Studying His Word and His Works

Listen to the study here: Romans 14:1-13

Read here: Romans 14

Review

• Calvin on the theme of Romans: “Man’s only righteousness is the mercy of God in Christ, when it is offered by the Gospel and received by faith.” Romans 1:17 and elsewhere.
• IMPORTANT: Paul wrote the letter to the saints (1:7), and the letter is about the gospel, which is a reminder we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily. 
• Luther: Simul iustus et peccator = At the same time, righteous and a sinner! Romans 3:23-25
• In Ch. 1-3 Paul shows us our unrighteousness, and God’s wrath against that, and then switches to Christ’s righteousness as our covering, the propitiation of our sins (Romans 3:25) as the final sacrifice for sin, fulfilling the promise to Abraham, who had faith before any works
• Faith being “counted” or “credited to our account” as righteousness is mentioned 11 times in Chapter 4! If “none are righteous” as Paul wrote in Romans 3:10, then this saving faith must be a gift from Jesus, the founder of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
• Ch. 5, We now have peace with God, access to God, and hope, because of what Christ did for us while we were weak(v. 6), sinners (v. 8), and enemies (v. 10). Christ did this “at the right time,” (v. 6), connecting Christ’s work on the cross and God’s plan of redemption to real history (not just a myth or legend).
  • Atonement(5:6-11): Jesus satisfying God’s wrath for us through His sacrificial death on the cross.
• Ch. 5 and 6 describe federalism, this idea of one man making a difference, for righteousness (Jesus) or wickedness (Adam). 
• Ch 6 ended with lots of words pointing to the new road we are now on with Christ, the sanctification road.
  • Service is the key word, “slaves” used 8 times
  • “Present yourselves”(5), “Leads to”(5)
• Sproul: “our regeneration, our rebirth was the work of one Person, God. It was not a joint venture; but from the moment we take our first breath of regenerated spiritual life, it  becomes a joint effort.” the work of one Person is what salvation is about. The joint venture is what sanctification is about. Ch.6 ends and we continue into Ch.7 describing what this “sanctification road” looks like to walk down. We were on the sin road that leads to death, but now we are on the grace road that leads to eternal life.
• Chapter 8 is describing the assurance we have as Christians in salvation. Deus pro nobis – God for us. It is a reminder of God’s sovereignty over our salvation, and God’s infinite wisdom, in the creation, fall, redemption plan he has for not just us, but the whole world. Ultimately, God, not us, foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies and glorifies. There are many verses (Romans 2:4, John 3:16, etc) that point to God’s patience with everyone, His love for everyone, that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9), so I believe there is some free will in there somewhere, perhaps an ability to answer the call, or not. But, even if we answer the call, it is God who initiated. Even if we are crying out for God, “feeling our way to Him” like Acts 17:27 says, we are only doing this because He has already called. We are MORE THAN CONQUERORS, not on our own of course, but “through Him who loved us” from before time began. 
• Chapter 9 continues on the point of election, which, if you think about it, Paul has been discussing since Romans 1:1 when he said he was “set apart”. Paul continues to hammer the point that it is God’s free will, not ours, that matters most. It’s good to keep in mind the complexity of God, as he is not just electing, but he is doing a bunch of things simultaneously and eternally. He is electing, foreknowing, predestining, calling, justifying, glorifying, answering prayer, “giving them over to a debased mind” (Romans 1:28-32) while also being kind as a means to lead people to repentance (Romans 2:4), showing mercy to some and hardening others (9:18). It’s like God is working on an eternal and therefore infinite scale, but also an instantaneous and therefore infinitesimal scale. Pastor John Macarthur, who went home to Jesus in 2025, described this as a parallelism, God’s sovereign election running alongside the “whoever believes in Him will have eternal life” of John 3:16. It is Euler’s “every instant,” of God initiating, so the saved are always indebted to Him. And it’s also Paul’s “unceasing anguish” for the lost in 9:2, something we should ask God to give us, too. And something that clearly shows that God predestines us to a team, His team, and we are working with Him to save sinners. He’s just team captain and MVP. He gets all the glory!
