Romans 14:1-15:13 · Featured Study
The Weak and the Strong
A church divided over meats and days, and Paul’s answer to it: receive the brother whose conscience differs, for he is the servant of Christ and the brother for whom Christ died. Paul gives no verdict on the foods; the law he binds is love. This page walks the whole argument in order, from “receive ye” through the judgment seat, the stumbling block, and the strong bearing the weak, to where it lands: Jew and Gentile glorifying God with one mouth, sealed by four Old Testament quotations.
Summary
Romans 14:1-15:13 is Paul's rule for a church split over meats and days: receive the brother whose conscience differs, because he is the servant of Christ and the brother for whom Christ died. The strong carry the weak after the pattern of Christ, until Jew and Gentile glorify God with one mouth.
- Receive him that is weak in faith, and leave his scruples out of the reception (14:1)
- Each believer answers to his own Lord: "Who art thou that judgest the servant of another?" (14:4)
- Paul gives no verdict on the foods; nothing is unclean of itself (14:14), yet love governs what liberty does (14:15)
- The kingdom of God is "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (14:17)
- The passage lands on Jew and Gentile praising together, sealed by four Old Testament quotations (15:7-13)
Receive Him
14:1-6: meats, days, and a welcome without an argument attached
“But him that is weak in faith receive ye, yet not for decision of scruples.” Romans 14:1
The command comes first and the definitions after. Receive him: take him to yourself, into fellowship and affection. The clause that follows guards the welcome itself, for a reception that opens with a debate about the newcomer’s scruples is a tribunal wearing a welcome’s clothes. Paul then names the two live disputes at Rome. One believer eats all things; another, fearing defilement, keeps to herbs (14:2). One esteems certain days above others; another esteems every day alike (14:5). In both cases Paul’s instruction lands on the conscience of each: “Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.”
“One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.” Romans 14:5
Verse 6 gives the reason both practices can stand in one church: each is done unto the Lord, and each giver of thanks is thanking the same God. The observer keeps his day to the Lord; the eater eats to the Lord and gives God thanks; the abstainer abstains to the Lord and gives God thanks. Paul treats sincere, Godward conscience as real worship on both sides of the table.
Him that is weak - The design here is to induce Christians to receive to their fellowship those who had scruples about the propriety of certain things, or that might have special prejudices and feelings as the result of education or former habits of belief. The apostle, therefore, begins by admitting that such an one may be “weak,” that is, not fully established, or not with so clear and enlarged views about Christian liberty others might have.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832-1869Presbyterian
Rom 14:1
Receive him, not to expose him, but to instruct and strengthen him.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Nonconformist
Rom 14:1
He that regardeth the day - A beautiful apology for mistaken sincerity and injudicious reformation. Do not condemn the man for what is indifferent in itself: if he keep these festivals, his purpose is to honor God by the religious observance of them.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Methodist
Rom 14:6
Who were the weak at Rome?the commentators' identification
The passage never labels the parties beyond their practice, and this page holds to that. The classic commentators, reading 14:2 and 14:5 beside the letter’s long Jew-and-Gentile argument, identify the weak chiefly as Jewish converts still bound in conscience to the food laws and the festival calendar:
One believeth that he may eat all things - He believes that whatsoever is wholesome and nourishing, whether herbs or flesh - whether enjoined or forbidden by the Mosaic law - may be safely and conscientiously used by every Christian. Another, who is weak, eateth herbs - Certain Jews, lately converted to the Christian faith, and having as yet little knowledge of its doctrines, believe the Mosaic law relative to clean and unclean meats to be still in force; and therefore, when they are in a Gentile country, for fear of being defiled, avoid flesh entirely and live on vegetables.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Methodist
Rom 14:2
Two examples of such scruples are here specified, touching Jewish meats and days. "The strong," it will be observed, are those who knew these to be abolished under the Gospel; "the weak" are those who had scruples on this point.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
Rom 14:1
Weakness here is a tender, still-bound conscience, and Paul orders it received. The chapter’s vocabulary of strong and weak never appears in the church’s own chrome: both men are brothers by the third verse.
The Servant of Another
14:3-12: every believer answers to his own Lord
“Let not him that eateth set at nought him that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand.” Romans 14:3-4
Each side has its own temptation, and Paul names both. The strong despise: they look down on the scrupulous as behind the times. The weak judge: they condemn the free as careless of God’s law. His answer to both is the same fact: God hath received him. The brother under your verdict is the servant of Another, and his own Lord has already taken him in.
Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? - Who has ever given thee the right to condemn the servant of another man, in things pertaining to his own master? To his own master he standeth or falleth. He is to judge him, not thou; thy intermeddling in this business is both rash and uncharitable. Yea, he shall be holden up - He is sincere and upright, and God, who is able to make him stand, will uphold him; and so teach him that he shall not essentially err.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Methodist
Rom 14:4
Verses 7 to 9 widen the ground. None of us lives to himself and none dies to himself; living or dying, we are the Lord’s, and Christ died and lived again for this very lordship over the dead and the living. Then Paul turns the whole question of judging around: there is a judgment seat, and every believer, weak and strong alike, stands before it.
“But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or thou again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God.” Romans 14:10
The chapter’s logic is complete at verse 12: every one of us shall give account of himself to God. The account each man renders is his own, which leaves no one free to draw up his brother’s.
Judgment seat of Christ, or of God? A textual note that lands on His deity14:10-11 · Spurgeon, 1881 · Barnes
KJV reads “the judgment seat of Christ” at 14:10; ASV, following the older manuscripts, reads “the judgment-seat of God.” Spurgeon preached the variant itself and found both readings naming one Person:
NO doubt there is an error in our version, for where in the 10th verse we read, "The Judgment Seat of Christ," it should be, "The Judgment Seat of God." I suppose the word, "Christ," slipped into certain manuscripts because Paul had been speaking of Christ and it was thought to be natural that he should continue to use the same name. Paul did not say "Christ," but, "God"—but by that word he meant the same Person.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1601: “The Judgment Seat Of God”, 1881Particular (Reformed) Baptist
Rom 14:10
The reason the two readings converge is the very next verse. Paul proves the judgment seat from Isaiah 45:23, where the speaker is Yahweh swearing by Himself, and applies it to the tribunal every believer faces:
For it is written - This passage is recorded in Isa 45:23. It is not quoted literally, but the sense is preserved. In Isaiah there can be no doubt that it refers to Yahweh. The speaker expressly calls himself Yahweh, the name which is appropriate to God alone, and which is never applied to a creature; Rom 14:18. In the place before us, the words are applied by Paul expressly to Christ; compare Rom 14:10. This mode of quotation is a strong incidental proof that the apostle regarded the Lord Jesus as divine.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832-1869Presbyterian
Rom 14:11
The Brother for Whom Christ Died
14:13-18: liberty measured against a brother's soul
“Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge ye this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock in his brother’s way, or an occasion of falling.” Romans 14:13
“I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself: save that to him who accounteth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died.” Romans 14:14-15
Here is the passage’s honesty, and it should be stated plainly. On the fact of the foods, Paul agrees with the strong, and says so on the Lord Jesus’s own authority: nothing is unclean of itself. Yet he spends the verdict on neither party. Having settled the fact, he binds a different law: love, which weighs what liberty does to the brother watching. The measure of that brother’s worth is given in five words at the end of verse 15: for whom Christ died. Whatever a dish is worth, it is worth less than the person the Son of God bled for.
I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus - After reasoning so long and so much with these contending parties on the subject of their mutual misunderstandings, without attempting to give any opinion, but merely to show them the folly and uncharitableness of their conduct, he now expresses himself fully, and tells them that nothing is unclean of itself, and that he has the inspiration and authority of Jesus Christ to say so; for to such an inspiration he must refer in such words as, I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Methodist
Rom 14:14
Charity to the souls of our brethren is the best charity. True love would make us tender of their peace and purity, and beget a regard to their consciences as well as to our own.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Nonconformist
Rom 14:15
Accordingly, in the next clause, that idea is brought out with great strength. Destroy not him with--"by" thy meat for whom Christ died--"The worth of even the poorest and weakest brother cannot be more emphatically expressed than by the words, 'for whom Christ died'" [OLSHAUSEN].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
Rom 14:15
Romans 14:17 (ASV)
“for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17
The sentence that settles the proportion of the whole dispute. The kingdom’s substance is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; the menu was never its substance. He that serves Christ in these things, Paul adds, is acceptable to God and approved of men (14:18).
For the kingdom of God - That is, true religion, does not consist in external observances. But in righteousness - The image of God stamped on the heart; the love of God and man, accompanied with the peace that passeth all understanding, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Evangelical
Rom 14:17
The Law of Love
14:19-23: liberty held privately, faith governing every act
“It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth.” Romans 14:21
The strong man’s liberty is real, and Paul tells him where to keep it: “The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God” (14:22). Conviction held before God stays conviction; conviction performed in front of a wavering brother becomes pressure. Verse 21 prices the alternative honestly. Forgoing a dish or a cup costs the strong man little; the stumble it prevents could cost his brother his footing.
