How do we determine who is the weaker brother? Rom. 14:1-2
It is hard to see what Paul says when I read these verses. This study has revealed that I have been misreading this passage my entire life.
I have always read this verse as the new believer is the weaker, and the spiritually mature Christian is the stronger. When read within the context, Paul says the opposite. Those who ate meat were the gentiles or new believers at that time. Those who only ate vegetables were afraid they were eating meat offered to pagan gods or those stuck in Jewish dietary regulations and traditions.
Jesus even addresses this problem in Mark 7:6
“Jesus spoke so strongly because these leaders were far too concerned with trivial matters like ritual washing. When they focused on these trivial traditions, they excluded everyone who didn’t keep the traditions, and so they discouraged them from coming to God.” – David Guzik
Paul addresses the same issue. He is calling the religious leaders the ones weak in faith. This passage was not a metaphor; it was an actual issue they were dealing with, and Paul was intentionally calling out those legalists within the Roman believers. He warns us of the danger of making spiritual maturity an inclusion requirement. Can you discern the things you hold that discourage people from coming to God?
There is a double-edged sword. The weaker brother is the one who cannot handle being in a situation where they must allow someone else to practice their faith differently than they do. If eating or not eating is done out of a sense of being the stronger brother, you have condemned yourself to the weaker brother.
The stronger brother is the one who does or doesn’t do the thing unto the Lord without a sense of spiritual superiority. Paul is saying you cannot claim to be the stronger brother because of your “spiritual maturity”; it was never about spiritual maturity. You are exposing your weak faith in the boast of your spiritual superiority.
These thoughts help answer the question, are there other compromises that lead to destruction in the “do anything” besides food, drink, and days?
I know I wrote these questions, but It is interesting because compromise is not what Paul is telling us to do. Paul is not saying to compromise your conscience. He is saying to live with one another in your differences without judgment. I believe Paul says compromise will lead to destruction, but love won’t.
The problem is that these “do anything” have nothing to do with the things. They had everything to do with the attitude in which we do the things. It was not about the food, drink, or days. It was about the inappropriateness of judging others based on your conscience.
Jesus, again in Mark 7, addresses, “Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men: This is one of the pillars of legalism. Taking a commandment or opinion of men and teaching or promoting it as a doctrine from God is what supports legalism. It gives man’s word the same weight as God’s word.” David Guzik
The truth is my faith and conscience are separate, and conscience should always serve my faith. If I make my faith serve my conscience, I then make my faith dependent on my conscience. I make the foundation of my faith legalism, not my relationship with Christ. Our conscience always seeks to rule us.
I must ask myself regularly: Is the foundation of my faith in Jesus, or is it my conscience? Does my faith drive my conscience, or do I look to my conscience to define my faith? The answer to these serious mirror questions either pushes me closer to Christ and the body or is the wedge between my brother and me.
There is a sobering truth that now sits in my mind. I have the capacity to become the Pharisee or the religious leader that Jesus and Paul were talking about. How do I know I am not one?
Nos & Rehtaf, Dnabsuh 