ACC ~ Romans 14 v15

WALKING IN LOVE. ORIGEN: Although Paul establishes the principle that nothing is unclean in itself, and he gives complete freedom to believers to eat whatever they like, nevertheless he proceeds to restrict that freedom for the sake of building up the freedom of brotherly love. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

BASIL: The Christian must serve everyone who is upset with him in every way, at least insofar as he can. THE MORALS 5.3.

AMBROSIASTER: In another epistle Paul says: Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy both one and the other. Since God does not care one way or the other about food, Paul tells us to maintain a spirit of charity, by which God has seen fit to deliver us from sin. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

WHEN ANOTHER IS INJURED BY WHAT YOU EAT. CHRYSOSTOM: You see how far Paul bends in the name of charity, endeavoring to draw the erring brother by yielding to him so as not to hurt him. For even when he has freed him from his fears, he does not drag or force him but leaves him to his own decision. Abstaining from food is not in the same category as seriously injuring somebody by what you eat.

Do you not value your brother enough even to purchase his salvation at the price of abstaining from certain types of food? Christ did not refuse to become a servant and even to die for him, but you will not even give up your food in order to save him! HOMILIES ON ROMANS 26.

DO NOT LET WHAT YOU EAT CAUSE THE RUIN OF ONE FOR WHOM CHRIST DIED. CHRYSOSTOM: One who ruins his brother has subverted peace and harmed joy in a way which is more serious even than stealing money. What is worse is that although another has saved him, you have wronged him and ruined him. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 26.

THINKING OF ANOTHER’S GOOD. PELAGIUS: Paul did not say that a brother is distressed because of fasting but because of food; therefore you should not incite or constrain anyone by the example of what you eat. If your neighbor eats something which is not good for him against his will, you are no longer loving him as yourself if you are not thinking of his good as much as of your own. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THE SEQUENCE OF PAUL’S ARGUMENT. GENNADIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE: Look at how wonderfully Paul develops his argument. He starts off at the bottom, by referring to food. Then he goes on to call the person who is sinned against a “brother.” Then he calls what has been done to him “destruction.” Fourth, he says that this outrage has been committed against someone “for whom Christ died.” Fifth, he says that someone who does this causes godliness to be blasphemed, and sixth, that we have not come to faith in Christ in order to be able to enjoy this or that but in order to be able to share in righteousness, which means in sinlessness, peace and joy. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

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