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Romans 14

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1 Τὸν δὲ ἀσθενοῦντα τῇ πίστει προσλαμβάνεσθε, μὴ εἰς διακρίσεις διαλογισμῶν. 2 ὃς μὲν πιστεύει φαγεῖν πάντα, ὁ δὲ ἀσθενῶν λάχανα ἐσθίει. 3 ὁ ἐσθίων τὸν μὴ ἐσθίοντα μὴ ἐξουθενείτω, ὁ δὲ μὴ ἐσθίων τὸν ἐσθίοντα μὴ κρινέτω, ὁ θεὸς γὰρ αὐτὸν προσελάβετο. 4 σὺ τίς εἶ ὁ κρίνων ἀλλότριον οἰκέτην; τῷ ἰδίῳ κυρίῳ στήκει ἢ πίπτει: σταθήσεται δέ, δυνατεῖ γὰρ ὁ κύριος στῆσαι αὐτόν. 5 ὃς μὲν γὰρ κρίνει ἡμέραν παρ' ἡμέραν, ὃς δὲ κρίνει πᾶσαν ἡμέραν: ἕκαστος ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ νοῒ πληροφορείσθω. 6 ὁ φρονῶν τὴν ἡμέραν κυρίῳ φρονεῖ: καὶ ὁ ἐσθίων κυρίῳ ἐσθίει, εὐχαριστεῖ γὰρ τῷ θεῷ: καὶ ὁ μὴ ἐσθίων κυρίῳ οὐκ ἐσθίει, καὶ εὐχαριστεῖ τῷ θεῷ. 7 οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἡμῶν ἑαυτῷ ζῇ, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἑαυτῷ ἀποθνῄσκει: 8 ἐάν τε γὰρ ζῶμεν, τῷ κυρίῳ ζῶμεν, ἐάν τε ἀποθνῄσκωμεν, τῷ κυρίῳ ἀποθνῄσκομεν. ἐάν τε οὖν ζῶμεν ἐάν τε ἀποθνῄσκωμεν, τοῦ κυρίου ἐσμέν. 9 εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἔζησεν ἵνα καὶ νεκρῶν καὶ ζώντων κυριεύσῃ. 10 σὺ δὲ τί κρίνεις τὸν ἀδελφόν σου; ἢ καὶ σὺ τί ἐξουθενεῖς τὸν ἀδελφόν σου; πάντες γὰρ παραστησόμεθα τῷ βήματι τοῦ θεοῦ: 11 γέγραπται γάρ, ζῶ ἐγώ, λέγει κύριος, ὅτι ἐμοὶ κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ, καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ θεῷ. 12 ἄρα οὖν ἕκαστος ἡμῶν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ λόγον δώσει τῷ θεῷ. 13 Μηκέτι οὖν ἀλλήλους κρίνωμεν: ἀλλὰ τοῦτο κρίνατε μᾶλλον, τὸ μὴ τιθέναι πρόσκομμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ ἢ σκάνδαλον.

1 Find room among you for a man of over-delicate conscience, without arguing about his scruples.[1] 2 Another man can, in conscience, eat what he will; one who is scrupulous must be content with vegetable fare.[2] 3 Let not the first, over his meat, mock at him who does not eat it, or the second, while he abstains, pass judgement on him who eats it. God, after all, has found room for him. 4 Who art thou, to pass judgement on the servant of another? Whether he keeps his feet or falls,[3] concerns none but his master. And keep his feet he will; God is well able to give him a sure footing. 5 One man makes a distinction between this day and that; another regards all days alike; let either rest fully content in his own opinion.[4] 6 He who observes the day, observes it in the Lord’s honour. Just so, he who eats does so in the Lord’s honour; he gives thanks to God for it; and he who abstains from eating abstains in the Lord’s honour, and he too thanks God. 7 None of us lives as his own master, and none of us dies as his own master. 8 While we live, we live as the Lord’s servants, when we die, we die as the Lord’s servants; in life and in death, we belong to the Lord. 9 That was why Christ died and lived again; he would be Lord both of the dead and of the living. 10 And who art thou, to pass judgement on thy brother? Who art thou, to mock at thy brother? We shall all stand, one day, before the judgement-seat of Christ; 11 (so we read in scripture, As I live, says the Lord, there is no knee but shall bend before me, no tongue but shall pay homage to God);[5] 12 and so each of us will have to give an account of himself before God. 13 Let us cease, then, to lay down rules for one another, and make this rule for ourselves instead, not to trip up or entangle a brother’s conscience.

