Romans 14 explained: Getting Along When Convictions Differ

Welcome without quarreling (vv. 1-4)

Some believers ate anything, while others ate only vegetables, probably to avoid meat that broke Jewish food laws or had been offered to idols, though scholars are not certain which. Paul tells the free eaters not to look down on the others and the abstainers not to condemn the free eaters, since each is God's servant and answers to God.

Special days and belonging (vv. 5-9)

Some kept certain days as holy, most likely Jewish festivals, while others treated every day the same; interpreters differ on whether the weekly day of rest was among them. Paul says both sides can be honoring and thanking God, because believers belong to Christ whether they live or die.

God is the judge (vv. 10-12)

Paul quotes Isaiah, where every knee bows to God, to remind both sides that judging belongs to God, not to them. Each person will answer for their own life.

Do not trip each other up (vv. 13-18)

Paul is convinced no food is unclean in itself, but for someone who believes a food is wrong, eating it would mean going against their conscience. He says that using one's freedom in a way that wounds such a person is not love, because God's kingdom is about right living, peace and joy, not food and drink.

Choose what builds peace (vv. 19-21)

Paul says it is better to give up meat or wine than to lead a fellow believer to act against their conscience and fall. He ranks building each other up above any freedom about food.

Act from honest conviction (vv. 22-23)

Paul tells those who feel free to keep that conviction between themselves and God, and calls them blessed if their own choices do not trouble them. But someone who eats while doubting it is right goes against their own conscience, and Paul calls anything not done from that kind of trust a sin.

Key verse: Romans 14:13

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on how far this principle stretches, with some applying it to many modern disputes over practice and others limiting it to matters they believe the Bible clearly leaves open.

Something to think about

When someone close to you sees a matter of conscience differently than you do, what makes it hard or easy to let that difference stand without trying to win?