Romans ~ Part 35

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As I’ve stressed in my previous post, our journey to comprehend the profound significance of Sha’ul’s Letter to the Romans is not just a study but a crucial cornerstone of our faith.

Regarding Mutual Responsibility ~ Part 1

You may often feel overwhelmed by the differing beliefs and practices of those around you at work or in public, leading to feelings of isolation. Romans 14 teaches us the importance of understanding. Make it a personal goal to learn about the beliefs and backgrounds of at least two colleagues or acquaintances this month. Engage them in light discussions to build rapport, gently share your beliefs without confrontation, and show that you value diversity and connection.

Not to Judge Conscience

Among Believers, there are two groups: those with “strong trust” and those with “weak trust.” This passage depicts the latter as feeling they must abstain from meat or wine and observe certain days as holy, while the former feels no such scruples. Based on this passage, Messianic Jews are sometimes asked by Gentile Christians to stop observing Jewish holidays or keeping kosher. Or they are criticized as having “weak faith” if they adhere to Jewish practices. However, the specifics of the passage are clearly in a Gentile cultural and religious context, not a Jewish one. It does not teach that following Jewish practices is a sign of “weak faith.” Instead, it encourages Believers, Jewish or Gentile, whose trust is “strong” not to look down on those whose trust they consider “weak”—precisely the opposite of the behavior described above.

The passage also teaches the “weak” not to pass judgment on the “strong” for failing to observe practices, and the “weak” is considered essential since all believers are equal before the God who has delivered them.

14 ¹ Now, as for a person whose trust is weak, welcome him—but not to get into arguments over opinions.

To welcome someone only to lure him into a futile dispute, or, equally, to welcome someone who comes only to argue, is not the “love” of Romans 12:8–10 and 13:8–10 but the “quarreling” condemned at 13:13.

² One person has the trust that will allow him to eat anything, while another whose trust is weak eats only vegetables.

Eats anything … only vegetables. Sha’ul does not propose that Jewish dietary laws be repealed. See Romans 14:1–15:6 above, Mark 7:19, Acts 10:17–19, Galatians 2:11–16.

³ The one who eats anything must not look down on the one who abstains; and the abstainer must not pass judgment on the one who eats anything, because God has accepted him—⁴ who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? It is before his own master that he will stand or fall, and the fact is that he will stand because the Lord is able to make him stand.

Sha’ul chooses his words carefully to pinpoint the sins of each. The one who eats anything might take pride in having thought the matter through and freed himself from his fears and compulsions; therefore, he might look down on his duller, weaker brother with his self-created fence around his self-created law. However, the abstainer is more likely to develop a “holier-than-thou” attitude and pass judgment on the other as careless or a libertine. In this letter, boasting has already been condemned at Romans 1:22, 30; 2:17–27; 3:27–4:2; 11:18, 25; 12:3ff.; and judging at 2:1–3.

Matters of Conscience

⁵ One person considers some days more holy than others, while someone else regards them as being all alike. What is important is for each to be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ He who observes a day as special does so to honor the Lord. Also he who eats anything, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; likewise the abstainer abstains to honor the Lord, and he too gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives only in relation to himself, and none of us dies only in relation to himself; ⁸ for if we live, we live in relation to the Lord; and if we die, we die in relation to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord—⁹ indeed, it was for this very reason that the Messiah died and came back to life, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

One person considers some days more holy than others. The reference is not specifically to Jewish holidays but to any days that any Believer might have regarded as especially sacred. This is because the “weak” are not specifically Jewish Believers but any Believers attached to particular calendar observances. Each should be fully convinced in his own mind. This principle for dealing with doctrinal and practical disputes applies to adiaphora (matters about which the Bible is indifferent) and must be balanced against 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living.” Where Scripture gives a clear word, personal opinion must give way. But where the Word of God is subject to various possible interpretations, let each be persuaded in his own mind while at the same time “outdoing one another in showing respect for each other” (Romans 12:10).

Each Must Answer

¹⁰ You, then, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For all of us will stand before God’s judgment seat; ¹¹ since it is written in the Tanakh,

“As I live, says Adonai, every knee will bend before me,

and every tongue will publicly acknowledge God.” (Isaiah 45:23)

¹² So then, every one of us will have to give an account of himself to God. ^[1]

Judging and boasting do not befit people whose standing before God is equal. As noted, verse 11 quotes Isaiah 45:23, cited by Sha’ul at Philippians 2:10 in a similar context.

Our next post continues with the theme, Regarding Mutual Responsibility.

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^[1] Romans 14:1–12.