² One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. ³ The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. ⁴ Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Eating was a source of contention among the Christians in Paul’s day. We are not talking about the amount of food people ate; gluttony didn’t seem to be a problem, at least among the poor and disadvantaged, who made up a large part of the Christian movement. The problem was with what they ate, namely meat that had been offered to idols. On the surface, that should be a clear issue, since idolatry was clearly wrong and to be avoided.

For a fuller treatment of this hotly debated issue of the day, see 1 Corinthians 8. Paul is not dealing with the virtue of being either a meat-eater or a vegetarian, although in some circles today that is a contentious issue. A thriving business existed in ancient times involving idol worship and the market. When someone brought an animal to sacrifice to their god, the priests (or temple attendants) would kill the beast as part of the ritual worship—the reality was that temples doubled as slaughterhouses. The temple crew would take some of the meat for themselves, then turn around and sell the excess in the marketplace. When strolling through the market, Christians might not know which meat came from the temple and which did not. Certainly participating in idol worship was forbidden, but was knowingly eating the meat from idol worship sold in the marketplace the same as “participating” in the idol worship or at least endorsing it?

The issue for Paul in his letter to the Romans was not to answer the right/wrong question about the meat offered to idols, but to address the attitude of Christians when they differed. He identifies the parties in general terms—the one who eats the questionable meat and the one who does not—and this can apply to other debatable issues of holy living that Christians argue about. One has faith to participate in an activity while another does not have the faith to do so. The judging comes when one of the believers presumes his or her own faithfulness shows maturity, and considers the other person “weak.” Which ever side of the equation you are on, you should not judge your opponent’s faith.

We must be careful of superficial judgments on one another’s activities, for none of us can understand another’s heart, nor do we have the right to do so.

Lord, I confess that I judge other Christians who make different life choices.