Who Is The "weak" Christian? An Exposition Of Romans 14:1-12

Who is a "Weak Christian? An Exposition of Romans 14:1-12

There are “strong” or “mature” Christians. And there are “weak” Christians also. Paul here does make a distinction here. But what constitutes being a “strong” Christian or a “weak” Christian? We might suppose that the strong Christian is one who has been a Christian for a long time and has spent much time studying the Bible and is a regular attender at church. The weak Christian, then, would be one who is new to the faith or is irregular in his study of Scripture and attendance at church. This might often be the case, but if this was a certain way to distinguish the strong from the weak Christians we could proceed to the benediction right now and go home. Some of you might like such a short sermon.

However, as we shall see in today’s text from Romans, we will find Jews in the Church who had studied the Scripture from youth and attended to the worship at the synagogue on a regular basis. And unlike many of their fellow Jews, they had accepted Christ. They were Christians. They would fit our previously defined “strong Christian.” Yet, as we shall see, Paul refers to them as actually being the “weak” Christians. There were Gentiles in the Church as well, many of whom were novices to the faith. Yet by inference, they seem to be called the “strong” Christians, or so it seems.

We need to examine this text a little further, as even this distinction is not entirely correct. Verse one tells those who seem to be mature in the faith to accept the weaker brother, but not to involve them in disputes over doubtful speculations from Scripture or philosophy. We can see the havoc such disputes caused in Corinth, the city from which Paul sent Romans. Some liked Cephas (Peter) because he seemed the most “Jewish.” Others liked Apollos because he was a great orator and scholar of both Scripture as well as Greek philosophy. Others clung to Paul, not because he was a great orator, but because he was the one God sent to found the church at Corinth. Then there were those who said “I am of Christ.” Of the four these were doctrinally correct. We, or course, follow no man or even an Apostle, but Christ, realizing that God sent the message of Christ though Peter, Paul, Apollos and others. But it seems the “of Christ” group seems to have had a sense of superiority over the other factions. They were right, but had the wrong attitude towards their fellow believers. Instead of patiently bearing with them, they considered the others to be inferior. There seems to have been a similar group of spiritual elites in 1 John that the Apostle John had to deal with. They seem to have abandoned their fellow church members as apparently being too unenlightened and set up their own assembly. They thought that they were “strong” Christians, but John says that they weren’t Christians at all because they did not show love to the brethren.

The divisions in the church at Rome did not seem to be as harsh, but they were there. Paul has to deal with them. The controversy seemed to be between believers who had come from a Jewish background and those who came from the Gentiles. The Jews, or more correctly the Israelites, had been given the Law at Mount Sinai which was written by Yahweh’s own hand on stone tablets (stele). These were delivered unto Moses for the people of Israel to live by in addition to the many other commandments which were given by time to time and written by Moses in the Torah. Israel’s many failures to keep this law caused them misery, including the exile of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria and Judah into Babylon. The Jewish people responded to this trauma by determining themselves to keep this law. Although they made many mistakes in interpretation and added commandments with the purpose of not transgressing the greater commandments, something which Jesus continuously brought out, many of the Pharisees bound themselves to keeping the Law.

Paul addresses here the Jewish food laws and Sabbath keeping in particular. The keeping of these as well as circumcision became stumbling blocks concerning the inclusion of the Gentiles into the Church. Shouldn’t the Gentiles make a commitment to these in addition to accepting Christ. A few years earlier, the controversy became so intense that the First Church Council was addressed at Jerusalem to address these. The result was that justification by faith was established as the means of both Jew and Gentile to become Christians, But some deference on the part of the Gentiles was given to certain of the food laws and fornication.

Paul had to deal with the problem of boasting in Corinth. For example, part of the solution to the party spirit which divided the Corinthians, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:31:“that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” In Romans, the inclusion of the Gentiles to the same privilege as the Jewish believers served as an antidote to spiritual pride on the part of the Jews. The Jews had at one time been given special privilege. It was to them that the oracles of God were delivered. (Romans 3:2) However, Paul’s argument in the first chapters of Romans placed both Jew and Gentile equally under sin. Both groups stood in the need of God’s grace. This alone should keep one from boasting and keep one humble before God. This grace was made equally available to both Jew and Gentile on the basis of faith alone. One is saved by believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ.