1 Corinthians 10
1For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2and they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same Spirit-derived food, 4and they all drank the same Spirit-derived drink—for they were drinking from a Spirit-endowed rock that followed them, and that rock was the Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not well-pleased with most of them, for their bodies were strewn across the wilderness.
6Now these things occurred as precedents for us, so that we would not be people who crave evil things, just as they craved them. 7Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they stood up to play.” 8Nor should we practice sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9Nor should we put the Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10And do not grumble, as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the Exterminator. 11These things happened to them as a warning, and they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived. 12Therefore, let the one who thinks he stands watch out so that he does not fall. 13No trial has seized you except what is common to human experience; but God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial he will also provide the way out, so that you are able to endure it.
14Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I am saying. 16The cup of blessing which we bless—is it not a shared participation in the blood of the Christ? The bread which we break—is it not a shared participation in the body of the Christ? 17Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all share in the one bread. 18Look at Israel according to the flesh: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19What am I saying, then? That food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, but I am saying that what they sacrifice, “they sacrifice to demons and not to God,” and I do not want you to become shared participants with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot share in the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22Or are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he is?
23“All things are permitted”—but not all things are beneficial. “All things are permitted”—but not all things build up. 24Let no one seek his own advantage, but rather that of the other person. 25Eat everything sold in the meat market without making a moral investigation for the sake of conscience; 26for “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything that fills it.” 27If one of the unbelievers invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is set before you without making a moral investigation for the sake of conscience. 28But if someone says to you, “This meat was a sacred sacrifice,” do not eat it—for the sake of the one who informed you and for the sake of conscience. 29I do not mean your own conscience, but that of the other person. For why is my freedom to be judged by another person’s conscience? 30If I partake with gratitude, why am I slandered over food for which I give thanks?
31So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32Give no cause for stumbling to Jews or to Greeks or to the assembly of God, 33just as I also try to please everyone in all things—not seeking my own advantage but that of the many, so that they may be saved.