Rom 14 | 20C | STEP | As for those whose faith is weak, always receive them as friends, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on their scruples.

‏ Romans 14

1 As for those whose faith is weak, always receive them as friends, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on their scruples. 2 One man’s faith permits of his eating food of all kinds, while another whose faith is weak eats only vegetable food. 3 The man who eats meat must not despise the man who abstains from it; nor must the man who abstains from eating meat pass judgment on the one who eats it, for God himself has received him. 4 Who are you, that you should pass judgment on the servant of another? His standing or falling concerns his own master. And stand he will, for his Master can enable him to stand. 5 Again, one man considers some days to be more sacred than others, while another considers all days to be alike. Every one ought to be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes a day, observes it to the Master’s honour. He, again, who eats meat eats it to the Master’s honour, for he gives thanks to God; while he who abstains from it abstains from it to the Master’s honour, and also gives thanks to God. 7 There is not one of us whose life concerns himself alone, and not one of us whose death concerns himself alone; 8 for, if we live, our life is for the Master, and, if we die, our death is for the Master. Whether, then, we live or die we belong to the Master. 9 The very purpose for which Christ died and came back to life was this — that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living. 10 I would ask the one man ‘Why do you judge your Brother?’ And I would ask the other ‘Why do you despise your Brother?’ For we shall all stand before the Bar of God. 11 For Scripture says — ‘“As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “every knee shall bend before me; and every tongue shall make acknowledgment to God.”’ 12 So, then, each one of us will have to render account of himself to God.

13 Let us, then, cease to judge one another. Rather let this be your resolve — never to place a stumbling-block or an obstacle in a Brother’s way. 14 Through my union with the Lord Jesus, I know and am persuaded that nothing is ‘defiling in itself.’ A thing is ‘defiling’ only to him who holds it to be so. 15 If, for the sake of what you eat, you wound your Brother’s feelings, your life has ceased to be ruled by love. Do not, by what you eat, ruin a man for whom Christ died! 16 Do not let what is right for you become a matter of reproach. 17 For the Kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and gladness through the presence of the Holy Spirit. 18 He who serves the Christ in this way pleases God, and wins the approval of his fellow men. 19 Therefore our efforts should be directed towards all that makes for peace and the mutual building up of character. 20 Do not undo God’s work for the sake of what you eat. Though everything is ‘clean,’ yet, if a man eats so as to put a stumbling-block in the way of others, he does wrong. 21 The right course is to abstain from meat or wine or, indeed, anything that is a stumbling-block to your Brother. 22 As for yourself — keep this faith of yours to yourself, as in the presence of God. Happy is he who never has to condemn himself in regard to the very thing which he thinks right! He, however, who has misgivings stands condemned if he still eats, because his doing so is not the result of faith. And anything not done as the result of faith is a sin.