1 Corinthians 8:9

Plain English Version

But you have to be very careful. Even though you are free to eat anything, you have to think about those Christians that can’t work out what is true and what is not true. You don’t want to make them go wrong.

Cross References

Romans 15:1

Some of us are strong and trust God about these things, but other Christians are weak and worry about them a lot. We strong Christians have to be easy on those weak Christians, and help them get strong. We have to think about the problems they have with these things. We can’t just do whatever makes us happy.

1 Corinthians 10:24

Don’t just think about yourself, and what is good for you, but think about what is good for other people.

1 Corinthians 10:28

But then, if somebody there says to you, “They gave this food to those statues that they think are gods,” then stop. Don’t eat that food. Think about the person that told you about it. That person might not know if it is all right to eat that food or not, and you don’t want to give that person a problem.

1 Corinthians 10:29

It will not matter to you. You know it is all right to eat that food. But that other person doesn’t know, and that person might think you are doing wrong. Maybe you ask me, “Why can another person say what I can do and what I can’t do?

1 Corinthians 10:32

Don’t do anything that might give other people problems. Don’t make problems for Jewish people, or for people that are not Jewish. And don’t make problems for God’s people.

1 Corinthians 8:10

It’s like this. Some of you Christians know it’s all right to eat food in that place where people show respect to those statues. But if you go and eat that food, another Christian might see you there. If that other Christian doesn’t know what to think about that food, they might think that you are showing respect to that statue when you eat that food, so that Christian will think it’s all right to show respect to that statue. And then that Christian will show respect to that statue, and that is wrong.

1 Corinthians 8:12

You see, if other Christians are not sure what is right or wrong, and if they see what you do, and if that gets them to do something wrong, you are really bad. If you hurt them like that, you are really hurting Jesus Christ. Don’t do that.

1 Corinthians 9:22

Or if I’m with weak people, I become weak too, so they will listen to me. I go to all sorts of people and live like they live. I do everything I can to get them to listen to me, so some of them will believe in Jesus, and God will save them.

Galatians 5:13

You see, my Christian friends, God picked you to be people that are free from the Jewish law. But you have to be free in the right way. You can’t just do anything you like, anything that makes you feel good. Instead of that, you have to love each other and do things to help each other.

Colossians 2:8

Some people might try to make you believe some ideas about God that are wrong. Those ideas didn’t come from Jesus Christ, but they came from bad spirits, and from the people of this world. People taught those ideas to their kids, and to their grand-kids. But those ideas are not true. They might sound good, but they are tricky lies. Be careful. Don’t believe them.

1 Peter 2:16

You know that you are free from that old Jewish law, but that doesn’t mean that you can do things that are wrong. You belong to God, and you work for him, so you have to do whatever is right.