  • Also remember that Paul references almost 50 OT verses in Chapter 9 alone. He is retelling Israel’s story in many places to serve as a reminder of God’s sovereign will over nations, but also individuals like Pharoah, Moses, Jacob and Esau, etc. Some want to say election is only about nations, or only individuals, but this is another both/and. 
  • Romans 9:6 is key (I think) to understanding a lot of Ch. 9-11. We need to keep going back to this, that “not all Israel belongs to Israel.” What Paul is getting at here is that true Israel are believers, regardless of nation or ancestry.
• Chapter 10 also discusses election, as well as Macarthur’s “parallelism”, or even the “3 strands are not easily broken” analogy in Ecclesiastes 4:12. Think about it, God could just yell the gospel down from heaven if wanted, but he chooses to use us, weak on our own but strong in Him. Ch. 10 describes a deep, personal bond God has with believers. Paul also describes Israel’s history of disobedience, how they did not hear the gospel, but in Ch. 11 again reminds that God preserves a remnant.
• In Chapter 11, there is one tree, with branches being broken off and grafted in. One body of covenant believers, and broken branches are those who had the outward signs like circumcision (OT) or baptism (NT) but no belief, no Holy Spirit-given gift of faith, no imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Chapter 11 hints that God works through individuals of course, but also nations, and that He is not done with ethnic Israel. He used Israel’s “stumbling” to lead the gentiles to salvation, and these verses say he will eventually use the gentiles to lead Israel to salvation. Paul also reiterates that salvation is by grace, not works, that God is merciful in spite of man’s disobedience. Paul ends Ch. 11 with what Calvin called “finitum non capax infinitum,” meaning, “the finite cannot grasp the fullness of the infinite.” Stay humble, don’t think you have to figure everything out about God because you can’t! It’s also important to note that all Paul says in Ch. 11 is that God still has a plan for Israel. The only emphasis Paul makes in Ch. 9-11 is on their salvation, on a mission mindset, which is something modern evangelical churches should refocus on. Getting away from blind political support for Israel, and praying for and getting the gospel to Jew and Gentile in the region. 
• Chapter 12 saw a switch from mostly describing God and his character, to application for believers. To discipleship. Verses 1-2 describe the importance for Christians to turn from the world, the “spirit of the age” and present themselves to Christ. With the Holy Spirit in you now as a Christian, He WILL renew your mind, whether you like it or not, but it is a joint effort, it is clear it is not robotic, you have choices to make, to turn and present (v. 1), or not, to think with sober judgment (v. 3), or not, to do everything in verses 9-21 that you can as a Christian, or not. Verses 3-8 focused on spiritual gifts, which make us unique in the body, while verses 9-21 describe things that all Christians can be, regardless of gifts. Ch. 12 ended with a Proverbs 25:21-22 reference to smother evil with good, and a judicial system that upholds 10 Commandment based laws is one way. All three spheres (family, church, civil government) executing justice and mercy in accordance with their positions is a good thing
• Chapter 13 was about responding biblically to government and what ideal, godly government should look like. It ended by describing how we should treat our neighbors, which means both Christians and non-Christians, in agape love, which is a fulfillment of the law.

