Chapter # 14 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
February 21, 2021
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: Paul's confrontation of those "diseased in The Faith" consists of an interesting challenge: Who are you who sets him/her self up as a "judge" of Another's "household servant"?
Introduction: When Paul set out to give some practical instruction on "How To Live In The Mercies Of The God", he selected certain "categorical concerns" that reach across huge topics and identify basic foundation lines. In chapter twelve, he addressed the "categorical concerns" of life upon the foundations of God's provisions for harmony within the Church, with a focus upon a call to "Love" in a genuine way. In chapter thirteen, he addressed the "categorical concerns" of life upon the recognition of God's establishment of human government, with a focus upon a summons for "Love" to be the sole outstanding "debt" which every believer needs to strive to satisfy. And, now, in chapter fourteen, we find him addressing the "categorical concerns" of life within the reality of a coming day of Judgment by God of every man.
In our study this evening we are going to consider why one of the "critical concerns" (of life within a context of a coming judgment of every man by the God Who created him) is the foolhardiness of attempting to take God's place as "Judge". His question to those who would assume this position as a "stand-in" for God as Judge is this: "Who are you...?", or, perhaps better, "Who do you think you are?"
- I. The Identification of The Recipient of Paul's Confrontation.
- A. In his opening statements in this area of "critical concerns", he identified two distinct groups in The Church.
- 1. The first identified group is that one which possesses a solid grasp of the contents of "The Faith".
- 2. The second identified group is that one which has a "diseased" grasp of the contents of "The Faith" by reason of a significant level of ignorance regarding the methodological issues involved in "Life by Law" and "Life by Grace".
- B. In this identification of two distinct groups, he revealed the "flaws" involved in both groups.
- 1. Those who possess a solid grasp of the contents of "The Faith" are "flawed" by their lack of progress through the "problem" of "having a better grasp of..." as revealed by Paul's insistence that this group neither "reject" the other group, nor "look down their noses at them for their ignorance".
- a. It is an outstanding fact that "knowledge" has a profound tendency to "puff up" (1 Corinthians 8:1).
- 1) This is made plain by the text/context of 1 Corinthians 8:1, which was written by Paul in respect to the very same "critical concern" that he is addressing in our current study of Romans.
- 2) Just as in that text/context, Paul appeals to the very same overriding issue in this context of living in the mercies of God by pushing "Love" to the fore: "knowledge puffs up...Love builds up".
- b. Thus, those who are of the "party" of those "in the know" reveal that they "know" better, but are not mature enough to "love" better.
- 2. Those whose grip on The Faith is diseased are "flawed" by their heavily bogged down ignorance of the methodology of "Grace" as revealed by Paul's insistence that this group refrain from "judging" those who have the freedom to eat unhindered by the Law's dietary constraints.
- a. This is a revelation of the "typical" response to rejection and being treated as second class people: self-righteous, self-exaltation by way of "judging" those who do not adhere to their "legal" predispositions.
- b. This group is hamstrung by their ignorance of "Grace" and the inevitable, consequential inability to "Love" those who "do things that I cannot do".
- C. In this exposure of the "flaws" involved, Paul deliberately identified the problems of conflict.
- 1. Paul said of those who "know better" that they should not "set at nought" those who are "diseased in The Faith".
- 2. He said of those whom he has identified as "diseased" that they should not "judge" those who are further into "Grace" than they are.
- D. By the focus upon the problem of "judging" others, Paul reveals his intended recipients of these present words: the "diseased" who have chosen "judgment" as their "tool of superiority".
- II. What He Says To These Recipients.
- A. He has already humiliated them by calling them "diseased in The Faith".
- B. He has already revealed the fact that those under their "judgment" have been received by God Himself.
- C. And now he challenges them with a "Who do you think your are?" question that rests upon the conflict between them and God as to "Who gets to be The Judge?"
- 1. We must keep in mind that Paul is dealing with only issues that actually do not matter, not issues that do matter.
- 2. In this realm of things that cannot matter in actual substance, we have only a concern for why, if they cannot matter, do they matter (the revelation of the "disease").
- 3. Why they cannot matter.
- a. First, because Paul is dealing with "the household of God" which functions under His oversight, not the oversight of those who would usurp His place in the household.
- b. Second, because Paul is adamant about the fact that God will "support" His own household.
- 1) In this "household", every member stands or falls before his own Lord, not the other members of the "household".
- 2) In this "household" every member "stands" by the active working of the "Householder".
- III. How Paul Can Make This Pronouncement.
- A. It is an indisputable fact that there is a huge discrepancy between the individual experiences of those who are within the folds of "The Faith".
- 1. The clearest example is the contrast between the deliverance of the thief on the cross and the deliverance of the apostle Paul.
- a. The thief got "into" "The Faith" just an hour or so before his time on this earth was over so that his "future reward" in the coming judgment cannot possibly be anywhere near as extensive as that of someone who comes into "The Faith" early and lives a long and faithful life.
- b. That this is the clearest example by no means indicates that it is the only example: the historical realities of the "timing" of a person's entrance into "The Faith" leave no doubt that God has His own time table for His actions regarding when He moves to bring a person into His Life.
- 2. This author of Romans 14 also wrote 1 Corinthians 15:10: "By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly that they all: yet not I, but the grace of which was with me".
- B. The backdrop of Paul's declaration regarding God's commitment to "hold each of his household servants up so that none of them fall" has certain specifics foundations.
- 1. First is Paul's use of "household servant".
- 2. Second is the declaration by the author of Hebrews 3:1-6 wherein he makes "us" the household of Christ, so that we are the "household servants" as a matter of basic "salvation status".
- 3. Third is the declaration by Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:20 that uses the gamut of "household contents" from "vessels unto honor" and "vessels unto dishonor" as an analogy of the reality of the "household of Christ".
- 4. Fourth is the statement by Paul in Romans 9:21 that it is God's own prerogative that determines which "vessel" will be unto "honor" and which will be unto "dishonor".
- 5. Fifth is the fact that Romans 8:28 pointedly declares that those that "love God" are those who "are called according to purpose" [God's purpose within the scope of His household].
- 6. Taking all together, we come to the declaration in this text that God is going to make sure that each "vessel" in His "household" is preserved by Him for its particular "purposed identity" so that no one is "judge" except The Householder.
- a. This means that it is totally illegitimate for anyone to set him/her self up as "judge" over God's household servants.
- b. This also means that, according to Paul's claim in 2 Timothy 2:21, each individual is personally involved in his/her own development into the kind of "vessel" he/she may be in that day of "judgment".
- 1) This is not a contradiction in Paul's theology wherein there is a very real "tension" between the human grasp of God's "unsearchable judgments" and the divine pursuit of a plan established long ago.
- 2) This is a strong warning for those "diseased in The Faith" to grow out of their disease so that they be not "vessels of dishonor": this "disease" being a rebelliousness against God's grace and its implications.
