1 Corinthians8:13

Translation

Therefore, if food ensnares

my brother, I will no never eat meat to the age, so that I might not ensnare my brother. (SEe comment below.)

Paraphrase

Therefore, if eating food can potentially cause my brother to stumble into sin, I am determined to never eat meat again to the end of time, so that there is no chance I could entice my brother to sin in that way.

Footnotes

1: "ensnares"

This Geek word means “to ensnare, to cause to stumble physically or spiritually, to entice into sin”. It’s pronunciation sounds like the English word for “scandal.”

PAUL’S CONCLUSION IS THAT HE WILL PRIORITIZE HIS BROTHER’S SPIRITUAL HEALTH OVER HIS OWN LIBERTIES

This verse is Paul’s conclusion of this topic in the letter we call First Corinthians. He has said that eating meat that was involved in a sacrificial ceremony to a pagan god is no problem because those gods don’t exist anyway. However, there are some brothers in Christ who perceive it as a problem and for their sakes he will refuse to eat meat in order to avoid putting them in an inner spiritual conflict.

If those gods do not exist as perceived, but rather are demons pretending to be gods, it fits with what Paul is saying about food sacrificed to them being a non-issue. But if there is a council of gods, and if the Creator God did hand the other nations over to evil gods on His council, as Michael Heiser suggests, then we would not expect Paul to say what he said about such sacrifices. He would have condemned anything associated in any way with such practices.