Differences of Conscience

Romans 14

Now y’all need to accept the one who is weak in faith, not having disputes over opinions. One person believes in eating anything, but the weak person only eats vegetables. The one who eats everything must not despise the one who doesn’t, and the one who doesn’t eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted them. Who are you who judge another’s servant? Before their own lord, the servant stands or falls. And they will stand, for the Lord has power to make them stand.

One person regards one day as more important, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in their own mind. The one who observes the day does so to the Lord. The one who eats, eats to the Lord and gives thanks to God. The one who doesn’t eat, does so to the Lord and gives God thanks. For none of us lives for ourselves, and none dies for ourselves. 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. For this reason Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

But you, why do you judge your sibling? Or why do you despise your sibling? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written,

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow to me. Every tongue will publicly acknowledge God.’”+Isa 45:23

So then each one of us will give account of ourselves to God.

Therefore let us not judge one another anymore. Instead y’all make this judgment: never put a stumbling block or trap in the way of a sibling. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself. But if anyone considers something to be unclean, then it is unclean for them. Yet if your sibling is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Don’t destroy with your food someone for whom Christ died. Therefore don’t let what is good for y’all’s be spoken of as evil. For the Empire of God is about not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, for anyone who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by humans. So then, let us pursue things that make peace and build one another up. You must not destroy the work of God for sake of food. All things are indeed clean; however, it is evil to create a stumbling block for another human by eating. It is excellent to not eat meat, drink wine, or do anything that causes your sibling to stumble.

The faith you have, keep to yourself before God. Blessed are those who do not judge themselves by what they approve. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eats, because their eating isn’t from faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.