Romans 14

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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 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."

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.