Dual PanelExhortation to Mutual Forbearance
1Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions.
2One person believes in eating everything, but the weak person eats only vegetables.
3The one who eats everything must not despise the one who does not, and the one who abstains must not judge the one who eats everything, for God has accepted him.
4Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. Each must be fully convinced in his own mind.
6The one who observes the day does it for the Lord. The one who eats, eats for the Lord because he gives thanks to God, and the one who abstains from eating abstains for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.
7For none of us lives for himself and none dies for himself.
8If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
9For this reason Christ died and returned to life, so that he may be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10But you who eat vegetables only – why do you judge your brother or sister? And you who eat everything – why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
11For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.”
12Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Exhortation for the Strong not to Destroy the Weak
13Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister.
14I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean.
15For if your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy by your food someone for whom Christ died.
16Therefore do not let what you consider good be spoken of as evil.
17For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
18For the one who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by people.
19So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for building up one another.
20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat.
21It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
22The faith you have, keep to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not judge himself by what he approves.
23But the man who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin.