Romans 14.16-The Strong Are Not To Let Their Freedom With Respect To Food Be Spoken Of As Evil By The Weak
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday April 7, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:16-The Strong Are Not To Let Their Freedom With Respect To Food Be Spoken Of As Evil By The Weak
Lesson # 483
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:14.
This evening we will study Romans 14:16 and in this passage Paul commands the strong believer to continue making it their habit of not letting their freedom with respect to food be spoken of as evil by their weak brother in Christ.
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.”
Romans 14:15, “For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.”
Romans 14:16, “Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil.”
“Therefore” is the “inferential” use of the post-positive conjunction oun (οὖν) (oon), which denotes that the statement introduced by this word is the result of an inference from Paul’s teaching in Romans 14:14-15.
Therefore, based upon the statement in Romans 14:14 that some believers are of the opinion that some food is unclean, the strong should not let their freedom of conscience with regards to food be spoken of as evil by the weak believer.
Therefore, based upon the statements in Romans 14:15 that the strong are to operate in divine love by not exercising their freedom when in the presence of the weak so that they do not sin against their conscience, the strong should not let their freedom be spoken of as evil by the weak believer.
“Do not let be spoken of as evil” is the third person singular present passive imperative form of the verb blasphemeo (βλασφημέω) (vlas-fee-meh-owe), which means, “to speak of as evil” and it is negated by the negative particle me, “not.”
“For you a good thing” is composed of the genitive second person plural personal pronoun humeis (u(mei$) (ee-meece), “for you” and the articular nominative neuter singular form of the adjective agathos (ἀγαθός) (ah-ga-thoce), “a good thing.”
The adjective agathos is describing the strong Christian’s freedom of conscience with respect to food.
He has freedom in the sense that he has been fully convinced by the Spirit through the Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching that all foods are fit for consumption for the Christian and that they do not have to adhere to the dietary regulations of the Law.
The strong have a conviction that there are no longer dietary restrictions for God’s people as in Israel, which is based upon the fact that they have received and accepted by faith the teaching of the Lords Jesus in regards to these matters.
Agathos describes this freedom as being “intrinsically valuable, intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent.”
This freedom is described as agathos because it is in accordance with the will of the Father and fulfills the purpose of Christ’s crucifixion, spiritual and physical deaths, His resurrection and session as well as the purpose of the various ministries performed by the Holy Spirit on the believer’s behalf.
It is good in that it fulfills the Father’s eternal purpose for the believer in electing and predestinating them.
This freedom is good in that it fulfills the purpose for which the Father delivered the justified sinner from the sin nature, personal sins, Satan and his cosmic system, i.e. salvation.
It is good in that it fulfills the purpose for which the Father set him apart to do His will exclusively, sanctification.
The context indicates that agathos refers to the strong Christian’s freedom of conscience with respect to food since Paul’s statement in Romans 14:16 is the result of an inference from his teaching in Romans 14:14-15.
In Romans 14:14, 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.
Then in this verse, he states that he recognizes that in the opinion of those who regard anything as unclean, as far as that person is concerned, it is unclean.
In Romans 14:15, Paul tells the strong that they are no longer conducting their lives according to God’s love if because of the exercise of their freedom they cause their fellow weak believer to go against their conviction to eat only kosher foods and thus sin in their own mind and lose fellowship with God.
He follows this up by commanding the strong that they were to continue making it their habit of not causing the weak believer on behalf of whom Christ died spiritually and physically as a substitute to suffer loss of fellowship with God because of the inconsiderate use their freedom with regards to food.
The personal pronoun humeis, “your” refers to a hypothetical strong Christian and functions as a “genitive of possession” and “possessive” pronoun indicating that the good, i.e. freedom of conscience with respect to food “belongs to” the strong.
The adjective agathos is an abstract noun expressing that which is good in character.
The context makes clear that the weak would be speaking evil of the strong Christian’s freedom since Romans 14:16 is the result of an inference from Romans 14:14-15, which warns the strong to be considerate of the weak by not abusing their freedom.
So if this is the case, then the weak would be speaking evil of the strong Christian’s freedom since Paul in Romans 14:14-15 warns the strong to be considerate of the convictions of the weak and not abuse their freedom so that the weak sin against their conscience and lose fellowship with God.
If the weak adhere to the convictions of the strong and sin against their conscience and thus lose fellowship with God, it follows that the weak would speak evil of the freedom of the strong.
Nowhere is the unbeliever referred to in Romans 14!
The present imperative form of the verb blasphemeo is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for the strong believer to simply continue making it their habit of not giving the weak a cause for speaking evil about their freedom with respect to food.
Paul’s statements in Romans 15:14-15 indicate that the strong were already obeying this prohibition.
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, each other and their testimony among the unsaved.
The passive voice is a causative passive, which indicates that the strong were not to “cause” by their actions the weak to speak evil against their freedom.
Paul employs me and not ouk with the verb blasphemeo since the latter is much stronger than the former and would indicate that the strong were in fact by the abuse of their freedom causing the weak to speak evil against that freedom.
Thus, by employing me instead of ouk, he does not believe that the strong were doing this, which ouk would indicate.
Therefore, the particle me indicates that this has not taken place but is used with the verb blasphemeo to prohibit in the future the strong believers in Rome from doing this.
To summarize, this prohibition in Romans 14:16 is the result of an inference from Romans 14:14-15 and is addressed to the strong in the Roman congregation to continue making it their habit of not causing their freedom with respect to food, which is good in character, to be spoken of a evil by their weak brother.