8.1.
Romans 14:5
8.1.1.
Freedom of Discipleship
Dr W.D. Jonker’s caption for the section Romans 14:1 to 15:13 reads, “
Love and the Weak Brother”.
The Old Afrikaans Bible (1933) summarises the message of Romans 14, “
Forbearance with the weak in faith”.
The NAB’s heading is, “
Do not condemn your brother”.
But the Authorised Version, -
even it, comes with, “
Limits of Christian Liberty”
!
E.C. Hoskyns’ “
impression” of Karl Barth, “
Die Krisis des freien Lebensversuchs” (
Der Römerbrief). Reverend Robert A. Lotzer calls the “
problem of division” in the Church at Rome, “
the Crisis of human freedom and detachment”.
In this “
krisis” of Christian freedom Romans 14 speaks about, the danger exists
to lord it over one’s neighbour and
not to allow one’s neighbour the freedom one, as a Christian, claims for oneself.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters Paul’s concern is not
only about the
individual freedom of forgiven man, but also not
only about mutual
congregational respect and compassion. Paul’s view and understanding of the congregational acceptance and support of one another reflects his
broader concept wherein God adopts and justifies the weak – wherein
God takes ownership and the
only Holy
Lord justifies
all,
sinners,
unconditionally.
If God so love us, how should not we love one another? If
God does not condemn the weak, how could
we? If
we (who, when saved were sinners and although saved are sinners still) are righteous in the sight of
God because justified in
Jesus the Lord, how could we judge
one another? How could we judge one another on “
minor issues” or “
grudgingly” (14:1)? “
Therefore thou art inexcusable, o man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same things … things worthy of death”, 2:1 and 1:32
! “Judging” and “despising” one another –
Christians doing so – betray
pride and jealousy,
sins, “
worthy of death”. Then to judge one another on things like “food” and the “regard” for “days”, things
not ‘worthy of death’ (14:1, “
adiaphora”: “
trivialities” / “
indifferent things”), is unimaginable
!
Commentators, in fact, the
Church,
today, no different than the Church at Rome, focus on “
foods” and
factions for no
purpose but to
judge people who “regard” and “esteem” “days”, and to
despise people who do not even “regard” or “esteem” “days”, but keep the
Sabbath! But Paul draws the attention inescapably to the
essential sin that so to speak is worthy of his plainest condemnation – no other sin than is condemned by the “greatest” Freedom Charter, the Law to “love thy neighbour as thyself”. (Chapter 13)
“
Paul’s exhortation ends – and its ending concludes the whole Pauline ‘conversation’ – with a warning to all who find themselves in entire agreement with what has been said and are persuaded that their own opinions have been fully confirmed. Once again these busy hands are held back; once again the energy of partisans is damped down, and their oratory interrupted. … Once again it is the fact of the existence of our fellow men – the ethical problem – by which we are brought face to face with the great disturbance”. (Barth,
Romans)
Paul discusses “food and drink” and the Christian “regard” of “days” and
discovers “
the great disturbance”
! The “food and drink” and “regard” of “days” is nothing wrong with or, rather, was nothing wrong with. Even the different
opinions on these things should be accepted and be tolerated in good Christian spirit
because of the moment in history.
Fellow Christians then allowed one another no
free “regard”. They “
judged” and “
despised” each other’s
deeds,
motives and
sincerity, missing the Freedom of being servant of Christ, passing by the fact of His having come and died and having been raised … “for us”, not even seeing it! Fellow Christians
today act no different.
The Church’s was a
controversial spirit.
Distrust of fellow Church members’ sincerity and genuineness of confession and faith lay beneath the
spirit of judgement that ruled in the Congregation at Rome. ‘
You are not a (good) Christian if you
don’t eat the meat of our traditional feast-meals’, the one party challenged. ‘
You are not a (good) Christian if you
do’, the other party retorted. “
You quibble and fight amongst yourselves”, says Paul. “
You judge and despise”, which is not Christ’s way. Paul
in Christian spirit reminds the Church, “
He is grateful to God who while regarding the day regards it to the Lord’s honour, and while eating eats to the Lord’s honour”, 14:6.
You may not despise! …
you may not judge! …
God receives and accepts the weak. Who are
you who judge the
Master’s servant? The servant stands with his
Master! Yea, the weak brother
shall be kept upright because God makes him stand
! …We are the
Lord’s. Christ
died and rose again in order
to be Lord of his own, dead or alive (weak or strong).
Why then do you judge your brother and humiliate him
? We shall
all stand before the judgement seat of
Christ as it is written, As I live says the Lord, every knee shall bow to
Me and every tongue shall confess (
Me)
God (verses 10-11). Each of us will give account, of
himself, to God (not on behalf
of anyone else and not
to the strong in the Church, 14:12)
! Stop condemning one another and rather take a stand that no one shall be the cause of his brother’s offence
! (13)
Paul
accepts the state of affairs that the Church differentiates and “
regards”
some days above others. He has no word to say against the practice. The fact that Paul could live with it shows
of what nature the “estimation / regard” of certain days was. It was “Lawful”, it was in accordance with the principle of love that is
– the very principle the Church
violated by judging one another. The “estimation / regard” of certain days was the
usual and happened according to the
custom of
Christian Faith, but Christian Faith was weak and human, deplorable and violent, brother despising and judging brother.
“
The problem of division” even, was only
symptomatic of the real problem of
pride and
want of love. Paul’s
uncompromising condemnation cannot be overlooked. But Paul’s is
not a condemnation of the
regarding of days or the regard for days or of the eating of certain foods; his is the condemnation of Christians’
judging and despising one another. There is no justification for this
great sin. This
sin was “
beggarly” because it reveals the Church’s
basic want of love - the breaking of God’s Law.
Believers were divided over “
food and drink”, no doubt. But they were not thus divided over “days” and the “esteem” of days though. “Esteem of
days” wasn’t their
sin or as much as a
symptom of their
real sickness, the
sin of
self-“esteem”. Nevertheless, “food and drink” were symptomatic of their sickness. “Food and drink”, was made the
excuse for
division, while the
cause of division,
haughtiness – was
the real sin.
Every faction at Rome “regarded” whatever they “regarded” and “esteemed” “
unto the Lord (Jesus’ honour)”.
Or that was what Paul supposed every faction
would! But did they? No
! They at Rome “regarded” and “esteemed” “days”
unto lord Self as they ate and drank or abstained meticulously
unto lord Self!
Paul’s tolerance of the
observance of “days” astonishes not
. He accepts a
fact, the fact of the Christian Church’s “regard” and “esteem” for “days”. He shows
no antipathy towards the practice.
But he waits no moment to denounce in simplest language the
actual malady. “
Who art thou?” “Days” are not
intended for
self-“esteem” and “food” for a “
stumbling block”. They are meant unto charity and humble faith. The problem lay with
man – with the
Church – with the
heart. Nothing was wrong with the whole Church’s “regard” for and “esteem” of “days”
had the brethren at Rome only “
regarded”
and “
esteemed”
one another!
http://www.biblestudents.co.za/books/Book 4, 4.Rom.pdf
pp2-5