Often disputes in churches and families can begin over things that are very trivial or that are of secondary importance. Paul knew this was happening in the church at Rome. He mentions two things, eating meat (v1-3) and the keeping of certain special days (v5). The issue of meat may include meat that was unclean to Jews due to the Old Testament food laws or it could have been food that had been sacrificed to idols. The issue of keeping days special would have been about observing certain days that were special in Judaism. Paul gives good teaching about how to avoid division in these matters.

People are not to look down their noses at others over these unclear issues as they have no right to judge the servants of the Lord (v4). The believer is always accountable to Jesus and not to other Christians. This is not a licence for them to just do as they want, they must be convinced in their minds as to what Christ wants (v5) and be governed by that. We are never to be people who just follow the crowd but we must each search the scriptures for ourselves.

As we seek to act to please Jesus (v6), we must be careful that our actions don’t hinder the spiritual walk of other believers. The believer never has the freedom to do as they please. Christ liberates them from sin to be free to live for Him and for the good of others (v7-9). In our living we need a holy caution as we will one day have to account for our actions (v10-13).