Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.
- KJV Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
- BSB Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.
- NASB Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to sin.
- NLT So 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.
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
Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, Paul says he will gladly never eat meat again rather than trip him up. Personal liberty is worth surrendering for a brother's spiritual safety.
Overview
Paul closes the chapter with his own resolve as a model: he will forgo even a lawful pleasure permanently if it endangers a fellow believer. This embodies the self-denying love he has commended, foreshadowing his fuller example in chapter 9. It reflects the mind of Christ, who laid down far more for our sake, and shows that mature Christian freedom expresses itself most fully in voluntary, loving restraint.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Rom 14:21It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
- 2 Cor 6:3We give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service may not be blamed,
- 2 Cor 11:29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don’t burn with indignation?
- 1 Cor 6:12“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything.
- 1 Cor 13:5doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;
- 1 Cor 9:19–23For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
- 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.
- 1 Cor 9:12If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ.
- 2 Tim 3:8–9Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith, are rejected.
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 8:13 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.