All to God’s Glory

Paul repeats that while everything may be permissible, not everything is helpful or constructive, and so no one should seek only personal good. Believers may eat what is sold in the market or set before them in an unbeliever's home without anxious inquiry, but if the food is specifically identified as sacrificed to idols they should abstain for the sake of the other person's conscience, not because their own freedom has changed.

“²³Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is edifying. ²⁴No one should seek his own good, but the good of others. ²⁵Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, ²⁶for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” ²⁷If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience. ²⁸But if someone tells you, “This food was offered to idols,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience — ²⁹the other one’s conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience? ³⁰If I partake in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

So whether they eat, drink, or do anything else, Paul says they must do it all for God's glory. They are to avoid becoming stumbling blocks to Jews, Greeks, or the church of God, following Paul's own pattern of not seeking his own advantage but the good of many so that they may be saved.

³¹So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. ³²Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God— ³³as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.