Bible Strands
Romans 14:2
For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Roman church to clarify a practical dispute over food, immediately following his command to accept the believer whose faith is weak. He describes two coexisting convictions within the community: one group eats freely while another restricts their diet to vegetables.
The words — πιστεύει (pisteuei) literally means "believes" or "has faith," and ἀσθενῶν (asthenōn) translates to "being weak." These terms indicate the restriction stems from personal conviction and spiritual fragility rather than external law.
The thread — The verse connects to Romans 14:14, which states nothing is unclean in itself, and 1 Timothy 4:4, which affirms all creation is good when received with thanksgiving. The priority of relational harmony over dietary rights aligns with Proverbs 15:17.
Why it lands — The text states that God has accepted both the eater and the abstainer, requiring readers to cease judgment or belittlement over secondary convictions. It demands concrete patience toward believers whose practice differs, grounding unity in divine acceptance rather than uniform practice.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
Cross-references
- 1 Timothy 4:4 For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
- Proverbs 15:17 Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.
- Romans 14:14 I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
- Romans 14:22 Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
- Galatians 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group.
- Genesis 9:3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things.
- 1 Corinthians 10:25 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,
- Titus 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
- Hebrews 13:9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.
- Hebrews 9:10 They consist only in food and drink and special washings—external regulations imposed until the time of reform.