Job CCXLVI

 There are clear and well-defined guardrails in the Word of God. There are practices the Word calls sin that are sin, regardless of how many people insist otherwise, or who the individual giving license to practice them might be. There are virtues we are called upon to nurture, grow, and mature, such as prayer, fasting, the study of Scripture, and the building up of our most holy faith; then there are personal convictions that are by definition personal, and not to be insisted upon as divine commandments for the rest of the body of Christ. Personal convictions and God’s commands are not interchangeable, nor do they hold equal weight.

Romans 14:1, “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.”

The verse itself is clear enough, but when did we ever allow Scripture to get in the way of imposing our will on others or insisting that our personal convictions are on par with the voice of God Himself? It is, after all, so much fun sitting in judgment and judging everything everyone else is doing as though we were responsible for keeping the judgment seat of Christ warm until He gets around to judging those who will stand before it on the day of days.

We are not to shun but rather to receive those who are weak in the faith, and we are to do so for a specific purpose. Contrary to popular belief, the purpose is not to dispute over doubtful things. Another applicable word for “doubtful” within this context is “unclear”. If the Word of God is clear on a topic, whatever that topic might be, then we must declare it as such boldly and without equivocation. If, however, it is unclear as to whether wearing a necktie is cause to cast you into outer darkness, or wearing a wedding band will bar you from entry into the Kingdom, then insisting it is so means you are playing God, and making up rules for others to follow that the Bible never said one should. A personal conviction is just that: personal!

Romans 14:2-4, “For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.”

So does this mean we have freedom to do as we will? Are the few preachers and teachers insisting upon holiness, repentance, righteousness, and purity just old fuddy-duddies, relics of a bygone era, clinging to precepts that no longer apply? No, this passage does not give anyone the freedom to sin; it reaffirms the truth that those who have been freed from sin are allowed to be individuals, preferring peaches over kale, steak over tofu, and a nice baked potato over a salad with fat-free drizzle dressing on the side. The entire passage is within the context of those who belong to the Lord, who live or die to the Lord, and whose purpose is the glory of God in their lives.

I don’t have the right to judge you for drinking tea, just as you don’t have the right to judge me for drinking coffee. This passage is not about rebellion, disobedience, or disregard for the Word of God and its guardrails; it’s about picking out one thing that you don’t do that someone else is doing that is not defined as a sin in the Bible, yet judging them for doing it and thinking them less spiritual than yourself.

Romans 14:5-10, “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”

If the grace of God were as hard to come by as the grace brothers show brothers nowadays, heaven would end up being an empty place. Again, Paul isn’t talking about sin in the camp or disobedience of God’s Word. He is specifically pointing out that a personal conviction, or a personal preference, does not give me the right to feel spiritually superior to another, nor does it give me the right to judge or show contempt for a fellow brother in Christ.

Insisting that someone isn’t saved because they don’t believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, don’t read the King James exclusively, or wear jeans to church that one time instead of khakis, is as absurd as Eliphaz insisting that Job’s suffering was evidence of his wickedness.

He’s not clapping along, so he must not be feeling the Spirit. That’s a leap, isn’t it? Perhaps you failed to notice the tears and the groaning because you were so focused on the clapping. Perhaps their relationship and intimacy with God go beyond the performative to something real, tangible, and heart-piercing.

Paul noticed enough of a pattern of both judgment and contempt among brothers developing in the early church that he felt obliged to address it. It has not lessened over the millennia; it has only increased, and more and more people feel entitled to determine the eternity of others based on their personal convictions rather than on the Word of God.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.