“Now accept the one who is weak in faith,
but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has
faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The
one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the
one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.
Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or
falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person
regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must
be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the
Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he
who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God” (Romans
14:1-6).
The apostle to the gentiles who wrote this held the clothes of those who killed
Stephen (Acts 7:58), confronted the apostle Peter face-to-face (Galatians 2:11),
and sharply disagreed with his mentor, Barnabas (Acts 15:39). My point is not
that Paul’s belief and actions were inconsistent. My point is that respect is
difficult to maintain.
When Paul [Saul] held the clothing of those who killed Stephen, Paul was not a
Christian—killing Stephen was “right” (Acts 8:1). When, as a Christian, he
confronted Peter, Peter’s behavior was inconsistent with God’s revelation to
Peter. When Paul and Barnabas disagreed sharply, they had an extreme difference
of opinion about John Mark. In Romans 14, Paul wrote about the enormous gulf
between Jewish and gentile Christians—a major problem in first- century
congregations (see Acts 15:1-5).
Yet, the Christian who confronted could redirect. Years later as an imprisoned
Paul neared death, he asked Timothy to bring Mark to him. Nearing death, he
asked for the man who had been at the center of his controversy with his best
friend and work companion!
Regarding the enormous controversy in the first congregations, this man who had
been the “Jews’ Jew” (Galatians 1:14) understood God could save anyone
(including gentiles) on the basis of faith that Jesus was the resurrected
Christ. A Jew did not need to cease to be culturally a Jew to accept Jesus was
God’s Christ. A gentile did not need to cease to be culturally a gentile to
accept that the living God resurrected the dead Jesus to be the living Christ.
That was extremely difficult for Jews, including Jewish Christians, to accept!
The teaching that gentiles could be saved without circumcision (Genesis 17:9-14)
or the Jewish dietary restrictions (Leviticus 11) was just plain offensive to
Jewish converts! They felt so strongly about this that they made the apostle
Peter afraid of them (see Galatians 2:11-13). Paul understood when he wrote
Romans 14 that God’s acts were not hostage to human logic, human desires, and
human opinions. God could and would save Christians who, in God, did contrasting
things. Why? God knows motives, the whys.
A healthy congregation is a growing organism composed of every level of
spiritual maturity. Only with respect for each other can we become what God
intended.
Link to other
Writings of David Chadwell
