Context No. 2061 of 4322 · Romans
Context · Reflection
Romans 14:1-9: in context
1Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions. 2One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 3Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand. 5One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. 6He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks. 7For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. 8For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Paul addresses a church divided over matters of conscience: some felt free to eat all foods, others ate only vegetables; some regarded certain days as sacred, others regarded all days alike. These were not matters of clear command but of personal conviction, and believers were dividing over them, the free despising the scrupulous, the scrupulous judging the free. Paul's counsel is to accept one another: welcome the one weak in faith; do not despise or judge each other over these differences, for each answers to God, who has accepted him, and who is able to make him stand.
Paul's counsel here is about accepting one another across differences that are not matters of clear right and wrong. On such disputable matters, matters of conscience and conviction where Scripture does not plainly command, believers held different views, and were tempted to divide: the one who felt free despising the scrupulous as narrow, the scrupulous judging the free as lax. Paul tells them to stop. Do not despise; do not judge; accept one another. For God has accepted each of them, and each stands or falls before his own Master, not before us. Who are you, Paul asks, to judge another's servant? These are matters to leave to God, not to divide the fellowship over. This is a needed word wherever believers differ on secondary things. There are matters of clear command, where faithfulness is not optional. But there are many matters of conscience, conviction, and preference where sincere believers differ, and where the temptation is to make our own view the measure and to despise or judge those who see it differently. Paul calls us instead to accept one another, to welcome those who differ on such disputable things rather than dividing over them, remembering that each answers to God, who has accepted them, and that it is not our place to judge another's servant. Accept one another, he says elsewhere, as Christ has accepted you. This does not mean that nothing matters or that all convictions are equal; it means discerning what is a matter of clear command from what is a matter of conscience, and on the latter, accepting those who differ rather than dividing over them. This searches how we treat fellow believers who differ from us on secondary things. Do we despise those we think too lax, or judge those we think too scrupulous, making our own conviction the measure and dividing over matters of conscience? Or can we accept one another, as God has accepted each of us, leaving to God the judgment of his own servants, and holding the fellowship together across differences that are not matters of clear right and wrong? Accept one another: the one whom God has welcomed, we are not to despise or judge, but to receive as God has received us.
Do I make my own convictions the measure on matters of conscience, despising fellow believers I think too lax or judging those I think too scrupulous, and dividing over secondary things that are not matters of clear command, or can I heed Paul's call to accept one another as God has accepted each of us, welcoming those who differ on disputable matters and leaving to God the judgment of his own servants?
Sources
- Romans 14:3: don't let him who eats despise him who doesn't eat. Don't let him who doesn't eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him
- Romans 14:4: who are you who judge another's servant? To his own lord he stands or falls
- Romans 15:7: therefore accept one another, as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God