1 Accept other believers who may be weak in the faith, but do not engage in controversial disputes.
2For one person believes that he may eat anything; while another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.
3Let not him that eats anything despise him that does not; nor let him who abstains judge him that eats anything; for God has accepted them both.
4Who are you to judge the servant of another man (in this case, God)? To his own master (in this case, God), servants stand or fall. Yes, and he shall stand; for God is able to make him stand.
5One person regards one day above (more sacred than) another; while another esteems every day alike. Let each be true to his own convictions.
6Whoever regards one day as special, regards it that way unto the Lord; and he that does not, to the Lord he does not regard it. He that eats meat, eats it to the Lord; for he gives God thanks; and he that abstains, does so to the Lord, and gives God thanks.
7For none of us lives only to ourselves, and none of us dies only to ourselves.
8For if we live, we live unto the Lord; and if we die, we die unto the Lord; so whether we live, or die, we are the Lord's.
9For this very reason, Christ both died, and rose again to life, that He might be Lord of both the living and the dead.
10So why, then, do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you look down upon them? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God (Christ).
11For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to (acknowledge) God’(Isa.45:23).
12So, then, each of us shall give an account of himself to God.
13Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore; but rather, judge this: that no man put a stumbling block or an obstacle in his brother's way.
14I am convinced, being fully persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean in and of itself; but if anyone regards anything as unclean, to him, it is unclean.
15But if your brother or sister is grieved by what you are eating, then you are no longer acting in love. Do not, by what you eat, destroy (or harm) someone for whom Christ died.
16Therefore, do not then let what you believe to be good be a cause of criticism;
17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink; but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
18Because anyone who serves Christ is pleasing to God, and is deserving of your approval, also.
19Let us, therefore, pursue the things that make for peace, and by which one may edify (build up or strengthen) another.
20Do not destroy the work of God over what you eat. All things indeed are pure; but it is wrong for someone to eat what causes someone else to stumble.
21It is better not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor anything that causes another to stumble, or be offended, or made weak.
22If you have belief and convictions regarding such things, have them between yourself and God. Blessed is he that does not have reason to condemn himself by what he allows or approves.
23And whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats such things, because he is not eating out of faith; for anything that is not of faith is sin. Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
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