16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

It is possible to so abuse our liberty in Christ in regard to fellow believers that we create conflicts within the church that give the world cause to criticize and condemn those who claim to hold brotherly love in such high esteem.

Although it brings much blessing and enjoyment to those who understand and exercise it properly, Christian liberty is not simply for our own benefit and certainly not for our selfish abuse.

The situation was this: A strong and a weak Christian sometimes would go to dinner at the house of an unbelieving Gentile. When the host served the meal, he might mention that the meat had been used in a pagan sacrifice. The weak believer would be immediately disturbed and tell the other believer that he could not in good conscience eat such meat. Out of love for his weaker brother, the strong Christian would join in refusing to eat the meat, understanding that it is better to offend an unbeliever than a fellow believer. Although that unusual and selfless act of love might temporarily offend the unbelieving host, it might also be used of the Spirit to show the depth of Christian love and draw him to the gospel.

18 If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too.

So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.

Do not tear down translates the present imperative of kataluō, suggesting that Paul was commanding certain believers in Rome to discontinue something they were already doing.

Also in this context, the work of God clearly refers to believers, all of whom “are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:10). It is therefore not only a serious offense against a weaker brother to cause him to stumble but a serious offense against the purposes of God.

20 Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble.

21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to stumble.

22 You may believe there’s nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right. 23 But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.

The sixth and final reason for exercising our liberty with great care is that we can harm even ourselves when we do not view our liberty from God’s perspective. We lose that divine perspective when we denounce or belittle good things He has given us or when, at the other extreme, we lovelessly flaunt our liberty without caring about how we affect others.

Verse 22 obviously is directed to the strong Christian, the one who understands and appreciates his freedom. Paul’s counsel to him is simple and direct: The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. When by sincere faith and a correct understanding of Scripture we have a conviction before God that a custom, a practice, or an activity is worthwhile and good, we dare not denounce it as sinful. Nor should we allow our conscience to condemn us for exercising it—with Paul’s repeated stipulation that we gladly relinquish that freedom for the sake of a brother or sister in Christ.

Verse 23 just as obviously is directed to the weak Christian, the one whose conscience is still offended by certain religious carryovers from his former life. And the apostle’s counsel to him is just as simple and direct: He who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. The corresponding stipulation is that, just as the strong believer commits sin by causing a weak brother to go against his own conscience, the weak brother sins, is condemned, when, contrary to the convictions of his own faith, he succumbs to that which his conscience condemns.