The one who eats everything must not belittle the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted him.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.
- KJV Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
- NKJV Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.
- NASB The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.
- NLT Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them.
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
The free believer must not look down on the abstainer, and the abstainer must not condemn the free believer, because God has welcomed both. God's acceptance settles the matter that human judgment cannot.
Overview
Paul names the two characteristic sins: the strong despise the weak as backward, the weak judge the strong as careless. Both attitudes are forbidden because God has already accepted each one in Christ. To reject a brother God has received is to set oneself against God. The grounding is grace: acceptance rests on Christ's work, not on dietary practice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Rom 14:10Why, then, do you judge your brother? Or why do you belittle your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
- Col 2:16–17Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.
- Luke 18:9To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable:
- 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.
- 1 Cor 10:29–30the other one’s conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?
- Acts 10:34Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,
- Matt 18:10See that you do not look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven.
- Acts 10:44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard his message.
- 1 Cor 8:11–13So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
- Matt 11:18–19For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’
- Rom 14:15If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died.
- Rom 14:21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.
- Matt 7:1–2“Do not judge, or you will be judged.
- Acts 15:8–9And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.
- Matt 9:14At that time John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast so often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
- Zech 4:10For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
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 14:3 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.