“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.”
It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to stumble." — Kalon (noble, excellent) to mē phagein (not eat) meat and mē piein (not drink) wine and mē ti (nothing) that causes your brother to proskoptō (stumble, be offended). This is the strongest form of love: voluntary renunciation of adiaphora (indifferent matters) to protect the weak.
Church Fathers on Romans 14:21
“It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak.” Again, he requires the greater alternative, that they should not only not force him, but even condescend to him. For he often did this himself also, as when he circumcised Acts 16:3, when he was shorn Acts 18:18, when he sacrificed that Jewish sacrifice. Acts 21:26. And he does not say to the man “do so,” but he states it in the form of a…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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