Romans 14:19-20

“ Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things which pertain to mutual edification.For food destroy not the work of God; all things indeed are pure, but a thing becomes evil for that man who eateth in a state of scandal. ”

Ver. 19 forms the transition from the first to the second reason; 19a repeats the first: the obligation to preserve harmony in the church? 19b introduces the second: the obligation to do nothing which might be injurious to our neighbor's edification. The call, therefore, is no longer merely to avoid what may wound and vex our neighbor, but also to respect and not compromise the work of God already wrought in his heart. It is obvious, as Meyer acknowledges, that we must read διώκωμεν, let us seek, and not διώκομεν, we seek. The Greco-Latin reading, according to which we should require to read φυλάξωμεν, let us keep, as the verb of the last proposition of the verse: “Let us keep the things which are for edification,” may very probably be authentic. The omission of this verb would be explained by the fact that the copyists did not understand that the apostle was passing to a new reason.