1 Infirmum autem in fide assumite, non in disceptationibus cogitationum. 2 Alius enim credit se manducare omnia: qui autem infirmus est, olus manducet. 3 Is qui manducat, non manducantem non spernat: et qui non manducat, manducantem non judicet: Deus enim illum assumpsit. 4 Tu quis es, qui judicas alienum servum? domino suo stat, aut cadit: stabit autem: potens est enim Deus statuere illum. 5 Nam alius judicat diem inter diem: alius autem judicat omnem diem: unusquisque in suo sensu abundet. 6 Qui sapit diem, Domino sapit, et qui manducat, Domino manducat: gratias enim agit Deo. Et qui non manducat, Domino non manducat, et gratias agit Deo. 7 Nemo enim nostrum sibi vivit, et nemo sibi moritur. 8 Sive enim vivemus, Domino vivimus: sive morimur, Domino morimur. Sive ergo vivimus, sive morimur, Domini sumus. 9 In hoc enim Christus mortuus est, et resurrexit: ut et mortuorum et vivorum dominetur. 10 Tu autem quid judicas fratrem tuum? aut tu quare spernis fratrem tuum? omnes enim stabimus ante tribunal Christi. 11 Scriptum est enim: Vivo ego, dicit Dominus, quoniam mihi flectetur omne genu: et omnis lingua confitebitur Deo. 12 Itaque unusquisque nostrum pro se rationem reddet Deo. 13 Non ergo amplius invicem judicemus: sed hoc judicate magis, ne ponatis offendiculum fratri, vel scandalum.

14 οἶδα καὶ πέπεισμαι ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ ὅτι οὐδὲν κοινὸν δι' ἑαυτοῦ: εἰ μὴ τῷ λογιζομένῳ τι κοινὸν εἶναι, ἐκείνῳ κοινόν. 15 εἰ γὰρ διὰ βρῶμα ὁ ἀδελφός σου λυπεῖται, οὐκέτι κατὰ ἀγάπην περιπατεῖς. μὴ τῷ βρώματί σου ἐκεῖνον ἀπόλλυε ὑπὲρ οὗ Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν. 16 μὴ βλασφημείσθω οὖν ὑμῶν τὸ ἀγαθόν. 17 οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ βρῶσις καὶ πόσις, ἀλλὰ δικαιοσύνη καὶ εἰρήνη καὶ χαρὰ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ: 18 ὁ γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ δουλεύων τῷ Χριστῷ εὐάρεστος τῷ θεῷ καὶ δόκιμος τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. 19 ἄρα οὖν τὰ τῆς εἰρήνης διώκωμεν καὶ τὰ τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τῆς εἰς ἀλλήλους: 20 μὴ ἕνεκεν βρώματος κατάλυε τὸ ἔργον τοῦ θεοῦ. πάντα μὲν καθαρά, ἀλλὰ κακὸν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ διὰ προσκόμματος ἐσθίοντι. 21 καλὸν τὸ μὴ φαγεῖν κρέα μηδὲ πιεῖν οἶνον μηδὲ ἐν ᾧ ὁ ἀδελφός σου προσκόπτει. 22 σὺ πίστιν ἣν ἔχεις κατὰ σεαυτὸν ἔχε ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ. μακάριος ὁ μὴ κρίνων ἑαυτὸν ἐν ᾧ δοκιμάζει: 23 ὁ δὲ διακρινόμενος ἐὰν φάγῃ κατακέκριται, ὅτι οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως: πᾶν δὲ ὃ οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως ἁμαρτία ἐστίν.

