Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 14:15

"For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died." — Romans 14:15 (ASV)

But if your brother, etc. This address is to the Gentile convert. In the previous verse, Paul admitted that the prejudice of the Jew was not well founded. But, admitting that, still the question was how he should be treated while he had that prejudice. The apostle here shows the Gentile that he should not act in such a way as necessarily to wound his feelings, or to grieve him.

Be grieved. Be pained; as a conscientious man always is, when he sees another, and especially a Christian brother, do anything which he considers to be wrong. The pain would be real, though the opinion from which it arose might not be well founded.

With your meat. Greek, On account of meat, or food; that is, because you eat that which he regards as unclean.

Now walk. To walk, in the sacred Scriptures, often denotes to act, or to do a thing (Mark 7:5; Acts 21:21; Romans 6:4; Romans 8:1, 4).

Here it means, that if the Gentile convert persevered in the use of such food, notwithstanding the conscientious scruples of the Jew, he violated the law of love.

Charitably. Greek, According to charity, or love; that is, he would violate that law which required him to sacrifice his own comfort to promote the happiness of his brother (1 Corinthians 13:5; 1 Corinthians 10:24, 28, 29; Philippians 2:4, 21).

Destroy not him. The word destroy here refers, undoubtedly, to the ruin of the soul in hell. It properly denotes ruin or destruction, and is applied to the ruin or corruption of various things in the New Testament: to life (Matthew 10:39); to a reward, in the sense of losing it (Mark 9:41; Luke 15:4); to food (John 6:27); to the Israelites represented as lost or wandering (Matthew 10:6); to wisdom that is rendered vain (1 Corinthians 1:19); to bottles rendered useless (Matthew 9:17), etc. But it is also frequently applied to destruction in hell, to the everlasting ruin of the soul. Matthew 10:28, "Who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."Matthew 18:14; John 3:15; Romans 2:12.

That this is its meaning here is apparent from the parallel place in 1 Corinthians 8:11, "And through your knowledge shall your weak brother perish?" If it is asked how the eating of meat by the Gentile convert could be connected with the perdition of the Jew, I reply, that the apostle supposes that in this way an occasion of stumbling would be given to him, and he would come into condemnation.

He might be led by example to partake against his own conscience, or he might be excited to anger, disgust, and apostasy from the Christian faith. Though the apostle believed that all who were true Christians would be saved (Romans 8:30–39), yet he believed that it would be brought about by the use of means, and that nothing should be done that would tend to hinder or endanger their salvation (Hebrews 6:4–9; Hebrews 2:1).

God does not bring His people to heaven without the use of means adapted to the end; and one of those means is that employed here to warn professing Christians against such conduct as might jeopardize the salvation of their brothers. For whom Christ died. The apostle speaks here of the possibility of endangering the salvation of those for whom Christ died, just as he does respecting the salvation of those who are in fact Christians. By those for whom Christ died, he undoubtedly refers here to true Christians, for the whole discussion relates to them, and them only (Compare Romans 14:3, 4, 7, 8).

This passage should not be used, therefore, to prove that Christ died for all men, or for any who shall finally perish. Such a doctrine is undoubtedly true (compare 2 Corinthians 5:14–15; 1 John 2:2; 2 Peter 2:1), but it is not the truth which is taught here. The design is to show the criminality of a course that would tend to the ruin of a brother. For these weak brothers, Christ laid down His precious life. He loved them; and should we, to gratify our appetites, pursue a course which will tend to defeat the work of Christ, and ruin the souls redeemed by His blood?