“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.” -Romans 14:1
At this point, Paul narrows his focus from general exhortations to community life, or church-oriented exhortations. Recall the chiastic structure that guides us through Paul’s thoughts as he is writing to the Romans.
1:1-17 Introduction
1:18-3:30 Chaos (Devolution of Humanity)
4-5 Faith Saves
6-7 Two Regimes
8 The Glory of the Gospel
9-11 Two Branches
12-13 Faith Works
14-15 Cosmos (Evolution of Humanity)
16 Farewell
Sin brought chaos into the good and ordered world (1:18-3:30); but now the gospel changes everything. From chapter 4-8, we are instructed in the gospel, the specific operation of faith in God’s saving grace through Christ. In chapters 9-11, he explains how the gospel works amidst the two branches of God’s people, Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Israel (grafted Gentiles and a remnant if believing Israel). And in chapters 12-13, Paul explains how faith works itself out in our day-to-day lives, making us a peculiar and godly people i.e., saints.
Now, beginning here in chapter 14, we are introduced to the gospel’s work in community life. Immediately, we are made aware of the gradations of maturity that exist in the church. This is actually a model for a healthy church. A church that is continually receiving new believers and helping them grow up in the Lord will continually have a gradation of maturity existing in it.
The first exhortation is one of welcome. The church is to welcome those who are more immature in their faith (weak in the faith), but not with the goal of arguing with them about their opinions.
Plato notably explained that opinions are a strongly held belief that rests on a spectrum between ignorance and absolute certainty, which is an aphorism that is in itself worthy of contemplation. Opinions, even strongly held opinions, ought to be held humbly enough that when new evidence is revealed that might change our belief, we would be wise enough to recognize it. But it also ought not to be held so loosely that our minds are changed by every wind of doctrine.
Paul recognizes the human tendency to want to convince the other of his strongly held belief, his liberty in Christ; but such matters of conscience must be addressed gently and wisely, recognizing that the one who is weak in the faith also has been welcomed by God through Jesus Christ. This one is, therefore, most importantly, our brother or sister in Christ.
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