ROM 14
14
Tolerance Over Disputable Opinions
1 Now receive into your fellowship the person who is weak in faith—whose conscience is overly scrupulous about matters of Christian freedom—but not for the purpose of quarrelling over and passing judgment on disputable matters and opinions where Scripture is not explicit.
2 One believer has faith that he may eat all kinds of food without restriction, but the person who is weak in faith and has a tender conscience eats only vegetables, avoiding meat that might have been offered to idols or be ceremonially unclean.
3 The one who eats all foods is not to look down on or hold in contempt the one who does not eat certain foods, and the one who abstains from certain foods is not to judge or condemn the one who eats freely, for God has received that person into His family.
4 Who are you to judge and pass a verdict on another person's household servant who belongs to someone else? To his own master alone he stands approved or falls in condemnation. And he will stand approved, for the Lord his Master is powerful enough to make him stand.
Freedom and Conviction in Disputable Matters
5 One person considers one day—perhaps the Sabbath or Jewish holy days—to be more sacred and important than another day, but another person considers every day equally important and sacred. Let each person be fully convinced in his own mind and conscience about what he believes.
6 The one who observes a special day as sacred, does so to honour the Lord. And the one who eats all foods, eats to the Lord's glory, for he gives thanks to God for the food. And the one who abstains from certain foods, refrains to the Lord's honour, and he also gives thanks to God.
7 For none of us lives to himself for his own purposes, and none of us dies to himself alone. Our lives do not belong to ourselves.
8 For if we live, we live to the Lord and for His glory, and if we die, we die to the Lord and for His purposes. Therefore, whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord as His possession.
9 For this very purpose Christ died and returned to life again, that He might be Lord, Master, and sovereign both over the dead and over the living—over all people in every condition.
The Coming Judgment
10 But you, why do you judge and condemn your brother or sister in Christ? Or you also, why do you look down on and hold your brother in contempt? For we will all stand without exception before the judgment seat of God to give account.
11 For it stands written in Scripture:
"As surely as I live, declares the Lord,
every knee will bow down before Me in acknowledgment,
and every tongue will confess and give praise to God."*
12 So then, each one of us will give a personal account and answer for himself to God concerning his own life and actions.
Not Causing Others to Stumble
13 Therefore, let us no longer judge and condemn one another in these disputable matters, but instead make this judgment and resolution: not to put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister that would cause them to fall into sin.
14 I know with certainty, and am fully convinced in union with the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself by its very nature, except to the person who considers something to be unclean; to that person, because of his conscience, it is unclean and defiling.
15 For if because of the food you eat, your brother or sister is grieved, hurt, and caused spiritual distress, you are no longer conducting yourself according to the principle of love. Do not destroy with your food choices that person for whom Christ died and gave His life.
16 Therefore, do not let your good gift of freedom be slandered as evil by those who are offended.
17 For the kingdom of God—what truly matters in God's rule and realm—is not a matter of eating and drinking, but rather consists of righteousness, peace, and joy that come through the Holy Spirit's work.
18 For the person who serves Christ in this way—pursuing righteousness, peace, and joy rather than insisting on personal freedom—is acceptable to God and gains approval from other people.
Pursuing Peace and Edification
19 So then, let us eagerly pursue the things which make for peace, harmony, and mutual understanding, and the things which contribute to the building up of one another.
20 Do not tear down the work of God—a believer's faith and spiritual progress—for the sake of food and personal freedom. All foods are clean and permissible in themselves, but it becomes evil and wrong for the person who eats with the result of causing another believer to stumble into sin or violate their conscience.
21 It is good, noble, and right not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything by which your brother or sister stumbles, is offended, or is made spiritually weak.
22 The faith and conviction that you have regarding your freedom in these matters, keep it between yourself and God—hold it in the presence of God without flaunting it. Blessed is the person who does not condemn himself by approving and doing something his conscience questions.
23 But the person who has doubts and is uncertain is condemned and judged guilty if he eats anyway, because his eating is not proceeding from faith and conviction; and whatever is not from faith and a clear conscience is sin.
