"Who are thou that judges another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Ye, he shall be holden up; for God is able to make him stand." Romans 14v4
Readers should consider up to verse 9 to grasp the overall message. Paul's first objection to any judgmental spirit that we might have is in the form of a question "Who are you to judge another man's servant?" The issues raised by this question stretch from verse 4 to verse 9. Paul very clearly puts us all in our place. Other people are not ours to brow beat or criticize. We are not another man's master, and he is not our servant. God is his master, and God is able to make him stand. The issues of his life are in the hands of God, and we should not be interfering in matters that do not concern us. This is a very powerful angle by the apostle Paul, and we do well to take heed to it. The issue here, as stated in verse 5 is peoples' estimate of a particular day; "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Paul is perhaps referring here to the weekly Sabbath day, he could equally be referring to some of the feast days, special days, holy days, that were characteristic of the Jewish religion. In the present time it could refer to what people describe as "the Lord's Day" being a Sunday which some Christians view as the New Sabbath. Some see it this way, others consider every day to be alike. The only advice that Paul gives is that we must all be fully persuaded in our own minds. It is certainly no bad thing to have a rest day, a day of devotion to the lord, on a regular basis; this would be healthy both physically and spiritually, but this is not a rule laid down for Christians.
Paul continues "He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it." The same for eating or not eating, and he ends with this. that whatever they do they give God thanks. This is simply an extension on his statement in verse 4 that every believer is God's servant not ours. We must allow people latitude to decide things for themselves in matters of non-essentials before the Lord. Now this is not always easy, because not everything is morally neutral. A simple thing like eating may cause twinges of conscience because of the former association with that practice; for example, as Paul discusses in 1st Corinthians chapter 8, some meats in daily use were used in sacrifice to idols, and the association of that may cause some to defer eating. Similarly with other practices, that were characteristic of our lives prior to conversion, or even practices which portray fleshly and even demonic tendencies in the unbelieving world at large, some may require to abstain completely. Again this is a matter of personal conscience, but it is not the end of the story, as we shall see later in the chapter.
Paul continues "None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's." Romans 14v8 Paul persists in the issue of ownership. All believers are the Lord's and He is responsible alone not only for their justification, but also for their ongoing sanctification. It is not our business to be judging or despising one another in these very personal matters.
The crowning argument is in verse 9 "For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living." Here is one of the awesome purposes of the death of Christ. Our unyielding or intolerant attitude toward each other is a denial of Christ's Lordship, and is a direct attack on the work of Calvary. "To this end" says Paul, Christ died. This does not mean we cannot advise, or help, or suggest any ways of improvement. However far too many of us are using our faith in Christ as an expression of control freakery, and is counter productive to both the death of Christ and the Lordship of Christ. HE is the head of the body and all of us are just members; by His death on the cross for all of us, he has earned the right to be Lord over many and diverse people and we should leave it all in His capable hands.
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