Do Not Judge One Another

In this passage, Paul is writing to a people who divide themselves over what food to eat and what days are to be held as sacred days for festivals to honor God. In Paul’s argument, he says we should not argue over such trivial matters since those who regard these things as important might have a weak faith. Paul says we should not judge them since God accepts them. Within the same line he also says we should not treat people who disagree with us with contempt (Rom 14:3,10). We should not despise or have hatred towards another person because we all will be judged by God. When we judge someone, we stand as one who rules over them or pronounces a judgment as only God does. When we do this, we set ourselves up as if we are God. To avoid this, Paul suggests we should decide that we are not going to let these trivial matters get in the way. In their day, it was food and holidays. Today it can be anything we find to mean something in our relationship to God that others might not. We should not argue and show hatred to one another but rather decide to let things go so long as they do not distort the truth about Jesus.