Romans 14

CHAPTER 14THEME: Conviction; conscienceThis chapter brings us to a new section, the final division in the Epistle to the Romans. It is: the separation of the “sons of God.” What do we mean by separation? Frankly, I am tired of “separated” and “dedicated” Christians who are not separated or really dedicated. There are two areas of Christian conduct. In one area the Bible is very clear, as we saw in the preceding chapter. The duty of the Christian to the state is submission. He is to obey the laws of the land, he is to pay his taxes, and he is to show respect to those in authority. Also chapter 13 was specific on a believer’s relationship to his neighbor. He is to pay his bills; he is not to commit adultery, kill, steal, bear false witness, or covet what another has. In fact, he is to love his neighbor as himself. The believer is to be honest, and he is to avoid reveling and drunkenness, strife, and jealousy. The Bible is very clear on these things. However, there is another area of Christian conduct on which the Bible has no clear word. Let me mention only two things: the use of tobacco and mixed bathing (that is, both sexes swimming together). If you don’t think these are questionable, let me give you an illustration out of my own experience. My wife was reared in Texas in a Southern Baptist church. She was brought up by a mother and father and pastor who believed that mixed bathing was sinful. Then when she came to California, you can’t imagine the shock she had the first time she went down to the beach with the young people from our churcheven in those days they weren’t wearing much.

My wife was in a state of shock for twenty-four hours after that! She had never seen anything like it. However, in the area from which she came the use of tobacco was not frowned upon. The officers of her church smoked; in fact, her pastor smoked. When she came to California, she found that using tobacco was taboo. If you were a Christian, you did not smoke. Is mixed bathing all right in one place and wrong in another place? Is smoking right in one place and wrong in another place? I am sure that the hair on the back of the necks of some of the saints is standing on end, and they are thinking, Dr. McGee, you ought to give a lecture against smoking, and you let this subject of mixed bathing alone. Let me assure you that I am not condemning either one, not am I condoning either one. I’m not going to stick out my neck on questionable things any farther than Paul stuck out his neck. In this section Paul puts down principles of conduct for Christians relative to questionable matters. He gives us three guidelines: conviction, conscience, and consideration. A Christian should have a conviction about what he does. Conviction means “that which anticipates.” Does he look forward to what he is going to do in high anticipation and enthusiasm? The second guideline is conscience. Does he look back on what he has done, wondering if he were right or wrong? Or does he even hate himself for what he has done? The third guideline is consideration for others. Are other people adversely affected by what he does? These three guidelines give us principles of conduct for our Christian lives. In our day there are actually two extreme viewpoints about this matter of Christian conduct in questionable matters. And it has created an artificial atmosphere in which one is to live the Christian life. As a result we have abnormal or subnormal Christians in these extreme areas. One extreme position has no wall of separation from the world; the lives of these folk are carbon copies of the unsaved man of the world. Their lives are no different from what they were before their so-called conversion. They indulge in all forms of worldly amusement.

They go everywhere the world goes, and they spend their time and energy in activities that have no spiritual profit. There are certain passages of Scripture that have no meaning for them at all. For example: “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)” (Php_3:17-19). There are other folk who do not indulge in any form of worldly amusement, yet they are as worldly as they can possibly be. They gorge and gormandize themselves. They don’t get drunk, but they certainly overeat.

Also they overtalkthey are great gossips. They even tell questionable stories. Again let me quote Paul: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Php_4:8). My friend, your thought life is bound to affect your conduct sooner of later. What you keep thinking about you will eventually do. I have found that a great many Christians think about a temptation for a long time before they actually submit to it. This sort of thing is done by a great many so-called Christians. Paul seemed to question whether or not they were Christians because they lived exactly as the worldling lived. Now there is a second group that is extreme in the opposite direction. They have reduced the Christian life to a series of negatives. Paul warned the Colossian believers against the group that was characterized by “Touch not; taste not; handle not” (Col_2:21). These folk rejoice in salvation by grace and deliverance from the Mosaic Law, but they immediately make a new set of ten commandmentsonly they usually double that number. They become very self-centered, very critical, and very proud. These are the ones that Paul labels “weak in the faith” (v. Rom_14:1), by the way. And they are the folk who have become very “separated.” The following letter which I received several years ago illustrates the sad state of one who adopts this position. I’ve returned to California after a year of full-time Christian service in Ohio and an extended trip east. But I’ve come back almost spiritually shipwrecked! Have been a Christian for three and one-half years and until recently was able to give a glowing testimony about being saved out of Unity. But lately, I’ve been so dead that Christ seems way up there, and I’m way down here. I have all the negative virtues of a Christian (don’t smoke, drink, play cards, attend movies, use makeup), but those things do not make a happy Christian! My friends tell me I’m becoming bitterand oh, I don’t want that to happen! Before becoming a Christian, I was very ambitious, worked hard for whatever I believed in (and incidently I was listed in Who’s Who)but now I wonder what’s the use? The world is going from bad to worse. Everything is heading for disaster, and the only hope is to wait for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, my friend, this person was in a terrible condition! Notice how “separated” she was, but this kind of separation will not bring joy in the life. Somewhere between these two extreme viewpoints of questionable matters in Christian conduct the believer is to walk. These are the Scylla and Charybdis through which the believer must sail his little bark on the sea of life. I have given a great deal of space to these preliminary remarks because I know there are many puzzled Christians who will be helped by what Paul has for us in this important chapter.

