Overview of Romans 14
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday February 18, 2010
Romans: Overview of Romans 14
Lesson # 459
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
This evening we will present an overview of Romans chapter 14, which continues the sixth major section in the book of Romans, which concludes in Romans 15:13.
First six sections of the book of Romans: (1) 1:1-17: Introduction and Presentation of the Theme of the Epistle (2) 1:18-3:19: Both Jew and Gentiles are in need of the righteousness of God (3) 3:20-5:21: How to receive the righteousness of God (4) 6-8: How to live in the righteousness of God (5) 9-11: God’s righteousness is vindicated in His relationship to Israel (6) Romans 12:1-15:13: The righteousness of God manifested through believers in Jesus Christ.
In Romans 14:1-15:13, the apostle Paul instructs his readers that the righteousness of God is manifested in their conduct in relation to Christian freedom.
He instructs them to not judge each other in relation to eating and drinking and teaches them the principle of Christian freedom (14:1-12) and exhorts strong believers to not put up stumbling blocks for weak believers by what they eat or drink and exhorts them to walk according to the principle of love (14:13-23).
He closes this section by prohibiting selfishness and challenges them to imitate Christ (15:1-13).
The apostle Paul in Romans 14:1-12 instructs his Christian readers in Rome to not judge each other in relation to eating and drinking and teaches them the principle of Christian freedom.
Romans 14:1, “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.”
Romans 14:2, “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.”
Romans 14:3, “The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.”
Romans 14:4, “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
Romans 14:5, “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”
Romans 14:6, “He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.”
Romans 14:7, “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.”
Romans 14:8, “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.”
Romans 14:9, “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
Romans 14:10, “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”
Romans 14:11, “For it is written, ‘AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.’”
Romans 14:12, “So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”
In Romans 14:13-23, the apostle Paul exhorts strong believers to not put up stumbling blocks for weak believers by what they eat or drink and exhorts them to walk according to the principle of love.
Romans 14:13, “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 14:14, “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.”
Romans 14:15, “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 14:16, “Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil.”
Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 14:18, “For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.”
Romans 14:19, “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.”
Romans 14:20, “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.”
Romans 14:21, “It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.”
Romans 14:22, “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 14:23, “But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.”
In Romans 14, Paul teaches that the peace of God is experienced among believers when they reflect God’s love in not judging each other regarding non-essentials such as food, drink and certain days.
In the first century apostolic church, Jewish and Gentile believers were interacting with each other for the first time in fellowship with each other.
The Jewish believers who were raised under the Mosaic Law with its dietary restrictions and under the Rabbinical teaching, which emphasized the observance of certain days and the abstaining from certain foods was a cause of division in the first century apostolic church.
Thus, to correct this problem, Paul commanded the strong believers to not put a stumbling block before their weak brethren by eating and drinking certain things that they considered to be wrong due to their background.
The Lord Jesus taught that there were no unclean animals under the church age dispensation as there were under the Mosaic Law (Mark 7:14-19; Acts 10:1-16).
Even though the Lord taught that there were no longer any unclean foods during the church age, Jewish believers like Peter had a difficult time shedding these Jewish practices.
Thus, Paul commanded strong believers to tolerate their weak brethren who were having a difficult time with the Lord’s teaching and were still abstaining from eating certain foods.
The strong believers were commanded not to put a stumbling block before the immature believers by eating those foods and drinking alcohol or forcing them to partake of these things when their conscience still said that they shouldn’t.