NOTES for Rom 14:22

In his epistles Paul dedicates many places to the reasoning on the role and the place of religion in the life of the church. It is not surprising: because, in the early Christian church in one community were very often the religious Hebrews ("circumcised", "the Jews") and the irreligious representatives of the other peoples who inhabited the Roman Empire ("uncircumcised", "the heathen"). Paganism in this period did not yet mean belonging to a particular religion, were called then heathen those whom we would have called today laic people. It is not surprising that there conflict arose between these two groups inside the Church: they were too dissimilar. For the Hebrew the observance of all the norms and rules of the Judaism was something granted, they didn’t imagine themselves in one community with people, for whom religion is indifferent. And, most of the heathen which had recently converse to Christ were really like that: they needed Christ, and not Judaism.

The Hebrews insisted very often on the necessity of the observation by all of the rules of their own religion, asserting very often that it is impossible to be saved without observing them: because for them, they [the rules] were associated with the Torah as such, without which there is no entering into the Kingdom. What could do? Because recent heathen were also sincere and wholehearted in their rejection of Judaism, which was really foreign to them, as the Jews in its observation, without what they could not imagine a life not only in the current century, but also in the future. How could one combine these two approaches? Paul himself was sure that religion as such is not necessary for salvation: neither circumcision, nor the “works of the Law” by themselves don’t save.

But what if without all this, for man the Torah is not the Torah, and the Kingdom not the Kingdom? It was really absurd to speak to such a person of the uselessness of the religion, it was necessary to give him the possibility of taking his religion with him into the Kingdom. Besides, who could without it, it was not necessary to impose it to him. The decision was left to man himself. But it was to be conscious and unambiguous: neither playing in the religion, nor the arbitrary refusal of it was good for a full spiritual life.

So, the apostle proposes a simple criterion: if the conscience of man is calm, then everything is well for him in the spiritual life. And it doesn’t matter already here, if he is religious, or not. Neither sincere religiosity, nor sincere refusal of the religion will harm the spiritual life. Harms only this uncertainty, which oblige the man to rush, depriving him of his spiritual peace. And Paul calls everyone to choose the lifestyle, which is closer to him, imposing nothing to the others. Choose sincerely and unequivocally.