ACC ~ Romans 14 v2

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.

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