NOTES for Rom 14:7-8

In what man’s existence distinguishes itself from the being of any other creature? First of all, the statement of the question on the meaning: why, for what do I live? A meaningless existence is empty and unworthy to man, and such is a life for oneself - it is a life of plant or animal, but not of man. The man cannot always say, he has already found, defined this meaning for himself, but the research itself of this meaning already gives a content to his life.

And here we read today what apostle Paul writes about his life, which he found its meaning on the way to Damascus (Acts of the Apostles9). The most important for him is the relationship with God, the membership in Him. It is exactly the God Who created the world according to His plan, that gives a meaning to any creation, and our being has a meaning, only when it corresponds with the Divine meaning. So it turns out that we live not for our own sake, but for God. Any moment of our existence, including death belongs to Him. And this signifies that death is not a much important event in our life, because it changes nothing to the essential - our membership to God.

Sometimes upon serious conversations between people, forms an impression that death is the most important event of human life. We begin to value life or maybe even thinking about God only after confronting death or upon reflection of it. It is all the opposite for the Apostle Paul (and generally in Christianity). Foremost God, His everlasting existence, His abundant life. The next according to the implication of facts is our membership in Him. And it is only under this light that we examine the problem of our human life and death. And so, it turns out that my physical death changes nothing in what is more significant: in the existence of God and in my membership in Him, - and thus, it {death} is not so much important in my life, it cannot stop my life. The Christlike victory on death in my own concrete case consists probably of this.

Sometimes upon serious conversations between people, forms an impression that death is the most important event of human life. We begin to value life or maybe even thinking about God only after confronting death or upon reflection of it. It is all the opposite for the Apostle Paul (and generally in Christianity). Foremost God, His everlasting existence, His abundant life. The next according to the implication of facts is our membership in Him. And it is only under this light that we examine the problem of our human life and death. And so, it turns out that my physical death changes nothing in what is more significant: in the existence of God and in my membership in Him, - and thus, it {death} is not so much important in my life, it cannot stop my life. The Christlike victory on death in my own concrete case consists probably of this.

In the Roman church the question of observing or not observing the religious prescriptions of Judaism was rather acute: Rome's Christian community was very diverse. There must have been many Jews there, because the Jewish community of Rome was one of the largest diaspora communities in the Roman Empire, and among Roman Jews there were certainly many who had accepted Christ.

But there were no fewer recent pagans in the Roman church: Rome was the largest city of the empire, and there were many people there interested both in Judaism and in various new spiritual movements, so the soil for preaching there was favorable. And it was exactly here, when Jews encountered recent pagans in the Christian community, that various conflicts on religious grounds began, mainly connected with questions of observing the Sabbath and kashrut. For pagans, even those actively interested in Judaism and attending the synagogue, whom in the Jewish milieu people usually called "God-fearers," observance of Jewish religious prescriptions was not obligatory.

And after becoming Christians, they saw neither meaning nor necessity in observing them. For them all days were the same, and as before they ate non-kosher meat from the Roman markets without hesitation and without fear. But at the same table with them sat Jews who could allow themselves to take from a pagan's table perhaps only some vegetables or fruit: the kosher status of everything else on a pagan table was in question, and an observant Jew keeping all the commandments of his religion would not even touch non-kosher food.

The same was true with the Sabbath, and with other Jewish feasts as well: for Jews there was a whole system of ritual prohibitions and restrictions, which in a recent pagan caused nothing but a smile. A natural question arose: should observance of the religious norms and prescriptions of Judaism be considered obligatory for all Christians? In principle, the Apostolic Council that had taken place in Jerusalem not long before the writing of the epistle answered this question negatively, deciding that pagans accepting Christ did not have to become Jews at all.

But in practice the question stood more broadly: does religion have some value for a Christian in itself? Does it give any advantages to those who keep it? Paul does not answer this question as unambiguously as some of the addressees of his epistle may have wanted. He leaves it to the discretion of each member of the Church, demanding only one thing: not to impose one's religion or one's lack of religion on anyone.

Paul understands perfectly that Christianity is not a new religion replacing Judaism or some pagan cults, but life with Christ in His Kingdom. Religion can help someone in this, and then the person is free to use it to reach the goal; for someone else it will rather get in the way, and it should not be imposed on such a person by demanding from him observance of norms and rules useless for him. The main thing is life in Christ's love, and the rest is better left to each person's discretion. Religion included.

“Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself for what he approves.” To condemn oneself is to fail to carry out what we undertake before God. Not to condemn ourselves in our choice means not looking back or indulging in fantasies, not wondering, “What would have happened if...?” It is the habit of walking directly before God in the secret of the heart. It is the ability to live patiently and not envy those who live differently. Sometimes we look at people who do not keep the fast and think that their lives are easier, more cheerful, and simpler. We retreat from our choice of Christ. Through doubt and fantasy, we let deceit and distrust of God into our lives.