[15] 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. [16] So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. [17] For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. — Romans 14:15-17 ESV
Speaking about the Christian’s conscience, verse 16 in this passage may be one of the most misleading or misunderstood verses in scripture. Up until a short time ago, I had a wrong understanding of what it’s saying. Where did I go wrong? I took that verse by itself. Look at a few different translations of this verse, and notice they all say the same thing. Look above at the ESV as well.
Romans 14:16 KJV [16] Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
Romans 14:16 NASB [16] Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil;
Romans 14:16 NIV [16] Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil.
Romans 14:16 LSB [16] Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be slandered;
This verse, taken by itself, sounds a lot like we need to try and control the words of other people. It sounds as though we’re supposed to be in control of what other people say about us. I wanna ask you now,
“How do we do that?” How do we control the words coming out of other people’s mouths? We can’t. So why is this verse here? I was asking myself these same questions. It didn’t make sense to me.
There’s another passage that covers a similar topic and gives some clarity on this issue.
“[3] We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, [4] but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,” (the list goes on for a few verses) — 2 Corinthians 6:3-4 ESV
Look back at verse 15 of Romans 14, and it’ll all make sense. Let’s put them together again
“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. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.”
Do not destroy the conscience of your Christian brother because you’re not as strict, or because you’re stricter, or because you do it just a bit differently.
An accurate interpretation of verse 16 is not “control the words and mouths of your fellow Christians”. That is not accurate. That is not what the Apostle Paul was telling the church in Rome.
Rather, he was telling them “do not give your fellow Christian reasons to bad mouth you.” Make sure your standards are biblical and Godly. Be sure that you know and can biblically defend what you believe to be good and true.
Paul said it a bit differently to the church in. Philippi. Watch verse 10 in this passage.
[9] And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, [10] so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, [11] filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. — Philippians 1:9-11 ESV
People will likely try to bad mouth you, they may spread rumors and gossip about you. Don’t let those stories be true. As Christians, we need to be blameless, both before God and in the sight of others.
People may point fingers at you “You’re a Christian! CHRISTIANS DON’T DO THAT! YOU’RE A HYPOCRITE!” Can you, at that point, take them to scripture and explain calmly and accurately, “No. Christians do do this, and here’s the Bible verse that says we should.”? Can you do that? If you can’t make that argument, then you need to reconsider why you hold that standard, and you may need to get rid of that life habit. Do not let their accusations be true. “Do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil”, when paired with the verses around it, really means “Do not view evil things as though they are good. Be sure that what you view as good is actually good.”
“Well, maybe the other people shouldn’t be too strict on themselves.” I’ve made similar remarks in the past, and I was wrong for it. There is nothing wrong with being strict on yourself. There’s actually a lot right with it. “It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.” Romans 14:21-22 NASB
It’s a very good thing to be strict on yourself and not allow yourself to partake in things that might harm your walk with God, a very good thing. Some people will only ever read the KJV, I’m obviously not one of those people. I’m not as strict in that area, but I respect those that are. For that reason, I’ll bring my KJV Bible to studies with these people. If I want to buy him a new study Bible, I’ll get him a KJV Bible. I’m not going to give a New American Standard Bible to someone who won’t appreciate it the same way I do. That would be a sin on my part for causing him to sin against his own conscience
If someone else believes that your decision is wrong, don’t try to present it to him as right. As long as his stance is biblically solid, we should not present to him as good something he views as evil. That sort of action would be wrong on our part for causing someone else to sin against his own conscience.
Just ask yourself these questions, if you would. “Are the things that I view as good and Godly actually good and Godly? Or am I making the Bible say what I want it to say so I don’t have to change too much?”
“So then we pursue the things which make for peace the building up of one another” Romans 14:19 NASB
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