Holy Bible

Him that is weak in the faith receive, but not to doubtful disputations. Romans 14:1-12 Strong and weak J. Lyth, D.D. Here is a lesson — I. FOR THOSE WHO ARE STRONG IN THE FAITH. 1. Not to provoke. 2. Nor despise those who are weak. II. FOR THOSE WHO ARE WEAK. Not to judge their stronger brethren. III. FOR BOTH. 1. To think and let think. 2. To give each other credit for sincerity. ( J. Lyth, D.D. )

Benson Commentary Romans 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Romans 14:1 . Him that is weak in the faith — Whose conscience is scrupulous, or whose mind is doubtful, unsatisfied in, or not well acquainted with the principles of Christianity; particularly that concerning Christian liberty and freedom from the ceremonial law. “The apostle means the Jewish Christian, who, through weakness of understanding, or through prejudice, was ignorant of the doctrine of the gospel concerning meats and days; or whose persuasion of that doctrine was so weak, that it did not influence his conduct. To such persons, though in error, the apostle showed great tenderness, when he represented them as only weak in faith.” Receive ye — With all love and courtesy, into Christian fellowship: but not to doubtful disputations — About questionable points. “The force of the apostle’s admirable reasoning, in favour of candour and mutual condescension, cannot be enervated by saying, as some have done, that here was no separation between Jewish and Gentile Christians. For had the things judged indifferent by the latter, and apprehended sinful by the former, been imposed, a separation of communion must have ensued, and the schism, on the apostle’s principles, would have been chargeable on the imposers.” — Doddridge. Romans 14:2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Romans 14:2-4 . For one believeth that he may eat all things — A converted Gentile, who rightly understands his Christian liberty, is firmly persuaded that he may eat any kind of food indifferently, though forbidden by the ceremonial law, (blood excepted, of which see on Acts 15:20 ,) without sin. Another, who is weak — A believing Jew, not thoroughly informed of his Christian liberty; eateth herbs — Namely, for fear lest he should offend by eating any meat forbidden by the law, or which was not killed in a legal manner. See Leviticus 17:10-14 ; Daniel 1:8 . Let not him that eateth — That makes use of his liberty to eat any thing that is wholesome indifferently; despise him — As over-scrupulous or superstitious; that eateth not — That forbears the use of such kind of food as is forbidden by the law. And let not him which eateth not — Who, from a scrupulous conscience, abstains from many kinds of food; judge him that eateth — Censure him as profane, or as taking undue liberties. For God hath received him — Acknowledges both the one and the other for his servant, on account of their common faith in Christ, and in the truths and promises of his gospel. This is a powerful argument for our conversing in a friendly manner, and holding communion with those who differ from us in opinion, on some points of lesser importance in religion. Who art thou — Whether weaker or stronger; that judgest another man’s servant — One over whom thou hast no power. To his own master he standeth or falleth — He must abide by Christ’s judgment only, to whom it belongs either to acquit or condemn him. Yea, he shall be holden up — If he offends in no greater points than these in debate among you, he shall be upheld in his Christian profession, and established to eternal salvation. For God is able to make him stand — And certainly will do it, if he continue to act conscientiously and uprightly. Romans 14:3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. Romans 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. Romans 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike . Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Romans 14:5-6 . And with respect to days, one man esteemeth one day above another — Thinks that the new moons and Jewish festivals are holier than other days, and ought still to be observed. Another esteemeth every day alike — Holds that the difference of days appointed by Moses has now ceased. The Jewish holydays only being the subject of controversy, what the apostle hath here written concerning them cannot be extended to the sabbath, instituted at the creation, nor to the Christian sabbath, the Lord’s day. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind — That a thing is lawful before he does it, or well satisfied as to the grounds of his practice, that so he may not knowingly offend God. He that regardeth the day — That observes these new moons and festivals; regardeth it unto the Lord — That is, out of a principle of conscience toward God, and with a view to his glory. And he that regardeth not the day — That does not make conscience of observing it; to the Lord he doth not regard it — He also acts from a principle of conscience, and aims at God’s glory. He that eateth — Indifferently of all meats; eateth to the Lord — Endeavours to glorify him, as it becomes a good Christian to do. For he giveth God thanks — For the free use of the creatures, and for his Christian liberty respecting them. And he that eateth not — The food which the law forbids; to the Lord — Out of respect to God’s commands, he eateth not, and giveth God thanks — For his herbs, or that other food is provided, on which he may conveniently subsist, and that he is not forced to eat what he thinks unclean, out of absolute necessity. Romans 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it . He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. Romans 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. Romans 14:7-9 . For none of us — True Christians, in the things we do, liveth to himself — Is at his own disposal, doth his own will; and no man dieth to himself — Only for his own advantage, and according to his own pleasure, when he will. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord — Spend our lives in his service, and according to his will; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord — Either by sacrificing our lives to his glory, if he demand it of us; or, if we expire in a natural way, by behaving to the last as those who have his love ruling in our hearts, and his sacred cause still in our eye. