A disturbing centrifugal force, seen in the enduring propensity for division among evangelical churches, has been powerfully at work among us for many generations, with devastating effects for the gospel of Christ.
Post-Reformation church history, particularly in the UK and the USA, is littered with evidence of disagreements, splits and rupture among congregations and church groupings, and it is quite staggering how often this has been over truly minor and secondary matters.
The attendant bitterness, acrimony and loss of fellowship between believers has been tragic, and the consequent dishonouring of the name of Christ and his church in the world may have been far more destructive to our societies than we could ever imagine. A recent thesis, for example, argues that it was as a result of its evident failure to express coherent unity on the issue of slavery that evangelicalism decisively lost its influence over American intellectual culture. Whatever the substance of this, the simple fact - as we know only too well from the world of politics - is that disunity breeds contempt.
This characteristic situation of fragmentation has been bad enough when a healthy church culture has prevailed, allowing comfortable co-existence for sizeable evangelical 'tribes' with little apparent need for rapprochement. But in a society accelerating into the post-Christian era, and an evangelical scene under ever-increasing pressure from a hostile world and a worldly church, disharmony among committed, believing people simply must be put aside for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
Overcoming disharmony
To some extent, the sheer pressure of denominational breakdown and decay among traditional churches has forced a new openness because there is much greater circulation between people of different church background. When moving for employment or study, much commoner now than a generation ago, believers often look first for a church that is Bible centred, and gospel focussed, regardless of whether it has the same affiliation as their previous congregation. This trend is encouraging, and lends opportunity for much greater tangible unity among God's people. How-ever, we must not be naive. Evangelical unity has proved very elusive in the past, and almost every time in history when even two church groupings have joined together, the result has been not one new group, but three, some on each side refusing to be 'compromised' and so forming their own. We are quite capable of turning opportunities for gospel unity into further fragmentation.
Realism tells us that diversity of belief and practice will always exist among us, and it is simply no solution to either belittle or ignore our distinctives, which are often very precious, in some kind of 'lowest common denominator' pretence that merely papers over divergent views with a veneer of uneasy co-existence. Yet, however much we strive for the Scriptural pattern of 'diversity within unity', the reality is that we are no more free from a sinful, partisan spirit than our forebears! We just seem incapable of resisting winning 'converts' to seeing things 'our way' in a manner that far too often elevates secondary matters to the category of primary, and subverts the primacy of the very gospel that unites us.
Relating in practice
How then are we to relate to one another as the current embattled church climate in the UK forces evangelicals together? With all our differences - our traditions, our shibboleths, our own unique 'insights' on matters of biblical interpretation, church government, the sacraments and many things besides -how are we to work out in practice the reality to which we all subscribe, that we are 'all one in Christ Jesus'? What do we do and say when we find ourselves among others of differing view on such things - perhaps visiting our home or congregation, or serving in a university CU or camp team, or when working with others in evangelism or in a mission situation? These are vital questions, for it is not so much the issues themselves, but the much bigger issue of how we relate to one another over such matters that has huge implications for the peace and up-building of the Church of Christ.
It is exactly this situation that Paul is addressing in Romans 14.1-15.13, in the final section of exhortation that forms both the conclusion and climax of his theological exposition of his gospel. While it might be too much to claim that everything preceding this in the epistle is merely preparation for the directives expressed here, there can be no doubt that Paul's whole exposition of divine righteousness, majestic as it is, was not written as a theological treatise, but as a living letter to real people, tailored to address concrete issues in the churches they represented. We must therefore read it as such, not disconnecting, for example, the doctrine of justification (which we love to meditate and preach on) from the nitty gritty issues of church life (which we don't!) that we find dealt with here. Paul clearly considers the gospel theology he has been unfolding as inseparable from the gospel lifestyle exhibited in the Christian community in Rome. Put simply, the gospel has implications which must be visible, or else the gospel is a sham. So, as a pastoral preacher par excellence, whose application really does flow out of his text, he applies the full weight of his exposition of 'the gospel of God' to the real-life tensions between believers and Christian fellowships, in order to show just how pervasively the gospel itself provides - and demands - the dynamic for the corporate life of faith.
His first charge, in 14.1-12, is crystal clear, and strangely simple. It doesn't involve setting up any inter-church commissions or new 'unity' organisations, yet it does require something we find much tougher: a real change in attitude. In all situations involving dealings with other believers, he says, just learn to generously welcome one another - even those with whom you disagree -with open hearts, and with no strings attached. Nor is this merely a good piece of advice; it comes as a clear apostolic command, mandatory precisely because the gospel itself absolutely demands it. We must welcome one another for we are united by the one gospel, of the one God, who has himself welcomed all of us.
