ACC ~ Romans 14 v1 - 8

OVERVIEW:

Those who are weak in faith must be accepted and integrated into the fellowship, though they should refrain from passing judgment on others. It is up to the strong to show humility and encourage the weak to grow in the faith. Eating certain foods or observing certain holy days may be matters of indifference, but they should not be allowed to disrupt Christian fellowship. God alone is the judge of the heart. Whether “the weak” referred to the vegetarian, the sick, those under the law or the immature in faith was disputed. Christians are called to consider the feelings of others in everything they do, remembering that they are answerable to Christ for everything. Giving thanks in everything the baptized faithful live and die to the Lord.

14:1 | Welcome the Weak in Faith

WELCOME THOSE WEAK IN FAITH. ORIGEN: A man who is weak in his faith is to be accepted and not rejected. For it is one thing to be weak in faith but quite another to be an unbeliever altogether. An unbeliever has no faith at all, but one who is merely weak has doubts about certain aspects of the faith. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

LOVE IS NOT INDIFFERENCE. APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA: As far as matters of indifference are concerned, Paul says that it does not matter whether we do them or not, but when it comes to loving our neighbor, they cease to be matters of indifference. Any regulation concerning food is a matter of indifference, because everything has been sanctified by the power of Christ. But not everyone is so strong in his faith that he is in no danger of being corrupted by these things. Whether we injure such a person or do not injure him is not to be regarded as a matter of indifference, but we are to take great care to ensure that no one loses his soul by eating something which he thinks it might be wrong to eat. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

“WEAKNESS” RELATED TO THE DISPUTE OVER EATING MEATS. AMBROSIASTER: As I mentioned in my prologue to the epistle, those who led the Romans to faith had mixed it up with the law because they were Jews, which is why some of them thought that they should not eat meat. But others, who followed Christ apart from the law, thought otherwise, that it was permissible to eat meat, and for this reason there were disputes among them. The apostle tried to solve these disputes by arguing that the person who abstained from eating gained no advantage in the sight of God, nor did the one who ate lose anything thereby. He says that the person who is afraid to eat because the Jews had forbidden it is weak. He wants this person to be left to his own judgment, so as not to be hurt and depart from that love which is a mother of souls. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

NOT JUDGING ANOTHER’S HEART. AUGUSTINE: Paul says that we should receive the weak man in order that we might support his weakness by our strength. Neither should we criticize his opinions by daring to pass judgment on someone else’s heart, which we do not see. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 78.

WHY SOME ATE VEGETABLES ONLY. [PSEUDO-]-CONSTANTIUS: Paul calls “weak in faith” those who thought that meats which were being sold in the markets of that time had been sacrificed to idols, and for that reason they ate only vegetables, thinking that that way they would not be polluted. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

THE CHALLENGE OF WEAKNESS. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul points out that the person in question here is not healthy and that he must be received be-cause he needs a lot of attention, because of his infirmity. Furthermore, he makes it appear that the weak man’s error is of such a nature that the others, although they do not share his weakness, are nevertheless disconcerted by it and liable to fall into uncertainty themselves. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 25.

NOT FOR DISPUTES OVER OPINIONS. PELAGIUS: From here on Paul indirectly begins to upbraid those who thought they were strong and who therefore ate meat without restraint. Paul tells them not to judge others according to their opinions when the law does not judge them. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THOSE WHO KEEP THE LAW. THEODORET OF CYR: The weak were those who continued to observe the law. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

CULTURAL SENSITIVITY. GENNADIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE: Who would be so inhumane as to lay aside any sympathy for the weak and trample on them, not even offering them the help they need in adversity? Paul makes this an absolute command and accompanies it with the teaching that the law and all the behavior it entailed has been abolished in Christ. Yet he was conscious that the ethnic heritage weighed more heavily on the Jew, who felt that he would be sinning against his brothers if he went against the law. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

