Chapter # 14 Paragraph # 2 Study # 6
June 6, 2021
Humble, Texas
(124)
1769 KJV Translation:
16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
18 For he that in these things serveth Christ [
is] acceptable to God, and approved of men.
19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed [
are] pure; but [
it is] evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21 [
It is] good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [
any thing] whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
22 Hast thou faith? have [
it] to thyself before God. Happy [
is] he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because [
he eateth] not of faith: for whatsoever [
is] not of faith is sin.
1901 ASV Translation:
16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
18 For he that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God, and approved of men.
19 So then let us follow after things which make for peace, and things whereby we may edify one another.
20 Overthrow not for meat's sake the work of God. All things indeed are clean; howbeit it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21 It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [to do anything] whereby thy brother stumbleth.
22 The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God. Happy is he that judgeth not himself in that which he approveth.
23 But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because [he eateth] not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
- I. Paul's Major Thesis.
- A. The pattern of his words.
- 14:14 -- Nothing is unclean except to him who thinks it unclean.
- 14:15 -- Do not continue to 'destroy' that one for whom Christ died.
- 14:16 -- Do not continue to allow your good to be blasphemed.
- 14:17 -- The Kingdom of The God is righteousness, peace, and joy.
- 14:18 -- The one who serves pleases God and is approved by men.
- 14:19 -- Pursue peace and the building up of one another.
- 14:20a -- Do not keep on tearing down the work of The God.
- 14:20b -- All things are indeed clean except to the one who eats with offense.
- B. Kingdom people are to live like "Kingdom People" ("...we are to be walking according to Love...").
- II. The Details.
- A. The opening issue: the people of God are not to regard "common" issues as worthy of pursuit or commitment.
- B. The next issue: thinking there is "Life" in the use of God's creation without regard for the reality that "Life" only involves the harmony of "Life" between God and His servant.
- C. The third issue: Do not continue to allow your good to be blasphemed.
- 1. What Paul calls "your good" is a correct understanding of "The Faith" that allows a legitimate freedom from dietary and memorial constraints imposed by The Law.
- a. At issue here is what Paul considers "the good".
- 1) In Romans 3:8 a definition, of sorts, is established: "the good" is what "glorifies" God. The argument in this context is that God uses even the lies of men to "reveal" ("glorify") the Truth of God. This "revelation" is by way of contrast: man's lies, in contrast to God's Truth, bring out a better understanding of that Truth as the lies are exposed as lies by God's Truth in a way that men can see more clearly the Truth of God.
- 2) In the same way, in the context of Romans 14, The Truth of God (that dietary issues and memorial days issues have no real connection to the heart of man in respect to honest relationship issues between God and men; these can all be faked) is "glorified" (made more clearly understood) when men exercise their God-given freedom from "Law".
- b. It is a true "good" to act in the freedom God has given.
- 2. But, this "true good" can be violated if, in fact, it is exercised without the presence of the true love of God in the midst. According to 14:15, this is precisely the problem.
- a. The verb is a present tense, passive voice, imperative. It has the force of assuming that the action is taking place and steps must be taken to see that it is stopped.
- b. "The good" is turned into a "bad" by the absence of "The Love of The God" and, thus, blasphemy begins to occur as men see that absence of "Love" in the attitude of the man who claims his "freedom" is evidence of a legitimate walk with God. "Freedom" is not "evidence"; "Love" is.
- c. It is this hypocrisy of "freedom" being turned into an occasion for the flesh (Galatians 5:13) that produces the "blasphemy" in exactly the same way as in Romans 2:24 (see below).
- 3. The action indicated by the verb is "blasphemy against a good thing".
- a. The verb is used in 34 verses in the New Testament and indicates a significant level of dishonorable accusation of evil. One of the translation options is our word "blaspheme". It indicates a strong denunciation of something that is good as though it was evil.
- b. Paul's use of this verb in Romans is limited to 2:24; 3:8, and our current text.
