Romans 14:1-12

1-4 5-9 10-12

1-4

1

All of us start off weak in faith, when we first come to Christ we may have incorrect theology, inaccurate thoughts on who God is, or just not enough knowledge in the bible, and we as more mature Christians need to be welcoming to those who may be younger in the faith. We should not quarrel over opinions but always be true to what the Bible says and be gentle in any correction or instruction. When Paul was penning Romans there were converted Jews who had difficulties moving away from the restrictions and ceremonies from the Old Covenant, or recently converted pagans who were used to be deep in their idols and rituals. There needed to be a gentleness to their correction and teaching. So as more mature saints in the faith we should not be condescending or look down upon less season saints for any genuine lack of knowledge but be helpful and supportive in our fellow believers walk and path of continuing sanctification.

2

God has declared that all foods are clean, it took Peter hearing this three times from God to understand. For all of the Jews lives they were instructed to not eat any unclean food, not to associate with unclean people, and these restrictions were good and holy for them for that age, but Jesus has come and made a new covenant with his blood and commanded that the gospel to be shared with everyone and there are now no divisions, Jew or Gentile. All food and all peoples are from God and are clean. Like wise the saved once pagan Gentile of the time may have been weary of any meat that could be purchased in their market, and not wanting to take the risk of purchasing and eating meat that had been sacrificed to an idol just abstain from eating meat and thus only eat vegetables. Their weakness is not in their faith but in their understanding.

3

We are not to despise or condescend any believer that is week in knowledge and understanding, but love them and help them gain understanding of what the bible says. Think of a vegan who in their past did not eat any animal or animal product, and believed that animals were as high as men and women, worshipping animals as equal image bearers of God. But that vegan comes to Christ and perhaps at first still does not eat meat, we as more mature believers know that the Earth and all of the animals were given to us by God to sustain us, and placed man over all of the animals, the newly converted vegan may still not eat meat out of habit or the newness of their faith, but we should not be angry or judgmental for them not eating meat and they should not be condescending or judgmental for us eating meat because we are all now the children of God.

4

We must all remember that we are all bought and paid for by Christ and are his. Willing and happy servants or slaves of God and it is God who will be the one to pass judgement on how well his people followed his commands, and if we do anything that is good and righteous then it is because God made it possible.

5-9

5

Just like the dietary laws that some newly converted Jews felt obligated to keep, some also felt obligated to observe the Sabbath and other special days in the same way, thus the mention of one person esteeming one day over another. The mature believer esteems every day alike because all days have been given by God for us to worship him, but our conscience has been given to us by God also and should not be ignored. But the larger picture Paul is trying to get at in this whole section is unity with all Christians, we should not be putting stumbling blocks in the way of new and perhaps weaker believers by demanding that they immediately stop with any and all traditions that they may have that is not specifically spoken against in the scriptures. And also the new believers are not to judge or try and force their old traditions into the church that they may still hold to. Celebrating the birth of Christ at Christmas is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible, His birth is described but not a mention or command to celebrate it on a particular day, can there be a solid Christian who does not give presents and overly celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25th but celebrates it every day of the year? If we had someone in our church who thought that way would we accept them and not try and beat them into submission on holding December 25th above the other days? Should they try and make us submit to celebrating Christ’s birth on all days and try and make us not do anything special on Christmas? Neither should judge or act superior to the other for holding or not holding to celebrating Christmas.

6

As long as everything we do we do in honor of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Paul says the same thing in verse six as he does in 1 Corinthians.

7

Because we are no longer belong to ourselves, we have always been God’s, he created us and can, and already has before creation, sovereignly decide to gift us with grace or not, but now that we are no longer at war with God and have the Holy Spirit helping us in our understanding we know and have faith in this fact.

8

Everything is to be done for the glory of God, our entire lives and everything we do is for God, and if we die we die for God. We may live a long and comfortable life passing away in old age, or we may only have a little while on this Earth and our lives filled with trials and suffering, both are done for the Lord, our comfort or our trials are for the Lord because this life and these bodies are temporary and if we die we go on to be with our Lord and savior for all eternity in peace and joy and without sin.

9

This is our hope, not a wishful hope but assured knowledge that has not yet come to pass because Christ came, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life so that he could take our sin put on him by the Father and then giving up his life and dying so that he could also defeat death by living again, showing that he is not only Lord of the living but Lord of the dead and can and will raise us up with new glorified bodies on the last day to be His bride in heaven.

10-12

10

Love is our defining characteristic, it is not loving to despise or judge our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. If we see another committing a sin we should in love go to them and urge them to repent, try and help them not look down on them or pass judgement on them by not loving them. Ours is not the judgement, we are all who are saved saints servants of God, not above or below each other and we will all be before God who is the judge of His creation.

11

Paul quotes here from Isaiah 45:23 “By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’” which he also quotes again in Philippians 2:10–11 “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

12

We must always remember that nothing is hidden from God, what we do in secret is not a secret to God, repent and ask for forgiveness if we have any unrepentant sin and it will be given and each of us will stand before God and he will know if what we did here was for the glory of God or for our own glory.