I have been studying Romans 14 a lot lately. Recently, I got the idea of using pie charts to help us better understand and apply the teaching of Romans 14 about key differing viewpoints among Christians to the key issue of how many “genres” of instrumental music are acceptable to God for use in corporate worship.
The charts in this post are possible representations of the differing viewpoints that Paul addresses in this chapter. I am not claiming that the details of these charts are necessarily exactly in keeping with what the passage reveals because it seems that there are some uncertainties about the specifics of his teaching.
Eat All Things or Eat Herbs?
The first differing viewpoint that Paul presents concerns what Christians believe that they may eat:
Romans 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. 2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
Many seem to understand this teaching by Paul to mean what the following diagrams show:
Romans 14:2a For one believeth that he may eat all things:
Romans 14:2b another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
They hold that what Paul says indicates that some believe that they should partake of all things while others who are “weak in the faith” believe that they should only partake of a specified subset of all things that the others believe that they may eat.
A careful comparison of this teaching by Paul with other revelation in Scripture, however, shows that this understanding is faulty. Neither the ones who eat “all things” nor those who eat (only) “herbs,” in reality, eat the following:
Plant and animal products that are poisonous to humans, such as poisonous berries and mushrooms (cf. the inability to eat poisonous stew [2 Kings 4:40]);
Human flesh (Deut. 28:57), eating blood (Lev. 17:10; Acts 15:20), or eating “things strangled (Acts 15:20);
Things known to have been offered to idols (Rev. 2:14);
Things that God did not create for humans to eat (thorns and thistles [Gen. 3:18]; grass [Ps. 104:14; Dan. 4]).
Taking into account these things that strong believers do not eat shows us that the correct understanding of “eat all things” in Romans 14:2 is the following:
Application
Romans 14:2 does not teach that strong believers eat all things in the sense that they eat all plant and animal products without any exceptions. There are many plant and animal products that are unfit for human consumption as foodstuffs—not consuming those things does not mean that one is “weak in the faith” (Rom. 14:1).
Many believers use Paul’s teaching in Romans 14:2 about strong believers eating “all things” to claim that teaching supports holding that all “genres” of instrumental music are acceptable to God for strong believers to use in corporate worship. Romans 14:2 does not support holding that viewpoint about the use of all “genres” of instrumental music in corporate worship because Romans 14:2 does not teach that strong believers eat all plant and animal products without exception.
Using Romans 14:2 as support for believing that believers who reject the use of certain “genres” of instrumental music in corporate worship are “weak in the faith” is a misinterpretation and misapplication of Scripture. A proper understanding of the teaching of Romans 14:1-2 and a proper application of that teaching shows that it is not true that Scripture supports holding that the use of all “genres” of instrumental music in corporate worship is acceptable to God.
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