START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 14:1-12
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OBSERVE:
We can easily forget just how radical this new religion of Christianity was. True, it was predicated on the prophecies and principles of the Jewish faith. But it was a sharp departure from the legalism that had come to characterize the Pharisaical expression of Judaism.
Paul addresses some of the trickier aspects of Christian culture that will require some nuance — food and festivals. For contemporary Christians, these concerns may seem quaint, but for Paul’s time they were of extreme importance.
First of all, he makes it clear that food and festivals are not critical to Christian identity. And he also makes it clear that the church is not a place to wrangle about such issues:
Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.
This is a reassuring word. The church is not given boundaries that keep out those who are weak in faith. The church is to be a place where they can receive sound instruction and grow in faith. However, the church is also not meant to be a debating society. There are some things that are clearly revealed as true, that are not disputable within the church. And there are some things that are matters of opinion and personal practice — what some might call adiaphora, which is defined as “matters not regarded as essential to faith, but nevertheless permissible for Christians or allowed in church.”
Some of these adiaphora include what Christians choose to eat, and what special times they observe. Paul makes it very clear from the very beginning that dietary laws are not central to the Christian faith. This is radical for a Jew who has been steeped in the Pharisaical tradition. The dietary laws of Leviticus were of such importance that they had spawned a cottage industry of commentary in the Oral Laws of the Pharisees — concerning pork, shellfish, blood, lobsters, rabbits, etc. These Oral Laws had come to be regarded as almost equal to the Written Law, but were actually the traditions and interpretations that had been passed down since the exile of Israel in the 6th century B.C.
Paul makes it clear that what a person chooses to eat or not eat is a matter of personal conscience, not religious legislation. Peter had already broken this ground when God called him to cross the line separating Jews and Gentiles. When the Centurion Cornelius invited Peter to come to his home and preach, Peter had experienced a vision preceding this invitation:
He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth, in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky. A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean” (Acts 10:11-15).
This vision seemed to have a dual purpose. On the one hand, symbolically, God was telling Peter that Gentiles were to be included in the church. But on the other hand, Peter was being told that the prohibited foods were no longer forbidden. They had been a part of Israel’s cultural identity, but Christianity transcends cultural and ethnic identity issues.
So Paul’s Solomonic wisdom on this issue is that each person must decide in their own mind what is appropriate to eat. The one thing that he insists on is that whatever a person chooses to eat, as dictated by their own conscience, should not be a matter of division or a source of disapproval:
One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.
In a word, church members are not to judge one another based on diet. Their only judge is God:
Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.
Paul then turns to festival days and sabbaths. The same rule applies:
One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured 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. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.
The sabbath observation in Judaism, and the three major feasts (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles) were central to the identity of Judaism, along with other minor festivals. Paul is not denying the importance of corporate worship in the church. He assumes that Christians meet together on the first day of the week (1 Corinthians 11:18-26; 16:2).
But he is also insistent that the ritual system of sacrifices has been superseded. Certainly, the Gentile is not bound by these Jewish rituals, although we have really good evidence that Paul himself continued to observe them as a Jewish Christian. For example, when he was returning from his missionary journey from Macedonia and Greece, he was eager to arrive back in Jerusalem in time for Pentecost (Acts 20:16). It may well be that Pentecost had assumed a dual purpose, as both a Jewish feast day and a Christian commemoration of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
The bottom line for Paul, though, is the importance of the Christian community established by unity in Christ:
For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
What a person eats, or doesn’t eat; or whether they observe all the same holy days, is not relevant. What is relevant is that they belong to the same Lord, who paid for their salvation with his blood. The mark of identity in this new community of faith is following Christ — not kosher foods or high holy days.
The bottom line is that every person will be held accountable for their actions and their own conscience before God. It is not up to individual members to judge one another:
But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Lest we draw the conclusion that Paul has renounced his Jewish heritage, he quotes the Hebrew Scriptures, from Isaiah 45:23:
For it is written, “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.’”
Ultimately, every person will be judged according to their own relationship with God, not according to human custom or tradition:
So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.
APPLY:
There are a few old cliches that may describe the issue Paul addresses: “don’t major in the minors” and “don’t sweat the small stuff.”
Paul is advising the church in Rome that a person’s diet doesn’t define their faith, nor does their observance of special days. What defines their faith is their relationship with Christ and his church:
For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
One thing we are not to do is judge someone based on their dietary habits or whether they fast, or how they observe the liturgical calendar. Fasting, for example, is a spiritual discipline that is encouraged in both the Old and New Testaments. But the person who fasts is not superior to the person who doesn’t. That is a personal decision. If it enhances our relationship with God, it is commendable. But if a person chooses not to do so, that is between themselves and God.
To take the cliches a little farther — as someone has said: “Don’t sweat the small stuff — and it’s all small stuff.” One person fasts, another doesn’t. One person eschews meat, another eats it. That is not an “essential” matter for salvation.
RESPOND:
Paul’s counsel is ultimately directed toward individual accountability on personal lifestyle issues. That doesn’t mean that these lifestyle decisions don’t matter. Fasting is encouraged in the Christian tradition as a means of enhancing our prayer life and reminding us of our dependence on God. Too much meat, though permissible, does have health consequences — and a vegetarian diet can be of great benefit.
But what we often see, especially in our time, is a kind of moral superiority even among those who are non-religious. The vegetarian may condescend to the person who orders a hamburger at dinner. There are Christian denominations that absolutely prohibit meat, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine. The use of these substances may be debated, and some of them are absolutely of no benefit to the body, but it can’t be demonstrated from Scripture that they separate a person from God. Gluttony and drunkenness are regarded as sins —but those are sins of excess and a lack of self-control. We don’t stop eating simply because of the risk of overeating. Anything that we crave, or to which we become addicted, can become our god — and that can separate us from our primary loyalty to God.
And then there is the warning about time. I tend to like the observance of the liturgical year as observed in my own church — Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost. And all the “holy days”: Christmas Eve, Epiphany Day, Baptism of the Lord, Transfiguration Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week (including Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday), Easter Sunday, The Day of Ascension, Pentecost Sunday, All Saints Day, Christ the King Sunday. And I will admit, that when I’m in a church that doesn’t display the “correct” colors for the proper season, it bothers me a little. Then I have to remember this passage from Romans 14.
At the same time, those from a non-liturgical background should be reminded that they are not to judge traditionalists. Paraments and special days and unique traditions (I think of the beautiful icons in Orthodox churches) don’t save anyone. But as long as those traditions are an enhancement to worship and not the object of worship, the non-liturgical Christian should have no objection.
The bottom line is clear — Christ doesn’t have a “special menu” that every Christian is supposed to choose. Nor does he demand that we all observe the liturgical year. What ultimately matters is that we live to the Lord.
Lord, I do find that when I fast, it makes me more aware of you. And there are special times of the year that raise my awareness of your story. But I don’t seek to impose those practices on others. Help me to live my life by precept and example so that others see you at work in my life, and are drawn to you by my lifestyle. Amen.
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