Nor do people put new wine into old wine-skins; for, if they do, the skins burst, and the wine runs out, and the skins are lost; but they put new wine into fresh skins, and so both are preserved."

You blind guides, to strain out a gnat and to swallow a camel!

And I tell you that I shall never, after this, drink of this juice of the grape, until that day when I shall drink it new with you in the Kingdom of my Father."

they gave him some wine to drink which had been mixed with gall; but after tasting it, Jesus refused to drink it.

There they offered him drugged wine; but Jesus refused it.

For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord; he shall not drink any wine or strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit from the very hour of his birth,

Yes, even on the slaves--for they are mine--both men and women, I will in those days pour out my Spirit,

Let us, then, cease to judge one another. Rather let this be your resolve--never to place a stumbling-block or an obstacle in a Brother's way. Through my union with the Lord Jesus, I know and am persuaded that nothing is 'defiling in itself.' A thing is 'defiling' only to him who holds it to be so. read more. If, for the sake of what you eat, you wound your Brother's feelings, your life has ceased to be ruled by love. Do not, by what you eat, ruin a man for whom Christ died! Do not let what is right for you become a matter of reproach. For the Kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and gladness through the presence of the Holy Spirit. He who serves the Christ in this way pleases God, and wins the approval of his fellow men. Therefore our efforts should be directed towards all that makes for peace and the mutual building up of character. Do not undo God's work for the sake of what you eat. Though everything is 'clean,' yet, if a man eats so as to put a stumbling- block in the way of others, he does wrong. The right course is to abstain from meat or wine or, indeed, anything that is a stumbling-block to your Brother.

On the other hand, if a man loves God, he is known by God. With reference, then, to eating food that has been offered to idols-we are aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. read more. Even supposing that there are so-called 'gods' either in Heaven or on earth-and there are many such 'gods' and 'lords'- Yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom all things come (and for him we live), and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come (and through him we live). Still, it is not every one that has this knowledge. Some people, because of their association with idols, continued down to the present time, eat the food as food offered to an idol; and their consciences, while still weak, are dulled. What we eat, however, will not bring us nearer to God. We lose nothing by not eating this food, and we gain nothing by eating it. But take care that this right of yours does not become in any way a stumbling-block to the weak. For if some one should see you who possess this knowledge, feasting in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is a weak man, become so hardened that he, too, will eat food offered to idols? And so, through this knowledge of yours, the weak man is ruined-your Brother for whose sake Christ died! In this way, by sinning against your Brothers and injuring their consciences, while still weak, you sin against Christ.