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.
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.
- BSB It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.
- 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 8:13Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
- Rom 14:13Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
- Rom 15:1–2We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
- Matt 18:7–10Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
- Mal 2:8But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
- Luke 17:1–2Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!
- Matt 16:23But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
- Heb 12:13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
- Rev 2:14But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
- Phil 1:10That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
- Rom 14:17For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
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.