So why ARE you a vegetarian? As part of Paul’s efforts to bring the gospel to life, he raises some ‘lifestyle’ issues that affected not only the First Century Romans but the 21st Century West. We have a huge amount of freedom under the gospel: how do we relate to people who in some way choose to restrict themselves and encourage others to follow them? It strikes me that people are vegetarians for one (or more) of three reasons: (1) Personal taste – they don’t enjoy eating meat; (2) Moral objection to the concept of eating meat – either in an absolute sense or out of disgust with the way the meat has been prepared or farmed; and (3) Religious conviction – they think that eating meat or certain other kinds of food actually offends the Lord. Reason (1) is not really a problem at all: such people simply regard it as a matter of personal preference and are generally content to accord other believers the same principle of choice too. Reason (2) is a cause of potentially greater friction, since it carries the implication that “I don’t do this for moral reasons, and nor should anybody else!” In addition to vegetarianism / veganism, there are those people committed to ‘Fair Trade’, to avoiding products from companies who peddle formula milk to the third world, to drastically minimising one’s carbon footprint and even to holding a party political viewpoint as being much more ‘Christian’ than the rest. There are elements in each of these strongly-held moral imperatives that are excellent and do relate to ASPECTS of the gospel. However, I would warn those that hold them of two dangers to avoid at all costs… Firstly, the Bible really does NOT strongly support any of the above standpoints in any specific way – and it is false to claim that it does. Of course there are verses that say “A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal” Proverbs 12:10; and Jesus also refers to the need to rescue animals even on the Sabbath, but that is about as far as the Bible goes. We can also regard our creation role as humans on earth as being ‘guardians’ of the rest of the planet on God’s behalf! But even so, we need to take care to avoid distorting the interpretation of scripture to achieve our own moral objectives. Secondly, it is very easy for a Christian to become a passionate ‘single-issue’ activist who becomes deflected from the main thrust of the gospel and their relationship with the Lord, by their enthusiasm for THEIR specific ‘issue’. As soon as Jesus stops being the central focus and is displaced by the ‘strongly held issue’, the danger is that the joy and power of the gospel in that person’s life will quickly evaporate. The purpose of the gospel is to re-join lost people to their Lord and Saviour, creating as an outcome righteous people who will naturally make compassionate choices. Actually, in Romans 14 and 15, Paul speaks very little about ‘moral campaigns’ and focusses more on my Reason Number Three. Those believers who had come from a Jewish food law tradition were hyper-sensitive about dietary restrictions and genuinely thought that eating certain types of food were an offence to God. Paul makes several points: (a) All foods are now perfectly acceptable to eat, as long as you do so in thankfulness to the Lord; (b) Having dietary restrictions for ‘religious’ reasons is actually an indication of a weak faith (since the Law of Moses that gave them validity is no obsolete in God’s Kingdom); (c) The gospel gives us far more freedom than most of us imagine; (d) If you THINK that a particular food is denied you, and YET you go ahead and eat, you have gone against your weak conscience and you HAVE sinned against the Lord. In terms of how we all relate to one another, Paul identifies that love and self-sacrifice is the way forward. Those believers who do enjoy their full freedom in Christ must completely accept those believers who have ‘issues’ about eating certain foods or keeping certain days special, for example. They should not consider their understanding of their freedom somehow makes them superior, and the believer with the stricter diet must not judge the one who eats anything. The fact is that each one of us will individually answer to our own Lord and Master on the Day of Judgment, and not to one another. Secondly, Paul wants to re-assert our priorities: “The kingdom of God is NOT a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (14:17). The very worst thing that we can do to one another is to be the cause of divisions in the Body of Christ, simply because we disagree on what is essentially a ‘worldly’ viewpoint, however strongly it is held. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (15:7). We were accepted by Christ ‘just as we were’ – i.e. warts and all!. So we have no right to reject other believers on any other grounds. Paul then changes tack in Romans 15 and explains that he will soon come to visit the Church in Rome for the first time and intends to use Rome as his base to evangelise all of Western Europe too. He asks the believers to pray for his success and in that way to join in his struggle for the gospel. At the end of the letter, in chapter 16, there is a long roll of honour: believers whom Paul wishes to commend for their service in the gospel – including Priscilla and Aquila who had done so much to benefit the churches Paul had established. It seems that, by then, they were living back in Rome, which is where they originally came from. In signing off his great gospel, Paul reminds the churches of the two main purposes of his mission: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (16:20), which refers to Satan’s final doom as predicted in Genesis 3:15, and also “Now to Him who is able to establish you… to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen”. (16:27). The purpose of the gospel is to destroy the works of darkness and to give complete and total glory to God. (Today’s reading: Romans 14, 15, 16.) Andy Acreman
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 18:40:45 +0000
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