6, 8, 10, and now 14. It is on Island 14 that we’ll camp for the rest of this fog bank. The church in Rome had very similar problems as Corinth. God used Paul to deliver more insights on the “Gray Area” principles.
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living (Romans 14:1-9).
Early church life during Paul’s day must have been SOOO trying. Why weren’t there definitive answers to basic questions such as: What can I eat and not eat and still please God? What day should I worship on—Saturday (the original Sabbath, the day set apart in the Ten Commandments and the day set aside for Jews) or Sunday (the day Jesus rose from the dead) or EVERY DAY (which is what the early believers did in Acts 4 & 5)? Paul gave an amazing background principle that should guide each of these decisions in the local church. In the area below, see if you can capture this principle and apply it to something the church is involved with today (if appropriate).
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
