Romans 14.14a-Paul Knew As A Fact And Held The Firm Conviction That Absolutely Nothing Is Unclean On Account Of The Nature Of Itself
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday March 30, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:14a-Paul Knew As A Fact And Held The Firm Conviction That Absolutely Nothing Is Unclean On Account Of The Nature Of Itself
Lesson # 479
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:14.
This evening we will study Romans 14:14 and in this passage, Paul states that he knows as a fact and holds the firm conviction through the teaching of the Lord Jesus that absolutely no land animal, bird, insect or marine life is unclean on account of the nature of itself.
He goes on to affirm that he recognizes that in the opinion of those who regard anything as unclean, as far as that person is concerned, it is unclean.
Romans 14:14, “I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.”
The apostle Paul employs the figure of “asyndeton” in Romans 14:14 because he wants his readers to carefully meditate upon this statement in Romans 14:14 as to protect their fellowship with God, each other and their testimony before the unsaved.
“I know” is the first person singular perfect active indicative form of the verb oida (οἶδα) (ee-tha) which is used with Paul as its subject and the statement that no food is unclean as its object and means “I know for a fact.”
The word denotes that he is in full possession of the facts and his confidence that no food is unclean in itself and that this knowledge is accurate since he received it from the Lord Jesus’ teaching with regards to food as recorded in the gospels.
“Am convinced” is the first person singular perfect passive indicative form of the verb peitho (πειθώ) (pea-tho), which is used in relation to the apostle Paul’s “firm personal conviction” that no land animal, bird, insect or marine life is unclean on account of the nature of itself and thus means “I am of the firm conviction.”
The verbs oida, “I know as a fact” and peitho, “I am of the firm conviction” contain the figure of speech called “hendiadys,” which takes place when two nouns are used to express one idea or concept.
There cannot be a hendiadys where the two words are opposed in any way in their signification nor even when there is no real connection between them.
Here in Romans 14:14 the verbs oida, “I know as a fact” and peitho, “I am of the firm conviction” are separated by the conjunction kai, “and.”
They are related in the sense that the concept expressed by the former is the result of the concept expressed by the latter.
In other words, Paul’s knowledge of the fact that no food is unclean in itself is the direct result of being convinced of this by the Holy Spirit through the Lord’s teaching.
Paul is saying with this figure that I not only know as a fact through the Lord’s teaching that no food is unclean in itself but this is also my firm conviction as well.
In this figure, the emphasis is upon the verb peitho signifying to the reader that the conviction that there are no dietary regulations for church age believers as there was for Israel under the Mosaic Law is the correct view and the view of the strong.
On the one hand, oida emphasizes that it is objective fact or point of doctrine, which the Lord taught that no food is unclean itself while on the other hand peitho emphasizes that this point of doctrine is Paul’s personal conviction and is thus part of his norms and standards governing his conduct.
“In the Lord Jesus” indicates that the Lord Jesus’ teaching was the “means” that gave Paul the conviction that no land animal, bird, insect or marine life is unclean on account of the nature of itself.
The gospels and Acts both record that Lord Jesus taught no food is unclean (Matthew 15:10-20; Mark 7:14-19; Acts 10:1-15).
Paul could have received the doctrine that all foods are clean from the tradition that was passed along through the church and later set down in writing in the gospels.
Or more likely, he could have received this by direct revelation from the Lord Himself as indicated by the following statement in Galatians 2:11-12.
Galatians 2:11-12, “For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (NASB Updated Version)
Therefore, this prepositional phrase en kurio Iesou (ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ) means “through the teaching of the Lord who is Jesus” and indicates that Paul’s assertion as fact and conviction that all foods are clean is not based upon his own opinion but rather based upon the Lord’s teaching.
“That nothing is unclean in itself” indicates that absolutely no land animal, bird, insect or marine life exists in the state of being unclean on account of the nature of itself.
“Unclean” is the nominative neuter singular form of the adjective koinos (κοινός) (key-nos), which means “unclean” in the sense of being ritually unacceptable for consumption by the Israelites under the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 11; 20:15; Deuteronomy 14:3-21; cf. Leviticus 17:10-16; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:15-25).
The ceremonial aspect of the Law contained a list of those land animals, birds, insects and marine life that were designated by God as unclean or unfit for consumption for the Israelites and those which would be clean or fit for consumption.
Christ fulfilled the ceremonial ordinances, the shadows and types of His person and work, by dying on the cross for us and in our place.
Therefore, these dietary regulations in the Mosaic Law do not apply since Christ fulfilled perfectly the Mosaic Law and is Himself the substance of the ritual aspect of the Law according to Colossians 2:16-23.
“In itself” is composed of the preposition dia (διά) (thee-ah), “in” and the genitive third person neuter singular form of the reflexive personal pronoun heautou (e(autou) (owf-too), “itself.”
The reflexive pronoun heautou is a reflexive reference to the oudeis, “absolutely nothing,” which refers of course to land animals, birds, insects and marine life in their various species and emphasizes their inherent nature.
It functions as the object of a preposition dia, which functions as a marker of efficient cause indicating that absolutely no land animal, bird, insect or marine life is unclean on account of the nature of itself.
This first statement by Paul in Romans 14:14 was the position of the strong and was taught by the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was the conviction of Paul and other Christians because they were fully convinced by the Spirit through the Lord’s teaching that this was truth or corresponding to the facts or was the will of God for them.
However, in this next statement, Paul makes his readers aware that there are many other Christians who do not have the same conviction because they have not been fully convinced by the Spirit through the Lord’s teaching that all foods are clean and fit for their consumption.
They might not have had this conviction because they were ignorant of the teaching of the Lord concerning this matter or they heard this teaching and rejected it outright.
Or more likely, they understood what the Lord taught but it had not yet become a conviction because they had a difficult time disengaging themselves from the ceremonial aspect of the Law, which they were raised in from a young age.
Or they had not comprehended yet that Christ is the reality of the ceremonial aspect of the Law.