An angle of Romans 14 that I hadn’t recognized before jumped out at me this morning. Romans 14:23 says, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” In other words, if you believe eating meat offered to idols is a sin, and you eat it anyway because someone else does, it becomes a sin for you. After all, faith is believing in what you can’t see. So, if your faith says “don’t,” and you do it anyway, you’re violating your faith.
Verses 20-23 are addressing the stronger believer, advising them not to act in a way that could cause the weaker believer to stumble. If someone is convinced that having a cup of wine with dinner is wrong, you shouldn’t drink it in front of them. Seeing you drink could lead them to drink and violate their own faith. This principle aligns with Philippians 2:3: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.”
This illustrates the “damned if you do, damned if you do” dilemma. Both the weak and the strong could be guilty of sin for doing something that isn’t inherently a sin! For the strong believer to eat and cause the weaker believer to do the same and violate their faith would be a sin. But likewise, for the weaker believer to eat the meat in disobedience to their convictions (even though eating the meat isn’t sinful in itself) would also be a sin.