NOTES for Rom 14:22

In his epistles Paul devotes considerable space to reflections on the role and place of religion in church life. In the early Christian church, one community often contained religious Jews, the "circumcised" or "Jews," and nonreligious representatives of other peoples who inhabited the Roman Empire, the "uncircumcised" or "Gentiles." In that era paganism no longer meant belonging to this or that religion; those called pagans then were people we would today call secular. It is no wonder that conflict was ripening between these two groups within the Church: they were too unlike each other. For a Jew, following all the norms and rules of Judaism was a matter of course; they could not imagine themselves in one community with people for whom religion was a matter of indifference. Meanwhile, most recent pagans who had turned to Christ were exactly like that: they needed Christ, not Judaism. Jews, however, often insisted that the rules of their own religion be observed by everyone, often asserting that without observing them salvation was impossible, because for them these rules were associated with the Torah as such, without which one cannot enter the Kingdom. What was to be done? Recent pagans were just as sincere and wholehearted in their rejection of Judaism, which really was foreign to them, as Jews were in following it, without which they could not imagine life either in the present age or in the age to come. How could these two approaches be combined? Paul himself was convinced that religion as such is not necessary for salvation: neither circumcision nor "works of the Law" save in themselves. But what if without all this, for a person, the Torah is no longer the Torah and the Kingdom is no longer the Kingdom? It was truly pointless to tell such a person that religion was unnecessary; he needed to be given the opportunity to take his religion with him into the Kingdom. But it should not be imposed on someone who could do without it. The decision remained with the person himself. But it had to be conscious and unequivocal: neither playing at religion nor arbitrarily rejecting it was suitable for a full spiritual life. And the apostle offers a simple criterion: if a person's conscience is at peace, then everything is in order with his spiritual life. At that point it no longer matters whether he is religious or not. Neither sincere religiosity nor a sincere refusal of religion harms spiritual life. What harms it is only that uncertainty which makes a person rush about, depriving him of spiritual peace. And Paul calls each person to choose the way of life that is closer to him, imposing nothing on others. To choose sincerely and unequivocally.