Romans 14:19-23 - Make every effort

14:19

Paul now urges them to focus on what really matters. So instead of being puffed up with their own ideas and righteousness, which usually leads to doing others down, they are to do what leads to peace and mutual edification. When we put ourselves at the centre peace does not ensue, and we are only concerned with our own edification.

14:20,21

Getting things out of proportion, such as the importance of which foods we should and shouldn't eat can destroy the work of God. Look at it like this, God went to the trouble of sending His Son to the cross to die for a person, but you are going to write them off because they do or don’t eat a certain food? Paul is quite clear that all food is clean. So it isn’t actually wrong to eat a certain food, but it is wrong if doing so causes harm to another brother. In such a case it is better to forego our right for the benefit of our brother. 

Now, in all these things wisdom is needed. Paul is not laying down a rule but a principle. It could happen that some people are touchy about almost anything, and not offending them would be almost impossible. Moreover, Paul’s injunction to make every effort to do what leads to peace does not mean we never take a stand on anything. In Paul’s letters there are times when he most definitely does take a stand on issues, Galatians is perhaps the best example.

14:22,23

So, instead of mouthing off every opinion that we have, there are times to keep quiet, just to keep them to ourselves. For the wrong use of opinions can lead to us being condemned. Conversely, if someone does think eating a particular food is wrong, then it would indeed be wrong for them to eat that food. They would not be acting in faith, they would be eating it simple because someone else had told them to. “Everything that does not come from faith is sin”.