Romans 14:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

But so that you should not despair of him, the Apostle, despite his weakness, calls him God's servant, saying, 'Who are you, judging another's servant?' Meanwhile here too he again imperceptibly deals a blow to the weak man. I command you not to judge him, not because his actions do not deserve condemnation, but because he is another's servant, that is, not yours but God's. Then, encouraging him again, he does not say, 'he falls,' but how? 'He stands or falls.' If either happens to him, all this depends on the Lord. If he falls, the loss is God's. Likewise, if he stands, the gain is God's. Such indifference, however, would be wholly unworthy of the care fitting for Christians, unless we again attend to Paul's purpose. He wants reproaches not to be made against the weak in faith before the proper time. As I have always said, it is necessary to consider the disposition with which something is said, the substance of the matter spoken about, and what the speaker is trying to correct. Having said this, the Apostle put the one who reproached to shame, and not without reason. If God, Paul reasons, while suffering loss, does nothing for the present, are you not acting untimely? Are you not going beyond the boundaries, tormenting and troubling a brother weak in faith?

'And he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.' By the words 'he will be made to stand,' he shows that the man is so wavering and has come to such a point that only God can make him stand. We say this about people who are in a very hopeless condition.

Meanwhile Christians converted from Judaism still could not free themselves from the conviction that certain days possessed a preferred holiness, and that certain Old Testament feasts were binding on all. They also firmly remembered the strict prohibition of the law against associating with Gentiles and being defiled with them by eating various foods declared unclean. When the holy Apostle Paul wrote his epistle to Rome, he found it necessary to offer several special instructions on the matter set forth above. He did this so that love and unity would not be shaken among the Christians there. Rom 14:1-5. The Apostle's general instruction is this: 'Receive the one who is weak in faith, without disputes over opinions,' concerning food and the distinction of days. 'For one believes he may eat everything,' since food, whatever it consists of, does not of itself bring us near to God (1 Cor 8:8). 'But the weak man eats vegetables.' This means a person who has not yet risen to the truly Christian understanding that food and drink in general have no essential relation to morality. So too concerning days: 'One esteems one day above another, while another judges every day alike.' The Apostle bases this general instruction on the following considerations. First, no one has the right to judge another (Rom 14:3-4). 'Let not the one who eats despise the one who does not eat; and let not the one who does not eat judge the one who eats, for God has received him.' That is, God received him into His Church without any prohibitions about food. 'Who are you to judge another's servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for God is able to make him stand.' The intemperate, who deny the fasts, like to cite these words of the Apostle in their own defense, but in vain. The Apostle is not discussing fasts as a moral and educational measure, or as exercises in abstinence. He is resolving purely dietary questions for those who, out of Jewish superstition, connected a certain defilement with the very foods forbidden by the law, such as pork, hare, and the like.

As an example, the Apostle takes opinions about eating various kinds of food. In this the Roman Christians were probably especially divided among themselves. Those who had come from the Jews could keep the distinction between clean and unclean food, and between what was permitted or not permitted on certain days. Christians from the Gentiles could not keep these distinctions.

Seeing this as a matter in which differing opinions are possible, he first counsels tolerance toward others on this question. He finds that both those who eat and those who do not eat have equally been received by God. Some can eat only vegetables, and others also meat, according to the condition of their health. Therefore there is no ground for mutual condemnations.

Even if there were some ground for condemnation, still a Christian, not being authorized by God for this judgment, must not condemn. The chief point is that this was a matter in which the greatest freedom had then to be allowed. Therefore the Apostle concludes by advising each person to act in this matter according to the considerations of his own mind.

According to Saint John Chrysostom, "many of the Jews who had believed still had a conscience bound by the Law after accepting the faith. They observed strict discrimination in food, because they did not dare to depart from the Law.

"Moreover, lest by abstaining only from pork they fall under accusation, they began to abstain from all meat and to eat only vegetables. They did this under the appearance of observing a fast, not Jewish discrimination in food according to the Law.

"On the other hand, there were others more perfect in faith. They themselves observed no such discrimination in food, and they burdened and grieved those who did observe it by their reproaches and rebukes. They even cast them into despondency."

Concerning the words of verse 5 he later observes: "Here, as I think, the Apostle lightly hints also at fasting. Probably some of those who fasted continually condemned those who did not fast, and the reverse. Or perhaps among those who discriminated in food there were some who observed discrimination on certain days and not on others."

"But the force of the apostolic speech is not in this," writes Bishop Theophan. "It lies in the principle expressed here concerning indifferent matters and things: let each act according to his conscience.

"What has been determined by commandment and established by dogma, hold to and fulfill without delay. It is not so with indifferent matters and things. Here let your conviction and your conscience determine how to act and how to think.

"Only in everything have in view the glory of God, and not self-pleasing, neither pleasing your mind nor your heart."

This is why the Apostle says further: "He who regards the day, regards it to the Lord. He who eats, eats to the Lord." By this he teaches, on the one hand, that all things must be done to the glory of God. On the other hand, he teaches not to condemn because of difference in indifferent matters. This is all the more so because it is unknown with what thoughts and feelings some fast and others do not fast.

It is worth noting that the words of verse 3, "for God has received him," seem more closely to refer to the Christian received by God from the Gentiles. Yet they may also be referred to the Christian from the Jews.

Whether he stands or falls, both concern the Lord. If he falls, the loss is God's. Likewise, if he stands, the gain is God's. See how strongly the apostolic words must have put the one who reproached to shame. If God, Saint Paul reasons, suffers loss and yet does not reproach, how untimely and unfittingly do you act? How far you go beyond the boundaries and meddle in another's matter, tormenting and troubling a brother weak in faith' (Chrysostom). 'A servant must not judge his fellow servant, for authority for this has not been given to him. With what conscience someone eats or does not eat, God is the Judge, for he who acts in either way is His servant' (Ambrosiaster). 'He will stand.' You at once stood firmly on the foundation of faith, but that man still wavers. He does not waver in general, but only in the circle of matters in which you condemn him. Being firm in the common faith, he will little by little grow stronger in this respect too, and will become no worse than you. Although he is weak in this part, he does not fall away from God. God, seeing his attachment to Him, will help him be delivered from the weakness considered blameworthy. For even while appearing weak, he does not please himself, but thinks he is offering service to God. He acts from reverence before God (cf. Photius in Oecumenius), fearing to offend Him by improper action. God will not abandon him, but will stretch out to him the hand of help and raise him up.