Romans 14
As we have stated, Romans is a very knowledgeable congregation of mixed Gentile and Jewish converts. They are able exhort and edify the Apostle Paul. It seems that he does not feel the need to explain himself as much as he did to the Corinthian church. I need the extra understanding of the same subject as explained to this other congregation. So, let’s look for insight from 1 Cor 8. As the first line suggests it is “concerning things offered to idols.” (1a)
Paul says “we all have knowledge.” This is biblical knowledge as well as the testimony of creation. But he warns “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies and if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.” In contrast, “if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.” (1b-3)
“Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” (4-6)
There is only God, the Father,… and one Lord Jesus Christ. “However, there is not in everyone that knowledge…” (7a) There are those in church who Paul calls brother who do not have this knowledge of the sole Lordship of Jesus Christ. They have begun to try to follow Him, but they are not convinced that He offers the only way of salvation. These Paul will refer to in Romans 14 as “weak brothers.” They are aware that animals were offered on pagan altars to other gods and they see the stronger brothers eating of the meat. So, they obey their conscience and partake of the meat themselves. However, the conscience is not a good guide because it “gives him vacillating signals” [Stott]. It will give him the courage to eat and then condemns him in his mind and heart for doing it. Paul tells the strong brothers: “But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.” (8) He chastised the stronger brother: “But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”(12-13) So Paul refuses to use his liberty and beckons the Corinthian and Roman churches to do likewise.
The Bible says, “... one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Cor 12:3) So the Holy Spirit is continuing to draw and woe these persons in the congregation to a fuller knowledge of the love of God in Christ Jesus. He is doing a work in the great churches where Christ is being lifted up in the pulpit for Jesus said: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” (John 12:32) So while this work is going on, we are not to get into disputes over trivial things. We are not to unnecessarily offend or allow strife over unimportant things.
And we are not to try to separate the wheat from the chaff, even in your minds. Jesus will one day be on the threshing floor with his winnowing fan in His hands. He will “thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matt 3:12)
Rom 14:1-3 Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.
Briscoe explains: “Receive one who is weak in the faith” “by this he means that there were areas of immaturity in their relationship to Christ and His church. This was particularly evident in those who felt it necessary to maintain certain rules and regulations in their Christian lives that were neither taught nor encouraged by the Lord Jesus.” [CC] We are to receive this one into fellowship, as God has.
John Stott says: “Professor Dunn goes further. ‘The tensions in Rome, he suggests, were ‘between those who saw themselves as part of an essentially Jewish movement and therefore obligated to observe the characteristic and distinctive Jewish customs, and those who shared Paul’s understanding of the which transcended Jewish particularity.’ [Dunn Vol 38B] Although diet had always differentiated Jews from their pagan neighbors (as in the case of Daniel in Babylonian captivity) (Dan 1:3ff), ‘the Maccabean crisis had made observance of these (dietary) laws a test of Jewishness, a badge of loyalty to covenant and nation’. [Dunn] The observance of the Sabbath was another. Thus ‘”eating unclean foods and violating the Sabbath” ranked together as the two chief hallmarks of covenant disloyalty’, while strictness in both was of fundamental importance in maintaining covenant faithfulness. Therefore, James Dunn concludes to characterize Romans 14-15 as ‘a discussion of “unessentials”… misses the centrality and crucial nature of the issue for earliest Christianity’s self understanding’.” It is to take it out of context.
Stott differs a bit. He continues: “All this is without doubt true and well said, but only so long as we go on immediately to clarify Paul’s position in relation to it. For vital to his strategy in these chapters is his insistence that, from a Gospel perspective, questions of diet and days are precisely nonessentials.” Stott adds: There is a similar need for discernment today. We must not elevate non-essentials, especially issues of custom and ceremony, to the level of the essential and make them tests of orthodoxy and conditions of fellowship. Nor must we marginalize fundamental theological or moral issues as if they were only cultural and no great importance… Paul distinguished between these things; so should we.” Yet we will find that they had become essential to certain believers.
““but not to disputes over doubtful things.” Stott says: “Paul does not insist that everyone else agrees with him, as he did in the earlier chapters of his letter regarding the way of salvation. No, the Roman issues were dialogismoi (1), ‘doubful points’ (NEB) or ‘disputable matters’ (NIV), ‘opinion’ (RSV) on which it was not necessary for all Christians to agree. The sixteenth-century Reformers called such things adiaphora, ‘matters of indifference’… secondary beliefs which were not part of the gospel or the creed.”
