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This final interview no Christian will escape. We must all give an account of ourselves
to God (12). "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son"
(John 5: 22). It is He Who is "the righteous Judge" (II Tim. 4: 8); He it is Who is the
Lord of both the dead and the living (Rom. 14: 9), and to stress the solemnity of His
judgment-seat the Apostle quotes from Isa. 45:, and the One Who speaks here declares
"I am the Lord, and there is none else" (verse 18); "a just God and a Saviour; there is
none beside Me" (21). Without hesitation Paul applies this Scripture to Christ. The
judgment seat of Christ is the judgment seat of God (Rom. 14: 10). In Phil. 2: the
Apostle, quoting the same context from Isa. 45:, applies it to Christ, and if Christ is not
God then words have no meaning at all. Yet there are those who declare that the apostle
Paul did not teach the deity of Christ! Those who make such statements must be very
ignorant of his witness. "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God" (12), and
that is the One Who has been "manifest in the flesh".
The problems concerning "food" and "days" were very real in the early days of
Christianity, and the fact that the Lord Jesus had abrogated the food laws of the O.T. by
pronouncing all kinds of food to be "clean" (Mark 7: 18, 19) seems to have been little
understood at the beginning. Peter needed a special vision from God at Joppa to realize
that he was not to count as unclean what God had cleansed, so that he could
conscientiously visit the Gentile Cornelius and accept his hospitality, and it is significant
that shortly afterwards, when the Council of Jerusalem agreed that Gentiles could be
admitted to fellowship on the basis of faith in Christ, a regulation was made that Gentile
converts should abstain from foods which were still abhorrent to Jewish brethren and
conform to their O.T. food laws (Acts 15: 20, 29). In other words, while the Apostle
taught the freedom of Christians in Christ, yet voluntary limits should be placed on this
freedom, in order to avoid strife and disunity. This was not to be regarded as bondage
but a practical expression of love and concern for someone else who may be weaker in
the faith.
Consequently, in the next section of Romans, this is stressed:
"Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind
not to put any stumbling-block or obstacle in your brother's way. As one who is in the
Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards
something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of
what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your
brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as
evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness,
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is
pleasing to God and approved by men. Let us therefore make every effort to do what
leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of
food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone
else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will
cause your brother to fall" (14: 13-21, N.I.V.).
The drift of this long section then is clear. The "strong" must not flaunt their liberty
before weaker Christians and upset them. These problems were bound to arise at Rome
as they had done at Corinth, where the Apostle gave guidance in I Corinthians relating
to meat offered to idols. Those who were more mature should be prepared to restrict