Romans 14:16

Romans 14:16. Let not than your good be evil spoken of, lit, ‘blasphemed.' ‘Then' implies that to act in the way forbidden in Romans 14:15 would have this result. The exhortation may be applied to the strong; ‘good' referring accordingly to their Christian liberty, or strength of faith, which grieved the weak brethren, and would lead to censure. But many think the exhortation is ad-dressed to the whole Church, since the plural is introduced here. ‘Good' would then point to the doctrine of the gospel, or the kingdom of God (Romans 14:17). Those who ‘blasphemed' would be such of the outside heathen world as noticed the discord. The wider view is favored not only by the emphasis resting upon ‘your,' but by the existence of ‘our' as a various reading, pointing to a possession of the whole Church, and also by the thought of the next verse.