Judging in the gray areas

What follows is the fifth installment in my study of what the Bible teaches about judging.

Passage 4: Romans 14

This passage deals with what I will call questionable activities. Some would say they are the “gray” areas. I’m not sure God has gray areas, but God hasn’t chosen to reveal everything about everything. In this chapter Paul deals with those who prefer to eat only vegetables in comparison with those who believe they are able to eat meat. Other believers treat every day as equal, while others believe some days are more special. Verse 3 and following says, “Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. 4Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.”

Neither the one who eats nor the one who does not eat is supposed to despise, judge or look down upon the other. Both are to respect the other. The passage assumes (vs 6) that people on both sides of these issues are doing what they do for the Lord and to please Him. They both are thankful for the provision God has made for them. They stand or fall before their own master not before anyone else. That master is God. The interesting thing is that the next phrase which I left out of the quote above says, “He will be made to stand because God is able to make Him stand.” God is at work to strengthen and hold up all of His children whether they are the eaters or the non-eaters. The verse doesn’t say that God is trying to hold them up, it says that they will stand because He is able to make them stand. We, on the other hand, are often trying to trip up and cause people to be discouraged and to faint along the way because of our criticism. This is completely opposite of what God is trying to do.

The passage goes on to remind us that each one of us will give an account of himself to God. We will not give account of others – just ourselves. Because of this, verse 13 tells us not to judge one another any longer, but to resolve this – not to put a stumbling block in our brother’s way. It couldn’t be any clearer. Don’t judge one another any more.

Here then is the goal. We are to edify and build up, not tear down and trip up. In order to be successful in this goal we are not to judge each other any more.

Many times our judging, especially in these areas of questionable activities, stems from the opinion that our view of things is the right one. We tend to compare people with ourselves. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:12 “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

Many of the standards we set up for ourselves may have been established for wholesome motives. We want to live holy lives and we want to grow and please Christ. However, we need to be careful even in this because as Colossians 2:13 – 23 tells us, the attempt to live a more stoic life (which I grant you is not the same as seeking to live a holy life) does nothing to restrain the flesh. Even though it doesn’t help, we not only attempt to live that way ourselves, but try to impose those standards on others. No wonder Paul told the Colossians, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” (Col 2:16, 17)
Now if you have begun to feel a drift toward liberalism as you have been reading this, go back to my introduction in the first post. God expects us to have standards and to be discerning. However, He is forbidding something here. The question we need to ask our self is this, “If the kind of discernment and critical analysis that is standard practice in my life is right and commanded by God, what exactly is He forbidding in these passages?” He is forbidding something. Stay tuned.