Romans 14:2

ὃς μέν : cf. Romans 14:5; Romans 9:21. πιστεύει φαγεῖν πάντα : has confidence to eat all things. See Winer, p. 405. Gifford quotes Demosthenes, p. 88: προέσθαι δὲ τὴν προῖκʼ οὐκ ἐπίστευσεν : “he had not confidence, i.e., was too cautious, to give up the dowry”. This use of πιστεύειν shows that πίστις to Paul was essentially an ethical principle; the man who was strong in it had moral independence, courage, and originality. ὁ δὲ ἀσθενῶν λάχανα ἐσθίει : it is impossible to suppose that Paul here is “writing quite generally”; he must have had a motive for saying what he does, and it can only be found in the fact that he knew there were Christians in Rome who abstained from the use of flesh.