But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 23. He that discerneth, or who judgeth that he ought to abstain from such meats, if he eat, is self-condemned, because he acts not according to his faith. For whatever a man doth, and is not according to what he believeth he may do, or whatever is against a man’s conscience, is sinful in him. It is a mistake of the sense of this place, to pretend that every moral action done by an infidel, must needs be a sin, as when he gives an alms to relieve the necessities of the poor. Witham.—Discerneth. That is, distinguisheth between meats, and eateth against his conscience, what he deems unclean.—Of faith. By faith is here understood judgment and conscience: to act against which is always a sin. Challoner.