Romans 14 in Context

I would like to first declare that there will be some information taken from the resource at http://www.yashanet.com/studies/romstudy/text14.htm as I believe this is probably a better job with the text from Romans 14 that I could ever provide. So I guess I should get started with Romans 14 as it should be taken in context. Many people will observe that Romans 14 is a chapter that does away with any need for the Shabbat observance or the kosher dietary law. What I am going to proceed to do before I jump into the detail is copy out Romans 14.

Romans 14
1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.
Interesting to point out here, where has either Shabbat or Kosher law ever been a disputable matter? In the Tanakh it is made very clear that the Shabbat is to be followed, and food is even defined in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. Pig is described as disgusting in the book of Isaiah, so we see this carried forward. And in 1 Timothy 4:3 it states "3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth." What did God create to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe? We will direct your attention back to Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, where it devotes 2 chapters of the Torah to describing and goes into extensive detail. We thus know that the kosher law, part of the Torah is not a disputable matter. It has already been settled. We proceed.


2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

At Yashanet, it is stated that those whose faith is weak is actually describing the Talmudic Jews. Essentially in the oral tradition it makes the claim that Jews should not dine with Gentiles. So basically the problem we have addressed is that Paul is making the claim that the Talmudic Jews should be able to eat the meat served by Gentiles, so long as its kosher. Refer back to 1 Timothy 4:3, to show that Paul teaches that God has only allowed certain foods to be cleaned, and he teaches this to the Gentiles. I believe this is referring to something else however. I think another interesting thing to mention is that if this were talking about vegetables, it refers to those who are vegetarians as weak. Thus it would appear that it is describing those who do not eat of the passover lamb as weak if it were to relate to kosher law. Likely however given the context of verse 1 and what the Talmud states about dining with Gentiles, it is a direct reference to the Talmud.

3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

It appears this is talking to a group of those people who are Gentiles and have accepted Yeshua based on teachings from Romans 9-11. Thus it goes further to demonstrate that these believers are not strictly Gentile pagans, but rather new believers to the faith. In context of this light, it appears that the man whose faith is weak is those who follow God's commands, but not God. Thus we have the Halakah Jews here. The Halakah Jews as I will refer to them as are those Jews who follow the kosher diet in the first place. Thus its safe to say that when he is talking about eating, he is referring to food defined in Leviticus 11 in the first place. It is simply again the halakah issue of following the belief that Jews should not eat with Gentiles that is at risk here, since that would be a disputable matter or opinion based. While it appears that God has accepted him and we should not pass judgment utilizing our own opinions on this matter, it nowhere states that we should not utilize what God states in regards to the obedience factor. Paul will later lay claim to what is required to be in obedience to God's word. But in regards to what man has to say, he is stating it does not matter because we are not a slave to the oral traditions of man. Again, while he has been accepted by God, whether or not he's following God's word is another matter.

5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

This verse is often taken by Christians to mean that whatever day is meant to be holy should be followed in regards to when they should celebrate holidays, and thus since the "holy" days of God don't mean anything to them, they should do away with them. Again, we go back to whether or not this is a disputable matter. Its funny though that Paul praises doers of the Torah in Romans 2 and this conclusion can be come to. In fact Paul never addresses the days held to be holy by God in a negative light. The question becomes, what is Paul talking about here? Actually the resource above agrees with my conclusions. Its likely this passage has to do with Halakah following Jews drawing issue to which days they should eat with the Gentiles because of the fact that they didn't know which days the market held food not sacrificed to idols. Paul proceeds further from this conclusion. Romans 3:28-31 refutes a need for this to have anything to do with the Shabbat observance, also Romans 7:12, and Romans 11:28-29.

6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Up unto this point, we see that Paul reiterates his point that the God of the Jews is the God of the Gentiles and that we are one under God. Essentially, that viewpoint is stated again and again in Numbers 9:14 and also Numbers 15:13-16. So its a verse that applies to both Jew and Gentile even from the Torah.

9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.

11It is written: " 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.' "[a] 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.

Again much of this stuff is reiterated from the Torah. We will have to answer to everything that we have done in the past. So we don't deviate from the Torah. Also its interesting that we can confirm that Paul is talking about those engrafted into the olive tree by stating that one should not put an obstacle or a block in their brother's way. So basically, we will all give an account as to what we eat even. The whole concept of putting a stumbling block in front of your brother goes back to the Torah in Leviticus 19:14 - 14 " 'Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD. And one stumbling block that could be put in front of a brother is to teach against what Yeshua says in Matthew 5:17-20. So since this is the case, a stumbling block would also be defined as not following the parts of Torah in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. Thus this refers to nothing regarding the kosher diets.

14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food[b] is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.

We finally get to the meat of what Paul is talking about here. He defines the very thing that he has been alleged to be talking about is that the matter is of whether something is food or not. The same mistake is made in 1 Corinthians 8-10. Again, the point to be made is that the food is unclean if it is not kosher. Paul never takes this away from his writing, as again, it is referring to matters of opinion. Thus this is made very clear. God's law is not a matter of opinion, and it never has been made so by him. Anything not defined to be food from the Torah is not something that Paul condones eating.

15If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.

If any interpretation can be thought of here, it is that eating can destroy someone who is trying to follow Yeshua and that we should not allow a brother to fall based off of what someone eats. Romans 6 teaches Gentiles to follow the Torah, as does Romans 3:8 and Romans 12. These verses and chapters are shared with the source above. Its important to realize that Paul is at this point calling those who are Jews and those who are Gentiles following the Torah as brothers in Messiah.

17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,

It would follow since the Torah is described as being righteous in Romans 7:12 that the matter is not referring to observance of the actual act of eating and drinking, but following and having the intention of being righteous to God by following his Torah out of love.


18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

And in order to serve Yeshua, we must keep his commandments. Torah is included here.

19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

The interesting point to be made concerning verse 19 is that it follows with the teaching of Hillel. "Be disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people, and drawing them near to the Torah. " Talmud, Avot 1:12. This comes directly from the school of Hillel. He is teaching them to follow the Torah as indicative of the language he utilizes in the Bible. Again, all food is clean, but food is defined as by Paul who is a Jew as that in conformity to God's word. A part of peace is love and a part of love is following the commandments of God. So it is best that people not eat meat or drink any wine that will cause those who follow Yeshua to fall. We should teach our brothers in essence to follow kosher law.

Basically there is nothing in this chapter that teaches against following the Shabbat, the festivals of God nor kosher law. If we go back to Colossians 2, the only issue at hand is the human traditions of mankind. That is the halakah, the dogma. There is no reason to follow suit with the idea that the Torah has been done away with. The final part of Romans 14 makes a similar claim. Essentially what is done regarding kosher law is to be kept between mankind and God, not the rabbis. We should not condemn ourselves by following the Torah according to how man describes it to be followed. Thus it follows that Paul teaches this chapter in accord with how mankind should follow the Torah.