Romans 14
14
Do Not Criticize Other People
1Do not refuse to accept into your group someone who is weak in faith. And do not argue with him about opinions. 2One person believes that he can eat all kinds of food.# The Jewish law said there were some foods Jews should not eat. When Jews became Christians, some of them did not understand they could now eat all foods. But if another man’s faith is weak, then he believes he can eat only vegetables. 3The one who knows that he can eat any kind of food must not feel that he is better than the one who eats only vegetables. And the person who eats only vegetables must not think that the one who eats all foods is wrong. God has accepted him. 4You cannot judge another man’s servant. His own master decides if he is doing well or not. And the Lord’s servant will do well because the Lord helps him do well.
5One person thinks that one day is more important than another. And someone else thinks that every day is the same. Each one should be sure in his own mind. 6The person who thinks one day is more important than other days is doing that for the Lord. And the one who eats all kinds of food is doing that for the Lord. Yes, he gives thanks to God for that food. And the man who refuses to eat some foods does that for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God. 7For we do not live or die for ourselves. 8If we live, we are living for the Lord. And if we die, we are dying for the Lord. So living or dying, we belong to the Lord.
9That is why Christ died and rose from death to live again. He did this so that he would be Lord over both the dead and the living. 10So why do you judge your brother in Christ? And why do you think that you are better than he is? We will all stand before God, and he will judge us all. 11Yes, it is written in the Scriptures:
“Everyone will bow before me;
everyone will say that I am God.
As surely as I live, these things will happen, says the Lord.” Isaiah 45:23
12So each of us will have to answer to God for what he has done.
Do Not Cause Others to Sin
13So we should stop judging each other. We must make up our minds not to do anything that will make a Christian brother sin. 14I am in the Lord Jesus, and I know that there is no food that is wrong to eat. But if a person believes that something is wrong, then that thing is wrong for him. 15If you hurt your brother’s faith because of something you eat, then you are not really following the way of love. Do not destroy his faith by eating food that he thinks is wrong. Christ died for him. 16Do not allow what you think is good to become what others say is evil. 17In the kingdom of God, eating and drinking are not important. The important things are living right with God, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18Anyone who serves Christ by living this way is pleasing God and will be accepted by other people.
19So let us try to do what makes peace and helps one another. 20Do not let the eating of food destroy the work of God. All foods are all right to eat, but it is wrong to eat food that causes someone else to sin. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that will cause your brother to sin.
22Your beliefs about these things should be kept secret between you and God. A person is blessed if he can do what he thinks is right without feeling guilty. 23But if he eats something without being sure that it is right, then he is wrong because he did not believe that it was right. And if he does anything without believing that it is right, then it is a sin.
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Romans 14: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Romans 14
14
1 Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions. 2One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 3Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.
5 One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. 6He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks. 7For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. 8For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9For to this end Messiah died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Messiah. 11For it is written,
“‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow.
Every tongue will confess to God.’”#Isaiah 45:23
12 So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.
13 Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling. 14I know and am persuaded in the Lord Yeshua that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Messiah died. 16Then don’t let your good be slandered, 17for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18For he who serves Messiah in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up. 20Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating. 21It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves. 23But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.
24Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the proclaiming of Yeshua the Messiah, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages, 25but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known for obedience of faith to all the nations; 26to the only wise God, through Yeshua the Messiah, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.#14:26 TR places verses 24-26 after Romans 16:24 as verses 25-27.
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