OFFENSES & STUMBLING
Romans 14:13-23
As
we come to the latter part of Romans 14, it is a continuation of the previous
section. They both deal with how we are
to get along with other believers with whom we differ.
|
Romans 14:1-12 |
Romans 14:13-23 |
|
Do not judge
one another |
Do not cause
another to stumble |
In
the previous section, we saw the command of Paul to stop judging one
another. The strong were not supposed to
judge the weak and the weak were not supposed to judge the strong.
Now the issue changes. Paul instructs
us how we are not to cause another to stumble.
This will be explained as we are called to limit our liberty so as not
to lead those who are weaker into doing that which they feel is wrong.
THE
PROBLEM OF STUMBLING
Therefore
let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this ‑‑
not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. (Romans 14:13).
The
translators have changed the wording so at to help clarify the meaning of the
text and they have done a good job, but in doing so, there is a slight nuance
that is missed. It is in the double use
of the Greek word krinw. This word is
used twice in this verse as Paul says:
Therefore let us not JUDGE one another anymore, but rather DETERMINE
this.
|
Don’t judge this |
Judge this |
|
One another |
Not to cause another to stumble |
The
point is that there are some judgments we are required to make. But the focus of our judgment is not to be
upon others. It is to be on ourselves
and on our own actions. Jesus said the
same thing when He spoke about removing the two-by-four from your own eye
before you go trying to take out the splinter from someone else’s eye.
I
am to judge my actions with a carefully discerning eye to see whether they
cause another believer to stumble. That
means my actions are no longer just between me and God. There are others that must also be
considered.
STUMBLING
AND THE NATURE OF UNCLEANNESS
I
know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but
to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no
longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom
Christ died. (Romans 14:14-15).
The
issue that Paul raises now is the issue of the very nature of what makes a
thing either clean or unclean. God
created everything at creation and He was able to look at all of it at the end
of the creation and say that it was all very good.
1. The Truth of Intrinsic Uncleanness: I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus
that nothing is unclean in itself (Romans 14:14).
Things are not intrinsically unclean. That isn’t a denial of physical dirtiness and
it doesn’t mean that children no longer have to wash their hands for basic
sanitation. What it means is that God
created all things and that He did a very good job of it. Things are not intrinsically bad. It is only what we do with them and the
meaning we assign to them that is bad.
A marijuana leaf by itself is not sinful. A cocoa plant is not an evil thing. The metal alloys that are used in a gun or a
knife are not in themselves bad. It is
how these things are used that leads to sin.
Sexuality is not a bad thing. God made us as sexual beings. But the way we utilize our sexuality can be
bad if we do not use it in the way in which it was designed by our Creator.
Paul is not saying here that everything is
allowed. Rather he is saying that things
in and of themselves are not unclean. It
is what you do with those things that involves either
a way of sin or a way of righteousness.
Neither is Paul denying the inherent sinfulness of
some actions. There are some actions
that are clearly forbidden in the Scriptures.
But that is not the subject with which he is dealing here. Instead, he is speaking of our use of
Christian liberty and the problem that some people have with guilt even when no
wrongdoing is involved.
2. The
Problem of Perceived Uncleanness: But to him who thinks anything to be
unclean, to him it is unclean. (Romans 14:14).
The problem with which Paul deals is not an intrinsic
uncleanness, but a perceived uncleanness.
It is the problem of the weak believer who does not realize that all
things are clean and who looks at something that, in reality, is harmless, but
who sees other Christians partaking of it and who partakes himself, even though
he still thinks it to be morally wrong.
When you partake of that which you
believe to be wrong, that partaking has become an act of sin, not necessarily
because the action itself was wrong, but because your attitude was a sinful
attitude in that you wanted to partake more than you desired the righteousness
of God.
3. The Real Issue: For if because of food your brother is hurt,
you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him
for whom Christ died. (Romans 14:15).
Food doesn’t matter a lot in the big scheme of
things. I am not saying that you are
supposed to be on a starvation diet, but eating meat or eating vegetables or
eating kosher or eating ham sandwiches is not all that important. It is, as we like to say, “small
potatoes.” There are more important
things about which to worry. One of
those more important things is that you walk in love and that you build up
people instead of destroying them.
STUMBLING
AND THE NATURE OF THE KINGDOM
16
Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:16‑17).
|
The phrase translated “spoken of
as evil” is translated from a word that literally speaks of being
“blasphemed.” |
The
I
consider myself to be a fairly good driver.
I worked for a lot of years with the fire department and for more than a
few of those years I drove an emergency vehicle equipped with lights and
sirens. I was never in an accident while
going at a high rate of speed. I have to
admit that I was in a couple of accidents while driving very, very slowly.
Nevertheless,
my wife sometimes takes issue with my driving, especially when it is in a
scenic area that calls for attention. I
suppose that it is for good reason that she wants me to keep my eyes upon the
road. Paul calls for the same thing, not
regarding a physical highway, but the highway of the kingdom. He wants your attention to be on the kingdom
and not on these side issues of eating and drinking, even though they might be
good and acceptable.
Notice
what is important in the big scheme of things.
The kingdom is about righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Do those three qualities characterize your
life? If they do not, then it is likely
that you are also missing your connection to the Holy Spirit because they DO
characterize the Holy Spirit. When you
are filled with the Spirit, the fruit of that spiritual union will be made
manifest.
DOING
GOD’S WORK GOD’S WAY
The
following verses give a list of principles that we are to follow as we serve
the Lord. We are called to be His
faithful workers and a part of that faithfulness involves doing that work as He
commands.
