Although it is possible Paul includes this section as a general commentary on how Jews and Gentiles ought to get along in mixed congregations, it is likely he has heard something about a specific conflict in the house churches in Rome. He describes some of the believers as weak and others as strong and admonishes the strong to not pass judgment on the weak.
Who are the “strong and weak” in this passage?
Most commonly, the “weak” are legalists and the “strong” are those that are not trying to “earn” status by their good works. This view has been eroded by the New Perspective on Paul, since it may not be the case that Jews in the first century say themselves as earning their salvation.
After surveying several options, Cranfield concludes the weak are those who desire to continue to observe the ceremonial law of the Old Testament. If this is the case, it is a similar situation to the Gentiles in Galatia who are being encouraged to fully convert to Judaism in order to follow Jesus.
It is possible this weak/strong discussion is an extension of the “meat sacrificed to idols” problem in 1 Corinthians, as suggested by Mark Reasoner. If so, then the weak might be the Jew, and the strong the Gentile. This suggestion has some merit since Paul wrote Romans from Corinth after the period of conflict had come to a close (after 2 Corinthians). It is possible his experience with the Corinthian believers colors his comments to the Romans who may be struggling with similar issues.
Paul Jewett draws attention to a brief exchanged in Horace in which one character does not wish to speak on the Sabbath because he is “a small man of weakness, one of many” (Jewett, Romans, 834; Horace Sat. 1.9.67–72). Reasoner used this line to argue “the person excessively observant in a foreign religion who matched the ‘weak’ caricature was known to Horace’s audience.” (Reasoner, 54).
What has always impressed me about this passage is that Paul never really says the weak are Jewish and the Gentiles are the strong. That may be what Paul is saying, but our post-Reformation reading of the text tends to obscure Paul’s subtle rhetoric. It is possible a Jewish Christian might hear “we who are strong ought to bear the failings of the weak” (Rom 15:1) as meaning, “we Jews who are strong and keep the law properly ought not to look down on the weak Gentiles who have not fully understood the Gospel yet.” But it is also possible a Gentile would hear Paul saying “We strong Gentiles who fully understand the grace of God should not look down on these weak Jews who insist on Old Covenant practices.”
Regardless of the practices of the weak, their faith is sufficient for Paul to consider them to be Christians. He does not tell the Roman congregations to expel them from the church like the young man in 1 Corinthians 5, nor does he admonish them like he the wealthy in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22. Both the weak and the strong are Christians and equally a part of the Christian community. Both are equally welcome at a communal meal where the Lord’s Table is being celebrated.
This issue has important ramifications for Christian fellowship in the present church. Churches often draw lines where they should not, or fail to draw lines when they should. Are there people who are often excluded from fellowship because of some practice (or non-practice)?
Bibliography: Mark Reasoner, The Strong and the Weak: Romans 14:1-15:13 in Context (SNTSMS 103; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
There are many differences among denominations in modern day Christianity. These differences can cause tension between fellow believers because of a minor detail that really has nothing to do with salvation. One denomination believes they are better than another and they develop the attitude of the strong looking down on the weak. This is a similar issue for those who are may be new to the faith or are struggling with something in their life that “strong” Christians may look down upon, an example is a person abusing drugs or alcohol. A person may think the person struggling has a weak faith, which is why they are struggling. Romans 14:4 says “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” It is important to remember that we are all servants of God, even if there are “weak” and “strong” people. God is able to make us stand as long as we have faith.
The church certainly does exclude people who don’t seem to fit into their precise way of thinking. For example, some churches look down on Christians who have tattoos and therefore judge them or won’t hire a pastor or church leader who has one. There are so many issues in that area as well as theologically. The differences theologically are not that big though we make them out to be as if they are a matter of being saved or not such as the topic of baptism. No it does not save a person, but some denominations find it fit to practice and others don’t and will argue with you until death over this one issue. Romans 14:1 starts right off the bat saying “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions” (ESV). If you look down on a person for what doesn’t make them stumble in their faith and both of you are Christians, welcome each other rather than argue. There is no need to do so. These issues are not a matter of salvation and shouldn’t be treated and given as much heat in conversation as we tend to do.
I would agree with you here Andi and say that the church certainly does exclude people who do not seem to fit into their ideal vision of what a Christian looks like. I think that Christians have started to think of their own ways as the best way instead of looking to God for the best way. I think that we are meant to help people always get closer to God and I think that the churches have changed that ideal of thinking. I think churches are spending time thinking about what kind of people they want to fit into their church instead of on the big ideal of faith in Christ and serving God.
