Chapter 14

The apostle in the previous chapters has already laid emphasis on loving our enemies, and loving our neighbors. Now he supplies us with a lengthy exposition of what it means in practice to walk in love with those who are weak in the faith (the new convert to Christianity) and the strong (those who have been saved for many years). The weaker brother or sister may lack assurance in the faith and also a sensitive Christian who is easily overcome by indecision and scruples. What the weak ones may lack is not strength of self-control but liberty of conscience.

"Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations." (verse 1) The stronger Christian is to aid the weaker Christian to grow in his faith. Many new converts in Paul's day were converted out of paganism that had been practiced by their forefathers for many years. Many of them were saved without knowing anything whatsoever about Christianity. During Paul's day converts came from ex-idolaters, ascetics, legalists, and Judaism. The new converts are to be received without doubtful disputations; that is, "judging unmercifully," or "for purposes of debate." The requirements for church membership in a Baptist church does not include a doctorate in theology! Candidates for church membership need only to include repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. The Great Commission places emphasis on winning converts, baptizing them, and then teaching them. New converts are not prepared to debate such doctrines as incarnation, sanctification, and predestination. The new convert needs to be given time to grow before being judged unmercifully by his fellow church members. Tolerance and patience seem to be watchwords in matters of ethics. As long as the new convert is willing to learn; encourage him but let him learn at his own pace. He is not to be debated with on peripheral matters. Paul's conciliatory attitude toward the weak (not allowing the strong to despise, browbeat, condemn, or damage the new convert) is also in keeping with the Jerusalem Council's decree (Acts 15: 19 - 21, 28, 29).

"For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs." (verse 2) Without a doubt, some Christians in the first century had scruples about eating meat (a portion sacrificed to idols and the remainder sold in the marketplace). Some ate the meat with a clear conscience; others felt uneasy about it. Whether one eats or refrains from eating is a matter of personal conscience and has nothing to do with Christianity. Furthermore, some eat vegetables (garden herbs) only. To insist that others conform in all matters to what one believes to be proper possesses a special measure of bigotry.

"Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him who eateth not judge him that eateth; for God hath received him." (verse 3) The word despise is a very strong word meaning 'to reject as worthless,' or 'to look down upon.' The word is first used in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican; the Pharisee 'despised' the publican (Luke 18: 11). Possibly the strong had a disposition to despise or treat with contempt the weak and the weak to judge the strong. Both are condemned by the apostle. God receives the one who eats all things and the one who refrains from eating all things; He accepts both the weak and the strong. If God does not make an issue of such things, what right do His children have to make it an issue? Of the eaters and the non-eaters neither should judge the other. One extremist can damage the fellowship of the entire congregation.

"Why should there be no condemnation? God has received both the Christian who eats meat offered to idols and him who does not. If eating meat is such a sin as to dishonor God, then it should be condemned by all. Apparently God does not take this view of it. But God has also accepted the Christian who abstains" (Yeager, Volume XII, p. 188).

"Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be held (holden) up; for God is able to make him stand." (verse 4) Only the employer or master is supposed to judge his employee or slave. It is no one's business but the employer and the master. If both the eater and the non-eater are Christians and Christ is their Master, then who are fellow members to condemn one of God's servants? God needs no help from His creation with His discipline problems! God's servants are responsible to Him and Him alone. The apostle must have had some critics in the church at Corinth, for he wrote to them in I Corinthians 4: 3, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self." If a servant pleases and is acceptable to his master, it does not matter what other slaves think or other masters think. So it is with our Lord's servants. Furthermore, it is God Who has the power (is able) to make him stand.

