Romans 14:1-12: "Accept the Weaker Brother"

It is amazing to see the power of Christ as you gather together at church. To look around and see the various races, ages, personalities, backgrounds, etc. and to see everyone is brought together for the common goal of worshipping God. This amazing aspect of the church, can also be a cause for struggle and strife within the church body. It is when brothers and sisters in the Lord have differences of opinion on issues that are not specifically addressed in scripture that there can be dissension. Paul's desire is to address this problem in this chapter. MacArthur writes, "It was Paul's abiding concern that every Christian have a deep desire for preserving 'the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace' (Eph. 4:3) and for putting 'on love, which is the perfect bond of unity' (Col 3:14)".

To begin this section Paul writes, "Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions". In this section Paul is speaking to a weaker brother and a stronger brother. By "weaker brother" Paul is referring to the immature believer who is young in the faith and may not be as well versed in scripture like the "stronger brother". Explaining the context in which Paul was writing, MacArthur says, "In the early church, many Jews who came to faith in Christ could not bring themselves to discard the ceremonial laws and practices in which they had been steeped since early childhood, especially the rites and prohibitions the Lord Himself had instituted under the Old covenant. They still felt compelled, for example to comply with Mosaic dietary laws, to strictly observe the Sabbath, and even to offer sacrifices in the Temple because they were given by the true God". On the other hand, "other believers, both Jewish and Gentile, understood and exercised their freedom in Christ. Mature Jewish believers realized that, under the New Covenant in Christ, the ceremonial requirements of the Mosaic law were no longer valid". Knowing that the stronger believer was more mature and had more knowledge, he was held responsible to "accept the one who is weak in faith". This was a command from Paul to the stronger believers to personally accept and extend understanding to the weaker brother. MacArthur writes, "is weak translates a Greek present participle, suggesting a temporary condition. The Greek text also has the definite article (the) before faith, indicating that Paul was not speaking of spiritual trust or faithfulness but of understanding the full truth of the gospel message". As a stronger believer, one must not mistake this passage to be indifferent and not confront doctrinal and moral issues. Instead, Paul is speaking of believer who were weak in their understanding of and living out their true faith in Jesus Christ. MacArthur writes, "It is not that the believer's freedom in Christ should never be discussed with Christians who are still under bondage to some type of religious compulsion or restraint, but that such discussion should never be for the purpose of passing judgment on undeveloped but sincere opinions". Our heart motives must be checked and we must approach all differences in opinion with care and discernment. We must ask ourselves if this is an issue that is clearly biblical, or just one of personal taste, or cultural difference. However, we should never pass judgment on another believer, rather, for the love of their souls correct them in areas of doctrine and morality.

Paul's desire in this section is to get all believers to understand why they are all equal and one should not look down on the other or cause dissension. The first reason Paul brings up is because "God has accepted him". "One man has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only". Here Paul sets up the stronger and weaker brother in regard to their dietary laws. The Jewish people had been brought up understanding that certain foods were unclean and therefore should never be eaten. However, under the new covenant, God had declared all foods clean, and lifted all restrictions. It must have been quite difficult for the Jewish people to suddenly look at certain foods with desire after they had spent their whole lives with the understanding that it was unclean. Therefore, Paul is addressing the stronger believers who had accepted this truth, to not hold the weaker brother in judgment for his inability to understand and accept this practice right away. Paul reiterates his point again, "Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat". Paul then addresses the weaker brother and says, "and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats". So Paul has addressed both believers telling them that "God has accepted him", and therefore, who are we to pass judgment on them. MacArthur writes, "Paul's point is that, if God Himself does not make an issue of such things, what right does one of His children have to do so? If the strong and the weak have equal acceptance by and fellowship with the Lord, it is sinful arrogance for those two kinds of believers not to accept each other".

