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Commentary
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 Romans Chapter Fourteen Principally the sovereignty of God is exampled in the faith of the believer. Whilst one believer may be tested with alterations in his behaviour of one sort that may appear weakness to another that is not so tested, or that has faith to the contrary, the ministration of the Holy Spirit is exercised both to the strong and the seemingly weak. Do not dispute such examples of testing which the Spirit may be ministering within (v1) because such apparent contradictions in the Spirit (v2) are evidence of testing and ministering itself - by proving to a person their own willingness to change their behaviour in small things, a weak believer justifies Himself more than another who would judge and find fault with the Spirit. (v3) Your weaker seeming brother is a servant of another's sovereignty (v4) and God is able to justify Him on his willingness to repent of larger things. Different tests are for different people as they examine themselves and recognise the things in which the Spirit seeks to train them. (v5) So, that in regarding one thing over or under another He does so to the Lord (v6). For in small things we live to the Lord so that in large things, such as dying for the Lord's faith we are established in the gospel. (v7). For if we are trustworthy in small things, by the ministration of the Holy Spirit shall large things be trusted in us as all the more to quickly be excised, even our own lives in obedience to death. (v8) For us to be obedient in the small things of life, or in large things towards death; for this reason Christ died, obedience to death, and also revived so that we would be sure of being elected! So we may have our due repentance whilst our sins are yet covered in life (even eternal life), so we might share in His glory as His body. (v9) So why judge another, if we be trained in the same way? For small things may seem inconsequential to those to whom are trusted the larger things, but by judging we would set at naught the judgement of Christ in the ministering of that grace in which we are hopeful! (v10) For all Israel shall come before God and confess He is Lord, with their lives laid bare (v11) so that all (believer and non-believer) shall see Christ is blameless and apt to judge. We shall therefore all give account to Him (v12). So then in not judging one another we further the gospel of repentance, which is ours as heirs (as much as our brother's) as long as we do not put stumbling blocks that cause offence in our brother's path. If we cause them to stumble in small things, they will be offended or offend in large things, contrary to the will of God. (v13) There is no food unclean, since all is good for food and nourishment (v14), according to the teaching of Christ - but what is food? It is that which God has provided for us to eat. If the ministration of eternal life by the Spirit within His grace is bread from heaven, the ministrations of the spirit are without fault. (v15) Do not allow your own charity towards your brother to become said to be unnecessary or poor in quality (v16), for the kingdom of God is as such a ministration. It is not of an offence or a stumbling block; it is of the Holy Spirit. (v17) For that leads to the approval due godliness from others and before the judgement of God. (v18) For offences and stumbling blocks to repentance transform the likeness of Christ as sin for us into a heavier burden that is hard to bear in small things. In larger things a believer might find His faith fails him to His destruction. Let us therefore allow one another space and encouragement leading to edification rather than as an offence. (v19,v20) In company, it is good to be mindful of the state of a fellow believer. (v21) The truth of the gospel is adequate to save both you and your brother, as long as both have the true gospel. (v22). For if someone is not confident in his repentance, He knows he is searching out his destruction rather than the end of his salvation through the ministering of the Spirit. Such is the end of disobedience and the teaching of God's laws by the Holy Spirit, whom is writing them upon our hearts as well as our minds for our benefit! (v23) |
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