A recent Bible study touched on Acts 10 — Peter's vision, being told to eat food he'd always considered unclean, and telling God no because of everything he'd grown up under in Levitical law. Romans 14 covers similar ground, but for a different reason, and it's worth pulling apart.
"Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another whose faith is weak eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them." — Romans 14:1-4
Paul is writing to the church at Rome — a genuinely unique congregation for its time.
Why This Isn't a Contradiction
It might sound like Scripture is contradicting itself — Leviticus lays out clear dietary law, and yet here Paul says eat whatever you want. It isn't a contradiction; it's a matter of understanding why the original law existed. Leviticus 11 closes with, "Be holy as I am holy" — holy meaning set apart. God gave Israel specific dietary boundaries so that every meal would be an act of setting themselves apart from the nations around them.
Then Christ came, died on the cross, and salvation opened to every nation, not just Israel. The purpose that covenant served was finished — it had done its work. Keeping it going wouldn't set people apart anymore; it would actually divide believers instead. So this isn't the Bible disagreeing with itself. It's understanding what a passage was for, and recognizing when that purpose was fulfilled.
Rome's Specific Conflict
Fast forward to Rome, and the surface question looks similar — can you eat this or not — but the cause is different. At one point, an emperor expelled all Jews from Rome. For a long stretch, the church there was made up entirely of Gentile believers, whose faith allowed them to eat foods the Jewish believers never would have touched. When a new emperor came to power and the Jews returned, tension followed. The Jewish believers looked at the Gentiles with contempt — "you don't have real faith if you're eating like that." The Gentile believers pushed back — "my faith gives me the freedom to eat this."
Paul's answer to both sides: neither of you is right. Judging someone for what they eat is sin. Holding someone in contempt for what they don't eat is also sin. It doesn't matter — God has made nothing unclean. And yet Paul also makes room for culture and history to remain intact. If someone chooses not to eat something out of honor to God, that's fine, and no one should condemn them for it. If someone else eats freely, also out of honor to God, that's fine too, and no one should judge them for that either.
Greater Faith, Greater Freedom
Here's a detail worth sitting with: strong faith in this passage means freedom, not restriction. It's tempting to think limiting yourself is what produces deeper faith. Paul is saying closer to the opposite — greater faith actually produces greater freedom. But that freedom was never meant to be the argument. "Let's not argue over these things," Paul says. That's not the basis of our faith.
"Most of the fights we have as Christians aren't over the gospel. They're over style, timing, method, and preference — dressed up in gospel clothing."
That line captures exactly what was happening in Rome, and it's just as true now. The real message underneath all of it: whether someone eats this or that, whether their faith looks stronger or weaker from the outside, God has accepted them. If you've confessed with your mouth and believed in your heart that Christ is Lord, He says, "You're mine. Eat what you want. I haven't made anything unclean."
We're all maturing at a different pace. Some of it comes easier for some than others. And none of that changes the love God has for any of us — or the love we're called to have for each other, culture and preferences included.
You can catch this devotional and every weekday message live on carltondewaynedunko.com, Monday through Thursday at 9:15 AM Eastern. Carlton also co-hosts the original 9:15 Devotional, where you'll find the full video archive and more ways to connect.