Is Offending Others a Sin?

June 6th, 2025
by Lance Waldie

1 Corinthians 8:7-13 …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… 12 And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.

Proper knowledge of God means doing all things for God as opposed to exercising Christian freedom just because God permits it. The other half of the equation is love for God—serving Him faithfully instead of our own appetite, whims, and desires.

Paul speaks of a group of folks, in v. 7, who had converted to Christianity from a life of idol worship. These people were “accustomed to the idol until now.” Apparently they bought and ate the same meat other Christians were buying and eating from the marketplace. The only difference is that these former idol worshippers were not quite sure if what they were doing was proper. Prior to their conversion to Christ they had most assuredly participated in offering their food to idols, but now after being saved out of that life they were observing Christians eat the same meat without hesitation. The liberty that these Christians were practicing confused them. Paul says that their “conscience, being weak, is defiled.” They were watching other Christians eat without feeling guilty, so they thought they could too. Yet in so doing they just did not feel right about it. And because of their doubt, they were sinning, for he who acts without full faith in what he is doing, sins (Rom. 14:23).

So in v. 8 Paul says that food is nothing. It neither brings man closer to God nor does it separate him from God. Man is no better spiritually for eating food and no worse. Those who make a big deal out of eating certain foods on certain days of the week, those who promote vegetarianism, and those who judge others for eating or not eating are thus “weak” believers.

In vv. 9-11 Paul says, “But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. But take care that this liberty 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 strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined…”

Verse 12 is clear when it states that this practice is nothing short of sin against Christ, and the conclusion to the whole matter is found in v. 13. If doing anything causes another Christian brother to sin, that practice must cease. Therefore, it was not that eating the meat was sinful; it was eating the meat that others found offensive that was sinful.

Food For Thought
There are many today who grew up Catholic where eating meat on Fridays is considered a sin. Others have been prevented from ever eating meat, and there are still more who frown upon the unkosher practice of combining cheese with meat. Though the NT clearly says that all foods are acceptable to God (Mark 7:19; Acts 10:15), Christians must take care not to offend those who still abide by food regulations. We must neither judge them nor preach to them. Likewise, must be careful around those who were saved out of the rock-n-roll life of drugs and alcohol abuse, wild parties, and the like. From listening to certain music genres to participating in Halloween or Easter-egg hunts, we must be aware of those who are offended by these and not scorn them for such. Some have been deeply wounded and adversely affected in their former lives of abusing drugs and participating in the occult. Our actions ought not remind them of their past. Simply put, Christian freedom is not a license to sin; it is the freedom to not sin.