By Ezekiel Kimosop
I have been studying the Book of Romans for quite some time now. In fact my last sunday's sermon whose link I posted on this page was drawn from my study of Romans 13:11-14.
At one time in the course of my study of Romans, I wrote an exposition of Romans 9 and posted it on my teaching pages.
I was not surprised when I received sharp criticisms on Facebook from followers of high Calvinism whose interpretation of the passage does not agree with mine! I knew that there are those who will not agree with my exposition.
One particular Calvinistic brother engaged me in a long conversation which appears on my Facebook page. He was contending for the perspective held by John Calvin and other Reformed Calvinism teachers. The issue boiled down to the canvassing of our conflicting perspectives.
Some sections of Reformed Calvinistic traditions claim that Romans 9 teaches predestination of believers. They argue that the regeneration of the believer precedes their faith in Christ, that the sinner is first regenerated by God before they can believe in Christ. This is largely informed by their "divine decree" doctrine which says that from the foundation of the world, God had already decreed the identity and the number of those who will be saved and those who will go to eternal destruction.
They further say that Christ's atonement is only limited to those who had been predestined to eternal life.
Calvinism teaches that the sinner is so dead in sin that he is unable to make a moral decision for Christ unless God first regenerates his heart. This is based on their literal interpretation of the analogy of Ephesians 2:5.
I am not pursuaded by the articulation of the soteriological doctrines held by Calvinism. I believe that salvation is a synergistic process involving God and the cooperation of the sinner. I believe that every sinner who hears the gospel, and is convicted of sin, has a free will choice for Christ, either to believe or reject Him.
My view is that a sinner who hears and is convicted by the preaching of the gospel must first believe in Jesus Christ before they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
Finally, we agreed to disagree with my Calvinism brother. We respectfully registered our divergence of opinions and closed our conversation. This does not imply that we do not recognize our shared heritage in Christ as believers but that we see things differently on the articulation of salvation doctrines. We are both agreed on the fundamentals of the faith.
THE PASSAGE
I have mentioned this incident because it is somewhat relevant to what I am about to share based on my study of Romans 14:1-13.
In this passage, the Bible prescribes some practical guidelines concerning the management of our conflicting views on Christian practices that are otherwise not fundamental to the truths of our Christian faith.
Allow me to qualify this further. When I speak of fundamental truths, I am referring to the core doctrines of the Bible that concern our faith in Christ. I will highlight a few for context sake.
The Bible teaches that we are born in sin by reason of Adam's disobedience and that God's condemnation stood upon all men until God provided a savior for us in Christ Jesus.
We believe that the death of Jesus Christ satisfied God's divine wrath against our sin (Romans 3:23, 6:23). Scripture teaches that whoever believes in Jesus will be forgiven his sin and reconciled to God. His name will be written in the Lamb's Book of Life (John 1:12, 29, 3:16; 1 Peter 1:19)
Whoever rejects the message of the cross will stand condemned. We believe that Christ's atonement was final and effective and that salvation can be found in no one else but by Him (John 14:6; cf. Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22).
We believe that Jesus is coming soon to take His Church and to judge the wicked and destroy His enemies once and for all.
Now these statements, among others, form the core Biblical truths that every true follower of Christ must subscribe to without any doubt.
CHRISTIAN LIBERTY
Having said as much, I recognize that there are convictions that do not touch on the fundamentals.
For instance, some Christian traditions such as the Seventh Day Adventists esteem a particular day of the week as hallowed. Most Christian traditions worship on Sunday. Some do not consider any day as more hallowed and would readily worship on any day of the week if it serves their convenience.
Away from the day of worship, there are other issues that divide Christians along their traditional practices. Some liberal churches permit their faithful to take alcoholic beverages while others consider drinking as morally untennable. Others have a choice for dress codes or even the manner in which to worship including permitted music.
Evangelicals and Pentecostals have conflicting views and perspectives touching on cessation or continuation of certain spiritual gifts.
Even where Church traditions agree on a given perspective, the practices and articulations may considerably vary.
Now turning to our passage of Romans 14:1-13, we discover that Paul was addressing the management of Christian liberties. The Bible exhorts us to be mindful of one another's convictions on matters that are not otherwise fundamental to the faith. This passage identifies conflicting cultural preference on foods (Romans 14:1-4) and worship days (Romans 14:5-6) as examples of the sources of contention. These were notable areas of contention separating Jews and Gentiles.
The Bible concludes with a warning that we should not sit in the place of God and judge others based on our perspectives on non essential issues that fall within the spectrum of our Christian liberties (14:10-11).
This does not however suggest that we cannot judge acts of moral disobedience or point out false teaching or single out teachers of heresy.
The Bible says that each of us shall give an account before God. We should therefore allow for Christian liberty on the non essential matters while standing firm on our convictions touching on the fundamental truths of the Faith as revealed in Scripture.
© Ezekiel Kimosop 2020
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