Waters of Life

Biblical Studies in Multiple Languages

Search in "English":
Home -- English -- Romans - 072 (Do not Enrage your Neighbor for Unimportant Reasons)
This page in: -- Afrikaans -- Arabic -- Armenian-- Azeri-- Bengali -- Bulgarian -- Cebuano -- Chinese -- ENGLISH -- French -- Georgian -- Greek? -- Hausa -- Hebrew -- Hindi -- Igbo -- Indonesian -- Javanese -- Kiswahili -- Malayalam -- Polish -- Portuguese -- Russian -- Serbian -- Somali -- Spanish? -- Tamil -- Telugu -- Turkish -- Urdu? -- Yiddish -- Yoruba

Previous Lesson -- Next Lesson

ROMANS - The Lord is our Righteousness
Studies in the Letter of Paul to the Romans
PART 3 - The Righteousness of God Appears in the Life of The Followers of Christ (Romans 12:1 - 15:13)

9. Do not Enrage your Neighbor for Unimportant Reasons (Romans 14:13-23)


ROMANS 14:13-23
13 Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling. 14 I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. 16 Then don’t let your good be slandered, 17 for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up. 20 Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating. 21 It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak. 22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

Through his ministry in several churches, Paul knew the continuous, obstinate differences with respect to permissible and prohibited foods. He said, referring to the statement of Jesus (Mark 7:15-23; Luke 6:4), that nothing is unclean in itself, but the things which come out of man defile him. It is good for the believer to eat certain foods which are good for him. It is also good for him to abstain from other foods, which he deems harmful to his health.

Christians must be good examples to others. They must avoid everything which may be a reason for another’s sin. The believer, who eats and drinks without limits, and boasts of his freedom, creates doubts in the heart of him who is deliberate, and also feels that the first despises him. Then he who is free becomes wrong and responsible for confusing the fresh believer, and moving his faith in Christ. Love requires from him who is strong in faith not to boast before him who is weak in his opinion and choice, but to keep silent, that he may not become a stumbling block before the new convert.

Paul testified that the kingdom of God is not confirmed through food and drink, but it appears through the fruits of the Holy Spirit, out of which he named righteousness, peace, and joy, as an answer to the differences in churches. Paul craved after the consolidation of the unity of the church, and he led the believers to the fact that the subject of food and drink does not deserve that the church should differ about it. The unity of the spirit is much more important than the mutual agreement on secondary subjects like food, drink, dress, how hair should be cut, or how money should be spent; for the Spirit of Christ, in his love and longsuffering patience, prevails over the necessities of the earthly life. Paul testified the necessity of binding ourselves to love, as a foundation for the knowledge of Christ, through rising above insignificant matters, and taking interest in man for whom Jesus died.

The peace of God in church is more important than the absolute freedom, and the requirements of the law. If anyone in the church does not eat meat, or drink wine to please his conscience, or because of his own principles or deterrents, then it is necessary for us to behave in conformity with love without complaint, feeling the needs of the other whose faith might stumble because of our behaviors.

However, the new believer who eats and drinks with qualms of conscience is wrong together with all the people of his church, because the assurance in faith is more important than superficial peace. The faith realized in love prevails over the cooperation in church; and he who wants to carry out his obstinacy unconditionally is a destroyer of the spirit of partnership.

PRAYER: O Lord Jesus, we worship you because you accepted in the circle of your disciples rough fishermen, cunning tax collectors, experts in the Law, and mystics. You gathered them together, united them, and gave them no other commandment but perfect love with forgiveness, patience, and peace. Help us to forgive others not up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven a day, and not to forget that they also have to forgive us our faults and sins up to seventy times seven a day.

QUESTION:

  1. What is the meaning of the verse: “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17)?

www.Waters-of-Life.net

Page last modified on October 23, 2012, at 11:37 AM | powered by PmWiki (pmwiki-2.3.3)