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s — In consequence of being thus truly devoted to Christ, both in life and death, we have the pleasure of knowing that living or dying we are his servants; yea, and the objects of his favour and care. For to this end — Or purpose; Christ both died — Paying thereby the price of our ransom; and rose — Receiving in consequence thereof his purchase and dominion; and revived — Or liveth, as ?????? may be rendered, namely, ever liveth, not only to appear in the presence of God as our advocate and intercessor, but that, having subdued our enemies, he might exercise his dominion over us, and be Lord — Of all his redeemed people, both such as are yet alive, and those that are dead. “From this passage, and from Php 2:10 , where those under the earth are said to bow the knee to Jesus, it may be inferred, that the souls of men at death neither sleep nor fall into a state of insensibility. For if that were the case, Christ could not, with propriety, be said to rule over them, nor they be said to bow the knee to him.” — Macknight. Romans 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. Romans 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. Romans 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14:10-12 . But why dost thou judge — Or condemn; thy Gentile brother — Because he neglects the distinction of meats and days? Or why dost thou — O Gentile believer; set at naught — And deride, as weak or superstitious, thy Jewish brother, who conscientiously observes that burdensome ritual, from which thou art so happy as to apprehend thyself free? This censoriousness, or contempt, is greatly to be blamed; and, as well as the judging and condemning just mentioned, must very ill become the state in which we are, and must quickly be: for no principle of our common faith is more certain than this, that we shall all stand and take our trial before the judgment-seat of Christ — And it is surely a dangerous presumption to anticipate that judgment. For it is written — In the Jewish Scriptures, ( Isaiah 45:23 ,) As I live, saith the Lord — An oath proper to him, because he only possesseth life infinite and independent; every knee shall bow to me — Shall stoop to my dominion; and every tongue shall confess to God — Shall acknowledge my sovereignty, which shall be done most fully and perfectly at the day of judgment. The Lord grant we may find mercy in that day! And may it also be imparted to those who have differed from us! Yea, to those who have censured and condemned us for things which we have done from a desire to please him, or have refused to do from a fear of offending him. So then every one of us — The high, as well as the low, the rich, as well as the poor; shall give account of himself to God — Of his own conduct, and not of the weaknesses of others; and therefore we should not trouble ourselves about them, but look to ourselves. Romans 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Romans 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Romans 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. Romans 14:13 . Let us not therefore judge one another any more — Seeing that judgment belongs to Christ. “The apostle’s meaning is, Since we are all the servants of Christ, and are to be judged by him at the last day, we ought not to usurp his prerogative, by pronouncing one another profane, or bigoted, or wicked, merely because we differ in opinion about matters, concerning which Christ hath commanded us to judge for ourselves. Nevertheless, notorious wickedness, whether in principle or practice, whereby society is injured,” and God dishonoured, “being a matter subject to no doubt, we ought not only to judge and condemn in our own minds every instance thereof, but should rebuke those sharply who are guilty of it.” But judge this rather — Instead of judging others, let us observe this as an important rule for our conduct; that no man put a stumbling-block — Any cause of stumbling; or an occasion to fall — Into sin; in his brother’s way — Hindering him in his way to heaven: let us do nothing, how indifferent soever it may be in itself, which may tend to prejudice, discourage, or mislead any other Christian; especially let us not, by an unseasonable use of our Christian liberty, induce him to act against his conscience, or with a doubting conscience, or unnecessarily move him to hate or judge us. Romans 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Romans 14:14-16 . I know — By the light of reason; and am persuaded — Or assured; by the Lord Jesus — Probably by a particular revelation from him; that there is nothing — No kind of meat; unclean of itself — Or unlawful under the gospel. But to him that esteemeth any thing unclean — That in his conscience accounts it to be so; it is unclean — How indifferent soever it is in itself: and he will contract guilt before God, by allowing himself in it, whether it be to indulge his own taste, or to engage the favour of others, while he hath this inward apprehension of its being unlawful. The reader must observe here, that things clean in themselves, that is, things naturally fit for food, might be made unclean by the positive command of God, as many sorts of food were to the Jews. To such of them as believed that command to be still in force, these kinds of food were really unclean, and could not be eaten without sin. But if thy brother — Thy weak fellow- Christian; be grieved — And thereby cast down, or prejudiced against the Christian society, of which thou art a member; with thy meat — By thine eating that kind of meat, which he judges unlawful to be eaten; or if he be prevailed on by thy example to do that, the lawfulness of which he questions, and thereby his conscience be wounded; now walkest thou not charitably — Tenderly and condescendingly to his infirmity, as charity requires. Destroy not him with thy meat — Be not thou an occasion of sin, condemnation, and wrath to him through thy meat, thy rash and unkind use of such meat as he thinks prohibited; for whom