Romans 14:1-8 (NIV)
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
It had grown fashionable in many Churches to criticize others who did not share the same scruples and live their lives in exactly the same way. This division was not about the clear teachings of Scripture, but about so-called “disputable matters”.
One of the disputable matters that Paul brings up in this passage are those who refused to eat meat. The core of this issue was that, as was the case in many of the cities of the Roman Empire, not only was the meat in the markets not prepared in a kosher manner, most if not all of it was from animals that had been sacrificed to the Roman gods.
Many Christians (including Paul, 1 Corinthians 8) ate the meat with no qualms, because they understood that the idols that the animals had been sacrificed to weren’t really gods. But others, especially those who had come to faith in Jesus from that pagan background, had a weaker faith, and felt that eating the meat was supporting the idolatry. This caused conflict, with both sides considering themselves the more spiritual because of what they were or weren’t willing to do.
The other issue was in the observing of special holidays. Many of those who had come to Jesus from Judaism still held on to their traditions of celebrating the new moon (the first of the month) as well as the Jewish feasts and holidays, such as the Passover, Purim, and Hanukkah. Those who had come from the Greek tradition saw no need of adopting those Jewish holidays into their own faith, and those different viewpoints sometimes caused a conflict.
Paul points out that these matters fall into the “disputable” category and should not be allowed to cause divisions. Instead, each person can keep their beliefs about those things with a clear conscience and without judging those who did things differently. And neither side should take offense. Those who ate meat did so with thanksgiving to God for their provision, as did those who ate only vegetables. Those who celebrated Purim and Hanukkah did so to glorify God’s saving actions in the past, and those who didn’t celebrate those days still were focused on God and doing His will each day.
The key, of course, is to make sure that the essentials, those things that God has clearly commanded in His word, are followed by everyone. But there should be liberty in the non-essentials, and those “disputable matters” should never be allowed to become a point of division among God’s people.
Father, this makes a lot of sense. Part of our problem is that we can so easily elevate “disputable matters” to the point that we consider them scriptural mandates. Being able to discern which are which requires both humility and divine wisdom. Give us both, Lord, so that we don’t end up dividing ourselves and causing conflicts over those things about which You have not specifically directed us in Your word. Amen.