Romans 14:18,19 - Do what leads to peace

14:18

If we live by faith, depending upon Christ’s righteousness then we are genuinely pleasing to God. It is possible to live a life pleasing to God, but we do so by living by faith, not by seeking to justify ourselves. We will also receive true human approval. When we focus on rules as well as trying to justify ourselves we seek the approval of men, we want others to recognise how “good” we are. Jesus applied this to the Pharisees on several occasions. But we will not get true approval, because others will actually either despise or fear us, usually with the emphasis on despising for the hollowness of our supposed “righteousness” will become evident. But if we live by faith, depending upon God’s righteousness we will have a genuine love for others, truly seeking their well-being. Then we will have an approval from men that is worth having.

14:19

This verse sums up the approach we should have. Not the worldly approach of trying to prove ourselves better or cleverer, nor the approach of loving to point out someone else's weaknesses. Instead, we are to seek to do what leads to peace and to building each other up. Now we do need to be clear about the matters in hand here. Eating or not eating certain foods, observing or not observing certain days, are not sinful actions. Looking at the whole of Scripture, and the consistent teaching of the New Testament,a firm line is definitely to be taken against sin. Currently there are debates in many churches about homosexuality, and there are those who argue that for the sake of peace both “sides” should seek an accommodation. Such an approach is completely wrong, totally unbiblical, and an affront to Christ.

Romans 14:16,17 - Righteousness, peace and joy

14:16

Now Paul is not saying that eating any food was wrong, in fact he agrees that we can eat anything, at least in principle. However, if we use our “freedom” in an unwise way it will not do any good at all, not to others, not to ourselves. We may cause others unnecessary distress, and our “flaunting” of our freedom may just result in conflict, doing no good at all.

14:17

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking”. We so easily get focused on the wrong things, we will attach great importance to something that is really of little importance. Why do we do this? There can be many reasons, but one can be self-justification. Our rebellion against God claimed we can manage without Him, so we long to prove that we are righteous in our own right, we long to justify ourselves. We cannot do this, as Paul has argued strongly in the earlier parts of Romans, but if we make something such as food rules or observing a certain day we can do that. So we make this food rule the be all and end all of religion and so feel justified in our own eyes, fooling ourselves that it also makes us justified in God’s eyes. Churches should beware, individuals should beware, whenever some rule is made the standard by which we judge righteousness. The Romans were entirely missing the point, as all so easily do.

Conversely, the kingdom is a matter of “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. It is about the righteousness that was won for us by Christ on the cross. That brings us peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. This is not just warm feelings for ourselves, but right attitudes towards others, genuine love and concern for their well-being and progress in the Lord. We are declared righteous through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross, so we have nothing to prove to God, Christ has proved it all! We have true peace with God, we have no need to manufacture it. We have true joy, not a false joy of having proved ourselves better than someone else.

Romans 14:14,15 - Clean and unclean

14:14

Paul then gives his theological assessment of the matter, and he seeks to get the people to look beyond their own fixations. First, nothing is unclean of itself. Jesus said the same in Mark 7:19. So in this sense the “free brothers” are correct. However, Paul then goes on to say that if someone regards a food as unclean then it would indeed be unclean for them. Why is this? It is do with conscience. Going against our conscience should only be done with the utmost care, for it is a dangerous thing to do. It can leave us feeling guilty and so incapacitated, and our relationship with the Lord is hindered.

14:15

We are to think of others. So a person in Paul’s day may have been very proud of the fact that he realised that food was just food and that all dietary laws and stuff like that were of no significance. Furthermore, he may well have thought himself clever in demonstrating his new found freedom to other Christians. However, if the other Christian was still concerned about dietary laws and was doing so out of devotion to the Lord then you would not be helping him at all. All you would do is cause him distress. Now food laws are not an issue today, though of course some people are vegetarians, but a similar application can be made to alcohol. There is nothing in the Bible against drinking alcohol in moderation (there is plenty against drunkenness). However, if someone has had a drink problem in the past, then for them it would be extremely sensible to steer clear of alcohol. Likewise, in some communities drink maybe such a social problem that making alcohol a complete no-no is very sensible pragmatic policy. The key is that we need to think of others and consider the effect of our actions on others.

Romans 14:10-13 - Why do you treat them with contempt?

14:10-12

As Paul has done often, he quotes from Scripture to back up his argument, this time from Isaiah 45:23. And here we get the proper application of “do not judge”. The wrong sort of judging, the sort that Jesus did speak about, is when we consider ourselves better than another person. The person mentioned here who is either looking down on the one who observes various rules, or the one who looks down on the other for not observing the rules, is considering themselves to be the better Christian. But all of us will one day stand before Jesus to be judged by Him, we will have to give an account of ourselves to God. We do well to remind ourselves of this periodically as it will help us to have a more sober view of ourselves, and to not be so quick to judge.

