Paul's Passing Thoughts

We come now to the first verse of chapter 14 in our Romans study. I want to begin by reminding us of a very important issue in regard to studying the Bible individually and understanding it. What I have found in the last few years is that most of what you need to understand the Bible is in the Bible itself. Yes, I am a big grammatical historical guy, and a study of history and culture is helpful in regard to Bible study, but the grammatical is most important. Just let the words say what they say. Take the words at face value.

Let me give you the prime example of that in my own life. I approached Romans with this principle: forget all of your presuppositions, and just let the words say what they say. I began to notice the use of the word “law” a lot in the book of Romans; the law of this, and the law of that, etc. What did Paul mean by the different references to law and was he speaking of the literal written law, or realms, or spiritual laws, or laws of nature?

Upon investigation, I discovered that the simple literal evaluation demanded these references to law to be a literal written law. In all cases, the word used was nomos while there are other Greek words for realm, a force of nature, etc. You don’t need to be a Greek scholar to determine that by any stretch of the imagination. This revelation has made the whole Bible fit together for me. Prior to that, presuppositions taught to me by others was an extreme hindrance to understanding the word of God.

Also, in our study of Romans, context is extremely important, so what is the context of Romans 14? Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles. His calling was the “mystery of the gospel.” What is that? Well, let’s see:

Ephesians 3:1 – For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

The mystery of the gospel is God’s desire to bring Jew and Gentile together in one body to God’s glory. Think about what kind of power is displayed in a wisdom that brings two diverse cultures together in harmony? As we learned early on in our study, the Christians at Rome obviously understood the gospel of first order; i.e., the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Paul wanted to come to them and teach the full-orbed gospel or the full counsel of God to them face to face.

But, he was continually hindered in coming to them, so he decided to write them this treatise instead. Now, why did the Holy Spirit hinder him? It’s obvious; so that Christians in future generations would have this written treatise on the full orbed gospel. We also looked at Paul’s apology in the letter to the Christians at Rome for not being able to come. The Gentiles were deemed as second class citizens in the Judeo Assembly of Christ, and Paul feared that his tarrying in coming would feed this mentality. This is why the first chapters of Romans are a passionate body of doctrine that refutes it. However, by chapter 11, Paul senses that he has made his case very well, and warns the Gentiles against reverse discrimination.

Now listen, the verse we are addressing today may be what incited Paul to panic and the writing of this letter to the Romans. That’s right; we may find ourselves at the issue that sent him running for his quill. Apparently, the Romans had written Paul from time to time about certain issues, and the issue here is what to do about Jews coming into their fellowships. Because of their diversity in the recognition of dietary laws and laws concerning days, should they be allowed in their fellowships? This certainly panicked Paul because this is the crux of the what? Right, mystery of the gospel.

“But Paul, the verse says ‘weak in faith’ not ‘Jews.’” True, but Paul is referring to the Jews. Though the Jews have great advantage in being the overseers of God’s law and His chosen people, the transition from the Old Covenant to the New and its relationship to law has an inherent tendency towards weakness. Paul uses the nomenclature of “weak” in order to not label all Jews accordingly. Many Jews understood the proper relation of law to the New Covenant.

In fact, even though circumcision was no longer required under the New Covenant, Paul had Timothy circumcised in order to get an audience with Jews who still had the conviction that circumcision was required:

Acts 16:1 – Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

And what letter (“the decisions”) did they bring with them? The letter from the apostles in Jerusalem concerning the circumcision issue (Acts 15). I must say that Andy’s study in the book of Acts has helped me greatly in understanding what is going on in Romans 14 (see ttanc.com). The judgment of the Apostles was not to burden the Gentiles with being circumcised in order to get along with the weaker Jews, but did tell them to observe some Jewish dietary laws.

The weaker brother is to be “welcomed” and connects with Romans 15:

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

Who are the “you” in this text? It is the Gentiles that Paul is writing to in the letter. Clearly, Paul addresses the wisdom needed for Gentiles to WELCOME the weaker Jewish brothers into the assemblies WITHOUT quarreling about issues of liberty in accordance to the law. At issue is the very mystery of the gospel. AND, without a doubt, the same principles apply to a myriad of other contrary convictions that can come between people.

Just this week I read an article about a church split over the recognition of Christmas. Yes, it’s true, Christmas was founded on a pagan holiday and we are never commanded in the Bible to recognize Christ’s birthday. But is this an issue of separation? Granted, Halloween is a pagan holiday. Granted, I am not sure that Christian children should dress up like the Devil and werewolves. Nevertheless, should that be an issue of separation resulting in Christians not being welcome?

This has major implications for the home fellowship movement. If we want to see God glorified in the mystery of the gospel, one of the things we can emphasize is unity. Wisdom will be key to seeing the results God wants. Let’s start with another basic principle that can be derived from this text. Those welcome should be believers. Home fellowships should indeed be for the express purpose of fellowship between saved people including those who have a weak view of law.

The assembly of believers is not a place for evangelism. All evangelism should take place outside of home fellowships. The gathering of believers for fellowship and edification is never advocated as a place for evangelism in the New Testament. Where did the idea of invite people to church to get them saved come from? Where did the idea of church “revivals” and alter calls come from? It all came from the advent of the 4th century institutional church and the idea that salvation comes through church membership.

This approach has brought many difficulties into the institutional church. Many church leaders bemoan the fact that unsaved people populate the church in large numbers, but what does one expect when inviting lost people to church has been one of its institutional mandates for more than 500 years? I think the mindset that the assembling of believers together for encouragement and edification is exclusive would make a huge difference in Christianity in and of itself. This approach also removes a lot of, “What if…?” scenarios. When you start trying to apply matters of liberty in a group setting where the born again and unregenerate are meeting together—what you have is a mess!

Look at verses 2 and 3:

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.

Stop right there. Have you ever thought of who God welcomes as a standard for fellowship? The context of what Paul is writing about is Christian fellowships. The question posed to Paul previously was who should be welcome or not welcome. The standard is whoever God welcomes. Do you know what this tells me? God sees Christian fellowship as sacred and very important, and anybody and everybody is not necessarily welcome. This answers a lot of “What if…?” situations, no?

This speaks to a public purpose building in which anything but the kitchen sink can come walking in. It would seem that one of the primary purposes of a Christian assembly is unity along with encouragement and edification. The purpose of unity is at a distinct disadvantage with unbelievers present and defies the primary purpose of Christian assemblies.

This puts the rightful burden of evangelism on the individual Christian. This also necessitates the equipping for evangelism in the assemblies. The focus becomes what individual Christians do outside of Christian fellowship, not bringing people to church to get them saved by an expert evangelist. The focus of assemblies is strengthening and equipping each other for the work of the ministry.

That’s verse 1, next week we will further develop Paul’s prescription for unity in the assemblies regardless of varying convictions.