Christ died — Not only submitted to smaller instances of self-denial, but endured all the agonies of crucifixion: do not value thy meat more than Christ valued his life. Here we see that a person, for whom Christ died, may be destroyed; a sure proof that Christ died for all, even for those that perish everlastingly. Let not then your goods — Your Christian liberty, a good which belongs to you; be evil spoken of — Be blamed for being the occasion of so much mischief to your fellow-creatures and fellow-Christians. Romans 14:15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Romans 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of: Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Romans 14:17-18 . For the kingdom of God — Into which we enter by believing in Christ, and becoming his subjects, or which thereby enters into us, and is set up in our hearts, namely, true religion; is not — Does not consist in; meat and drink — Or in any ceremonial observances whatever; but righteousness — The righteousness of faith, love, and obedience; or justification, sanctification, and a holy conduct; see notes on Romans 5:21 ; Romans 10:4 ; peace — With God, peace of conscience, and tranquillity of mind, the consequence of these three branches of righteousness; and joy in the Holy Ghost — Joy arising from a sense of the forgiveness of our sins; ( Psalm 32:1 ;) and of the favour of God; ( Psalm 4:6-7 ;) from a lively hope of the glory of God; ( Romans 5:2 ;) from the testimony of a good conscience; ( 2 Corinthians 1:12 ;) and from communion with God, and an earnest of our future inheritance in our hearts; ( Ephesians 1:14 ; Php 2:1 .) He that in these things — In this righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; serveth Christ — Lives in obedience to his commands, and dedicates his soul and body, faculties and members, to serve his cause and interest in that line of life to which he believes God hath called him; is acceptable to God — Whether he abstains from the liberties in question, or allows himself in them; and approved of men — Namely, of truly wise and good men; how much soever the ignorant and wicked may censure such a man as an enthusiast, fanatic, or hypocrite, he will not want the approbation of those who are truly enlightened by the truth, and regenerated by the grace of God. Romans 14:18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Romans 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. Romans 14:19-21 . Let us therefore — In consistency with these certain and momentous truths; follow after the things which make for peace — Which tend to procure, preserve, and promote peace among the faithful; and things wherewith one may edify another, may build him up in faith and holiness. Observe, reader, peace and edification are closely connected: practical divinity tends equally to peace and edification. Controversial divinity less directly tends to edification, although sometimes we, as they of old, Nehemiah 4:17 , cannot build without it. For meat — For so small a matter as the eating a little meat; or, for the use of any indifferent thing, destroy not the work of God — That work which he builds in the soul by faith, and in the church by concord: do nothing toward destroying it. All things indeed are pure — All meats are, in themselves, lawful; but it, the eating what a person thinks to be prohibited, is evil, sinful, and hurtful, to that man who eateth with offence — So as to offend another thereby, or contrary to the dictates of his own conscience, and insnaring to the consciences of others, And in this view I may affirm, It is good, pleasing to God, and profitable for edification, and therefore every Christian’s duty, neither to eat flesh, &c. — Not only to abstain from what is forbidden in the law of Moses, but from every other thing which gives offence; whereby thy brother stumbleth — By imitating thee against his conscience, contrary to righteousness; or is offended at what thou dost to the loss of his peace; or is made weak, hesitating between imitation and abhorrence, to the loss of that joy in the Lord, which was his strength. Macknight interprets the clause rather differently, thus: “The first of these words, ?????????? , stumbleth, (which signifies to dash one’s foot against something without falling, or being much hurt,) expresses the case of a person who, being tempted to commit sin, yields a little to the temptation, but recovers himself: the second, ????????????? , from ????? , to halt, (meaning to fall and be lamed by stumbling,) expresses the case of one who, through temptation, actually commits sin contrary to his knowledge and conviction: the third, ??????? , (which signifies to be weakened in consequence of such a fall,) expresses the condition of a person who, by sinning, hath his piety so weakened, that he is in danger of apostatizing.” Romans 14:20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. Romans 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Romans 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. Romans 14:22-23 . Hast thou faith — That these things are lawful? Have it to thyself, before God — In circumstances like these keep it to thyself, and do not offend others by it. Happy is he that condemneth not himself — For using his liberty in an undue manner, respecting those things which he practises, or judges lawful in themselves. Or, as others understand the apostle, that condemneth not himself by an improper use of even innocent things. And happy is he who is free from a doubting conscience, which he that hath may allow the action which he does, and yet condemn himself for it, and thereby make himself miserable. And he that doubteth — Namely, whether it be lawful for him to eat, (or do any other thing,) or not, is damned — Or condemned, contracts guilt and wounds his conscience; if he eat — That which he doubts of, or does that the lawfulness of which he questions; because he eateth not of faith — With a persuasion of its lawfulness. