A Word of Caution
Paul’s entire purpose in this chapter is to bring about unity in Christian communities. One of the great challenges of living in Christian community is that people bring all of themselves, their culture, their personal identities, views and baggage with them. Then we have to make it all work together. In a Roman context where Gentiles were worshiping in a way that would have looked terribly pagan to Jewish converts to Christianity, Paul writes this letter about how to get along with one another. Unfortunately, the very same passage has so often been used as a weapon in church bickering. It is sadly misused in forms that often sound something like, “Well what you are doing or proposing if offensive to me and would be a stumbling block to me so Romans 14 says you can’t do it. So there.” While this uses some of Paul’s words, it ignores their meaning. Paul didn’t intend for people to use these teachings to get their own way, but to see the value of putting other’s first.
Stumbling Blocks
The Christian life is often viewed as a journey or a walk. One of the great blessings Christianity offers is a clear path to walk on and we are often able to toss our obstacles off of the path. What Paul is warning us about here is that we must be careful not to through stumbling blocks off of our path and on to somebody else’s. Another way of putting this is that things that are not bad in and of themselves can become unclean or evil because of the perception they cause in those around us.
For Paul, he has already spoken at length earlier in Romans about how Gentile converts should not strive to live and behave as Jews. They are not called to live under the Old Covenant and it would be harmful for them to try to do so. On the other extreme, they shouldn’t flaunt their former pagan habits and practices in the faces of Christian Jews who would be extremely offended by those actions taking place in Christian community. We see an example of this later in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians regarding the eating of meat sacrificed to idols.
There’s an old saying that used to be very common in Churches of Christ that stated, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things love (charity)”. What Paul is saying in this chapter is that when something is a non-essential to Christian living we should allow people to do as they choose. However, when their liberty begins to affect the unity and love among the believers, that moves the problem into the arena of being essential. While the original source of contention might not be essential to anybody’s salvation, the unity of believers is an essential.
So, when you are shoveling snow out of your spiritual sidewalk, make sure you aren’t just piling it up in your 
neighbor’s. If you are, even though you can freely walk down your path, they can’t. And that makes you a jerk.
Northwest Church Bible Blog 