---
title: Romans 14:6
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-14-6/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-14-6.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Romans 14:6
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Romans 14:6

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; he who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "The one who observes the day observes it to Jehovah. Also, the one who eats, eats to Jehovah, for he gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat does not eat to Jehovah, and yet gives thanks to God"

## JW Usage

Watchtower commentary takes Romans 14:6 as supporting the JW position that festivals and special days belong to a category Christians may handle by individual conscience — while the organisation reserves the right to identify which days fall outside that category (Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Mother's Day are all forbidden, regardless of the believer's conscience). The verse's "to Jehovah" references confirm the NWT's position that the divine name belongs in the New Testament where the Greek manuscripts read Kyriō.

## Protestant Usage

Romans 14:6 is decisive in Paul's own words: "The one who observes the day observes it to Jehovah" (NWT). Paul explicitly permits one Christian to honour a special day and another to treat all days alike — and calls both acceptable. The verse forbids exactly what the Watchtower does: judging fellow believers over festival observance. Pair with Colossians 2:16 ("do not let anyone judge you about… the observance of a festival or of the new moon or of a sabbath") — Paul forbids the very judgment the Watchtower exercises. If the disagreement is between a Witness who refuses Christmas and a Christian who celebrates it in thanksgiving, Paul's verdict is liberty with faith-motive as the test, not organisational prohibition. Whose verdict are you following — Paul's, or the Governing Body's?

## NWT Issue

The NWT inserts "Jehovah" THREE times in this single verse where the Greek manuscripts read Kyriō ("Lord"). Critically, Romans 14:6 contains no Old Testament quotation — Paul is not citing Hebrew scripture. The NWT's standard defence for inserting "Jehovah" in the New Testament is that the underlying Greek translates an OT passage that contained YHWH. That defence is unavailable here. The insertion is pure interpretive imposition. Worse: Romans 14:9 will say "Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord [Kyrios] of both the dead and the living" — the Lord of v6 is the Lord of v9, who is explicitly Christ. The NWT severs the Christ-Kyrios identification by triple-inserting the Tetragrammaton against the Greek manuscript evidence.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Birthday Ban — A Rule Generalised From Two Pagan Tyrants](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/birthday-ban-extrabiblical-canon.md) — Romans 14:5-6 / Jeremiah 20:14 / Job 3:1 [Practice]