14 This is my assurance, this is what my conscience tells me in the name of our Lord Jesus, that there is nothing which is unclean in itself; it is only when a man believes a thing to be unclean that it becomes unclean for him.[6] 15 And if thy brother’s peace of mind is disturbed over food, it is because thou art neglecting to follow the rule of charity. Here is a soul for which Christ died; it is not for thee to bring it to perdition with the food thou eatest. 16 We must not allow that which is a good thing for us to be brought into disrepute.[7] 17 The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking this or that; it means rightness of heart, finding our peace and our joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Such is the badge of Christ’s service which wins acceptance with God, and the good opinion of our fellow men. 19 Let our aim, then, be peace, and strengthening one another’s faith. 20 It is not for thee to destroy God’s work for the sake of a mouthful of food. Nothing is unclean; yet it goes ill with the man who eats to the hurt of his own conscience. 21 Thou dost well if thou refusest to eat meat, or to drink wine, or to do anything in which thy brother can find an occasion of sin, a cause for scandal or scruple.[8] 22 Thou hast a good conscience? Keep it a matter between thyself and God; he is fortunate, who can make his own choice without self-questioning. 23 He who hesitates, and eats none the less, is self-condemned; he acts in bad conscience, and wherever there is bad conscience, there is sin.[9]

14 Scio, et confido in Domino Jesu, quia nihil commune per ipsum, nisi ei qui existimat quid commune esset, illi commune est. 15 Si enim propter cibum frater tuus contristatur, jam non secundum caritatem ambulas. Noli cibo tuo illum perdere, pro quo Christus mortuus est. 16 Non ergo blasphemetur bonum nostrum. 17 Non est enim regnum Dei esca et potus: sed justitia, et pax, et gaudium in Spiritu Sancto: 18 qui enim in hoc servit Christo, placet Deo, et probatus est hominibus. 19 Itaque quæ pacis sunt, sectemur: et quæ ædificationis sunt, in invicem custodiamus. 20 Noli propter escam destruere opus Dei, omnia quidem sunt munda: sed malum est homini, qui per offendiculum manducat. 21 Bonum est non manducare carnem, et non bibere vinum, neque in quo frater tuus offenditur, aut scandalizatur, aut infirmatur. 22 Tu fidem habes? penes temetipsum habe coram Deo. Beatus qui non judicat semetipsum in eo quod probat. 23 Qui autem discernit, si manducaverit, damnatus est: quia non ex fide. Omne autem, quod non est ex fide, peccatum est.

[1] ‘A man of over-delicate conscience’; literally, one who is ‘weak in faith’. But the context of this whole chapter makes it clear that St Paul is using the word ‘faith’ in a special sense, corresponding to what we mean by ‘conscience’. Accordingly, the word ‘weak’ must be interpreted in the sense which St Paul sometimes gives it, of ‘scrupulous’, ‘easily scandalized’, cf. II Cor. 11.29.

[2] The close connexion between this and the chapter which follows is proof that St Paul is still dealing with disputes between Jewish and Gentile converts, as such. It is clear, then, that the weaker brother who refuses to eat meat does so, not on any vegetarian principles (since the ordinary Jew had none), but either (i) because the meat put before him has not been killed in the Jewish fashion (cf. Ac. 15.20), or (ii) because he is afraid that the meat put before him may have been offered in sacrifice to idols (cf. I Cor. 10.25, and 8 throughout).

[3] ‘Falls’; that is, incurs condemnation, as in I Cor. 10.12.

[4] This evidently refers to the keeping of certain Jewish festivals and fasts, which were not enjoined upon Gentile Christians. ‘Rest fully content in his own opinion’; the Greek may also mean, ‘have a clear conviction in his own mind’.

[5] Is. 45.23.

[6] Verses 14 and following: St Paul here forbids the Gentile Christians to exercise any kind of pressure upon their Jewish brethren, over food, etc., which would cause them to act against their own conscience out of human respect. It is not clear that he meant the Gentiles to abstain from food which they thought lawful, for fear of scandalizing Jewish Christians who might be watching.

[7] ‘That which is a good thing for us’; namely, freedom from scruple in matters of food and drink. This is St Anselm’s interpretation; others have understood the words ‘our good thing’ as referring to the Christian faith generally.

[8] This is more likely to be a general assertion of the importance of avoiding scandal (cf. I Cor. 8.13) than a direction given to the Roman Christians in these special circumstances.

[9] ‘Wherever there is bad conscience, there is sin’; literally, ‘Whatever does not proceed from faith, is sin’. This has been understood by many writers from St Augustine onwards as meaning that all the actions of the heathen have the nature of sin. But such an interpretation is quite wide of the present context; it is plain that here, as in the rest of the chapter, St Paul uses the word ‘faith’ where we should use the word ‘conscience’.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd