30:5—Let Each Man Be Fully Persuaded
By T. E. W.
About two or three times a year, we are asked by various ones for an explanation of this passage. Let us say, first, that the whole chapter of Romans 14 ought to be read. Grasp the great thought of the chapter, that we are not to judge God's children, or one another,—those who are in church relationship with us. That is the great thought of the chapter. Secondly, let us remember the next thing, that we are not to place a stumbling-block in our brother's way, or an occasion of falling, because each one of us shall give account of himself to God. We are to see that we, ourselves, are right; we are to look with charity and kindness upon the things our brother does that may not seem to be just as we would do. The thought is not that he is criminal, or sinful, but he may be following practices that we would not. Read verse 4,—“Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand [in spite of any judgment that we may give]; for the Lord hath power to make him stand.” And then the apostle gives an illustration: “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike.” We would not understand that the Sabbath comes in here at all. Compare with Ex. 16:4, in which the Sabbath is shut out from the ordinary “every-days.” There were other feast days and fast days, and some kept them and some did not, in the early Christian church. “He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord.” The Revised Version leaves out the next clause. “And he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks.” Just let every man act as God has taught him and instructed him regarding these things, remembering that “whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord.” The passage does not give any one license to commit sin; it does not give any one license to break God's commandments; it does not give any one license to turn from the things which the Lord has instructed us to do; nor does it give any one license to set himself up as judge in the place of God. If we would remember these things, we would find the chapter a great blessing. No one would be excusing himself for the things that his appetite suggested, or that the devil tempted him to do. He would be doing everything in his power so that he would not put a stumbling-block in some one else's way; and on the other hand, the strictest disciplinarian of himself would not be sitting in judgment upon others.