Romans · 23 verses
Romans 14
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Food is clean, yet a person's eating can become a stumbling block—and the work of God can be put at risk for its sake.
The servant before his mastervv. 1–12
The chapter opens with a curious household quarrel: one person eats everything, while the one called weak eats only vegetables. Neither is permitted to sneer at the other, since each stands before a master, and the master is able to make him stand. Days divide people in the same fashion; some set one day above another, while others find every day alike. Yet eating, abstaining, observing, and overlooking are all described as acts directed to the Lord, who is Lord of both the dead and the living. The argument rises from vegetables and calendars to the judgment seat of God, where each will give an account of himself.
When clean food becomes an obstaclevv. 13–23
The dispute then turns from judging one another to obstructing one another. Nothing is unclean in itself, yet a thing regarded as unclean is unclean for that person; an entirely ordinary piece of food has acquired a startling social power. Eating can distress a brother, cause stumbling, and even destroy the work of God. The kingdom is consequently described without a menu: righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Meat and wine may be left untouched, not because they are declared foul, but because love has noticed who is standing nearby. Private conviction remains between a person and God, while eating with doubt becomes sin.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Rom 14:1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions.
Rom 14:2For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.
Rom 14:3The one who eats everything must not belittle the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted him.
Rom 14:4Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Rom 14:5One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
Rom 14:6He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; he who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Rom 14:7For none of us lives to himself alone, and none of us dies to himself alone.
Rom 14:8If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
Rom 14:9For this reason Christ died and returned to life, that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
Rom 14:10Why, then, do you judge your brother? Or why do you belittle your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
Rom 14:11It is written: “As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will confess to God.”
Rom 14:12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Rom 14:13Therefore let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
Rom 14:14I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
Rom 14:15If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died.
Rom 14:16Do not allow what you consider good, then, to be spoken of as evil.
Rom 14:17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Rom 14:18For whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
Rom 14:19So then, let us pursue what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
Rom 14:20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block.
Rom 14:21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.
Rom 14:22Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
Rom 14:23But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that is not from faith is sin.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 339 passages were voted onto 23 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 11Isaiah 45:22–25Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
- 17Matthew 6:33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
- 17Romans 15:13Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- 171 Corinthians 4:20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
- 11Philippians 2:10–11that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
- 171 Corinthians 8:8But food does not bring us closer to God: We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
- 17Galatians 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- 17Romans 8:6The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace,
- 1Romans 15:1We who are strong ought to bear with the shortcomings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
- 12Matthew 12:36But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
- 121 Peter 4:5But they will have to give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
- 171 Thessalonians 2:12encouraging you, comforting you, and urging you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
- 12Matthew 16:27For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.
- 11 Corinthians 8:7–13But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that they eat such food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
- 17John 3:3Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
- 17Philippians 3:9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.
Onward