Notes
11 Quoted from Is. 45:23
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ROM 14: AFINT
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
ROM 14
14
Tolerance Over Disputable Opinions
1 Now receive into your fellowship the person who is weak in faith—whose conscience is overly scrupulous about matters of Christian freedom—but not for the purpose of quarrelling over and passing judgment on disputable matters and opinions where Scripture is not explicit.
2 One believer has faith that he may eat all kinds of food without restriction, but the person who is weak in faith and has a tender conscience eats only vegetables, avoiding meat that might have been offered to idols or be ceremonially unclean.
3 The one who eats all foods is not to look down on or hold in contempt the one who does not eat certain foods, and the one who abstains from certain foods is not to judge or condemn the one who eats freely, for God has received that person into His family.
4 Who are you to judge and pass a verdict on another person's household servant who belongs to someone else? To his own master alone he stands approved or falls in condemnation. And he will stand approved, for the Lord his Master is powerful enough to make him stand.
Freedom and Conviction in Disputable Matters
5 One person considers one day—perhaps the Sabbath or Jewish holy days—to be more sacred and important than another day, but another person considers every day equally important and sacred. Let each person be fully convinced in his own mind and conscience about what he believes.
6 The one who observes a special day as sacred, does so to honour the Lord. And the one who eats all foods, eats to the Lord's glory, for he gives thanks to God for the food. And the one who abstains from certain foods, refrains to the Lord's honour, and he also gives thanks to God.
7 For none of us lives to himself for his own purposes, and none of us dies to himself alone. Our lives do not belong to ourselves.
8 For if we live, we live to the Lord and for His glory, and if we die, we die to the Lord and for His purposes. Therefore, whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord as His possession.
9 For this very purpose Christ died and returned to life again, that He might be Lord, Master, and sovereign both over the dead and over the living—over all people in every condition.
The Coming Judgment
10 But you, why do you judge and condemn your brother or sister in Christ? Or you also, why do you look down on and hold your brother in contempt? For we will all stand without exception before the judgment seat of God to give account.
11 For it stands written in Scripture:
"As surely as I live, declares the Lord,
every knee will bow down before Me in acknowledgment,
and every tongue will confess and give praise to God."*
12 So then, each one of us will give a personal account and answer for himself to God concerning his own life and actions.
Not Causing Others to Stumble
13 Therefore, let us no longer judge and condemn one another in these disputable matters, but instead make this judgment and resolution: not to put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister that would cause them to fall into sin.
14 I know with certainty, and am fully convinced in union with the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself by its very nature, except to the person who considers something to be unclean; to that person, because of his conscience, it is unclean and defiling.
15 For if because of the food you eat, your brother or sister is grieved, hurt, and caused spiritual distress, you are no longer conducting yourself according to the principle of love. Do not destroy with your food choices that person for whom Christ died and gave His life.
16 Therefore, do not let your good gift of freedom be slandered as evil by those who are offended.
17 For the kingdom of God—what truly matters in God's rule and realm—is not a matter of eating and drinking, but rather consists of righteousness, peace, and joy that come through the Holy Spirit's work.
18 For the person who serves Christ in this way—pursuing righteousness, peace, and joy rather than insisting on personal freedom—is acceptable to God and gains approval from other people.
Pursuing Peace and Edification
19 So then, let us eagerly pursue the things which make for peace, harmony, and mutual understanding, and the things which contribute to the building up of one another.
20 Do not tear down the work of God—a believer's faith and spiritual progress—for the sake of food and personal freedom. All foods are clean and permissible in themselves, but it becomes evil and wrong for the person who eats with the result of causing another believer to stumble into sin or violate their conscience.
21 It is good, noble, and right not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything by which your brother or sister stumbles, is offended, or is made spiritually weak.
22 The faith and conviction that you have regarding your freedom in these matters, keep it between yourself and God—hold it in the presence of God without flaunting it. Blessed is the person who does not condemn himself by approving and doing something his conscience questions.
23 But the person who has doubts and is uncertain is condemned and judged guilty if he eats anyway, because his eating is not proceeding from faith and conviction; and whatever is not from faith and a clear conscience is sin.
Notes
11 Quoted from Is. 45:23
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).