Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the person who eats and causes offense.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.
- KJV For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
- BSB Do 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.
- NKJV Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense.
- NLT Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Do not tear down God's work for the sake of food; all foods are clean, but it is wrong to eat in a way that makes a brother stumble. People matter infinitely more than the freedom to eat.
Overview
God's 'work' is the believer or the church He is building, which must not be wrecked over something as trivial as food. Paul reaffirms that all foods are clean, yet insists that exercising that liberty so as to cause a brother to sin is evil. The principle is consistent: objective freedom yields to the higher law of love and the preservation of God's people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rom 14:14–15I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
- Matt 18:6but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.
- Titus 1:15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
- Acts 10:15A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.”
- 1 Cor 10:31–33Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
- 1 Cor 6:12–13“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything.
- Rom 14:21It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
- 1 Tim 4:3–5forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
- Matt 15:11That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
- Eph 2:10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
- 1 Cor 8:8–13But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.
- Phil 1:6being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 14:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.