1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
The main thrust of Paul’s argument in Chapter 14 begins where 13 left off. 13 tackled the heady idea of where true authority lies, how love fulfills the law and how to effectively wake up from your slumber and begin to follow God with your full heart. Here, Paul is going to take on the judgmental ideals of the Jewish identity. Remember, much of the pharisaical ideal was to be “separated” from the flock. It was about calling judgment on others to aspire to full allegiance to the law. But was there love in following the law? Was love even a component?
As a follower of Christ, we are to bring others into an understanding of what is truth. Along this walk, there are people at different levels of understanding. For those who are strong in the faith, it is important to mentor those who are weaker in the faith. But there is an important qualifier: we are to bring people along not for our own self-aggrandizement, but for the benefit of the body.
We can easily bring someone weaker in the faith along just to prove them wrong, make a statement of them, show them that we know more than them. But is that love? How different is that from how the Pharisees dealt with their people. Verse 1 tells us that our intentions must be based in truly caring for others.
Verse 2 could be seen as a way to say vegetarianism is wrong. But Paul is not saying that at all. Verse 2 is about our contemptuous hearts and again, how easy it is for us to fall into judgment. People worship God in different ways; we cannot hold them in contempt because they do not worship exactly as we do. Why can’t we? Verse 3: because God has accepted them.
We aren’t talking about believers and unbelievers here, but Christians. If people are moving forward in authentic faith, then they have been accepted by God. The Spirit lives in them. God has presented gifts to them. They will do God’s work in relation to how they have been built by God. So it becomes our job not to judge others because they don’t operate exactly as we do, but to accept them as fellow followers of Christ and yearn to see and enjoy how God is working in their life.
Because we aren’t their masters, we don’t have the right to judge how they worship God and what they are doing with it. Can we instruct, guide and suggest? Of course. But our job isn’t to cast judgment on how they operate. They answer to the master, who allows them to stand in the way they do. 5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
Paul continues in the same vein as the first four verses, but it is important to note that he is speaking of principles, not specific situations. These principles are a matter of conscience, not specific law. For instance, one person may rise early in the morning and read the bible while another may find it better to do it at night, or maybe once a week. Which is right? If it is drawn from our relationship to God and that foundation, then it is all right, for God has fearfully and wonderfully made us all with a specific set of skills and foibles, energy levels, experience and finite time. He made us each to operate in a specific way that makes sense to us. If we are all operating under authentic faith, then how can the principles be wrong? As long as they are rooted in God, Paul writes that they are good before God. Our principles must be shaped from our relationship with God, not the world. Our lives are connected to others, therefore our principles must be strong not only for us but for others.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” 12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
Verse 10 tells us of two different types of Christians and how we can get in trouble with judgment.
You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? This is a Legalistic Christian. A Legalistic Christian can judge other Christians as “unspiritual” because they don’t follow in the same way.
Or why do you treat them with contempt? This is a “Free” Christian, or one who is not bound by the law.. This is a Christian who can hold other Christians in contempt as too legalistic and thus missing the truth.
Both of these approaches are problematic. We all must give an account to God.
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
First, Paul puts it bluntly: stop passing judgment on others. Accept a Christian’s form of worship (as long as it is based on the foundation of faith) as their own style. We can’t put everyone in the same box, with the same narrow parameters. If we operate that way, we are no better than the pharisees who burdened the people with a narrow view of God.
How do we put a stumbling block in front of another Christian? Legalism is certainly one way. We can discourage them or entice them into sin. There are many other ways we can help people off the path. But in regards to someone who is strong in the faith and bringing someone along who is weaker, our plan of action should always be to see the person who God has created and learn their strengths, weaknesses and help them forward.
14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
So Paul says nothing is unclean in itself. Is this true? What about murder? Isn’t that unclean? Yes, murder is unclean, but murder is the end result of any number of emotions, desires, envy, passion. Murder is the symptom of something much deeper that is unclean. You could say the same thing about adultery. Adultery is unclean, but it is born out of sex, which is a good thing. We human beings have a way of turning the good things of God into bad and selfish things. The root is what Paul is talking about. What we do with the root of what God has given to us turns things unclean.
Now, when we put it in a Christian context, and in the context of stumbling, we tend to get hung up on minor personal conscience choices. For instance, if there is a vegetarian in the room, can’t the room turn on such a person quickly? Can’t bible verses come out and suddenly it is battle of wills? Instead, what Paul says is this: if it is unclean for that person, then it is unclean, and if you are putting your brother is distress over it, you’ve forgotten the foundation of love you’re supposed to be operating with. Christ died for us all and we can’t destroy others over our own personal liberties. It isn’t about our personal liberties. It isn’t about winning someone over to our side. It is about understanding how to communicate and interact with each other in love. Because the Kingdom of God is about serving Christ in righteousness, joy and peace.
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. 22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
Our job is to bring peace to others. We cannot destroy others, or put cracks into the body of Christ, to win others for our own personal beliefs and principles. Our principles must always be anchored in our relationship with God. If we are truly acting in love, then we would be aware of how people’s personal convictions play into our own lives. We must be sensitive to them, admiring the way God has built them, and never forgetting that God has built them, just like he has built us, in an amazing way.