NOTES for Rom 14:6-8
In the Roman church the question of observing or not observing the religious prescriptions of Judaism was rather acute: Rome's Christian community was very diverse. There must have been many Jews there, because the Jewish community of Rome was one of the largest diaspora communities in the Roman Empire, and among Roman Jews there were certainly many who had accepted Christ.
But there were no fewer recent pagans in the Roman church: Rome was the largest city of the empire, and there were many people there interested both in Judaism and in various new spiritual movements, so the soil for preaching there was favorable. And it was exactly here, when Jews encountered recent pagans in the Christian community, that various conflicts on religious grounds began, mainly connected with questions of observing the Sabbath and kashrut. For pagans, even those actively interested in Judaism and attending the synagogue, whom in the Jewish milieu people usually called "God-fearers," observance of Jewish religious prescriptions was not obligatory.
And after becoming Christians, they saw neither meaning nor necessity in observing them. For them all days were the same, and as before they ate non-kosher meat from the Roman markets without hesitation and without fear. But at the same table with them sat Jews who could allow themselves to take from a pagan's table perhaps only some vegetables or fruit: the kosher status of everything else on a pagan table was in question, and an observant Jew keeping all the commandments of his religion would not even touch non-kosher food.
The same was true with the Sabbath, and with other Jewish feasts as well: for Jews there was a whole system of ritual prohibitions and restrictions, which in a recent pagan caused nothing but a smile. A natural question arose: should observance of the religious norms and prescriptions of Judaism be considered obligatory for all Christians? In principle, the Apostolic Council that had taken place in Jerusalem not long before the writing of the epistle answered this question negatively, deciding that pagans accepting Christ did not have to become Jews at all.
But in practice the question stood more broadly: does religion have some value for a Christian in itself? Does it give any advantages to those who keep it? Paul does not answer this question as unambiguously as some of the addressees of his epistle may have wanted. He leaves it to the discretion of each member of the Church, demanding only one thing: not to impose one's religion or one's lack of religion on anyone.
Paul understands perfectly that Christianity is not a new religion replacing Judaism or some pagan cults, but life with Christ in His Kingdom. Religion can help someone in this, and then the person is free to use it to reach the goal; for someone else it will rather get in the way, and it should not be imposed on such a person by demanding from him observance of norms and rules useless for him. The main thing is life in Christ's love, and the rest is better left to each person's discretion. Religion included.