Romans 14.2-The Strong Have The Conviction That There Are No Dietary Restrictions Whereas The Weak Have The Conviction That There Are
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday February 24, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:2-The Strong Have The Conviction That There Are No Dietary Restrictions Whereas The Weak Have The Conviction That There Are
Lesson # 462
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
Last evening we studied Romans 14:1 and in this passage Paul commands those who are strong with respect to conviction to welcome into their fellowship those who are weak with respect to conviction but not for the purpose of arguing over opinions.
This evening we will study Romans 14:2 and in this passage the apostle provides an example which could cause a conflict between the believer who is strong with regards to conviction and the believer who is weak.
Romans 14:1, “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.”
Romans 14:2, “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.”
Romans 14:3, “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.”
Let’s concentrate on verse 2.
Romans 14:2, “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.”
Romans 14:2 is a correlative clause that contrasts the believer who is strong with respect to conviction with the believer who is weak with respect to conviction.
The former has the conviction that he can eat all things, which is based upon the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The latter have the conviction that there are dietary restrictions, which was the will of the Father for the dispensation of Israel prior to the First Advent of Christ but is no longer the case during the dispensation of the church age.
The Jewish believers who continued to observe dietary restrictions and the observance of certain days and also Gentile Christians influenced by Jewish tradition are those whom Paul describes as weak in faith, i.e. conviction.
They are weak in conviction because they have not been fully convinced and have not yet accepted by faith the Spirit’s revelation concerning their new freedom in Christ.
A weak believer is someone who is not knowledgeable of the Word of God or they have heard the Word but have not been fully convinced by the Spirit.
This is indicated in that the Lord Jesus Christ taught that all foods are to be enjoyed and in Acts 10 the Lord told Peter that there were no longer dietary restrictions as under the Mosaic economy which he was brought up in whereas in Romans 14:1-12, the weak believers observe dietary restrictions.
Also Paul taught in Colossians 2:20-23 that observance of days is not mandatory whereas in Romans 14:5-6, the weak believer observes certain days.
In Luke 7:33, the Lord Jesus admitted to drinking wine and Paul taught in Ephesians 5:18 not to be drunk with wine but did not prohibit the drinking of wine and told Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23 to have a little wine to deal with his stomach problems yet in Romans 14:21, the weak abstain from drinking wine.
The weak have a conviction that observing certain days and dietary restrictions and abstaining from wine are God’s will and this is because they have either been taught incorrectly or they are ignorant of the teaching of the Word of God regarding these matters.
Or, they have heard the teaching and have not accepted by faith because they are not fully convinced that they no longer have to observe certain days, or dietary restrictions or abstain from drinking wine.
Romans 14:2, “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.”
“One person” is the relative pronoun hos (o^$) (oce), which is a relative reference to those believers who are strong with respect to conviction, which is indicated by the direct object clause phagein panta, “that he may eat all things.”
The word refers to no particular believer who is strong with respect to conviction since they are fully convinced that they can eat anything.
This word refers to Gentile and Jewish Christians like Paul who had been fully convinced that they no longer were under any dietary restrictions and no longer had to observe certain days or abstain from wine because they were convinced by the Holy Spirit of their new freedom in Christ.
With this word, Paul is presenting a hypothetical case in order to illustrate his statement in the previous verse.
“Has faith” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb pisteuo (pisteuvw) (pee-stev-o), which means to “to be convinced” by the Spirit in the Word of God that one as a believer can eat anything.
“That he may eat all things” is composed of the aorist active infinitive form of the verb esthio (ἐσθίω) (es-thee-o), “that he may eat” and the accusative neuter plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς) (pas), “all things.”
The verb esthio means “to eat” and denotes the process of eating in order to sustain human biological life.
It functions as an infinitive of result indicating that the strong believer with respect to conviction eats everything “as a result of” being convinced by the Spirit in the Word of God that he can do so.
The strong believer eats everything as a result of being convinced by the Spirit in the Word of God that he can do so.
The adjective pas is used in relation to food denoting a totality of kinds or sorts and means “everything” or “all things.”
“He who is weak” is the articular nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb astheneo (a)sqenevw) (as-tha-nay-o), which is used in a figurative sense of those Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians influenced by Jewish tradition who are “weak” in conviction because they still observed the dietary restrictions of the Law.
So in Romans 14:1, Paul commands those who are strong with respect to conviction to welcome into their fellowship those who are weak with respect to conviction but not for the purpose of arguing over opinions.
Then, in Romans 14:2, he contrasts the believer who is strong with respect to conviction with the believer who is weak with respect to conviction.
The former has the conviction that he can eat all things, which is based upon the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The latter have the conviction that there are dietary restrictions, which was the will of the Father for the dispensation of Israel prior to the First Advent of Christ but is no longer the case during the dispensation of the church age.
Then, in Romans 14:3, Paul instructs his readers that the strong believer who eats everything is not to regard with contempt the weak believer who still observes the dietary restrictions in the Law.
He also warns that the weak believer who observes dietary restrictions is not to judge the strong believer for the fact that he does not observe the same restrictions since God has accepted that believer.
Romans 14:3, “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.”