Welcome the weak
People with whom we disagree can be difficult for us to welcome generously, especially if we are quite sure they are wrong (which is usually the case!). But Paul specifically begins by commanding a warm 'welcome' (v.1) for even the one 'weak in faith', adding the rider that this should not be seen as opportunity to 'quarrel over opinions', i.e. for us to 'put them straight' on a few things. Paul doesn't regard the 'weak' as deficient in any moral sense, or lacking the gospel itself; they are believing 'brothers' (vv.10,15) sharing in the kingdom (v.17) and serving Christ (v.18). But what is at issue is their slowness in grasping the full implications of the gospel, and how the gospel freedom he has just expounded (especially in chapters 5-8) affects every area of life. They felt unable to eat meat (v.2), and were constrained to keep special days (v.5) (Jewish festivals?), almost certainly because of scruples relating to their understanding of the Torah.
Because of this, some assume that the 'weak' and 'strong' here are simply Jewish and Gentile believers, and certainly Paul has already been very concerned in his letter (especially in chapters 9-11) to deal directly with these groups. But he doesn't use Jew/Gentile language anywhere here, as he could have, and indeed he later identifies himself as 'strong' in 15.1, so clearly not all Jews were 'weak' (and Gentiles certainly could be, 1 Corinthians 8). In reality people rarely fall into theological categories as predictably as we tend to expect them to by their background. Indeed, Paul assumes that most of his readers are like him, so is probably deliberately choosing the language he uses to make it clear that the issue is really about how the clear thinking majority in any situation relate to a minority who have a troubled conscience on various matters. (Interestingly, nowhere in chapter 14 does he actually use the word 'strong' either, perhaps because the main thrust of his argument is that neither side is showing the kind of real 'strength' of behaviour the gospel demands of them all - see below).
These are far from trivial, or easy, issues, as the rest of the New Testament makes clear. Even with explicit revelatory intervention from God (cf. Acts 10ff) it took a long time for the church to sort out the issue of non-kosher food. At times, such things could represent gospel issues, threatening the very existence of true faith in the church, as in the situation in Galatians, where Paul utterly condemned what might appear to be similar observation of 'days, months, and seasons' as tantamount to deserting Christ for paganism (Galatians 4.9-10). But here there is no question of coercion of believers by Judaizers. Rather, al-though the minority group might be censorious, condemning the behaviour of others (as minorities tend to do), the main problem was that this majority were despising and looking down on the weak (as 'strong' majorities all too often do). This, says Paul, must not be.
It is not that these issues do not matter, or are indifferent. He is clear about who is strong in their understanding, and who is weak. But the answer is for each to be 'fully convinced in his own mind' (v.5), forming solid convictions about conduct from minds increasingly renewed by the gospel (12.1-2), not from conformity to prejudice or pressure.
Grasp the big picture
But, in the meantime, Paul's greater concern here is that while they continue to think through the implications of the gospel of grace on all manner of questions, as they must (v.5), the Roman believers shouldn't be so taken up with these comparatively trivial things that they miss the big picture altogether. The one, great primary and monumental issue they all seem to be missing is that the implication of the gospel of justification by faith is that there must be fellowship in the faith for all. 'The justification by faith that I have been expounding in chapters 3-4', says Paul, 'implies the fellowship of faith I am describing, but which seems manifestly lacking among you. The union with Christ through the Spirit that saves you (chapters 6-8) is meaningless apart from union in the Spirit with his body, the church. If you don't grasp that, then all of you are 'weak' - not just ignorant, but culpably turning your back on the gospel you claim to share.
What Paul is saying is that, although the particular questions that divide believers may be secondary, and as such not 'gospel issues', these things can be allowed to come between us in such a way as to cause all of us to subvert the very gospel we proclaim, and this is deadly serious. So, in driving home his instruction, he turns us back to his gospel once again, to insist that every conceivable dimension of the message he has expounded demands a different way of thinking.
* One Saviour
First, he reminds us that already we have been united by one Saviour (vv.3-4). How dare we judge someone when 'God has welcomed him' through justifying faith (v.3)?, Recalling the language of 5.2, he summarises the argument of 3.21-5.11 that being justified we already have 'access by faith into this grace in which we stand'. It is not before us but 'before his own Lord' that a fellow sinner 'stands or falls' (v.4a), and, just like you, he will stand, for 'the Lord is able (powerful) to make him stand' (v.4b). God's justification has declared his future verdict now: 'Welcome!'. Do you really, by your own unwelcoming actions, want to set yourself up in conflict with 'the power of God for salvation' (1.16), on which your own salvation depends? To do so is anti-God behaviour, and proclaims an anti-gospel message.
