During the season of family meals, we see Paul talking about food and faith. For religious purposes some people then, as many often do now, had guidelines in place of what not to eat or drink. In addition to Old Testament guidelines (no pork or shellfish) there were special fasts that individuals would observe or avoidances of meat or wine offered to pagan deities. Jews living in Rome would have encountered many of these situations. Paul is telling his readers not to quarrel over it. The one who abstains is not to judge the one who eats, and the one who eats isn’t to despise the one who abstains. Paul, like Peter who had had a vision, doesn’t believe food is inherently unclean, but understands that it is to the one who thinks it is unclean. “If your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.” Romans 14:15

Likewise some believers worshipped on Saturday, the Sabbath, while others on the Lord’s Day, Sunday. He says whoever observes either day, honors the Lord. Whoever eats, honors the Lord, and whoever abstains, honors the Lord. As we make space for another’s convictions, we honor one another. 

We are ultimately accountable to God who will judge us for our obedience to him. We’re not to judge each other, nor to put stumbling blocks or hindrances before one another. The ultimate test is our own conviction. “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” Romans 14:23