What you regard as good is ambiguous in this passage. Some take this as a reference to Christian salvation; the plural “good things” (Good News Translation good news) is used with this meaning in 10.15. On the other hand, the context seems to imply that what is referred to is the matter of Christian freedom. Paul is encouraging the men who are strong in faith not to let their Christian freedom acquire a bad name from persons outside the Christian community. Acquire a bad name is literally “to be spoken evil of” (Greek blasphēmeō) and is most generally used in reference to the actions committed by nonbelievers.

In English the phrase do not let would seem to imply “permission,” but this is not the implication of verse 16. The believers are admonished to act in such a way that they will not cause what they regard as good to be thought of by others as being bad. One may, therefore, translate verse 16 as “Do not cause what you think of as good to be thought of by others as being bad” or “Do not make other people speak of as evil what you think is good.”

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 .