Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
Parallel translations
- WEB Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves.
- KJV Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
- NKJV Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
- NASB The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
- NLT You may believe there’s nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right.
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
Keep your settled convictions about liberty between yourself and God; blessed is the one who has no self-condemnation in what he approves. A clear conscience before God is a gift to guard, not a banner to wave.
Overview
Paul counsels the strong to hold their faith-convictions privately before God rather than parading them in ways that wound others. The truly blessed person can act without self-reproach because his conduct aligns with his conscience and with God's approval. Liberty exercised before God in good conscience is to be cherished, but it need not be flaunted to be valid.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Jn 3:21Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,
- Rom 14:5One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
- Jas 3:13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
- Gal 6:1Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
- Rom 14:23But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that is not from faith is sin.
- Rom 14:14I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
- Rom 14:2For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.
- 2 Cor 1:12And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.
- Acts 24:16In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man.
- Rom 7:24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
- Rom 7:15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
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 14:22 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.