Like a moderator and peacemaker between the firm Christians (who were the Gentiles) and the infirm (who were the Christian Jews, having yet a scruple to cease from keeping the ceremonial meats and days of Moyses' Law) he exhorteth the Jew not to condemn the Gentile using his liberty: and the Gentile again, not to condemn the scrupulous Jew: but rather to abstain from using his liberty, then offending the Jew, to be an occasion unto him of apostatizing.Like a moderator and peacemaker betwene the firme Christians (who were the Gentils) and the infirme (who were the Christian Iewes, hauing yet a scruple to cease from keeping the ceremonial meates and daies of Moyses Law) he exhorteth the Iew not to condemne the Gentil vsing his libertie: and the Gentil againe, not to condemne the scrupulous Iew: but rather to abstaine from vsing his libertie, then offending the Iew, to be an occasion vnto him of apostasing.
And him that is weak in faith, take unto you: not in disceptationibus: contentious arguings, disputes of cogitationum: thoughts, reasonings.AND him that is weake in faith, take vnto you: not in disputations of cogitations.Infirmum autem in fide assumite, non in disceptationibus cogitationum.
2For one believeth that he may eat all things: but he that is weak, let him eat olus: aromatic seasoning plants; garden vegetables, pot-herbs.For one beleeueth that he may eate al things: but he that is weake, let him eate herbes.¶Alius enim credit se manducare omnia : qui autem infirmus est, olus manducet.
3Let not him that eateth, despise him that eateth not: and he that eateth not: let him not judge him that eateth. for God hath taken him to him.Let not him that eateth, despise him that eateth not: and he that eateth not: let him not iudge him that eateth. for God hath taken him to him.Is qui manducat, non manducantem non spernat : et qui non manducat, manducantem non judicet : Deus enim illum assumpsit.
4Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own Lord he standeth or falleth. and he shall stand. for God is able to make him stand.Who art thou that iudgest an other mans seruant? To his owne Lord he standeth or falleth. and he shal stand. for God is able to make him stand.Tu quis es, qui judicas alienum servum ? domino suo stat, aut cadit : stabit autem : potens est enim Deus statuere illum.
5For one judgeth between day and day: and another judgeth every day. let every one abound in his own sensu: physical sensation, or a meaning; mind, judgement, conviction.For one iudgeth betweene day and day: and an other iudgeth euery day. let euery one abound in his owne sense.¶Nam alius judicat diem inter diem : alius autem judicat omnem diem : unusquisque in suo sensu abundet.
6He that sapit: shows esteem or deference to a person; regardeth, observeth, takes account of the day, respecteth to our Lord. And he that eateth, eateth to our Lord: for he giveth thanks to God. And he that eateth not, to our Lord he eateth not, and giveth thanks to God.He that respecteth the day, respecteth to our Lord. And he that eateth, eateth to our Lord: for he giueth thankes to God. And he that eateth not, to our Lord he eateth not, and giueth thankes to God.¶Qui sapit diem, Domino sapit, et qui manducat, Domino manducat : gratias enim agit Deo. Et qui non manducat, Domino non manducat, et gratias agit Deo.
7For none of us liveth to himself: and none dieth to himself.For none of vs liueth to him self: and none dieth to him self.Nemo enim nostrum sibi vivit, et nemo sibi moritur.
8For whether we live, we live to our Lord: or whether we die, we die to our Lord. Therefore whether we live, or whether we die, we are our Lord's.For whether we liue, we liue to our Lord: or whether we die, we die to our Lord. Therfore whether we liue, or whether we die, we are our Lords.Sive enim vivimus, Domino vivimus : sive morimur, Domino morimur. Sive ergo vivimus, sive morimur, Domini sumus.
9For to this end Christ died and rose again: that he may have dominion both of the dead and of the living.For to this end Christ died and rose againe: that he may haue dominion both of the dead and of the liuing.In hoc enim Christus mortuus est, et resurrexit : ut et mortuorum et vivorum dominetur.
10But thou, why judgest thou thy brother? or thou, why dost thou despise thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ.But thou, why iudgest thou thy brother? or thou, why doest thou despise thy brother? For * we shal al stand before the iudgement seate of Christ.Tu autem quid judicas fratrem tuum ? aut tu quare spernis fratrem tuum ? omnes enim stabimus ante tribunal Christi.
