Romans 14.22a-Paul Commands Strong To Continue Making It Their Habit Of Keeping Their Conviction To Themselves In The Presence Of The Father
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday April 22, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:22a-Paul Commands Strong To Continue Making It Their Habit Of Keeping Their Conviction To Themselves In The Presence Of The Father
Lesson # 491
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:20.
This evening we will begin a study of Romans 14:22.
Tonight we will note the first statement that appears in this verse, in which the apostle Paul commands both the strong and the weak that the conviction that they hold, they are to have as their own conviction before God.
Sunday we will note the second statement in this passage, which states that happy is the believer who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
Romans 14:20, “Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.”
Romans 14:21, “It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.”
Romans 14:22, “The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.”
“The faith” is the accusative feminine singular form of the noun pistis (πίστις) (pea-steece), which appears four times in Romans chapter fourteen, once in verses 1 and 22 and twice in verse 23.
In each instance, the noun pistis means “conviction,” which is a “strong persuasion or belief” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition).
Convictions are beliefs which govern our behavior.
The Christian’s convictions are to be based upon the teaching of the Spirit in the Word of God.
A biblical conviction comes about in a Christian when he or she has been fully convinced or convicted by the Holy Spirit through the teaching of the Word of God with regards to the will of the Father regarding a particular subject and thus has decided to accept this teaching.
Consequently, this teaching becomes a part of their conscience, i.e. their norms and standards and thus governs their conduct.
A conviction is a decision concerning what it is true or God’s will for the Christian’s life, which in turn determines what the Christian should or should not do when faced with a particular situation or circumstance.
Pistis does not refer to faith in Christ, which results in being declared justified by God but rather it is related to the believer experiencing his sanctification and salvation and fellowship after being declared justified and refers to a believer’s “conviction” that what he or she is doing is according to the will of the Father.
Romans 14:22, “The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.”
“You” is the vocative second person singular form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) (see), which is a reference to the Christian who is strong with respect to conviction.
This is indicated by the fact that in Romans 14:13-21, Paul has been instructing the strong to not exercise their freedom in the presence of the weak so as to not cause the weak to go against their convictions and thus sin in their own mind.
The personal pronoun su functions in the emphatic position of the sentence emphasizing with the strong that their convictions must be a personal private matter between themselves and God if the exercise of these convictions could cause the weak to go against their own convictions and thus sin in their own mind.
The first “have” is the second person singular present active indicative form of the verb echo (ἒχω) (ah-ho), which means, “to hold” and is used with pistis, “the conviction” as its object and the strong Christian as its subject.
Therefore, the verb is used of the strong Christian “holding” the conviction that they do not have to observe the dietary regulations of the Law and can drink wine employed in pagan sacrifices or do not to have to observe the special days in the Law.
The second “have” is the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb echo (ἒχω) (ah-ho), which means “to keep” indicating that the conviction that the strong holds, they are to continue making it a habit of “keeping” to themselves in the presence of God the Father and not in the presence of the weak.
The present imperative form of the verb is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for the strong Christian in Rome to simply continue keeping to themselves in the presence of the Father the conviction they hold.
It denotes that the strong are to be characterized as those who do not abuse their freedom in the presence of the weak but keep their convictions to themselves in the presence of the Father as a private, personal matter.
Paul’s statements in Romans 1:8 and 15:14-15 indicate that the strong were in fact already obeying this command.
Therefore, the present imperative form of the verb indicates that Paul’s command is simply giving his readers who are strong a reminder to continue doing what they were doing and was designed to protect their fellowship with God and with the weak and their testimony among the unsaved.
Romans 14:22, “The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.”
“As your own conviction” is composed of the preposition kata (κατά) (kah-tah) and the accusative second person singular form of the reflexive pronoun seautou (σεαυτοῦ) (say-owf-too).
The reflexive pronoun seautou indicates that the strong as the subject is also the object of this verb and is used to highlight or emphasize the strong’s responsibility in obeying this command.
The reflexive pronoun seautou is in the accusative case and functions as the object of the preposition kata, which functions as a marker of a specific element bearing a relation to something else indicating that conviction is the specific element, which bears a relation to the strong.
Romans 14:22, “The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.”
“Before God” is composed of the preposition enopion (ἐνώπιον) (en-nop-pea-own), “before” and the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun (θεός) (thay-oce), “of God.”
The noun theos refers to the Father since the articular construction of this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity unless otherwise shown not to be the case by the context.
The word functions as the object of the improper preposition enopion, which means, “before, in the sight or presence” and is used with respect to the strong’s relationship with the Father.
So Paul is saying with this prepositional phrase that he does not want the strong to exercise their convictions in the presence of the weak but rather in the presence of the Father while they experience fellowship with Him.
Therefore, in this first statement that appears in Romans 14:22, Paul is addressing in emphatic terms the strong and is commanding them to continue making it their habit of keeping their conviction as related to food, drink and days, to themselves in the presence of the Father rather than in the presence of the weak.