THE PROBLEM OF JUDGING

Rom. 14:10 ... "Why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God."

      The Latin phrase, E PLURIBUS UNUM, "one from many," is the motto of our nation. It calls attention to the way in which our citizens are a blend of people from many diverse countries, cultures and languages. This idea applies just as well to the church of Christ. Its commission is to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation," (Mk. 16:15). As people believe and accept baptism (v.16), they are added by the Lord to the church, (Acts 2:47). A common bond is then established among all these redeemed souls which Eph. 4:3 refers to as "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." A fellowship of faith, love and obedience to God's will is thus established that prevails among Christians even though they might differ greatly in race, speech, social customs and the like. That, of course is the ideal. As everyone knows, however, it is not always the practice.

      Where the Lord has specifically spoken about something, for Christians that is the end of the matter. The pronouncement is to be accepted by faith and enacted without question. Any violation of this is sin, since Rom. 14:23 declares that "whatever is not from faith is sin." In other words, when an idea or action does not proceed as a response of faith in God's direction for us, it is sin. When such transgressions occur, the Lord Himself will judge the offender. Thus v.12 states that "each one of us shall give account of Himself to God." Beyond the specific declaration of the Lord's will, however, there are myriad things that lie within the realm of opinion or personal preference. As long as one does not cause another Christian to stumble by these things, or try to impose them as obligatory upon others, or violate his own conscience by them, the Lord permits the individual to believe or practice them. This is the context of the apostle's discussion in Romans 14. Lying on your side on a mat or couch at a dinner table, greeting others with a kiss, and washing the feet of strangers are customs peculiar to society in apostolic times and are optional for Christians. Abstaining from meat, wearing no makeup or jewelry, and praying to God in 16th Century English are also optional for us.

      We promote peace and true fellowship in the church by acquiring the wisdom to separate what is opinion from what is faith and by developing the self-control to respect the difference. Any violation of faith in practice must be addressed by the instructions in Mt. 18:15-18, both for the sake of the integrity of the church and for the rectification of the offender. When we notice someone acting on a matter of opinion, it is not our prerogative to challenge him and demand that he change. Unto this purpose our text asks, "Why do you regard your brother with contempt?," and then answers in v.13, "Let us not judge one another anymore." The church of God is too precious and important to disrupt and bring it into disrepute it by our petty scruples. Paul writes in v.20, "Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food." The reference to food (in some versions "meat") is general and may refer to any other item of personal preference. We do much and needless damage to the fellowship of the saints when we make an issue of faith out of something that is really only opinion. At times we may be so emotionally involved that we are unable to see the difference. In such cases we need the calm, detached counsel of third parties, (themselves being men of faith and truth). Our grand object must be always to "pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another," (v.19).

A CHRISTIAN'S DEBT TO EVERYONE

Rom. 13:8 ... "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law."

      The gospel of Christ perfects relationships between people when they internalize its precepts and implement them in their behavior. The reason for this is simple, when one understands the basic precept of Jesus' teaching. That precept is love, which means unselfishness. When a person interacts with others on the principle of unselfishness, he is hardly apt to offend them. His consideration flows outward to them rather than inward unto himself, as in the case of a selfish person. Typical in the gospel is the exhortation of Php. 2:3, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself." Jesus would turn each of us away from self indulgence and cause us to take into consideration the needs of people about us, especially of those who are involved in some kind of suffering. So rather than having debts to each other that are paid by acts of getting even, we should owe nothing but love to one another.

      There is another important point in the text that must be considered carefully. It is expressed in the words, "for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." The object of "the law," whether it be the law of Moses or the law of Christ, is to establish a mode of life which God approves. This text (Rom. 13:8) and many others like it declare that love, when it is the kind that dwells in God, will achieve the same goal as law. When it is incessantly expressed in pure form, it will lead a person into the lifestyle which pleases God. At this point, however, many people draw a faulty conclusion. They decide that one can magnify the action of love in his life and pay less attention to the details of the law. In other words, one need not take the New Testament too seriously or be overly concerned with its detailed requirements. Just devote your life to the way of love, and all will be well. The fallacy in this line of reasoning is that it gives too much credit to our human ability to deny selfishness and surrender ourselves totally to the principle of absolutely unselfish love. The strongest man is still, after all, just a man and therefore subject to human frailty. As long as we live in the flesh there is always the dark side to our nature, something which I Cor. 2:14 calls the "natural man." This wild potential needs to be controlled, for its desire is to satisfy itself. God, who knows our constitution far better than we ever will, is fully aware of our inner "natural" character. He has given us a law by which to subdue it and then keep it under control. The more one takes his attention off of the law God has given us to govern our lives, the more that person makes himself vulnerable to corruption by his basic human urges. We are thus admonished in I Cor. 10:12, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

      Love is not, therefore. a substitute for strict attention to the New Testament law and its details. In fact, in the words of Christ Himself, one cannot truly love Him without being attentive to His law. In Jno. 14:15 He said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." It is erroneous for someone to say, "I will love Jesus and my fellowmen without reservation, so I need not pay any great attention to every jot and tittle of New Testament scripture." Jesus declares that we can keep His law only by the love that we have for Him. It is actually a reciprocal thing in that love leads to obedience, and obedience leads to greater love. We need to preach and practice love far more than we do, but not at the expense of devotion to the law of Christ.  Love and obedience to Christ cannot be separated.