Daily Devotional Sunday 28th April 2024
by William MoodyRomans 14
Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another
14:1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master1 that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess2 to God.”
12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Do Not Cause Another to Stumble
13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.3 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.4
Footnotes
[1] 14:4
Or lord
[2] 14:11Or shall give praise
[3] 14:21Some manuscripts add or be hindered or be weakened
[4] 14:23Some manuscripts insert here 16:25–27 (ESV)
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).
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