Chapter # 14 Paragraph # 2 Study # 13
August 15, 2021
Humble, Texas
(138)
1769 KJV Translation:
21 [
It is] good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [
any thing] whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
22 Hast thou faith? have [
it] to thyself before God. Happy [
is] he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because [
he eateth] not of faith: for whatsoever [
is] not of faith is sin.
1901 ASV Translation:
21 It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [to do anything] whereby thy brother stumbleth.
22 The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God. Happy is he that judgeth not himself in that which he approveth.
23 But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because [he eateth] not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
- I. Paul's "Repetition" Of His "Kingdom" Principles.
- A. The aforementioned "chiastic" structure of Paul's words (see (127)) made the essence of The Kingdom of The God his major subject of interest.
- B. We have looked at Paul's second half of his chiasm.
- 1. The "other side" of the essence of The Kingdom of The God is presented in the words of 14:18.
- 2. The "other side" of the prohibition of using a freedom so that blasphemy results is presented in the words of 14:19.
- 3. The "other side" of the prohibition against "destroying the work of God" simply to be able to eat what is tasty to one's tongue is presented in the words of 14:20a.
- 4. The "other side" of the concept of "in the Lord Jesus nothing is unclean" is presented in the words of 14:20b.
- II. Paul's Summation: 14:21-23.
- A. Regarding the "on the ground issue" of "eating and drinking" in the light of the conflict because of "baggage" brought into "The Faith" by those who believe the Gospel.
- 1. What is "good"?
- a. "Good" begins with a person's definition of "good". There is, apparently, some confusion in the lexicons regarding what the meaning of this "good" actually is because most of what is written is of no real use.
- b. However, the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains is of great help: "kalos" ... "pertaining to providing a special or superior benefit". This definition "nails" the essence of this word: this essence is "beneficial" (in the light of a specific setting where there is a difficulty that has some danger involved in making a bad choice in the difficulty).
- c. This word means "beneficially advantageous" in the light of alternatives where there is the possibility of making a bad choice in terms of what is "beneficially advantageous", i.e., not recognizing what is "good" and what is not (see Hebrews 5:14 where being able to discern such choices and their outcomes is paramount). There is, of course, the problem of recognizing which of the choices involved will result in true benefit, i.e., "eternal benefit", and which will not.
- 2. The "good" that exists in "to not eat flesh" and "to not drink wine" and doing "nothing by which my brother is stumbling"... .
- a. This "good" is the restraint that a "brother" exercises in order to keep from putting his "brother" in a position wherein he "stumbles".
- 1) The "position", as established earlier, is that of being "between a rock and a hard place" (14:18).
- a) The "rock" is being considered infantile by a "brother" when "being accepted" is strongly desired ("approved by men").
- b) The "hard place" is being estranged from God by reason of a violated conscience ("well-pleasing to God").
- 2) The "fault" here is entirely that of the "brother" who would rather have human acceptance than divine favor.
- a) This "double-souled" state is identified by James as being an evil that keeps one from being able to "expect that he will receive anything from the Lord" because the condition is "instability" in all one's ways (James 1:6-8).
- b) This "fault" arises directly from a "diseased grasp of The Faith" (The Gospel of Grace).
- 3) However, the "brother" who "understands" Grace needs to be aware of the fact that a person who is diseased in The Faith is so by reason of gross immaturity and, because of that, should operate in an "advantageously beneficial" way; i.e., a "good" way.
- a) If a "brother" is going to stumble because his soul is divided, he will inevitably "stumble" (Luke 17:1).
- b) But, because he is a "brother", it should not be the actions of his "brother" that provides the occasion for the stumbling. In other words, he will stumble, but it should not be because his "brother" refuses to be self-restrained for his "brother's" sake.
- b. The areas of restraint in the setting to which Paul addresses himself.
- 1) Eating meat.
- a) There are only two references in the New Testament to "meat" by this word "krea", both of which are Paul's.
- i. Our current text.
- ii. 1 Corinthians 8:13. This text/context is a direct parallel to Romans 14. In this text, written to the Corinthians, the "meat" is what is served for food in an idol's temple (8:10). And, as in Romans 14, the "problem" is the Jewish law that ties that "meat" to the idol just as does Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:20. The issue is not that a "demon" is "worshiped" just because one eats meat that someone else has sacrificed to it. It is, rather, that it is "demonic" to sacrifice a brother just to be able to eat as one pleases with no regard for the brother's weak conscience.
- iii. This use of "meat" is not addressing the "forbidden foods" of the dietary code; it is a reference to the eating of sacrificial animals that have been used of men to attempt to appease a "god".
- b) This indicates that Paul is skipping all of the "dietary limitations" and going directly to issues of worship.
- 2) Drinking wine.
- a) In Paul's references to "wine" there are several that link the "drinking" to drunkenness, and Ephesians 5:18 pits it against being "filled with the Spirit". There is one (1 Timothy 5:23) which encourages its use in the stomach because of "frequent ailments".
- b) The potential to abuse is what makes Paul's reference to it important: many abuse "wine" unto drunkenness (1 Timothy 3:8) so that it is a potential danger zone.
- c) At issue, again, is the over-commitment to one's personal pleasure at the expense of "another" who is led astray by the "example" that has been set. Here, Paul's question in 1 Corinthians 10:29-30 is relevant: Why must I be controlled by the weak conscience of another? Love (1 Corinthians 10:32-33).
- 3) Any activity that creates the "rock and hard place" situation for a brother.
- a) This requires a substantial understanding of the "brother" in his/her longings.
- b) This also requires the "Kingdom's" value of a "brother", placed upon him/her by the overt demonstration of the "Love" of the Kingdom provided by the death of The Christ for him/her.
- c) And, there is the requirement that the "brother" be not enabled in his/her "disease" by the "loveless" catering of "grace" that is all bound up in the desire to exalt oneself in his/her own eyes by being "so loving". Luke 17:3 requires the confrontation of the "brother" in his/her sin. How delicate is the balance between "love covering a multitude of sins" and "love confronting sins"... .
- 3. There is a major question in regard to this "problem": Are there any current parallels in our setting/culture to that which existed in the blending of Jew and Gentile into the Church of God?
- a. It seems that the main issue is placing the same value upon a "brother" that God does.
- b. Beyond that, the practices of life are pretty much limited to the reality of a "brother" relationship in a local church body.
- 1) No one can "know" a "brother" well enough to know what might put him/her between the "rock" and the "hard place" unless there is a sufficient interaction between brethren to provide that knowledge.
- 2) In our generation, the unity of the Body is so fragmented that it seems that there are no real parallels to Paul's particular application of the principle of placing the same value upon a "brother" that God has done and exemplified by the death of Christ.