Romans 14:15-21
14:15 For if your brother or sister
1 is distressed because of what you eat,
2 you are no longer walking in love.
3 Do not destroy by your food someone for whom Christ died.
14:16 Therefore do not let what you consider good
4 be spoken of as evil.
14:17 For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
14:18 For the one who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by people.
5
14:19 So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for building up one another.
14:20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, 6 it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat.
14:21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 7
1 tn Grk “brother.”
2 tn Grk “on account of food.”
3 tn Grk “according to love.”
4 tn Grk “do not let your good.”
5 tn Grk “by men”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is generic here (“people”) since the contrast in context is between God and humanity.
6 sn Here clean refers to food being ceremonially clean.
7 tc A large number of mss, some of them quite important (Ì46vid א2 B D F G Ψ 0209 33 1881 Ï lat sa), read “or to be offended or to be made weak” after “to stumble.” The shorter reading “to stumble” is found only in Alexandrian mss (א* A C 048 81 945 1506 1739 pc bo). Although external evidence favors inclusion, internal evidence points to a scribal expansion, perhaps reminiscent of 1 Cor 8:11-13. The shorter reading is therefore preferred.