"Liberty tempered by Love"

After describing the liberty a believer enjoys in Christ, especially in matters of food and drinks, in Romans 14:10-23 Paul indicates how this liberty needs to be curtailed for the sake of a recent or fresh believer, who is just an infant in Christ and is still assailed by doubts in the light of his former traditions.

The first thing to note is not to judge that brother or sister, in the light of our knowledge. We have no right to look down on that person for his or her behavior. We have no right to judge that person, for all of us will have to stand before one Almighty Creator God, before His judgement seat. Each one of us is accountable to Christ and not to the others.

This judgement we will have to face alone as individuals, and not with our parents or siblings or fellow-believers or neighbors. Just me or you, alone before Christ, the Judge. We face it alone. Neither does our positions or power or riches would stand along with us in the witness box. We stand bereft of all these.

It is only the way we have led our Christian life on earth, according to the word of God and the example of Christ and our faith in Christ, that will stand by us at that time. So where is the question of us judging another person? The point is we do not have all the facts that makes a person behave as he or she does. We do not know all the circumstances in that person’s life to arrive at a correct judgment. Only the all-knowing, Omniscient God could do that.

Paul quotes Isaiah 45:23 here that ‘every knee will bow before me and every tongue will confess to God.” So, let each of us give account to God, who will judge us righteously. Let Him be the judge and not us.

Not only that we do not judge another brother or sister in Christ, but also, as Paul professes, we are not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of that person.

For example, let’s take that a family after attending the Sunday morning service in the church decides to go to an afternoon movie or have lunch at a restaurant or to have a game. A mature and strong Christian knows that there is nothing wrong in this.

But in case there is a brother or sister, who considers such an activity on Sunday, the Lord’s day, as blasphemous, then there is no point belittling such a belief and compelling that person to come along with you.  It will harm his faith and he/she will have a nagging feeling of having done something wrong and consequently suffer guilt. We are to restrain from doing such a thing.

Paul goes on to explain this in the matters of food and drinks. No food is unclean by itself. We have the liberty to eat anything that is palatable and edible. Jesus has down this principle in Mark 7:14,21-23. Peter was instructed in a vision not to call anything impure that God has made clean. Acts 10:9-16.

But in case someone regards a food as unclean and not to be eaten, it is unclean for that person. Under Judaism clean and unclean foods have been laid down in chapter 11 of Leviticus and a Jew would not eat anything forbidden, even if he were to lose his life for such a faith.

When such a person becomes a Christian, his former faith will be so strong that he will still not want to eat the forbidden food. We are to respect that and not be a stumbling block in his way, by eating the food that is forbidden to him in front of him. The same will apply in India or elsewhere to day, when a vegetarian becomes a believer.

Such a person, if he is distressed by our behavior, then we are not acting in love, but in carelessness, not caring for his feelings. Paul warns us that by exhibiting our freedom in eating, we are not to destroy the faith of a brother, for whom Christ died. We need to be careful that our faith, does not become a stumbling block to others.

As Paul reminds us that kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking this food or that drinks. It is about living a life of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. God is not going to judge us by what we ate or not eat, but by how we lived our Christian life on earth. We are to live our lives in the power of the Holy Spirit, by being ethical and spiritual.

Love needs to be shown in every act of ours; consideration for others needs to be the defining yard stick. We are to live in peace with others. That is pleasing to God and is approved by men too. Christian freedom would mean, we are free to do not what we want to do, but what Christ would want us to do. That is where we voluntarily curtail our freedom for the good of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, Paul urges us to make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. In food or drinks or anything else that is mundane, the principle to rule our conduct must be love and consideration for the other. We are not to eat anything in the presence of our brother or sister in Christ that will cause them to stumble.

Our believes in such a matter could be between us and God. There is no need to tom-tom it and berate others, who do not follow it. We are not to let ourselves become condemned by what we believe. We need to flexible in these matters so as not to cause offence to the other.  That calls for self-control on our part.

On the contrary, if a person who believes eating something is wrong, but still eats under the influence of others, is condemned because he is not eating out of faith. He will be laden with a guilty conscience and that will be an offence and sin. And he will be condemned. So, we need to be careful in the case of such people not to unduly influence them to act contrary to their belief in such matters.

Christian freedom is after all to be exercised with caution and limited by love for others in Christ. It can be extended, logically to the people who are not in Christ also, for we live among them and need to show Christ’s love to them also.  

Basically, it is love for others that should define our actions, especially in matters like eating and drinking, as these are not the important matters in the light of eternity.