Doing as the Romans Do by John Norton Loughborough

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 23, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 17.

Doing as the Romans Do.

By John Norton Loughborough

“AND unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” 1 Cor. 9: 20-22.

It is only a short time since, while urging the importance of yielding obedience to God’s commandments “as he has commanded us” (Deut. 6:25), that I was met with the statement that the Bible says, “When you are in Rome, do as the Romans do.” No careful reader of the Bible would ever put forward this saying of men as Scripture. There is no such language in the Bible. Neither is there any command to follow any one any further than they follow Christ and the truth. The nearest approach to this saying of men is in the words of Paul which appear at the head of this article. The apostle does not tell us in that to do as others do, or to do as the Romans do. He is simply giving us a record of his manner of labor. The key-note to his meaning seems to be found in the last expression, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

Does the apostle mean to assert that he changed all his practices so as to have them in exact accord with those with whom he associated? Would he save men by thus weakening before them, and by doing just as they did? Would he, like the chameleon, which is said to assume the color of the substance on which it last sat, make the shade of his religion just like those with whom he might be found? If so we never should find a record of his provoking the wrath of the Corinthians and Ephesians by his plain and fearless declarations of truth.

Instead of understanding the apostle to mean that he changed his faith or practice of religion simply to meet the people, I should rather conclude his meaning to be that in his endeavor to save the people he adapted all his reasonings to their understanding and situation. As moderns would express it, he took them where they were. In thus reasoning with each class he would adapt his reasoning to their knowledge, thus seeking to lead them to Christ. With the Jews he spoke of those things which they understood, as the temple and its service, showing them that the real service, of which the Jewish priesthood was only a shadow, a figure, and a pattern, was the service of Christ, who is the true high priest while seated at the right hand of the Father’s throne in the heavenly temple. Of this mode of argument we have a fair illustration in the book of the Hebrews.

In reasoning with the Romans, who had not had all the advantage of a Jewish education, he would set forth the grossness of men as they turned away from the knowledge of God, and urge upon them the importance of a knowledge of God’s moral law that they might discern between right and wrong. He showed them also that Christ is a propitiation for sins, through whom they might become reconciled to God. Indeed, in the seventh chapter of Romans we have an illustration of how he placed himself in the position of those he would reach, even those who were “under” the condemnation of the law, when he said, “I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7:7. Here he virtually says, I have been in the same condition in which you are. I will tell you how I was rescued. He says, “What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Rom. 3:19.

Again, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Verse 20. Really saying, I learned my sins by the law, you will have to learn yours the same way.

The expression “without law” certainly cannot mean that there were some persons in the world who were not answerable to the law of God, for he immediately adds, “Being not without law to God.” If the idea is that they were ignorant of the claims of God’s law upon them, or of the fact that their course was condemned by the law, then we see the apostle placing himself in that position when he says, “I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” Rom. 8:9. He said, as quoted above, that he would not have known sin except the law had said, “Thou shalt not covet.” His being without law could not mean that he was not under obligations to keep that commandment, but that he did not realize that his course was contrary to the commandment until it was brought forcibly upon his mind; then “sin revived.” As he became conscious of his sin he died to sin. In other words, through the grace in Christ he obtained strength to turn away from transgression and yield acceptable obedience to the law of God. See Rom. 8:3, 4.

The apostle Paul was not a man that sought an easy way; neither did he adopt any course to simply please the people. He was not like the last day teachers which he described to Timothy, who should seek to please those who have “itching ears,” but he said of himself, “I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Acts 20:26, 27. Let no one excuse himself from doing as the Lord has commanded in his word, on the ground that if we “do as the Romans do” we are following a Bible example. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.