Chapter # 14 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
February 21, 2021
Humble, Texas
(102)
1769 KJV Translation:
4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day [
alike]. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth [
it] unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard [
it]. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, [
As] I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
1901 ASV Translation:
4 Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day [alike]. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself.
8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
9 For to this end Christ died and lived [again], that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or thou again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God.
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, And every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.
- I. Paul's "Next" Issue: Dealing With The Brother Who Has "Crippling Faith" [See Notes (097)].
- II. The Issue Involved.
- III. "Not Unto Judgments Of Reasonings".
- IV. The Forbidden Attitude/Actions [See Notes (099)].
- V. The Primary Question.
- A. The question itself: Who are you who judges the household servant of another?
- 1. Paul's challenge to the "judge" uses a rarely used word for "servant" (oiketes).
- 2. Trench says that this word is a substitute for doulos with no distinctions between the two and then immediately turns around and contradicts himself.
- 3. The word derives from a word for "a dwelling place" (a "house" or some such likeness) and most likely addresses Paul's understanding of the future "household" of the Lord, as he references this idea in 2 Timothy 2:20 (which is reinforced in Romans 9:21). The "idea" is that in the coming, eternal order, the Kingdom is like unto "a large house" (also consider the author of Hebrews in 3:1-6 as he uses the "household" imagery as a major issue) that requires all manner of "useful" vessels, some of which will stand out as "honorable" and others that will not even bear "honorable mention". This explains a distinction that exists in "salvation history reality" in that God brings some "vessels" into His house early and sustains them through years of time, and others He "snatches from the fire" at the last moment (as per the thief on the cross). In addition, it "qualifies" and "quantifies" the reality of His permission of many of His children to make little progress even through a long lifetime (there will be far more that are "to be served" in His Kingdom than there will be those who "became servants" according to Mark 9:35).
- 4. Paul's choice of words in this question.
- a. He uses the very verb in the question ("judges"; krino) that he used to insist that those whose faith "is diseased" not "judge" the one who is free to eat all things.
- 1) Does this mean that "judging" is a particular deficiency of those of the "diseased" faith, or is he coalescing both "despising" and "judging" into one root-level cause?
- 2) Because Paul returns in 14:10 to his original characterizations (in 14:3) of the flaws involved in the breakdown of harmony between "brothers", it is highly likely that he was targeting those whose grasp of "The Faith" was seriously "diseased".
- a) "Despising" people who are immature (and proud of it) is a fault that is easy to slip into; thus, Paul insists that those who have a better understanding refrain from sliding into that pit. If, as "The Faith" insists, men, of themselves, cannot help being "diseased" in their grasp of "The Faith" so that it is only remedied by God's own personal action (2 Corinthians 4:6), how can those, who have a better grasp of "The Faith" because God has taken action on their part, "despise", or "look down upon", those for whom God has not yet taken such action (and may never do so)?
- i. If God is willing to wait until the death-bed to take action unto justification for some (for His own purposes), which automatically curtails just how much of a "reward" they shall receive at the judgment seat of Christ, why do some object to His willingness to "justify" some long before death and, yet, do little to bring them to maturity?
- ii. At issue here is Paul's argument in Romans 9 that God, as Potter, is perfectly, and morally, free to make of His clay whatever He purposes. Men despise this obvious truth only because they have a deep hostility toward God's identity as God because they wish for that status themselves, not for the good of others.
- b) But, "Judging" people who are "free" because of "The Faith" is a self-convicting act because it reveals how tightly bound to legalism are those whose grasp of "The Faith" is "diseased". Being a "judge" is a claim to having a greater level of understanding of what is acceptable to God; and those who are restrained from eating "all things" clearly do not have that "greater understanding". Paul nails these immature believers because what they are advocating by "judging" is very close to out and out apostasy such as Paul vigorously contended against in his letter to the Galatians (Galatians 1:6).
- b. Thus, Paul is actually, primarily, confronting those "diseased in The Faith" when he asks, "Who are you who are judging the household servant of another?"
- B. The question's answer: To one's own Lord a household servant stands or falls and all of God's "accepted ones" will be enabled to stand because The Lord will make them to stand.
- 1. This is a profound truth, with many elements.
- a. Its underlying truth is "The Lord made him to stand".
- b. But of the many "superstructure" truths, one is plain: "The Lord" made each vessel "to stand" according to "purpose" (Romans 8:28), a concept that hangs entirely upon the fact that "The Lord" has a place in His "large house" and intends a specific place for each person so that whatever "progress" one makes, or doesn't, is all about that "specific place". This is foundational in 12:3-8 (without forgetting 9:21).
- c. This reality must include, however, Paul's word of encouragement to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:21 (it is everyone's "option" to "thoroughly cleanse himself from these things" and become a vessel of honor, or not). Those who refuse God's moral "right" to create as He sees fit, create a greater moral wrong for themselves by rebelling against their Creator. "What if God [is] willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known...?" (Romans 9:22). You, mere man of indisputable ignorance, have a better idea?
- 2. Man's "standing" is "of the Lord", or not. Human attitudes of "condescension" and "judgmentalism" have a great need to come into alignment with this truth.
