Romans 14:1-12
In this passage the Apostle Paul addresses church members in Rome who are at odds with one another over dietary practices and religious holidays. One group is comfortable eating meat and the other eats only vegetables.
The churches in Rome had both Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus as members. The vegetarians were likely Jewish Christians who wanted to keep kosher but were unable to find kosher meat in the meat markets. The only available meat had been ritually sacrificed to idols as part of the normal butchering process of that time. The vegetarians may also have included Gentile Christians who feared that eating such meat would be a trigger tempting them back to their former way of life. The meat-eaters from both ethnic groups were confident that all food was a gift from God regardless of how it was prepared.
The problem was that these church members were fighting with each other about who was right. Each group — the meat eaters and the vegetarians — was convinced that they had the correct understanding of Christian faith, and that the opposing group was wrong. As a result they were judging one another and despising one another. A similar conflict arose about whether to observe certain religious holidays.
Paul told them that the practices of both groups were acceptable to God. That instead of judging each other they needed to love one another and be respectful of each other’s feelings.
Today church members in various places today fight over styles of worship, preferred Bible translations, speaking in tongues, men’s and women’s roles, and other things.
I don’t think our church has any conflicts of this kind, at least currently. We come from different countries, have different ethnicities and cultural experiences, speak different primary languages, may have some different interpretations of some Scriptures, perhaps hold some varied political views. But we don’t judge each other. We respect each other and want to learn from each other. This is something to be thankful for to God.
Division and conflict, however, are sadly commonplace among Christians, not only in individual churches but in the wider Christian community. Today there exist different versions of Christian faith: Catholics and Protestants, liberals and conservatives, Evangelicals and Progressives.
These groups are always passing judgment on each other. They often accuse each other of being wrong, of having a false faith, even of being evil. Like the rivals in the Roman church, each of these groupings believe that the Gospel message and the Scriptures support their view and not that of their opponents.
It seems to me, though, that none of these church bodies has a monopoly on the Truth of the Gospel. Each group grasps some important elements of Christian faith. Each group gets some things wrong. And each group is deficient in what they leave out. The Christian community is like a man who has been split into several parts, which should be put together to make a whole person. We would do well to follow Paul’s counsel and stop judging and despising one another. Instead, we would all benefit by seeking to better understand each other and learn from one another.
A different kind of situation from that of the church in Rome occurs for the Corinthian Christians. In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul writes about a man who is having sexual relations with his stepmother. Many Corinthian church members felt that was acceptable as part of their freedom in Christ.
In this case Paul tells the church members that they must exercise judgement and expel the errant member. For the sake of both the church and so that the erring member might repent. Whereas in Rome mutual acceptance needed to replace judgement, in Corinth judgment needed to replace acceptance.
“Judge not that you be not judged,” Jesus says. “Judge with right judgement,” he elsewhere instructs. “Do not pass judgement on one another,” Paul tells the Christians in Rome. “Judge your fellow church members,” he instructs the Corinthian believers. Where did Christians get the idea that Scripture was easy to understand!
How do we know whether we should accept each other’s differences, like in Rome, or exercise judgment against wrongdoing, as in Corinth? To judge or not to judge, is sometimes the question.
What are we to do when conflicts arise among us over different views of Christian faith. We read in Acts chapter 15, what the early church did when they had disputes that needed to be resolved. We do well to follow their example.
Like them, we can come together to pray, study the Scriptures, listen to one another, take seriously the experiences and testimonies of our brothers and sisters, and seek together the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In situations of conflict and uncertainty Jesus calls us to come together in love and humility to seek God’s will. When we do that, Jesus promises to be with us and guide us.
There’s one more kind of church conflict and it is on a completely different level. In his letter to the Christians in Galatia, Paul writes: “I am astonished that you are so quickly . . . turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. . . But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” Strong words of judgment: “Let them be cursed!”
The issue was that some purported Christian missionaries had come to the church in Galatia and preached that both Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus had to keep basic elements of the Old Testament Law. This included circumcision for male believers. This wasn’t just a conflict over whether some specific activity was a sin or not. This went to the heart of the Gospel message. Are people united to Jesus and his covenant community by entrusting their lives to Jesus or by Jesus plus something else?
This is where pronouncing judgement is most important: Using insight and wisdom, we denounce harmful versions of Christian faith – false Gospels.
During the 1930s and 40s in Nazi Germany many Protestants publicly embraced Adolph Hitler, Nazi ideology, and German nationalism. They called themselves “German Christians” and integrated anti-Jewish and other Nazi views into their version of Christianity. This was a false Gospel, a perversion of Christian faith, that Christians like Dietrick Bonhoeffer denounced.
When I was growing up in the 1950s, many churches incorporated anti-Black racism into their religious faith, as part of their Christian teaching. As indeed most White churches in America had done for hundreds of years. This was a false Gospel and perversion of Christian faith.
We need to be careful not to label as false Gospels beliefs of other Christians just because they differ from our own. But there are versions of professed Christianity that embrace hate – and hate is a false Gospel.
There are still groups today professing Jesus who preach hate for Jews and for Blacks. There are expressions of Christianity that promote hate for Muslims, for immigrants, or for other minorities. There are churches who preach hatred even for Christians who are not of their denomination or theological understanding.
Hatred can be expressed in ways that are plain and obvious or in forms that are more subtle and disguised. Either way it is a false Gospel. Any expression of Christianity that demeans our fellow human beings, all for whom Christ died, denies their essential dignity, or treats them with contempt, is a perversion of Christian faith. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a message of hate but of Good News of God’s love for all people.
Let’s give Jesus the last word: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye,” Jesus says, “and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
If we’re going to judge someone, let’s first take a close look at ourselves. What changes do we need to make in our own life and thinking? What attitudes and prejudices may be keeping us from seeing others as God sees them?
Only then will we be in a healthy place to bring correction to someone. Not for our sake alone, but also for the wellbeing and healing of our sister or brother in love.
Marty Shupack, Sept. 13, 2026