"One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." (verse 5) Paul may have been referring to days of rest, fast days, or feast days (weekly, monthly, or annual). The word esteem means to 'judge,' 'determine,' or 'decree.' Under the Mosaic Law the Jewish Sabbath (the seventh day or Saturday) was a day of rest or ceasing from work. Some believe that one day of seven is holier than the other six. For the Christian Sunday (the first day of the week) is sacred since the Lord arose from the grave on Sunday morning or, at least, the tomb was found empty on Sunday morning. Non-Christians view Sunday like any other day of the week. Under the culture of the United States, we look at Saturday as a day of rest and Sunday as a day of celebration and worship. Whatever day a man judges, determines, or decrees, let that man be fully persuaded, 'fully convinced,' 'give total proof' or 'demonstrate.' "The weak brother can hurt his conscience by following the strong brother's practice without holding the strong brother's conviction" (Morris, p. 481). The strong Christian may not distinguish between days any more than he does between foods. Paul wrote to the Galatians (4:10, 11), "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." And he wrote to the Colossians (2:16, 17), "Let no man, therefore, judge you in food (meat), or in drink, or in respect of a feast day (an holyday), or of the new moon, or of a sabbath day (the sabbath days), which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Paul seems to ask, "How is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?"

"He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord; for he giveth thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks." (verse 6) To regard means 'to think about,' 'pay attention,' 'to consider,' or ' hold a conviction.' Every Christian is assumed to do or to refrain from doing whatever is his choice for the personal honor of God. Whatever he does or does not do, he is to give God thanks. Fellow Christians are not to try to "play God," and 'to judge' or 'to criticize' as God would do. Could not verse 4 apply here, "...for God is able to make him stand." Reserve private judgment! The threefold repetition of the words "...unto (to) the Lord..." express the religious conviction, namely, conscience toward the Lord, out of regard for which the diverse practices are followed. Furthermore, if each one "...giveth God thanks..." does not this imply gratitude to God and enjoyment of His bounty? In I Timothy 4:4, 5 Paul wrote, "For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." Whether the individual Christian eats or not, whether he observes one day or another, both recognize the God Who should receive the gratitude of their hearts and the honor of their minds. Compare: I Corinthians 8: 9 - 12.

"For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living." (verses 7 - 9) Every Christian lives and dies for the ultimate glory of God and not for his own selfish interest and advantage (Ephesians 2:7). The guiding aim of the believer is to be well-pleasing to the Lord. As the believer contemplates death, as well as in all the details of behavior in this life, he should be conscious of the Lord's will, and in the act of dying his sense of devotion to the Lord is not suspended. Jesus Christ is our mutual Lord; He is sovereign. Every Christian is to live and be willing to die for Him. To deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ in the life of any believer is to subvert the full work, power, and purpose of His crucifixion and resurrection. Because Jesus is also Lord of our fellow Christians, we must respect their relationship to Him and mind our own business. For He died and rose from the grave to be their Lord as well as our Lord.

"But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." (verse 10) After writing about the strong and the weak, the observers and the abstainers, the living and the dead, all in rather general and impersonal terms, the apostle asks two strait and related questions using the words judge 'pass judgment,' or 'condemn;' and set at nought 'reject as worthless,' 'look down upon,' or 'despise.' There is an obvious link between our judging our brother and our having to stand before God's judgment seat. Some may judge his brother and even view him with contempt or censoriously. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus forbade unjust criticism, "Judge (stop judging), that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged..." Judgment and forgiveness are incompatible for the Christian. Christ died for our brother as well as for us; furthermore, everyone of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of deeds done in the flesh. In I Corinthians 3:13 - 15 Paul wrote, "Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall test (try) every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built upon it, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet as by fire."

"For it is written, As I live saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." (verse 11) Here Paul quotes from Isaiah 45:23, "I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear." Isaiah was writing of Jehovah God's influence over His chosen people and also of Israel's future restoration. The apostle Paul applies the reference to a universal acknowledgment of Israel's God. Since every saved individual who has ever lived will stand before God's judgment seat and give an accounting, then it is up to man to refrain from taking the prerogative of judging his brother in areas that may be debatable.

"So, then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God." (verse 12) This verse says (literally), "...each one of us shall give an explanation about himself to God." In II Corinthians 5:10 Paul wrote, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." God is God and there is none else; He must bring the whole panorama of history before Him for final adjudication. Everything will be adjudged with equity. Psalm 96:12, 13 reads, "Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the forest (wood) rejoice before the Lord; for He cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth." And Psalm 98:8, 9 says, "Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth; with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity." Our responsibility is not to judge, to despise, to criticize, or in any way to belittle our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not called by our Lord to give an account of their sins and the shortcomings of others, but rather we should judge ourselves.