We are not to argue about “secondary beliefs”—areas in which Jesus and the Apostles are silent, like the eating of meats and the keeping of the feast days. These things had spiritual fulfillment in Christ. Paul says: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” (Col 2:16-17) In contrast, as we will discuss, the weekly Sabbath is important, but still no one is to decide for another person how he or she is to “keep the Sabbath.”
Back to foods, “For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. “You can’t push your convictions on someone else and have them call it faith. Briscoe calls the chapter— One Man’s Faith is Another Man’s Poison. So, the “strong” brother is not called upon to settle all the scruples of the “weak” brother. But each takes it on himself to do it. This is how Abraham inherited the promises and became the father of many. (Gal 3:8)
“There is a deep and unavoidable chasm between those who know Jesus Christ as [Lord and] Savior and those who do not, between Christians and the world. It is a division between life and death, between heaven and hell. Unfortunately, we often put it in the wrong place, dividing ourselves from other Christians. The chasm must lie between Christians and the world, not between Christians and other Christians. All who know Christ as Savior are on this side of the chasm, and we must stand with each other for Christ’s kingdom.” [BSF] Briscoe explained: “‘in Christ’ societal, cultural, economic and sexual barriers were broken down… The tangible evidence of this was the local assembly of believers.” But Briscoe continued “while in theory the walls of partition were broken down, in practice the walls had a nasty habit of putting themselves up again.” There are two major issues in Chapter 14—unclean foods and holy days. First, some from a Jewish background and their disciples “were fastidious about their eating habits. This was undoubtedly related to the dietary laws that had been part of their religious heritage from time immemorial.” [CC]
These weak Christians would never eat certain animals that were declared as unclean by Scriptures and they would never eat other animals that had been killed in an improper way. They lived in areas where they could not be absolutely sure about the suitability of the meat. Much meat in the market had come from pagan temple; it was offered in sacrifices in which the priest took some and sold the rest at market. Some were appalled at the thought that they might eat something that was part of a pagan festival so they became resolved to become vegetarians. In contrast, the stronger Christians were fully persuaded, as Paul was, of the Oneness of God and the liberty in Christ on non-moral issues.
Rom 14:4 Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
“Who has ever given you the right to condemn the servant of another man, in things pertaining to his own master? To his own master he stands or falls. He is to judge him, not you; your intermeddling in this business is both rash and uncharitable. He is sincere and upright, and God, who is able to make him [the weaker Christian] stand, will uphold him; and so teach him that he shall not essentially err. And it is the will of God that such upright though scrupulous persons should be continued members of his church.”(Adam Clarke Commentary)
Rom 14:5-6a One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.
Both the strong and the weak Christian should act on scriptural conviction. Briscoe says: “There is a major difference between doing things out of a sense of convention [like as set of rule] and doing them out of a sense of conviction. The former approach is often a capitulation to the pressures of external factors while the latter should be the product of deep thought and careful evaluation. Paul wants the believer to deal with their controversial issues on the solid basis of commitment to Christ rather than surrender to pressure. He does not mind, personally, whether they eat meat or not, provided they have decided on the basis of what they understand the Lord’s will to be. Provided they do it or don’t do it in the light of Christ’s Lordship over their lives, he has no problem.”
Briscoe cautions: “Care should be taken at this point to remember that he is not saying that it does not matter what Christians believe or how they behave. In many matters Christ was explicit and the Apostles dogmatic, and in such cases Christians have no option but to obey.”
This second issue is keeping of the feasts of the LORD in which there were ten annual high-day Sabbaths. If you believe that the Ten Commandments are binding on all humanity, then the Command to keep the Sabbath—the seventh day— is also morally binding. Those who believe this Scripture nullifies the weekly Sabbath is on “precarious ground.” The Lord said: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath,” and that “The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day” (Mark 2:27-28) His lordship over the Sabbath consisted of more than “His right to abolish it.” [Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary]
“He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord.”Some may say that Messianic Jewish congregations (Christians) or Gentile Christians who keep the feasts of the LORD—Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles—are weak and focusing on shadows and not the substance. In his book Jesus in the Feasts of Israel, Richard Booker says: “These feast seasons were physical symbol showing the Jews how to know God and walk with Him through a personal relationship with Jesus. The spiritual truths symbolized by the feasts are available to all who will turn to God through Jesus as their Lord and Savior.” He and other Christian like him would likely observe the day “to the Lord” with the hopes of saving a soul from death thereby.
