In every church there will be Christians who hold different convictions from each other on non-essential gray areas. It is very easy for one believer to despise or judge another under these circumstances. In this passage, the apostle Paul shows us why we should not judge or despise one another in these situations.
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How To Live With Christians With Different Convictions
Romans 14:1-12
The first eleven chapters of Romans deals with the mercies of God which come to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ. These eleven chapters are rich in doctrine and theology. Then, in chapters 12-16 Paul instructs the Roman Christians how they are to apply the truth of the gospel to their lives. In one word, the answer is LOVE!
12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy”
12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love
12:14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse”
12:20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
13:8 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another”
13:9 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”
13:10 “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
14:15 “For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.”
So, the way we are to respond to the mercies of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ is to love. And the specific issue in Romans 14:1 – 15:7 is how Christians are to live with one another when they share different convictions. How do we love one another when we are so different from one another?
Someone has summed up what our attitude is toward other Christians all too often in this poem:
Believe as I believe, no more, no less
That I am right, and no one else, confess
Feel as I feel, think only as I think
Eat what I eat, drink only what I drink
Look as I look, do always as I do
Then, and only then, will I fellowship with you!
There are many issues in our lives that the Bible is silent on. We call these the “gray areas” of the Christian life. There are many issues that are black and white. In other words it is always wrong to blaspheme, lie, steal, cheat, commit adultery or fornication, swindle, or murder. It is always right to be kind, compassionate, loving, truthful and honest. But there a lot of issues that the Bible doesn’t address at all. The Scriptures do not forbid or command us to do them. The problem comes in when we begin to judge other believers in these areas. We may feel something is wrong, but they don’t. How can we possibly maintain unity and peace in the church, when we all have so many different opinions and convictions about what we believe is right and wrong?
In this section from 14:1 to 15:7, Paul discusses this very issue. He gives us some very practical counsel when Christians have differing convictions in non-essential matters. He gives us three basic commands.
14:1-12 – Accept one another
14:13-23 – Build up one another
15:1-7 – Please one another
I’m going to tackle this passage by asking some questions of it:
1) Who are the weak and strong in faith?
2) How should the weak and strong in faith relate to each other?
3) Why shouldn’t they judge or despise one another?
1. Who are the Weak and Strong in Faith?
Weak in Faith. 14:1-2. This person doesn’t have the faith that he may eat all things. 14:21 – he/she is not clear in their conscience about eating meat. He eats only vegetables. He is the one in the church who is in danger of stumbling. He feels it would be wrong to eat meat. He feels it would be wrong to drink wine. He believes that total abstinence of meat and wine is the way to best please the Lord. 14:5 – he regards one day above another.
It seems likely that the “weak” brothers were Christians with a Jewish background. Why do I say that? Verse 14 says, “I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” Paul uses the word “unclean” which has strong Jewish overtones. Israel had strict dietary laws, and anything that was not kosher food was considered to be unclean. For example pork and shrimp were considered unclean foods. In addition to that, these believers who were weak in faith, may have abstained from meat because they did not know whether the meat had been offered to pagan idols. It is not clear why some believers abstained from wine, because it was a common drink for the Jews, and Jesus Himself drank wine.
Furthermore, the Jews were very careful about worshiping on special holy days, like the Sabbath, and the various feasts and festivals. If a Jew came to Christ, it would be very difficult to immediately cast off everything he had ever known about what he thought pleased God – namely eating a kosher diet, resting on the Sabbath, and worshiping with others at the public feasts and festivals. This is all he had ever known. He would have deeply ingrained issues of conscience related to these things.
So, who were the weak in faith? They were the ones who didn’t understand and believe the truth of Romans 14, “I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.” He doesn’t understand what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 8:4, “Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.” He doesn’t understand Titus 1:15, “To the pure, all things are pure.” He doesn’t know and believe Paul’s writing in 1 Timothy 4:3-5 where he speaks of those who “forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”
So, the believer who is weak in faith doesn’t understand and believe all of God’s Word. He is not free in his conscience to eat all different kinds of foods, drink wine, or worship every day of the week instead of just on the Sabbath.
We usually think of someone who is weak in faith as a person who is easily tempted to indulge the flesh. Well, these believers were the opposite. The weak did not lack self-control. They lacked liberty of conscience to enjoy all of God’s good gifts.
The Strong in Faith. Paul believed he was in this category, because in 15:1 he said, “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.” He has faith to eat all things (14:2). He regards every day alike. He doesn’t feel it is necessary to worship on Saturday or Sunday, but worships every day. He understands his freedom in Christ, and his liberty to partake of God’s gifts with gratitude. He eats meat, drinks wine, and is not bound in his conscience to worship God on certain days.
These Are Non-Essential Issues. They are not salvation issues. They are secondary. No one believed that if you ate meat or drank wine, or worshiped every day you would be damned. How do I know? Because Paul tells us in verse 3, “The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.” If God has accepted him, then he is saved, and the issues in question are not salvation issues.
So, to sum up, the weak in faith lacked the faith in the truth that the believer has liberty to enjoy all of God’s creation. He didn’t understand that all foods are clean and may be enjoyed by God’s people. He didn’t see that we are no longer required to worship on a particular day, but may treat all days equally sacred. The issues in question were not salvation issues, and believers differed from one another on what they should do about them.
2. How Should The Weak and Strong in Faith Relate To One Another?
The Strong. 14:1,3 “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions… The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat.”
He is given one positive duty, and one negative duty. Positively, he is to accept the one who is weak in faith. He is to warmly welcome this believer and have fellowship with him. And he shouldn’t accept him, just so that he can set him straight about how wrong he is not to eat meat, wine, or feel he has to worship on certain days.
