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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 14:10But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
- Col 2:16–17Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
- Luke 18:9And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
- 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.
- 1 Cor 10:29–30Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience?
- Acts 10:34Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
- Matt 18:10Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
- Acts 10:44While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
- 1 Cor 8:11–13And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
- Matt 11:18–19For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
- Rom 14:15But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
- Rom 14:21It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
- Matt 7:1–2Judge not, that ye be not judged.
- Acts 15:8–9And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
- Matt 9:14Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
- Zech 4:10For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
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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
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