“and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.” Others would not see the purpose of such rituals. The [weekly] Sabbath must not be ranked “among those vanished Jewish festival days which only weakness could imagine to be still in force— a weakness which those who had more light ought, out of love merely, to bear with.” [Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary] They would rather “not observe the day” to emphasize our liberty in Christ with the hopes of winning folks who are tired of being under the heavy yoke of others and thus win them to Christ.
Many believe that all of the Commandments— to include the directive to keep the weekly Sabbath— were nailed to the cross, but let’s quickly consider what may have been nailed to the cross. Before you became a Christian, you were “dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh…” but He has made us “alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross”. (Col 2:13-14) It is worded “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us” in KJV.
The word “requirements” or “ordinances” is the Greek word “dogma.” It is used 4 other times in the New Testament and is translated as decree or decrees in Luke 2:1 (from Caesar Augustus), Acts 16:4 (of the apostles and elders) and 17:7 (of Caesar). The fourth other usage is in Ephesians 2:15. Christ has made the flesh and the spirit “both one” (Eph 2:14a) and has “broken down the middle wall of partition” between the two. He “having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. (Eph 2:15-16) “The law of commandments contained in ordinances” is the nomos [torah or teaching] of entole [mitzvah] contained [added word] in ordinances [dogma or decrees]. Perhaps, the teachings of commands contained in dogma are man-made tradition or decrees like what it means to keep the Sabbath.
Getting back to the Colossians, Paul warned just prior: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” (Col 2:8-12) Paul tells them to be on guard, and not to let their minds be captured by “intellectualism and high-sounding nonsense.” (Phillips). He is not talking about the LORD’s dogma or doctrine, but rather that of men.
Much Rabbinical commentary was often on “doubtful things” like what it means to “keep kosher” and “keep of Sabbath.” Overzealous Rabbis wrote rules for others in which they decided the scruples of “weaker” congregants. But now he is talking to Gentile and Jewish Christians—those with the Spirit of Christ in them. I feel that it was the dogma or decrees of men which were nailed to the cross.
Are the Commandments “against us” or “contrary to us”? No, they are “holy, just and good.” (Rom 7:12) They are “pure, enlightening the eyes.” (Ps 19:8) Their essence is “love”. (Matt 22:37-40) Adherence to them by faith in Christ gives us access to the tree of life in the midst of the garden of God. (Gen 2:9; Rev 22:14)
Jesus said: “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these [Mitzvah] commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:19) They were written by the very finger of God on tablets of stone (Deut 4:13) and God told Moses to place them in the Ark of the Covenant. (Exod 25:16) The construction, as well as their placement by God, gives them a place of permanence and prominence in God’s everlasting Kingdom. They are not against us and they were not nailed to the cross.
Moses commanded Israel: “Take this Book of the Law [Nomo or Torah], and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD, then how much more after my death?” (Deut 31:26-27) Jesus said: “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the Law [Torah] till all is fulfilled.” (Matt 5:18) So, the Book of Torah did not die with Moses, nor was it nailed to the cross. It is still useful as a witness against us. And it is also still used as “our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” (Gal 3:24-25) We are now under Christ. Through His Spirit: we can keep the Ten Commandments; and we can even learn from Torah to include the civil law for the nation Israel; and see Christ in the feasts of the LORD, as well as the tabernacle service, and the sacrifices of old. Again, all of this was “written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Cor 10:11)
Rom 14:6b-9 He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
If in my knowledge I eat something offered to an idol, I eat to the Lord and give God thanks. If someone’s conscience is bothered and he does not partake, he abstains to the Lord and gives God thanks for his conviction. When both the weak and the strong Christian die, they are both the Lord’s and they will live together with Him for eternity. So, in either state, we are the Lord’s… and Christ died “that He might be Lord of both the dead and living” saints.
Rom 14:10-12 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” (Isa 45:23)So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.
“But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” Christians will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. In contrast, the Bible teaches that non-believers will be judged 1000 years later at the Great White Throne Judgment. (Rev 20:11) They will have no Advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous. In contrast, the weak and strong—the “small and great… will be “judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.” (Rev 20:12) “The consideration of the common Judgment seat at which the strong and the weak shall stand together will be found another preservative against the unlovely disposition to sit in judgment one on another.” (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary) Briscoe says: “Therefore judgmental attitudes in matters of scriptural silence and freedom are totally out of order, and those who are guilty of them will answer for them at the Judgment Seat as surely as those with whom we disagree will be evaluated by their Lord.”
