(8) He that (e) regardeth the day, regardeth [it] unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the (f) Lord he doth not regard [it]. He that (g) eateth, eateth to the Lord, (9) for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth (h) not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
(8) A reason taken from the nature of indifferent things, which a man may do with good conscience, and omit: for seeing that the difference of days and meats was appointed by God, how could those who as yet did not understand the abrogation of the law, and yet otherwise acknowledge Christ as their Saviour, with good conscience neglect that which they knew was commanded by God? And on the other hand, those who knew the benefit of Christ in this behalf, did with good conscience neither observe days nor meats: therefore, says the apostle in verse ten, "Let not the strong condemn the weak for these things, seeing that the weak brethren are brethren nonetheless." (Romans 14:10) Now if any man would apply this doctrine to our times and ages, let him know that the apostle speaks of indifferent things, and that those who thought them not to be indifferent, had a basis in the law, and were deceived by simple ignorance, and not from malice (for to such the apostle does not yield, no not for a moment) nor superstition, but by a religious fear of God.
(e) Precisely observes.
(f) God will judge whether he does well or not: and therefore you should rather strive about this, how every one of you will be considered by God, than to think upon other men's doings.
(g) He that makes no difference between meats. (9) So the apostle shows that he speaks of the faithful, both strong and weak: but what if we have to deal with the unfaithful? Then we must take heed of two things, as also is declared in the epistle to the Corinthians. The first is that we do not consider their superstition as something indifferent, as they did who sat down to eat meat in idol's temples: the second is that then also when the matter is indifferent (as to buy a thing offered to idols, in the butcher's store, and to eat it at home or at a private meal) we do not wound the conscience of our weak brother.
(h) He that does not touch meats which he considers to be unclean by the law.