Pursue Peace and Build One Another Up

Play This Verse Study

0:00 0:00

Scripture • World English Bible

Romans 14:13–23

WEB

¹³Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling.

¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

¹⁵Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

¹⁶Then don’t let your good be slandered,

¹⁷for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

¹⁹So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.

²⁰Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.

²¹It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.

²²Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves.

²³But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

World English Bible (WEB) • Public Domain

Reflection

Paul’s counsel in Romans 14 turns a spotlight on how followers of Jesus live together when convictions differ. The real question is not which personal freedoms are biblically permissible, but how we use those freedoms in love. When exercising liberty causes another believer to stumble, wounds their conscience, or becomes a reason they fall away from faith, love calls us to restraint. The Kingdom Jesus came to bring is not centered on external practices like what we eat or drink, but on righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Those three marks—right living, peace among believers, and gladness empowered by the Spirit—should shape our choices and our community life.

This means two things are true at once. First, some matters are genuinely disputable: Christians will disagree about foods, celebrations, or cultural practices without that disagreement making one person more spiritual than another. Each believer must live before God in the convictions the Lord gives them. Second, our freedoms are not a license to harm others. When our way of living—or even what we defend—damages another’s faith or splits the church, we must choose the way of peace and edification.

Practically, Paul urges us to stop judging one another and instead evaluate our actions by their effect on others. Don’t put stumbling blocks in a brother’s or sister’s way. Don’t insist on using your freedom in a way that destroys someone for whom Christ died. And don’t be quick to treat a brother’s conscience as wrong simply because it differs from yours. Blessed is the one who holds faith consistently before God and who refuses to act against conscience; conversely, acting in doubt becomes sin. The guiding question is not “Can I?” but “Will this build up or tear down?”

This teaching reshapes conflict in the church. Instead of proving we are right, we ask how to make peace and strengthen others. Instead of defending every personal preference, we practice humility and love. Instead of using freedom to win arguments, we use it to protect weaker consciences and preserve Christian unity and witness.

The good news is that this is not a call to legalism but to love-shaped freedom. When we pursue righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit, our choices honor God and bless the body. Over time small acts of restraint and kindness transform relationships and create a church where people grow rather than stumble.

Putting Faith Into Action

Before exercising a personal freedom (food, drink, entertainment, language, social media use), pause and ask: Will this action help or harm a weaker believer? If it risks harming their faith, choose restraint—even if the action is permissible.
When a disagreement or offense arises, follow a reconciling path: listen first, admit where you may be wrong, clarify intentions, and seek restoration. Prioritize peace and the other person’s spiritual growth over the need to be right.
Build others up intentionally: speak encouragement regularly, avoid slander or sharp criticism, create environments at church and home where differing convictions are respected, and take sacrificial steps to protect the weakest members of the body.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, teach us to love with the wisdom of your Spirit. Give us freedom grounded in humility, restraint when our choices may harm others, and a heart that pursues peace and builds up your people. Help us hold our convictions gently and serve our brothers and sisters faithfully for your glory. Amen.

Memory Verse

Romans 14:19 — So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up. (WEB)

“So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.”

Keep Going Continue to Part 36 Established by the Gospel Romans · Romans 14:24–26 Read the next devotional →

Bible Context

Read all of Romans 14

Romans 14

World English Bible • WEB

¹Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.

²One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

³Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

⁴Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.

⁵One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.

⁶He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.

⁷For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.

⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

⁹For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

¹¹For it is written,

¹²So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.