1. Work for God is Approved: For he who in this way serves
Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men (Romans 14:18).
The “way” that is being described refers back to the
previous verses where Paul called Christians to walk in love toward
others. Loving others means that you
take care not to allow them to stumble.
2. God’s Work is Unifying:
So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the
building up of one another (Romans 14:19).
This is not the only time in the Bible that we are
told to pursue peace. It is a regular
and a reoccurring theme, going all the way back to Psalm 34:14. Peter cites that Psalm and quotes it word for
word in 1 Peter 3:11. Likewise, the
writer to the Hebrews says that we are to pursue peace with all men, and the
sanctification without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).
In modern Hebrew, instead of
saying, “How are you?” it is customary to say, "Ma Shlomkah"
(How is your peace?). And if everything is going well, then a normal reply
would be, "Shlomi tov"
— My peace is good.
That is the nice thing about the peace of Christ. When we have Him, we
can truly answer, “My peace is good.”
Two things that do not normally go together in our
minds are the qualities of righteousness and peace. But when we come to Christ,
we find that "righteousness and peace have kissed each other"
(Psalm 85:10). As a result, we are to
extend that same righteousness and peace in our dealings with others.
3. God’s Work is not Destructive: 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. 21 It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do
anything by which your brother stumbles (Romans 14:20-21).
Just because there is no longer an issue in ceremonial
cleanliness or in things being intrinsically good or evil does not mean that
anything goes. There continue to be
activities and practices that can be hurtful and divisive to the body of
Christ, even though they are themselves permissible.
It is all a question of priorities. What is more important, the spiritual
well-being of people, or one’s food and beverage menu? The answer is obvious and our priorities
should be obvious, too.
You remember the story of Esau. His was the story of one who placed more
importance upon food than upon the things of the Lord. Genesis 25 tells the story of how he met up
with Jacob as he came in from the fields.
Jacob was there with a hot pot of stew.
We don’t know what was in it, but it was red because Esau said in
Genesis 25:30, “Let me have some of that red
stuff.” It became a byword for Esau’s
descendants because the term “red” is
The point of the story is that
4. God’s Work results in a Clear Conscience: The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does
not condemn himself in what he approves (Romans 14:22).
Paul calls for you to hold your convictions and to
live according to them. That does not
mean you cannot have your convictions trained by the Scriptures, but it does
mean that you should hold to them and walk by them, even as you are undergoing
such a training process.
Paul’s words also suggest that, as you have your own
conviction before God regarding the various aspects of your liberty in Christ,
you are not necessarily to try to force that outlook on others. They are to be your own conviction before
God, not your own conviction before someone else. Paul explains the outworking of this
principle in his epistle to the Corinthians.
27 If one
of the unbelievers invites you, and you wish to go, eat anything that is set
before you, without asking questions for conscience ' sake. 28 But if anyone should say to you, "This is meat
sacrificed to idols," do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed
you, and for conscience ' sake; 29 I mean
not your own conscience, but the other man's; for why is my freedom judged by
another's conscience? (1 Corinthians 10:27‑29).
Here the issue was in the eating of meat that had been
offered to idols. The case here is a bit
different as it involves the interaction between believers and
non-believers. Paul’s instructions can
be summarized as follows: “Don’t ask; don’t tell.” Since there is nothing intrinsically wrong
with the food, Christians were to feel free to eat. However, if the issue was brought up, then
they were to refuse to eat it, not because it was intrinsically wrong, but
because it might offend the conscience of others.
5. God’s Work operates from right Inner Motives: But he who doubts is condemned if he eats,
because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin
(Romans 14:23).
This verse sets up a contrast. The one who doubts is contrasted with the one
who does not condemn himself in the previous verse.
|
Romans 14:22 |
Romans 14:23 |
|
He who does not
condemn himself |
He who doubts |
|
He is happy |
He is condemned
if he eats |
|
He is acting in
faith |
He is acting
out of accord with his faith |
The person in this verse is one who has been tempted
to follow the example of the stronger brother’s liberty with regard to his
actions, yet without the same liberty of conscience. He sees his stronger brother doing something
and he thinks it to be wrong but, because his stronger brother is doing it, he
does it, too. The action that he is taking
is not in itself sinful, but because his conscience tells him it is sinful and
because he does it in spite of his conscience, it becomes a sinful act.
There are several important lessons that we can take
from this.
• It
is possible to train the conscience. The
Bible makes mention of those who, in their hypocrisy and lies, have been seared
in their own conscience as with a branding iron (1 Timothy 4:2). Conversely, Hebrews 9:14 tells
us how the blood of Christ is able to cleanse one’s conscience from dead works
to serve the living God.
The conscience is able to be redeemed and sanctified
and educated. Once you have allowed the
law to filter into your heart, your conscience bear witness, and alternately
either accusing or else defending you (Romans 2:15).
• Motives
matter. What you do matters, but it also
matters why you do it. It is possible to
do all the right things and still be in the wrong because you are doing those
right things for the wrong reasons.
God is concerned with motives. When you come to the Bible, you come to that
which is self-described as being able to judge the thoughts and intentions
of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
• Some
issues are bigger than our theological boxes.
Theologically speaking, there was nothing wrong in eating meat, no
matter what its pedigree. But there was
a bigger issue at stake. The issue was
how it would affect those who were not theologically astute.
Paul calls, not merely for doctrinal correctness, but
for an attitude of love that will put the needs of others before our own. I said that some issues are bigger than our theological
boxes, but what this really means is that our theology has to be a lot bigger
than we thought because God is a lot bigger than we thought and he is concerned
with how people feel and not just what they do.
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