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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Chapter 14 and 15 ch. 14:1 to 15:13 ch.15:14-22 ch. 15:23-32 The
Weak And The Strong (ch. 14:1
– 15:13) “Accept
him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable
matters”. What are these
disputable matters that Paul is talking about in chapter 14 verse 1?
One disputable matter is eating meat.
In verse 2 to 4 Paul
says that some eat everything, while others eat only vegetables.
Verse 5 speaks of some people esteeming one day being more sacred
than another, while others consider all days alike.
In verse 21 Paul mentions the drinking of wine to be one of these
disputable matters as well. I
am sure that you and I could add all sorts of things to this list.
The idea here is that there are some things that are not important
enough to divide over. The
things that we should divide over are the essentials of the gospel.
That is, the truths that make up the gospel cannot be compromised.
Paul says this very clearly in Gal. 1:8. “But even if we or an
angel from Heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to
you, let him be eternally condemned!”
These are pretty strong words, but we do not compromise the
essential truths of the gospel. Yet
on secondary issues, non essential issues to salvation,
we should not divide over. We
should keep the unity of the Body of Christ.
You may debate secondary issues with great vigor, but you should
not let these issues separate you from your brother.
The
difficulty in today’s world, as well as in the past, is that we have
stress our distinct doctrines to such a degree that we have become
exclusive and have separated ourselves from one another in the church.
Yes, I do believe Christians are exclusive and not inclusive.
We are exclusive to the world and to other religions.
We do not compromise the gospel.
But we are inclusive when it comes to others in the Body of Christ
who may hold to a different way of thinking in the non essential
doctrines. Once again,
essential doctrines are those doctrines that make up the gospel, that
which is needed to bring salvation to a person.
End time teaching for example, is not essential to our salvation.
Believing in a pre-trib rapture, or a post-trib rapture, is not
what makes us a Christian. That is, we do not have to believe in a
pre-trib rapture in order to be saved. Another
aspect to “essential doctrines”, or those things that are “not
disputable” are things that scripture clearly speaks about as being sin.
Such things are, getting drunk, committing adultery, and killing,
among other such things. We cannot hold to our own thinking on these
matters. We must believe and
do as the Bible teaches. Paul,
in 1 Cor. 5:9 says that we should not associate ourselves with a brother
who is living immorally. We
can divide over such things as these.
So
there appear to be at least two types of indisputable matters, essential
doctrines of salvation and clearly worded moral commands of Scripture.
We can, and at times are even told to divide over these issues.
Everything else is disputable, and therefore we cannot divide over.
Paul
says, “accept those who are weak in the faith”.
He means, “accept those who have a hard time trusting Jesus”.
It is interesting to note who the weak in faith really are.
Verse 2 says, “one man’s faith (or trust in Jesus) allows him
to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only
vegetables”. The vegetarian
is the one with weak faith. Paul
tells us not to pass judgment on him.
Even if he is a vegetarian, with weak faith, that faith is still
directed to the Lord. So also,
the one weak in faith should not condemn the one who eats everything.
Each person will stand or fall in the face of his own Master, who
is Jesus. (ch. 14:4) “And he
will stand”, says Paul, “for the Lord is able to make him stand”.
Paul is saying, trust Jesus for your brother.
Jesus is able to keep him. Did
you ever wonder how a Roman Vegetarian Christian might have felt after
hearing these words. Paul, who
tells us not to pass judgment is making a judgment himself by telling
these people they are weak in faith. Many
Christians feel that it is wrong to judge because of this verse and
others. That is not the case.
If we judge others, then we can expect others to judge us back in
like fashion. That is what
Jesus is saying in Mat. 7:1 – 7. Judging
is not always a negative action. We
judge daily in many small areas. For
example, we go to the grocery store to buy onions.
We may squeeze them to make sure none are rotten.
We choose the best ones to buy.
We are making a judgment and decide from that judgment what onions
to buy. This may be what Paul
is doing here. He is surveying
the situation and making a neutral judgment, although there is a good
chance the Roman Vegetarian Christians did not feel that way after hearing
his words. What Paul tells the
strong in faith to do is, “not to pass judgment” on the weak in faith
. I think what Paul is telling
the strong in faith not to
think less of the man who does not eat meat.
