Who are you to judge the servants of someone else? It is their own Master who will decide whether they succeed or fail. And they will succeed, because the Lord is able to make them succeed.

You then, who eat only vegetables---why do you pass judgment on others? And you who eat anything---why do you despise other believers? All of us will stand before God to be judged by him.

then you are guilty of creating distinctions among yourselves and of making judgments based on evil motives.

Do not criticize one another, my friends. If you criticize or judge another Christian, you criticize and judge the Law. If you judge the Law, then you are no longer one who obeys the Law, but one who judges it.

"Why do you not judge for yourselves the right thing to do?

Judge for yourselves whether it is proper for a woman to pray to God in public worship with nothing on her head.

We are ruled by the love of Christ, now that we recognize that one man died for everyone, which means that they all share in his death.

And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the "stumbling stone"

that the scripture speaks of: "Look, I place in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall. But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed."

And David says, "May they be caught and trapped at their feasts; may they fall, may they be punished!

I urge you, my friends: watch out for those who cause divisions and upset people's faith and go against the teaching which you have received. Keep away from them!

Do not curse the deaf or put something in front of the blind so as to make them stumble over it. Obey me; I am the LORD your God.

The LORD says, "Let my people return to me. Remove every obstacle from their path! Build the road and make it ready!

"Mortal man," he said, "these men have given their hearts to idols and are letting idols lead them into sin. Do they think I will give them an answer?

Jesus turned around and said to Peter, "Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don't come from God, but from human nature."

How terrible for the world that there are things that make people lose their faith! Such things will always happen---but how terrible for the one who causes them!

It would be better for him if a large millstone were tied around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

Be careful, however, not to let your freedom of action make those who are weak in the faith fall into sin.

And so this weak person, your brother for whom Christ died, will perish because of your "knowledge"!

So then, if food makes a believer sin, I will never eat meat again, so as not to make a believer fall into sin.

Live in such a way as to cause no trouble either to Jews or Gentiles or to the church of God.

We do not want anyone to find fault with our work, so we try not to put obstacles in anyone's way.

so that you will be able to choose what is best. Then you will be free from all impurity and blame on the Day of Christ.

But there are a few things I have against you: there are some among you who follow the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak how to lead the people of Israel into sin by persuading them to eat food that had been offered to idols and to practice sexual immorality.

But because you have shown such contempt for the LORD in doing this, your child will die."

So I would prefer that the younger widows get married, have children, and take care of their homes, so as to give our enemies no chance of speaking evil of us.

If we love others, we live in the light, and so there is nothing in us that will cause someone else to sin.