Romans 14

Welcome the person whose faith is weak, but not so you can argue with him about matters of opinion.

1Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

Note"Doubtful disputations" is 1611 English for arguments over disputed opinions. The Greek phrase is genuinely ambiguous and has been read two ways: do not welcome him in order to sit in judgment on his scruples, or do not welcome him into quarrels about matters of opinion. "Weak in the faith" does not mean half-hearted or a beginner; throughout this chapter it is a label for the person whose conscience will not let him treat certain foods and certain days as matters of indifference.

2One person believes he may eat anything. Another person, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

2For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

Note"Herbs" in 1611 English meant garden vegetables in general, not flavorings. Meat in a Roman city market often came from animals killed in pagan sacrifice, and it was almost never butchered according to Jewish law. A buyer usually could not tell which was which, so the safe course for a scrupulous believer was to eat no meat at all.

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

3Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.

Note"Despise" here has its older and broader sense of looking down on someone and writing him off as beneath notice, rather than actively hating him.

4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? He stands or falls in front of his own master. And he will stand, because God is able to hold him up.

4Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

NoteThe word translated "servant" is the ordinary one for a household slave, who belonged to one owner and answered to that owner alone. An outsider who corrected another man's slave was insulting the master, not the slave, and had no standing to do it. "Holden up" is simply the older form of held up.

5One person treats one day as more important than another. Another person treats every day the same. Each person should be fully convinced in his own mind.

5One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

NoteThe days at issue were most likely the weekly Sabbath, the annual Jewish festivals, and the regular fast days. Some in the Roman congregation still marked these out; others treated every day as standing on the same footing.

6The one who keeps a day as special keeps it for the Lord. The one who does not keep that day as special is also acting for the Lord. The one who eats does so for the Lord, since he thanks God for the food. The one who does not eat is also acting for the Lord, and he thanks God too.

6He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

Note"Regard" here means to treat as significant, to observe. The King James clause "and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it" is missing from the oldest surviving Greek manuscripts and is therefore absent from most modern translations, which is why the sentence is shorter in them.

7None of us lives only for himself, and none of us dies only for himself.

7For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

8If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

8For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

9This is why Christ died and came back to life: so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

9For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

Note"Revived" in 1611 English meant came back to life, so it is not a third event after dying and rising. The oldest manuscripts say simply that Christ died and lived; the King James follows later copies that read died, rose, and lived again.

10So why do you judge your brother? Or why do you treat your brother as worth nothing? We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged.

10But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Note"Set at nought" is older English for treating a person as worth nothing, counting him as zero. The "judgment seat" is the bema, the raised platform in a Greek or Roman city from which an official heard cases and delivered his verdict in public view. Many early manuscripts read "the judgment seat of God" here rather than "of Christ," which is why translations differ at this point. "Brother" throughout the chapter means a fellow member of the congregation, male or female, not a blood relative.

11For the Scripture says, "As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will openly acknowledge God."

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

NoteThe quotation is from Isaiah 45:23, opening with "As I live," the standard formula for an oath sworn by God in the Hebrew scriptures. "Confess" here does not mean admitting a fault; it means declaring something openly, saying out loud in public who God is.

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

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

13So let us stop judging one another. Instead, decide this: never put anything in your brother's path that makes him trip or fall.

13Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.

NoteTwo images from the same world stand behind this verse. A "stumblingblock" is something left lying in a path that a walker trips over. "An occasion to fall" translates a word that originally named the baited trigger stick of a trap. The verse also turns on a play on one word: stop judging each other, and instead judge, that is, decide, this one thing.

14I know, and the Lord Jesus has convinced me, that no food is unclean in itself. But if a person believes something is unclean, then for him it is unclean.

14I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

Note"Unclean" translates a word that literally means common or ordinary. In Jewish usage it was a technical term for food that was not fit for God's people to eat, a question of ritual status rather than of dirt or spoilage.

15But if your brother is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not let your food destroy someone Christ died for.

15But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

Note"Meat" in the King James means food of any kind, not flesh in particular. "Charitably" uses charity in its 1611 sense of love, so to walk charitably is to conduct yourself in love; it has nothing to do with giving to the poor. "Grieved" here means distressed or pained, not bereaved.

16So do not let the good thing you have become something people speak about as evil.

16Let not then your good be evil spoken of:

NoteThe Greek does not say what "your good" refers to, and readers have taken it as the believer's own freedom to eat, as the gospel itself, or as the shared life of the congregation. "Evil spoken of" translates the verb behind the English word blaspheme, which in everyday Greek meant simply to slander someone or speak abusively of them.

17For the kingdom of God is not about food and drink. It is about doing what is right, living at peace, and having the joy the Holy Spirit gives.

17For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Note"Meat and drink" again means food and drink in general. "Holy Ghost" is not a different being from the Holy Spirit: ghost in 1611 English meant spirit, and the King James translators used the two words interchangeably.

18Anyone who serves Christ in this way pleases God and is respected by other people.

18For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

19So let us go after the things that lead to peace and the things that build each other up.

19Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

Note"Edify" comes from the Latin for putting up a building. To edify someone is to build him up, and the picture behind the word is of a congregation as a structure under construction.

20Do not tear down God's work for the sake of food. All foods really are clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat in a way that makes someone else fall.

20For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.

Note"Meat" here again means food of any kind. The last clause is compressed in the Greek and can be read two ways: as a warning to the person who eats while his own conscience objects, or as a warning to the person whose eating trips somebody else up. Translations divide over which is meant.

21It is good not to eat meat, not to drink wine, and not to do anything else that makes your brother stumble, or upsets him, or weakens him.

21It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

Note"Flesh" means the meat of animals, its normal sense in 1611. Meat and wine are paired because both were routinely tied to pagan worship: portions of a sacrificed animal were sold on for food, and wine was poured out as an offering to a god before the rest was drunk.

22Do you have a settled belief about these things? Then keep it between yourself and God. The person who can allow himself to do something without condemning himself for it is happy.

22Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

Note"Alloweth" in 1611 English meant approved of or gave sanction to, a stronger word than merely permitted. "Happy" translates a word usually rendered blessed, meaning fortunate or well placed rather than cheerful. The opening words can also be punctuated as a statement rather than a question: the faith you have, keep to yourself before God.

23But the person who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because he is not eating out of faith. And anything that does not come from faith is sin.

23And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Note"Damned" in 1611 English meant condemned or found guilty at a trial; it had not yet narrowed to mean sentenced to hell. "Faith" in this verse keeps the sense it has carried since verse 1, a settled confidence that one is free to act, rather than belief in God in general.