Can Something be a Sin for One and not Another?
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Yes. In Romans 14, Paul discusses sins that occur due to an individual’s scruples. These are personal convictions that are not on the level of doctrinal mandates. The examples that Paul uses in this chapter center around the Jewish diet. “One man hath faith to eat all things: but he that is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth set at nought him that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him” (Romans 14:2-3). It also concerned the Jewish observance of special days of the week and month. “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). Jewish Christians did not necessarily give up their traditional Jewish diet. That did not mean that the Gentile Christians were wrong to eat of those things. Neither did it mean that the Jewish Christians were wrong for not eating those things. Jewish Christians also observed different days during the week and month like the Sabbath and the New Moon. They wanted to continue to observe these days as Christians.
Paul warns, however, that Christians should not encourage other Christians to violate their conscience regarding these practices. In Romans 14:20, Paul writes, “All things indeed are clean; howbeit it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.” In other words, if I were to eat or drink something that violated my conscience in so doing, I have committed a sin. That’s not to say that my brother who does the same thing has sinned. The sin is in violating the conscience, not in the act itself, which is harmless. We do not want to put a stumbling block in front of another brother. “It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth” (Romans 13:21). In such matters of scruples, if one may so behave with the approval of one’s conscience, he is happy. However, if his conscience bothers him, he should not do it. This is what Paul says at the end of the chapter. “The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God. Happy is he that judgeth not himself in that which he approveth. But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:22-23).
How does this apply today? One example may be the tattoo. For one person, a tattoo could be a meaningful gesture of faith in God. Some of my family members have tattoos that simply say, “joy.” This is a way for them to remind themselves to always be joyful. Is it a sin for them to do that? No, but it may be a sin for another brother to do that if his conscience bothers him about it. Let me be clear that I am not advocating for all Christians to get tattoos. This is a personal decision. However, it might be sinful to get a tattoo if the tattoo represents something that is sinful, or if by getting that tattoo, one causes his brother to stumble. It is best to avoid such things so that there might be peace within the body of Christ. That does not mean that I would judge a brother who has an arm load of tattoos on his body. Each one of us stands before Christ on our own in regard to matters of personal conscience or scruples.