Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions. 2One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 3Do not let him who eats despise him who does not eat. Do not let him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God1 has accepted him. 4Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.
5One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. 6He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 7For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. 8For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9For to this end AL-MASIH2 died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
10But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of AL-MASIH. 11For it is written,
“‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to GOD3.'” 4
12So then each one of us will give account of himself to God. 13Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling. 14I know, and am persuaded in the LORD ‘ISA5, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom AL-MASIH died. 16Then do not let your good be slandered, 17for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18For he who serves AL-MASIH in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up. 20Do not overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating. 21It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
22Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not judge himself in that which he approves. 23But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.
- 14:3 God, English translation of theos. It is the Greek equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew) which are related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
- 14:9 AL-MASIH – an Arabic title equivalent to the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), all of which mean the Anointed One, that is, God’s Chosen One. In ancient times, divinely-appointed kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil to signify their appointment to office. All of them point ahead to God’s ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, AL-MASIH. Al-Kitab unanimously points to ‘ISA Ibn Maryam as the only person worthy to bear the title AL-MASIH. He is the one whom God sent into this world to save people from sin, and to usher in God’s Kingdom at his Second Coming. ↩︎
- 14:11 GOD, the use of all capital letters means that the original Hebrew text quoted here uses God’s Name, YAHWEH, which God-fearing Jews to this day do not say out of respect. YAHWEH is the Name God revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.” ↩︎
- 14:11 Quoting the Taurat, Shaya 45:23-24 which says: “By myself have I sworn, the Word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear. ‘Only in YAHWEH,’ it is said of me, ‘is righteousness and strength.’ Even to him shall men come; and all those who were incensed against him shall be disappointed.” ↩︎
- 14:14 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH saves.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