Romans 14:1-3

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.

This chapter continues Paul’s theme of loving one another. We could continue on through the first half of chapter 15 as well, because Paul’s point all the way is to accept each other as we have been accepted by God. Since God accepts us to sanctify us, we should build each other up. Notice several points in verses 1-3:

Paul says to “accept him whose faith is weak.” Who is that? Remember that God gives us different measures of grace and different measures of faith and different gifts. And He does so for His sovereign purpose to build the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ. The person with weak faith is not described as a Christian living in sin; rather he is someone who is making efforts to glorify God in and by his behavior. This is not a bad thing! But at the same time, the weak-in-faith brother has not grown to understand Christian liberty and is perhaps not as well grounded in the teaching of Scripture and in the practice of the Christian life. Perhaps he is a new believer, a baby Christian, someone who has never read the Bible or is bogged down with a particular Old Testament ceremonial law, someone who is caught up in some form of legalism without realizing it. Paul is gentle here, using the word “weak” as encouragement. It’s not bad to be weak for a time, but none of us want to remain weak. See 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 and Hebrews 5:12-13. The reason Paul calls them “weak” is that they think abstaining from meat perceived as unclean is more glorifying to God than eating. They don’t realize that whatever we do, whether eating and drinking or abstaining from meat and wine, we glorify God. This chapter ties in well with 1 Corinthians 8. Read them together, and these 2 passages will interpret each other. Let Scripture interpret Scripture. Paul tells us that the weaker brothers lack knowledge of the freedom they have in Christ and of the fact that all things are meant to glorify God. It takes time for our knowledge to be made complete (Romans 15:14; Isaiah 11:9; Ephesians 4:13).

Paul has some words for these less-mature Christians and the way they relate to more-mature Christians, but his primary concern is how the stronger Christians relate to the weaker Christians. Why should we whose faith is not weak (described as “strong” in Romans 15:1) accept the one weak in faith? Because “God has accepted him” (v3b). Notice the parallel in Romans 15:7.

Our motive should also be right in accepting the one whose faith is weak. In other words, don’t bring a young Christian into your group of mature Christians solely for the purpose of boasting in your freedom, denouncing his lifestyle by displaying your “free” actions which seem sinful to him. Sure, encourage him to grow and learn in understanding of doctrine and lifestyle application, but don’t bring him down by including him just to prove that everything he is doing is inconsistent with true freedom in Christ.

What are the “disputable matters” that Paul mentions? What are non-disputable matters? What if two parties don’t agree on what matters are disputable? How to handle these situations is among the most challenging issues of our day. And it’s encouraging to see that Paul had the same concerns. Differences of opinion about moral and ethical and religious matters are often of great significance to the individuals who hold those opinions. How do you deal with that with in the local body? Paul is addressing that here. And let’s acknowledge that these differences are not in regards to justification by faith or anything to do with the Gospel. These are lifestyle differences more so than doctrinal differences or morality issues. Doctrinal differences and morality issues require a more hard-nosed stance, but these particular lifestyle differences, as disputable matters, require mutual forbearance. The more mature Christian should be patient with the less mature Christian, thereby allowing room for growth. And notice that God holds those Christians to whom He grants a greater measure of faith to higher standards than those to whom He grants a lesser measure of faith. The more you know, the more accountable you are to God. And the more you have received, the more you should patiently nurture and encourage your weaker brothers.

The weak-in-faith brother in this passage struggles with clean and unclean foods. Paul acknowledges here, in agreement with Jesus and Peter, that all foods are clean if eaten in thanksgiving. Some of the Jews in Paul’s audience were having a tough time letting go of their Jewish ceremonial law heritage; they certainly didn’t want to be eating meat that had been sacrificed to pagan idols. The Gentiles in Paul’s audience were not struggling with those issues at all. The same may be true for us. Consider Seventh-Day Adventists. They eat only kosher foods and celebrate the Sabbath as Saturday – and they’re pretty legalistic about it; so we shouldn’t invite them “to jog over to our house for the pig roast on Saturday.” We shouldn’t call them foolish vegetarians; we shouldn’t say to them, “Don’t you know that all foods are clean in Christ!?” That would be “looking down” on them. In fellowshipping with weaker faith brothers, we must avoid doing things or saying things that might make them stumble. And notice that their “stumbling” would be to judge us in our “Sabbath”-desecrating pork-fest, which of course, they need to strive to avoid.

As weak-in-faith Christians, we might criticize or condemn the behavior of seemingly stronger Christians, not understanding how “everything is permissible.” For example, a weak Christian might condemn a strong Christian for having a glass of wine with dinner. Paul says not to do that, because Scripture nowhere condemns having a drink. At the same time, strong Christians might look down on the weak Christians, treating them as if they are missing out on the pleasures of Christian freedom. For example, a strong Christian might invite the weak Christian to have a glass of wine with supper, fully knowing that the weak Christian doesn’t drink and doesn’t believe that it’s right for any Christian to drink. And Paul says not to do that to the weaker brother. Mutual respect is the principle, and it’s based on God’s acceptance of us.