Romans 14:1

To put it another way: Now, the one who is weak in faith, receive him into your fellowship, but not with the view of passing judgment upon his scruplesthat is, upon his conduct and upon his viewpoint. “Now” connects this chapter to what has preceded it. The law of love will now go into action. Having condemned things (in the last part of Romans 13) which are immoral and obviously wrong, like killing, committing adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, and coveting, Paul now warns against the danger of condemning questionable matters which are not expressly forbidden in Scripture. “The one who is weak in the faith” does not mean one who is weak in the great truths of the gospelthe facts of faithbut rather it refers to the abstract quality of faith. It means the faith of the weak falters and hesitates about matters of conduct. He does not know what he should do relative to certain things. This one is to be received into the fellowship of believers with open arms. You may not agree with him, but you are to receive him if he is a believer in Jesus Christ. You are not to receive him in order to start an argument about questionable things.

One group of believers is not to sit in judgment upon another group of believers about questionable matters of Christian conduct. Some things are not expressly condemned in Scripture, but some believers separate themselves from these things. And if they want to do this, that’s their business. These things are not to separate believers. The Scofield Reference Bible has a very helpful note on this verse"The church has no authority to decide questions of personal liberty in things not expressly forbidden in Scripture."

Romans 14:2

This verse may hurt the extreme separationist. The strong brother in the faith is the one eating all things; the weak brother is the vegetarian. The strong brother realizes that Jesus made all meats clean, “cleansing all meats” (see Mar_7:19). After the Flood God gave all meats to be eaten according to Gen_9:3, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” God made a distinction between clean and unclean animals for the nation Israel. The instructed believer knows this does not apply to him, for the apostle says in 1Co_8:8, “But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.” You remember that Peter was given a practical lesson about this subject on the housetop of Simon the tanner in Joppa (see Act_10:9-16). Peter was proud of the fact that he had not eaten anything unclean. Boy, was he separated, and he was proud of it! The Holy Spirit said to him, “…What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” (Act_10:15). Paul could eat meat without his conscience bothering him, but Peter had scruples about it. The weak believer who has a background of eating vegetables finds eating meat repugnant to him. What is the principle? One can eat meat and the other cannot eat meat. By the grace of God one is not to eat meat and the other is to eat meat. Now listen to Paul:

Romans 14:3

I recognize that I am wrong when I condemn these extreme separationists. If they want to be that way, candidly, that is their business. The thing that upsets me is that they want to straighten me out. I know I need straightening out, but they are not the crowd to do it, I’m sure of that. One group is not to condemn the other. If you believe that you should not eat meat (he uses meat as an example, but this could apply to anything else not expressly forbidden in Scripture), then you should not eat meat, my friend. But if you believe that you can eat meat, then you go ahead and eat meat.

Romans 14:4

This is devastating. Paul asks, “What right have you to judge another man’s servant?” What right have you, Christian friend, to sit in judgment on another Christian’s conduct when it involves something that is questionable? Are you God? Is that person accountable to you? Paul says, “He is not accountable to you. He is accountable to God. He is going to stand before his own Master.” Can you imagine being a dinner guest in someone’s home, and the servant brings in cold biscuits. You say to the servant, “What’s the big idea of bringing me cold biscuits?” And you chidein our common colloquialism, bawl outthe servant! May I say to you, there would be an awkward silence in that home. That person is not your servant. Maybe she should not have served cold biscuits, but it is not your place to say so. I have a notion that the lady of the house will go back to the kitchen and will tend to the matter. Now maybe you disapprove of my conduct in one of these doubtful areas. I don’t have to account to you; you are not my master. I am responsible to Jesus Christ. He is my Master.