"There is danger that the so-called 'mature' Christian will presume upon Paul's argument of Romans 14: 1 - 12 and conclude that he may exercise his freedom in Christ to the point where he loses his influence with others and even inadvertently causes the spiritual downfall of some" (Yeager, Volume XII, p. 199). "Four theological truths, then, undergird Paul's admonition to welcome the weak, and neither despise nor condemn them. They concern God, Christ, them, and ourselves. First, God has accepted them (3). Secondly, Christ died and rose to be the Lord, both theirs and ours (9). Thirdly, they are our sisters and brothers, so that we are members of the same family (10a). Fourthly, all of us will stand before God's judgment seat (10b). Any one of these truths should be enough to sanctify our relationships; the four together leave us without excuse. And there are still two to come" (Stott, pp, 363, 364).

"Let us not, therefore, judge one another any more; but judge this, rather; that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." (verse 13) Paul continues his subject of judging. He writes of a stumbling block which means 'the moveable stick or trigger of a trap,' 'a trap stick,' or 'a snare.' This word refers to the bait stick of a trap; when an animal or bird strikes it this triggers off the mechanism that produces entrapment. The apostle gives the same warning in his letter to the Corinthians (I Corinthians 8:9) in which he writes, "But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak." Paul referred in Romans 9:32 to the word translated an occasion to fall, now he uses it a second time. The word means "a stone or other obstruction against which the foot may strike to cause one to stumble." The Christian is to live in such a way that one brother will not cause another brother's spiritual downfall, even if this means that he gives up some of his liberty in Christ.

"I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." (verse 14) The inference from this verse is that of those things which God has created, there is nothing unclean of itself; all things have been created to honor and glorify Him. "To say that something (meat, drink, a given policy of worship on a given day) is evil in and of itself, is to say that there is an area of life outside of Christ. On the contrary He has brought everything He created into His redemptive and regenerative purview" (Yeager, Volume XII, p. 202). Though nothing is unclean of itself, it does not follow that everything is clean for everyone. The conviction of each person must be taken into account. Jesus said in Mark 7:15, "There is nothing from outside of (without) a man that entering into him can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man." Furthermore, Paul wrote to Timothy (I Timothy 4:4, 5), "For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." Our Lord and the Apostle Paul were emphasizing how our words and actions affect the spiritual welfare of fellow Christians. If our words and actions cause pain, distress, or grief to a brother or sister, we must refrain from those words and actions. The sin comes when we indulge in something which causes a brother to stumble.

"But if thy brother be grieved with thy food (meat), now walkest thou not in love (charitably), for whom Christ died. Destroy not him with thy food (meat), for whom Christ died." (verse 15) The word grieved here means 'to make sorrowful,' or 'to cause grief' or it could mean 'offend.' "Paul has just intimated in the last clause of verse 14 that the overscrupulous attitude of the babe in Christ toward meat makes it a sin for him to eat it. Now, since that is so, he will be offended if the mature Christian eats meat. A Christian motivated by the love of Christ will not continue deliberately to exercise his freedom in Christ, when he knows that his behavior is a source of confusion and perhaps disillusionment for a younger and weaker saint. Since he is offended and what you eat is the reason for his offense you are not walking charitably unless you give up your meat" (Yeager, Volume XII, p. 203). Then he uses the imperative, "Stop destroying him for whom Christ died." There is a moral obligation to sacrifice one's lifestyle to keep from hindering a person's Christian growth. Destroy is a strong word and can also mean defeat or loss. The idea here is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being and seriously devastating his spiritual growth. Could not the influence of a stronger Christian cause the defeat or a weaker Christian's life? Love for the Lord and for our brothers never disregards weak consciences; love limits its own liberty out of respect for our weaker brother. To wound a weaker brother's conscience is not only to distress him but to 'destroy' him, and that is totally incompatible with love. If Christ loved him enough to die for him, should not we love him enough to refrain from wounding his conscience?

"Let not then your good be evil spoken of; for the kingdom of God is not food (meat) and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Ghost)." (verses 16, 17) Evil spoken of means 'blasphemed,' 'criticized,' or 'reported slanderously.' Good in this case probably means 'liberty you have found in Christ.' "It is possible to so abuse our liberty in Christ in regard to fellow believers that we create conflicts within the church that give the world cause to criticize and condemn those who claim to hold brotherly love in such high esteem" (MacArthur, p. 296). To forsake a freedom is a small concession to make for the sake of both believers and potential believers.