14:13

When we judge each other, in the sense used here by Paul, we are seeking to prove ourselves better than someone else, or just to do them down. In some sense we are seeking to justify ourselves. This is natural in the world for to get on in the world we need to prove ourselves better than other people, or at least not as bad. The gospel sets us free from all this, we are free to seek the best for other people. I am justified because of what Jesus has done, I am blessed because the Father loves me. The more someone else is blessed or built up the more I am blessed or built up. Furthermore, when we seek to judge others we put a stumbling block in their path. If we do that what do we think the Father will think?

Romans 14:6-9 - We do not live for ourselves

14:6

Paul shows respect for both “camps”, the one who denies himself certain foods, the one who observes certain days, and the one who does neither. It is our attitude to the Lord that counts. So if you observe a special day for the Lord that is fine and good, but if you do it in order to prove that you are “holier” than someone else then you are mistaken and there is a heart attitude that needs to change. Likewise with food. Likewise, if you aren’t grateful to God for any days, or if we don’t eat with an attitude of thanks to God then we are also in trouble. So we should look first at ourselves, are we living for the Lord or for ourselves? We should not focus on judging others, rather our starting point should be that the other person is living for the Lord in their own way.

14:7-9

The human way of looking at ourselves, and each other, is to consider ourselves and each other as autonomous. This is increasingly so in our society, but the truth is that I belong to God, and everyone else does as well. If I judge someone because of their eating rules I am applying my criteria to them, but that is not the criteria that the Lord applies. Christ died and rose again so that he might be the Lord of the living and the dead. We are all answerable to Christ.

Romans 14:5 - Sacred days

What is Paul referring to here when he talks about one day being more sacred than another? For those with a Jewish background this was probably the Sabbath, though there might have been reference to certain feast days as well. I prefer the ESV translation to the NIV here. The NIV says “considers every day alike”, the ESV says “esteems all days alike”. We should value every day, we should be grateful to God for every day He gives us, and consider every day an opportunity to serve Him, trust Him, love Him. Now note that Paul does not say that one person is better than another, the key is to be settled in our own mind. So where does this lead the “Sabbath” or “Sunday”? This is a matter on which as Christians we seem to be utterly confused. There are some, though a decreasingly small number, who take a very strict approach to dealing with the Sabbath, though it is usually Sunday that they mean. At the other extreme some do not regard any day as special. In between most of us go to church on Sunday and consider it a bit special. In the Old Testament the Sabbath is one of the ten commandments, and neglect or abuse of the Sabbath is often cited as one of the main failings of Israel. When Jesus was on earth many of the clashes with the Pharisees centered around the Sabbath, and the Pharisees had a serious misunderstanding of the Sabbath. However, the Sabbath principle involved more than just one day, there were Sabbath years and Jubilee years. Whatever our own approach, we should value each day, and we should have times of rest. There are times when we just should just rest from our labours, knowing that everything is ultimately dependent upon God.

Romans 14:2-4 - Eating vegetables

14:2

Some will say all days are the same, all foods are fine, and there is Biblical support for this (Mark 7:19). So one could then argue that the good Christian will realise this and live by it, jettisoning all food rules, but this is not the approach Paul advocates. The supposedly “weak” Christian is to be accepted, not condemned. The mention of eating vegetables seems to imply that the issue was not, unlike Corinth, about eating food offered to idols. Also, it does not mean that Christians who are vegetarians are “weak”.

14:3

There were two key dangers. The one who would eat any food could easily consider himself to be cleverer than the “weaker” brother, and so treat him with contempt. Conversely, the one who observed various rules about eating may consider himself more religious than the “wiser” brother and so judge the other brother. This would be equally wrong. The fundamental reason behind this is that God has accepted them both, so if God has accepted them who are we to judge? We will say more on this when we look at the next verse.

14:4

Who are you to judge? Now “not judging” is a common play made by people who are in  the wrong, and by people who advocate abandoning God’s ways. Examples of this include those who advocate accepting gay marriage, and those who say sex before marriage is OK. Now in these cases it is absolutely right for the church to “judge”, in the sense of saying what is right and what is wrong. What is the difference here? The kernel of the reason will come in v17, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking. We need discernment in knowing what is central to the gospel and what is not. Ultimately everyone is answerable to God, and if someone is “weak” (and in truth we are all actually “weak”) then the Lord is able to make them stand.