Religious Ethics

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A Weak Brother

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This chapter has to do with our conduct toward religious differences. First Paul states the problem and then he gives suggestions for solving the problem. First, lets look at the problem. Jewish tradition was the problem. There were two areas in Jewish tradition that was causing problems with the Gentiles. The Jews were trained to observe certain Laws concerning meat and the observance of certain days of ceremony while the Gentiles has no such training in their background. Now notice the difference in the way that Paul resolves this problem compared to the way he resolved it years before in Jerusalem. Before, Paul and Barnabas had been sent to Jerusalem by the church at Antioch to resolve the problem of imposing Jewish customs upon Gentile Christians. The Council at Jerusalem, at Paul's urging, resolved not to impose these customs upon the Gentile believer, however, they suggested, for the sake of harmony, that certain customs be respected by the Gentiles.

Now, what is Paul's attitude in this case? Has he changed his opinion? Notice both problems were caused by "weak brothers". Well why didn't they just get rid of the weak brothers? No, Paul says, "Welcome the weak brother into the fellowship", but not for his opinion over disputes. This created a "second class" membership, however, the problems needed to be resolved and Paul believed that they were caused by the fact that not all members were strong in the faith.

Observance of Days

Problem #1 Ceremonial Days. One man still feels obligated to observe the old ceremonial days and the other has no such obligation and is totally indifferent toward them. The first man has a Jewish background and he still observes the Passover, new moons and the Feast of the Tabernacles. The second, a Gentile, exercised his freedom in Christ and felt obligated to only on ceremonial day, the Lord's Day.

Food

So..... Problem #2, Food. One ate everything, the other only vegetables. Paul says that the first man, the one that ate everything, was the strong Christian. He was satisfied that God had made everything good and nothing, in and of itself, was unclean. The second man was weak and believed that meat was unclean and therefore should not be eaten

How does Paul resolve this? First of all, Paul says that these problems were mis-handled and blown way out of proportion. It was not so much the differences of opinion concerning these two problems as it was prejudice that created an atmosphere of disagreement. Those who were strong in their faith did not require the observance of customs to feel justified. They knew that they were justified by their faith in Jesus Christ. Those who not strong in the faith, still felt obligated to the old customs.

Now, how did Paul suggest that they handle these problems? First he told them how not to do it. "Do not ex-communicate, suspend or attempt to silent either side." Rather, use mutual forbearance and reasoning. Then he set some rules for both sides. For the strong: Receive the weak, lend them a hand, dwell upon those things in which you agree, do not quarrel with the weak brother, do not judge his weakness and do not expose his weakness but do all that you can do to strengthen him. For the weak his rules were, as they should have been, very simple: Do all that you do in honor of the Lord, do not refrain from eating meat for the sake of custom, do not observe "days" out of habit, let al of your efforts be for the honor of the Lord.

Now, why did Paul believe that these were right? First of all, God had welcomed both in to His kingdom, who are we to pass judgment. Both will be able to "stand" because the Lord makes us able to stand. Secondly, it was a matter of conscience. Paul says that whatever you do, eat or not eat, observe or not observe, be fully convinced in your heart that what you are doing is bringing honor to the Lord. Thirdly, Be sure that we never put a "stumbling block" in the way of our brother. Now this gets in the way of our liberties that we have in Christ.

Paul says, "I am convinced that nothing is unclean in and of itself, but if someone thinks that something is unclean, it becomes unclean." "Therefore, if your brother is caused to stumble by what you are doing, you are no longer walking in love." "Do not let what you do cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died, for the Kingdom of God is not food or drink or ceremonies, it is righteousness and peace and joy."

Therefore, Paul is telling us that there will be times when we will have to give up our freedoms that we have in Christ in order that a weaker brother may not fall. The goal should be always the up-building of the whole not the insistence of our freedoms. How do you think Paul resolved these problems? Who gave up what?

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