Do not judge your brother
1Welcome the one whose faith is weak, but not in order to argue over opinions. 2One person’s faith lets him eat anything; the weak one eats only vegetables. 3The one who eats must not look down on the one who does not, and the one who does not eat must not judge the one who does; God has welcomed him. 4Who are you to judge someone else’s household servant? Before his own master he stands or falls—and he will stand, for the Lord has the power to hold him up. 5One person rates one day above another; another rates every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6Whoever keeps the day keeps it for the Lord. Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat abstains for the Lord, and he too gives thanks to God. 7None of us lives for himself, and none of us dies for himself. 8If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9That is why Christ died and came to life: to be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10Then why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? We will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11For it stands written: “As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bend before me, and every tongue will give praise to God.” 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Do not trip your brother
13Let us stop judging one another. Make up your mind instead never to put a stumbling block or a trap in a brother’s way. 14I know, and I am convinced in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself; it is unclean only for the person who counts it unclean. 15If your brother is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let your food destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16Do not let what is good for you be talked about as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking; it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18Whoever serves the Christ in this way pleases God and stands the test with people. 19So let us chase after what makes for peace and what builds one another up. 20Do not tear down God’s work for the sake of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong for anyone to eat in a way that trips someone up. 21It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother stumble. 22The faith you have, keep between yourself and God. Happy is the one who does not condemn himself over what he approves. 23But whoever is in two minds is condemned if he eats, because it does not come from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
