Lesson 15—The Strong and the Weak (Chapter 14)
for December 17, 2000

Introduction

It happens frequently that when an entire book of the Bible is studied that the end of the book is overlooked or given only a cursory study because we run out of time or become tired. I hope that does not happen with our study of Romans. The valuable and practical teaching of the last 5 chapters is too good to miss. Please give it as much attention as you did the first part of the letter.

Romans 14 and 15 contain extremely important teaching on the very practical matter of relationships with other Christians. Though the first part of chapter 15 deals with the same topic as chapter 14, we will continue to study one chapter at a time.

Accepting one another

There are so many things over which Christians can disagree. There were in the time of this letter from Paul to the Christians in Rome with both Jews and Gentiles in the church, and there are today. The subject of the disagreements has changed, but the fact of disagreements has not. The NIV calls them “disputable matters”.

The language of the chapter even refers to these as matters of what one’s faith will allow. In other words, Christians were following what their faith led them to do. The NIV Study Bible commentary proposes that the one whose “faith is weak” (v. 1) was the Jewish Christian who was unable to give up Jewish dietary restrictions and other matters of Old Testament law.
The Gentile Christians in that same fellowship with them would not have grown up with those constraints and would have felt no obligation to follow them.

In the particular example of verses 1-4, Paul is pleading for the Gentile Christians, who could eat anything (so to speak), to accept and be considerate toward those whose faith only allow them to only eat vegetables. At the same time (and this may be even harder), the one whose diet is limited should not condemn the other; that is, the Jewish Christian should not condemn the Gentile Christian for eating anything.

Though disputes may seem so clear and plain (to me personally or to a particular group), we are not the ultimate judge. The Lord is the judge, we are his servants, and he is the one who decides. We should not judge another of the Lord’s servants, for he answers to the Lord.

Paul alternates between pleading with those whose strong faith allows them to “do more” (eat anything, treat every day alike) to be considerate of those who cannot, and asking those who cannot “do more” to not pass judgment on those who can. We are all interdependent on one another. What we do affects others. If a person is living for the Lord, then we should accept him.

Judging and looking down on those who do not feel the same way we do is not helpful. Each person must give his own account to God, not to one another. “Stop passing judgment”, Paul says. It is much better to decide not to cause a problem for your brother (no stumbling block).

We often like the part where Paul takes a position that certain things are acceptable—“no food is unclean” (v. 14). It is much more difficult to take the part where he says we should act in love and not do anything that will be a problem for a brother (like eating what another considers unclean). This is especially difficult because we live in a culture in which individual rights are valued so highly. We must remember that this is a relatively new kind of thinking in the world. In most cultures throughout all history, most people have had relatively few personal rights.

Paul makes the point over and over that we should do what is beneficial for our fellow Christian. Is it worth destroying a fellow Christian or the work of God because we are (technically) right? Although it may be right to do something in and of itself, it is not right to do it if it causes a Christian to stumble.

This teaching does not demand that you change your opinion about a matter over which another may disagree with you, but it does teach that you should not use your opinion (or the exercise of it) to harm your fellow Christian by condemnation or being judgmental.

Questions

1. Do you agree with the meaning of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ Christian?
2. Is Paul’s message the same for those on both sides of the disagreement?
3. What would your short summary statement of this chapter be?
4. Paul says to stop passing judgment. What should we do instead? Give several answers.

Application

1. You probably have not become embroiled in a dispute about what you may eat. What kind of disputes have come up for you as a Christian? Are there any recent “issues”? How does this teaching affect your thinking about it? How does the passage of time usually affect these issues?
2. How does one decide what is a “disputable” matter? Are all disagreements about disputable matters? Or to ask the question another way, what kinds of disputes does Paul mean? What does he not mean?
3. What does this teaching imply about what we should give greater concern to?
4. Do you have more trouble being considerate of those who cannot “do more”, or not passing judgement on those who can?
5. Have you been a stumbling block to a fellow Christian? What can you do to correct the situation?
6. Are there some matters in which you hold an opinion that is correct, but you need to exercise your opinion more appropriately or judiciously?