8 Bible Verses about Food Offered To Idols

With regard to food that has been offered to idols. Here, of course, 'we all possess knowledge'! Knowledge puffs up, love builds up. Whoever imagines he has attained to some degree of knowledge, does not possess the true knowledge yet; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.read more.
Well then, with regard to food that has been offered to idols, I am quite aware that 'there is no such thing as an idol in the world' and that 'there is only the one God.' (So-called gods there may be, in heaven or on earth ??as indeed there are plenty of them, both gods and 'lords' ??6 but for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all comes, and for whom we exist; one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom all exists, and by whom we exist.) But remember, it is not everyone who has this 'knowledge.' Some who have hitherto been accustomed to idols eat the food as food which has been really offered to an idol, and so their weaker conscience is contaminated. Now mere food will not bring us any nearer to God; if we abstain we do not lose anything, and if we eat we do not gain anything. But see that the exercise of your right does not prove any stumbling-block to the weak. Suppose anyone sees you, a person of enlightened mind, reclining at meat inside an idol's temple; will that really 'fortify his weak conscience'? Will it not embolden him to violate his scruples of conscience by eating food that has been offered to idols? He is ruined, this weak man, ruined by your 'enlightened mind,' this brother for whose sake Christ died! By sinning against the brotherhood in this way and wounding their weaker consciences, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore if food is any hindrance to my brother's welfare, sooner than injure him I will never eat flesh as long as I live, never!

Shun idolatry, then, my beloved. I am speaking to sensible people; weigh my words for yourselves. The cup of blessing, which we bless, is that not participating in the blood of Christ? The bread we break, is that not participating in the body of Christ?read more.
(for many as we are, we are one Bread, one Body, since we all partake of the one Bread). Look at the rites of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I imply, you ask, that 'food offered to an idol has any meaning, or that an idol itself means any thing'? No, what I imply is that anything people sacrifice is sacrificed to daemons, not to God. And I do not want you to participate in daemons! You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of daemons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and also of the table of daemons. What! do we intend to rouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he is? 'All things are lawful'? Yes, but not all are good for us. 'All things are lawful'? Yes, but not all are edifying. Each of us must consult his neighbour's interests, not his own. Eat any food that has been sold in the market, instead of letting scruples of conscience oblige you to ask any questions about it; the earth and all its contents belong to the Lord. When an unbeliever invites you to dinner and you agree to go, eat whatever is put before you, instead of letting scruples of conscience induce you to ask any questions about it. But if someone tells you, 'This was sacrificial meat,' then do not eat it; you must consider the man who told you, and also take conscience into account ??29 his conscience, I mean, not your own; for why should one's own freedom be called in question by someone else's conscience? If one partakes of food after saying a blessing over it, why should one be denounced for eating what one has given thanks to God for? So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, let it be all done for the glory of God. Put no stumbling-block in the way of Jews or Greeks or the church of God. Such is my own rule, to satisfy all men in all points, aiming not at my own advantage but at the advantage of the greater number ??at their salvation.

but write them injunctions to abstain from whatever is contaminated by idols, from sexual vice, from the flesh of animals that have been strangled, and from tasting blood;

abstain from food that has been offered to idols, from tasting blood, from the flesh of animals that have been strangled, and from sexual vice. Keep clear of all this and you will prosper. Goodbye."

As for Gentile believers, we have issued our decision that they must avoid food that has been offered to idols, the taste of blood, flesh of animals that have been strangled, and sexual vice."

And you must not be idolaters, like some of them; as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to make sport.

But I have one or two things against you: you have some adherents there of the tenets of Balaam, who taught Balak how to set a pitfall before the sons of Israel by making them eat food which had been sacrificed to idols and give way to sexual vice.

Still I have this against you: you are tolerating that Jezebel of a woman who styles herself a prophetess and seduces my servants by teaching them to give way to sexual vice and to eat food which has been sacrificed to idols.