Romans 14:1-12: The Christian's Grey Area

Romans 14:3.. "Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him."

Romans 14:1-12 is a piece of God's Word that can often be difficult to understand. It contains principles that often don't go along with the way we oftentimes like to think. Nevertheless, let us at least give it an overview this morning, as we seek to examine the living and active Word of our Lord.

First, let us discuss the matter of this text, that is, judgment. Paul here is condemning unrighteous judgment that one Christian has upon another Christian. Specifically, in this text, Paul is refering to judgment that has to do with "doubtful questions of conduct, open to dispute among Christians--matters in which the Church finds herself unable to think or act in a unit."1 Yep, that's right. We're talking about the Christian's "grey area," that is, the moral questions in Christianity that are neither black nor white. Paul is here condemning that act of a "stronger" Christian judging a "weaker" Christian for not having the same conclusion to a moral "grey area."

Secondly, let us discuss the reasoning of Paul's command here. Let us ask ourselves a question: why are there Christian "grey areas"? Is not the Word of God clear? Certainly it is. However, just because the Word of God does have clear, moral commands, this does not mean that it specifacly touches every issue. Furthermore, certain Christians might choose to abstain from certain "grey" moral issues not because they are rebuked in scripture, but because they do not want to be led into temptation (such as drinking alchohol). So, being that there are these "grey areas," Paul goes on to show four reasons in which we ought to not unrighteously judge our neighbor if he has a different opinion on them than we do. We ought not to judge because (1) God welcomes the one that we judge, and therefore so should we (3b), (2) each one of us has a responsibility to be convinced in our own mind of these "grey areas," (5b), (3) we all live to the Lord, and therefore our main goal in all of these "grey areas" should be to please the Lord and not man, and (4) we will all give an account to the Lord, so we ought not to judge others knowing that God will judge us.

Lastly, let us talk about how this applies to us. Let us ask ourselves: what are some of the "grey areas" in Christianity today? Certainly the most clear would be drinking alchohol, but I believe that there are many more that we could think of. One commentator notes that many of these "grey areas" have to do with how much a Christian is involved in his pagan culture. Is it right for a Christian to see a movie that is rated "R"? Is it okay for a Christian to go to bars? Is it okay for a Christian to listen to secular music? Is it permissible for a Christian to dance? Certainly many more could be listed, but here's the point: Christians are going to disagree on these questions, but that's okay. Just because one Christian drinks wine every Sunday while the other does not does not mean that either one of them truly aren't Christian, or even that either one of them are sinning. It simply means that each one of them ought to be fully convinced in their own mind of their moral decision. I do not believe that this verse prohibits speaking of these moral issues, for many of them ought to thoroughly be discussed. Nevertheless, the point here is that we ought to not pass unrighteous judgment upon our neighbor simply because he thinks of one "grey area" differently than you do.

For we each live to the Lord, and we each die to the Lord--not to our fellow man. Therefore, let us seek to honor the Lord, in our own minds, in each and every one of these "grey areas." If we are truly seeking to honor the Lord in all that we do, then we have obtained the very thing that Paul has commanded of in these verses.

1. Norman B. Harrison