1 Receive one who is weak in the
faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.
2 For one believes he may eat all
things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
3 Let not him who eats despise him
who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God
has received him. 4 Who are you to
judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will
be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
5 One person esteems one day
above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully
convinced in his own mind. 6 He who
observes the day, observes it to the Lord;[a]
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; and he who does not eat,
to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
7 For none of us lives to himself,
and no one dies to himself. 8 For if
we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore,
whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
9 For to this end Christ died and rose[b]
and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 But why do you judge your
brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ.[c]
11 For it is written:
“ As I live, says the LORD,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”[d]
12 So then each of us shall give
account of himself to God. 13
Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to
put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.
14 I know and am convinced by the
Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who
considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
15 Yet if your brother is grieved
because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy
with your food the one for whom Christ died.
16 Therefore do not let your good be
spoken of as evil; 17 for the
kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who
serves Christ in these things[e]is
acceptable to God and approved by men.
19 Therefore let us pursue the
things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify
another. 20 Do not destroy the work
of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is
evil for the man who eats with offense. 21
It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by
which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.[f]
22 Do you have faith?[g]
Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn
himself in what he approves. 23 But
he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat
from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.[h]