The law of liberty

1Receive someone who is weak in the faith, but not for disputes over arguables.

2One man has faith to eat everything, while the weak one eats only vegetables.

3One who eats must not look down on one who does not, and one who does not eat must not judge one who does, ²¹⁴because God has accepted him.

4Who are you to judge someone else's household servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And stand he will, for God has the power to make him stand. ²¹⁵

5One man esteems one day above another; another esteems everyday alike. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind. ²¹⁶

6He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. ²¹⁷And he who eats, eats to the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; while he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, also giving thanks to God.

7You see, none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.

8Because if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

9For this very reason Christ both died and rose, and lived, ²¹⁸so as to rule both dead and living. ²¹⁹

The Judgment Seat of Christ

10But you, why do you judge your brother? And you too, why do you look down on your brother? Because we will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. ²²⁰

11For it is written: “ ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall acknowledge God.’ ” ²²¹

12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another, but rather resolve this: not to put a stumbling block or pitfall in a brother's way.

14I know and have been convinced by Sovereign Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself ²²²(still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean),

15but if your brother is offended because of food, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not, with your food, ruin someone for whom Christ died.

16So do not let your good be slandered;

17because the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in Holy Spirit.

18For whoever serves the Christ in these things is satisfying to God and approved by men. ²²³

19So then, let us pursue the things that promote peace and the things by which one may edify another.

20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are ‘clean’; however it is wrong for the man who gives offence by eating.

21It is good not to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is weakened. ²²⁴

22Do you have faith? Have it privately before God. Happy is he who does not judge himself in what he approves.

23But he who eats with doubt stands condemned, because it is not from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin. ²²⁵

Doxology

24Now to Him who has power to establish you according to my Gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret through long ages,

25but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, ²²⁶according to the command of the eternal God, with a view to obedience of faith among all ethnic nations

26—to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to Him be the glory forever! Amen. ²²⁷