Accept among you (New English Bible “accept”; An American Translation* “treat … like brothers”) is rendered “welcome” by most translations (New American Bible “extend a kind welcome to”). Paul means that the weak brother must be accepted and made to feel welcome as a member of the Christian community. The same word is used in verse 3, because God has accepted him.

The man who is weak in the faith is the emphatic element in the Greek sentence. From what follows we learn three things about this man: (1) he is a vegetarian (vv. 2, 21); (2) he considers certain days to have special importance (vv. 5-6); and (3) he does not drink wine (v. 21). In choosing a term for weak it is essential to avoid an expression which will indicate only “physical weakness.” In some languages it is necessary to employ a negative expression such as “not strong,” since this is more likely to convey some element of failure in faith. Other languages may employ an equivalent, though different, term for weak—for example, “those who are soft in their faith.” In certain cases it may be necessary to shift the arrangement of semantic components—for example, “people whose faith is weak” or “people whose faith does not stand firm.”

But do not argue with him about his personal opinions translates a noun phrase (literally “not for arguments of doubt”). Most translations render this phrase in essentially the same way as the Good News Translation (see An American Translation*, Moffatt, Phillips), while the New English Bible (“without attempting to settle doubtful points”) and the Jerusalem Bible (“without starting an argument”) appear to understand it in a more general sense. In some instances one may use a translation such as “do not argue with him about what he should or should not do” or “do not argue with him about what he himself should do.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .