4 Bible Verses about Meat

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is in itself unclean; but any food is "unclean" for one who considers it "unclean." If your brother is continually pained because of your food, you are not conducting yourself any longer in love. Do not, by what you eat, persist in destroying a man for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is right, so far as you are concerned, be evil spoken of. read more.
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Those who are slaving for Christ devotedly in these ways, are well pleasing to God and highly commended by man. So then let is eagerly pursue the things that make for peace and the upbuilding of each other. Do not, for the sake of food, be tearing down God's work. All food indeed is ceremonially clean, but a man is in the wrong if his food proves a stumbling-block. The right course is not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything through which your brother is made to stumble. Have you faith? Keep it to yourself as in the presence of God. He is a happy man who does not condemn himself in that which he approves. But he who has misgivings, and yet eats meat, is condemned already, because his action is not based on faith; and whatever is not based on faith is sin.

Now in regard to food which has been offered to idols, we are sure of course that "we all have knowledge." But knowledge puffs up, while love builds up. If a man thinks that he already has knowledge, he does not yet truly know as he ought to know; but if a man loves God, he is known by him. read more.
Now as to eating food that has been offered to idols, we know well that an idol has no real existence in the universe, and that there is no God but One. For though there be so-called "gods," celestial of terrestrial, as indeed there are gods many and lords many, yet for there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. But that "knowledge" is not possessed by all; but some, accustomed until now to the idol, eat food as that which has actually been offered to an idol, and so their conscience, being still weak, is defiled. Now food does not bring us nearness to God. Neither if we eat do we gain any advantage, nor if we eat not, do we lose any. But see to it lest this right of yours become a stumbling-block to the weak. For if any one should see you, the possessor of "knowledge," reclining at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience, if he were weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? So he is lost, this weak man, lost by your "knowledge." this brother for whom Christ died. In so sinning against your brothers, and in ever and again wounding their weak consciences, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat makes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, lest I make my brother to stumble.

So then, my beloved, continually flee from idolatry. I am speaking to men of sense; do you yourselves judge what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a common participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a common participation in the body of Christ? read more.
Because we who are many are one bread, one body, for we all do share in the one loaf. Look at Israel according to the flesh; are not those who eat the sacrifices in communion with the altar? What then shall we say? that an offering to an idol is anything? or that an idol is really anything? On the contrary, what the heathen sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have communion with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons; you cannot be partakers in the Lord's table and in the table of demons. What! would we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? "All things are lawful," you say? But not all things are expedient; "all things are lawful"; but not all build up. Let not each one be always seeking his own, but rather his neighbor's good. Eat anything that is for sale in the markets, asking no questions for conscience sake; for the earth and its fulness are the Lord's. If one who is not a believer invites you to his house, and you wish to go, eat everything that is set before you, without asking questions for conscience sake. But if any one tells you, "This food has been offered in sacrifice," do not eat it, for the sake of him who told you, and for your conscience sake??is conscience, not your own. "But," you may object, "why should my freedom be decided upon another's scruples of conscience? If I eat after giving thanks, why am I denounced for eating that for which I have given thanks?" Because whether you are eating or whether you are drinking, you are to do it all for the glory of God. Do not be a cause of stumbling either to Jews of to Gentiles, or to the church of God. For so I also try to please all men in every way, not by seeking my own good, but the good of the many, that they may be saved.

I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is in itself unclean; but any food is "unclean" for one who considers it "unclean." If your brother is continually pained because of your food, you are not conducting yourself any longer in love. Do not, by what you eat, persist in destroying a man for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is right, so far as you are concerned, be evil spoken of. read more.
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Those who are slaving for Christ devotedly in these ways, are well pleasing to God and highly commended by man. So then let is eagerly pursue the things that make for peace and the upbuilding of each other. Do not, for the sake of food, be tearing down God's work. All food indeed is ceremonially clean, but a man is in the wrong if his food proves a stumbling-block. The right course is not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything through which your brother is made to stumble. Have you faith? Keep it to yourself as in the presence of God. He is a happy man who does not condemn himself in that which he approves. But he who has misgivings, and yet eats meat, is condemned already, because his action is not based on faith; and whatever is not based on faith is sin.

Now in regard to food which has been offered to idols, we are sure of course that "we all have knowledge." But knowledge puffs up, while love builds up. If a man thinks that he already has knowledge, he does not yet truly know as he ought to know; but if a man loves God, he is known by him. read more.
Now as to eating food that has been offered to idols, we know well that an idol has no real existence in the universe, and that there is no God but One. For though there be so-called "gods," celestial of terrestrial, as indeed there are gods many and lords many, yet for there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. But that "knowledge" is not possessed by all; but some, accustomed until now to the idol, eat food as that which has actually been offered to an idol, and so their conscience, being still weak, is defiled. Now food does not bring us nearness to God. Neither if we eat do we gain any advantage, nor if we eat not, do we lose any. But see to it lest this right of yours become a stumbling-block to the weak. For if any one should see you, the possessor of "knowledge," reclining at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience, if he were weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? So he is lost, this weak man, lost by your "knowledge." this brother for whom Christ died. In so sinning against your brothers, and in ever and again wounding their weak consciences, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat makes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, lest I make my brother to stumble.

So then, my beloved, continually flee from idolatry. I am speaking to men of sense; do you yourselves judge what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a common participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a common participation in the body of Christ? read more.
Because we who are many are one bread, one body, for we all do share in the one loaf. Look at Israel according to the flesh; are not those who eat the sacrifices in communion with the altar? What then shall we say? that an offering to an idol is anything? or that an idol is really anything? On the contrary, what the heathen sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have communion with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons; you cannot be partakers in the Lord's table and in the table of demons. What! would we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? "All things are lawful," you say? But not all things are expedient; "all things are lawful"; but not all build up. Let not each one be always seeking his own, but rather his neighbor's good. Eat anything that is for sale in the markets, asking no questions for conscience sake; for the earth and its fulness are the Lord's. If one who is not a believer invites you to his house, and you wish to go, eat everything that is set before you, without asking questions for conscience sake. But if any one tells you, "This food has been offered in sacrifice," do not eat it, for the sake of him who told you, and for your conscience sake??is conscience, not your own. "But," you may object, "why should my freedom be decided upon another's scruples of conscience? If I eat after giving thanks, why am I denounced for eating that for which I have given thanks?" Because whether you are eating or whether you are drinking, you are to do it all for the glory of God. Do not be a cause of stumbling either to Jews of to Gentiles, or to the church of God. For so I also try to please all men in every way, not by seeking my own good, but the good of the many, that they may be saved.