14:2 | Abstaining or Eating

THE FOOD OF THE WORD. ORIGEN: Given that the law of Moses says nothing about eating vegetables, it is clear that the apostle has a deeper meaning in view here. What he is really talking about is the food of the Word of God. The man who is weak in faith is one who cannot fully accept what the Word of God teaches. Compare what the apostle says elsewhere: “Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.” … Thus the man who believes that he can eat anything is not stuffing himself with food … but is showing himself able to understand the secret things of the Spirit, which because of his faith he believes he can eat through grace. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

EVERYTHING GOD CREATES IS GOOD. AMBROSIASTER: The faithful reader of Scripture will not doubt that everything which is given for human use is fit to be eaten, for it says in Genesis that everything which God created is good. Therefore nothing is to be rejected, for neither Enoch, who was the first to please God, nor Noah, who alone was found righteous at the time of the flood, nor Abraham, who was the friend of God, nor Isaac nor Jacob, both righteous men and friends of God, nor even Lot, nor any other righteous men are said to have abstained from these things.

If someone thinks it right to be a vegetarian he is not to be persuaded to eat meat, because if he ignores his own principles and eats with reluctance he will appear to be sinning. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

WHAT COMES OUT OF ONE’S MOUTH DEFILES, NOT WHAT GOES IN. AUGUSTINE: At that time many people who were strong in their faith and who knew the Lord’s teaching, that it is what comes out of the mouth which defiles a man, not what goes into it, were eating whatever they liked with a clear conscience. But some weaker ones abstained from meat and wine, so as to avoid unknowingly eating foods which had been sacrificed to idols. At that time the Gentiles sold all sacrificed meat in the butcher shops, poured out the first fruits of the wine as a libation to their idols and even made some offerings in the wine presses. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 78.

THE RELATION OF FAITH TO WHAT ONE EATS. PELAGIUS: Some people have a faith so strong that it is not disturbed. Some are worn out by abstinence, or else they are elderly. Others are weak because of their youth or the lusts of the flesh. Paul is not speaking here of the Jews, as some suppose, but of those who abstain, for the Jews do not eat meats even if they are clean according to the law, but only vegetables.

Another possible interpretation is this: If you become fainthearted because you know another person who has decided to eat only vegetables and you hesitate to eat meat because of his faith, do not judge the other man’s decision or ask him what has been left to individual discretion. But if you take offense and do not want to eat meat, set a limit for yourself and do the better thing—eat only vegetables—so that everyone may be stirred to abstinence by your agreeableness in this matter rather than be annoyed and offended and thereby merely strengthened in their resolve to go on eating meat. For you cannot condemn someone if he is acting in faith or does it because of his health or old age. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

NOT SHAMING THOSE OF ANOTHER CULTURE. THEODORET OF CYR: Those who would eat anything were obviously Gentiles. Some people say that converted Jews shamed these Gentiles not only into abstaining from meat which had been sacrificed to idols but from any kind of meat whatever. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

14:3 | Do Not Pass Judgment

NOT PASSING JUDGMENT. ORIGEN: Paul wants harmony to prevail in the church between those who are more mature and those who are less. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

NOT ABSTAINING. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: We are not to abstain completely from different kinds of food but only not to be preoccupied with them. We are to eat what is set before us, as a Christian should, out of respect to our host. THE INSTRUCTOR 2.1.

PERSONAL CHOICE. AMBROSIASTER: What we eat or do not eat is a matter of personal choice and therefore it should not become a matter for argument. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE STRONG SHOULD NOT DEMEAN THE WEAK. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul does not say that the one who eats should simply ignore the one who abstains, nor does he suggest that the latter should not be blamed and put right. All he is saying is that the stronger ones should not look down on the weak or be contemptuous of them. Likewise, those who abstain are not to pass judgment on those who eat. For just as the strong mocked the weak, claiming that they had no faith, that they were not really saved and that they were Judaizers, so the others thought that the strong ones were lawbreakers and gluttonous. Since these were probably mostly Gentiles, Paul adds that God has welcomed them. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 25.

