May 5 Click on verses for Full Scripture

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Today's Pathway: Romans 14:16-21 Let not then your good be evil spoken of: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. 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.

Paul is continuing his comments concerning Christian liberty. In the previous verses he has warned the mature believer not to allow his liberty in the area of doubtful disputations to harm another brother in Christ. Verse 16 has been interpreted in various ways, all of which are true. He could be saying that Christian liberty is good, but don't push your liberty to the point that it is spoken against, or that your testimony is ruined. He could mean that one should not use his liberty as an opportunity to do evil. I Peter 2:16 warns against "using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness". He could mean that the good Gospel message is harmed by petty squabbles among believers. All of these things are true, and show that we do need to be careful about how we use our liberty.

In verse 17 he reiterates that there is more to the Christian life then what a man eats and drinks. Emphasis should be given to righteousness and peace and joy. These are things that God wants us to have. There is nothing doubtful or questionable about them. All three are listed as fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22, Ephesians 5:9), and according to verse 17 He will produce them in our lives if we let Him. Verse 18 teaches that if a man is faithful to the Lord in those three areas, God will find him acceptable and he will also be acceptable to men, both the saved and the unsaved. God judges the inward motives. Man sees the outward effects. Both will approve of the spiritual man. Thus, Paul says in verse 19, believers should be chasing after things that will help us to be at peace with one another, and also will help us to build each other up in the faith. The priority is not to fight over issues that the Bible does not address. It is not to flaunt our convictions over someone else's, nor to offend others by a libertine lifestyle. What we want first is to be at peace with each other. Ephesians 4:3 tells us to be "endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace". If we are not at peace, how can we possibly edify each other? I Corinthians 14:26 tells us,

"Let all things be done unto edifying."

"Our desire must not be to get everybody to agree with us; our desire must be to pursue peace, not cause others to stumble, and help others to mature in Christ."

In verses 20-21 Paul goes back to what he has said earlier in the chapter. God's work is people (Ephesians 2:10) , and for us to offend them through an improper use of our liberty may destroy His work. Perhaps the offended person should have been mature enough to understand his liberty, but the fact is that he wasn't, and it would not only be evil for us to offend him, but it would be evil for him to join in with us in violation of his conscience. John MacArthur commented,

"One who exercises his freedom at the expense of his brother is doing evil, even though the thing he is free to do isn't wrong in and of itself. All things are pure, but they become evil when they cause a brother to stumble."