Moo would suggest that the weak in this passage are referring to the Jewish Christians who were still influenced by Jewish traditions (Moo 180). I would agree with Moo is this stance. Those who still felt the need to keep the law may have been viewed as being weak in their faith, whereas the strong were those who prided themselves in having all their freedoms. Paul rebukes the strong in greater detail because they ought to help the weak along, instead of causing conflict and strife. I think in the modern church we can do the same thing, in our heads we label other Christians by what they wear, if they drink, or if they go to Sunday school. All of those thing may cause a person to stay away from those types of people because they are different. Yes, I would say there are people who get separated from fellowship due too not having the same values as others in the church.
I think it happens a lot in different congregations because every church has slightly different beliefs. However as Paul points out, there are gray areas where practices are neither right nor wrong. It depends on the issue though. Some practices are clearly wrong and against the Bible and should not be condoned, however as Christians we still need to reach out to those people and show love. Some people should not be excluded from fellowship but unfortunately are often excluded. For example, some denominations only allow women to wear skirts, some people force you to be baptized or complete certain rituals to attend, Catholics require observation of the sacraments, and some churches do not ordain women. There are many more conflicting views on other issues. Paul emphasizes a mindset of unity. He does not require absolute uniformity of thinking, never disagreeing about anything, but refers to unity in spirit and attitude, an underlying sense of belonging to each other (Moo). “Love your neighbor as yourself” is a major theme.
In regards to all of the arguing and division that is involved in this passage of Romans 14, it is refreshing to note that all are Christians, as you mentioned towards the end of this post. “Both the weak and the strong are Christians and equally a part of the Christian community.” This is a great point to make, because the issues that they are divided over at not matters of salvation. In contemporary culture, we see divisions like this all the time. Congregations split over what songs are played in worship, whether coffee should be allowed in the sanctuary, and what color the new carpet should be. In the end, Christ still shows up in a church where people drink coffee during worship, and Christ will show up anywhere where he is wanted and where the mindset is right. The Devil can sneak these petty details into our meetings and create a little hostility over the differing opinions. As a body of believers, we need to stay focused on things eternal, and focus on the relationships that we create in this life; as opposed to whether those people can eat certain foods, or drink certain drinks.
There have been so many horror stories within the church regarding the exclusion of certain attendees based on choices they have made. Some of these choices are not even wrong. Similar to the scripture (Romans 14: 2-3), I have heard of and witnessed judgment upon certain believers because of their choice to drink alcohol. Sometimes a person may be excluded because of a relationship choice they have made. A friend of mine was not welcomed back nicely to her church because of issues of faithfulness within her parents marriage. Obviously, adultery is a sin. However, all of us will stand before God at judgment. Because of this then we should not judge our brothers or despise them. (Romans 14:11-12) Some times homeless people will enter into a church and get strange looks from all the attendees. The homeless man may not be engaged with because of a certain way they look or behave. Some churches have become the “weak”, seeing man-made rituals as necessary for inclusion. They may not reason that God accepts of as we are then changes us to what he wants us to be.
This past summer I had the opportunity to hear Michael Card speak. He talked about “bullet” and “non-bullet” issues. He said that before entering into an argument with someone or considering leaving a church, one should ask the question, would I take a bullet for my side in this dispute? Would I take a bullet for believing Jesus is Lord? I hope so! Would I take a bullet for believing in predestination over freewill or vice versa? Probably not. I believe if we all asked this question before bringing up grievances in the church, it would solve a lot of issues.
Everyone in our society wants to be a strong person but who actually knows how to become a strong person. In my opinion a strong person is someone who stands up for what they believe in, but also follows that through with their actions along with the word choice they have when speaking people. A strong person is able to be humble, and accept defeat, and acknowledge when they are wrong. They are able to see all different sides of the argument and be able to distinguish the best way to figure out the certain problem, even if that means not using the suggestion they thought of. A strong person is able to step down from the leadership role, and let other lead and be willing to follow that person’s lead. God wants us to be strong in our faith because then we will be able to help guide other people into the faith as well. Being strong can seem arrogant, but as long as we have Jesus Christ our Savior helping us, then being a strong leader; there is nothing wrong with that.
