Romans 14:23 ends with the phrase, “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Sometimes well-meaning brethren may use this phrase to prove that there must be scriptural authority for what one says and does. They use the word “faith” here to refer to the Gospel, the body of truth that God has delivered in His word, as it is used in Jude 3. The Bible certainly teaches that we need to live by what God says (Matthew 4:4); the faithful will not dare take liberties where the scripture is silent (Colossians 3:16-17; Hebrews 7:14). Though the principle is true, Romans 14:23 is not a verse that teaches this.
The context of Romans 14 demands a different meaning for the word “faith” than Gospel truth. Romans 14 is a discussion on matters of conscience and how the strong ought to give up certain liberties in order to avoid causing the weak to sin. This discussion does not terminate at the end of the chapter either. The first seven verses of Romans 15 continue the discussion of the strong bearing the infirmities of the weak. Some of these matters were in regard to eating certain meat (Romans 14:2) or setting aside special days (Romans 14:5). No doubt these matters arose because of the Jewish and Gentile backgrounds from which the members of the church came. One of the major themes of the book of Romans is Jew-Gentile relations in Christ.
Thus, when one comes to the question in Romans 14:22, “Hast thou faith?”, it is evident that “faith” here refers to personal conviction, not the system of truth to which Christians adhere. This is the same meaning of “faith” in verse 23. Reading verses 22 and 23 together makes it abundantly clear, “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” The lesson is that a man should not engage in anything that goes against his conscience even if it is not wrong in itself. Additionally, the conscience of weaker brethren ought to be respected by the stronger.
Let us resolve to live by what the Bible says instead of taking the silence of the scriptures as God’s consent. Let us be aware of the personal convictions of others, respecting the conscience while patiently instructing. Moreover, let us resolve to use the proper verses for teaching Biblical truths. If we are not careful it is very easy for us to use a verse in a way it was not meant to be used. The point that we may be making is true, but truth is not helped when the scriptures are misused. As we all grow in our knowledge of the scriptures we recognize more fully the meaning of verses and ways we might have misused them in the past. We must continually go back to the Bible to avoid misusing scripture in the future and, when we have the opportunity, kindly show others where they have misused scripture. If we are Christians, we ought to be able to help each other along this line without any hard feelings.
-Mark Day
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