Romanos 14
1 Infirmum autem in fide assumite, non in disceptationibus cogitationum.
As for those whose faith is weak, always receive them as friends, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on their scruples.
2 Alius enim credit se manducare omnia: qui autem infirmus est, olus manducet.
One person’s faith permits them to eat food of all kinds, while another whose faith is weak eats only vegetable food.
3 Is, qui manducat, non manducantem non spernat: et qui non manducat, manducantem non iudicet: Deus enim illum assumpsit.
The person who eats meat must not despise the person who abstains from it; nor must the person who abstains from eating meat pass judgment on the one who eats it, for God himself has received them.
4 Tu quis es, qui iudicas alienum servum? Domino suo stat, aut cadit: stabit autem: potens est enim Deus statuere illum.
Who are you, that you should pass judgment on the servant of another? Their standing or falling concerns their own master. And stand they will, for their Master can enable them to stand.
5 Nam alius iudicat diem inter diem: alius autem iudicat omnem diem: unusquisque in suo sensu abundet.
Again, one person considers some days to be more sacred than others, while another considers all days to be alike. Everyone ought to be fully convinced in their own mind.
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.
The person who observes a day, observes it to the Master’s honour. They, again, who eat meat eat it to the Master’s honour, for they give thanks to God; while the person who abstains from it abstains from it to the Master’s honour, and also gives thanks to God.
7 Nemo enim nostrum sibi vivit, et nemo sibi moritur.
There is not one of us whose life concerns ourselves alone, and not one of us whose death concerns ourself alone;
8 Sive enim vivemus, Domino vivimus: sive morimur, Domino morimur. Sive ergo vivimus, sive morimur, Domini sumus.
for, if we live, our life is for the Master, and, if we die, our death is for the Master. Whether, then, we live or die we belong to the Master.
9 In hoc enim Christus mortuus est, et resurrexit: ut et mortuorum et vivorum dominetur.
The purpose for which Christ died and came back to life was this – that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.
10 Tu autem quid iudicas fratrem tuum? Aut tu quare spernis fratrem tuum? Omnes enim stabimus ante tribunal Christi.
I would ask the one “Why do you judge other followers of the Lord?” And I would ask the other “Why do you despise them?” For we will all stand before the court of God.
11 Scriptum est enim: Vivo ego, dicit Dominus, quoniam mihi flectetur omne genu: et omnis lingua confitebitur Deo.
For scripture says – “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bend before me and every tongue will praise God.’”
12 Itaque unusquisque nostrum pro se rationem reddet Deo.
So, then, each one of us will have to render account of himself to God.
13 Non ergo amplius invicem iudicemus: sed hoc iudicate magis, ne ponatis offendiculum fratri, vel scandalum.
Let us, then, cease to judge one another. Rather let this be your resolve – never to place a stumbling-block or an obstacle in the way of a fellow follower of the Lord.
14 Scio, et confido in Domino Iesu, quia nihil commune per ipsum, nisi ei qui existimat quid commune esset, illi commune est.
Through my union with the Lord Jesus, I know and am persuaded that nothing is defiling in itself. A thing is “defiling” only to the person who holds it to be so.
15 Si enim propter cibum frater tuus contristatur: iam non secundum charitatem ambulas. Noli cibo tuo illum perdere, pro quo Christus mortuus est.
If, for the sake of what you eat, you wound your fellow follower’s feelings, your life has ceased to be ruled by love. Do not, by what you eat, ruin someone for whom Christ died!
16 Non ergo blasphemetur bonum nostrum.
Do not let what is right for you become a matter of reproach.
17 Non est enim regnum Dei esca, et potus: sed iustitia, et pax, et gaudium in Spiritu Sancto:
For the kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and gladness through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
18 qui enim in hoc servit Christo, placet Deo, et probatus est hominibus.
The person who serves the Christ in this way pleases God, and wins the approval of their fellows.
19 Itaque quæ pacis sunt, sectemur: et quæ ædificationis sunt, in invicem custodiamus.
Therefore our efforts should be directed towards all that makes for peace and the mutual building up of character.
20 Noli propter escam destruere opus Dei. Omnia quidem sunt munda: sed malum est homini, qui per offendiculum manducat.
Do not undo God’s work for the sake of what you eat. Though everything is “clean,” yet, if a person eats so as to put a stumbling-block in the way of others, they do wrong.
21 Bonum est non manducare carnem, et non bibere vinum, neque in quo frater tuus offenditur, aut scandalizatur, aut infirmatur.
The right course is to abstain from meat or wine or, indeed, anything that is a stumbling-block to your fellow follower of the Lord.
22 Tu fidem habes? Penes temetipsum habe coram Deo: Beatus, qui non iudicat semetipsum in eo, quod probat.
As for yourself – keep this conviction of yours to yourself, as in the presence of God. Happy the person who never has to condemn themselves in regard to something they think right!
23 Qui autem discernit, si manducaverit, damnatus est: quia non ex fide. Omne autem, quod non est ex fide, peccatum est.
The person, however, who has misgivings stands condemned if they still eat, because their doing so is not the result of faith. And anything not done as the result of faith is a sin.