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin — Whatever a man does without a full persuasion that it is lawful, it is sin to him. The reader will observe that here, as in Romans 14:22 , faith does not signify the believing in Christ, and in the truths and promises of his gospel, but a persuasion that what one doth is lawful. And thus understood, the apostle’s declaration is perfectly just in every case; because if a man acts without that persuasion, he acts without any principle of virtue, being guided merely by his own inclinations. And therefore, although what he doth may, in some instances, be materially right, it is sin in the sight of God, as being done without a sense of duty. From this it follows, that if a person acts contrary to his conscience in anything, he is exceedingly blameable. Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Romans 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Chapter 29 CHRISTIAN DUTY: MUTUAL TENDERNESS AND TOLERANCE: THE SACREDNESS OF EXAMPLE Romans 14:1-23 BUT him who is weak-we might almost render, him who suffers from weakness, in his faith (in the sense here not of creed, a meaning of ?????? rare in St. Paul, but of reliance on his Lord; reliance not only for justification but, in this case, for holy liberty), welcome into fellowship-not for criticisms of his scruples, of his ??????????? , the anxious internal debates of conscience. One man believes, has faith, issuing in a conviction of liberty, in such a mode and degree as to eat all kinds of food; but the man in weakness eats vegetables only; an extreme case, but doubtless not uncommon, where a convert, tired out by his own scruples between food and food, cut the knot by rejecting flesh meat altogether. The eater-let him not despise the non-eater; while the non-eater-let him not judge the eater: for our God welcomed him to fellowship, when he came to the feet of His Son for acceptance. You-who are you, thus judging Another’s domestic? To his own Lord, his own Master. he stands, in approval, -or, if that must be, falls under displeasure; but he shall be upheld in approval; for able is that Lord to set him so, to bid him "stand," under His sanctioning smile. One man distinguishes day above day; while another distinguishes every day; a phrase paradoxical but intelligible; it describes the thought of the man who, less anxious than his neighbour about stated "holy days," still aims not to "level down" but to "level up" his use of time; to count every day "holy," equally dedicated to the will and work of God. Let each be quite assured in his own mind; using the thinking power given him by his Master, let him reverently work the question out, and then live up to his ascertained convictions, while (this is intimated by the emphatic "his own mind") he respects the convictions of his neighbour. The man who "minds" the day, the "holy day" in question, in any given instance, to the Lord he "minds" it; (and the man who "minds" not the day, to the Lord he does not "mind" it); both parties, as Christians, in their convictions and their practice, stand related and responsible, directly and primarily to the Lord; that fact must always govern and qualify their mutual judgments. And the eater, the man who takes food indifferently without scruple, to the Lord he eats, for he gives thanks at his meal to God; and the non-eater, to the Lord he does not eat the scrupled food, and gives thanks to God for that of which his conscience allows him to partake. The connection of the paragraph just traversed with what went before it is suggestive and instructive. There is a close connection between the two; it is marked expressly by the "but" ( ?? ) of ver. 1 ( Romans 14:1 ), a link strangely missed in the Authorised Version. The "but" indicates a difference of thought, however slight, between the two passages. And the differenced as we read it, is this. The close of the thirteenth chapter has gone all in the direction of Christian wakefulness, decision, and the battlefield of conquering faith. The Roman convert, roused by its trumpet strain, will be eager to be up and doing, against the enemy and for his Lord, armed from head to foot with Christ. He will bend his whole purpose upon a life of open and active holiness. He will be filled with a new sense at once of the seriousness and of the liberty of the Gospel. But then some "weak brother" will cross his path. It will be some recent convert, perhaps from Judaism itself, perhaps an ex-pagan, but influenced by the Jewish ideas so prevalent at the time in many Roman circles. This Christian, not untrustful, at least in theory, of the Lord alone for pardon and acceptance, is, however, quite full of scruples which, to the man fully "armed with Christ," may seem, and do seem, lamentably morbid, really serious mistakes and hindrances. The "weak brother" Spends much time in studying the traditional rules of fast and feast, and the code of permitted food. He is sure that the God who has accepted him will hide His face from him if he lets the new moon pass like a common day; or if the Sabbath is not kept by the rule, not of Scripture, but of the Rabbis. Every social meal gives him painful and frequent occasion for troubling himself, and others; he takes refuge perhaps in an anxious vegetarianism, in despair of otherwise keeping undefiled. And inevitably such scruples do not terminate in themselves. They infect the man’s whole tone of thinking and action. He questions and discusses everything, with himself, if not with others. He is on the way to let his view of acceptance in Christ grow fainter and more confused. He walks, he lives; but he moves like a man chained, and in a prison. Such a case as this would be a sore temptation to the "strong" Christian. He would be greatly inclined, of himself, first to make a vigorous protest, and then, if the difficulty proved obstinate, to think hard thoughts of his narrow-minded friend; to doubt his right to the Christian name at all; to reproach him, or (worst of all) to satirise him. Meanwhile the "weak" Christian would have his harsh thoughts too. He would not, by any means for certain, show as much meekness as "weakness." He would let his neighbour see, in one way or other, that he thought him little better than a worldling, who made Christ an excuse for personal self-indulgence. How does the Apostle meet the trying case, which must have crossed his own path so