How Our Attitude Spreads to Others

Romans 14:13–23
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)

Paul has been warning about judging other Christians, and how it affects our attitudes and actions toward them, even to the point of hindering our own walk with the Lord. Now he shows the other side of the coin and what kind of an effect our convictions and actions can have on other Christians. Paul makes the following points:

1. A Cause for Stumbling (vv. 13-15). The strong Christian has spiritual knowledge, but if he does not show love, his knowledge may hurt the weak Christian. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (I Corinthians 8:1). The issue is not “How does it affect me?” but should be “If I do this, how will it affect my brother? Will it cause him to grieve or stumble?” 

2. Correct Spiritual Priorities Promote Harmony (vv. 16-18). Christians often have a way of majoring in the minors. Churches split over such minor matters as the location of the piano in the auditorium, or what color to paint the walls. If each believer would major on a godly life, we would not have Christians fighting each other over minor matters.

3. Christian Differences can help us Grow (vv. 19-20). Strong believers need to grow in love, and weak believers need to grow in knowledge. We cannot expect new believers to be mature in the faith as soon as they are saved.

We can sum up Paul’s thinking in this way: Unity in essentials, Liberty in nonessentials, & Charity in all things. At the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) the Gentile church in Antioch was asked not to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Paul was at this Jerusalem council, and he accepted this request. It was not that he felt that eating such meat was wrong, but because this practice would deeply offend many Jewish believers. God called us to be interdependent and not independent. 

Application

Lord, help me to have a good attitude. I know that my actions will be controlled by my attitude. If my attitude is right, my actions will be OK.