Romans 14:5

CONVICTIONPaul gives us now the first great principle of conduct for Christians: “Fully persuaded” means to be convinced, to be assured in your own mind. Now Paul changes his illustration from diet to the day question. Some people insist that the Lord’s Day is different. Some observe Sunday as the Lord’s Day and others observe Saturday. It is not the day that should be different, but the believer. The particular day is not the important thing. Paul said, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days” (Col_2:16). Don’t you tell me what day I am to observe. I’m not responsible to you; I am responsible to the Lord Jesus. He is my Master. When I was a student in seminary, I was in a denomination in the South that were strict SabbatariansSunday was their Sabbath, as they called it. And they didn’t believe in traveling on Sunday. I used to take a train to Augusta, Georgia, to preach, and I left on Saturday evening. Some of the officers of the church wanted to know what time the train got into Augusta! Well, it got in early Sunday morning, and one man said to me, “Doesn’t that disturb you?” I said, “It doesn’t disturb me at all.” Now, I respect that man, and I don’t think he ought to travel on Sunday. But when I am traveling from one speaking engagement to another, and it is necessary to travel on Sunday, I do it without the slightest compunction. Paul says that whatever we do, we should be fully persuaded, convinced, and assured in our own mind that it is the right thing to do. “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” means literally he is to be filled to the brimmind, heart, will, and the total personality. A believer should do only those things to which he can give himself fully and without reserve. My friend, whatever you do for God, you should do with enthusiasm. I think it is sinful the way some people go to church on Sunday. Can you imagine people going to a football game when the alma mater is playing with that same lackluster attitude they have when they attend church? Personally, I don’t go to football games because I think they are a waste of time.

But I don’t criticize other folk for goingthat’s their business. But when I go to play golf, I go with enthusiasm. And whatever I do for the Lord, I do with enthusiasm. I teach the Bible because I love to teach it. I would rather do it than anything I know of. One of the reasons church work is bogged down as it is today is that there is a lack of enthusiasm.

A man is asked to teach a Sunday school class, and he says, “Oh, if you can’t get anybody else, I’ll take it.” Then don’t take it, brother, if that is the way you feel. It would be better for the class to have no teacher than a disinterested, unenthusiastic teacher. Some people are actually committing sin by doing church work! The first great principle is: “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Now let’s bring this principle over to questionable things. Frequently folk, especially young folk, ask me if doing this or that is wrong. I say, “Well, for you I think it is wrong, but for me it’s all right.” Of course they ask me what I mean by that. I tell them, “I have no question about it. If I wanted to do it, I would do it with enthusiasm. The point is, you have a question about it. ‘Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.’ You wouldn’t have come and asked me the question if you had been persuaded in your own mind.” My friend, this is a great guiding principle: if you have a question in your mind about something you are doingwhatever it isfor you it is wrong. It might not be wrong for me, but it is certainly wrong for you. You recall that Simon Peter followed the Lord afar off after He was arrested. Peter went that night into the judgment hall of the high priest. I sat in the hotel in Jerusalem in the old city on the side of the Valley of Kidron one morning. When the morning sun had come up, it set that whole city ablaze across the Kidron Valley. Over there is a church called the Church of the Cock Crowing. It is situated on the spot where the high priest’s judgment hall was locatedthat’s where Caiaphas had his home.

And that is the place to which Simon Peter came and where he denied three times that he knew the Lord. I am convinced that Simon Peter should not have gone there that night. On the other hand, John, who apparently had a home in Jerusalem and was known in the palace of the high priest, went there and did not deny his Lord. It was all right for John to be there, but it was wrong for Simon Peter. Simon Peter was the weak brother, you see. Today it is the weak brother who is the “separated” brother. That may seem strange to you. But the people who set up a little legal system of “dos” and “don’ts” bear watching. They are the weak ones. When I was a student in seminary, I used to have a water fight on Saturday night in the seminary dorm. One of the students would gather together two or three of the super-duper saints, and they would pray for us. (I always hoped he would pray that I would win!) We were pretty rough fellows.