I believe the main theme that Paul is trying to teaches us is not to pass any judgment regardless of a person’s particular beliefs and values because after all, it’s God who judges a person. In the sight of God, He accepted them both as Paul mention. In terms of the weak and the strong, I don’t think one will see themselves as a weaker person when their certain view is challenged. We all are entitled to holding our beliefs and values as somewhat superior to our opponents. This is why clarifying who are the weak and the strong become an intricate subject matter. As a baptist, a person that submits to the baptism ritual and communion was considered the stronger individual in their faith, and the weak are those who have not yet submitted to the ritual. We define a person as mature and strong when he/she finally decided to take part in the ritual. Its a sign of maturity in their faith in God. A person may disagrees with me on this apsect, but I am okay with that, and I don’t have the right judge anyone who did not carry the same beliefs and practice as us. Paul reminded us in Romans 14 v-33 “The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them”. If you come to a baptist congregation there are some fellowship that exclue a person the fellowship, for a ritual like communion are for those who have declared their faith in Jesus through baptism. In order to participate in the fellowship, the congregation require a person to partake in the baptism rituals. But the exclusionism of the fellowship does not demean a person in any form.
I think that this is such a prevalent topic in the church today. We have so many churches divided due to beliefs of traditions and regulations that we should uphold to. We may not be having debates on if we can eat meat or how we should observe the Sabbath, but we do have them with things like baptism or communion. I feel that the church has really lost its focus on love and has put more of a focus on liberty. “But that liberty must be used in light of a more important consideration: love” (Moo, 183). We have become a people that cares more about telling someone what they are doing wrong instead of treating and loving them like Jesus would. Romans 14:7-9 also reminds we are the Lord’s, and He will deal with us accordingly with where we are in our faith. We also have to remember that we need the weak and the strong within a community. Both allow growth and challenge us.
“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables (Romans 14:1-2).” While its true we don’t exactly know who the weak or the strong were, that’s not really important; to the issue that Paul is addressing. What we know is that there are two sub-groups of Christians who are arguing among themselves. The weaker group is called the weak because their faith isn’t firmly rooted yet. These Christians are said to only eat vegetables because they are afraid of eating meat that has been sacrificed to idols. While the other group is considered the strong because their faith is firmly rooted, they partake in the freedoms that they have. “An important, though not decisive, factor in where a Christian landed in these two groups is the way one was raised (Moo pg. 181).”
This was an issue that Paul faced with the first generation of Christian’s. And yet current Christians’ still face the same problem. We aren’t worried about eating meat sacrificed to idols yet we have the same dilemma when it comes to different topics of the same nature. Topics like consuming alcohol. Should Christian’s drink alcohol, or should they stay away from it because of the issues that can come with alcohol consumption. Or another example from a few years ago is: Is it alright for Christian’s to watch R-rated movies? I remember this issue from when the first “Deadpool” movie came out in 2015. There was a lot of controversy surrounding this movie. Older Christian’s were telling younger Christian’s they weren’t allowed to watch such a vile and inappropriate movie like that. But some younger Christian’s viewed that it was just movie and they had the freedom to watch it. I wasn’t a college student at that time but I heard from upperclassmen that it stirred up issue on campus. With some people telling others that if they went and seen such a movie, they were going to hell for watching it. These are only a few examples, but as you can see this is the same type of issue that Paul was addressing a long time ago.
Growing up as a Christian i never seen anyone stronger then, there are more grounded Christians but it don’t matter unless you follow Jesus as your Lord and savoir. we are all weak unless we trust in Christ, we can be the strongest person mentally but never actually be strong because we are with out Jesus. so i believe we can be strong but its only through God we can ever be strong and this is proven. so as we put our trust in Christ then that is when we can be spiritually strong and face the enemy without weakness.
THe idea of weak and strong in the church can cause divisions within itself. I think what Paul is saying is that we can be the weak one at times and the strong ones at times. At some point some people will question their relationship with God i.e. the Gentiles in Galatia that are faltering in their faith and listening to what the legalist Jews are telling them instead of trusting in the salvation given to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Moo states “the best solution is to think that the weak were influenced by a Jewish tradition of asceticism based on the Torah” (Moo, pg. 180). The idea that the weak are those who are easily influenced away from their walk with Jesus or even in the case of the Gentiles in Galatia may be new in their faith.
According to Romans 14, I believe that Paul is referring to “the strong” as those who rely on only God’s grace for their salvation, and “the weak” are those who believe that it is through good works (or keeping the old law) and God’s grace that salvation is attained. Paul realizes that there are Jewish Christians who are saved by Grace, but still want to adhere to the laws of Moses in addition. Paul respects this. Throughout the chapter, Paul issues us not to judge those Christians (jews) who still want to keep the law. “One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgement on the one who eats…” (Rom 14:2-3) It’s important to note that Christians who do follow old covenant laws (such as food laws) can still be considered Christians.
There are some Christian churches today that exclude certain peoples from congregating in fellowship. I know that there are churches who exclude the LGBTQ+ community simply because of sin. Their whole argument is that their way of life goes against what the bible teaches…well if that’s the case, then since we all sin and go against what God wants us to do, then we all should be outcast. It’s unfortunate that it happens. The only thing that we can do as Christians is accept any and everybody into our church. God is in the business of changing people, not us. And if changing a person’s heart is the plan God has for that person, then let them into the church so God can transform them.
