Romans 14:1-23 GNB
Welcome those who are weak in faith, but do not argue with them about their personal opinions. Some people's faith allows them to eat anything, but the person who is weak in the faith eats only vegetables.
Those who will eat anything are not to despise those who don't; while those who eat only vegetables are not to pass judgement on those who will eat anything; for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else's servants? It is their own Master who will decide whether they succeed or fail.
And they will succeed, because the Lord is able to make them succeed. Some people think that a certain day is more important than other days, while others think that all days are the same. We should each firmly make up our own minds. Those who think highly of a certain day do so in honour of the Lord; those who will eat anything do so in honour of the Lord, because they give thanks to God for the food.
Those who refuse to eat certain things do so in honour of the Lord, and they give thanks to God. None of us lives for himself only, none of us dies for himself only. If we live, it is for the Lord that we live, and if we die, it is for the Lord that we die. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For Christ died and rose to life in order to be the Lord of the living and of the dead.
You then, who eat only vegetables — why do you pass judgement on others? And you who eat anything — why do you despise other believers? All of us will stand before God to be judged by him. For the scripture says: “As surely as I am the living God, says the Lord, everyone will kneel before me, and everyone will confess that I am God.
” Every one of us, then, will have to give an account of ourselves to God. So then, let us stop judging one another. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make another stumble or fall into sin. My union with the Lord Jesus makes me certain that no food is of itself ritually unclean; but if a person believes that some food is unclean, then it becomes unclean for that person.
If you hurt your brother or sister because of something you eat, then you are no longer acting from love. Do not let the food that you eat ruin the person for whom Christ died! Do not let what you regard as good get a bad name. For God's Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of the righteousness, peace, and joy which the Holy Spirit gives.
And when people serve Christ in this way, they please God and are approved by others. So then, we must always aim at those things that bring peace and that help to strengthen one another. Do not, because of food, destroy what God has done. All foods may be eaten, but it is wrong to eat anything that will cause someone else to fall into sin.
The right thing to do is to keep from eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that will make your brother or sister fall. Keep what you believe about this matter, then, between yourself and God. Happy are those who do not feel guilty when they do something they judge is right! But if they have doubts about what they eat, God condemns them when they eat it, because their action is not based on faith. And anything that is not based on faith is sin.