To continue his case, Paul's second reason that believer's must not pass judgment on one another is that we all need Christ to sustain us. We are all dependent and reliant on the strength of God. The only reason we understand and have the faith we do is because it is "a gift from God". Therefore, one believer must not hold their knowledge, understanding, or faith over another believer, for apart from God we would all have nothing. Paul writes, "who are you to judge the servant of another?" Confronting the stronger brothers tendency to judge the legalistic thinking of the weaker brother, and the weaker brothers tendency to judge the liberated believers apparent loose living, Paul asks another convicting rhetorical question. If we live with the understanding that I am a servant of Christ and my brother or sister is a servant of Christ there is no arrogance to stand on, because we understand our place. It is when we forget this truth that arrogance and dissension can occur. MacArthur writes, "It is to his own master, namely, Jesus Christ, that each believer stands or falls. And as far as matters of religious tradition and preference are concerned, every believer, strong and weak, will pass divine judgment, because the Lord does not take such things into account. Stand he will, Paul says of every believer, because the Lord is able and obviously willing, to make him stand". Therefore we must understand our standing before the Lord and recognize where every good gift comes from. With this humble understanding, we will look to God for strength and encourage and love our other brothers to "love and good deeds (Heb 10:25)".

Paul now brings to the attention of each believer, that the Lord is sovereign and we are to live each day for the Lord. Paul writes, "One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike". In Paul's context he writing in regard to the adherence to the Sabbath. MacArthur writes, "For Jews, the Sabbath referred not only to the seventh day of the week, the day of rest and worship, but to a number of other days and periods that were venerated and specially observed". In this case, the weak Jewish brother remained strongly attached to this day and felt compelled to remain observant. For the Gentile, it would be the secular festivals and their desire to separate themselves from these observances. The stronger brother, may look down on the weaker as they would continue in the ways of their youth, however, because to God these were such petty things He did not hold it against them and neither should we. MacArthur writes, "Paul admonished believers in Colossae: 'Let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day' (Col. 2:16). He did not advise either the forsaking or the following of such customs, but rather reminded his readers of their unimportance. Those were 'things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ' (Col. 2:17)".

Paul explains that the weaker brother, "who observes the day, observes it for the Lord" and the stronger brother, "who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God". We can see from this that God desires a proper heart response to Him. Christians can show God their love for him in certain ways, and from this section of scripture we can see that it is not so much the method of showing God your love for Him, but the heart of love you have for Him. MacArthur explains, "In matters that re not specifically commanded or forbidden in Scripture, it is always wrong to go against conscience, because our conscience, therefore, is to do that which we believe is wrong. And although an act or practice in itself may not be sinful, it is treated as sinful for those who are convinced in their own minds that it is wrong, and produces guilt". On the other side, "it is also sinful, however to try to impose our personal convictions on others, because, in doing so, we are tempting them to go against their own consciences. Paul is therefore giving a two-fold command: Do not compromise your own conscience in order to conform to the conscience of another believer and do not attempt to lead another believer to compromise his conscience to conform to yours". Paul recognized this in writing to the Corinthians, "Take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And thus, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, that I might not cause my bother to stumble" (I Cor. 8:9-13). Our attitude must be the same. We must be willing to give up whatever liberty we have in Christ, to keep another brother from stumbling.

When we become Christians, we die to self, and raised with Christ. We are no longer our own, but we are now slaves to Christ. This principle guides Paul's pen as he writes, "For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's". Therefore it is not our own desires and preferences that matter, but what is important to the Lord. We must live each day with the understanding that we live it for the Lord, and when we judge other believers we do it out of selfishness, and hinder the body of Christ. We must put aside personal preferences for the good of the body of Christ. For, "we are the Lords" and "to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living". With Christ as Lord of our lives, we must submit to His authority. With this understanding, it makes it easier to live a life in gratitude for all He has done, rather than demanding our liberty and personal rights.

The last and most compelling reason we are to not judge other believers in regard to personal preferences, is that the Lord will judge each believer. Paul writes, "but you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?" Paul is reiterating the questions he had brought up earlier to bring fresh into our minds, "For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God'". MacArthur writes, "The work of Christians is to serve the Lord, not to usurp His lordship by self-righteously judging fellow believers. Our concern, rather should be for being judged ourselves by the Lord, 'For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God". I Cor. 4:1-5 explains, "Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God". With this understanding and the gravity of knowing that "each one of us shall give account of himself" we would spend less time looking about what is going on in other's lives, and focus on where are hearts are with the Lord.