Paul wrote about someone receiving or accepting people. He was speaking about Christians accepting other Christians. Paul wanted Christians to love other Christians and to treat all Christians well. This is because God accepted all Christians into his family.
Paul wrote about Christians who were weak in faith. These Christians believed all Christians should obey more rules than God really expected of them. For example, they believed they must only eat vegetables, must not drink any wine, and must celebrate special days in order to please God (see: Romans 14:2, 5, 21). However, the strong in faith did not feel the need to observe these kinds of rules (see: Romans 15:1).
Some scholars think that the weak in faith were Jewish Christians. Others think that they included both Jewish and gentile Christians.
See: Isaiah 35:3-5; Ezekiel 34:4, 16; Matthew 14:31
Paul wrote about someone giving judgment about arguments. Some scholars think Paul did not want Christians to argue about whether the strong or the weak were right in what they did. More scholars think Paul did not want the strong Chrsitians to condemn the weak Christians.
Paul wrote about eating anything or everything. He was writing about Christians who did not think it was wrong to eat certain foods. However, the weak Christians believed that eating certain foods dishonored God.
A person who felt himself to be strong might “despise”(ἐξουθενέω/g1848) the weak Christans. These Christians did not hate other Christians. Instead, they were proud of themselves disrespect those who were different.
When someone valued or observed a day, they thought this day was different than other days. They did this to honor God. Some scholars think Paul was writing about Christians resting on the Sabbath (see: Exodus 20:8-11). Other scholars think Paul was writing about special days of fasting (see: Ezra 8:21) or feasting (see: 1 Kings 8:65) or some other thing the Jews did. Other scholars think that the Gentile Christians believed that certain days were lucky or unlucky.
Paul wrote the same thing Isaiah wrote (see: Isaiah 45:23). He did this to prove from the Scriptures that every person will have to stand before God and tell him what he did and why he did it.
Paul wrote, “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus. Paul knew the truth about the things the weak Christians believed. Paul knew it was not necessary to follow these rules. He knew that he was right, and knew that Jesus taught the same thing. Paul did not explain how he knew this.
Paul wanted people to know that nothing was made unclean. According to the Law of Moses, certain foods were unclean. However, they were not unclean because they were made unclean.
See: Mark 7:2, 5; Acts 10:14, 28; 11:8; 1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Timothy 4:4; Titus 1:15
Paul wrote about things being “unclean” in two ways. Certain things were unclean because God said they were unclean (see: 2 Corinthians 12:21). Other things were unclean because someone thought they were unclean. If a person thought some food was unclean, and he ate it anyway, this was wrong.
Paul wrote about people speaking about good things as if they were evil things. Some scholars think Paul was speaking about certain foods. People said it was evil to eat these foods when it was not evil. Other scholars think Paul was teaching Christians that non-Christians would say bad things about them if they saw Christians fighting with one another.
Paul wrote about faith. He was not writing about believing in Jesus. Instead, he was writing about Christians being confident that the were free to eat what they wanted and did not need to follow the rules other people made.
Paul wrote that people who doubted would be condemned. Some scholars think that the weak Christians who felt that they did something wrong condemned himself.They sinned because they thought they sinned. Other scholars think that on judgment day God would consider that person guilty of sinning.
Paul wrote about something that was not from faith. If a person did not think he did the right thing, then he did not do the right thing. It was then a sin for him to do it.
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