ON NOT DESPISING ANOTHER CULTURE’S CUSTOMS. AUGUSTINE: The apostle instructed those who ate such food with a clear conscience not to despise the weakness of those who abstained. … And he told the weak not to condemn as polluted those who consumed such meat and wine. … For the strong insisted on despising the weak, and the weak did not hesitate to condemn the strong. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 78.

KEEPING THE BALANCE. AUGUSTINE: Paul wanted to keep the balance, by which scandals are avoided, between those who fast on Saturday and those who do not, so that the one who eats would not despise the one who does not eat, and the one who fasts would not judge the one who eats. LETTER 36.

NOT TAKING OFFENSE. PELAGIUS: These people took offense at each other. Those who did not eat judged those who ate as carnal, and those who ate ridiculed those who did not eat as fools and considered them to be superstitious. But God called the one, just as he called the other. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

14:4 | Judged by the Master

A SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. AMBROSIASTER: The servant is not guilty whether he eats or not, as long as he does what he does in a spirit of devotion. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

PASSING JUDGMENT ON ANOTHER’S SERVANT. DIODORE: A servant of Christ is anyone whom Christ has accepted. He is then no longer under the law. Who are you, therefore, to judge someone by the law when he is a stranger to it? PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

IN GOD’S SERVICE WE ARE JUDGED BY GOD. CHRYSOSTOM: It is not because someone does things which are worthy of escaping judgment that we are not to judge, but because the person in question is another man’s servant—not ours but God’s. It is up to God to decide what to do. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 25.

WHO ARE YOU TO PASS JUDGMENT? AUGUSTINE: Paul says this so that, when something might be done with either good or bad motives, we should leave the judgment to God and not presume to judge the heart of someone else, which we do not see. But when it comes to things which obviously could not have been done with good and innocent intentions, it is not wrong if we pass judgment. So in the matter of food, where it is not known what the motive in eating it is, Paul does not want us to be judges, but God. But in the case of that abominable immorality where a man had taken his stepmother, Paul taught us to judge. For that man could not possibly claim that he committed such a gross act of indecency with good intentions. So we must pass judgment on things which are obviously wrong. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 79.

GOD ALONE IS JUDGE OF THE HEART. AUGUSTINE: These men were of a mind to pass judgment with regard to things which may indeed be done with a bad intention but which may also be done with an upright, simple and magnanimous motive. Although they were men, they wanted to judge the secrets of the heart—secrets of which God alone is the judge. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.18.59.

JUDGING THE LAW. PELAGIUS: What authority do you have to judge someone whom the law does not judge? This is why James says: “He who judges his brother judges the Law”; in other words, he judges himself to be wiser than the law. Nevertheless, Paul himself judged those who broke the commandments and gave others the power to judge. A man either lives or dies according to his own master. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

14:5 | All Days Alike

ESTEEMING ALL SCRIPTURE TEXTS (SYMBOLICALLY, ALL DAYS) ALIKE. ORIGEN: According to the spiritual interpretation, which we have already expounded in the case of food, the word day is used to mean a portion of holy Scripture in which the doctrine of godliness and faith is contained. For it is the day which enlightens the mind, which drives away the darkness of ignorance. The day has Christ, the sun of righteousness, in it. If one person dedicates himself to the study of holy Scripture and discovers the true meaning of every day, so that not one jot or tittle of the law escapes him, then it can be said that he “esteems all days alike.” Another person may not have reached that point but still has enough to be able to understand the basic tenets of the faith. Therefore both are to give thanks to God, according to the apostle’s teaching. One understands and enjoys everything, whereas another does not understand everything but will nevertheless be saved by confessing the little that he does know. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

FASTING OUT OF FEAR. CHRYSOSTOM: Here it seems to me that Paul is giving a subtle hint about fasting. For it is probable that those who fasted were always passing judgment on those who did not, and it is likely that some of those who fasted did so on particular days. … Paul releases those who fasted out of fear from their bondage by saying that it was something which was basically indifferent. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 25.

