Are You Building Up the Church or Tearing it Down?
Thinking about Romans 14:16-19.
Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. (Romans 14:16-19)
After pointing out that destroying our brethren over matters of opinion shows we don’t love them, Paul reminds Christians that “the kingdom of God” and our life as Christians is about much more than these matters of opinion.
What the kingdom of God is all about.
When Paul refers to “your good” in Romans 14:16, he’s probably referring to “the freedom of the strong to eat any food when the church came together for common meals” (Pollard, Truth for Today Commentary, 509-510). How this “good” could be blasphemed or spoken evil of was if the “strong” pressed their views upon the “weak” in such a way as to destroy their weaker brethren (Romans 14:15).
It’s not worth destroying your brother over these matters of opinion, because the kingdom of God was not about these dietary issues. What really mattered was righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Each of these three terms was important in the Roman environment. “Righteousness” is the central theme of the Book of Romans and refers to the justification of believers by faith (1:16-17; 3:21-26). “Peace” comes by virtue of justification (5:1; 8:6) and “joy” appears in 14:17 for the first time in Romans (see 15:13). All three of these are experienced in the common bond of the Holy Spirit, whom all Christians share. - Pollard, Truth for Today Commentary, 510-511
Righteousness here may also refer to “doing right” in how the Christians treated one another (1 John 3:7).
I think Paul is doing a bit of what Jesus did in Matthew 23:23 when he pronounced “woe” upon the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees for “majoring in minors and minoring in majors.” The Christians in Rome didn’t need to ignore their conscience in matters of opinion, but they also needed to recognize that there were much more important things than their opinions about dietary issues.
By following what Paul is teaching them here, they would be both “acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1-2) and approved by people.
Pursue that which makes for peace and builds up the church.
So, what the Christians in Rome needed to focus on and “pursue” were the things that brought about peace and the things that built up the church - rather than destroy it.
The meaning of the word “edify” paints a powerful picture for Christians.
The root from which this word comes has reference to construction, as in the erection of a building, being related to the “edifice,” and thus conveying the thought of building up the church, instead of tearing it down. - Coffman, Commentary on Romans, 464
So rather than putting all their time, energy, and effort into “chasing after” these matters of scruple and opinion, Paul commands them to diligently pursue the things that make for peace and which builds and strengthens the church of Christ.
So what is this passage teaching us to do?
Christians must be mindful of the scruples or opinions of their brethren, and rather than pressing those issues in a way that destroys their brethren - which means destroying the church - we must pursue that which strengthens our bond in Christ and which promotes peace.
As Paul will teach in the approaching verses, that might look like making sacrifices in areas where we have freedom in Christ for the sake of our brethren. It might also look like keeping my strongly held opinions to myself.
We must evaluate if our words and actions are…
Promoting peace in the Lord’s church.
Building and strengthening the Lord’s church.
In doing this, we will be “acceptable to God and approved by men.”