Intro

• Key words: one (13); Lord (9); God (7); eats, judgment (6); pass (5); person, who, abstains, live, pass judgment (4); honor, day, brother, die, another (3); faith, despise (2)
• Ch. 14 is focused on how to behave as a church body. We are dead in our sins but alive in Christ. We are not alive in our personal rules and regulations. We are not alive in gluten free eating or essential oil use or being “reformed” or “prosperity gospel followers,” etc. We are alive in Christ alone, because of Christ alone. Paul warns against judgmental attitudes on things that are a matter of opinion.
• Sproul begins his chapter by comparing legalism and antinomianism.
  • Antinomianism- basically all the logical, but false, conclusions people come to regarding grace, and that Paul addresses using the phrase “by no means!”, especially the “keep on sinning so grace may abound” stuff in Romans 3:6, 3:31, 6:2, and 6:15.
  • Legalism – that everything is a sin, or creating “purity rules” that everyone must adhere to or they are cast out of the friend group. It binds the freedom that grace gives.
    • Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of things we do are not inherently evil. Adam and Eve only had one thing they couldn’t do. We have 10. We aren’t Jewish, so Jewish customary laws don’t apply to us, but 10 commandments do, as Paul just alluded to at the end of Chapter 13.
      • For example, I gave up windsurfing when I was younger because I would get so angry about falling. I was not glorifying God in my actions and words. There wasn’t anything inherently evil about windsurfing, it was my attitude that was way off. I didn’t start looking at other windsurfers as “sinful”, I just knew I needed to take a break for a while. 
  • Regarding legalism and food, Paul had to teach this Romans 14 lesson to the Corinthians and Colossians, too.
    • Spurgeon reminds that Paul was specifically referring here to disagreements among believers regarding Jewish customary laws, to keep or not keep them. In his 1,601st sermon, Spurgeon wrote: “Paul, who was himself most strongly opposed to the Judaizing party, and in every respect came out clear and straight upon the bold lines of Christian liberty, was, nevertheless, so actuated by the spirit of his Master that he was ready to be all things to all men, and seeing grave peril of dissension where all should be love, he rushed into the breach, and he said, “Do not judge one another: what have ye to do with judging? There is a judgment yet to come.”
    • What Spurgeon wrote is a hint that judging your Christian brother is a common problem in churches, and to be on guard for it. Do you know of any food legalism in churches today? Both broader evangelical church or at your home church? Are some looked down on for eating or not eating certain foods? Do you know of any who argue and judge about keeping Jewish customary laws? What about other minor things that people get legalistic about? Consider these and other questions as we get into Chapter 14.

