Sept 3rd

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.

But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,

and his interests have been divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit. But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

Now this I say for your own benefit, not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote propriety and undistracted devotion to the Lord.

But if any man thinks that he is acting unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter, if she is past her youth, and if it must be so, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin; let her marry.

But he who stands firm in his heart, being under no compulsion, but has authority over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin daughter, he will do well.

So then both he who gives his own virgin daughter in marriage does well, and he who does not give her in marriage will do better.

A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband has fallen asleep, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

But in my opinion she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

If anyone thinks that he has known anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;

but if anyone loves God, he has been known by Him.

Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.

For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,

yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

However, not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

But food will not commend us to God. We neither lack if we do not eat, nor abound if we do eat.

But see to it that this authority of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be built up to eat things sacrificed to idols?

For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.

And in that way, by sinning against the brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again—ever, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.