Chapter # 14 Paragraph # 1 Study # 2
February 7, 2021
Humble, Texas
(100)
1769 KJV Translation:
3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day [
alike]. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth [
it] unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard [
it]. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, [
As] I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
1901 ASV Translation:
3 Let not him that eateth set at nought him that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
4 Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day [alike]. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself.
8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
9 For to this end Christ died and lived [again], that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or thou again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God.
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, And every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.
- I. Paul's "Next" Issue: Dealing With The Brother Who Has "Crippling Faith".
- A. Paul calls the issue, "receiving the one who is 'diseased' in the faith".
- B. Major fact: Paul is not dealing with things that are not capable of being relegated to the "fringe" of behavior so that it does not matter which way a person decides to go.
- II. The Issue Involved.
- A. Most fundamentally, this "issue" relates to "interpersonal harmony" between believers and the need to not "part company" over "overt matters" that do not matter.
- B. Next to this "most fundamental issue" is the problem of people whose experience in the faith has not brought them to clarity regarding which matters "do not matter".
- C. Paul's "point" is that we must begin with the reduction to the action itself and not the reasons behind it (attempting to judge motives regarding behavior that is not, of itself, immoral, is a dicey proposition in every case: 1 Corinthians 4:3-5).
- III. "Not Unto Judgments Of Reasonings".
- A. Paul's meaning of "judgments".
- B. Paul's meaning of "opinions".
- C. What, then, Paul is demanding is that those who are "healthy in the faith" refrain from attempting to "argue a weaker brother out of his flawed choices". This can easily become a can of worms because people tend to want to "argue for their persuasions" and the "healthy" have to "set the pattern", but also "reject those who refuse to stop arguing" (16:17).
- 1. This is a problem area that sits upon a "very thin line": Paul, himself, argues in Galatians that "observing days" is an indicator of "damning heresy" that has the ability to bring people back into spiritual bondage (4:8-11).
- 2. Paul is not insisting in our current text that one ignore the very principle that Paul espoused in both 1 Corinthians 5:6 and Galatians 5:9: "a little leaven leavens the whole lump". Rather, he is demanding that both "the heresy hunters" and "the diseased, day-observers" come to one point: that actions taken can be acceptable to God if they are taken because a person's current understanding of "The Faith" includes the very basic, firm, conviction that maintaining a clear conscience before God is more important than any other "point of doctrine" (verse 5). A person with a desire to be "clean" before God will, eventually (given enough time, which is not a 'given'), come to pure doctrine because he/she has the active support and involvement of God, Himself (verse 4). Contrariwise, any person who does not put a premium on a clear conscience before God, will go far astray even if he/she "understands all mysteries" (1 Corinthians 13:2) and "knows" a great deal of Truth (1 Corinthians 8:1). The 'kicker' here is this: no one can tell what the motives of another are (see II.C. above).
- IV. The Forbidden Attitude/Actions.
- A. The first "forbidden" issue: Contempt.
- 1. Paul's wording is "me" plus the present, imperative of "exoutheneito". Robertson says, "In general, "me" is used with the present imperative to forbid what one is already doing" (p. 890).
- a. It is interesting that Paul knew that the forbidden attitude/action was already going on in the heart/mind/activities of the ones considered "healthy in The Faith" (not quite as "healthy" as they thought themselves to be).
- b. At issue here is not the "flaws" in one's grasping of "The Faith", but the failure to live up to what was "accepted" by "The Faith". In other words, those who were "healthy in The Faith" subscribed to the truths of "The Faith", but did not follow through on the implications of those truths, especially in failing to "love" the brother whose faith was "diseased". This actually makes those who subscribe to "The Faith" with some understanding just as "diseased" as those whose grasp of "The Faith" has some serious flaws.
- 2. Paul's choice of "exoutheneito" is of a word used exclusively by Luke (three times) and Paul (eight times), brothers in close harmony in the ministry over a long period of time (used to each other's use of words and grammar).
- a. Luke's uses present a fairly clear "sense of meaning": "a superiority complex coupled to the rejection of those looked down upon" (Note Luke 18:9; 23:11; and Acts 4:11).
- b. There is little reason to see Paul's uses in a different light.
- 1) Paul's uses in Romans 14:3 and 10 fall easily into Luke's "sense of meaning".
- 2) The three uses in 1 Corinthians 1:28; 6:4; and 16:11 all indicate a kind of "demotion in status" that results in evil treatment not unlike Paul's declaration that the "ox" that is treading out the grain should not be muzzled even though God doesn't care one whit for the "ox" (1 Corinthians 9:9 and 1 Timothy 5:18).
- 3) Paul's other three uses (2 Corinthians 10:10; Galatians 4:14; and 1 Thessalonians 5:20) likewise all fall into the same "sense of meaning". There are two issues: "a superiority complex" and "a choice of action that demeans the one who has no 'status'".
- B. The second "forbidden" issue: Criticizing.
- 1. The grammar is the same: "me" plus a present imperative.
- 2. The specific issue for the "diseased in The Faith" is a critical spirit.
- a. This is likely the result of the "disease" reaching out into the realm of how one views others in harmony with Paul's use of "exoutheneito".
- b. The issue is slightly different: the "superiority complex coupled to the rejection of those looked down upon" is "morphed" into the attack mode being "criticism" for failure to be "as self-denying as I am".
- c. Both "groups" are reacting in the same unloving spirit, but with a subtle difference being rooted in, on the one hand, "a certain pride of purity of doctrine" and, on the other hand, "a certain pride of greater zeal in self-denial".