11For it is written, Live I, saith our Lord, that every knee shall bow to me: and every tongue shall confess to God.For it is written, *Liue I, saith our Lord, that euery knee shal bowe to me: and euery tongue shal confesse to God.*Scriptum est enim : Vivo ego, dicit Dominus, quoniam mihi flectetur omne genu : et omnis lingua confitebitur Deo.
12Therefore every one of us for himself shall render account to God.Therfore euery one of vs for him self shal render account to God.Itaque unusquisque nostrum pro se rationem reddet Deo.
13Let us therefore no more judge one another. but this judge ye rather, that you put not a stumbling block or a scandalum: public disgrace or outrage; an occasion of sin, a spiritual stumbling-block to your brother.Let vs therfore no more iudge one an other. but this iudge ye rather, that you put not a stumbling blocke or a scandal to your brother.Non ergo amplius invicem judicemus : sed hoc judicate magis, ne ponatis offendiculum fratri, vel scandalum.
14I know and am persuaded in our Lord Jesus Christ, that nothing is commune: ordinary, shared by all; ritually unclean, profane of itself, but to him that supposeth, any thing to be common, to him it is common.I know and am persuaded in our Lord Iesvs Christ, that nothing is common of it self, but to him that supposeth, any thing to be common, to him it is common.Scio, et confido in Domino Jesu, quia nihil commune per ipsum, nisi ei qui existimat quid commune esse, illi commune est.
15For if because of meat thy brother be grieved: now thou walkest not according to charity. Do not with thy meat destroy him for whom Christ died.For if because of meate thy brother be greeued: now thou walkest not according to charite. * Doe not with thy meate destroy him for whom Christ died.Si enim propter cibum frater tuus contristatur, jam non secundum caritatem ambulas. Noli cibo tuo illum perdere, pro quo Christus mortuus est.
16Let not then our good be blasphemetur: spoken of irreverently against God; evil spoken of, reviled.Let not then our good be blasphemed.Non ergo blasphemetur bonum nostrum.
17For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink: but justice, and peace, and joy in the holy Ghost.For the kingdom of God is not meate and drinke: but iustice, and peace, and ioy in the holy Ghost.¶Non est enim regnum Dei esca et potus : sed justitia, et pax, et gaudium in Spiritu Sancto :
18For he that in this serveth Christ, pleaseth God, and is acceptable to men.For he that in this serueth Christ, pleaseth God, and is acceptable to men.qui enim in hoc servit Christo, placet Deo, et probatus est hominibus.
19Therefore the things that are of peace let us pursue: and the things that are of edifying one toward another let us keep.Therfore the things that are of peace let vs pursue: and the things that are of edifying one toward an other let vs keepe.Itaque quæ pacis sunt, sectemur : et quæ ædificationis sunt, in invicem custodiamus.
20Destroy not the work of God for meat. All things indeed are clean: but it is ill for the man that eateth by giving offence.Destroy not the worke of God for meate. * Al things in deede are cleane: but it is il for the man that eateth by giuing offence.Noli propter escam destruere opus Dei, omnia quidem sunt munda : sed malum est homini, qui per offendiculum manducat.
21It is good not to eat flesh, and not to drink wine, nor that wherein thy brother is offended, or scandalized, or weakened.It is good not to eate flesh, and not to drinke wine, nor that wherein thy brother is offended, or scandalized, or weakened.Bonum est non manducare carnem, et non bibere vinum, neque in quo frater tuus offenditur, aut scandalizatur, aut infirmatur.
22Hast thou faith? have it with thy self before God. blessed is he that judgeth not himself in that which he approveth.Hast thou faith? haue it with thy self before God. blessed is he that iudgeth not him self in that which he approueth.¶Tu fidem habes ? penes temetipsum habe coram Deo. Beatus qui non judicat semetipsum in eo quod probat.
23But he that discernit: perceiveth clearly, distinguisheth; doubteth, hesitateth in conscience, maketh a scruple, if he eat, is damnatus: condemned to eternal punishment; condemned, judged guilty: because not of faith. for all that is not of faith, is sin.But he that discerneth, if he eate, is damned: because not of faith. for al that is not of faith, is sinne.¶Qui autem discernit, si manducaverit, damnatus est : quia non ex fide. Omne autem, quod non est ex fide, peccatum est.