One night we soaked all the rugs, and we almost got booted out of the place. But this young fellow was a model student. About fifteen years later, I sat down with him and his wife and begged him not to leave her. He told me he had to. I said, “Why?” His reply was this, “Because I have a little daughter by a woman out in Australia, and I want to marry her.” He posed as a super-duper saint, but actually he was a weak brother. Questionable amusements are wrong for the believer if they are questionable to him. If he can participate in them and maintain a close relationship to Christ, they are not wrong for him. Let me tell you a little story in this connection. Many years ago in Tennessee a young lady went to her pastor with the question, “Do you think it is wrong for a Christian to dance?” He said to her, “Anywhere you can take Jesus Christ with you is all right to go.” That made her angry. She said, “Well, I can take Him to the dance.” The pastor said, “Then go ahead.” So she went to the dance. A boy whom she had not met before cut in on her and danced with her. She had determined to take Jesus Christ with her, so she asked him, “Are you a Christian?” He said, “No.” Wanting to make conversation with her, he asked, “Are you a Christian?” She said, “Yes.” And this is what the unbeliever said, “Then what are you doing here?” After she got home that night she decided that maybe she couldn’t take the Lord Jesus Christ there after all.

Romans 14:6

Maybe you play golf on Sunday. If you can take Jesus Christ with you, if you can stop out on the ninth hole and have a prayer meeting with the foursome you are playing with, that would be fine. But what will the foursome playing behind you think when their game is interrupted in this way? When they see you are praying, one of them will say, “What in the world are they doing out here on Sunday morning?” The important thing to note is that the day is to be “regarded” or observed unto the Lord. Also, the one who eats meat gives thanks to God from his heart. The one who does not eat meat gives thanks to God from his heart. It is not what is on the table, but what is in the heart that is noted by God. It is the heart attitude that conditions Christian conduct.

Romans 14:7

“None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself” is generally quoted as a proof text that our lives affect others. However, that thought is not in this passage. The fact is that we as Christians cannot live our lives apart from Christ. Whether you live, you will have to live to Him; whether you die, you will have to die to Him. Our Christian conduct is not gauged by the foods spread out on the table, but by the fact that our lives are spread out before Him. That is the important thing.

One day we are going to have to give an account of the things we have done in this life. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2Co_5:10). At that time it will not be a question of the meat you had on the table; it will be the question of your relationship to Him when you sat down at that table. You can be godless without meat; and you can be godless with meat, of course. Christ’s death and resurrection are given as grounds for Him to exercise lordship over both the dead and the living:

Romans 14:10

“Why dost thou judge thy brother?” You remember that the Lord Jesus said to that bunch of Pharisees who wanted to stone an adulterous woman, “…He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (Joh_8:7). And not one of those boys threw any stones that day. My friend, you and I need to recognize that we have to give account of ourselves to Him. I’ll be honest with you, that disturbs me a little. I am wondering how I am going to tell Him about certain things. So I can’t sit in judgment upon you; I’m worried about Vernon McGee.

Romans 14:13

Paul is going to develop the thought that our conduct has to be for the sake of the weak brother. If I am traveling in the same car with a fellow who believes he should not travel on Sunday, I’m going to have to stay with himnot because I agree with him, but for the sake of a weak brother.

Romans 14:14

Since Christ was willing to die for that weak brother, certainly we ought to be willing to refrain from eating something or doing something that would hurt him in his Christian walk.

Romans 14:16

In other words, liberty does not mean license. The believer is to use his liberty, not abuse it. We are always to keep in mind how our conduct will affect weaker Christians.

Romans 14:17

This is the only reference in this epistle to the Kingdom of God. I do not believe the “kingdom of God” is synonymous with the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew’s Gospel, which finds its final fruition in the millennial and messianic Kingdom here on earth. I believe that the Kingdom of God embraces all that is in God’s created universe, which, of course, includes the church. It is broader and larger and includes God’s reign over all His creation. Lange’s definition is satisfactory: “The heavenly sphere of life in which God’s word and Spirit govern, and whose organ on earth is the Church.” This was our Lord’s use of the term. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Joh_3:3). Well, that is the heavenly sphere of life in which God’s Word and Spirit govern.

As Stifler has said (The Epistle to the Romans, p. 245), “God rules everywhere, but there is a realm where he governs by spiritual forces or laws alone"which is in the area of the life of the believer. Man is totally incapable of seeing or entering this kingdom without the new birth. This kingdom has nothing to do with eating or drinking, fasting, no meat on Friday, no pork, or a vegetarian diet. These things just do not enter into it. “Righteousness”’ in this verse means the same as it does in chapters 1 and 3. It means to be right with God; it means a life lived well-pleasing to Him. “Holy Ghost” apparently goes with righteousness and refers, not to our standing, but to our walkwe are to walk in the Spirit. It is practical rather than theological. It is moral rather than oral. It is a righteousness in the Holy Spirit rather than righteousness in Christ. “Joy” is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. Unfortunately, it is often absent from the lives of believers. There should be joy in our lives. This doesn’t mean you have to run around smiling like a Cheshire cat, but it does mean you are to have a joyful feeling deep in your heart.

