8for, if we live, our life is for the Master, and, if we die, our death is for the Master. Whether, then, we live or die we belong to the Master.
9The purpose for which Christ died and came back to life was this — that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.
10I would ask the one ‘Why do you judge other followers of the Lord?’ And I would ask the other ‘Why do you despise them?’ For we will all stand before the court of God.
11For scripture says — ‘“As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “every knee will bend before me and every tongue will praise God.”’
12So, then, each one of us will have to render account of himself to God.
13Let us, then, cease to judge one another. Rather let this be your resolve — never to place a stumbling-block or an obstacle in the way of a fellow follower of the Lord.
14Through my union with the Lord Jesus, I know and am persuaded that nothing is defiling in itself. A thing is ‘defiling’ only to the person who holds it to be so.
15If, for the sake of what you eat, you wound your fellow follower's feelings, your life has ceased to be ruled by love. Do not, by what you eat, ruin someone for whom Christ died!
16Do not let what is right for you become a matter of reproach.
17For the kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and gladness through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
18The person who serves the Christ in this way pleases God, and wins the approval of their fellows.
19Therefore our efforts should be directed towards all that makes for peace and the mutual building up of character.
Romans 14
Romans 14:8-19