The kingdom of God, however, is far more than physical activity; it involves righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. When questions of food and drink become our chief concern, then it is apparent how far removed from the interest of God's kingdom our thinking and conduct have strayed. The gifts of salvation, administered by the Holy Spirit, are of a much higher quality than the physical pleasures of food and drink.

"For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men." (verse 18) Paul used the word acceptable in Romans 12:1; now he uses it again. This word acceptable means 'well-pleasing' or 'approved' of God, and he adds approved meaning 'tested' or 'tried' of men. The Christian who serves Christ by giving up his privileged freedoms out of concern lest he cause his weak brother to stumble, is acceptable to God and approved by men, and even perhaps the unsaved world. Although there may be nothing wrong for the enlightened saint for the sake of fleshly gratification to eat a steak, play a game of golf, take a fishing trip, or spend an evening at the opera, if it causes his brother to stumble, then the mature Christian should not engage in these activities. The activity may be acceptable to God and approved (or lawful) in the eyes of man, but if the brother stumbles refrain from that activity. "Let us, therefore, follow after the things which make for peace, and things with which one may edify another." (verse 19) Any activity that disturbs the peace of the congregation should be left undone. To follow after means to 'pursue' that which makes for peace in the congregation and the things that edify another or that which 'builds up' another. Were the Roman Christians trying to pursue peace and trying to edify one another? If they were not, Paul says, "Do it!" The apostle saw the edification of Christians in the faith as most important. He wrote in I Corinthians 14:26, "...when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying." Every believer can have a part in edification (building up others) rather than criticizing or despising.

"For food (meat) destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense." (verse 20) "God's program of evangelism and edification of the members of Christ's body is torn down when mature Christians, in the name of personal freedom, ride roughshod over the tender consciences of less mature Christians. Paul orders that this practice cease. Then he reaffirms the view that the sin is not in the thing itself, but in the feeling that indulgence is sin. If one has doubts about it, don't" (Yeager, Volume XII, p. 207). Barnhouse writes, "My rights and liberties are very important to me, but it is even more important that I do not exercise my rights at the expense of someone else, and that I do not insist on a liberty that will hurt another man. The exercise of liberty must always be constructive, never destructive. My liberties must be stepping-stones by which men climb closer to God, not stumbling blocks over which they fall to their own hurt" (Volume IV, God's Glory, p. 26)

"It is good neither to eat meat (flesh), nor to drink wine, nor anything by which thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." (verse 21) Meat (flesh) here is meat of a sacrificed animal, later offered for sale. The noble thing to do is to forego any and all practices, however, legitimate, if such practices cause others to stumble. The wine of Paul's day was a common wine drunk by Jews and was highly diluted with water and had a low alcohol content. The pleasure of eating offensive food or drink, or the pleasure of doing anything else our liberty allows us to do, is absolutely trivial compared to the spiritual welfare of a brother or sister in Christ.

"Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth." (Verse 22) Paul's faith and the faith of the mature Christian believes that in Christ all things are pure. When he is associating with other Christians, however, he is ordered to keep his opinion to himself and exercise his liberty in God's presence only. The faith that a person has, keep between yourself and God. A beatitude follows; Paul pronounces a blessing on the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. The strong Christian is blessed because his conscience approves of his eating everything, so that he can follow his conscience without any guilt feeling. As long as he is not totally convinced that the action is right, he is not therefore motivated by faith. "When by sincere faith and a correct understanding of Scripture we have a conviction before God that a custom, a practice, or an activity is worthwhile and good, we dare not denounce it as sinful. Nor should we allow our conscience to condemn us for exercising it -- with Paul's stipulation that we gladly relinquish that freedom for the sake of a brother or sister in Christ" (MacArthur, pp. 300, 301).

"And he that doubteth is condemned (damned) if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; for whatever is not of faith is sin." (verse 23) The reason a person is condemned is that his eating is not from faith. It is important that we act in accordance with out fundamental Christian beliefs, for any action that is not based on faith is a sin. The apostle is condemning conduct that springs from motives like selfishness, greed, or fear.


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