“Romans 14:1-12”

Friday, March 09, 2018

“Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

“One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

“But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.’ So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Another aspect of living the transformed, sanctified life is loving our brothers and sisters in Christ and maintaining harmony and unity, even if we don’t necessarily agree with everything they believe and do in matters of personal judgment or “Christian liberty”. We must be very careful to not apply the principles of Romans 14 with too wide of a brush. Paul is not saying that we should accept a brother or sister’s beliefs and behaviors no matter what they are.

There are many sinful things that God has forbidden us to do and many righteous things that God has commanded us to do, and these are not the types of things that Paul is giving consideration to in Romans chapter 14. In chapter 13 Paul tells us that we MUST honor the government and obey the laws of the land and pay our taxes. These are not matters of opinion and bring God’s condemnation if we disobey (13:2). And there is a lengthy list of sinful things that will kill us spiritually if we practice any one of them in 1:28-32. Paul tells us to “mark” the brethren that cause dissensions and offences that are contrary to sound biblical teaching (16:17).

So Paul is writing about matters that God has not forbidden or commanded, and there is an allowance for judgment or opinion in situations such as these. Paul gives us just a couple of examples to demonstrate this principle: eating foods and observing holy days. It is not sinful too eat meat and it is not sinful to eat only vegetables (verse 2). It is not sinful to (personally) observe a day that we consider to be “holy,” and it is not sinful to treat all days the same (all are equally holy and dedicated to serving the Lord!) (verse5). By the way, the Lord’s Day (Sunday – the first day of the week) is not under consideration here.

Paul opens this section by writing, “Now accept the one who is weak in faith…” The first issue to be addressed is just who is considered as being “weak” in this section. He obviously isn’t talking about someone who is “spiritually” weak because this brother is being very careful not to do things that would be construed as sinful (eating all things), and being very careful to do the things he thinks he should (observing certain days).

The “weak” brother is the one who has a hard time differentiating between matters of “indifference” and issues of “the faith”. He takes things that God has given us “liberty” on and treats them as matters of “law”. Paul is careful to point out that this brother is not morally “wrong” just because he is “weak,” just because he has a weak understanding of Scripture. Just as long as he doesn’t “judge” or “condemn” the “strong” brethren for doing or abstaining from doing things that God gives freedom on and that do not violate his conscience (verse 3).

And the “strong” brethren (those who distinguish matters of judgment and law better) must be careful to not “regard with contempt” (verse 3) the brethren who abstain from eating meats or who keep certain days holy in order to not violate their own consciences. The main point is that we can all “stand” strong in Christ and have fellowship with one another, even though we have differences of opinion in matters of judgment.

We should not “judge” our brethren on these nonessential matters because we are not their “master” (verse 4). While it is true that we should love our brethren and look out for their best interests, we did not live and die for them (verse 9). Christ did that! All of our brethren serve Christ and are trying to please Him and will ultimately answer to (be judged by) Him, not us (verses 7-12)!

Let’s be very careful to not view our brethren “with contempt” (verse 10) just because they don’t see things with the exact level of understanding that we do. And once again, let’s be very careful not to JUSTIFY SIN by the authority of Romans chapter 14! God certainly does not!!!

Please read Romans 14:13-23 for tomorrow.

Have a godly day!

- Louie Taylor

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