With the 1888 Message Dynamic
Romans Chapter 14
“All the rest” of Romans is not to be dismissed as trivial. It’s all gospel “good news.” This is a continuation of what it means to love your neighbor (Rom. 13:9, 10). 14:1 “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.” In dealing with a brother who has reservations about any issue (“decisions of doubt”), it is well to remember that his faith has been given to him by God. God received him upon his faith (vs. 3), likewise should we.
Health reform was given to God’s people as righteousness by faith. It is the appropriate fast which God has appointed for all those who believe they are living in the Day of Atonement. The self-denial that is built into eating a simple diet is necessary for a people who are anticipating their High Priest’s exit from the Most Holy Place. 14:2 “For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.” Eating foods was problematic for many early Christians because most of it had been offered to idols (Acts 15:20; 1 Cor. 8:4). So many tender consciences turned to a vegetarian diet.
Someone who believes they can eat any and all things may have a spirit of ridicule for those whose conscience will not allow them to consume all things. Religious liberty in the matter of eating is to be extended to all. 14:3 “Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.” Unfortunately for a good cause, many who embrace a vegan diet condemn those that eat a broader-based regime, and thus separate themselves from the Spirit of Christ. Any work of reform that has lost the spirit of love for others is an unprofitable parade of human vanity.
What is that man doing who judges another man? 14:4 He is judging “another man’s servant.” To whom is the servant responsible? “To his own master he standeth or falleth.” But will he really fall, if he is indeed a servant of God? “He shall be holden up.” Why? “For God is able to make him stand.”
Man’s “esteem” of a day does not make it God’s day of rest. God’s seventh-day Sabbath clearly has the seal of God upon it (Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:11; Eze. 20:12, 20). So Paul is not addressing the issue of the seventh-day Sabbath observance. 14:5 “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” The Roman church had a contingency of Jewish Christians who still clung to the annual sabbath days of observance which could fall on any day of the week. The Gentile Christians would not have such loyalties to observe these days.
The fact that Paul connects the “esteem” or “regarding” of days with “eating” is a further linkage to the annual festival days of Jewish observance. 14:6 “He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.” Eating played a vital role in the rites of keeping the ceremonial sabbaths (read Leviticus 23).