THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE ADVANCED BIBLE STUDIES SERIES “ROMANS”
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The following is an excerpt from the Advanced Bible Studies Series course on the book of Romans, which is available from Way of Life Literature. (It is best to order them by phone at 866-295-4143, but they can also be ordered from the newly redesigned online order form at the Way of Life web site, http://www.wayofife.org.)

There are currently 20 titles in the series, and any of them can be special ordered in large print and in ring coil binding. We don’t believe that you will find better quality, more truly life-changing Bible courses from any other source. They are based strictly upon the King James Bible and the powerful word studies assist in the understanding of the KJV but never cast doubt upon it. They are thorough and comprehensive. They are very practical and have the objective of producing well-equipped Christian soldiers that have a solid understanding of the Bible. They stress holy and obedient Christian living and separation from worldliness and error, exalt evangelism and the New Testament church, and promote world missions. They emphasize the crucial differences between law and grace and positional and practical sanctification, and they continually fortify the student’s understanding of the life-changing doctrines such as justification, substitutionary atonement, and eternal security. The courses are non-Calvinistic and interpret Bible prophecy literally. The student will be prepared to stand against the wiles of the Devil and to refute the major theological heresies of our day. One pastor said the books “are extremely helpful for any Christian, no matter where they are spiritually; the practical application is extremely helpful and edifying.”

The Advanced Bible Studies Series can be used as private study guides for the individual Christian, as Sunday School lessons, as textbooks in Bible colleges, as part of a home schooling curriculum, as study material in jails and prisons, for discipling new (or older) Christians, and as refresher study material for Bible College graduates.

THE BELIEVER’S LIBERTY IN CHRIST (Romans 14)

The Two Main Lessons of This Chapter

1. We are not to judge in matters of liberty (Rom. 14:1-12). Verse 4 is the key verse in this section. This refers to things the New Testament does not speak of, things about which the Bible is silent.

a. The examples Paul uses are food and holy days (Rom. 14:3-6). The New Testament does not contain any laws about these matters, so believers are free to do as they see fit before the Lord.

b. Other examples:

(1) The use of musical instruments in the church. Some churches make strict laws about not using musical instruments, but the New Testament is silent on this so it is a matter of liberty. We cannot make doctrine based on what the Bible does not say, but only what is does say. If a church does not want to use instruments, that is their privilege. If a church wants to use instruments, that is their liberty.

(2) The timing of the Lord’s supper. The Bible says we are to take the Lord’s supper but it does not say how often. Some take it every week; some every month; some every quarter. It is a matter of liberty that each congregation must determine before the Lord.

(3) Special preaching garments. The Bible says nothing about what to wear when preaching. Some churches believe the preacher should wear a special garment such as a robe. In some places the preachers always wear a suit and tie. This is a matter of Christian liberty and common sense and culture. The preacher should be dressed respectably and properly for the culture. I always preach in a suit and tie in the States, but I never wear a suit and tie when I am preaching in Nepal and some other countries. The bottom line is that the Bible does not say anything about a special preaching garment.

(4) Holy days. The New Testament does not have a sabbath law. Some believers feel strongly that Christians should not do any work on Sunday and should not play games or go shopping. That is their belief and they are free to follow their own conscience in that matter; but it is not a law that is taught in the New Testament, so it is a matter of liberty. The old Protestant belief that Sunday is the sabbath is not taught in the Scriptures. The sabbath is Saturday and it has never been changed to Sunday. Believers honor the Lord’s resurrection by meeting together on Sunday (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2), but there is not a set of strict laws in the New Testament about what you can and cannot do as there was with the Old Testament sabbath.

(5) The order of service in our meetings. The New Testament says the believers met on the first day of the week, that they prayed and preached, but beyond that it does not give a strict set of rules for the services. It does not say we sit quietly for 15 minutes, then have an instrumental song on the organ, then read a passage of Scripture, then stand and sang, then sit and sang, etc. The order of service is therefore a matter of liberty that each church must determine before the Lord.

(6) The particulars about how to baptize. The New Testament says we are to baptize by immersion; it is a burial; and it is in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; but that is all that we are told. Some churches baptize the believer when he is sitting or kneeling down in the water; some immerse front wards; some immerse backwards; some immerse three times. There is a lot of liberty in this matter, because the Bible does not tell us every detail of what to do.

(7) Sunday Schools. The Bible says nothing about Sunday Schools one way or the other. It is a matter that each church decides for itself, whether to have them, when to have them (some have them in the morning, some in the afternoon, some on Sunday, some on Saturday), etc.

