Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.
Parallel Translations
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Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.
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Destroye not the worke of god for a lytell meates sake. All thinges are pure: but it is evyll for that man which eateth with hurte of his conscience.
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Destroy not the worke of God for meates sake: all things in deede are pure: but it is euill for the man which eateth with offence.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Romans 14:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 14:14-15 I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.
- Matthew 18:6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck, and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea.
- Titus 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
- Acts 10:15 A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.”
- 1 Corinthians 10:31-33 Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the assembly of God; even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.
- Romans 14:21 It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
- 1 Corinthians 6:12-13 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. “Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
- Matthew 15:11 That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
- 1 Timothy 4:3-5 forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.
- 1 Corinthians 8:8-13 But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better. But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol’s temple, won’t his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died. Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.
- Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
- Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 20. All things are indeed pure, etc. By saying,…
20. All things are indeed pure, etc. By saying, that all things are pure, he makes a general declaration; and by adding, that it is evil for man to eat with offense, he makes an exception; as though he had said, — “Meat is indeed good, but to give offense is bad.” Now meat has been given to us, that we may eat it, provided love be observed: he then pollutes the use of pure meat, who by it violates love. Hence he concludes, that it is good to abstain from all things which tend to give offense to our brethren.
He mentions three things in order, to fall, to stumble, to be weakened: the meaning seems to be this, — “Let no cause of falling, no, nor of stumbling, no, nor of weakening, be given to the brethren.” For to be weakened is less than to stumble, and to stumble is less than to fall. He may be said to be weakened whose conscience wavers with doubt, — to stumble when the conscience is disturbed by some greater perplexity, and to fall when the individual is in a manner alienated from his attention to religion.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 20 For meat destroy not the work of God.…
20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
Ver. 20. The work of God] That work of faith, 1Th 1:3, wrought by the mighty power of God, Eph 1:19, who puts not forth great power but for great purposes.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain For meat destroy not the work of God: here…
For meat destroy not the work of God: here you have a further argument against scandals: q.d. For so inconsiderable a matter as eating a little meat, or for the use of an indifferent thing, do not destroy the work of God. By
the work of God, some understand the soul of a brother; that is styled God’s work by way of eminency: it was one of the chiefest works of the creation, and made, as it were, with the consultation of the whole Trinity; the image of God, after a sort, was engraven therein: and if this be the sense, it is a repetition of the argument in Rom 14:15. But by
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the work of God, in this place, other things may be understood; e.g. the unity and peace which God worketh amongst believers of different persuasions in in different things; or else the work of grace, or faith, which God hath wrought by his mighty power in the hearts of men: see Joh 6:29; 1Th 1:3.
The work of God, in either of these senses, may be disturbed or hindered by the abuse of Christian liberty; and he that scandalizeth his brother, goes about, as much as in him lieth, to dissolve and demolish that which hath God alone for its author and worker.
All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence: here you have a concession and an exception: he granteth, that all things are pure and clean; i.e. in themselves, or in their own nature; see Rom 14:14; 1Co 6:12; Tit 1:15; but then he addeth, that it is evil for, or to, that man who eateth with offence, or that offends another with his eating: it is not evil simply in itself, but accidentally, by reason of scandal.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain That is, for meat destroy not thou the work…
That is, for meat destroy not thou the work of God. Do not thou, for so inconsiderable a matter as eating is, endanger the Christianity of thy brother, or hazard the peace of the church, and cause any through scandal to fall off from their Christian profession. If any of you say, that all meats are clean, and therefore lawful; in answer, they are certainly so in themselves, but yet it is your sin if you use them to the scandal and offence of others, that are not satisfied in the lawfulness of them." It is most certianly the duty of Christians to deny themselves the use of their Christian liberty in some things, when by making use of it they may endanger any of their brethren, by causing them to fall from their own stedfastness.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain It is good neither to eat flesh,.... Any sort…
It is good neither to eat flesh,.... Any sort of flesh, even that which is not forbidden in the law, rather than offend a weak brother; and the apostle determines for himself, that he would not, where there was any danger of doing this, Co1 8:13.
Nor to drink wine; not only the wine of libations to Heathen deities, but wine in common; which was not prohibited by the law of Moses, but in the case of a Nazarite, and of vows:
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nor anything, be it what it will,
whereby thy brother stumbleth. The Syriac version reads, "our brother"; anyone that stands in such a spiritual relation to any of us; and for which reason care should be taken, that no stumblingblock, or occasion to fall, should be put in his way; particularly that Christian liberty in things indifferent be not unseasonably and imprudently used, and so become a means of stumbling and staggering to weak minds:
or is offended; to that degree, as to censure and judge him that eats, as an impious person, and a transgressor of the law; with whom he cannot keep his communion, but withdraws himself from it, and is even tempted to drop his profession of the Christian religion entirely, being ready to think it is not right, since contrary to the law of Moses:
or is made weak; more weak in the faith than he was before, and his love is weakened and grows very cold and indifferent to his Christian brethren, that can take and use a liberty which he cannot. These two last phrases are not in the Syriac and Ethiopic versions, nor in the Alexandrian copy, though in others, and are used for the sake of explanation and amplification.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The work of God - Which he builds in…
The work of God - Which he builds in the soul by faith, and in the church by concord. It is evil to that man who eateth with offense - So as to offend another thereby.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 20. For meat destroy not the work of…
Verse 20. For meat destroy not the work of God] Do not hinder the progress of the Gospel either in your own souls or in those of others, by contending about lawful or unlawful meats. And do not destroy the soul of thy Christian brother, Ro 14:15, by offending him so as to induce him to apostatize.
