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Romans 14

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Receiving the Weak in Faith 1–4

1
But him that is weak in faith receive ye, yet not for decision of scruples. ​
2
One man hath faith to eat all things: but he that is weak eateth herbs. ​
3
Let not him that eateth set at nought him that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. ​
4
Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand. ​

Accountability to Christ, the Lord of All 5–12

5
One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. ​
6
He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7
For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself.
8
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. ​
9
For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. ​
10
But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or thou again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God. ​
11
For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, And every tongue shall confess to God.
12
So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Avoid Causing a Brother to Stumble 13–23

13
Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge ye this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock in his brother’s way, or an occasion of falling. ​
14
I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself: save that to him who accounteth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. ​
15
For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died. ​
16
Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
17
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ​
18
For he that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God, and approved of men.
19
So then let us follow after things which make for peace, and things whereby we may edify one another. ​
20
Overthrow not for meat’s sake the work of God. All things indeed are clean; howbeit it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21
It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth. ​
22
The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God. Happy is he that judgeth not himself in that which he approveth. ​
23
But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Romans 14

Verse 1

receive ye — Proslambanomai, to take to oneself. The same verb is God's act in v.3, 'God hath received him', and the pattern of 15:7, 'receive ye one another, as Christ also received us'. 'Weak' is astheneo, to lack strength. 'Doubtful disputations' is literally judgments on his thoughts: the weak brother is welcomed without his opinions being sat in judgment on.

Verse 2

eateth herbs — Lachanon, garden vegetables. The strong man's freedom rests on the grant of Gen 9:3, 'even as the green herb have I given you all things', and on the truth that 'every creature of God is good' (1 Tim 4:4). Both men are said to act in faith: one 'believeth' (pisteuo) he may eat all things, and the other is weak in the faith.

Verse 3

God hath received him — The strong man's sin is to 'despise' (exoutheneo, treat as nothing); the weak man's is to 'judge' (krino). The same two verbs return in v.10, 'why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother?' The ground for both is one fact: God has taken the eater and the abstainer alike.

Verse 4

another man's servant — Oiketes, a household servant. Whether he 'standeth or falleth' is a matter for 'his own master', and the master has promised the outcome: 'God is able to make him stand'. Jude gives the same assurance, 'him that is able to keep you from falling' (Jude 24); James asks the same question, 'who art thou that judgest another?' (James 4:12).

Verse 5

fully persuaded — Plerophoreo, to be filled to the full with assurance, the verb used of Abraham, 'being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform' (4:21). Here it asks for settled conviction 'in his own mind' on the keeping of days. Paul gives the same freedom in Col 2:16, 'in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days'.

Verse 8

we are the Lord's — Kyrios, Lord, three times in the verse. Life and death are both held under his rule, and the verse is the practical side of 2 Cor 5:15, that 'they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.' The same lordship is the reason given in v.9.

Verse 9

died, and rose, and revived — Anazao, to live again. Kyrieuo, 'be Lord', is used of Christ here and of death in 6:9: 'death hath no more dominion over him'. The one who has passed through death is now Lord 'both of the dead and living'. He says of himself, 'I am he that liveth, and was dead' (Rev 1:18).

Verse 10

the judgment seat of Christ — Bema, the raised seat of a magistrate, the word for Pilate's seat (Matt 27:19). Paul writes the same of himself in 2 Cor 5:10, 'we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ'. In v.12 he states the result: 'every one of us shall give account of himself to God'. Judging a brother takes a place that is not yours.

Verse 13

judge this rather — A play on krino: 'let us not therefore judge one another… but judge this rather'. The thing to decide is that no one puts 'a stumblingblock' (proskomma, an obstacle struck against) or 'an occasion to fall' (skandalon, the trap's trigger) in a brother's way. Paul says it of Corinth: 'this liberty of yours' may become a stumblingblock (1 Cor 8:9).

Verse 14

nothing unclean of itself — Koinos, common, the word Peter used at Joppa: 'I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean', and the voice answered, 'What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common' (Acts 10:14–15). Paul is 'persuaded by the Lord Jesus', who said that nothing entering from without 'can defile him' (Mark 7:15). Yet to the man who counts it unclean, it is.

Verse 15

walkest thou not charitably — Literally 'walkest not according to love' (kata agapen). 'Destroy' is apollymi, the verb of perishing, used in 1 Cor 8:11, 'through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?' The cost of a brother is set against a meal: Christ died for him.

Verse 17

the kingdom of God is not meat and drink — Brosis and posis, eating and drinking, the pair in Col 2:16. The kingdom is 'righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost'. Paul adds the same principle elsewhere: 'meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse' (1 Cor 8:8).

Verse 19

follow after — Dioko, to pursue, the word used of persecuting (Acts 9:4) and of the runner pressing on (Phil 3:14). It is applied here to peace, as in Heb 12:14, 'Follow peace with all men', and Ps 34:14, 'seek peace, and pursue it'. 'Edify' is the noun oikodome: things that tend to the building up of another.

Verse 21

stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak — Paul uses three verbs: proskopto, skandalizo and astheneo, the last the 'weak' of vv.1–2. 'Flesh' (kreas) is meat. Paul takes the rule on himself in 1 Cor 8:13: 'if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth'. What is lawful is given up for the brother's sake.

Verse 22

Hast thou faith? — The strong man's conviction is not to be paraded: 'have it to thyself before God' (enopion). 'Happy' is makarios, blessed: blessed is he that 'condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth' (dokimazo, to test and approve). John states the same ease of conscience: 'if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God' (1 John 3:21).

Verse 23

not of faith is sin — Diakrino, to doubt, is the root of the 'disputations' in v.1. 'Damned' is katakrino, to condemn, as in Rom 8:34, 'Who is he that condemneth?' The verse makes faith the measure of the act: to eat while unpersuaded is to act against what he believes, and 'without faith it is impossible to please him' (Heb 11:6).