<p>14:14 <i>I know, and I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus</i><i>- </i>Paul really did meditate on every word of his Lord. Thus he says he was <i>persuaded</i> by the Lord Jesus that all foods were clean- this is how he took the Lord's teaching in Mk. 7:19. Those words <i>lived</i> to Paul, they were as the personal persuasion of his Lord, as if Christ was talking to him personally through the Gospel records.</p><p><i>That nothing is unclean of itself</i>- This is another window onto the fact that essentially, sin is committed within the mind. It is the mental attitudes which go along with eating or not eating which are the key issues before God. Because there is nothing unclean of itself.</p><p><i>Save that to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean- </i>Paul's approach could have been: 'The truth is that &quot;nothing is unclean&quot;. So those who still think in terms of clean and unclean are wrong. It's their problem- they should accept the truth about this matter and get over it. By believing some things are still unclean they are denying the power of the Lord's sacrifice, how awful...'. But he doesn't. He asks us to accept that these believers really think some things are unclean and so for them, if they eat them, they would be sinning in their conscience. The bald black and white, truth / error scenario doesn't help here; the sensitive Christian must go beyond this in sensitivity to those who are still immature, rather than hitting them with a choice as to whether to submit to Divine truth or not. We can be sure that the Father likewise practices this policy with us all over many areas where we also misunderstand and are genuinely miseducated. It is by our response to others like that as we encounter them in life that we work out our own final standing before Him.</p>