All things indeed are pure] This is a repetition of the sentiment delivered, Ro 14:14, in different words. Nothing that is proper for aliment is unlawful to be eaten; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence-the man who either eats contrary to his own conscience, or so as to grieve and stumble another, does an evil act; and however lawful the thing may be in itself, his conduct does not please God.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For meat - By your obstinate, pertinacious attachment to…
For meat - By your obstinate, pertinacious attachment to your own opinions about the distinctions of meat and drinks, do not pursue such a course as to lead a brother into sin, and ruin his soul. Here is a new argument presented why Christians should pursue a course of charity - that the opposite would tend to the ruin of the brother’s soul.
Destroy not - The word here is what properly is applied to pulling down an edifice; and the apostle continues the figure which he used in the previous verse. Do not pull down or destroy the “temple” which God is rearing.
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The work of God - The work of God is what God does, and here especially refers to his work in rearing “his church.” The “Christian” is regarded specially as the work of God, as God renews his heart and makes him what he is. Hence, he is called God’s “building” 1Co 3:9, and his “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” Eph 2:10, and is denominated “a new creature;” 2Co 5:17. The meaning is, “Do not so conduct yourself, in regard to the distinction of meats into clean and unclean, as to cause your brother to sin, and to impair or ruin the work of religion which God is carrying on in his soul.” The expression does not refer to “man” as being the work of God, but to the “piety” of the Christian; to what God, by his Spirit, is producing in the heart of the believer.
All things are indeed pure - Compare Rom 14:14. This is a concession to those whom he was exhorting to peace. All things under the Christian dispensation are lawful to be eaten. The distinctions of the Levitical law are not binding on Christians.
But it is evil - Though pure in itself, yet it may become an occasion of sin, if another is grieved by it. It is evil to the man who pursues a course that will give offence to a brother; that will pain him, or tend to drive him off from the church, or lead him any way into sin.
With offence - So as to offend a brother, such as he esteems to be sin, and by which he will be grieved.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Destroy not the work of God for meat. That…
Destroy not the work of God for meat. That is, do not hinder your brother’s salvation, for whom, whoever he be, Christ died, who may be so offended at the liberty which you take, as to quit the Christian religion; or you may make him sin against God, by eating by your example against his weak conscience. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain For--"For the sake of"
For--"For the sake of"
meat destroy not the work of God--(See on Rom 14:15). The apostle sees in whatever tends to violate a brother's conscience the incipient destruction of God's work (for every converted man is such)--on the same principle as "he that hateth his brother is a murderer" (Jo1 3:15).
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All things indeed are pure--"clean"; the ritual distinctions being at an end.
but it is evil to that man--there is criminality in the man
who eateth with offence--that is, so as to stumble a weak brother.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 20. The work of God—The Christian who, however weak,…
20. The work of God—The Christian who, however weak, is God’s building, and so must not be destroyed or demolished.
All… pure—Free alike from that impurity which Orientalism ascribes to all matter, (note on Act_8:9;) from the old patriarchal and Mosaic distinction of certain things as unclean, and from any imaginary contamination from idols which are just nothing at all in the world.
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It is evil—Literally, evil to the man. Although all things are pure from evil in themselves, yet there is evil to the man who eats with damage to his brother.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 20. destroy not] Lit. loosen, dissolve, pull down. The…
20. destroy not] Lit. loosen, dissolve, pull down. The word is used in contrast to the idea of building up in the previous words.—Same word as e.g. Mat_26:61; Mat_27:40; Act_6:14; 2Co_5:1; Gal_2:18.
the work of God] i.e. His building, the Church of His redeemed.
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All things indeed are pure] As regards eating or abstinence.
with offence] Lit. by means of a stumbling-block; i.e. induced to do so by force of mere example, while his conscience is adverse or undecided.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (20) Destroy not.—A different word from that employed in…
(20) Destroy not.—A different word from that employed in Rom_14:15. It is the correlative and opposite of “edify,” and means to “unbuild” or “pull down.”
The work of God.—The fabric which the grace of God has begun, and which the edification of Christians by each other may help to raise in the soul; the gradual formation of a truly Christian character, both spiritual and moral.
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For that man who eateth with offence.—It seems, on the whole, best (though the other view is taken) to refer the “eating” here to the strong in faith, and the “offence” to that which his eating causes to the weaker brethren. The force of the preposition is that his eating is attended with offence.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 20. For meat destroy not. A rigid insistence on…
20. For meat destroy not. A rigid insistence on eating the meat so offensive to some of the brethren may rend the church. All things indeed are pure. All kinds of food are morally clean. See verse 14. But it is evil. It is morally unclean to him who eateth with hurt to his conscience.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain Overthrow not for meat's sake the work of God.…
Overthrow not for meat's sake the work of God. All things indeed are clean; howbeit it is evil for that man who eateth with offence .
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Do not destroy the work of God because of…
Do not destroy the work of God because of food
You can make explicit the full meaning of this sentence. AT: "Do not undo what God has done for a fellow believer just because you want to eat a certain kind of food" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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but it is evil for that person who eats and causes him to stumble
Here anything that "causes him to stumble" means it causes a weaker brother to do something that is against his conscience. AT: "but it would be a sin for someone to eat food, which another brother thinks is wrong to eat, if by eating this causes the weaker brother to do something that is against his conscience" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
It is good not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor anything by which your brother takes offense
"It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else that might cause your brother to sin"
brother
Here this means a fellow Christian, male or female.
your
This refers to the strong in faith and "brother" refers to the weak in faith.
translationWords
God
clean
evil
stumble
wine
brother
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:20 The work of God refers both to the…
14:20 The work of God refers both to the spiritual life of other Christians (14:15) and to the Christian community itself (14:19). The strong, with their dogged insistence on doing whatever they want, create division and disrupt God’s intention to build a healthy and united community of believers.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.