From my experience, many of the weaker brothers and sisters in Christ are those who lack the ability to simply respect and agree to disagree with another sibling in Christ who has a different stance on a nonessential of Scripture. One of the biggest examples of this is in the American church there is much disagreement over whether it is biblical to drink alcohol or not. Among believers in almost every other nation, this is not an issue. However, in the United States it can cause a great deal of division. This is a prime example of how stronger brothers may be able to drink alcohol and have no problem with it – whether it may be with addiction or in regards to their conscious – yet a weaker brother may not only be opposed to it, but also be very vocal about how bad it is for someone.
Yet, on the other hand, weakness can also be an indicator of a lacking to strive in a closer relationship with Christ. For example, someone who claims to have become a believer 10+ years ago, but yet lives in a manner that is no different than the world, one could easily suggest he is a weaker brother due to his lifestyle.
In either case, it is the job of the stronger siblings to help the weaker ones grow in their walks with the Lord and to strengthen their relationship with Christ. Within this passing down of experience, the church cannot grow as effectively and will ultimately be stagnated.
I think the weak and strong could change depending on the context, certainly a Jew reading it, would see them as strong and the Gentile as weak, and vice versa. But this can stretch to many other groups. I think one of the groupings that currently divides the church is the old and the young. Our culture certainly put that idea in our minds, how often at thanksgiving dinner is there a grown up table and a kiddie table. At church potlucks, usually all the teens sit together, and all the older folk sit together. I think both “factions” are somewhat at fault. Maybe both see themselves as the strong and the other as weak. I know it might not be exactly a practice, but it certainly is a social divide.
The weak and the strong is an interesting topic for what Paul has written about and experienced in the church. The weak group is more on the side of adopting a more punctilious form of lifestyle in dietary practices and calendar observances, as for the strong they are more laid back as they do not care for good works (Longenecker and Still, 189). There is the problem of some occasions where the two groups would but heads when the weak judge the strong for not following the ‘ways’ of a Christian, and the strong judge the weak for practicing an unnecessary way of life (Longenecker and Still, 189).
The solution to this problem is what Paul says that we are to stop passing judgement to one another and not put any stumbling rock or obstacle in your brother’s way (Romans 14:13). As of life is a person that goes beyond the Law by exercising the law of love in every facet of their life (Long,123). What really matters is showing love to one another, not who is right or wrong or what things should be done. Personally I have experienced this in modern times in the situation where vegans/vegetarians fight for what they think is the right way to live, and meat eaters fight back along with judging. It is quite an unsettling war that is still going on.
According to Romans 14, I don’t really think Paul is actually talking about food. He mentioned this maybe to give an example and to make them see what he was trying to say. That’s true, he never said who is weak and how strong. Because if he mentions, surely, there will be a church divided again. Then that will unglorify Christ and His bodies and Paul will also be one of the weak. Because the weak are people who are immature in faith and strong are those mature in faith.
Who is weak and strong clean in verse 6 ‘’the one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord’’. So Paul tried to say how to live as a christian and to honor the lord by how we live and how we treat each other (brother). It includes all how we eat, how we drink and what we do (1 Cor 10:31), also how to address as well. Because we are not living for yourself but for Him (Roman 14:8).
In Colossians 3;17 also, it is said that ‘’ and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord’’. This includes everything. Even now, many people and many cultures are arguing about tattoos. Of Course we are free and it is OK to get tattoos. But my cultures and people people down those who are tattooed. So even though I do want and know it is ok to do it, i won’t rather do that because the ministry to my people will fail, and they won’t follow, nor listen to me just by this tattoo. So weak is the person who dishonors Christ and a strong is who lives for him and does not fail Him by Christ living.
I find it interesting that Paul wants the strong people not to “pass judgment” on to the weak people. The reason it is interesting to me is because this is how I believe people should deal with people who we find “weak” in their faith. People who are weak in their faith need assistance from the people who are strong in their faith. When someone is weak in their faith they tend to say they believe, however, they seem to stray off the path of becoming strong in faith. These people also usually sin often and do not see any issues with what they are doing. This causes them to grow further and further away from their faith and makes them become almost desensitized to sin. This has become more common in the world today because people are mostly concerned with themselves and with this comes the sinful nature of humans. This nature makes these people sin often because they see nothing wrong with it. However, I believe that those who are strong in faith can save the weak and help them find God again. Once the weak realize the sins they have committed do impact them, only then can will they be able to turn their faith around and save themselves.