Romans 14-Who Are The Strong In Faith And Who Are The Weak In Faith In Romans 14
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday February 21, 2010
Romans: Romans 14-Who Are The Strong In Faith And Who Are The Weak In Faith In Romans 14?
Lesson # 460
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
This morning we will answer the question as to who are the strong in faith in Romans 14 and who are the weak?
Romans 14:1-23, “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. 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. 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. One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 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. 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. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. 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. For it is written, ‘AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.’ So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. 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. 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. 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. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. 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. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 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, “faith” is the noun pistis (pivsti$) (pea-steece), which means “conviction,” which is a “strong persuasion or belief” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition).
A biblical conviction comes about in a Christian when he or she has been fully convinced or convicted by the Holy Spirit through the teaching of the Word of God with regards to the will of the Father regarding a particular subject and thus has decided to accept this teaching.
Consequently, this teaching becomes a part of their conscience, i.e. their norms and standards and thus governs their conduct.
A conviction is a decision concerning what it is true or God’s will for the Christian’s life, which in turn determines what the Christian should or should not do when faced with a particular situation or circumstance.
In Romans 14, the Jewish believers who continued to observe dietary restrictions and honor the special days prescribed by God for Israel in the Mosaic Law as well as Gentile Christians influenced by Jewish tradition are those whom Paul describes as weak in faith, i.e. conviction.
Those whom he describes as strong in faith, i.e. conviction are the Gentile believers and Jewish believers like Paul who have been fully convinced by the Holy Spirit and have accepted the Spirit’s revelation concerning their new freedom in Christ.
Now, though he does not explicitly address the strong as such, it is clear that Paul is addressing those who are strong in faith as indicated by his statement in Romans 15:1 that “the strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.”
The Lord Jesus taught in Mark 7:14-19 that all foods are to be enjoyed and in Acts 10 the Lord told Peter that there were no longer dietary restrictions whereas in Romans 14:1-12, the weak believers observe dietary restrictions.
Also Paul taught in Colossians 2:20-23 that observance of days is not mandatory whereas in Romans 14:5-6, the weak believer observes certain days.
In Luke 7:33, the Lord Jesus admitted to drinking wine and Paul taught in Ephesians 5:18 not to be drunk with wine but did not prohibit the drinking of wine and told Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23 to have a little wine to deal with his stomach problems yet in Romans 14:21, the weak abstain from drinking wine.
The New Testament makes clear that the dietary laws of the Mosaic law practiced by the Jews was an important issue in the early first century apostolic churches (Mark 7:2, 5; 14-19; Acts 10).
The Jews in the first century would abstain from meat and wine, which was not required by the Mosaic law (Leviticus 11; 20:15; Deuteronomy 14:3-21; cf. Leviticus 17:10-16; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:15-25).
They avoided meat and wine because they could not be sure that the meat had been prepared in a “kosher” manner such as in the case of Daniel and his friends in Babylon (Daniel 1:8; 10:3).
The term “kosher” comes from a Hebrew word, the word is kashar, which means “fit” or “right,” thus the word denotes what is “kosher” is right, it is fit, it is acceptable according to a Jew.
Now, Jewish Christians in Rome were ostracized from the Jewish community because of their faith in Jesus Christ and had been forced to settle in Gentile communities in the city after their exile brought about by the decree of Claudius.
Consequently, these Jews would refrain from buying meat in the Gentile sections of the city where they settled because they knew it was not prepared in a “kosher” manner.
Correspondingly, Jews would abstain from wine as well out of concern that it had been tainted by the pagan practice of offering wine as a libation to the gods (Moo, page 831).
Further indicating that the “weak” in Romans 14 are Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians influenced by Jewish tradition who had a difficult time breaking from the Mosaic Law is that Paul mentions the weak observing certain days, which was the case with the Jews who observed many days including of course the Sabbath.
Also as the gospels make clear many first century Jews observed weekly fasting and prayer days.
Therefore, the “weak” in Romans 14 are Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians influenced by Jewish tradition who erroneously believed that they were still bound to continue to observe the “ritual” requirements of the Mosaic Law.
On the other hand, the “strong” are Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians like Paul who were convinced by the Holy Spirit that they did not have to adhere to the dietary regulations or honor the special days prescribed for Israel in the Law.
The weak were never to condemn the strong for their convictions and the strong were never to regard and treat with contempt the weak for theirs since both were under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and would have to give an account to Him for their service.
Those who are strong in faith are to bear with the weaknesses of those who are weak in the faith and operate in love whereas the latter are to refrain from criticizing and condemning as guilty those who are strong and are to become strong themselves by learning and applying the Word of God.
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.