Read Romans 14 at Bible Gateway.
Previously: romans 14:5-6, esteeming days
“One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.” Rom 14:5-6
Back to one day being esteemed above another. Because para is never translated “above,” Paul’s intent might have been, One person esteems a day more than another, or, One person esteems a day less than another. Or even, One person esteems a day alongside another, or nigh unto another, or even, against another – all accepted translations of the preposition para in this grammatical construction.
Which way to translate it? It is a guess, because in this letter Paul is answering a question posed to him by the church at Rome, and we do not know what the question was. We do know it had to do with differing personal interpretation in gray areas, which were doubtful things (vs. 1) – something the Old Testament (the only Scriptures they had) did not address clearly. It very well could have had to do with pagan Gentile customs associated with esteeming days as mentioned yesterday that might have been retained culturally among those coming to faith in Christ. The context of the chapter is cultural idolatry, so that it had something to do with pagan practice or custom is an educated guess.
But it is a guess, that is the thing. What if the debate was similar to one that is becoming more and more common in the church in our days: whether if we esteem Easter, then we have honored Ishtar the fertility goddess and a great enemy of YHVH? What if that is the one day that the Romans were asking Paul about? Or what if some in the church did not celebrate the resurrection of Yeshua on Ishtar’s day because they were loathe to give any honor to the goddess at all? These are true gray areas. That is why Paul seems to be saying, in verse 4, Hey, how can you judge for another person whether by doing this (eating, or esteeming days, or whatever) he is really practicing idolatry in his heart or not? Only God knows!
We assume, because we have been raised with an anti- Torah bias, that the text must be talking about Sabbath, but that is a pure assumption not required by the text. T say that the verse must mean, that if we are honoring the Sabbath as God commands numerous times and places throughout Scripture (not a gray area), that those who do so are weak in the faith, is an interpretation coming from an anti- Torah bias that has been imposed on the text, but which the text does not require.
The main point is in verse 12:
“So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”
Each one of us needs to be fully convinced in his own mind (vs. 5)! And if someone’s practice is different from yours, in a gray area, in a doubtful thing, then let us not judge one another anymore. My personal opinion is that anything which God has previously addressed specifically in the Old Testament or through the mouth of Jesus, is not a gray area. That is me. 🙂 It pays for us to know just what God has said! Yeah, but Christine, even in Habakkuk? Who reads that? Yes, even Habakkuk! The Word of God has been preserved as it is for a reason and we ought not to be ignorant of it!
Continued: romans 14:7-13, judging your brother
I agree with you
THE CHURCHMEN vs THE SABBATH (Romans 14)
Many churchmen use Romans 14:5-6 as proof that New Testament
believers no longer have an obligation to keep the Sabbath day
holy. So let us examine those two verses, just as a Judge
would consider evidence in his courtroom, and then decide
whether or not they testify against Sabbath keeping. Paul
wrote:
“One man esteemeth one day above another: another
esteemeth every day alike. Let very man be fully
persuaded in his own mind.
He that regardeth [observeth] the day regardeth it unto
the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord
he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the
Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not,
to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.”
Romans 14:5,6
The Judge would ask: “Where is the Sabbath mentioned in
those verses?”. The Sabbath is not mentioned there, or in the
entire book of Romans! No court in the land would allow verses
that do not mention the Sabbath to be used as evidence in an
argument against the Sabbath – so why should we?
You see, Paul could not have been talking about keeping the
Sabbath day holy because obedience to God’s law is not
optional. It is ludicrous to suggest that any of the Ten
Commandments can be disobeyed “unto the Lord”. Think of the
absurdity of saying “He that stealeth, to the Lord he stealeth;
and he that stealeth not, to the Lord he stealeth not.”
What then was Paul talking about? He was talking about fast
days. The whole 14th chapter of Romans is about food and how
people’s beliefs about eating should not be interfered with.
The fast days could be observed according to each believer’s
conscience. A man could eat -or not eat, keep the day – or not
keep it. It is as simple as this: Each man could observe FAST
DAYS, or not observe them, according to his own convictions.
He that does not eat, regards the day.
He that eats, does not regard the day.
The “days” that Paul was referring to were the traditional
fast days mentioned in Zechariah 7:5-6. The Gentile Christians
in Rome did not keep them because they had no cultural interest
in the anniversary fasts that were observed during the Jew’s
captivity in Babylon. 1
Even the Jews themselves had different convictions about the
observance of those days – because those fasts were never
commanded by God.
After the captivity (when the temple was being rebuilt) the
men of Bethel also wondered if they should observe these fasts
unto the Lord. For example, they asked Zechariah: “Shall I
weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done these many
years?” (Zech 7:2-3.)
When you read Zechariah’s answer, notice the striking
similarity of his words with those of Paul to the church at
Rome …
COMPARE Zechariah 7:5-6 “…When ye FASTED and mourned in
the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years,
DID YE AT ALL FAST UNTO ME, even to me [The Lord]?
And when ye did EAT, and when ye did drink, did ye
not EAT FOR YOURSELVES, and drink for yourselves?”
WITH
Romans 14:6-7 “He that regardeth the [fast] day
regardeth it UNTO THE LORD; and he that regardeth not
the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that
EATETH, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks;
and he that EATETH NOT, to the Lord he eateth not,
and giveth God thanks.
For none of us LIVETH TO HIMSELF, and no man dieth to
himself.”
If you were the Judge in the case of the CHURCHMEN VERSUS
THE SABBATH, would you be willing to say that Paul had cancelled
one of the commandments of God based on the evidence you find in
the 14th chapter of Romans?
In our opinion, the evidence from Romans and Zechariah
demands a verdict for Sabbath observance. The church must obey
the Fourth Commandment – that is the only decision that will
uphold the Law of God.
CASE CLOSED!