Thy brother stumbleth - By imitating thee against his conscience, contrary to righteousness. Or is offended - At what thou doest to the loss of his peace. Or made weak - Hesitating between imitation and abhorrence, to the loss of that joy in the Lord which was his strength.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Evangelical
Rom 14:21
“But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Romans 14:23
The chapter closes on the rule that covers every case the page has walked: an act done against conscience, without faith that it is lawful, is sin for the one doing it. This is why the weak brother must never be argued or pressured into the strong man’s table. He would be eating his way into sin, even at a table where his brother eats in faith.
Because it is not of faith - He does not believe it lawful and, in all these cases, whatsoever is not of faith is sin - Whatever a man does without a full persuasion of its lawfulness, it is sin to him.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Evangelical
Rom 14:23
The Strong Bear the Weak
15:1-6: Christ pleased not himself
“Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me.” Romans 15:1-3
Paul counts himself with the strong (“we that are strong”) and hands strength its duty in the same breath. Strength in faith is capacity to carry, given for the same reason every gift in the body is given. The argument rests on one example, quoted from Psalm 69:9: Christ pleased not himself. The reproaches that fell on Him were another’s; He took them anyway. A servant can hardly refuse the load his own Lord shouldered first.
For as God has destined those to whom he has granted superior knowledge to convey instruction to the ignorant, so to those whom he makes strong he commits the duty of supporting the weak by their strength; thus ought all gifts to be communicated among all the members of Christ. The stronger then any one is in Christ, the more bound he is to bear with the weak.
John Calvin· Commentaries on Romans, 1554Reformed
Rom 15:1
The closer the stones lie, and the better they are squared to fit one another, the stronger is the building. Now observe the reason why Christians must please one another: For even Christ pleased not himself. The self-denial of our Lord Jesus is the best argument against the selfishness of Christians.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Nonconformist
Rom 15:1-3
For even Christ pleased not himself, etc. Since it is not right that a servant should refuse what his lord has himself undertaken, it would be very strange in us to wish an exemption from the duty of bearing the infirmities of others, to which Christ, in whom we glory as our Lord and King, submitted himself; for he having no regard for himself, gave up himself wholly to this service.
John Calvin· Commentaries on Romans, 1554Reformed
Rom 15:3
“Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus: that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:5-6
The exhortation turns into a prayer, and the prayer names its goal: one mind, and one mouth. Theophylact of Ohrid, the eleventh-century Byzantine commentator, catches the depth of the phrase. The unity Paul prays for goes deeper than a shared liturgy; it is a shared heart producing a shared voice.
What then is the fruit of like-mindedness? The glorification of God not only with one mouth, but also with one soul (for this is what "with one accord" means).
Theophylact of Ohrid· Commentary on Romans, 1107Byzantine
Rom 15:6
Jew and Gentile, With One Mouth
15:7-13: where the whole argument lands
Romans 15:7 (ASV)
“Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God.” Romans 15:7
The command of 14:1 returns with its full measure attached. Receive one another, and the standard of the reception is Christ’s own reception of you. The weak-and-strong question was always the Jew-and-Gentile question in miniature, and Paul now says so openly.
“For I say that Christ hath been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy” Romans 15:8-9
Both halves of the sentence stand at full weight. Christ came as a minister of the circumcision: His ministry confirms the promises given to the fathers, and those promises stand confirmed, never revoked. And the Gentiles glorify God for mercy: they are received into a praise that was already rising, joining Israel’s song rather than replacing the singer. Paul then seals the point with four quotations, one from the Law, two from the Psalms, one from the Prophets, and every one of them keeps Israel in the sentence.
Psalm 18:49 · in Romans 15:9
“Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles, And sing unto thy name.”
David’s own voice, praising God among the nations.
Deuteronomy 32:43 · in Romans 15:10
“Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.”
From the Song of Moses: the nations rejoice with, never instead of, His people.
Psalm 117:1 · in Romans 15:11
“Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; And let all the peoples praise him.”
The shortest psalm, calling every nation into the praise.
Isaiah 11:10 · in Romans 15:12
“There shall be the root of Jesse, And he that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles; On him shall the Gentiles hope.”
The Messiah from Jesse’s line, the hope of the nations; the same title Jesus takes at Revelation 22:16.
Wherefore receive ye one another,.... Into your hearts and affections; embrace one another cordially, the Jew the Gentile, the Gentile the Jew, the strong brother the weak, the weak the strong: as Christ also received us.
