Romans 14:1

Romans 14:1

Romans 14:1 says, "Him that is weak in the faith receive you, but not to doubtful disputations."

Romans Chapter 14 is a section of scripture in which much detail is given in regards to the relationships of Christians with one another. The emphasis being on the fact that we must attempt to find a way to avoid being too critical of one another in spite of differences. We must avoid judging one another. Remember that the will of God is that all true believers be united in serving their Savior. Some differences between Christians are acceptable. There will be differences between believers, and one reason that there will be differences is because the Christian life, knowing God and walking with God, is a growing process. As the years go by, if you stay in the scriptures and if you stay close to God, you will have a greater and greater understanding of spiritual things. And as long as you are in this life, you will never arrive where you do not have anything else to learn. There may be things that you used to emphasize that you no longer do because you have grown in the Lord. There are things that take time to learn. There are things that you can only learn by experience. What you know about witnessing, what you know about baptism, what you know about walking with God, what you know about prayer, what you know about giving, what you know about being led by or filled by the Spirit may need some modification. Surely what you know and believe about these and other issues is not exactly the same as it was years ago.

If things happen as they should happen in the life of a believer in Jesus, you will stay in the scriptures. You will keep making an effort to apply the scriptures to your life, you will keep confessing your sins when you fail, and even though there will be low points and difficult times; you will eventually be stronger than you once were. Someone who has gone years walking with the Lord and growing in the Lord will be stronger in faith than someone who has not.

In the church those who are weak in the faith will of course intermix and converse with those who are not so weak. The responsibility is given to those who are strong to make sure that they are receptive to those who are weak. Don’t be judgmental; don’t be critical of those who are weak in the faith.

There are some issues that are very clear for which there can be no compromise and about which we cannot accept or allow a differing opinion. Most such issues are similar to the types of moral and ethical things that are listed at the end of Romans Chapter 13. It’s always wrong to lie. It doesn’t matter if you are a weak Christian or a strong Christian, and it does not matter if you have been saved for many years or if you just were saved today: you cannot lie, you must not lie: all lying is wrong. There is no circumstance where it is o.k. to lie. The same is true about adultery or drunkenness.

But there are other things that are o.k. to have a difference of opinion about. Notice that Rom. 14:1 says, "him that is weak in the faith, receive you." "The faith" is the body of beliefs that we have. The longer that we live and the more that we learn about God’s Word, the more we are constantly building upon the body of beliefs that we have. No one has arrived. Everyone has more to learn, and everyone has some things that they are probably wrong about. That’s one reason that you should not hold to any particular system of theology. Systems of theology have been written by man, and are therefore incomplete and imperfect.

No matter how strong of a Christian that you are, you probably have some beliefs that need modification. If someone is a young Christian or is weak in the faith, then they definitely have some ideas that need improvement. Don’t become judgmental and get into disputes with someone over issues that might take them years to learn as they grow in the Lord.

Consider the condition of someone who first comes to Christ for the forgiveness of sins. If they had little religious background, then what do they know about Bible doctrine? What do they know about the study of God? What do they know about "the faith?" If they were truly saved, the only things that you can be sure that they know are a few things about Jesus. They will believe that Jesus is the Son of God because they came to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and who can forgive sins but God only. They will also believe that Jesus rose from the dead, because they did not pray to a dead Jesus but to a living. But aside from a few basic things about Jesus, they may know nothing or they may think that they know things that they are actually wrong about, because they are "weak in the faith."

Two things are given as examples of what Christians may differ about, but these differences should not cause them to judge or reject one another. One issue is that of being a vegetarian and the other is that of regarding one day as being more important than other days. Rom. 14:2-4 says, "For one believes that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eats herbs. Let not him that eats despise him that eats not; and let not him which eats not judge him that eats: for God has received him. Who are you that judges another man’s servant? to his own master he stands or falls. Yea, he shall be held up: for God is able to make him stand."

You can be a vegetarian or a meat-eater, and still serve God. There may be some good reasons to be a vegetarian. It may be healthier to be a vegetarian, and it may show more respect to the lives of the animals that inhabit this earth with us; at least that is what some vegetarians think. But one thing is for sure: it has nothing to do with worshipping or serving God. You can be one or the other and still serve God. As a matter of fact, the weaker believer is the vegetarian, according to Rom. 14:2. If you are a vegetarian because you think that you are better serving God, then you actually have a weaker faith than someone who is not. But both are permitted by the scriptures.

Mahatma Ghandi never became a Christian as far as we know, but he had frequent contacts with Christians when he was being educated in England and when he lived in South Africa. Gandi was a vegetarian. In his autobiography he makes many references to the fact that he was often condemned, criticized, belittled, humiliated, and argued with, by Christians because he was a vegetarian. It seemed to be his major complaint against Christianity. If the people that he ran into during his life had an understanding of Romans Chapter 14, they would have allowed Gandi the freedom to be a vegetarian if he so desired; and then maybe Gandi’s own spiritual development would have taken a different direction.

