---
title: Romans 14:23
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-14-23/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-14-23.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Romans 14:23
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Romans 14:23

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that is not from faith is sin.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "if he has doubts, he is already condemned if he eats, because he does not eat based on faith. Indeed, everything that is not based on faith is sin"

## JW Usage

Watchtower commentary takes Romans 14:23 ("everything that is not based on faith is sin") as motivating Witnesses to abstain from anything their conscience cannot affirm in faith — including holidays whose pagan origins might trouble a sincere believer's conscience. The verse is treated as supporting the JW practice of abstaining from Christmas, Easter, birthdays, and other observances on conscience-grounds.

## Protestant Usage

V23 is the closing principle of Paul's whole conscience argument — and the chapter to which it belongs (Romans 14) permits both observance and non-observance "to the Lord." The verse means: do not act against your own faith conviction. It does NOT mean: refuse all observance because someone else's conscience is troubled by it. The Watchtower's reading inverts the principle. If a Christian celebrates Christmas in good conscience, in thanksgiving for the Incarnation, that observance is "based on faith" and is not sin. If a Witness refuses Christmas in good conscience, that abstention is also "based on faith." Romans 14 consistently respects both consciences — it is the Watchtower's organisational mandate to refuse, not the individual's conscience choice, that conflicts with Paul's rule.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Holidays Are Not Pagan — Read Jeremiah 10 to Verse 5](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/holidays-pagan-origin-engagement.md) — Romans 14:5-6 / Colossians 2:16-17 / Jeremiah 10:5 [Practice]