20–21Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 8:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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