Verses 1-2

• Paul addresses an early Roman church issue, where refraining from meat offered to idols was generally a good idea, but then it turned into refraining from meat altogether, with the vegetarians being more “spiritual.” But Paul (and not really Paul, because these are God’s words through Paul), calls them weak in faith. 
  • The vegetarian thing is just one example of people trying to one-up each other spiritually, that “if I do this I will be more spiritual than everyone else.” Here are some examples:
    • If I have a real Bible instead of an app I am more spiritual.
    • If I sit closer up instead of in the back I am more spiritual.
    • If I avoid gluten I am more spiritual.
    • If I homeschool my kids I am more spiritual.
    • If I hug every woman and shake every man’s hand I am more spiritual.
    • If I use the KJV only I am more spiritual.
  • The problem here is not in doing things that help you keep focused on Jesus. The problem here is one-upmanship. Passing judgment, a phrase appearing 4 times in verses 1-13. That you think you are better than everyone else because you do these things. AND, you make sure and let them know. That somehow, this is earning you spiritual bonus points compared to everyone else. 
  • “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch”(Colossians 2:21), those are three ways kapus are made (kapu is Hawaiian for law). And we start generating all these kapus and judging others who “break the kapu.” In other words, we start establishing our own forms of righteousness, our own religion. Declaring ourselves “holier than thou.” But what are we forgetting? Everything in the first 11 chapters of Romans basically, that the ONLY righteousness we have is Christ’s. That none are righteous (Romans 3:10 which is based on Psalm 14), that Christ died for us WHILE we were sinners (Romans 5:8) and on and on. 
  • Why does Paul call vegetarians weak? He is connecting vegetarians to those weak in faith (verse 1). Is he mocking them? We’ll discuss mocking more in a minute, but if anything, he is mocking the argument, not the person, because he says to welcome them.
    • Paul uses this example because there are many places in Scripture that God gives the green light to meat eating, beginning with Noah in Genesis 9:3, and even more liberty in Acts 10:13-15(rise, kill, eat). And the Acts verses are multiple things, a call to Peter to witness to Gentiles, but also a very clear “hunt and cook your kill” stewardship mandate!
      • So, all that to say, a new Christian, someone less-studied in Scripture, may not yet know this is in the Bible. 
    • Romans 5:6 reminds us that while we were WEAK, Christ died for us. A new Christian is at their weakest point usually, but not always. You could have two new Christians, saved the same day. One studies intently for a year, reads the Bible through twice, goes to every church function possible. The other hardly goes to church for a year, stopped cussing as much but still doesn’t see much wrong with anything he does or any of his friend choices. At the end of the year, one of them is definitely stronger in faith, in taking that gift of faith and running with it. Fast forward 10 years, the stronger one has tapered off, experienced some “church hurt” and hasn’t really gone back. The weaker one got married to a godly woman, has 3 kids, attends church regularly and leads his family in a biblical way. Which one is “weak” now? My point here is that Paul never said “new in faith,” but “weak in faith,” and weakness can happen at any time. 
• Verse 3
  • Paul is quick to point out neither party should ridicule the other. Do not despise or condemn. Which is not the same thing as mocking.
    • The point here is NOT to despise the person, to treat them like they are actually lesser than you. Despise is defined in part as considering the other person worthless, meaning “worth less” than you. Let’s ALWAYS go back to Romans 3:10, none are righteous. We should not despise a person because Christ’s righteousness has not yet been imputed to them, or because we think we understand more about Christ’s righteousness than they do. Which, could be the case if we are farther along the sanctification road than them, but the response should be humility, not scorn.
      • This reminds me of some students, that, once they learn something, their response to others who don’t know the same thing is ridicule. But-and sometimes mere moments ago-they didn’t know either! It is incredible how easily we fall into despising someone instead of humble gratitude for what we know, coupled with a desire to share that knowledge. 
  • Mocking is not despising, but it can lead to that. To mock means to ridicule, imitate, or treat someone or something with contempt or derision—often by mimicry, sarcasm, or insulting words or actions.
    • Mocking should be used to treat the something, NOT the someone, with contempt. An exception would be when a person symbolizes the “something,” like a tyrant proclaiming his ideology, but even then, mock the ideology mainly.
    • What we CAN do though is make fun of idols. For example, if there is a general pattern of idolizing veganism going on, then it is okay to mock that idol. For example:
      • Psalm 115:4‑8 / 135:15‑18: These verses mock idols with their eyes that can’t see, mouths that can’t speak, and ears that can’t hear.
      • Isaiah 44:9‑20: These verses lampoon a man who carves a god out of the same wood he burns for a fire.
      • Jeremiah 10:5: likens idols to scarecrows in a cucumber field.
    • Here is a little more on what a Christian form of mocking might look like:
      • Martin Luther: “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.” C.S. Lewis uses this quote at the start of his book, Screwtape Letters.
        • Luther saw the devil as real but defeated, because that is how the Bible describes Satan.
        • He understood that Satan’s chief weapon was intimidation through guilt and fear.
        • Therefore, by laughing at his lies, the believer asserts confidence in Christ’s victory.
      • Proper mockery then is not arrogant; it’s faith-filled contempt for Satan’s lies.
      • Also Luther: “I often drive the devil away with a fart.”
  • Mocking the idea, especially the biblically false ones, is a way to make humor the focus instead of judgment, which Paul warns against throughout this passage.
    • Two places Paul uses “holy mockery”, not despising and self-righteous:
      • I Cor 3:1-4, describing Corinthian efforts as “spiritual babies”, still on milk instead of solid food(Scripture).
      • II Cor 11:19-21, mocks them for thinking they are smart while actually being foolish.
    • Satan cannot handle mockery, but Christians can and should. Mockery is a more fun and funny way to point out our weaknesses. As Christians we SHOULD be able to respond in humility and repentance and joy, not freak out like Satan does.
    • In our world filled with sin and its fruits, like hate and anger and jealousy, mockery brings humor and joy and peace (unless your following the world haha).

