Chapter X: Duties to the Weak, Etc

1 [14:1]RECEIVE the weak in faith, not to doubtful reasonings. [14:2]For one has faith to eat all things, but he that is weak eats vegetables. [14:3]Let not him that eats despise him that eats not; and let not him that eats not judge him that eats; for God has accepted him. [14:4]Who are you that judge another man's servant? To his master he stands or falls; and he shall be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

2 [14:5]One judges one day to be better than another, but another judges every day [to be alike]. Let each one be fully persuaded in his mind. [14:6]He that observes the day observes it to the Lord, and he that observes not the day observes it not to the Lord. And he that eats eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he that eats not eats not to the Lord, and gives God thanks. [14:7] For no one of us lives for himself; and no one dies for himself; [14:8]for if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; whether therefore we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord's. [14:9]For this end Christ died and lived again, that he might exercise lordship over the dead and living. [14:10]But why do you judge your brother? why do you set at nought your brother? for we must all stand at the tribunal of God. [14:11]For it is written, [As] I live, says the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess to God. [14:12]Each of us therefore shall give account of himself to God.

3 [14:13]Let us not therefore judge one another, but judge this rather, not to place a stumbling-block or an offense before a brother. [14:14]I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is defiled in itself, except to him that thinks any thing to be defiled; to him it is defiled. [14:15]For if your brother is grieved by your food, you no longer walk in love. Destroy not with your food him for whom Christ died. [14:16]Let not your good therefore be injuriously spoken of. [14:17]For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; [14:18]for he that in this serves Christ is well pleasing to God and approved by men. [14:19]Let us therefore pursue the things of peace and those which edify one another. [14:20]On account of food destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure, but evil is to the man that eats with offense; [14:21]it is good not to eat meat nor drink wine, nor [do] any thing by which your brother stumbles. [14:22]You have faith; have it for yourself before God, Blessed is he that condemns not himself in what he approves; [14:23]but he that doubts is condemned if he eats, because it is not of faith; and every thing which is not of faith is sin.

4 [15:1]And we, the strong, ought to bear the infirmities of those who are not strong, and not to please ourselves. [15:2]Let us each please our neighbor in that which is good for edification; [15:3]for Christ also pleased not himself, but, as it is written, The reproaches of those that reproached thee fell on me. [15:4]For those things which were written before were written for our instruction, that through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures we may have hope. [15:5]And the God of patience and consolation grant you to have the same mind one to another, according to Christ Jesus, [15:6]that being of one mind you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mouth.

5 [15:7]Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also received you to the glory of God. [15:8]For I say that Christ was made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers, [15:9]and that the nations should glorify God for mercy; as it is written, For this cause will I praise thee among nations, and sing to thy name. [15:10]And again he says, Rejoice nations with his people. [15:11]And again, Praise the Lord, all nations, and let all peoples praise him. [15:12]And again, Isaiah says, There shall be a root of Jesse and he shall stand up to rule nations, in him shall nations hope. [15:13]And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

6 [15:14]And I am persuaded, my brothers, even I myself, concerning you, that you are full of kindness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another; [15:15]but I have written more boldly to you in part, to refresh your minds on account of the grace given me by God [15:16]that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the nations, administering as a priest the gospel of God, that the offering of the nations may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. [15:17]I have therefore cause of boasting in Christ Jesus in respect to things relating to God; [15:18]for I dare not to speak of what Christ has not performed by me for the obedience of the nations, by word and work, [15:19]by the power of miracles and prodigies, by the power of the Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and around as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. [15:20]And I have been anxious so to preach where Christ was not named, that I might not build on another's foundation; [15:21]but as it is written, They shall see to whom nothing was told concerning him, and they who have not heard shall understand.

7 [15:22]Wherefore I was also much hindered from coming to you; [15:23]but now having no longer a place in these regions, and having a desire to come to you for many years, [15:24]should I go to Spain I will come to you; for I hope, going by, to see you, and to be sent forward by you there, when first I am in part filled with you. [15:25]But now I am going to Jerusalem to serve the saints. [15:26]For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor of the saints at Jerusalem. [15:27]They have been pleased indeed, and their debtors they are; for if the nations have participated in their spiritual things, they ought also to serve them in things pertaining to the flesh. [15:28]Having therefore performed this, and sealed to them this service, I will go by you to Spain; [15:29]and I know that when I come to you I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. [15:30]But I exhort you by the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in prayers to God for me, [15:31]that I may be delivered from those that obey not in Judea, and that my service which is for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, [15:32]that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and be refreshed together with you. [15:33]And may the God of peace be with you all; amen.