Romans Chapter 14
Originally posted Friday, July 4, 2008
Romans Chapter 14:1-12 Do
Not Judge Another
In
reading this passage it is helpful to see it in the context of God's final
judgment and the resurrection. The subject is the warning against one
person judging another based on personal and/or cultural preferences.
Apparently Paul has heard of disputes among the Roman Christians over certain
cultural issues. The opening verse is a good summary of how a
Christian is to behave when such differences arise in the community.
The arguments are about eating certain foods and treating
certain days as more special than others. The Roman community is a mixture of
converted Jews and Gentiles. Their eating habits would or might be quite
different with respect to meat. Some might be reluctant to eat non-kosher
meat or meat meant to be purchased in the markets, which would have been
symbolically sacrificed to pagan deities. Others might eat both
("anything" in vs. 2 is
misleading and tempts the imagination). Still others, not wishing to take any
chances, might not eat meat at all and become vegetarians. Paul understands
that such distinctions are irrelevant with respect to matters of salvation and
should not be the subject of "quarreling over opinions" that could
cause dissension. God has already, by virtue of justifying grace, welcomed the
vegetarian and meat eater [into the kingdom]. Making his warning personal he
uses the singular "you" instead of plural. With an emphatic, "Who
are you to pass judgment on a household servant (not servants) of
another?" It is up to the servant's lord (master) to judge
whether he "stands or falls (is vindicated or condemned)." Paul
transitions from the servant and his human lord to the two Christians with
divergent views. They will both "be upheld" in their choice, for the
Lord (Christ) "is able to make them stand" (an early Christian
reference to the resurrection).
The
second issue has to do with differences over which days are more sacred than
others or which are to be reserved for special religious functions. Jewish
Christians might be sensitive to special feast day: Passover, Tabernacles,
Pentecost and Day of Atonement. Gentiles might regard special Roman
holidays and the Emperor's birthday. Again, such differences are not important
enough for dissension leading to judging. The "strong" who consider
all days alike cannot justify criticizing as "weak" those who do not.
Paul sums up both issues - food and days. With all choices, one should honor
Christ in whatever the day and give thanks to God for whatever one eats.
In
an overview of what is really important, Paul reminds Christians on all sides
of these issues that "we do not live to ourselves and we do not die to
ourselves." In other words the new life in Christ is not one of self-centeredness
as if we are free to follow our own desires and practices for our own benefit.
There is a larger calling to fulfill other than our self- satisfaction. Both in
our living and our dying we belong to Christ. In this life we serve
Christ, in the next we will be with Christ. Thus, Paul can say, Christ is
"Lord of both the dead and the living." In view of our common future
our petty judgments are as nothing because we will all be accountable to
and judged by God.
Romans Chapter 14:13-23
Making Another Stumble
This
passage is a continuation of the former, with the main topic being judgment of
others with respect to food choices. There is a twist in the focus toward the
affect our choices may have upon others. Paul understands that as far
as Christians are concerned no food is clean or unclean "in itself."
That he says he is "persuaded in the Lord Jesus" may indicate he is
relying on a very early tradition, though it is doubtful that Jesus is the
direct source. The Levitical proscriptions against a host of differing animals
and fish are superseded by Christ. Paul doesn't tell us how this is, but we can
conclude that as a part of the Law, such restrictions have nothing to do with
our justification by God through faith. Food and day preferences are of
neutral impact, being of no benefit or detriment to one's salvation. However,
Paul does concede the point that if a person thinks a particular meat is
unclean it is unclean to that person (the opposite is also true). His concern
is the need to accommodate and respect the other's point of view without
judgment. Paul is calling for an exceptional degree of sensitivity to the
feelings of others. He writes that if what we eat (or
drink) "injures" another Christian we are not walking in love.
We risk the "ruin of one for whom Christ died," who has been
tempted to do something they believe is a sin. We must not be the
cause of another's stumbling. He adds, as a note of related importance that "the kingdom of God is not food and drink." The spiritual state of
the other is superlatively more important than our self-satisfaction in choices
of food and drink. To ignore our responsibility for the other is to
"destroy the work of God" who has justified and saved the other.
With vs. 23 Paul addresses the one who
thinks it might be sinful to consume a particular food or drink. If there are
any doubts such consumption is to be avoided, for to eat and drink with
doubt or conviction as to its correctness is to be condemned because doing
so is a failure of faith and is sin.
All
of this may seem strange to us. Paul is addressing small collections of
Christians who live in the crowded, multilevel tenements of Rome. Meals
were generally taken in the lower open areas with many people congregating. It
is difficult to imagine how his call for self-policing could be managed.
However strange, we may have faced situations where care was needed with
respect to food and drink. We certainly would not drink an alcoholic beverage
in the presence of an alcoholic. We would be sensitive to certain food
allergies others might have such as to wheat products and shellfish. We would
probably accommodate a vegetarian friend we have invited to lunch. Maybe the larger
issue is how seriously we take and how we interpret the various urgings of
scripture with regard to our responsibility for one another in the community of
faith, not to mention the wider world. Jesus said we are to love our neighbors
as ourselves. He also said that in the church our love for one another would be
the surest sign we were his disciples. The prophets condense God's expectations
in terms of loving kindness and doing justice - both community events. The more
we read the more we are challenged to lessen the spaces that separate us. Paul
probably knew that.
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