Montgomery - Romans - 14

14:1  Welcome a man of weak faith, but not for the purpose of deciding doubtful points.

14:2  One man has faith to eat anything; but he whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

14:3  He who eats meat must not despise the man who abstains; and let not the man who abstains judge him who eats; for God has received him.

14:4  Who are you just that judges the household-servant of another? To his own lord he stands or falls. And stand he will, for his Master has power to make him stand.

14:5  There are some who esteem one day above another; there are others who esteem all days alike; let each other be fully persuaded in his own mind.

14:6  He who regards the day, regards it unto his Lord; and he who regards it not, disregards it unto his Lord. He who eats meat, eats unto his Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who abstains, abstains unto his Lord, since he, too, gives God thanks.

14:7  For not one of us lives unto himself, and not one dies unto himself.

14:8  If we live, we live unto our Lord; if we die, we die unto our Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we belong to our Lord.

14:9  For this purpose Christ died and became alive again, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living.

14:10  But you the abstainer, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you again the non-abstainer, why do you despise yours? For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God.

14:11  For it is written, "As I live," says the Lord, "to me every knee shall bow, And to God shall every tongue confess."

14:12  So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.

14:13  So let us no longer pass judgment on one another; rather let this be your judgment, that no one put a stumbling-block in his brother’s way, nor any cause of falling.

14:14  I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is in itself unclean; but any food is "unclean" for one who considers it "unclean."

14:15  If your brother is continually pained because of your food, you are not conducting yourself any longer in love. Do not, by what you eat, persist in destroying a man for whom Christ died.

14:16  Therefore do not let what is right, so far as you are concerned, be evil spoken of.

14:17  For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

14:18  Those who are slaving for Christ devotedly in these ways, are well pleasing to God and highly commended by man.

14:19  So then let is eagerly pursue the things that make for peace and the upbuilding of each other.

14:20  Do not, for the sake of food, be tearing down God’s work. All food indeed is ceremonially clean, but a man is in the wrong if his food proves a stumbling-block.

14:21  The right course is not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything through which your brother is made to stumble.

14:22  Have you faith? Keep it to yourself as in the presence of God. He is a happy man who does not condemn himself in that which he approves.

14:23  But he who has misgivings, and yet eats meat, is condemned already, because his action is not based on faith; and whatever is not based on faith is sin.