Romans 14:21

Vv. 21 is the summing up of the whole warning addressed to the strong from Romans 14:13.

“ It is good not to eat flesh and not to drink wine, and [to do nothing] whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or even is made weak. ”

The word καλόν, it is good, honorable, is tacitly opposed to the notion of humiliation, which in the eyes of the strong attached to abstinence. There is nothing, except what is honorable, Paul means, in abstaining when we sacrifice our liberty to charity.

Before the pronoun ἐν ᾧ, wherein, we must understand the verb ποιεῖν τι, to do anything.

Of the three verbs which the T. R. reads, the first refers to the wounding of the heart caused to our neighbor by conduct which he disapproves; the second, to the sin which he would be led to commit by being drawn away to do what his conscience condemns; the third, to the want of regard for the scruples with which he is affected through weakness of faith. So: to make him judge ill of you; to make him do what he condemns, or to do in his presence something which raises a scruple in him. The η, or, which connects the two last verbs, should be translated by: or even only.

The reading λυπεῖται, is grieved, instead of προσκόπτει, is offended, in the Sinaït., is certainly mistaken. As to the omission of the last two verbs in the Alex. text, it is probably the effect of an oversight; for the verb προσκόπτειν, to be offended, would not completely sum up the warning given to the strong (see at Romans 14:13).

The last two verses are the conclusion and summary of the entire chapter. Romans 14:22 applies to the strong; Romans 14:23 to the weak.