Romans 14.4-The Weak Are Not To Condemn The Strong Since In The Judgment Of The Lord They Stand Or Fall And He Will Make Them Stand
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday March 2, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:4-The Weak Believers Are Not To Condemn The Strong Since The Lord Determines Whether The Strong Is Approved Or Not And Will Cause Them To Remain Approved
Lesson # 465
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
This evening we will study Romans 14:4 and in this passage the apostle Paul poses a rhetorical question to the weak Jewish believers and Gentile believers influenced by Jewish tradition who don’t eat meat unless it’s kosher because they continue to observe the dietary regulations prescribed for Israel under the Mosaic Law.
He then teaches these weak believers that in the judgment of their own Master, the Lord Jesus Christ the strong believers will stand or fall and in fact they will stand since the Lord is able to make them stand.
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.”
In Romans 14:4, Paul presents an imaginary dialogue with a hypothetical weak Christian who does not eat meat unless it’s kosher because he continues to observe the dietary restrictions prescribed for Israel under the Mosaic Law.
That this weak believer is hypothetical is indicated by Paul’s statements in Romans 15:14-15, which makes clear that the Roman believers, both weak and strong, were actually practicing everything Paul had prescribed in the epistle.
The rhetorical question, “who are you to judge the servant of another?” brings out the implication of the prohibition that appears in the adversative clause at the end of Romans 14:3 emphasizing with the weak Christians that they would be totally out of line to condemn the strong Christians.
“To judge” is the articular nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb krino (κρίνω) (kree-no), which means “to condemn as guilty.”
It describes this hypothetical, weak Christian as “condemning” the strong believers “as guilty” before God because they don’t observe the dietary regulations prescribed by God for Israel in the Mosaic Law like they do.
“The servant of another” is composed of the accusative masculine singular form of the adjective allotrios (ἀλλότριος) (ah-low-tree-oce), “of another” and the accusative masculine singular form of the noun oiketes (οἰκέτης) (ee-ka-teez), “the servant.”
The noun oiketes means “domestic slave” or “household servant” and describes the Christian, who is strong with respect to conviction because he is fully convinced by the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that he is not obligated to observe the dietary regulations prescribed for Israel in the Mosaic Law.
Paul does not use the usual word for “slave,” which is doulos but rather he uses oiketes since he wants to emphasize with the weak Christians that the strong Christians are in God’s household just like they are even though they do not observe the dietary restrictions that appear in the Law.
Oiketes emphasizes with the weak Christians that they do not have authority over the strong Christians.
In the Roman Empire during the first century when this epistle was written the idea of claiming authority over another person’s slave was ridiculous and inadmissible under Roman law.
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.”
“To his own” is the dative masculine singular form of the adjective idios (ἴδιος) (ee-vee-oce), which functions as a possessive pronoun and denotes that the strong Christian is the exclusive property of His master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Master” is the articular dative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (kuvrio$) (ker-dee-oce), which is a reference to the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ emphasizing He is the sovereign ruler of the church and thus the approval or disapproval of a member of His church is based upon His evaluation.
The noun kurios functions as an “ethical” or “existential dative” or “dative of opinion” indicating that “in the opinion or” or “in the judgment of” his own Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, the strong believer stands or falls.
“He stands” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb steko (στήκω) (stee-koe), which means “to stand” and is used in a figurative sense of the “approval” of the strong Christians’ service on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Falls” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb pipto (πίπτω) (peep-toe), which means “to fall” and is used in a figurative sense of the “disapproval” of the strong Christian’s service on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And he will stand” stands in contrast with the previous concept of falling, which refers to the strong Christian’s service on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ as being disapproved by the Lord and makes clear to the weak Christian that the strong believer is approved by the Lord and rejects any idea that they are in the wrong.
“He will stand” is the third person singular future passive indicative form of the verb histemi (ἵστημι) (ee-stee-me), which means “to remain standing” and like steko is used in a figurative sense of the strong Christian’s service on behalf of the Lord as being approved by Him.
The word emphasizes that this status of approval by the Lord will continue to endure or persist and implies that the strong believer is already standing approved by the Lord.
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.”
“For the Lord is able to make him stand” presents the reason why the strong Christian will be made to persist in standing and teaches that they will be made to persist in standing approved because the Lord is able to make him do so.
“Is able” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb dunateo (δυνατέω) (thee-na-teh-owe), which means “to be able” and refers to the exercise of the Lord’s Jesus Christ’s omnipotence, which gives the strong Christian the capacity to be approved by Him.
“To make him stand” is composed of aorist active infinitive form of the verb histemi (ἵστημι) (ee-stee-me), “to make stand” and the accusative masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) (awf-toce), “him.”
The verb histemi means “to cause to remain standing” and emphasizes that the Lord Jesus Christ is able “to make” the strong Christian “remain standing,” i.e. approved and is used again in a figurative sense of the strong Christian’s service on behalf of the Lord as continuing to be approved by Him.
“For the Lord is able to make him stand” emphasizes with the weak Christian that the Lord’s approval of the strong Christian’s service does not depend upon observing the dietary regulations of the Law but rather depends upon the Lord’s power.
It also emphasizes that Christian service does not depend on the Christian’s ability but on the power of God.