The negative duty is that he must not regard the weak brother with contempt. It would be easy for him to look down his nose at the weak brother and think, “We’ve been set free from legalism! It’s too bad that you’re still in bondage to it!” It would be easy to set up cliques of “Us” versus “Them”. It would be wrong for the strong to think of the weak brethren as a Pharisee. They are not to despise them.
The Weak. 14:3 “The one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.” It would be natural for those who believe it is wrong to eat meat or drink wine or not to worship on special days to judge those that don’t hold to their convictions. Paul tells them they must resist that tendency. The weak would naturally consider the strong to be loose and unprincipled. “How can they eat that meat? Don’t they know it was probably offered to an idol? How can they drink that wine? Don’t they know that it can lead to drunkenness? How can they not worship on the Sabbath, and Passover, and First Fruits? Don’t they know those are God’s holy days?” And so, the weak can easily find themselves judging the strong in their hearts. Now, of course, they wouldn’t consider them to be the strong. The Weak think that they are the strong ones, and the Strong are really the weak ones. But, that’s not what the Word of God says.
All of you who believe in Jesus Christ – accept one another! The Strong – don’t despise the weak. The Weak – don’t judge the strong. Dwell with one another in peace and love!
3. Why Shouldn’t They Judge or Despise One Another?
There are five reasons given in our text. Let’s look at them one at a time.
- Because God has accepted him. Romans 14:3 “the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.” I take that to mean that this man has been justified as a gift of God’s grace. He stands accepted and righteous before God through the merits of Jesus Christ which have been imputed to his account. The reasoning goes, if God has accepted this man, who are you to reject him?! If God has justified him, who are you to condemn him?! Will you find yourself fighting against God?
Brothers and sisters, when you begin to judge someone in the church for doing something that you don’t approve of, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions immediately. Is this a salvation issue, and has God accepted him? If this is not a salvation issue, and God has accepted this person, then you must repent of judging them immediately!
- Because I am not his Master. Romans 14:4 “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls…” If this believer was your servant, and you were his master, then maybe you would have reason to judge him. But he’s not your servant. You are not his master. He is the servant of Jesus Christ, who is his master. He is not accountable to you. He is accountable to Jesus Christ
We’ve got to remember this when we begin to judge someone in our hearts. Talk to yourself. Tell yourself, “Wait a minute! I have no right to judge my brother on this secondary issue. This is not a black and white issue, but a gray one. He is accountable directly to the Lord, who is his master, not me.
- Because God will make him/her stand. Romans 14:4 “and this believer will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” Here I am judging this believer in my heart for doing something I am convicted I should not do, and I’m thinking that he is going to fall. But Paul says the opposite. Paul tells us that he will stand. Why? Because the Lord is able to make him stand. God will exercise his power on this brother’s behalf to make him stand.
We must never forget the power of the Lord to enable believers to persevere in faith to the end. If the Lord has accepted and saved him, then surely He will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. If God is the author of his faith, and the perfecter of his faith, then why am I judging him as if he is going to fall?
- Because he is doing what he is doing for the Lord. Romans 14:6-9 “He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” Here Paul says that both the weak and the strong are doing what they are doing for the Lord. The weak does not eat or drink, and he observes special days, but he does all that for the Lord. He believes that is the way he can best please the Lord. The strong eats, drinks, and treats every day alike, and he does it for the Lord. When he eats and drinks, He gives thanks to God with profound gratitude. Both groups of people are seeking to glorify the Lord in their actions. That’s why we must not judge sincere believers who differ from us.
Of course, this is not talking about believers who are indulging the flesh in sinful practices. It’s not talking about believers who get drunk, or commit sexual sin, or are guilty of gluttony. It’s talking about the gray areas in which God has not spoken in Scripture.
- Because we will all stand before God to be judged. Romans 14:10-12 “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’ So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.” Not only is God our Master, but He is also our judge. I will not be the one judging my brother or sister on that final day. Christ will. And He will be judging me! My knee will bow and my tongue will give praise to God, not just him. And each one of us will give an account of himself to God. We won’t be giving an account of someone else. We will be giving an account of ourselves to God. Therefore, I need to be concerned with my life and actions and devotion to God, and let God judge my brother. He will do a much better job at that than I ever will!
So, there we have five reasons why the weak should not judge the strong, and why the strong should not despise the weak.
Conclusion
Now, we have seen what the issues were in the first century church of Rome. I don’t know very many Christians who are arguing whether we should eat meat or not. Yes, there are some who have different convictions on whether we should rest or work on Saturday, and whether it is okay to drink wine.
But there are a lot of other secondary gray areas that Christians have different convictions on. Here is a short list:
- Whether Christians should watch television
- Whether Christians should go to the movies
- Whether Christians should dance
- Whether Christian women should wear makeup
- Whether Christian women should cut their hair
- Whether a Christian man should have long hair
- Whether a Christian man should have an earring
- Whether Christians should listen to secular music
- Whether Christians should vote Democrat
- Whether Christians should vote Republican
- Whether Christians should read anything other than the King James Version
- Whether Christians should ever gamble
- Whether Christians should ever smoke cigarettes, cigars, a pipe or vape
- Whether Christians should have a tattoo
- Whether Christians should have piercings
- Whether Christians should send their children to a government school
- Whether Christians should celebrate Christmas with trees, ornaments and gifts
- Whether Christians should allow their children to go on Easter egg hunts
Brothers and sisters, God has called us to peace and unity. Can we allow each other to have differing convictions in secondary gray areas of the Christian life? Can you let God be that person’s judge and master? Do you see that God has accepted him and will make him stand? Do you see that they are living to glorify God, even if they aren’t living the same kind of life that you are? I pray we will become a gracious, encouraging, loving, peaceful community of followers of Jesus. Let’s pray.
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