often, and sometimes in the form of a bitter opposition from those who were "suffering from weakness in their faith"? It is quite plain that his own convictions lay with "the strong," so far as principle was concerned. He "knew that nothing was unclean" ( Romans 14:14 ). He knew that the Lord was not grieved, but pleased, by the temperate and thankful use, untroubled by morbid fears, of His natural bounties. He knew that the Jewish festival system had found its goal and end in the perpetual "let us keep the feast" { 1 Corinthians 5:3 } of the true believer’s happy and hallowed life. And accordingly he does, in passing, rebuke "the weak" for their harsh criticisms ( ??????? ) of "the strong." But then, he throws all the more weight, the main weight, on his rebukes and warnings to "the strong." Their principle might be right on this great detail. But this left untouched the yet more stringent overruling principle, to "walk in love"; to take part against themselves; to live in this matter, as in everything else, for others. They were not to be at all ashamed of their special principles. But they were to be deeply ashamed of one hour’s unloving conduct. They were to be quietly convinced, in respect of private judgment. They were to be more than tolerant-they were to be loving-in respect of common life in the Lord. Their "strength" in Christ was never to be ungentle; never to be "used like a giant’s." It was to be shown, first and most, by patience. It was to take the form of the calm, strong readiness to understand another’s point of view. It was to appear as reverence for another’s conscience, even when the conscience went astray for want of better light. Let us take this apostolic principle out into modern religious life. There are times when we shall be specially bound to put it carefully in relation to other principles, of course. When St. Paul, some months earlier, wrote to Galatia, and had to deal with an error which darkened the whole truth of the sinner’s way to God as it lies straight through Christ, he did not say, "Let every man be quite assured in his own mind." He said { Romans 1:8 } "If an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel, which is not another, let him be anathema." The question there was, Is Christ all, or is He not? Is faith all, or is it not, for our laying hold of Him? Even in Galatia, he warned the converts of the miserable and fatal mistake of "biting and devouring one another". { Galatians 5:15 } But he adjured them not to wreck their peace with God upon a fundamental error. Here, at Rome, the question was different; it was secondary. It concerned certain details of Christian practice. Was an outworn and exaggerated ceremonialism a part of the will of God, in the justified believer’s life? It was not so, as a fact. Yet it was a matter on which the Lord, by His Apostle, rather counselled than commanded. It was not of the foundation. And the always overruling law for the discussion was-the tolerance born of love. Let us in our day remember this, whether our inmost sympathies are with "the strong" or with "the weak." In Jesus Christ, it is possible to realise the ideal of this paragraph even in our divided Christendom. It is possible to be convinced, yet sympathetic. It is possible to see the Lord for ourselves with glorious clearness, yet to understand the practical difficulties felt by others, and to love, and to respect, where there are even great divergences. No man works more for a final spiritual consensus than he who, in Christ, so lives. Incidentally meantime, the Apostle, in this passage which so curbs "the strong," lets fall maxims which forever protect all that is good and true in that well-worn and often misused phrase, "the right of private judgment." No spiritual despot, no claimant to be the autocratic director of a conscience, could have written those words, "Let every man be quite certain in his own mind"; "Who art thou that judgest Another’s domestic?" Such sentences assert not the right so much as the duty, for the individual Christian, of a reverent "thinking for himself." They maintain a true and noble individualism. And there is a special need just now in the Church to remember, in its place, the value of Christian individualism. The idea of the community, the society, is just now so vastly prevalent (doubtless not without the providence of God) in human life, and also in the Church, that an assertion of the individual, which was once disproportionate, is now often necessary, lest the social idea in its turn should be exaggerated into a dangerous mistake. Coherence, mutuality, the truth of the Body and the Members; all this, in its place, is not only important, but divine. The individual must inevitably lose where individualism is his whole idea. But it is ill for the community, above all for the Church, where in the total the individual tends really to be merged and lost. Alas for the Church where the Church tries to take the individual’s place in the knowledge of God, in the love of Christ, in the power of the Spirit. The religious Community must indeed inevitably lose where religious communism is its whole idea. It can be perfectly strong only where individual consciences are tender and enlightened; where individual souls personally know God in Christ; where individual wills are ready, if the Lord call, to stand alone for known truth even against the religious Society; -if there also the individualism is not self-will, but Christian personal responsibility; if the man "thinks for himself" on his knees; if he reverences the individualism of others, and the relations of each to all. The individualism of Romans 14:1-23 , asserted in an argument full of the deepest secrets of cohesion, is the holy and healthful thing it is because it is Christian. It is developed not by the assertion of self, but by individual communion with Christ. Now he goes on to further and still fuller statements in the same direction. For none of us to himself lives, and none of us to himself dies. How, and wherefore? Is it merely that "we" live lives always, necessarily related to one another? He has this in his heart indeed. But he reaches it through the greater, deeper, antecedent truth