- 1) In 2:24 Paul accuses the "Jew" of acting in such a way as to cause those affected by his/her actions to think, and declare, the God of the Jews to be evil. What he is addressing is the extreme hypocrisy of the "Jew" who "boasts in the Law" and then turns right around and "breaks that Law" (as if it was not a very great thing). Typically, no one "boasts" of a "little" thing; thus, the Jew's boast regarding his possession of "the Law from heaven" is supposed to be taken as a very remarkable possession to be highly regarded. But, the "Jew" who claims to have God's viewpoint on all things of value who then violates that very Law so that the Gentiles see the violation and, consequently, regard the "Jew's" claim to have a very precious possession to be meaningless. The Jew is a hypocrite and the Gentile makes the very grave mistake of using that as an excuse to regard the God of the Jews as evil -- regarding Him as like His people, requiring of others what one does not do him/her self.
- 2) Then, in 3:8 Paul says he is being blasphemed by some who say that he is teaching "Let us do evil that good may come". The "blasphemy" is untrue: he is not teaching that. Thus, "blasphemy" involves making false accusations against someone with a root of twisted misunderstanding. Paul was actually teaching that God, in His superior wisdom and power, actually uses men's sins in the service of the manifestation of His glory. His opponents took that to mean that he was giving a green light to "sin" because God turns it into a basis of revelation of His glory. He was not. Just because God is so superior to men in wisdom that He can take their evil and bring about good does not mean that He favors men's sins. Romans 8:28 is a promise from God regarding how He intends to bring about good for His people in all circumstances (even when the people are being intentionally harmed by evil). This promise is a declaration of God's intention to apply His wisdom and power to all actions so that His people end up profiting from those actions. This, in no way, makes all actions acceptable; it simply declares the fact that God is able to foil the evil actions of men in their intentions and bring good about through those actions. Joseph is as clear an example of this as can be found: Genesis 50:20. Paul's experience recorded in Philippians 1:12-14 is another very clear instance of this biblical truth. It, no doubt, frustrates men to have God turn their evil intentions and actions into servants of "good", but that is the glory of a God Who is wiser than men and better than men. This, in no way, is a statement of approval from God of the evil intentions and actions. God could have used good deeds, motivated by good intentions, to accomplish the same "good", but men are perverse. In their perversity they think their evil will cause God's "good" to be frustrated; but He is wiser than they and is able to turn their evil actions into good for those who love and trust Him.
- 4. Paul's exhortation is to cut off the occasion for blasphemy (if possible).
- a. It is not always possible to cut off the occasion for blasphemy because some are so intent upon making the charge that they will make it, no matter how they have to lie to do it.
- b. Rather than insisting upon the "doctrinal accuracy" of "freedom" to eat without restraint and to ignore the Jewish holy days, Paul calls for abstinence from "freedom" and submission to the conscience of the ignorant and erring.
- c. Does this, then, mean that a gentile should "make a show of participating in the observance of the holy days? Do the gentile believers have to begin the annual treks to Jerusalem that are required of the Jews just because of the "Jewish conscience"?
- 1) It is significant that Paul, in calling for submission to the brother's conscience, does not include "observance of the holy days", but focuses entirely in 14:13-23 upon the dietary issue.
- 2) In Paul's own case, though he insisted upon getting to Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost (Acts 20:16), he acknowledged that it would be perfectly fine for him to not go there for that reason in light of the warnings he was receiving about what was to happen to him there (Acts 21:11-14). According to Acts 21:20-26, Paul was asked by the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem to "show his regard for the Law" by showing up for this "memorial day" and doing some things to let it be known that he had regard for "the day" even though the gentiles had not been tasked by that Church to observe the "memorial days" (21:25).
- 3) Thus, it appears that Paul is insisting that the gentile believers curb their appetites for "meat" for the sake of their ignorant brethren while also insisting that the Jewish believers not demand of the gentiles that they observe the memorial days.