Romans Part 38

Romans 14 marks an important transition in Paul's discussion of Christian living. Romans 13 focused on loving our neighbor in the broader community, while Romans 14 addresses a more specific challenge: how do we love our neighbor when that neighbor is our brother or sister in the Church and wants to argue with us over an opinion? One of the keys to understanding this chapter is learning to separate our opinions about the Word of God from the clear instructions of the Word of God. When Scripture clearly commands something, we do not have the freedom to turn that command into an opinion. But when Scripture does not clearly address an issue, we can only have an opinion, and we need to hold that opinion with humility. That means, first, that we should not teach our personal opinion as though it were a commandment from God, and second, that we should not judge or condemn another Christian simply because he or she understands or practices that matter differently than we do.

What kinds of matters of opinion did Paul have in mind? Two of the clearest examples in this chapter involve meat sacrificed to idols and observing particular days. The first issue appears in verses 2–4, where Paul describes one person who believes he may eat all things while another eats only vegetables. This is not a discussion about clean and unclean meats. The context of the first-century world makes much more sense if Paul is primarily addressing meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Some Christians may have felt perfectly comfortable eating such meat because they understood that an idol was nothing and that the meat itself had not become spiritually contaminated. Others could not separate the meat from the idolatrous practice and therefore chose not to eat it at all. Paul does not command Christians to eat meat, so someone who chooses vegetarianism for personal reasons is not automatically doing anything wrong. The important thing is that such a practice must be held as a personal conviction rather than turned into a source of dispute or judgment. We can disagree about matters that God has left as matters of individual conscience while still accepting one another in love.

We are not appointed as one another's judges. This connects with Romans 8:33, where Paul asked, 

“Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?” 

If we are standing by Christ, our ultimate judgment belongs to Him. That does not mean there is no such thing as right and wrong, nor does it mean that clear biblical commands can be ignored. It means that on matters where Scripture gives room for personal conviction, we should be very careful about placing ourselves in God's seat of judgment.

Verses 5–6 introduce another disputed issue: one person esteems one day above another, while another esteems every day alike. Paul does not explain exactly which days he has in mind, so we should be cautious about inserting an explanation that the text itself does not give. The context provides a possible clue when Paul immediately continues by discussing the person who eats and the person who abstains. One possibility is that the discussion is still connected with particular food practices. Another possibility is that Paul is addressing fasting since Pharisees were known to fast on certain days of the week. Whatever the precise practice was, the crucial point is that Paul is discussing an issue of personal observance rather than introducing a new commandment that overturns God's established Sabbath. God's Sabbath is not presented as an optional matter of personal preference in Scripture, so it should not be forced into this passage simply because the word “day” appears here.

Verses 7–9 return to the larger perspective of Christian life and death. 

“For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.” 

Whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. This connects with Jesus' teaching in Matthew 22:32 that God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Christ died and rose again so that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Our lives therefore do not belong exclusively to us. We belong to Christ, and that should shape the way we treat one another.  

Epistles of Paul is a course taught at ABC by Mr. Steve Myers. Recordings from the 2023–2024 class year are available on the ABC website.

UYA Team | uya@ucg.org  

United Young Adults (UYA) primarily serves the 18–32-year age group for the United Church of God. There are three main areas of contribution to the lives of young adults: Promoting Spiritual Growth, Developing Meaningful Relationships and Making the Most of Your Talents. The Know Your Sword series is a daily expository message introducing God’s Word from a trusted perspective.