of our relation to the Lord. The Christian is related to his brother Christian through Christ, not to Christ through his brother, or through the common Organism in which the brethren are "each other’s limbs." "To the Lord," with absolute directness, with a perfect and wonderful immediateness, each individual Christian is first related. His life and his death are "to others," but through him. The Master’s claim is eternally first; for it is based direct upon the redeeming work in which He bought us for Himself. For whether we live, to the Lord we live; and whether we be dead, to the Lord we are dead; in the state of the departed, as before, "relation stands." Alike, therefore, whether we be dead, or whether we live, the Lord’s we are; His property, bound first and in everything to His possession. For to this end Christ both died and lived again, that He might become Lord of us both dead and living. Here is the profound truth seen already in earlier passages in the Epistle. We have had it reasoned out, above all in the sixth chapter, in its revelation of the way of Holiness, that our only possible right relations with the Lord are clasped and governed by the fact that to Him we rightly and everlastingly belong. There, however, the thought was more of our surrender under his rights. Here it is of the mighty antecedent fact, under which our most absolute surrender is nothing more than the recognition of His indefeasible claim. What the Apostle says here, in this wonderful passage of mingled doctrine and duty, is that, whether or no we are owning our vassalage to Christ, we are nothing if not de jure His vassals. He has not only rescued us, but so rescued us as to buy us for His own. We may be true to the fact in our internal attitude; we may be oblivious of it; but we cannot get away from it. It looks us every hour in the face, whether we respond or not. It will still look us in the face through the endless life to come. For manifestly it is this objective aspect of our "belonging" which is here in point. St. Paul, is not reasoning with the "weak" and the "strong" from their experience, from their conscious loyalty to the Lord. Rather, he is calling them to a new realisation of what such loyalty should be. It is in order to this that he reminds them of the eternal claim of the Lord, made good in His death and Resurrection; His claim to be so their Master, individually and altogether, that every thought about each other was to be governed by that claim of His on them all. "The Lord" must always interpose; with a right inalienable. Each Christian is annexed, by all the laws of Heaven, to Him. So each must-not make, but realise that annexation, in every thought about neighbour and about brother. The passage invites us meantime to further remark, in another direction. It is one of those utterances which, luminous with light given by their context, shine also with a light of their own, giving us revelations independent of the surrounding matter. Here one such revelation appears; it affects our knowledge of the Intermediate State. The Apostle, four times over in this short paragraph, makes mention of death, and of the dead. "No one of us dieth to Himself"; "Whether we die, we die unto the Lord"; "Whether we die, we are the Lord’s"; "That He might be the Lord of the dead." And this last sentence, with its mention not of the dying, but of the dead, reminds us that the reference in them all is to the Christian’s relation to his Lord, not only in the hour of death, but in the state after death. It is not only that Jesus Christ, as the slain One risen, is absolute Disposer of the time and manner of our dying. It is not only that when our death comes we are to accept it as an opportunity for the "glorifying of God" { John 21:19 , Php 1:20 } in the sight and in the memory of those who know of it. It is that when we have "passed through death," and come out upon the other side, "When we enter yonder regions, When we touch the sacred shore," our relation to the slain One risen, to Him who, as such, "hath the keys of Hades and of death," { Revelation 1:18 } is perfectly continuous and the same. He is our absolute Master, there as well as here. And we, by consequence and correlation, are vassals, servants, bondservants to Him, there as well as here. Here is a truth which, we cannot but think, richly repays the Christian’s repeated remembrance and reflection; and that not only in the way of asserting the eternal rights of our blessed Redeemer over us, but in the way of shedding light, and peace, and the sense of reality and expectation, on both the prospect of our own passage into eternity and the thoughts we entertain of the present life of our holy beloved ones who have entered into it before us. Everything is precious which really assists the soul in such thoughts, and at the same time keeps it fully and practically alive to the realities of faith, patience, and obedience here below, here in the present hour. While the indulgence of unauthorised imagination in that direction is almost always enervating and disturbing to the present action of Scriptural faith, the least help to a solid realisation and anticipation, supplied by the Word that cannot lie, is in its nature both hallowing and strengthening. Such a help we have assuredly here. He who died and rose again is at this hour, in holy might and right, "the Lord" of the blessed dead. Then, the blessed dead are vassals and servants of Him who died and rose again. And all our thought of them, as they are now, at this hour, "in those heavenly habitations, where the souls of them that sleep in the Lord Jesus enjoy perpetual rest and felicity," gains indefinitely in life, in reality, in strength and glory, as we see them, through this narrow but bright "door in heaven," { Revelation 5:1 } not resting only but serving also before their Lord, who has bought them for His use, and who holds them in His use quite as truly now as when we had the joy of their presence with us, and He was seen by us living and working in them and through them here. True it is that the leading and essential character of their present state is rest, as that of their resurrection state will be action. But the two