Christian Freedom And The Weak Brother Series

Down in San Antonio, Texas, they can eat rattlesnake meat. Now if you are going to have rattlesnake for dinner, please don’t invite me to come over. This has nothing to do with religious scruples, but it has a lot to do with a weak stomach.

Paul has stated a great principle here. Meat does not commend you to God. You may do as you please in such matters. This is the liberty that a believer has.

The word "commendeth" (paristhsi) means to recommend someone as worthy of confidence, notice, kindness, etc.: to commend a friend to another; and here it means to recommend to the favor of God. But God does not regard this as a matter of importance. He does not make his favor depend on unimportant circumstances like this.

It seems as if the Romans were having a problem similar to that which was troubling the Corinthian believers, since Paul spoke of a related matter with them—“…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” (Romans 14:6; KJV). He that eateth is the Gentile Christian, who freely eats all kinds of meat—“For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs” (Romans 14:2; KJV). He eateth to the Lord; because he believes that God does not forbid it; and because he desires, by doing it, to glorify God—“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31; KJV). To eat to the Lord, in this case, is to do it believing that it is his will. In all other cases, it is to do it feeling that we receive our food from him; giving thanks for his goodness, and desiring to be strengthened, so that we may do what He commands. He giveth God thanks means that it is our duty to give God thanks at our meals for our food. It shows that it was the practice of the early Christians and that it has the commendation of the apostle. It was also uniformly done by the Jews, and by the Lord Jesus—“And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude” (Matt 14:19; KJV). To the Lord he eateth not means that He abstains from eating because he believes that God requires him to do it, and he does it with a desire to obey and honor him. And giveth God thanks: the Jew thanked God for the law, and for the kindness he had conferred on him by giving him more light than he had given to the Gentiles. It was because of this privilege that they esteemed themselves so very highly, and the converted Jews would, without a doubt, retain this feeling; thinking themselves as specially favored by God, since they have a unique acquaintance with the law of God.

for neither, if we eat, are we the better;

Food is neutral—it is neither good nor evil, regardless of whether or not it has been offered in a temple to a pagan idol. There would be nothing inherently wrong with eating such meat because food has nothing to do with a person’s relationship with God—it cannot bring us nearer to God, nor can it take us farther away. Therefore it is merely a matter of indifference. Yet because it is merely a matter of indifference, Paul said, the stronger believers should not push the weak but, instead, be willing to love the weak. These “strong” believers (as opposed to those Paul described as “weak”) knew Scripture and stood strong on God’s commands and prohibitions, but were free from minor, legalistic constraints. Yet they must be careful…that the exercise of [their] freedom does not become a stumblingblock to the weak. Since it does not matter what kind of food believers eat, the strong believers should live on the side of love for the weaker believers.