Romans 14:18

Although, of course, there will be a literal kingdom on this earth, he is talking here about the spiritual realm that you enter by the new birth. Christ is not served by eating and drinking, but our service to Him must pertain to righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. In these things a believer is well pleasing to God and approved of men. “Approved of men” does not mean that men will get in your cheering section and applaud you because you are a believer. They may even persecute you. But underneath, men do approve of genuine believers, while they despise and reject that which is hypocritical and phony. This is a great principle of conduct. The walk and talk of the believer should please God and meet the approval of the conscience of men.

Romans 14:19

This is a twofold exhortation. To “follow after the things which make for peace” is to eagerly pursue this course of action. The believer is to make a definite effort to avoid the use of food or any physical thing which offends a Christian brother. This would be the negative aspect of the exhortation. The positive aspect is to press toward the mark of spiritual values: righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. These are the things which build up the believer.

Romans 14:20

On account of food, do not tear down the work of God. Of course the believer has the liberty to eat meat or abstain from itbut neither will commend him to God. We are not to tear down the work of God in the heart of some weak believer for the sake of some physical gratification. That old bromide is active: one man’s porridge is another man’s poison. Esau, for instance, had no regard for God or for his birthright. He exchanged it for a bowl of soup. Well, don’t sell your birthright just to satisfy your appetite.

Romans 14:21

Paul returns to these two points: eating and drinking. Then he goes beyond them with the sweeping statement: nor anything. Anything that is questionable and is a matter of conscience for a weak brother becomes wrong for the strong one.

Romans 14:22

CONSCIENCENow verse Rom_14:22 gives us the second great principle of Christian conduct. Let me give you my translation of this verse; The faith which thou hast, have thou thyself in the sight of God. Happy is the man who condemneth not himself in the things which he approvesthat which he does. This is the second principle of conduct for Christians. He has already dealt with the aspect of conviction. As we look toward doing something for God, we ask ourselves the questions: Will it be right for me to do this? Can I do it with excitement and anticipation and joy? Now this second exhortation looks back at what has been done. Happy is the man who does not condemn himself in what he has done. The believer should be able to look back upon his conduct without any qualms of conscience. Let me use an illustration, and I trust you will not misunderstand it. I have been asked the question: “Can a Christian get drunk?” The answer is yes. The prodigal son in Luke 15 was a son out in the far country. I am confident that he got drunk in addition to a few other things, but he was always a son. Then what was the difference between him and the pigs? The difference was that none of those pigs said, “I will arise and go to my father.” You see, as the prodigal son was there with the pigs, he said to himself, I hate it here, and I’m going to get out of this.

I am going back to my father and confess what a sinner I am. What, then, is the difference between the Christian who gets drunk and the non-Christian who gets drunk? The difference is simply this: the next morning the man of the world will get up with a headache, put an ice pack on it, and say, “Boy, I sure had a big time! I’m going to get a bigger bucket of paint and a bigger paint brush, and I am really going to paint the town red the next time!” But what will the child of God do? When he wakes up the next morning with a head as big as a barrel, he drops down by the side of his bed and cries, “Oh, God, I hate myself! I don’t want to do that again.” He confesses his sins to God.

And the interesting thing is there is no record that the prodigal son went back to the pig pen. He didn’t like it there. That is the difference between a believer and an unbeliever. “Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.” My Christian friend, do you look back and hate yourself for what you have done? That is your conscience condemning you. Regardless of what it was and regardless of how many other people do the same thing, for you it was wrong. You might have been in a church (and a church can be a very dangerous place because Satan is therehe goes to church every Sunday morning, and he goes to the best churches). Do you come home from church and say, “I could bite my tongue off. I wish I hadn’t said what I did.” Well, you should not have said it. “Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.”

Romans 14:23

“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” My friend, you are to believe in what you are doing. If you don’t believe in it, you should not be doing it. Here is a new definition of sin for the believer: Any line of conduct or any act which is not the outflow of faith becomes sin. This is the Holy Spirit’s answer of questionable things. As the believer is saved by faith, just so the believer is to walk by faith.