Dealings with the “weak in faith” of Romans 14.
February 15th, 2010
I guess the Messianic gentiles would be described as “weak in faith” in the eyes of the Gentile or Paulian Christians. We might call them Peterian Christians. They believe very sincerely that they honor Jesus by complying with Jewish customs, and this is a source of gratitude for them, to honor him in this way.
Now Romans 14 gives us the protocol when dealing with these brothers who call themselves Nazarenes. We should not get into a discussion of these things, for unity will be impossible, but rather we are to focus on practical matters as to how we all can better implement the law of love. We should certainly not make a show of our liberty in front of them (which would not be loving at all) but rather are to accept them as they are and to wish them well in spreading love and in remaining true to their vow of Jewish imitation of him. We are to respect the conscience of these brothers and not seek to lure any into what would be sin for them. For what is done apart from faith is sin.
I like Kant’s play with the hand. The concept of a hand will give all information needed for the recognition of a hand. But then lo and behold, let God create just a hand and nothing else. Still that hand must be either right or left, and an identical opposite could have been made instead. Each hand is a perfection representation of the concept of hand, and they are still different and cannot wear the same glove.
Even so the Nazarenes and the Gentile Christians can each be a representation of one and the same Church and simply make up two congregations of that church. And the best way to get along is not to talk about differences as rather to focus on what edifies.
Trackback this post