Paul calls the vegetarian weak in faith, but he doesn’t think any
less of the vegetarian. He is making a neutral judgment, not a negative
judgment. He loves them just the same. Some
men consider one day sacred, while others consider all days sacred.
In verse 5 Paul says that each man must be “fully convinced” in
his own mind what is right. So
there is nothing wrong with being fully convinced, or positively sure of
what you believe is right. Yet
in these secondary issues, don’t pass judgment, don’t split over them,
but still be “fully convinced” in your own mind.
There is nothing wrong with being fully convinced.
It is what Paul tells us to be.
Whether
we meat eat or drink wine, we do it to the Lord.
Whether we hold one day as important, or all days the same, we hold
our opinions to the Lord. As
Paul says, “if we live, we live to the Lord.
If we die, we die to the Lord...we belong to the Lord”. (ch.14:8)
That is the key. Whatever
we do, we do in good conscience to the Lord Jesus.
If we drink wine, we thank Jesus for it and drink in His presence.
If we abstain from drinking wine, we thank Jesus for the cup of tea
that is in our hand. “For
this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that He might be
both Lord of the dead and the living”. (ch. 14:9)
Paul says that there is no use in judging our brother in these
matters. Once again, we are
talking about disputable matters. There
is a place for us to judge people. Yet
in these disputable matters, there is no place for judgment because we
will all stand before the Lord one day and give account of our lives.
“Every knee will bow, and every tongue confess to God”. (ch.
14:11) Paul
goes on to say that we should not put a stumbling block in the way of our
brother. He is speaking of the
unity of the Body of Christ here. Our
unity is based on our common faith and trust we have in Jesus.
It is not based on anything else.
It is definitely not based on non essential doctrines, no matter
how convinced we are in our minds. In
verse 14 Paul says that “he
is fully convinced that there is no food that is unclean”.
We see here where Paul stands on the eating issue.
He can eat anything, therefore he would say that his faith is
strong. Yet he goes on to say
that “if anyone considers anything to be unclean, to him it is
unclean”. (ch. 14:14) Paul
may try to explain his liberty to his weak brother, but he will not
condemn him for what he doesn’t eat. “If
your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer
acting in love”. (ch. 14:15)
He goes on to say in the next verse, “do not destroy your brother
for whom Christ died”. Also
in verse 20 he says, “do not destroy the work of God”.
Eating meat or not eating meat, drinking wine or not drinking wine
is not a big deal. “Living
in peace” (ch. 14:19) with one another is the main issue.
Besides, the Before
going further I need to define with more clarity what weak in faith means.
Paul is speaking about people’s consciences in this chapter.
If your conscience tells you that you should not drink wine, then
Paul says that you are weak in faith, because your conscience is not
lining up totally with what the gospel teaches.
If a person does not drink wine because he is a recovering
alcoholic, his choice not to drink has nothing to do with his conscience.
This man’s choice has everything to do with living a healthy lifestyle
for himself. Therefore he
should not be considered weak in faith.
This man is most likely is very strong in faith.
The whole idea of weakness here is all about one’s conscience,
and nothing else. Let
me make another point concerning wine. If you don’t drink wine because
you don’t like the taste, or simply choose not to, this
does not mean you are weak in faith either.
Your choice in this situation is not based on conscience. It is
based on likes and dislikes. You
may also choose to be a vegetarian for reasons not based on conscience.
In this case, you too would not be classified as weak in faith. Paul
is using there three examples, eating meat, drinking wine, and Sabbath
days because they were issues in his day.
We may have other issues in our day that could easily fall into
this discussion. Paul
says in verse 20 that all food is clean.
There is no food that is unclean.
In the same context he affirms that drinking wine is not a sin.
If we do either, or anything else that causes a man to stumble or
fall away from the Lord, this is wrong.
At this point we need to understand what the word “stumble”
really means. If I believe in
drinking wine and another Christian is merely upset because I drink wine,
is his being upset stumbling? I
don’t think so. Many
Christians are fully convinced that drinking wine is a horrible sin.
