¹³ So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.

Paul’s Hardships

³ We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry.

Warning against Judging Others

¹¹ Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters.^[a] If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.

⁹ But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. ¹⁰ For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? ¹¹ So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer^[a] for whom Christ died will be destroyed. ¹² And when you sin against other believers^[b] by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. ¹³ So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.

⁵⁷ “Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right?

Do Not Judge Others

7 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.

God Forgives the Repentant

Paul’s Final Instructions

¹⁷ And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them.

¹⁰ So why do you condemn another believer^[a]? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

² It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.