Romans 13 – 14
Roman’s is one of those books that often has people turned on their heads. Paul not only point out the obvious, but also the subtitle aspects to life. In these chapters he explores many aspects of our living in society and with others. First he looks at our position and the people who rule over us, be it bosses or presidents or kings. Verse 13:1 spells it out very clearly:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Paul later says pay taxes that are owed and others that are due monies. Now I read this and immediately think of the Godly men who founded this nation in direct opposition to Paul’s writings here. Now I know you can’t always take a passage and boldly apply it to every situation, but all that was happening is they were being taxes more than they wanted.
The next thing Paul reiterates is Jesus’ statement on the “greatest commandment” that love covers all aspects. In this case Paul uses the Greek word agape to describe the love he is talking about. So this isn’t the 60’s kind of free love or having sex with anyone that’s around, but rather the selfless love you have for a family member. With this it’s easy to follow the law since your actions will only benefit others and not do harm. Verse 13:10 sums up the way one acts in agape love:
Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
This is why Jesus emphasized this so much, since really we tend to turn our love inward and do what is desired for ourselves. This is something I fight with constantly as far as desiring my own wellness over that of others. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with desiring a better life or cool things; it’s when they become more important than others that this tends to “melt down”.
Paul then dives into how each of us interpret our faith in 14:1:
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
Often times we in the church get wrapped up into our doctrine and feel it’s sinful that others do not follow ours. Drinking is a perfect example where the Baptist church we were members of did not say drinking was a sin, but part of their doctrine was do not drink. 12 Stone, on the other hand, has a much more open policy, where drinking is ok for the congregation. Think about how many times Jesus drank with his disciples.
Now the point isn’t to parse doctrine and determine who is right or not, but to realize some people by faith decide not to drink while others feel it is ok. There is nothing wrong or sinful about either position, where the sin comes in is being judgmental over the other’s doctrine. I especially see this judgment over the doctrine of the Mormons or the Jehovah Witnesses. I know people in both churches very well and have cut to the chase with them on scriptural issues. They both believe Jesus was the son of God, died on the cross for our sins and was buried and rose on the third day. After this it’s all details on doctrine. I don’t judge their faith, because they faithfully believe their doctrine is in faithful obedience to God’s word. Once the basics are covered, I don’t worry about it too much, it’s “different strokes for different folks.”
The key is don’t cause others to stumble or question their faith past the basics. Verses 18 & 19 lay out how we should act with others:
18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up building.
If everyone focused on building other ups and not destroying their brothers, to make them feel superior, our world would be a much simpler place to live in. So focus on the lost, and not on changing someone’s faith to more closely match yours. Notice Paul uses the food laws in both of these sections to illustrate the point that it doesn’t matter if you eat pork or not, don’t use that to cause others to question and stumble along their faith walk. Be steadfast in your faith, but not self-righteous or judgmental.