Ángel
Manuel Rodríguez
I
recently became an Adventist, and some friends have been quoting Romans
14 to me to demonstrate that our health message isn't biblical and that
the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath isn't required of Christians.
Could you comment about that chapter?
In
the study of a passage it's important to notice not only what it says
but also what it does not say. In some cases what a passage does
not state is more important than what it explicitly states. In this particular
case we'll concentrate on what the passage does not say, then we will
make a suggestion about what Paul is dealing with in Romans 14.
1.
Paul is not attacking biblical practices. Some of the recipients
of this letter apparently believed that one should abstain from eating
meat and drinking wine (Rom. 14:2, 21). The Old Testament does not require
total abstinence from animal flesh, but only of the flesh of some animals
(Lev. 11). Neither does the Old Testament consider grape juice unclean;
only the high priest and the Nazarite are forbidden to drink it. The discussion
is not over unclean (Greek, akáthartos) food, but over
food that is considered common (koinós, the term used
in verse 14) and therefore not proper for consumption under certain circumstances.
2.
Paul is not discussing the Sabbath. Paul says that the individual
who is "weak" values one day more than another, but he doesn't explicitly
state the reason for the distinction. There is no explicit statement from
Paul indicating what was done during that day or why the day was considered
special.
Whatever
it was, the "strong" individual valued every day the same for the purpose
or activity that he or she had in mind. Hence, the problem was not the
activity, but the arguing over which was the best day to perform it. Those
to whom he wrote doubtless understood what Paul had in mind.
We
should not jump to the conclusion that Paul is discussing here the Sabbath
commandment. This is not stated or suggested by the text, and the simple
mention of the word "days" does not justify that conclusion. He is not
dealing here with the Old Testament torah, or law.
3.
Paul did not put the emphasis on the problem of "days." He dedicates
only two verses to that subject and about 21 to the issue of food. Had
he been discussing the Sabbath, he would have developed his thought much
more, because of the potentially controversial nature of this subject.
(A good parallel would be the topic of circumcision and the controversy
that topic generated in the churches.) This suggests that for Paul, selecting
one day over another was a personal matter, not one in which he wanted
to be involved as a referee.
4.
Paul is not attacking legalism. Paul is addressing a problem in the
church based on differences of opinion. He apparently didn't consider
it to be a threat to the gospel. Whatever church members were doing, they
were not going against God's revealed will; therefore, he does not condemn
the practices, but simply gives advice on how to accept the differences
in Christian love. The fundamental issue is the unity of the church and
the preservation of that unity in spite of the diversity of opinion in
some unimportant areas. Paul is not attacking the legalism of false teachers
among the believers.
Then
what should we conclude? The reference to "days" in the context of abstaining
from certain foods suggests days of fasting. This is the conclusion reached
by some scholars, both Adventist and non-Adventist. According to them,
Paul was probably addressing the practice of days of fasting, during which
certain foods were considered "common" and improper for consumption. This
would explain the dispute over food.
In
addition, some individuals considered certain days as good days for fasting,
while others considered all to be of equal value. This would explain the
conflict. Fasting was an important topic in the early church. A document
written in the second century encouraged believers to fast on Wednesday
and Friday instead of Monday and Thursday, as was the practice among Jews
(Didache 8.1). As far as we can tell, the Jews did not fast during the
Sabbath.
3/12/98
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