THE INCONSTANCY OF HUMAN JUDGMENT AS DISTINGUISHED FROM DIVINE. AUGUSTINE: At the moment, and without any deeper consideration, it seems to me that this is said about God and man, not about two men. He who judges on alternate days is man, who can judge one way today and another way tomorrow. … But the One whose judgment is the same every day is the Lord. … But let everyone dare to judge only insofar as is granted to human intelligence or at least to his own. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 80.

CERTAIN DAYS TO ABSTAIN FROM MEAT. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Paul is saying that there are some people who at certain times of the year abstain from meat but that there are others who have decided they must abstain from meat for their entire lives. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

BECOMING FULLY CONVINCED IN ONE’S OWN MIND. PELAGIUS: Therefore Paul is speaking here about fasting and abstinence, which are not treated under a fixed provision of the law. Each individual should do whatever he sees fit in the light of his desire to share in the reward. Thus it follows that in a matter of this kind one should simply do what he himself has judged to be better. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

OECUMENIUS: This is not to be made an article of faith, as Paul himself says. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

14:6 | Honoring and Thanking God

EITHER VIEW MAY HONOR GOD. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul continues his exposition [from the previous verse]. The issue at stake is not a fundamental one. Both sides are acting for God’s sake, and both end up by giving him thanks. Thus the difference between them turns out to be a minor one. Nevertheless, Paul aims a blow at the Judaizers, because he accepts the validity of all foods. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 25.

KEEPING THE DAY FOR THE LORD. AUGUSTINE: When someone observes the day well, he keeps the day for the Lord. To judge the day well means you are not to despair over the future correction of the person whose guilt might appear now to be clean. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS.

EATING IN HONOR OF THE LORD. PELAGIUS: The man who fasts for God’s sake and not on account of other people observes the day for the Lord. He eats for God’s sake so that he may have strength to preach the gospel, for which every convert should thank God. This man is not devoted to his own stomach but to the salvation of others.

But it is also true that by the example of the one who does not eat meat many are saved and return thanks to God. For one who gives thanks with the voice gives thanks alone, but one who gives thanks in deed as well as voice gives thanks with many others. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

14:7 | No One Lives or Dies to Himself

NO ONE DIES TO HIMSELF. ORIGEN: We must not please ourselves but rather assume the example of Christ, who alone died to sin, so that by imitating him we too might become strangers to sin and die to it. We do not have this example of living in ourselves, but we get it from Christ. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

THE WILL TO LIVE FOR ONESELF. AMBROSIASTER: A man would be living for himself if he did not act according to the law. But whoever is controlled by the brake of the law is not living for himself but for God, who gave the law so that it might be possible to live according to his will. Likewise, whoever dies dies to God, for he is the Judge who will either condemn or reward him. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

DEATH AS APOSTASY. CHRYSOSTOM: This means that we are not free. We have a master who wants us to live and not die, and to whom life and death matter more than they do to us. … For if we die, we do not die to ourselves alone but to our master as well. By “death,” Paul means apostasy from the faith. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 25.

PELAGIUS: No believer lives for himself or dies for himself, because “Christ has died for all, so that those who live no longer live for themselves but for him.” PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

14:8 | Living or Dying, We Are the Lord’s

BAPTISM AS BURIAL. ORIGEN: Here “death” refers to the death which we die when we are buried with Christ in baptism, and “life” is the life we live in Christ, having died to sin and become strangers to this world. CoMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

LIVING TO THE LAW. CHRYSOSTOM: One who is living under the law cannot be living to Christ as well. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 25.

WE LIVE TO THE LORD. PELAGIUS: Therefore, we must take care that we do not live for ourselves in eating or die on account of others in fasting. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

WE ARE THE LORD’S. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: If we live, it is Christ’s life that we live; if we die, we die with him, under his custody. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.