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1 Corinthians 8 · a question people ask

"I will eat no meat forever more" (8:13). What is the letter's I saying here?

In the text

The verse speaks in the first person, and it says if: "Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble." (8:13). To its readers the chapter has said, "But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak." (8:9). The chapter doesn't say whether food ever did cause a brother to stumble, and these notes apply 8:13 to no one and to no food today.

The verses

“Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.”
1 Corinthians 8:13 · World English Bible
“But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak.”
1 Corinthians 8:9 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Corinthians 8

1 Corinthians 8: Love builds up

1 Corinthians 8 says, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." (8:1), and in the Greek builds up is the same verb as emboldened in 8:10. It says, "But anyone who loves God is known by him." (8:3), and calls the one who is weak "the brother for whose sake Christ died" (8:11).

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Last reviewed October 8, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions