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June 3, 1984
Some legalistic teachers claim Christians must follow the law to be more spiritual. Others, however, assume we can practice unrestricted freedom for its own sake. Alistair Begg encourages us to resolve this tension by interpreting Scripture with Scripture. Although we may have different convictions, we can know that the law sends us to the Gospel for our justification, and the Gospel then returns us to the law to help frame our sanctification so we can know true obedience.
16Therefore let no one gpass judgment on you hin questions of food and drink, or with regard to ia festival or ja new moon or a Sabbath. 17kThese are a shadow of the things to come, but lthe substance belongs to Christ. 18Let no one mdisqualify you, ninsisting on asceticism and worship of angels, ogoing on in detail about visions,4 ppuffed up without reason by qhis sensuous mind, 19and rnot sholding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
20If with Christ tyou died to the uelemental spirits of the world, vwhy, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21w“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22(xreferring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to yhuman precepts and teachings? 23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in zpromoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are aof no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
1As for mthe one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2nOne person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and olet not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4pWho are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master1 that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5qOne person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. rEach one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since she gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For tnone of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, uwhether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9For to this end Christ vdied and lived again, that he might be Lord both wof the dead and of the living.
10Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For wwe will all stand before xthe judgment seat of God; 11for it is written,
y“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess2 to God.”
12So then zeach of us will give an account of himself to God.
13aTherefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide bnever to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus cthat nothing is unclean in itself, dbut it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, eyou are no longer walking in love. fBy what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16gSo do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17hFor the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but iof righteousness and jpeace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18Whoever thus serves Christ is kacceptable to God and approved by men. 19So then let us lpursue what makes for peace and for mmutual upbuilding.
20nDo not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. oEverything is indeed clean, but pit is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21qIt is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.3 22The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. rBlessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.4
Copyright © 2024, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
