Romans 14
Pursue Peace with One Another
In this section (14:1-15:13), Paul addressed an issue of division in the Christian church. While this controversy may have related specifically to believers in Rome, it also may have been a common obstacle for other diverse gatherings of Jesus followers.
Some Jewish Christians were apparently continuing to observe Mosaic laws and offended when other believers did not. While this may not sound so controversial to the modern, western reader, it is difficult to overstate how deeply these guidelines, regulations, and codes of conduct were woven into the fabric of Judaism and how radical it was for Paul to announce that Jewish Christians no longer needed to follow them. So it is not surprising that these Christians disagreed on how to live this out.
But Paul took a unique stance on this conflict. He did not hide his own opinion, but he also did not condemn or speak condescendingly of those who didn’t share it. To Paul, these matters were not primary but secondary. They were not foundational, but rather matters of preference, and he did not consider it necessary for all believers to agree on every detail in order to live and worship together in peace and unity.
The pervasive theme of his instruction was the pursuit of peace, that love for one another should be the guiding principle in all matters of disagreement. And this apostolic instruction has proved invaluable for all believers in every generation who are tempted to divide over what he called “disputed matters.”
If the Christian church, this new diverse community of faith, was to love one another in hope and holiness, they would need to understand when to pursue uniformity and when to protect unity.
In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity. - commonly attributed to St. Augustine
Disputed Matters
Vs. 1 - ...don’t argue about disputed matters
Paul is saying that there are things we will disagree about in church that should not lead to division.
Now, he is not saying that there’s never anything the church shouldn’t divide over. Throughout Paul’s letters he has identified things that should make us separate.
In Galatians Paul says “If anybody teaches a gospel different from this one,” you should label them a false teacher and not entertain them in the church.
In 1 Corinthians he says, “If someone is practicing open immorality, remove them from your fellowship.
But not everything rises to that level, and here Paul introduces a category called “disputed matters.” - JD Greear
Diets
Vs. 2-3 - One person believes he may eat anything, while one who is weak eats only vegetables. One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not judge one who does, because God has accepted him.
Paul did not explain the specific reasons why some Christians in Rome were not eating meat, but there are several possibilities for this controversy.
Mosaic Law - Some Jewish Christians may have continued to follow dietary laws of Judaism that prohibited the consumption of certain meats.
Idol Worship - Some Roman Christians may have experienced a similar disagreement to other churches, like the one in Corinth (1 Corinthians 8), over eating meat that had been involved in idol worship prior to being sold in the marketplace.
Whatever the reason, Paul discouraged these believers from making judgments that were reserved for God alone.
Days
Vs. 13 - Therefore, let us no longer judge one another.
Vs. 14 - I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.
In addition to special diets, some Christians observed special days, which were likely the Sabbath and the many Jewish festivals and feasts. How the practices of Judaism should or should not be integrated into the lives of Christians was a source of ongoing disagreement in the early church.
The narrower people make a great deal of the observance of one special day. That was indeed a special characteristic of the Jews. More than once Paul was worried about people who made a fetish of observing days.
Galatians 4:10-11 - You are observing special days, months, seasons, and years. I am fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.
Colossians 2:16-17 -Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ.
The Jews had made a tyranny of the sabbath, surrounding it with a jungle of regulations and prohibitions. It was not that Paul wished to wipe out the Lord's Day--far from it; but he did fear an attitude which, in effect, believed that Christianity consisted in observing one particular day. - William Barclay
Each of Us Will Give An Account
Judging Others
Vs. 4 - Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.
Paul did not consider it necessary for all believers to agree on all matters, like special diets and special days, in order to live and worship together in peace and unity. In regards to “disputed matters,” he encouraged compassion over condemnation. A believer should not appoint himself as the judge of these matters but rather leave the assessment to God.
Paul lays down a great principle. No man has any right to criticize another man's servant. The servant is answerable to his master alone. Now all men are the servants of God. It is not open to us to criticize them, still less to condemn them. That right belongs to God alone. It is not in our judgment that a man stands or falls but in his. - William Barclay
Vs. 10-11 - But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
Here is one of the two references in Paul’s letters to a “judgment seat of Christ.” This specific term seems to have been coined by the apostle, but he cited Isaiah as one of the original biblical authors who described a future time when followers of God will stand before Him to give account.