* One Lord
Second, Paul recalls the great, liberating message of chapters 5-8, that through the gospel we are united now in one new life, under one Lord (vv.4-9). God's justifying grace deals not only with the past, but creates a new present in which we are delivered from the dominion of sin into the freedom of grace (6.14). We are not justified in vacuo, set free in the sense of being cast adrift and left to ourselves. Quite the contrary; we have become 'slaves of righteousness', 'slaves of God' (6. 18,22), 'we belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God' (6.4). The heart of Paul's gospel is that 'Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and of the living' (v.9; cf. 1.3-4), and therefore this glorious new situation must be reflected in the corporate life of God's people who are already united by the Spirit in this reality, under the Lordship of the resurrected Messiah. None of us has the right to make lordly demands on our fellow believers, for there is only one Lord (mentioned ten times in these verses), and whatever we do we do to honour him. 'None of us lives to himself or dies to himself' (v.7), but we bear fruit for him - and only his assessment counts. So don't deny the gospel by setting yourselves up as lord and judge over one another's actions.
* One Judge
Finally, Paul issues a call to humility, reiterating that we shall all be united before one Judge (vv.10-12). Notwithstanding all the present blessings of gospel grace, 'we will all stand before the judgement seat of God' (v.10). Here is a real challenge to the kind of evangelical pietism that reduces the gospel down to nothing more than the means of our own personal salvation. It is precisely this kind of man-focussed reductionism that domesticates the gospel, allowing us to flounder in the realm of petty disputes and division. But get your eye back on the big picture, says Paul! The gospel is not just about you, it is about him, and what he is doing in bringing the whole cosmos under the righteous reign of his Son, the risen Messiah! The whole movement of his exposition in Romans is towards a great future consummation, involving a new creation, at the heart of which will be one united, glorified humanity. This is what you are part of! God has called and adopted you to be fellow heirs with Christ, 'to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn of many brothers (8.12ff).
And that is what you are: brothers (v.10). How then can you, Christians, despise and condemn one another, whom God has united as his adopted sons, and is bringing to glory? Don't you realise that you are those for whom the whole prophetic message is now being fulfilled? That is the force of verse 11, quoting Isaiah 45, which speaks of those from all the ends of the earth being saved through the Servant of the Lord, so that 'in the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory' (Isaiah 45.25). So be humble, you self-obsessed, disputing believers. See the big picture, and remember what the future is all about: the mighty and mysterious working of God that is even now, through the gospel, achieving his ultimate purpose by uniting from all humanity one new people for his name (chapters 9-11). Yes, you stand, by grace (v.4); but stand in awe, not pride (cf. 11.20). Living in these last days confers enormous privileges, but also weighty responsibilities. Remember it is first the gospel of God, concerning his Son; don't dare by your behaviour find yourself acting against his purpose, denying his Lordship and reign. Remember both the kindness and the severity of God, and continue in his kindness, lest you find yourself cut off (11.2) Don't forget the reality of judgement at the throne of this one Lord (v.12).
Show real gospel strength
It is salutary that the issues causing such dissension in Rome were largely matters to do with understanding salvation history. And so it is today, where differing understanding of the continuities and discontinuities between the old and new covenant era, and also between the apostolic and post-apostolic era, are the root of most of the differences between us still. Some baptise adults and children, and others only adults. One man believes he may sing anything, another only psalms, while yet another sings in tongues. One's conscience forbids him membership of a church grouping 'tainted' by association with falsehood, while another feels constrained to proclaim the truth loudly from within.
To all of us, Paul's message is clear. Don't dumb down, pretending these things are of no substance. Use your sanctified mind to study and apply the gospel so you are fully convinced of your position. But, in the midst of this, don't ever let secondary issues about salvation's history eclipse the primary issue of salvation's goal. See where salvation history is going! Understand the gospel, past, present and future, and grasp the implications now. These differences between us will always exist; we are naive to think any differently. But they must not - cannot - divide us, or else we deny the gospel itself, to ourselves, and to the world.
We may be strong in our understanding - indeed few of us, I suspect, tend to think our own position weak. But real strength is exhibited, says Paul, not by the coherence of our theology, but by the warmth and generosity of our welcome. So how warmly do you - and your own fellowship - welcome those with whom you disagree, and who you know are clearly in the wrong?
Copyright W. J.U. Philip, 2004
From August, William will be minister at St. George's Tron, Glasgow.
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