Romans 14- The Weak and the Strong
Last week I spoke about conflicts and disagreements in the church and I think that flows very naturally into what Paul is saying here in Romans.
The church in Rome was probably a mixed body. You would have Gentiles who are former pagans who are now following Christ, and you would have Jewish people who have come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, who are still following the cultural practices of their people and for whom the practices of the Old Testament Law still have a strong effect. In the same church, you have people who are former pagans who participated in pagan rituals in the past. You also have people who are part of the Jewish diaspora. They grew up following a kosher diet, and are now living in pagan lands, and both of these kinds of people have now come to Christ. But they have quite different backgrounds and are trying to figure out how to live in community together as Christians.
So, Paul is advising the strong to receive those who are weak in the faith, but not in order to quarrel or to get into arguments. He's not saying that beliefs and practices don't matter. He's not saying that there aren't important theological understandings that should be explained and spelled out. Here he isn't talking about essential matters of belief, like the resurrection. He's talking about spiritual disciplines. He’s talking about devotional and formation practices. So, these aren’t central theological beliefs about who Jesus is.
An example he brings up is that one person believes that they can eat anything while the weak person only eats vegetables. In the ancient world meat often came from a sacrifice that was performed in a pagan temple. Someone who is strong in faith could be confident that they can pray a blessing over their meal and they would be protected from any kind of spiritual pollution that might have come from meat that was a part of the pagan sacrifice. They had a sense that this could be redeemed for their body to the glory of God.
Someone who is weak in faith decides that they are going to take the example of Daniel in exile in Babylon. They are only going to eat vegetables, so they will avoid the sacrificial meat. (The easiest way to maintain a kosher diet as described in the Old Testament is to be a vegetarian.) … That's a position that makes a lot of sense. But interestingly here, Paul seems to define this person as somebody who is weak in faith.
We would imagine that that would be the harder (more disciplined) way of life, so we might assume that that would be the strong position, but St. Paul here seems to see this as weak because they seem to see the scope of Christ's work as having a smaller effect. So, when Paul says "weak" here he doesn't mean someone who's less disciplined, less devout, less committed, or less self-controlled. The people who are committed to only eating vegetables are probably more disciplined (because it would be more convenient to be able to eat anything). By "weak" he means a conscience that hasn't fully grasped the full implications of the lordship of Christ. They have a tender conscience. Their conscience might have a bit of fear that foods can make them unclean, or might be spiritually dangerous.
The strong person understands that Christ has declared all foods clean. They know that idols don't have any power compared to Christ. They know that the power of Christ in them can purify any impurity that might come from a sacrificial offering. … We might think this person just isn't serious about spiritual matters, but that's not the case. They actually recognize the freedom they have in Christ. They see the effects of Jesus' work as being more pervasive.
And Paul here isn't saying that the weak are inferior in any way. He's saying they're more vulnerable. They may be scandalized and tempted by the freedom of the strong. The strong understand Christ's Lordship more fully. They understand the new covenant more deeply. So even though, on the outside, they might seem less disciplined because they are not restricting themselves in the way that the weaker are, theologically their understanding of what Christ has done is broader.
Paul here says that both the strong and the weak are servants of God. It is not appropriate for one servant to pass judgment on another servant. It's the master's position to do that. What matters is that each servant is doing what they can to be obedient and faithful to their master. Their respective positions come out of a faithfulness to Christ.
Paul says: "One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike." What is being referenced here is Sabbath keeping. There are some who are wanting to maintain the Jewish Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening. There are others who see this as fulfilled in Christ and so don't feel the need to keep the Sabbath in the same way as was traditionally understood in Jewish communities of the past.
So again, just as the stronger in faith feel they can eat anything because they understand the dynamic between the Jewish food laws and Christ's cleansing of all things, … Likewise, they believe that Christ's work has had an effect on Sabbath keeping. The Sabbath has been fulfilled in Christ. And so, many early Christians, rather than following the Sabbath (from Friday evening to Saturday evening), decided to focus on the Lord's Day (Sunday) instead for gathering and worship, in order to celebrate the resurrection. … Someone that Paul defines as weak in faith would want to maintain the traditional boundaries that mark keeping the Sabbath.
St. Paul says, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes a day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.” Here Paul is talking about the conscience of the believer. There can be variance in our actual practices, but what matters is that what we are doing is dedicated to the Lord. So, if our conscience leads us to practice the Sabbath in a more traditional way, then we should do that. If our conscience tells us to focus on the Lord's Day rather than applying the traditional understanding of how the Sabbath should be kept, then we should do that. …
But what we don't want to do is encourage people to do what they believe to be wrong. For example, if someone is practicing the Sabbath in a traditional way and someone tries to convince them that it's silly to do that, they give up that practice of Sabbath keeping, but their conscience is bothered. Then in a sense, that person has been tempted into sin- they've been tempted to be less dedicated to Christ. Each person should do what they believe is faithful in following Christ. What we don't want to do is tempt someone into doing something that they feel is not faithful to Christ. We don't want to be led into judging one another for these kinds of relatively minor devotional differences.
There might be TV shows, for example, that some Christians are bothered by, but others have a faithful way of watching it. And this isn't out of a laxness. It isn’t from not taking their faith seriously, but they genuinely have a way of doing this that is faithful to Christ. But the person who is able to watch the show faithfully shouldn't tempt the Christian who shouldn't watch the show because they might have a more delicate conscience and might be tempted. It'll damage their faith. …
One Christian might be able to go eat in a Thai restaurant where there is a small shrine in the entranceway, with food dedicated and incense offered to Asian gods. That might cause some Christians' consciences to be bothered. They might feel that eating in that restaurant somehow will not be faithful to Christ. Those who can eat in a restaurant like that and aren't bothered by it shouldn't try to cajole the person into eating there if their conscience bothers them. For them to eat in that restaurant would become a sin because of their attitude towards the shrine. We don't want to encourage anyone to violate their conscience. We want to encourage people to be as faithful to Christ as possible.
If Christ gave up his life for our Christian brother or sister, then it is a pretty small ask for us to modify our diet for a moment or our practice so as to not cause them to stumble, or be tempted. Paul says later on in verses 14 and 15, "I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died."
So, whatever we do, whatever spiritual discipline or devotional practice we adopt for ourselves, we do it out of a faithful dedication to the Lord. Both those who are called weak and those who are called strong are servants of the same Master and they both answer to Him. They should follow their conscience regarding how to follow Christ.
The lesson for us is that when we encounter other Christians whose practices are different from our own but they are still faithfully dedicated to Christ, we should be careful that our first response isn't judgment. It should be love for one another. It's repeated often in Anglican circles- in essentials we should have unity, in non-essentials we should have diversity, and in all things we should have charity. We are all servants of the same Master and it's more important that we encourage one another towards faithfulness rather than demand uniformity of every practice. AMEN
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