Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday February 28, 2010

www.wenstrom.org

Romans: Romans 14:3b-The Weak Believer Must Continue Not Condemning The Stronger Believer Because God Has Welcomed Them Into Fellowship With Himself

Lesson # 464

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.

This morning we will complete our study of Romans 14:3.

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.”

This past Thursday we noted that in this passage Paul first addresses those Christians who are strong with respect to conviction, which is manifested by the fact that they are fully convinced by the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that the dietary regulations prescribed for Israel in the Mosaic Law no longer apply.

He commands them to continue making it their habit of not regarding and treating with contempt the believers who are weak with respect to conviction in that they continue to observe these dietary regulations.

This morning we will note the adversative clause in Romans 14:3, which addresses those Christians who are weak with respect to conviction, which is manifested by the fact that they are not fully convinced by the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that the dietary regulations of the Mosaic law no longer apply.

“And the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him” is an adversative clause that stands in contrast with the previous statement.

In this adversative clause Paul commands these Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians influenced by Jewish tradition who are weak with respect to conviction and observe the Mosaic Law’s dietary restrictions to not judge the Christians who have the conviction that these dietary laws no longer apply.

“The one who does not eat” refers to those Christians who are not fully convinced by the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that the dietary regulations prescribed for Israel in the Mosaic Law no longer apply and thus will only eat meat that is considered by the Jews to be “kosher.”

“Is not to judge” is composed of the negative particle me (μή) (me), “not” and the third person singular present active imperative form of the verb krino (κρίνω) (kree-no), “is to judge.”

The verb krino means, “to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong,” and by implication, “to pass judgment upon someone or something as evil or wrong after weighing the evidence and without reservation,” hence, “to condemn.”

The verb’s meaning is negated by the negative particle me, “not.”

Therefore, these two words indicate that these weak Christians are not to condemn the Christians who are strong with respect to the conviction.

“The one who eats” refers to a Jewish or Gentile Christian who is fully convinced by the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that the dietary regulations prescribed for Israel in the Mosaic Law no longer apply thus they can eat meat that is not considered by the Jews as “kosher.”

In Romans 14:3, Paul employs me and not ouk with the verb krino since the latter is much stronger than the former and would indicate that the weak believers were in fact condemning the stronger believers in Rome.

Therefore, the particle me indicates that this has not taken place but is used with the verb krino to prohibit in the future the weak believers from condemning as guilty before God the stronger believers who did not observe these regulations.

The present imperative form of the verb is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for the weak Christians in Rome who continued to observe to the dietary restrictions prescribed in the Mosaic Law to simply continue not condemning as guilty before God the believers who did not observe these regulations.

Paul’s statements in Romans 15:14-15 indicate that these weak Roman believers who continued to observe these restrictions were in fact not condemning the stronger believers.

Therefore, the present imperative form of the verb indicates that Paul’s command is simply giving his readers a reminder to continue doing what they were doing and was designed to protect their fellowship with God and their testimony among the unsaved.

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.”

“For God has accepted him” teaches that the weak Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians influenced by Jewish tradition who continue to observe these dietary regulations are to continue not condemning the stronger believers because God the Father has accepted them based upon the merits of the object of their faith, namely His Son Jesus Christ.

“Has accepted” is the third person singular aorist middle indicative form of the verb proslambano (proslambavnw) (prose-lam-bano), which means “to welcome into one’s fellowship” and is used of God the Father welcoming into fellowship with Himself the strong Christian.

“Him” refers to the stronger believer who does not observe the dietary regulations prescribed for Israel in the Mosaic Law because he has been fully convinced by the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that these regulations no longer apply.

In context, Paul is addressing the attitude of the weak believer in relation to the strong believer.

Thus, Paul is telling these weak believers to continue not condemning the stronger believers because God the Father has welcomed the stronger believer into fellowship with Himself the moment they were declared justified by Him as a result of exercising faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

Though he is speaking of the justification of the stronger believer, the same holds true for the weak believer that he was declared justified through faith in Christ just like the stronger believer.

To summarize, in Romans 14:3, Paul first addresses those Christians who are strong with respect to conviction, which is manifested by the fact that they are fully convinced by the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that the dietary regulations prescribed for Israel in the Mosaic Law no longer apply.

He commands them to continue making it their habit of not regarding and treating with contempt the believers who are weak with respect to conviction in that they continue to observe these dietary regulations.

The adversative clause in Romans 14:3 addresses those Christians who are weak with respect to conviction, which is manifested by the fact that they are not fully convinced by the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that the dietary regulations prescribed for Israel in the Mosaic law no longer apply.

Paul commands these weak Jewish believers and Gentile Christians influenced by Jewish tradition who observe these dietary restrictions that they are to continue making it their habit of not condemning the stronger believers.

The reason why they were to continue doing this is that God the Father has accepted the stronger believer just as He accepted the weak believer, namely, based upon the merits of the object of their faith, Jesus Christ.