states overflow into each other. In one glorious passage the Apostle describes the resurrection bliss as also "rest". { 2 Thessalonians 1:7 } And here we have it indicated that the heavenly intermediate rest is also service. What the precise nature of that service is we cannot tell. "Our knowledge of that life is small." Most certainly, "in vain our fancy strives to paint" its blessedness, both of repose and of occupation. This is part of our normal and God-chosen lot here, which is to "walk by faith, not by sight," { 2 Corinthians 5:7 } ?? ??? ?????? , "not by Object seen," not by objects seen. But blessed is the spiritual assistance in such a walk as we recollect, step by step, as we draw nearer to that happy assembly above, that, whatever be the manner and exercise of their holy life, it is life indeed; power, not weakness; service, not inaction. He who died and revived is Lord, not of us only, but of them. But from this excursion into the sacred Unseen we must return. St. Paul is intent now upon the believer’s walk of loving large heartedness in this life, not the next. But you-why do you judge your brother? (he takes up the verb, ??????? , used in his former appeal to the "weak," Romans 14:3 ). Or you too (he turns to the "strong"; see again Romans 14:3 )-why do you despise your brother? For we shall stand, all of us, on one level, whatever were our mutual sentiments on earth, whatever claim we made here to sit as judges on our brethren, before the tribunal of our God. For it stands written, { Isaiah 45:23 } "As I live, saith the Lord, sure it is as My eternal Being, that to Me, not to another, shall bend every knee; and every tongue shall confess, shall ascribe all sovereignty, to God," not to the creature. So then each of us, about himself, not about the faults or errors of his brother, shall give account to God. We have here, as in 2 Corinthians 5:10 , and again, under other imagery, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 , a glimpse of that heart-searching prospect for the Christian, his summons hereafter, as a Christian, to the tribunal of his Lord. In all the three passages, and now particularly in this, the language, though it lends itself freely to the universal Assize, is limited by context, as to its direct purport, to the Master’s scrutiny of His own servants as such. The question to be tried and decided (speaking after the manner of men) at His "tribunal," in this reference, is not that of glory or perdition; the persons of the examined are accepted; the inquiry is in the domestic court of the Palace, so to speak; it regards the award of the King as to the issues and value of His accepted servants’ labour and conduct, as His representatives, in their mortal life. "The Lord of the servants cometh, and reckoneth with them". { Matthew 25:19 } They have been justified by faith. They have been united to their glorious Head. They "shall be saved," { 1 Corinthians 3:15 } whatever be the fate of their "work." But what will their Lord say of their work? What have they done for Him, in labour, in witness, and above all in character? He will tell them what He thinks. He will be infinitely kind; but He will not flatter. And somehow, surely, -"it doth not yet appear" how, but somehow-eternity, even the eternity of salvation, will bear the impress of that award, the impress of the past of service, estimated by the King. "What shall the harvest be?" And all this shall take place (this is the special emphasis of the prospect here) with a solemn individuality of inquiry. "Every one of us-for himself-shall give account." We reflected, a little above, on the true place of "individualism" in the life of grace. We see here that there will indeed be a place for it in the experiences of eternity. The scrutiny of "the tribunal" will concern not the Society, the Organism, the total, but the member, the man. Each will stand in a solemn solitude there, before his divine Examiner. What he was, as the Lord’s member, that will be the question. What he shall be, as such, in the functions of the endless state, that will be the result. Let us not be troubled over that prospect with the trouble of the worldling, as if we did not know Him who will scrutinise us, and did not love Him. Around the thought of His "tribunal," in that aspect, there are cast no exterminating terrors. But it is a prospect fit to make grave and full of purpose the life which yet "is hid with Christ in God," and which is life indeed through grace. It is a deep reminder that the beloved Saviour is also, and in no figure of speech, but in an eternal earnest, the Master too. We would not have Him not to be this. He would not be all He is to us as Saviour, were He not this also, and forever. St. Paul hastens to further appeals, after this solemn forecast. And now all his stress is laid on the duty of the "strong" to use their "strength" not for self-assertion, not for even spiritual selfishness, but all for Christ, all for others, all in love. No more therefore let us judge one another; but judge, decide, this rather-not to set stumbling block for our brother, or trap. I know-he instances his own experience and principle-and am sure in the Lord Jesus, as one who is in union and communion with Him, seeing truth and life from that viewpoint, that nothing, nothing of the sort in question, no food, no time, is "unclean" of itself; literally, "by means of itself," by any inherent mischief; only to the man who counts anything "unclean," to him it is unclean. And therefore you, because you are not his conscience, must not tamper with his conscience. It is, in this case, mistaken; mistaken to his own loss, and to the loss of the Church. Yes, but what it wants is not your compulsion, but the Lord’s light. If you can do so, bring that light to bear, in a testimony made impressive by holy love and unselfish considerateness. But dare not, for Christ’s sake, compel a conscience. For conscience means the man’s best actual sight of the law of right and wrong. It may be a dim and distorted sight; but it is his best at this moment. He cannot violate it without sin, nor can you bid him do so without yourself sinning. Conscience may not always see aright. But to transgress