Annotations
2Eat all things. By similitude of words the simple are soon deceived, and Heretics make their vantage of any thing to seduce the unlearned. There were divers meats forbidden in the Law of Moyses, and for signification, made and counted unclean, whereof the Jews might not eat at all, as pork, hare, cony, and such like, both of fishes, fowls, and beasts, a great number. Christ discharged all them that became Christians, after his Passion, of that observance and all other ceremonies of the old Law: Notwithstanding, because divers that were brought up in the Law, had a religion and conscience, suddenly to forsake their former manner, the Apostle here admonisheth such as be stronger and better instructed in the case, to bear with the weaker sort, that being Christians could not yet find in their hearts to eat and use the meats forbidden by God in the Law: as on the other side he warneth the weak that would not eat, not to take offence or scandal at them that did eat without scruple, any of the irregular or forbidden meats in the Law, nor in any wise to judge or condemn the eater, but to commit that to God, and finally that neither nother should condemn the other for eating or not eating. Now the Protestants fondly apply all this to the fasts of the Church, and differences of meats in the same: as though the Church did forbid any meat wholly never to be eaten or touched, or made any creatures unclean, or otherwise prescribed any abstinence, then for chastising of men's bodies and service of God. It is a great blindness that they can put no difference betwixt Christ's fast of forty days, Matthew 4. John's abstaining from all delicate meats and drinks, Matthew 3, 11. the widow Anne's, Luke 2, 17. the Nazarites, Numbers 6. the Rechabites, Jeremias 35, 14. the Ninivites, Jonas 3. St. Paul's, 2 Corinthians 11, 27. St. Timothy's, 1 Timothy 5, 23. John's Disciples and Christ's Disciples fast Matthew 9, 14. 15. (which he said they should keep after his departure from them:) and the ceremonial distinction of creatures and meats, clean and unclean, in the old Law. of which it is evident the Apostle treateth in all this chapter, and of none other at all. Therefore when the Protestants by the words of this place would prove, that we be either made free from fasting and from obeying the Church's commandment or following Christ's example in that matter, or that the observers of Christian fasts be weak in faith, and ought not in any wise condemn of sin the breakers of the prescribed fasts of the holy Church, they do abuse ignorantly or wilfully the Apostle's words and discourse.Eat all things. By similitude of words the simple are soon deceived, and Heretics make their vantage of any thing to seduce the unlearned. There were divers meats forbidden in the Law of Moyses, and for signification, made and counted unclean, whereof the Jews might not eat at all, as pork, hare, cony, and such like, both of fishes, fowls, and beasts, a great number. Christ discharged all them that became Christians, after his Passion, of that observance and all other ceremonies of the old Law: Notwithstanding, because divers that were brought up in the Law, had a religion and conscience, suddenly to forsake their former manner, the Apostle here admonisheth such as be stronger and better instructed in the case, to bear with the weaker sort, that being Christians could not yet find in their hearts to eat and use the meats forbidden by God in the Law: as on the other side he warneth the weak that would not eat, not to take offence or scandal at them that did eat without scruple, any of the irregular or forbidden meats in the Law, nor in any wise to judge or condemn the eater, but to commit that to God, and finally that neither nother should condemn the other for eating or not eating. Now the Protestants fondly apply all this to the fasts of the Church, and differences of meats in the same: as though the Church did forbid any meat wholly never to be eaten or touched, or made any creatures unclean, or otherwise prescribed any abstinence, then for chastising of men's bodies and service of God. It is a great blindness that they can put no difference betwixt Christ's fast of forty days, Matthew 4. John's abstaining from all delicate meats and drinks, Matthew 3, 11. the widow Anne's, Luke 2, 17. the Nazarites, Numbers 6. the Rechabites, Jeremias 35, 14. the Ninivites, Jonas 3. St. Paul's, 2 Corinthians 11, 27. St. Timothy's, 1 Timothy 5, 23. John's Disciples and Christ's Disciples fast Matthew 9, 14. 15. (which he said they should keep after his departure from them:) and the ceremonial distinction of creatures and meats, clean and unclean, in the old Law. of which it is evident the Apostle treateth in all this chapter, and of none other at all. Therefore when the Protestants by the words of this place would prove, that we be either made free from fasting and from obeying the Church's commandment or following Christ's example in that matter, or that the observers of Christian fasts be weak in faith, and ought not in any wise condemn of sin the breakers of the prescribed fasts of the holy Church, they do abuse ignorantly or wilfully the Apostle's words and discourse.
