Romans 14.5a-The Weak Regard One Day As More Important Than Another While The Strong Regard Each Day As Important
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 3, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:5a-The Weak Regard One Day As More Important Than Another But The Strong Regard Each Day Important
Lesson # 466
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
This evening we will begin a study of Romans 14:5 and in this passage Paul continues to contrast the strong with respect to conviction and the weak by advancing upon and intensifying this contrast by raising the issue of the observance of certain days as prescribed by God for Israel in the Law.
Like the observance of the dietary regulations, the observance of certain days such as the Sabbath was a cause of disharmony in the churches in the first century.
Lastly, in verse 5, Paul commands his readers they must be thoroughly convinced by their own reasoning in response to the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God as to whether or not they should observe certain days as prescribed for Israel in the Law.
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.”
Romans 14:4, “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
Romans 14:5, “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”
Romans 14:5 is a correlative clause that contrasts the weak believer who regards one day such as the Sabbath as more important than the other days of the week with the strong believer who regards every day as important.
As Paul taught in Colossians 2:16-23, the Christian, whether he is Jew or Gentile has died with Christ to the ceremonial or ritual aspect of the Law with its observance of certain feasts and Sabbath days, which are a shadow of the things to come and that these things are fulfilled in Christ.
“One person” is the nominative masculine singular form of the relative pronoun relative pronoun hos (o^$) (hoce), which is a reference to those believers who are weak with respect to conviction as indicated by the fact that they are described as regarding one day as more important than another.
Not translated is the “intensifying” and “continuative” use of the post-positive conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a statement that continues the discussion in verses 1-4 regarding the contrast between believers who are strong with respect to conviction with those that are weak by advancing and intensifying it.
In verses 5-6, he advances and intensifies the discussion regarding the contrast between the Christian who is strong with respect to conviction and those who are not by raising the issue of the observance of certain days such as the Sabbath.
“Regards” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb krino (κρίνω) (kree-no), which means “to regard as more important.”
This indicates that the weak Christian who continues to adhere to the observance of the ceremonial aspect of the Mosaic Law “regards” some days such as the Sabbath “as more important” than the other days of week.
“One day” is the accusative feminine singular form of the noun hemera (h(mevra) (ee-mer-ah), which refers to a specific day in the week and is alluding to the Jewish Sabbath and the days connected to the celebration of the seven great feasts of Israel as well as the day of preparation.
The Jews observed many days including of course the Sabbath as prescribed in the Mosaic Law.
The nation of Israel was commanded to observe the seventh day of the week, which they called the Sabbath (Exodus 20:11; Deuteronomy 5:14).
The nation of Israel not only observed the Sabbath but also many special days connected with the seven great feasts of Israel.
The citizens of the nation of Israel also observed “a day of Preparation” each week, which was the day preceding the Sabbath (Mark 15:42; cf. John 19:31, 42).
The gospels and the epistles make clear many first century Jews observed weekly fasting and prayer days (Matthew 2:18-20; Luke 5:33-35; 13:10-17; 14:1-5; John 5:1-16; 9:1-35; Galatians 4:10; Colossians 2:16-23).
“Above another day” is composed of the preposition para (paraV), “above” and the accusative feminine singular form of the noun hemera (h(mevra) (ee-mer-ah), “another day.”
This time the noun hemera refers to the days of the week that are not a Sabbath or the day of preparation or the days connected to the celebration of the seven greats feasts of Israel.
The word functions as the object of the preposition para, which functions as a marker of comparative advantage indicating that it is comparing such days as the Sabbath as more important “than” the other days of the week.
Romans 14:5, “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”
“One person” is the nominative masculine singular form of the relative pronoun relative pronoun hos (o^$) (oce), which is a relative reference to those believers who are strong with respect to conviction.
This indicated by the fact that they are described as regarding each day as important.
“Regards” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb krino (κρίνω) (kree-no), which once again means “to regard as important.”
This indicates that the strong Christian “regards” each day “as important” because they are convinced by the Spirit’s teaching in the Word that they are not required to observe such days as the Jewish Sabbath since Christ is the fulfillment of the ceremonial aspect of the Law that requires observance of certain days.
“Every day” is composed of the accusative feminine singular form of the adjective pas adjective pas (pa$), “every” and the accusative feminine singular form of the noun hemera (h(mevra) (ee-mer-ah), “day.”
The noun hemera refers to the days of the week since it is modified by the distributive use of the adjective pas, which means “each.”
To summarize, the correlative clause “one person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike” continues the discussion in Romans 14:1-4 regarding the contrast between the Christian who is strong with respect to conviction.
Romans 14:5 continues the contrast between the strong and the weak by advancing upon and intensifying this contrast by raising the issue of the observance of certain days as prescribed by God for Israel in the Law.
Like the observance of the dietary regulations, the observance of certain days such as the Sabbath was a cause of disharmony in the churches in the first century.
This passage contrasts the weak believer who regards one day such as the Sabbath as more important than the other days of the week with the strong believer who regards everyday as important.
The former has the conviction that he must observe one day such as the Sabbath above another whereas the latter have the conviction that every day should be devoted to doing the Father’s will.