Walking in the Way of Love
6/30/25 Bible Thought (Romans 14)
We live in a day and age where people will generally do what is best for them and vilify anyone who opposes their personal liberty.
The cultural standard is that people ought to mind their own business, never tell others what to do, and therefore they are free to do anything no matter how offensive it might be to others. Their liberty is king, even over the liberties of others.
Not so for the Christian. Those who follow Jesus are to willingly lay themselves low in order to put others first. They are to look not only to their own interests, but also to the interests of others (Phil. 2:4).
This is the focus of Romans 14. The apostle Paul outlined the importance of love in the latter half of chapter 13. He pointed out that, “The one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:8).
Now, in chapter 14 he outlines one of the practical ways that love is lived out in Christian community, namely by limiting personal liberty.
The examples given are quarreling over what is appropriate to eat or drink, and also whether one day is more significant than another. In the original context it probably came as a result of Jewish Christians struggling to know the relationship between the law and its fulfillment in Christ.
Scholar, Clinton Arnold, writes,
“It is, rather, a person who has not yet come to the conviction—because of the “pull” of a life spent in Judaism—that the Christian faith allows him or her to eat meat, drink wine, and ignore Jewish holy days.”[1]
There were a variety of feasts in the Old Testament that were very important to the Jewish people. Likewise, the Sabbath observance every week was very important. Beyond this, there was also a variety of food laws with clean versus unclean foods and things of this nature.
Now, in Christ, many of these laws were fulfilled and need no longer apply, a harsh reality for many with long-standing convictions regarding them.
Interestingly enough, Paul’s conclusion is that both sides can bring honor to God with what they do, even if their actions are opposite of one another.
One observes a special day in honor of the Lord, whereas another esteems all days alike in honor of the Lord (Rom. 14:5). Likewise, the one who eats certain meats and things that were formerly forbidden does so in honor of the Lord and the one who abstains does so in honor of the Lord (Rom. 14:6).
Ultimately, the greater issue is that the believer belongs to the Lord (Rom. 14:8) and we are here to honor Him. Yet, that is done oftentimes through caring for our brother or sister who might have a weaker conscience.
As Paul writes in another place,
“’All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (1 Cor. 10:23-24).
The believer’s goal ought to be walking in love towards our fellow believers.
Perhaps at times our convictions will differ from them. That’s okay. In fact, when it comes to matters of conscience that aren’t clearcut in the Scripture, we can both honor God even with our different approaches.
Yet, in so doing, we don’t honor God if we vilify them or cause them to stumble through the exercise of our personal liberty. Therefore, liberty ought to always be limited in love. Truly, this brings God more honor than all of our convictions put together.
[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Romans to Philemon. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 83.