Romans 14 | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 6, 1910

3300.— Romans 14

Can you assist me in explaining Romans 14, regarding eating and drinking and the observing of days, etc.? W. H. C.

Please explain in the Question Corner regarding meats. Some use texts from Romans 14 that one may eat any kind of meat and not transgress the law of God. For instance, the 14th verse says that nothing is unclean of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him it is unclean. And in the 17th verse also. They seem to think that it teaches the kingdom of God is not obedience through abstaining from meat of any kind. N. S. P.

We will have a much better understanding of Romans 14 if we will but grasp the great thought of the chapter and let everything else be subject to that. That thought is expressed in verses 4, 10, 12, 13, and 22. This is summed up in two thoughts,—that we should not judge our brother, that our faith is personal for ourselves. “Who art thou who judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand [in spite of anything that we can do]; for the Lord hath power to make him stand. . . . Let us not therefore judge one another any more; but judge ye this rather, that no brother put a stumbling-block in his brother’s way, or an occasion of falling.”

It will be noticed here that the epistle is addressed to brethren and their relations to brethren who believe in Christ. All have been accepted by Christ. The conditions of the past still seem to hold some, but not others. Some who had been Jews still held to the bitter herbs, to the Passover, and to the Jewish annual feasts, and to the ceremonial distinction regarding meats. Some seemed to have repudiated meats altogether, and yet all held to salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ alone and obedience to all His Word. This is indicated by the whole epistle to the Romans. The lesson of the apostle is that no man should judge his brother. Brother B might not do just as Brother A would, but Brother A should not condemn him because of that. At the same time if Brother A feels that Brother B is weak, Brother A should set no example that would cause Brother B to stumble. Let him keep the day of the Passover or the Atonement if he will; that is a matter which lies between him and God. If one who is strong should eat meat that is offered to idols, but which had been condemned by the tradition of the past, it was to the mind of others nothing which should be condemned. It may be believed that some of these Gentile converts ate flesh foods condemned by the law, ate them of necessity because they did not have anything else to eat. For this they should not be condemned, because—and it can not be made too emphatic—“the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Verse 17, A.R.V.

No carefulness of diet, no following of any dietary law, will bring one into the kingdom of God or keep him there. The kingdom of God is entered through Jesus Christ and Him only. But it may be asked: Should we not regulate our diet? Should we eat anything and everything? God has given us a law of diet which is as broad as one’s life, found in 1 Cor. 10:31: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” The man who carries that out will study to know what will please God, what will be for God’s glory. He will not eat the flesh of swine; because he will learn, as he studies, that it is wholly unwholesome, filled with corruption. He will learn from God’s Word in the past that it is unclean in its very nature, and so pronounced by God; and while the letter of that law may not be binding, the principle of it still holds. He will find, too, as he studies more and more, that flesh meats of any kind are not necessary, and are becoming more and more unwholesome, diseased, corrupted. He will find a most liberal diet in fruits, grains, nuts, vegetables, and by experiment and proper combination learn how to live upon these so as to glorify God in his body, keep a clear mind and intellect, and be able to yield, as no corrupt person can, his body to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. Faith is based on God’s Word, not on our particular sentiments. “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. . . . He that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

The whole of Romans 14 is too long to explain in our Question Corner. These are but hints and suggestions which may be of help to our inquirers.