That is fine, according to what Paul is saying here in Romans 14.
Yet I can be equally convinced that drinking wine is okay.
That too is fine according to this chapter.
So if a strong Christian who doesn’t drink wine gets upset with
me and doesn’t fall from the Lord, I don’t believe I have caused him
to stumble. I don’t need to
stop drinking wine just because someone gets upset with me.
Simply being upset or maybe even indignant is not “stumbling”.
On
the other hand if I drink wine in front of a recovering alcoholic and he
decides to drink, and as a result falls back into his alcoholism and in
turn falls away from the Lord; I am causing that man to stumble.
This would be wrong. Let
me explain the process of stumbling. Our conscience plays an important
role in the stumbling process. Part
of Christian growth is lining our conscience up with the Word of God.
This is a process and we are all in different places on this path.
Sometimes our conscience can make us feel as if we are doing wrong
when in reality we aren’t. For
example, I have crossed the U.S Canada border many times.
The first number of times I felt guilty when talking with the
immigration inspectors, even though I had nothing to feel guilty about.
The very presence of these people and the situation made me feel
guilty. That feeling went away
after crossing the border a few times.
Our conscience is not always a true measure of what is right and
what is wrong. Therefore as
time goes on in our lives as Christians, we need to align our conscience
to God’s Word. In
the opposite way our conscience can be misleading as well.
For example, someone might steal something and their conscience
doesn’t condemn them for it. Paul
says that some peoples conscience’s is seared, as with a hot iron. (1
Tim. 4:2) Here too, the conscience needs to fall in line with God’s
Word. Paul
is saying that a man who is weak, who doesn’t eat meat, if forced to eat
meat, is going against his conscience.
When someone goes against their conscience, this presents a problem
within them. This can easily
lead to confusion, misunderstanding and discouragement that could cause
them to fall from faith. Paul
is saying that we should not put a brother in such a position as this.
Yet on the other hand Paul makes it very clear that there is
nothing wrong with eating meat. (ch.
14:14) Paul would in quiet
humility try to explain and even encourage the vegetarian that it is okay
to eat meat. But Paul would
not force him to do so. He
would not push him in this matter. Conscience
play an important part in the stumbling process.
Paul
clearly says that all things are pure and clean when it comes to food.
He also says in verse 22 to have this liberty between yourself and
God. Paul is not telling us to
stop drinking wine, nor is he telling us to be vegetarians.
He is saying not to make a public display of it in such a way that
it would effect someone to fall away from the Lord.
The important thing is unity, and not destroying a man, or the work
of God. In
verse 22 Paul says “blessed is the man who does not condemn himself for
the things he approves”. If
we drink wine, and our drinking does not cause someone to stumble, then we
are blessed. Yet on the other
hand, if you doubt while you drink your wine, then you’re drinking is
not in faith. Be fully
convinced that what you are doing is right.
A
key verse that I have mentioned before is the latter half of verse 23,
“..and whatever is not done in faith is sin”.
You can drink wine in full confidence that you are doing right.
That is good. If you
drink wine but are full of doubt, you are doing wrong.
You are actually sinning. This
can apply to anything, not just eating and drinking.
Everything we do should be done from our faith in Jesus.
Anything that is not done from faith is sin.
Remember, faith is simply trusting in Jesus.
All our actions should be based on our trust in Jesus, based on the
relationship we have with Him. That
is why I say, you can teach Sunday School and be sinning.
If you are not trusting Jesus as you teach, but depending on your
own self effort, then that is sin. This
definitely broadens our definition of sin.
Using this definition, no one can escape.
We all have sinned. We
are all presently sinning in one way or another.
We pray as time goes by that this will change, and all that we do
will be a result of our trust in Jesus, and not our own human effort. In
chapter 15:1 Paul says that, “we who are strong ought to bear with the
failings of the weak”. Once
again, who are the strong, and who are the weak?
Paul counts himself as strong.
He eats all food and drinks wine.
It may seem hard to understand why Paul makes this judgment, but he
does. Yet after saying this,
he tells us not to please ourselves, not to think of ourselves first.
