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Do Not Criticize Other People

14 ·Accept into your group [L Welcome; Receive] someone who is weak in ·faith [or convictions; C on debatable issues], and do not argue about ·opinions [doubtful/debatable issues]. One person believes it is right to eat all kinds of food. But another, who is weak, believes it is right to eat only vegetables [C possibly the issue of whether to keep the OT dietary laws, and/or whether to avoid food sacrificed to idols (see 1 Cor. 8—10)]. The one who ·knows that it is right to eat any kind of food [L eats; v. 14; see Mark 7:18–19] must not ·reject [despise; look down on] the one who ·eats only vegetables [L does not eat]. And the person who ·eats only vegetables [L does not eat] must not ·think that the one who eats all foods is wrong [L judge the one who eats], because God has accepted that person. ·You cannot [L Who are you to…?] judge another person’s servant. ·The master decides if the servant is doing well or not [L Before his own lord/master he stands or falls]. And the Lord’s servant will ·do well [stand] because the Lord ·helps him do well [L can make him stand].

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The Weak and the Strong

14 Accept the one whose faith is weak,(A) without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.(B) The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt(C) the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge(D) the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?(E) To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

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