The Weak and the Strong

¹If someone’s faith is weak, welcome them, but not so that you can argue with them about differences of opinion.

²One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another person whose faith is weak doesn’t eat any meat, in case some of it has been offered to idols.

³A person who eats everything must not look down someone who doesn’t. A person who doesn’t eat everything must not judge someone who does. God has accepted them.

⁴Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? Whether they’re faithful or not is their own master’s concern. And they will be faithful, because the Lord is able to make them faithful.

⁵One person considers one day to be better than the rest, while another person considers every day to be just as good. Each person should be fully convinced in their own mind.

⁶Whoever treats one day as different from the rest does that to honor the Lord. Whoever eats meat does that to honor the Lord, and they give thanks to God, while whoever doesn’t eat meat does that to honor the Lord, and they too give thanks to God.

⁷We don’t live for ourselves only, and we don’t die for ourselves only.

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

⁹Christ died and came back to life in order to become the Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰So then, who are you to judge your brother or sister? Why do you act as if you’re better than they are? We will all stand before God as our judge.

¹¹It is written,

“ ‘As surely as I’m alive,’ says the Lord,

‘everyone will kneel down in front of me,

and everyone will admit that I’m God.’ ”

¹²So we will all have to answer to God for the things we’ve done.

¹³Let’s not judge each other anymore. Instead, let’s decide not to put anything in a brother or sister’s way that would make them trip and fall.

¹⁴I’m convinced, because the Lord Jesus has convinced me of this, that nothing is unclean in itself. But someone may consider a thing to be unclean. If they do, it is unclean for them.

¹⁵If what you eat makes your brother or sister upset, then you’re no longer acting in love. Don’t let what you eat destroy someone Christ died for.

¹⁶Don’t let something you know is good be spoken of as if it were evil.

¹⁷The kingdom of God isn’t about eating or drinking. It’s about doing what’s right and having peace and joy through the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Those who serve Christ in this way are pleasing to God, and people approve of them too.

¹⁹So let’s do all we can to live in peace, and let’s work hard to build one another up.

²⁰Don’t destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean. But it’s wrong to eat anything that might cause someone else to trip and fall.

²¹It’s better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else that would cause your brother or sister to fall.

²²Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the person who doesn’t feel guilty for what they do.

²³But whoever has doubts about something they might eat is guilty if they do eat it. That’s because they don’t believe that they should be eating it, and if you do something even though you don’t believe you should, that’s sin.