The New Testament leans towards freedom: freedom of choice. That’s because we live under grace and not under law. Anything that is not strictly and clearly forbidden in the New Testament, is usually permissible behavior for the Christian. The more behaviors that you restrict and forbid; will probably mean that you will be more legalistic and less likely to understand the gospel. Asceticism and restrictive behavior do not necessarily result in godliness. Those who equate the one with the other are usually mistaken.

When Paul wrote the book of Galatians, he was writing to Christians who were afflicted with religious legalism. Almost the entire book of Galatians addresses that error, and some believers today are afflicted with the same error. Gal. 5:1 says, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." We are saved by grace, not by our works. We are accepted by God because of grace, and not by our works. Those who emphasize religious rules and regulations over and above things that are clearly defined in the New Testament, tend to become legalistic and to give the impression that we are received by God based on our works. When in fact, we are only received because of the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins that is in Christ Jesus.

If God has received someone based upon their belief in Jesus, then we should not reject them based upon their failure to observe our religious ordinances. This is true in regards to being a vegetarian or not, and it’s also true in regards to the observance of days. Rom. 14:5 says, "One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."

In some ways every day in the year is the same as every other day. They each have twenty-four hours. In each of the days of the year, a person should do good and turn away from evil. Therefore, if you want to emphasize the equality of each day of the year, then you are free to do so. On the other hand, if you want to take certain days out of the year and make something special out of them, for a celebration or a remembrance then you are free to do that also. Each person should decide for themselves, but should not expect every other believer to make the same emphasis that they do.

The observance of Sunday as the Christian Sabbath falls into this same category. The Sabbath was Saturday. There is no verse in the New Testament that says that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. Neither is there a verse that says that it is not the Christian Sabbath. You are free to make your own choice. As Rom. 14:5 says, "Let every man be persuaded in his own mind." Some Christians may look at it this way: If there is something that you should not do on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, then you should also not do it on Sunday. If there is something that is permissible on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, then it is also permissible on Sunday. All days are the same to some people.

The word Sabbath means, "rest". In one sense, Jesus is our rest. He fulfilled the law; and we rest in Him and the fact that He observed all the things that need to be observed. In another sense, we will not have the rest that we need until we arrive in our Father’s house in heaven. Sunday is not a day of rest for most pastors and other Christian workers. They often work harder on Sunday than any other day of the week.

The essential thing is that whatever you choose to believe in issues like this and whatever you choose to do, that you do not become critical and that you do not reject other believers who disagree with you. Dedicate what you do unto the Lord. Believe what you believe and do what you do, not out of a spirit of competition with other believers, but out of interest in doing the right thing in service to God.

Rom. 14:6-9 says, "He that regards the day, regards it unto the Lord; and he that regards not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it. He that eats, eats to the Lord, because he gives God thanks; and he that eats not, to the Lord he eats not, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies 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 the living."

Paul makes the point at the end of Rom. 14:8 that "we are the Lord’s." We belong to the Lord. Everyone who is a true believer in Jesus belongs to the Lord. Even though we may differ on some issues because of a difference in spiritual growth or an honest difference of opinion, the important thing to remember is our common connection to the Lord. We may differ on many things, but as long as we agree on the doctrines concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are brothers and sisters in Christ. We should not reject fellow believers because they differ with us on other issues, and we certainly should not reject them because of organizational affiliation.

Rom. 14:10-12 says, "But why do you judge your brother? and why do you set at nought 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. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God."

The meaning behind Rom. 14:10-12 is the same thing that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus said that you should not judge your brother, Jesus asked, "How can you see a small speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not see the giant beam that is in your own eye?" In other words, don’t waste time worrying about if someone else’s behavior is what it should be. You had better be concerned with your own behavior because you are going to have to one day give an account to Jesus Christ of everything that you believe and everything that you do.

Paul quotes the book of Isaiah that says, "As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God." Paul also quotes this same Old Testament verse in the letter that he wrote to the Philippians. When we quote this verse that says that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess, sometimes we refer to the unbelievers, pointing out that even though they do not bow before the authority of Jesus today, someday they will. Because it says "every" knee shall bow and "every" tongue shall confess, it also means that believers will do it too. Even though we are saved entirely by the grace of God that is in Jesus, and even though it’s by His mercy and not by our works that will determine our final destiny, all believers will stand before Jesus Christ and give an account for what they believed and what they did. For every day that you lived as a believer, you will give an account of it. You will stand before Jesus, who died for you, and perhaps it will go something like this: You will see the nail-prints in His hands and perhaps He will say to you, "Let’s look at January 10, 1998. I gave you 24 hours of the precious gift of life. What did you think, what did you say, and what did you do in those precious 24 hours that were given to you?" And then you and Jesus will review that day, and then you will review every other day with Him. You will give an account. Knowing that this will happen, let’s not judge others. God will judge them. Let’s put our efforts into better understanding what is true, and then better putting it into practice in our own lives.

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