Friday, June 12, 2015

Bible Challenge Day 152: Conscience (Romans 14)

The reading for today from Romans contains a set of extraordinary statements.

5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. 6 Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.

22 The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. 23 But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith; l for whatever does not proceed from faith m is sin. n

Paul talks about two issues: observing the day (e.g. calling some days particularly holy); and clean and unclean food. In the first, he does not say what he considers right. In the second, he does. But in both cases, he mainly says that people should do whatever they think is right.

Honor the day. Do not honor the day. Abstain from certain foods. Eat all foods. If you have doubts, do not do it. If you don’t, feel free to go ahead (as long as you do not harm your brother or sister).

It is a remarkable ethic, putting a remarkable responsibility on each of us to determine what we believe is right and to do it. I presume that Paul would say some things are intrinsically right or wrong. But in this passage, Paul is all about the Christian conscience.

Fr. Harvey

 

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