Romans 14:14

Plain English Version

I know for sure that our leader, Jesus, said that it’s all right to eat any sort of food. But somebody might believe that it is wrong to eat some sort of food. Then it is wrong for that person to eat it, but not for anybody else.

Cross References

Acts 10:28

He said to them, “You know, you Roman people are not Jews, and the Jewish law teachers reckon that people that aren’t Jews are no good, so a Jewish man shouldn’t go into their house. But God showed me that I can’t say that anyone is no good. He showed me that it is all right for me to visit you.

Romans 14:2

It’s like this, some people believe that God will let them eat all sorts of food, but other people are not so sure, so they only eat vegetables.

Romans 14:20

God is bringing people into his family, but if you eat something that upsets another Christian, so that they go away, you will mess up God’s work. So don’t do that. You know that there is nothing wrong with the food itself, but it is wrong for you to make another person stop believing.

Romans 14:23

But if anyone is not sure if it is right or wrong for them to eat something, then they can’t eat it. If they don’t believe that it is all right to eat, and if they eat it anyway, then God will say that they do wrong. If we don’t believe that something is all right, then it is wrong for us to do it.

1 Corinthians 10:25

So, all right, this is what you can do. You can buy food from anyone that sells it, but don’t ask them if they first gave it to one of those statues. And don’t ask yourself, “Is it all right for me to eat this food, or not?”

1 Corinthians 8:10

It’s like this. Some of you Christians know it’s all right to eat food in that place where people show respect to those statues. But if you go and eat that food, another Christian might see you there. If that other Christian doesn’t know what to think about that food, they might think that you are showing respect to that statue when you eat that food, so that Christian will think it’s all right to show respect to that statue. And then that Christian will show respect to that statue, and that is wrong.

1 Corinthians 8:7

But some Christians don’t understand all that. They showed respect to those statues for a long time before they became Christians, and then they believed in Jesus, but they still think those statues have power. They can’t work out what is true and what is not true. They know that it is wrong to respect those statues, so they don’t eat any of the food that people give to those statues. They think that if they do eat that food, then they are doing something wrong, and it makes them feel bad, like they are not clean.

Titus 1:15

You know, if people just want to follow God’s way, they don’t have to worry about people’s rules. They are clean inside, so everything is all right for them. But nothing is all right for people that don’t want to follow God’s way. They can only think in a bad way. They don’t know what is right and what is wrong.