“For it is written: ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us shall give account of himself to God”. Isaiah proclaimed: But Israel shall be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you shall not be ashamed or disgraced forever and ever. For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.” (Isa 45:17-18)
The LORD continues:
Isa 45:19-20b “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain'; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations.” [God has revealed Himself to us as outlined in Romans. He calls us all to draw near to Him, but the weak Christian with a seared conscience is not likely to respond to the sound of His voice.]
Isa 45:20a-21 “They have no knowledge, who carry the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that cannot save. Tell and bring forth your case; yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me.” [This is the knowledge that the weaker Christians need. Jehovah God is a just God and Savior; there are no other gods besides Him.]
Isa 45:20a-21 “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. In the LORD all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory.’”
They will confess is “that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11b) and everyone will “give account of himself to God.” “To Him [Jesus] men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. In the LORD all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory.” (Isa 45-20-21) The justified—weak and strong will glory in Him.
Rom 14:13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.
It is all about drawing close to Jesus and helping others to do the same. If the weaker brother eats also, they will wound their weak conscience. For the man who has meditated on Torah and is convinced of his own sinfulness, baptism is “the answer of a good conscience toward God.” It saves us. (1 Pet 3:21-22) It convinces his mind and heart—his conscience— that he is worthy of acceptance by the Lord. It begins a new life of fellowship and communion with the Lord of Sabbath. In contrast, a church member—called a brother or sister in Christ— who has his conscience seared over an unimportant issue may not continue to the point of accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Rom 14:14-16 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.
“The Apostle makes a surprisingly strong affirmation of his conviction that in the matters he is discussing there is nothing fundamentally right or wrong about meat or the day. But if the other person has a strong conscience about the wrongness of participation in the meat or the righteousness of recognition of the day, then to that person it is a matter of right and wrong.” [CC]
“Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.” The word destroy here is 622 apollumi (ap-ol'-loo-mee). [It is from 575 and the base of 3639; to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figuratively: KJV-- destroy, die, lose, mar, perish.] Wycliff Bible Commentary explains: “Hence, non-moral issues can become moral if they destroy a man’s fellowship with Christ.”
Rom 14:17-23 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.
John R. W. Stott explains: “The Apostles argument now is that, whenever the strong insist on using their liberty to eat whatever they like, even at the expense of the welfare of the weak, they are guilty of grave lack of proportion. They are overestimating the importance of diet [or liberty] (which is trivial) and underestimating the importance of the kingdom (which is central).” Paul affirms “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” According to Stott, we are to “make every effort to do (literally, ‘let us then pursue’) what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
“do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.” Stott continues: “‘Destroy’ translates a different verb from the one which Paul has used in verse 15 [to describe what could happen to the weak Christian]. Katalyo [here] means to ‘tear down’ or ‘throw down’, particularly in relation to buildings…. Our responsibility is to seek to build up the fellowship (19), not to tear it down (20). And in particular we must not tear it down for the sake of food…” Stott says, in these verses, Paul exposes “the incongruity of valuing food above peace, the health of our stomachs above the health of the community… Are you strong really prepared, he asks, to distress a brother because of what you eat (15a), to damage him spiritually by your eating (15b), to prize your eating and drinking above God’s kingdom (17), and now to demolish God’s work for the sake of food. (20)? There must have been some red faces among the strong as they listen to Paul’s letter being read out in the assembly.”
“All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.” (Rom 14:20b-21) Wine is mentioned here for the first time. Even wine is clean. “But”, Stott says, “there were other factors to consider, which would require them to limit the exercise of their liberty. In particular, there was the weaker brother or sister… So it would be evil for the strong to use their liberty and harm the weak. Alternatively, it would be good for the strong… to eat no meat and to drink no wine, that is, to become vegetarians and total abstainers, and to go to any other extreme of renunciation, if that were necessary to serve the welfare of the weak. ”
“Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God.” Whatever you believe in this matter, keep it secret. Stott concludes: “There is no need to either parade your views or to impose them on other people.”
Paul continues: “Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.” The word for ‘happy’ is 3107 makarios (mak-ar'-ee-os). It is the same word used for blessed in Romans 4:7-8: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.” (Ps 32:1-2) It means “supremely blest; by extension, fortunate, well off: KJV-- blessed, happy.” [Strong’ Concordance] The most profound blessedness or happiness in the world comes from having your sins forgiven. Yet, now we are talking about non-moral issues, but we discover that the non-essential has now become the essential “for whatever is not from faith is sin.” Each congregant must become an eager doer of the Word (James 1:23) that you hear while meditating on Scriptures, even on issues of food and feast days. But Rupert Meldenius rightly wrote: “In essentials unity; In non-essentials liberty; I all things charity.”