STRONG AND WEAK BROTHERS

Romans 14 is one of the most abused and misused chapters in the Bible. There are preachers and theologians of many different religious persuasions who interpret this chapter as allowing just about any doctrinal position the fertile mind of man can invent. For example, in Rubel Shelly and John York's book, The Jesus Proposal: A Theological Framework for Maintaining the Unity of the Body of Christ (Siloam Springs, AR: Leafwood Publishers, 2003), Rubel Shelly leaves the impression that Romans 14 applies to differences over "interpretations about the millennium, worship, and church polity." He says it is a pity that these "can separate disciples of Christ from one another so as to create mutually exclusive parties of sectarians" (p. 152). He seems to believe that doctrinal heresy means "either to deny the deity of Christ or the humanity of Jesus" (p. 153). He asks if Christians should divide over different views of the expression, "this is my body" or "this is my blood," in the Lord's Supper. Should we have conflicts over whether spiritual gifts are still available for the church (p. 153)? Rubel reports on a visit he made to Pakistan. He says the people there did not "argue over worship styles or over whether divorced people should be allowed to come to church (p. 155). So does that prove that worship styles are of no importance? Does it prove that the marital condition of church members is of no significance? Where does the question of authority fit in with the work and worship of the church?

Rubel discusses the weak brothers at Rome who were opposed to eating meat (Rom. 14:2), observing certain days as holy days (Rom. 14:5), either drinking or not drinking wine (Rom. 14:21). If you have carefully read Romans 14, you know it applies only to matters of opinion - not to doctrinal concepts. Whether a Christian eats flesh or does not eat flesh it is of no consequence. If a man decides to set aside a special day and mediate and worship God on that day, it does not matter. Paul encouraged the Christians at Rome: "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" (Rom. 14:3). However, "If your brother be grieved with your meat, you are not walking charitably. Destroy not him with your meat, for whom Christ died" (Rom. 14:15). Every Christian must be concerned about the welfare of his brothers and sisters in Christ.

Paul told the Roman Christians: "For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's" (Rom. 14:7-8). In matters of opinion, Christians must be very careful not to offend a weak brother. When my Molly and I worked with one church, there was a member of that church who had objections to eating in the church building - not in the church - in the church building. He did not believe the church was liberal because we occasionally ate meals in the building. On more than one occasion, I pointed out that the church was not the building. Nobody ever pressured him and his family to join us in our fellowship meals. But over a period of years, he was convinced that eating in the building was not a violation of the scriptures. He had no intention of causing trouble and none who disagreed with his position tried to embarrass him for his beliefs. The situation could not have resolved itself more amicably. Is that not the purpose of Romans 14?

The Christians at Corinth were converted from rank paganism. They had been guilty of virtually every sin you can imagine and some you probably cannot imagine. One of the sins at Corinth was idolatry (1 Cor. 6:9). In that ancient Greek city, there were many idols. The chief ones were Asklepios, the god of healing, Apollo, the god of manly beauty, and Aphrodite, probably the most influential of all the heathen gods or goddesses. Aphrodite was the so-called "goddess of love," or more properly, the goddess of lust. She was almost certainly the same as Astarte, the oriental goddess of fertility. Incidentally, the same goddess of the Romans was called Venus. She was supposed to be the mother of Cupid.

Since the Bible from almost the beginning to the end unequivocally condemned idolatry, how could Christians ever eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols? If they ate meat as an act of worship, they were guilty of sacrificing to demons (l Cor. 10:19-21). But if a person went to the local meat market and bought meat that had been sacrificed to idols, that was not forbidden. Paul explained to the Corinthians: "As concerning therefore those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and there is none other God but one" (l Cor. 8:4). Tragically, not everyone could discriminate between the eating of meat sacrificed to an idol and idol worship. The weak brothers might be led to sin if they saw a strong brother eating meat that had been sacrificed to an idol. Paul asked the strong brother, that is, the one who knew it was not wrong to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols: "Shall not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; and through your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died"? (1 Cor. 8:10-11) Paul concluded: "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stands, lest I make my brother to offend" (1 Cor. 8:13).

The word of God provides the guidelines we must observe in dealing with matters of opinion. I shall have time to mention a few of them. Should not every Christian remember what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount? "Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Mt. 7: 12). Love for our brothers and sisters must govern our attitudes and actions, even if it involves some inconvenience. Since none of us lives or dies to himself, we must be understanding and tolerant of others (Rom. 14:7). Paul admonished the Romans: "Let us therefore follow after the things that make for peace, and the things wherewith one may edify another" (Rom. 14:19).

If we ignore the honest convictions of a weak brother and lead him to sin against his conscience, it is sinful on our part. Paul argued: "He who doubts is damned if he eat, because he does not eat of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). Sometimes this principle is difficult to explain. But the principle is very simple. If you believe an act is wrong, for example, eating in a church building, and you do it, it is wrong to you. Why would it be wrong for you and not necessarily for others? Because you are not eating of faith, that is, you are being a hypocrite. Whatever you cannot do conscientiously, you sin if you do it.

Does the principle work in the opposite direction? If I do not believe an act is wrong, even when it is wrong, does my believing it is not wrong make it right? For example, there are people who claim to believe that premarital sex is not wrong, especially if two young people are deeply in love or think they are. But premarital sex and extramarital sex are wrong - always wrong. It does not matter what you or anyone else thinks. The Bible specifically and unequivocally condemns all sex outside the marriage relationship. Paul commanded the Corinthians: "Flee fornication" (1 Cor. 6:18). The tense of the verb means to make a practice of fleeing from sexual immorality. Paul told the Thessalonians: "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. For you know what commandment we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication" (1 Thess. 4:1-3). Those who engage in sexual immorality shall not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Jesus himself said that the sexually immoral "shall have their part in the lake that bums with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8).

