Romans – A Treatise
ChapterFourteen
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT MEAT AND DRINK
Scripture Reading: verses 14-17
I KNOW, AND AM PERSUADED BY [OR IN] THE LORD JESUS, THAT THERE IS NOTHING UNCLEAN OF ITSELF: BUT TO HIM THAT ESTEEMETH ANY THING TO BE UNCLEAN, TO HIM IT IS UNCLEAN. BUT IF THY BROTHER BE GRIEVED WITH THY MEAT, NOW WALKEST THOU NOT CHARITABLY. DESTROY NOT HIM WITH THY MEAT, FOR WHOM CHRIST DIED. LET NOT THEN YOUR GOOD BE EVIL SPOKEN OF: FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT MEAT AND DRINK; BUT RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND PEACE, AND JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST.
It is striking that the Spirit of God has devoted such a large portion of this Epistle to the subject of receiving and being charitable toward one who is weak in the faith. There are sixteen chapters in Romans and a full chapter and a half is devoted to Christian consideration of weaker brethren. No doubt we have underestimated the magnitude of Christian courtesy and consideration. Sometimes we are so anxious to have a clean-cut foundation of religious doctrine that we fail to realize the importance of tolerating the frailties of those who are not quite as capable of following the intricacies of divine truth as we sometimes appear to be. Religious rituals and ecclesiastical customs (traditions) have laid such a hold on believers in our society that they have become a veritable bondage, and any who do not follow the ritualistic methods which appear correct to a certain group, are likely to be discarded without regard to their capacity of understanding. This is the subject taken up at such great length in this passage.
The primary questions that are now before the apostle are the observance of days and the eating of, or abstaining from the eating of certain meats. The church at Rome was composed of a polyglot company of people, because in those days Rome was the center of the known world. It was a cosmopolitan city into which filtered all races and Jews and Gentiles intermingled freely. It was inevitable that into the early church Jewish brethren, who had been accustomed to religious rituals in their Judaistic faith, would want to induct these into the church of our Lord for no other reason than that they had been accustomed to them. Obviously, many of these would be weak in the faith. They had not come from devil-ridden heathendorn like other Roman brethren. They had come from a religious institution dating back to Abraham and which was in itself wholesome and good. However, it had now been eclipsed by the greater light – the Lord Jesus Christ, who had died and risen. Their ritualism had been supplanted by the liberty of Christianity. Their zealous traditional faith confined them to the eating of certain food. Those Christians who had never been in that bondage must not use their Christian liberty to throw a stumblingblock before their weaker Jewish brethren. That is precisely the subject before us here.
We have gone into it rather fully because of the truth presented in verse 14: “I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” Paul did not place himself on either side of such a question and refrained from making it a matter of faith. It was a question of knowledge, and the weak brother simply did not have sufficient information, a deficiency that Paul sought to supply, not through any arrogant pronouncements, but by humbly calling attention to the things he had received from the Lord. Paul did not cease to identify himself with a weak brother, while in the act of correcting his deficiency of knowledge, and thus succeeded in projecting an attitude which said whether or not the weak brother can be taught out of his ignorance or not he is still loved and esteemed as a brother. There are no “elite” in Christ’s kingdom, whether from distinctions of knowledge, wealth, power, office, or anything else. All are one in Christ. This verse might be paraphrased in this way: “I know by the light of reason, and am persuaded by revelation from the Lord Jesus, that there is no kind of meat unclean naturally. Nevertheless, to him that believeth certain kinds to be unclean, to that man they are unclean; and he will sin if he eat them, either to indulge his own taste or to gain the favor of others.”
Paul is dealing with certain specific religious scruples concerning ceremonials. This verse has on occasion been used by sinful men as an excuse for their sin. They argue there is nothing unclean of itself, so sin is excused. Sin is always unclean. Paul is dealing with the eating of meats and the observance of days which seemed important to certain brethren. He is not dealing with such sins as stealing, lying, immorality, or anything of that nature.
The argument is that Christians who are in the full light of Christ may be at liberty to do certain things which are altogether unworthy in the eyes of less instructed brethren. In order that these brethren might not stumble, the more enlightened believer must refrain from them.
And Paul substantiates all this in the seventeenth verse by saying, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.”
We do not want to intimate that the truth contained in this chapter is altogether confined to the early church. It has its potent application to our Christian lives today. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. In other words, there was a time in the dealings of God with His ancient people when certain ceremonious conduct was outlined for them in relation to what they should eat and drink. The reason? God was preparing a people for an earthly kingdom and, had they been faithful, they would have gone on to enjoy the multitude of blessings to be found in the land of Canaan. But these blessings were in relation to temporal affairs, although it took a certain spiritual condition to enjoy them. Canaan was presented as a land flowing with milk and honey; of olive trees, vines and fig trees, spices and balm.
Everything on the line of inheritance from Abraham in the economy of Israel related to providential care, good health, and sumptuous provision on earth. It is unfortunate that many Christians seem to think of Christianity in that way, as if it was nothing more than the healing of our physical diseases; liberty and the ability to be well and happy. The economy of Christianity presents blessings of a totally different character – heavenly blessings. Paul outlines them in the Ephesian Epistle when he says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.”
By contrast we see how religious rituals would have a strong hold on the godly Jew, even after he was converted to Christianity. That is the main reason for the writing of Hebrews. But even in our economy today, in our meetings and worship, the ritualists are out in front and correct methods are stressed far more than correct spiritual state. It is to combat this that Paul writes, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
If we have obeyed the Gospel of Christ; if we been brought into the kingdom of God by the new birth through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary, it is not to the end that God might make good ritualists out of us, i.e., good churchmen, but that He might make Christians. Righteousness is the primary basis of our conduct, we must be honest, straightforward, unpretentious, sincere, and candid. Peace is the second, and peace established on righteousness is sure to stand. In Christianity we have reached a point where people who have diverse backgrounds and inclinations are renewed in the spirit of their mind and brought into a unity of purpose and action; thus peace subsists.
But it is not a mechanized organization that clanks along regulated by certain principles and traditions ordained by men. The third item is joy in the Holy Ghost. Our church life should be a joyous life and not merely one of rectitude.