• Verse 4
  • Paul reminds that believers serve Christ. We don’t get to judge their sanctification road. We can help keep each other out of the ditches. And note that verse 4 doesn’t say “judge”, but pass judgment, which I think refers to setting up our legalistic forms on earth and condemning people for disobeying man-based rules.
  • Just because you know another Christian has a weaker understanding of the Word, Paul is saying NOT to arrogantly boast about how much “better” we are.
    • Example: One time a student emailed me a really dumb question. Instead of using the very clear course instructions to solve a problem, the student apparently skipped that and instead used their bad memory plus AI math tools to solve a simple problem, then demanded that our solutions manual was wrong because the “AI said so.” The student also bragged about how great she was at Algebra 1 and 2, but then apparently took a whole year off and started Calculus, which is a really bad idea (need precalculus first). Of course, I did not reply with “wow, you are so stupid compared to myself and other students, and have this so backwards that even AI is confused!” No, I told the student “good job asking for help,” and directed her to several lessons for deeper review and a more foundational understanding of the problem. I always end emails like this, not with, “later, retard!” but with “let me know if you have other questions,” or “I hope that explanation helps!”
      • That student, instead of using the actual course’s instruction, chose to use their own, muddled memory plus outside authorities to arrive at a completely incorrect answer. And then demands she is correct! In the same way, a new Christian, or an older-yet-rusty Christian may do something similar. Instead of simply going to the Word, they rely on a rusty recollection of the Word, combined with what outside “authorities” say, then draw a completely incorrect conclusion, yet demand they are correct! This is how legalism creeps into churches. This is how false teaching creeps into churches. 
      • We have to be on guard for stuff like this, and have humble, iron-sharpening responses that bring peace and joy, not humiliation and one-upmanship. This is a Christian brother we want to build up, an equal, not lesser or greater, recipient of Christ’s free gift of grace. 
    • Sproul: If a servant is acceptable to Jesus, how can he or she not be acceptable to us?
• Verses 5-6
  • The days Paul refers to are Jewish holy days. He is saying there is nothing wrong with celebrating those, but you don’t have to. Paul (God actually) has similar words for the Corinthian church in I Cor 10: 23-31. The priority is on giving God the glory and thanking God. Whether you celebrate or not, eat or not, is a small matter.
  • The weaker brother in this case would be the one celebrating, because it is not necessary any more. And they would definitely be weaker if they are forcing it on another, saying everyone MUST celebrate these holidays.
    • Col. 2:16-17, ignore people who judge you for not keeping Jewish holidays, they are a shadow of what is to come.
    • Gal. 4:9-11, Paul is saying going back to a Jewish calendar of feasts and moons is regression into legalism. 
    • Speaking on Christian liberty, Sproul writes:
      • The classical understanding is that we are NOT to try to force somebody with a scruple against something, as uninformed as that scruple may be, to violate his/her conscience. The basic principle that unfolds here is one of loving sensitivity.
  • There are things we should be indifferent to, like Jewish feast days, even though the stronger argument is that there is no need to observe them now. The stronger arguments are the ones the church leaders should stand firm on, but there needs to be indifference and room for growth within the body, with one another.
    • Sproul: The weaker brother is not to destroy the freedom of all in the church. At the same time, we can forego our freedom for a time out of consideration for our weaker brother.
• Verses 7-13
  • Let’s start this section by answering some questions:
    • Who saved you, yourself or God? God did. That’s the point of all of Romans, but Ch. 1-11 in particular. 
    • Who is the ultimate avenger, you or God? God is. That’s the point of Romans 12. 
    • Who establishes governments and nations, people or God? God does. That is the point of Romans 13, that God appoints rulers to uphold the 10 commandments and therefore civil order so that culture stays focused on agape love for neighbors. 
    • Who is Jesus? Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God. Paul reminds of that in v. 6-9.
    • Who judges a fellow Christian’s’ behavior on matters outside the 10 commandments? Are you the judge? Is the pastor? The bass guitarist in the worship band? Or is it God? God is the judge, not you. God judges the heart, He alone judges whether a person’s actions are in an effort to glorify God or themselves, focus praise and thanksgiving on God or something else. God is in charge of the dead and the living and His son is the judge, not you or me.
      • Verse 11 is a direct quote from Isaiah 45:23. Read v. 22-23. It is God who saves and judges, every knee ultimately will bow before Him. 
  • In Chapter 14, Paul is clear that, in our efforts to walk the sanctification road-a road only a saved person can walk, an effort that is only initiated because the Holy Spirit is in us- that on this walk, some ideas are stronger than others, they are straighter than others. In other words, some ideas are more aligned with the Bible than others. But our response is NOT to despise, to pass judgment, but to share the truth, to iron-sharpen, to bring the church body closer to a biblical understanding of things. This is not something one man or woman can do alone. It is a body, a church. The ideas themselves are not inherently good or evil. What Paul is warning about is our response. And Paul also reminds it is God who judges all His servants, weak and strong. God is the avenger (12:19), God is the judge. God will carry out justice for all, either temporally or eternally.
    • A lot of great Christian men passed in 2025. I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss Voddie Baucham, or Charlie Kirk, or John Macarthur, or Phil Robertson. Great men of God, but none of which I agreed 100% with regarding Bible interpretations. And if they knew me, they wouldn’t agree with every word I’ve written in all these studies of Romans. But the interesting thing is, we would agree on A LOT. We would all agree, for example, that saying “it is more God glorifying to eat only vegetables” is a weak argument, in light of what the Bible says. We would also agree that it is absolutely wrong to despise a person that believes this, to treat them as lesser, because that, too, is the weaker argument. And they would agree that this is why the Bible says for churches to appoint overseers that direct the church to the stronger arguments, the ones backed up by Scripture. 
    • But, do the church leaders always trend towards the stronger arguments and discard the weak ones? No, they are still wrestling with sin, just like everyone else, which is why it is good to avoid-but not despise- churches that act like the leaders are infallible, like the Catholic church or the Mormon church or any other church like this. 
  • Sproul: The great danger is to allow these adiaphorous matters to become requirements for Christian spirituality and, even worse, the test for what is spiritual and righteous. Unfortunately, that is what happens again and again.
    • Adiaphorous refers to practices not essential to salvation, things that are morally or spiritually neutral.
      • What are some adiaphorous things in evangelical churches that you have seen turn into legalism? How about in your own church?
        • Things imposed by church leaders
          • How about during Covid? Staying open or closed?
          • Real or fake churches that forbid “neutral” foods or activities?
          • Real or fake churches that forbid the use of musical instruments?
          • Others
        • Things within the church body that turn into legalism:
          • how to educate your kids
          • Dietary fads
          • Keep your Christian stuff in the church
  • The passage ends in verse 13 with a call to make the road smooth for yourself and your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We are part of a body. Our actions affect others and we need to think critically about that. The stronger-in-Christ person will create fewer stumbling blocks for weaker in Christ, who create even more.
• Up next, Romans 14:14-23.