Romans 14.10a-The Weak Must Never Condemn The Strong For Their Convictions And The Strong Must Never Despise The Weak For Theirs
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 17, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:10a-The Weak Believer Must Never Condemn The Strong For His Convictions And The Strong Must Not Despise The Weak For Theirs
Lesson # 473
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
This evening we will begin a study Romans 14:10, which contains two rhetorical questions that are an implicit rebuke of the weak Christian for condemning the strong for his convictions as well as an implicit of the strong Christian for regarding and treating with contempt the weak believer for his convictions.
Then, Paul presents another reason why the strong should never regard and treat the weak with contempt and why the weak should never condemn the strong, namely, both groups will be evaluated by the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church, which takes places immediately after the rapture.
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 14:6, “He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.”
Romans 14:7, “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.”
Romans 14:8, “for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.”
Romans 14:9, “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
Romans 14:10, “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”
The two rhetorical questions that appear in Romans 14:10 are a logical consequence of the statements in Romans 14:7-9 indicating that since Jesus Christ is the Lord over the living and the dead, why then does the weak condemn the strong or why does the strong regard and treat with contempt the weak?
The first rhetorical question “you, why do you judge your brother?” addresses a hypothetical weak Christian who continues to observe the dietary laws of the Law and continues to honor the special days prescribed by the Law such as the Sabbath.
That Paul is addressing the weak Christian is indicated by the fact that he employs the verb krino, “judge,” which was used by him in the second statement that appears in Romans 14:3 to rebuke a hypothetical weak Christian.
That he is addressing a hypothetical weak Christian is indicated by Paul’s statement in Romans 15:15, which reveals that all that Paul wrote in this epistle was a reminder to the Roman believers to continue doing what he commanded and prohibited.
Further supporting this is that Paul is using the figure of diatribe which is a figure that involves the writer attempting to get his point across by engaging in an imaginary debate with a student, or opponent.
This rhetorical question brings out the implication of Paul’s teaching in Romans 14:7-9, which is that the weak Christian is wrong to condemn the strong Christian because Jesus Christ is Lord over the dead and the living.
“To judge” is the second person singular present active indicative form of the verb krino (κρίνω) (kree-no), which means “to condemn as guilty” before God and is used with a hypothetical weak Christian as its subject and the strong Christian as its object.
It refers to declaring the strong Christian as “reprehensible, wrong or evil” because they do not observe the dietary regulations or honor the special days in the Law.
“Your brother” refers specifically to the strong Christian since this first rhetorical question is an implicit rebuke of the hypothetical weak Christian for condemning the strong believer for his convictions regarding food and days.
This word emphasizes with the weak Christian that his fellow believer who does not observe the dietary restrictions of the Law and does not honor the special days in the Law is in fact a son of God is like them (cf. Jn. 1:12-13; Gal. 3:26-28).
The second rhetorical question “again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?” addresses a hypothetical strong Christian who does not observe the dietary restrictions in the Law and does not honor special days such as the Sabbath as the Jews were commanded to in the Law.
They don’t observe these dietary laws or honor these days since they are fully convinced by the Spirit through the teaching of the Lord and His apostles that they don’t apply to church age believers since Christ is the substance of these things.
That Paul is addressing the strong Christian is indicated by the fact that he employs the verb exoutheneo, “regard with contempt,” which was used by Paul in the first statement that appears in Romans 14:3 that rebukes a hypothetical strong Christian.
That he is addressing a hypothetical strong Christian in this second rhetorical question is indicated by Paul’s statement in Romans 15:15, which reveals that all that Paul wrote in this epistle was a reminder to the Roman believers to continue doing what he commanded and prohibited.
Further supporting this is that Paul is using the figure of diatribe which is a figure that involves the writer attempting to get his point across by engaging in an imaginary debate with a student, or opponent.
Therefore, in this second rhetorical question, the apostle is reminding his readers if they are strong with respect to conviction they are not to regard and treat with contempt the weak for their observing the dietary regulations and honoring special days prescribed by God for Israel in the Mosaic Law.
This second rhetorical question brings out another implication of Paul’s teaching in Romans 14:7-9, which is that the strong Christian is wrong to regard and treat with contempt the weak Christian because Jesus Christ is Lord over the dead and the living and thus the weak and the strong.
“Regard with contempt” is the second person singular present active indicative form of the verb exoutheneo (ἐξουθενέω) (ex-oo-the-nah-owe), which is used with a hypothetical strong Christian as its subject and the weak Christian as its object and means “to despise, to regard and treat with contempt” a person.
It contains the idea of despising or treating with a lack of respect the weak Christian for his convictions.
“Your brother” refers specifically to the weak Christian since this second rhetorical question is an implicit rebuke of the hypothetical strong Christian for regarding and treating with contempt the weak believer for his convictions regarding food and days.
This word emphasizes with the strong Christian that his fellow weak believer who does observe the dietary restrictions of the Law and does honor the special days in the Law is a son of God is like them (cf. Jn. 1:12-13; Gal. 3:26-28).
“For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” teaches that the weak are wrong for condemning the strong and the strong Christian are wrong for regarding and treating with contempt the weak Christian because both will have to give an account to the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church.