Romans 14
The strong and weak in faith must receive one another without passing judgment on disputable matters: the weak eat only vegetables while the strong eat everything; one regards certain days as holy while another regards every day alike—each must be fully persuaded in their own mind, not to please themselves but to live for the Lord. The strong must not despise the weak, nor the weak judge the strong, for each will give an account of themselves to God, not to others; Christ is Lord of the living and the dead, and all will stand before the judgment seat of God. The law of love supersedes the law of food: if your food causes your brother to stumble, do not eat it, for it is better not to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, and whatever does not come from conviction (faith) is sin. The kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; the one who serves Christ in these matters is acceptable to God and approved by human beings. Paul thus transforms the weak-strong dispute from an issue of knowledge and principle into an issue of love and conscience, making communal peace and the edification of one another the criterion of acceptable conduct, grounded not in dietary law but in the conscience informed by faith in Christ.
Romans 14:1
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. — Proslambano (receive, take to oneself) the one with weak pistis (faith, conviction) emphasizes community acceptance despite disagreement. Dialogismoi (disputable matters, reasonings, possibly regarding food laws and holy days) should not trigger diakrisis (division, judging). The strong are called to extend welcome despite doctrinal distance.
Romans 14:2
One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. — The strong (ischyro, mighty) eats panta (all things); the weak (asthenes, infirm, powerless in conviction) abstains to vegetables only. The historical context suggests Jewish dietary laws or pagan idol-meat scruples. The difference marks epistemological divide: the weak see danger; the strong see freedom.
Romans 14:3
The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. — Exouthenizo (treat with contempt, regard as nothing) and krino (judge, separate, condemn) are both forbidden. God's proslēpsis (reception, acceptance) of both proves both have standing. Neither side owns authority to judge the other's conscience.
Romans 14:4
Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, they stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. — The rhetorical shift: oikeios doulos (household servant) is answerable to their own kyrios (master), not to fellow servants. God is Lord (kyrios) of both strong and weak. Stēmi (stand) twice emphasizes steadiness before the ultimate judge. God's power (dunatos) ensures standing.