After telling the Roman Christians not to engage in activities if they were not convinced they were right, the Apostle Paul pled with them: "We then who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them who reproached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope" (Rom. 15: 1-4). I shall devote the remainder our time to an examination of these verses.

By the term "strong" Paul does not have in mind the person who has a bloated opinion of his knowledge and experience. Pride is always offensive to God almighty. Paul told the Roman Christians: "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3). Strong Christians are those who have studied the scriptures, applied them to their lives and have a concern for teaching them to others. The strong are the spiritually mature and the weak are the spiritually immature. The strong must be committed to showing love to those who have not matured in the faith.

Paul urges the strong "to bear the infirmities of the weak." Have you not known members of the church who were new in the faith or who had not made an intense investigation of God's word? They were not bad people, but immature. The author of Hebrews had such people in mind when he wrote: "For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and have become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For every one who uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them who are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Heb. 5:12-14).

I remember talking with a brother more than forty years ago. He told me he thought it was wrong to use the church's money to help non-Christians. I asked him if the church could take care of orphans. He said the church could take care of orphans if the orphan's parents had been Christians. I then asked: "Do you believe God wants us to discriminate against orphans because they were not born into a Christian family?" How can anyone overlook these words: "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of the faith" (Gal. 6:9-10)?

There is a good ending to that story. About fifteen or twenty years after our initial conversation, we met one day for a meal. We discussed many of the problems the church faces. We discussed the church's obligation to help all people we can - non-members as well as members. He had changed his mind completely and thought it was ridiculous that anyone would take the position that the church could not help non-Christians. Somewhere along the line, some strong brother had helped that weak brother.

The word "infirmities" in this context does not mean physical sicknesses. The word basically means weak or failing. The New American Standard Bible renders the Greek "weaknesses." Vine says the word refers to "those scruples which arise through weakness of the faith. The strong must support the infirmities of the weak by submitting to self-restraint" (p. 587). Douglas Moo's commentary on The Epistles to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996) correctly observes: "Paul is not urging the strong simply to 'bear with, to tolerate" or 'put up with' the 'weak' and their scruples... In this light, what Paul is exhorting the 'strong' to do is willingly and lovingly to assume for themselves the burden that these weak believers are carrying" (p.866).

The strong must bear the infirmities of the weak. The Greek verb translated "bear" means to carry a load for another. In his book, The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1961), Dr. R. C. H. Lenski says: "The idea suggested is not that of good humor in tolerating the weakness of the unable, of permanently adjusting oneself to them as being something of a nuisance, but of a load that requires strength to bear it and to which one puts his shoulder in order to help bear it until it is disposed of. These weaknesses afflict the unable, and we carry them in order to help the unable until they, too, grow able" (p. 858).

Should not our goal be to help every brother and sister in Christ to grow to maturity - not to please ourselves? Would it surprise you that some churches have had conflicts over whether to use the red songbook or the green one? There was a brother in one of the churches in middle Tennessee who objected to individual communion cups on the Lord's table. The elders decided to use individual communion cups for the congregation, but used the larger container for that one brother. It appears that the size of the container and not the number of containers was the problem for that brother. Was he just being cantankerous?

If we are determined to get our way, regardless of other people's beliefs and preferences, we do not have the attitude of Christ. "Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification" (Rom. 15:2). Paul urged the Galatians: "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2). How can we help a brother or sister to become full-grown unless we are willing to make sacrifices on their behalf?

Please remember that Paul is discussing matters of opinion, such as, eating meat as contrasted with eating vegetables. He is not speaking of the Bible's teaching on such matters as the plan of salvation, the government of the church or the Lord's second coming. Paul exhorted the Romans: "But if your brother be grieved with your meat, now you are not walking charitably. Destroy not him with your meat, for whom Christ died. Let not your good be evil spoken of: for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:15-17).

Christians must have the mind of Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:5). Paul explained to the Romans: "For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them who reproached thee fell on me" (Rom. 15:3). We know Christ was always devoted to pleasing God. He told some of the Pharisees: "He who sent me is with me: the Father has not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him" (John 8:29). We know Christ was completely committed to doing the will of God, even though it meant dying on a Roman Cross. But we also know he dreaded the suffering he would experience. Did not our Lord pray: "0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Mt. 26:39)?

In one of his great chapters on giving, Paul told the Corinthians what Christ gave. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich" (2 Cor. 8:9). What are we willing to sacrifice that our weak brothers and sisters may not become discouraged and depart from the faith? Paul explained to the Romans: "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby your brother stumbles, or is made weak" (Rom. 14:21). The same apostle told the Corinthians: "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat not flesh while the world stands, lest I make my brother to offend" (1 Cor. 8:13).

Christ was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice - a cruel death on the cross for our salvation. In most cases, we are not called on to do the same. In Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, we are simply encouraged to make minimal sacrifices for the welfare of our weak brothers and sisters. And what could be a greater blessing than to witness the growth of a weak brother or sister?

New Testament Christianity is a "one another" religion. Have you noticed how many times the New Testament writers use the expression, "one another?" I have time to give you just a few examples. Christians are "members one of another" (Rom. 12:5). "Owe no man anything, but to love one another" (Rom. 13:8). "Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God" (Rom. 15:7). "Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32). "Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently" (1 Pet. 1:22).

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334