conscience is always wrong. For-the word takes up the argument at large, rather than the last detail of it-if for food’s sake your brother suffers pain, the pain of a moral struggle between his present convictions and your commanding example, you have given up walking ( ?????? ?????????? ) love wise. Do not not, with your food, (there is a searching point in the "your," touching to the quick the deep selfishness of the action,) work his ruin for whom Christ died. Such sentences are too intensely and tenderly in earnest to be called sarcastic; otherwise, how fine and keen an edge they carry! "For food’s sake!" "With your food!" The man is shaken out of the sleep of what seemed an assertion of liberty, but was after all much rather a dull indulgence of-that is, a mere slavery to-himself. "I like this meat; I like this drink; I don’t like the worry of these scruples; they interrupt me, they annoy me." Unhappy man! It is better to be the slave of scruples than of self. In order to allow yourself another dish-you would slight an anxious friend’s conscience, and, so far as your conduct is concerned, push him to a violation of it. But that means, a push on the slope which leans towards spiritual ruin. The way to perdition is paved with violated consciences. The Lord may counteract your action, and save your injured brother from himself-and you. But your action is, none the less, calculated for his perdition. And all the while this soul, for which, in comparison with your dull and narrow "liberty"; you care so little, was so much cared for by the Lord that He-died for it. Oh, consecrating thought, attached now, forever, for the Christian, to every human soul which he can influence: "For whom Christ died!" Do not therefore let your good, your glorious creed of holy liberty in Christ, be railed at, as only a thinly-veiled self-indulgence after all; for the kingdom of our God is not feeding and drinking; He does not claim a throne in your soul, and in your Society, merely to enlarge your bill of fare, to make it your sacred privilege, as an end in itself, to take what you please at table; but righteousness, surely here, in the Roman Epistle, the "righteousness" of our divine acceptance, and peace, the peace of perfect relations with Him in Christ, and joy in the Holy Spirit, the pure strong gladness of the justified, as in their sanctuary of salvation they drink the "living water," and "rejoice always in the Lord." For he who in this way lives as bondservant to Christ, spending his spiritual talents not for himself, but for his Master, is pleasing to his God, and is genuine to his fellow men. Yes, he stands the test of their keen scrutiny. They can soon detect the counterfeit under spiritual assertions which really assert self. But their conscience affirms the genuineness of a life of unselfish and happy holiness; that life "reverbs no hollowness." Accordingly, therefore, let us pursue the interests of peace, and the interests of an edification which is mutual; the "building up" which looks beyond the man to his brother, to his brethren, and tempers by that look even his plans for his own spiritual life. Again he returns to the sorrowful grotesque of preferring personal comforts, and even the assertion of the principle of personal liberty, to the good of others. Do not for food’s sake be undoing the work of our God. "All things are pure"; he doubtless quotes a watchword often heard; and it was truth itself in the abstract, but capable of becoming a fatal fallacy in practice; but anything is bad to the man who is brought by a stumbling block to eat it. Yes, this is bad. What is good in contrast? Good it is not to eat flesh, and not to drink wine (a word for our time and its conditions), and not to do anything in which your brother is stumbled, or entrapped, or weakened. Yes, this is Christian liberty; a liberation from the strong and subtle law of self; a freedom to live for others, independent of their evil, but the servant of their souls. You-the faith you have, have it by yourself, in the presence of your God. You have believed; you are therefore in Christ; in Christ you are therefore free, by faith, from the preparatory restrictions of the past. Yes; but all this is not given you for personal display, but for divine communion. Its right issue is in a holy intimacy with your God, as in the confidence of your acceptance you know Him as your Father, "nothing between." But as regards human intercourse, you are emancipated not that you may disturb the neighbours with shouts of freedom and acts of license, but that you may be at leisure to serve them in love. Happy the man who does not judge himself, who does not, in effect, decide against his own soul, in that which he approves, ????????? , pronounces satisfactory to conscience. Unhappy he who says to himself, "This is lawful," when the verdict is all the while purchased by self-love, or otherwise by the feat: of man, and the soul knows in its depths that the thing is not as it should be. And the man who is doubtful, whose conscience is not really satisfied between the right and wrong of the matter, if he does eat, stands condemned, in the court of his own heart, and of his aggrieved Lord’s opinion, because it was not the result of faith; the action had not, for its basis, the holy conviction of the liberty of the justified. Now anything which is not the result of faith, is sin; that is to say, manifestly, "anything" in such a case as this; any indulgence, any obedience to example, which the man, in a state of inward ambiguity, decides for on a principle other than that of his union with Christ by faith. Thus the Apostle of Justification, and of the Holy Spirit, is the Apostle of Conscience too. He is as urgent upon the awful sacredness of our sense of right and wrong, as upon the offer and the security, in Christ, of peace with God, and the holy Indwelling, and the hope of glory. Let our steps reverently follow his, as we walk with God, and with men. Let us "rejoice in Christ Jesus," with a "joy" which is "in the Holy Ghost." Let us reverence duty, let us reverence conscience, in our own life, and also in the lives around us. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.