John Gill· Exposition of the New Testament, 1746-1748Particular Baptist
Rom 15:7
Those that agree in Christ, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, and the great centre of unity, may well afford to agree among themselves. This coalescence of the Jews and Gentiles in Christ and Christianity was a thing that filled and affected Paul so much that he could not mention it without some enlargement and illustration.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Nonconformist
Rom 15:6-7
The benefits of the gospel were not to be confined to “the Jews;” and as God “designed” that those benefits should be extended to the “Gentiles,” so the Jewish converts ought to be willing to admit them and treat them as brethren.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832-1869Presbyterian
Rom 15:9
The apostle accumulates quotations to show that it was the common language of the Old Testament, and that he was not depending on a single expression for the truth of his doctrine.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832-1869Presbyterian
Rom 15:11
Romans 15:13 (ASV)
“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
The whole argument ends in a benediction, and the benediction picks up the last word of the Isaiah quotation: on him shall the Gentiles hope, therefore “the God of hope.” A church that began the passage divided over menus ends it filled, abounding, and praying in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now the God of hope - A glorious title of God, but till now unknown to the heathens; for their goddess Hope, like their other idols, was nothing; whose temple at Rome was burned by lightning. It was, indeed, built again not long after, but was again burned to the ground.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Evangelical
Rom 15:13
The Words Behind Receiving
the Greek underneath the command
Two words frame the whole passage: the weakness Paul orders received, and the receiving itself, which is the same verb whether the receiver is a brother, the church, God (14:3), or Christ (15:7).
The words underneath
astheneo: be weak: ill
Greek · G770Strong's entry: to be feeble (in any sense)
Astheneo, weak in faith (14:1): the verb of a tender conscience still bound by scruple. The Gospels use the same verb for the sick Jesus healed.
33 times in the New Testament · astheneo, in full →
proslambano: to take
Greek · G4355Strong's entry: to take to oneself, i.e. use (food), lead (aside), admit (to friendship or hospitality)
Proslambano, receive (14:1, 14:3, 15:7): to take to oneself. The verb of Priscilla and Aquila taking Apollos to them (Acts 18:26), of God receiving the eater (14:3), and of Christ receiving you (15:7).
12 times in the New Testament · proslambano, in full →
The Voices
with the work named
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869) · public domain
Reads the design of 14:1 as inducing the church to receive the scrupulous, and shows Paul applying Isaiah 45:23, Yahweh's own oath, to Christ at 14:11.
Commentary on the Bible (1832) · public domain
Identifies the weak as Jewish converts still holding the food laws, and notes that Paul reasons long with both parties before giving any opinion on the foods.
Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710) · public domain
Receive him, not to expose him, but to instruct and strengthen him. Calls charity to the souls of our brethren the best charity.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) · public domain
Defines the strong and the weak in one sentence, and carries Olshausen's line on the worth of the brother: for whom Christ died.
Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755) · public domain
Reads the kingdom of 14:17 as true religion itself, the image of God stamped on the heart, and traces how a brother stumbles: by imitating thee against his conscience.
Commentaries on Romans (1554) · public domain (Calvin Translation Society English)
The stronger any one is in Christ, the more bound he is to bear with the weak; a servant should take up what his Lord himself undertook.
Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748) · public domain
Spells 15:7 out in pairs: the Jew the Gentile, the Gentile the Jew, the strong brother the weak, the weak the strong.
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1601, "The Judgment Seat Of God" (1881) · public domain
Preaches the textual variant of 14:10 itself, and shows both readings landing on the same divine Person.
Commentary on Romans (1107) · cite-only, modern English translation
Reads the fruit of like-mindedness at 15:6: God glorified with one soul as well as one mouth.
Marcus Brown's own commentary leads above all; within a tier, all voices are equal. No modern (living-copyright) roster voice appears in the site's quote pools for these chapters; the relevance gate is honored by carrying none rather than reaching for one.
Word studies
The Hebrew and Greek under this study, each word in its own room.
Where it leads
Featured studies10
- The Jerusalem Council: the church's formal ruling on Gentile liberty
- Love One Another: the command underneath this whole passage
- Israel and the Olive Tree: the chapters 15:8-12 stands on
- The Love Chapter: the more excellent way in full
- Bearing One Another's Burdens, MannaFest
- Food Offered to Idols, MannaFest
- Marriage, Singleness, and Divorce: 1 Corinthians 7, MannaFest
- Put Off, Put On, MannaFest
- Ready to Give an Answer, MannaFest
- Shepherd the Flock, MannaFest