It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.
Parallel translations
- WEB It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
- KJV It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
- NKJV It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.
- NASB It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother or sister stumbles.
- NLT It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to 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
It is good to abstain from meat, wine, or anything that causes a brother to stumble. Voluntary self-limitation for love's sake is the mature use of liberty.
Overview
Paul commends willing restraint when our liberty would trip a fellow believer. The issue is not that meat or wine is wrong, but that love may lead us to forgo what is permitted. This mirrors Christ, who did not please Himself. Maturity is shown not in asserting every right but in gladly setting some aside for the good of others and the unity of the church.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Cor 8:13Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.
- 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 15:1–2We who are strong ought to bear with the shortcomings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
- Matt 18:7–10Woe to the world for the causes of sin. These stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!
- Mal 2:8But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Luke 17:1–2Jesus said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
- Matt 16:23But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
- Heb 12:13Make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
- Rev 2:14But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
- Phil 1:10so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
- 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 14:21 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.