(8) Children’s ministries. Jesus said not to forbid the children to come to Him and he said that those who are saved must be saved like a little child, so it is obvious that churches should be concerned about winning children to Christ and discipling them. But the New Testament is silent about children’s ministries as such. This is therefore an area of Christian liberty.

(9) Many things in the realm of marriage. The Bible says some things about marriage and it is also silent on many things. When the Bible is silent, the husband and wife are at liberty to find their own way before their God. Too many times outsiders try to interfere in a marriage relationship or in child training on the basis of their personal opinion rather than the clear teaching of God’s Word.

(10) Many things in the realm of evangelism. Christ has commanded us to preach the gospel to every creature. The Gospels and the book of Acts gives some examples of how this is done. Beyond that, the believer has liberty in Christ to preach the gospel. As long as he is not acting contrary to clear Scripture, he should be free to get the gospel out by every means possible. Of course there is never liberty to disobey the Bible. For example, contemporary music evangelism is forbidden by Scripture because it is worldly, and the Bible forbids worldliness in the strongest terms. But all too often believers are judged on the basis of opinion and tradition rather than the Word of God. Those who preach on street corners or who go door to door almost exclusively often judge those who do evangelism in a different manner.

2. The second great lesson of Romans 14 is that we are not to cause our brothers to stumble (Rom. 14:13-23). Verse 19 is the key verse in this section. The believer is to care more about edifying his brother than about his own liberty.

a. For example, the defenders of Contemporary Christian Music claim that music is a matter of liberty, but they ordinarily care more about their alleged liberty than they do about offending their brethren who are convinced that CCM is wrong. (Furthermore, CCM is not truly a matter of liberty in Christ, because it is an issue relating to false doctrine, unscriptural ecumenism, and worldliness. For more about this see our book Contemporary Christian Music Under the Spotlight and the video presentations Sound Christian Music vs. Contemporary and Warnings about Contemporary Worship Music, available from Way of Life Literature.)

b. Another example is the area of dress. This is especially important for women to remember. I have received letters and e-mails from women who rebuke me for teaching that the woman must dress modestly. They claim that they are free to dress as they please and that if a man looks at them improperly that is his problem, not hers. The Bible does not support this type of thinking. This is not a proper view of Christian liberty. I am not free to do things that cause others to stumble. Paul said that if meat would make his brother to stumble he would eat no meat (1 Cor. 8:13).

Other Lessons from This Chapter

1. This passage does not say that the believer can never judge anything. That is the way it is misused by those who do not believe in separation. Paul is NOT saying that it is ALWAYS wrong to judge; he is saying that it is wrong to judge in matters of liberty, such as what a person eats. Also, this passage is not saying that the believer should ignore some doctrinal matters for the sake of Christian unity.

a. The believer is supposed to judge doctrine and false teachers (Rom. 16:17; 2 Tim. 2:16-18). Jesus also taught this in Matthew 7. Many use Matt. 7:1 falsely, taking it out of context to uphold the ecumenical philosophy that we are not supposed to judge anything. What they fail to see is that Jesus is not condemning all judging; He is condemning hypocritical judging. That is the context of Matthew 7:1-6. In the same sermon, Jesus taught that we are to beware of false teachers and false Christians (Mat. 7:15-23). It is impossible to protect oneself from false teachers unless you exercise keep spiritual judgment and test them by the Scriptures.

b. The believer is supposed to judge sin in the churches (1 Cor. 5:1-3).

c. The believer is supposed to judge preaching (1 Cor. 14:29). Believers are not to come to church and merely sit there and accept whatever the preacher says. They are to come with their Bibles and to listen carefully and test everything by the Scriptures. This reminds us that Christians are to become strong in the Word of God so that they can judge things properly.

2. Believers are not to dispute about matters of liberty (Rom. 14:1). Many of the things that cause disputations among believers are not doctrinal issues but issues that the New Testament does not talk about.

3. There are no dietary restrictions in the New Testament faith (Rom. 14:2-3). Contrast 1 Tim. 4:1-5, where we see that false teachers make such laws.

4. God keeps His own (Rom. 14:4, 8). We are His possession. This is the meaning of “redemption.” We have been purchased from the slave market of sin by Christ’s precious blood and we are now His possession. We are in His hands and nothing can take us out (Jn. 10:27-29).

5. New Testament believers are not under the sabbath laws (Rom. 14:5). Compare Col. 2:16.

a. The sabbath was a sign between God and Israel (Ex. 31:16-17).

b. The sabbath was first made known to Israel in the wilderness (Neh. 9:13-14). Contrary to the teaching of the Seventh-day Adventists and others, it was not kept by men before that.

c. Jesus kept the sabbath because He was a Jew, born under the law (Gal. 4:4).

6. The judgment seat of Christ (Rom. 14:10-12)

a. Every believer will appear before Christ to give an account for his life.

b. Jesus Christ is God (Rom. 14:10-12). He is the Judge.

c. We see the bodily resurrection in this passage, as the believer will bow his knee and confess with his tongue.

7. Rom. 14:14 is not talking about life in general but about types of food. See the context.

8. What does Rom. 14:15 mean when it refers to a brother being “destroyed”? The term “destroy” can refer to destruction of one’s spiritual life or destruction of one’s earthly life. It is explained in verse 21. It means to stumble or be offended or be made weak. It does not refer to losing one’s eternal salvation, but to losing one’s fruitfulness and usefulness in this present life.

9. Rom. 14:17 does not mean that there will be no literal earthly kingdom of God. Those who interpret prophecy allegorically sometimes use this verse as evidence that the kingdom of God is not literal but only spiritual. They say that the kingdom of God promised to Israel has been given to the church and the Old Testament promises about the kingdom were spiritual and not physical.

a. There is a spiritual aspect of the kingdom of God, into which the believer enters when he is born again (Col. 1:13).

b. But usually when the Bible refers to the kingdom of God it is referring to a literal earthly kingdom that Christ will establish at His return. Compare Acts 14:22; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Thess. 1:5; Jam. 2:5; 2 Tim. 4:1.
c. In Rom. 14:17 Paul is talking about this present life and those things that are most important before God. Even Christ ate and drank, but those were not the things that were most important to Him, that was not His focus in life, not why He came to earth. Likewise, eating and drinking and such things should not be the focus of the Christian’s life. The more important things are godliness, charity, doing God’s will.

10. We must make our decisions “before God” (Rom. 14:22). Everything must be considered in the light of what is pleasing to God, not what pleases me or society or my friends or even my parents.

11. We must live by faith in all matters (Rom. 14:23).

a. Faith must be based on God’s Word (Rom. 10:17), which means that all of the believer’s decisions must be based on the Bible.

b. We need to be sure that we are doing God’s will and not be hasty about making decisions and going with the crowd.

c. If we have doubts, we should not do that thing. It is one of the ways that God leads and protects us. God’s leads by peace, which is the opposite of doubt.

d. Doubt is not the same as fear. There will be fears in the service of the Lord. Paul experienced them (2 Cor. 7:5), and he instructed Timothy to deal with his fears (2 Tim. 1:6-7). We must go forward for the Lord even in the midst of fears, but not when we have doubts. If we have doubts, we must wait and make sure of God’s will.

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The previous is an excerpt from the Advanced Bible Studies Series course on the book of Romans, which is available from Way of Life Literature. (It is best to order them by phone at 866-295-4143, but they can also be ordered from the newly redesigned online order form at the Way of Life web site, http://www.wayofife.org.)

There are currently 20 titles in the series, and any of them can be special ordered in large print and in ring coil binding. We don’t believe that you will find better quality, more truly life-changing Bible courses from any other source. They are based strictly upon the King James Bible and the powerful word studies assist in the understanding of the KJV but never cast doubt upon it. They are thorough and comprehensive. They are very practical and have the objective of producing well-equipped Christian soldiers that have a solid understanding of the Bible. They stress holy and obedient Christian living and separation from worldliness and error, exalt evangelism and the New Testament church, and promote world missions. They emphasize the crucial differences between law and grace and positional and practical sanctification, and they continually fortify the student’s understanding of the life-changing doctrines such as justification, substitutionary atonement, and eternal security. The courses are non-Calvinistic and interpret Bible prophecy literally. The student will be prepared to stand against the wiles of the Devil and to refute the major theological heresies of our day. One pastor said the books “are extremely helpful for any Christian, no matter where they are spiritually; the practical application is extremely helpful and edifying.”

The Advanced Bible Studies Series can be used as private study guides for the individual Christian, as Sunday School lessons, as textbooks in Bible colleges, as part of a home schooling curriculum, as study material in jails and prisons, for discipling new (or older) Christians, and as refresher study material for Bible College graduates.