5Between day and day. By the like deceit they abuse this place against the Holydays of Christ and his B. mother and Saints, which concerneth only the Jews' festivities and observation of times, whereof in the Epistle to the Galatians c. 4. 10.Between day and day. By the like deceit they abuse this place against the Holydays of Christ and his B. mother and Saints, which concerneth only the Jews' festivities and observation of times, whereof in the Epistle to the Galatians c. 4. 10.
6Every one in his own sense. The Apostle doth not give freedom, as the Church's enemies would have it, that every man may do or think what he list. but in this matter of Judaical observation of days and meats, and that for a time only, till the Christian religion should be perfectly established, he would have no restraint made, but that every one should be borne withal in his own sense: yet so, that they should not condemn one another, nor make necessity of salvation in the observation of the Judaical rites of meats, days, etc.Every one in his own sense. The Apostle doth not give freedom, as the Church's enemies would have it, that every man may do or think what he list. but in this matter of Judaical observation of days and meats, and that for a time only, till the Christian religion should be perfectly established, he would have no restraint made, but that every one should be borne withal in his own sense: yet so, that they should not condemn one another, nor make necessity of salvation in the observation of the Judaical rites of meats, days, etc.
17Not meat and drink. The substance of religion or the kingdom of God standeth not in meat or drink, and therefore the better might they use indifferency and toleration in that point for a time, for peace sake and to avoid scandal. but if the precept of Moyses' Law had bound still as before, then (not for the meats sake, but for the disobedience) it had been damnable to have eaten the unclean meats.Not meat and drink. The substance of religion or the kingdom of God standeth not in meat or drink, and therefore the better might they use indifferency and toleration in that point for a time, for peace sake and to avoid scandal. but if the precept of Moyses' Law had bound still as before, then (not for the meats sake, but for the disobedience) it had been damnable to have eaten the unclean meats.
22Have it with thy self. Thou that art perfect, and believest or knowest certainly that thou art free from the Law concerning meats and festivities, yet to the trouble and hindrance of the feeble that can not yet be brought so far, be discreet and utter not thy self out of season.Have it with thy self. Thou that art perfect, and believest or knowest certainly that thou art free from the Law concerning meats and festivities, yet to the trouble and hindrance of the feeble that can not yet be brought so far, be discreet and utter not thy self out of season.
23He that discerneth. If the weak have a conscience, and should be driven to eat the things which in his own heart he thinketh he should not do, he committeth deadly sin, because he doth against his conscience, or against his own pretensed knowledge.He that discerneth. If the weak have a conscience, and should be driven to eat the things which in his own heart he thinketh he should not do, he committeth deadly sin, because he doth against his conscience, or against his own pretensed knowledge.
23All that is not of faith. The proper sense of this speech is, that every thing that a man doeth against his knowledge or conscience, is a sin. for so by the circumstance of the letter, faith must here be taken. though St. Augustine sometimes applieth it also to prove that all the actions of infidels (meaning those works which directly proceed of their lack of faith) be sins. But in any wise take heed of the Heretics' commentary, who hereby would prove that the infidel sinneth in honouring his parents, fighting for his country, tilling his ground, and in all other works. And no marvel that they so hold of infidels, who maintain that Christian men also offend deadly in every good deed.All that is not of faith. The proper sense of this speech is, that every thing that a man doeth against his knowledge or conscience, is a sin. for so by the circumstance of the letter, faith must here be taken. though St. Augustine sometimes applieth it also to prove that all the actions of infidels (meaning those works which directly proceed of their lack of faith) be sins. But in any wise take heed of the Heretics' commentary, who hereby would prove that the infidel sinneth in honouring his parents, fighting for his country, tilling his ground, and in all other works. And no marvel that they so hold of infidels, who maintain that Christian men also offend deadly in every good deed.