New International Version
Romans 14:15
15If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.
Romans 14:15 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.
- New Living Translation (NLT)And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died.
Context of Romans 14:15
13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
Read all of Romans 14Romans 14:15 word by word
εἰ γὰρ διὰ βρῶμα ὁ ἀδελφός σου λυπεῖται, οὐκέτι κατὰ ἀγάπην περιπατεῖς. μὴ τῷ βρώματί σου ἐκεῖνον ἀπόλλυε ὑπὲρ οὗ Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Butδέde · thenG1161
- ifεἰei · ifG1487
- thyσύsu · youG4771
- brotherὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- brotherἀδελφόςadelphos · brotherG80
- be grievedλυπέωlupeō · to grieveG3076
- withδιάdia · through/because ofG1223
- meatβρῶμαbrōma · foodG1033
- nowοὐκέτιouketi · not any moreG3765
- walkest thouπεριπατέωperipateō · to walkG4043
- ·κατάkata · according toG2596
- charitablyἀγάπηagapē · loveG26
- Destroyἀπολλύωapollumi · to destroyG622
- notμήmē · notG3361
- himἐκεῖνοςekeinos · thatG1565
- forὑπέρhuper · above/forG5228
- whomὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
- ChristΧριστόςChristos · ChristG5547
- diedἀποθνήσκωapothnēskō · to dieG599
Cross-references for Romans 14:15
- Ezekiel 13:22Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives,
- 1 Corinthians 8:12When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
- Romans 13:10Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
- Romans 15:2Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.
- 1 Corinthians 8:1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
- 1 Corinthians 13:1If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
- Galatians 5:13You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
- Philippians 2:2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
- 1 Corinthians 8:11So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
- 2 Peter 2:1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
- 1 John 2:2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Commentaries on Romans 14:15
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15If thy brother be grieved - If he think that thou doest wrong, and he is in consequence stumbled at thy conduct. Now walkest thou not charitably - , According to love; for love worketh no ill to its neighbor; but by thy eating some particular kind of meat, on which neither thy life nor well-being depends, thou workest ill to him by grieving and distressing his mind; and therefore thou breakest the law of God in reference to him, while pretending that thy…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15But if thy brother - This address is to the “Gentile” convert. In the previous verse, Paul admitted. that the prejudice of the Jew was not well-founded. But admitting that still the question was, “how” he should be treated while he had that prejudice. The apostle here shows the Gentile that “he” ought not so to act as unnecessarily to wound his feelings, or to grieve him. Be grieved - Be pained; as a conscientious man always is, when he sees another…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 14-18Verses 14-18 Christ deals gently with those who have true grace, though they are weak in it. Consider the design of Christ's death: also that drawing a soul to sin, threatens the destruction of that soul. Did Christ deny himself for our brethren, so as to die for them, and shall not we deny ourselves for them, so as to keep from any indulgence? We cannot hinder ungoverned tongues from speaking evil; but we must not give them any occasion. We must deny…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 15The word translated as destroy (from the Greek apollumi) often used to describe eternal judgment (see 2:12; Matthew 10:28; 18:14; Luke 9:24; 13:2–5; John 3:16; 10:10, 28; 1 Corinthians 1:18–19; James 4:12; 2 Peter 3:9). By insisting on their freedom to eat any food, believers who were strong in faith could harm others. They might cause sensitive Jewish Christians, for whom Christ died, to turn away from the faith.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 14-1514-15. I know, and am persuaded by--or rather, "in" the Lord Jesus--as "having the mind of Christ" (1Co 2:16). that there is nothing unclean of itself--Hence it is that he calls those "the strong" who believed in the abolition of all ritual distinctions under the Gospel. (See Ac 10:15). but--"save that" to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean--"and therefore, though you can eat of it with out sin, he cannot."Read the comment
Topics related to Romans 14:15
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Romans 14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New International Version — © NIV® 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 Biblica
Commentaries