So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” Answer: Eternal Life Is at StakeĪll this is a bit unsettling. Then he adds the doctrine of God’s persevering grace in verse 4b: “And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” And then in verse 8 he relates the issue of meat and vegetables and days and wine to life and death and the death and resurrection of Christ: “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. In verse 4 he says “It is before his own master that he stands or falls”-the doctrine of the final judgment with the ominous words of standing or falling. In verse 3 he tells us not to judge the weak because “God has welcomed him”-the doctrine of justification by faith not by meat and vegetables. Paul has elevated the whole thing immensely by introducing the most weighty truths about God and Christ and salvation. Up till now there have been a few hints that more is at stake than relational smoothing. Verse 3: “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats.” It all seems at first a little superficial, external, minor, unimportant-meat, vegetables, days, wine? What’s the big deal? Why bother with these non-essentials? Is Paul coming in for a landing here toward the end of the book and trying to just smooth out a few remaining relational bumps?
Paul’s burden, at one level, is that we not judge and despise each other because of these disagreements. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” We will see them again in verse 21, “It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.” Question: What’s the Big Deal? One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.” We saw them again in verse 5, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. We saw them in Romans 14:1-2, “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. More is at stake in Romans 14 than whether we treat each other lovingly when we disagree about what to eat or drink or what days to celebrate. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
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