This, he says, let it assure you that the Lord cares about the correction of the weak. For He Who shed His blood and died in order to be our Lord, can He not care for those who have become His servants? This is similar to how we commonly say: is it possible that someone would not care for his servant, for whom he paid so dearly? And if, he says, He cares for the dead, then all the more for the living. All this is said with the aim of shaming the Judaizing Christian and persuading him to consider how ungratefully he acts toward Christ Who died for him, by continuing to hold to the law.
Rom. 14:10. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
You, the non-eater, why do you condemn your brother who eats, as lacking self-control, because he eats? He is your brother; you must not despise your own member. Will you give an answer for him? He himself will stand before the judgment and will bear the punishment himself. Do you see how, in addressing the mature one, he strikes fear into the very one who Judaizes, as one who must give an account at the dreadful judgment?
Rom. 14:11. For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow before Me, and every tongue shall confess God.
Rom. 14:12. Each of us, therefore, will give an account of himself to God.
That we will be judged, as slaves by a master, the prophet testifies to this, he says. And with the words "before Me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess God" he showed the highest degree of submission. "Shall confess," that is, shall give an account of what he has done. – To whom? Not to the law, but to Christ. So then, why do you submit yourself to the law?
Rom. 14:13. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but rather determine this — not to put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall before a brother.
Both of you, he says, cease the quarrel that exists between you, and neither should you, who eat all things, give the weaker one an occasion for stumbling, as though severely reproaching him, nor should you, who do not eat all things, give your brother an occasion for scandal, as though observing Jewish practices. Stumbling and scandal are mutually fitting to both persons.
Rom. 14:14. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; only to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Having taught that one must not reproach the weak, he finally teaches about food and instructs the weaker person not to fear or dread it as unclean. I, he says, know and am convinced not by human reasoning, but in the Lord Jesus, that is, having been taught and assured by the Lord Jesus, "that nothing is unclean in itself," that is, nothing is unclean by nature, but becomes unclean from the intention of the one who uses it. For him alone it is both defiled and unclean, and not for all.
Rom. 14:15. If because of food your brother is grieved, you are no longer walking in love.
Here he turns his speech to the perfect one, teaching: even if foods were a thousandfold not unclean by nature, you still ought to have abstained from pork, so that your brother who is scandalized would not be grieved, if only you wish to preserve love. Then he adds:
Rom. 14:15. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.
You, he says, by a dispute over food are ruining and corrupting a brother who is so precious in the eyes of Christ that He died for him. For that person, noticing that you eat pork in opposition to him, becomes more obstinate and therefore, fearing lest he fall away from Christ, ultimately attaches himself entirely to the law.
Rom. 14:16. Let not then your good be evil spoken of.
That is, you have perfection in faith (for he called it "good"). Therefore do not abuse your perfection and do not give occasion for it to be blasphemed. For if you, being perfect, destroy the imperfect one, then you have given occasion to blaspheme the good that you possess. But you understand that our teaching is also good, and that it does not wish to be subjected to blasphemy from unbelievers when they see divisions and stumbling blocks concerning food.
Rom. 14:17. For the Kingdom of God is not food and drink,
Not by this do we earn favor with God. If, he says, you do not eat, will this really bring you into the Kingdom? Rebuking them for considering this important, he also mentioned drink.
Rom. 14:17. Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Into the Kingdom of God one is led by "righteousness," that is, all the virtues, a blameless life, and peace with one's brother rather than enmity, and "joy" that comes from harmony rather than sorrow that comes from reproach. Since peace and joy can also occur in evil deeds, he added: "in the Holy Spirit." My discourse, he says, is about peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The great Chrysostom profoundly explained why Paul mentioned righteousness. It was, he says, in order to show that the one who does not abstain from swine's flesh wrongs his brother with respect to the salvation that Christ acquired for him by His death. Therefore, conversely, the one who abstains for the sake of his brother preserves righteousness, which bestows the eternal Kingdom.
Rom. 14:18. He who in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Here he hints that the mature were reproaching the weak out of vainglory. If you wish, he says, to become an object of admiration for people, then arouse their admiration for you not so much by your perfection as by peace and other virtues. It is precisely by these things that one should serve and please God, and not by the fact that you eat pork without discrimination.
Rom. 14:19. So then let us pursue the things that make for peace and the things that lead to mutual edification.
He said "of peace" to the imperfect one, because that one did not have peace, and "for mutual edification" he said to the perfect one, so that he would not unsettle his brother by scandalizing him. However, by saying "mutual," he directed his word about this to both the one and the other. Moreover, by mentioning peace first and then edification, he showed that without peace it is difficult to edify.
Rom. 14:20. For the sake of food, do not destroy the work of God.