God calls us never to do anything—however legitimate in itself—that could cause a brother or sister in Christ to stumble. That’s the principle. If the strong ignore the warning and insist on their right to eat meat, they will (among other things) “distress” (14:15), “tear down” (14:20), and even “destroy” a brother or sister in Christ.

It is sometimes said that all sins are equal in the sight of God, but it is not true. Some sins are more grievous than others. In referring to Jesus’ warning in Matt 18:6 about causing “one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble”, Warfield describes the offence as “a sin almost too great for words.”

In the previous post, I sketched Paul’s argument in Romans 14-15. In this post and the next, I will ask, “Why do disputable matters matter so much to God? What did Paul think was at stake?”

In this post I will seek to trace Paul’s argument in Rom 14-15. I will not get into detailed exegesis. At the same time, I want to do more than just note Paul’s basic thesis. So neither a birds-eye view, nor a detailed mapping of the terrain; more like tracing the contour lines of the argument.

In Romans 14:1–15:13, Paul gives pastoral counsel to the house churches of Rome, with the aim of bringing joyful unity where there is presently judgmentalism and division. It is a masterpiece of pastoral instruction.

This post starts a short series of reflections on these chapters, with a particular eye to where we can easily go astray in either our interpretation or application of Paul’s teaching.

As is often the way in the Bible, our attention is drawn to insignificant people who find themselves at the centre of God’s purposes for the world. This is the first and the last that we hear of the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah.