“Putting up with differences of opinion”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Sunday, September 17, 2023

Romans 14:1-12 (Forward, p. 50) CEV p. 1185

Surely this passage is the one for our times, since many people--myself included--really have difficulties in accepting—or at least putting up with—opinions that differ from mine. This is especially true when it comes to personal freedoms vs. corporate responsibility and civil disobedience vs. standing up for what you believe to be right. And then, I do really have issues with those who would impose their belief systems or opinions on others. And so, today’s passage is quite pertinent.

The differences of opinion in today’s passage from the apostle Paul may, to many of us at least, seem pretty trivial. However, to many people back then—and even today—they were pretty important. There were two issues involved here:

a) The first had to do with diet, whether to eat meat or not. (Sound familiar?) Interestingly, Paul suggests that it is only those whose faith is weak that will eat only vegetables. Today, the conversation is often

framed in exactly the opposite direction, namely that those who will

not eat meat are more caring for the environment or to the animal

kingdom, or are smarter health wise. Anyway, then or now, Paul’s

advice still works, namely ‘just let them be.’ If their choices are made

in light of honouring God, then that’s enough. They are doing it for

Him, and so they are accountable to Him, and not to any of us.

b) The second had to do with days of religious observance, and once again, this has a relevance both then and now. There were some

Christians at the time of Paul who felt that the Jewish Sabbath had to

be kept, along with all the Jewish festivals, and there are some,

though a generally small number (excepting the Seven Day

Adventists in terms of Saturday worship) who still feel the same

way today. The majority of Christians today, even though they

might still worship on Sundays—or think that it is the proper day to

worship, so should they decide to do so—figure that any and every

day of the week is an appropriate day to worship God. (The problem

is that many of those who think this way, don’t do this). Anyway,

Paul says, once again, that decisions of this sort are simply between

them and God, and so it is solely up to them to answer to God—and

not to any of us.

So, according to Paul, some divergence in opinions is okay--and quite tolerable. However, it should be noted that he didn’t treat all differences of opinions in this way. Differences in doctrine were more than simply ‘allowable’ differences of opinion, and neither were matters of behaviour and morality (like hogging the meals at communal suppers and pushing others aside, or like having a sexual relationship with your mother in law—two issues that he deals with in his first letter to the Corinthians.) As far as Paul was concerned these differences of opinion were more than trivial or personal choices but impacted the entire body of the church and its functioning, and indeed, in the latter case, effected how the church and its members were viewed from the ‘outside.’ Here personal freedom, personal decisions and personal opinions had to do with more than just oneself and one’s choices in life and needed to be looked at from a wider, more communal, more societal, perspective. So, not just anything, any opinion or choice, is ‘okay’ and the kind of thing ‘to be put up with’: the line in the sand has to be drawn where it impacts others.

Forward notes: “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (verse 8).

“Christian community is hard work. Certainly, it is a gift and source of joy and support. It is also committee communication struggles, disparate worship preferences, and contrasting ethical convictions. When members gravitate toward different opinions about how to be faithful, a crucial question can arise: What is Christian community really about?

“Paul’s comments underscore two points. First, God’s welcome of every member means members are to welcome one another too. Second, because members ‘live to the Lord’ together, their opinions not only affect themselves but also members’ relationships with one another. What I take from these instructions is a call to let difference flourish without antagonism or condescension between members. Christian community is neither homogeneous nor anything goes. It involves supporting God’s different ways of welcoming and working in one another’s lives.”

Moving Forward: “Is your congregation mired in disagreements or does it seek to avoid controversy? What are some healthy ways of engagement?

A concluding note: Our author says that ‘Christian community is neither homogeneous nor anything goes’. So, how does a church decide that a particular belief or behaviour goes ‘beyond’ simply not being homogeneous, that is, different, and straying into ‘anything goes’? And

how does it deal with beliefs or behaviours that seriously impact the entire church, the entire Body of Christ, and are more than simply ‘supporting God’s different ways of welcoming and working in one another’s lives?’

Those are some key questions, one that the church of today is still wrestling with, often with great difficulty.