He tells us “to please our neighbour”, please others, including
the weak in faith. This was
the mission of Jesus Paul says. His
life was an example of pleasing others, first His Father, then His
neighbour. Who is our
neighbour? Whoever is with us
at any given time. It may be
our wife or husband. It may be
a fellow worker. In
chapter 15:5 Paul goes on to say, “May the God who gives endurance and
encouragement, give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow
Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and one mouth you may glorify the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
This is a hard verse. The
church has not been able to fulfill this as yet.
We have been divided and are presently in the process dividing even
more. Paul
says that “we should glorify God with
one heart and one mouth” What
does this mean? Does this mean
that we need to all believe the same thing, thus speaking the same thing?
I don’t think so. Paul
has already allowed for diversity in thinking when he said that each of us
should be fully convinced in our own mind on secondary issues.
So I really don’t think he is telling us to always agree and
think alike. He says we should
be unified in our hearts. The
Holy Spirit joins us together. There
is a heart-felt love and concern for one another, as we strive to please
each other instead of ourselves. He
says that we should be unified in our mouth, or our speech.
If you take these words alone you will come to the conclusion that
we all need to think alike so we can all say the same thing, and not be in
disagreement. If I, who am a
drinker of wine, and my brother who is not a drinker of wine, can stand
together and say, “we differ in our thinking concerning wine, yet we
choose to walk together to further the cause of Christ”, I believe we
are unified with our speech, even though we differ in our thinking.
I believe we can be unified in speech, differ in thinking, and walk
together in unity. This is real unity. The problem is that this seldom
happens. Therefore
we need “to accept one another”. (ch.
15:7) Accepting one another in
Paul’s day was difficult to do, as it is in our day.
The Jewish/Gentile problem still persisted in Verses
9 through 12 gives Old Testament Scriptures showing that the Gentiles
indeed would become part of the great Abrahamic family called the family
of God. Paul already spent three whole chapters dealing with this truth,
yet he has a hard time getting away from it.
He just had to mention it again. Paul
ends this section by saying, “may the God of hope fill you with great
joy and peace as you trust in Him”.
Of course, “trusting in Him” is the definition of faith.
As we trust Jesus, or have faith in Him, we will have joy, peace,
hope, and the power of the Holy Spirit, in the midst of anything that
comes our way. Paul,
The Minister To The Gentiles (ch.15:14
– 22) Here
as Paul begins to end his letter to the Romans he re-asserts his ministry
to the Gentiles. His
motivation and inward drive was to preach the gospel to the Gentiles “so
that they might become an offering acceptable to God”. (ch. 15:16)
Paul is bringing back a memory from the Old Testament by using the
word “offering”, yet the offering to God is not a lamb.
The offering is a great
nation of people consisting of Gentile Christians.
As in Romans 12:1, the New Testament offerings are living people,
not dead animals. Paul
starts verse 14 with the words “I myself”.
We have seen him use these words on a few other occasions earlier
in his letter. He uses these
words for emphasis sake. Paul
is “convinced” that these Romans are full of goodness, complete in
knowledge, and able to instruct others in the ways of God. This long
letter is merely “a
reminder” of the truth they already knew. (ch. 15:15)
It is interesting that Paul would put forth such an effort to write
all that we have just studied simply to remind these people of things they
already knew. Thank God he
did. Little did Paul know that
he would be reminding us as well. I
believe that these very truths should be reminded to all of us from
pulpits across the world. Too
often we spend more time on secondary issues than on the essential truths
of the gospel as Paul sets forth in this letter.. Paul
goes on to say that from Paul
was unable to visit these Romans because
“his ambition had been to preach the gospel where Christ has not
yet been preached”. Therefore since there were already Christians in Paul’s
Plan To Visit Paul
had collected money from the Christians in Paul
asked the Romans to pray for him that he would be rescued from the
unbelievers in The
Romans tortured and killed Christians.
Sometimes they would wrap them up in animals skins and feed them to
dogs. Sometimes they would
burn them on poles, making human torches of them, giving light to their
gardens in the evening. Tradition
holds with confidence that Paul was executed by the sword in 64 AD. Concerning
Nero, Emperor of Rome at the time, it is said that he may have caused the
fire of
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