Romans 14:44 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.
I hear the second part of the latter verse quoted all the time. Reading it all in context today showed me something different. Yes, we shouldn't do anything to make our brothers and sisters in Christ stumble, which usually is us talking about alcohol consumption, but the other main point of this whole chapter is to trust God with other believer's personal lives, and not to condemn each other.
But then there are verses like these: 1 Cor 5:5 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. ~12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."
If anyone has studied this and has any insight, please share. The only thing I could see is that there is a difference between different convictions and blatant sin. We should not judge one another's convictions but we should be very careful about condoning the sin in someone's life. Which means we need to make sure we know the difference between sin and someone disagreeing with our convictions.
I have no idea why I am blogging about this. Except I am trying to figure all this judgement stuff out and it helps to write down my thoughts.
4 comments:
Look at the specific details preceeding verse 4.
Rom 14:1
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.
Disputable is the KEY word.
The latter verse 1 Cor 5:5 is about NON-negotiables for both the old AND new covenant believers. These issues aren't a matter of "personal"or "cultural" conviction ,rather they are Gods instruction for anyone and any cultural background ...........they are His non-negotiables.
I am not sure who anonymous is...but after I sent you the email...I read your comments, and I say AMEN!! That is something he talks about in his sermons...there are disputable and non disputable things in life...unity means living together in harmony despite our difference of opinions on certain matters. You cannot dispute the fundamental things of our faith...for example the deity of Jesus..etc. but, what to eat or not eat, what to wear or not wear, how to wear our hair or not wear our hair, speak in tongues or not speak in tongues...those are all things that do not matter in the long run...what matters is that we are all on the same side of the spiritual battle we are in, so lets stop judging and backbiting, and live in unity to fight this spiritual warfare we ALL deal with. Long winded, I know, and am sorry...the Lord is really stirring some things in me. Loves and hugs!!
Thank you Andresa, I am so glad to have the word disputable as a tool to use in explaining these sorts of things. You are welcome to be long winded on my blog anytime!
Post a Comment