by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Romans 14 shows that liberty in Christ has taken all “unclean” foods under the Law of Moses off the list of unclean. However, those who grew up under that Law had a hard time releasing their conscience into such liberties in Christ. If pork were unclean, the Jewish conscience would have a hard time adjusting. Those with a strong conscience were not to despise or tempt or pressure those with a weak conscience in such matters. It was a liberty, but not a sin if a brother did not eat pork. The chapter is all about such liberties and how to treat brethren of a weaker conscience in such liberties.<\/p>\n
“Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another<\/em>” (Romans 14:19).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Since the kingdom of God is about righteousness, and this issue is not a matter of moral right or wrong, and since the kingdom of God is about peace within ourselves and among ourselves, then here is a good way to handle a difference between us. We want peace and edification between us. Pursue the things that make for peace. One thing we can do is be careful not to force a brother to violate his conscience. Give him room to grow. As edification and learning take root, he may, in time, learn that he can indeed consider that there are no foods that God characterizes as unclean in the kingdom. But, as long as he thinks he should refrain from some foods, then don’t tempt him to harm his own conscience.<\/p>\n
This does not mean that we are to treat even sinful issues in the same way. For example, Paul did not treat the issue of fornication in I Corinthians 5 the same way he treated the issues of liberty and conscience in Romans 14. Food and days are not the same as moral sins and are not treated the same way. Sometimes, pursuing what brings peace means confronting sinful behavior so that there can be real peace afterward.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton Romans 14 shows that liberty in Christ has taken all “unclean” foods under the Law of Moses off the list of unclean. However, those who grew up under that Law had a hard time releasing their conscience into such liberties in Christ. If pork were unclean, the Jewish conscience would have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[202,456],"class_list":["post-95697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-uncleanness","tag-unity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32916,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-the-old-testament-diet\/","url_meta":{"origin":95697,"position":0},"title":"Why the Old Testament Diet?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton God \"imposed\" food and drink laws on Israel, not on us (Hebrews 9:10) until the time of reformation. The time of reformation is the New Testament age under Christ. Under Christ, the earthly food laws of the Old Law are not binding (you can go ahead\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/food-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11859,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-significance-of-samson-killing-the-lion-and-eating-honey-from-its-carcass\/","url_meta":{"origin":95697,"position":1},"title":"What was the significance of Samson killing the lion and eating honey from its carcass?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the symbolism of Samson killing the lion and\u00a0what was bad about Samson\u00a0giving his parents the honey that the bees had made in the lion's dead carcass? Answer: I don't recall God stating that Samson killing the lion symbolized anything in particular. It did illustrate the strength of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7504,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-christians-avoid-unclean-foods\/","url_meta":{"origin":95697,"position":2},"title":"Should Christians avoid unclean foods?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your article and liked it very much! I would like to make a comment though about eating unclean meats. I am not saying that by eating them a person will not be saved, because we are saved by grace. But if we want to be free from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49927,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/acts-11-does-not-prove-we-can-now-eat-pork\/","url_meta":{"origin":95697,"position":3},"title":"Acts 11 does not prove we can now eat pork","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You said we could eat pork and pulled Acts 11 out to debate your cause, but you see that that vision was talking about the Gentiles if you keep reading on. The Bible tells us to get the conclusion of the whole matter. Answer: In \"Uncleanness,\" I said: \"While\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82322,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-nothing-defiles-a-man-include-things-like-alcohol\/","url_meta":{"origin":95697,"position":4},"title":"Does nothing defiles a man include things like alcohol?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I've been having difficulty connecting the dots with a verse in Mark 7 and thought you might be able to help. In verse 15, Jesus says that there is nothing coming from the outside that can defile a man. Does this include alcohol? Obviously, the Bible condemns drinking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39997,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-jews-forbid-pork-because-eating-it-was-killing-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":95697,"position":5},"title":"Did the Jews forbid pork because eating it was killing people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does the Old Testament say certain foods are prohibited? My teacher said it was because people saw that their friends were dying from pork, so they wrote that it was a sin to eat it. We know now it is from undercooking that meat. This makes me scared\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95697"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95700,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95697\/revisions\/95700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}