2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Both Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:9 speak of the “judgment seat.” This is a translation of one Greek word, the word bema. While bema is used in the gospels and Acts of the raised platform where a Roman magistrate or ruler sat to make decisions and pass sentence, its use in the epistles by Paul, because of his many allusions to the Greek athletic contests, is more in keeping with its original use among the Greeks.
This word was taken from Isthmian games where the contestants would compete for the prize under the careful scrutiny of judges who would make sure that every rule of the contest was obeyed (cf. 2 Tim. 2:5). The victor of a given event who participated according to the rules was led by the judge to the platform called the Bema. There the laurel wreath was placed on his head as a symbol of victory. - J. Hampton Keathley III
Judged by God
Vs.11-12 - For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
The quotation from Isaiah 45:23 emphasizes the fact that all will have to appear before God in humility, and give account of himself before God. If this is the case, we should let God deal with our brother. - David Guzik
Act in Love
Vs. 15 - For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love.
Paul’s primary purpose in this section was the promotion of acting in love toward one another. A brother’s liberty to eat or drink should not be more important than his love.
The apostle’s point was this. If your behavior regarding amoral things is creating spiritual problems for another Christian, your conduct is not loving. The welfare of a brother should obviously take precedence over our liberty to do something amoral. - Thomas Constable
In essence, Paul is here dealing with the peril and the abuse of Christian freedom. To a Jew, Christian freedom has its dangers. All his life he had been compassed about by a multiplicity of rules and regulations. So many things were unclean and so many were clean. So many animals might not be eaten; so many purity laws must be observed. When the Jew came into Christianity he found that all the petty rules and regulations were abolished at one stroke, and the danger was that he might interpret Christianity as a freedom to do exactly as he liked. We must remember that Christian freedom and Christian love go hand in hand; we must hold fast to the truth that Christian freedom and brotherly love are bound up together. - William Barclay
Pursue Peace
Vs. 19 - So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another.
Paul promoted the pursuit of peace over the protection of preferences. Christians should be willing to compromise in some scenarios in order to pursue peace with a brother.
Vs. 20-21 - Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make someone fall by what he eats. It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.
Paul is saying, “If my eating Baal-blessed bacon is harmful to my brother, and they just can’t shake feelings of it being wrong, and their conscience is wrecked when I eat it, I’d rather give up pork than hurt them spiritually. That’s love, friends. To the Gentile Christians, Paul is like, “Look--stop bringing your BLT sandwiches to discipleship group because your Jewish brothers/sisters are freaking out.”
If it makes them stumble, love them more than your freedom. - JD Greear
Between Yourself And God
Preference
Vs. 22 - Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God.
It should be noted that Paul did take a stance on these issues. He stated his opinion on the diet disagreement in verse 14. So his instruction was not to avoid taking a stance but rather to avoid being a stumbling block. Differences of opinions were inevitable, but they were not to prevent believers from living in love and unity with one another.
So the question may arise: Was Paul instructing the Romans to give up eating meat completely or indefinitely because someone else thought it was wrong? Paul didn’t say that’s what he planned to do. In my opinion, it seems that he advised pursuing freedom in a place and manner that did not intrude upon others, emboldening them to sin or encouraging them to divide.
Consideration
Vs. 22 - Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
Happy indeed are Christians of strong faith whose consciences are not in bondage to laws and rules concerning matters of lesser importance. But in certain circumstances, they should refuse to exercise the freedom that their consciences allow, so that their actions do not spoil the work of God in the lives of others. - Don Fleming
Conviction
Vs. 23 - But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.
Paul has advice for the man who is weak in the faith, the man with the over-scrupulous conscience. This man may disobey or silence his scruples. He may sometimes do something because everyone else is doing it and he does not wish to be different. He may do it because he does not wish to court ridicule or unpopularity. Paul's answer is that if a man defies his conscience he is guilty of sin. If a man believes a thing to be wrong, then, if he does it, for him it is sin. A neutral thing becomes a right thing only when it is done out of the real, reasoned conviction that it is right. No man is the keeper of another man's conscience, and each man's conscience, in things indifferent, must be the arbiter for him of what is right or wrong. - William Barclay
For a Christian, not a single decision and action can be good which he does not think he can justify on the ground of his Christian conviction and his liberty before God in Christ. - H. Ridderbos
