Romans 14:1-2 “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. (2) For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.”
The second characteristic which we will discuss is the strong faith of mature believers, or to put it more accurately, mature believers being strong in the faith. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul refers to certain believers as being weak in the faith, thus implying that there are also believers who are strong in the faith. So what does Paul mean by that statement? As we stated earlier, an individual can only exercise their faith in the word of God which they understand and in which they are fully convinced is true (Romans 4:20-22). Therefore because mature believers have a clear understanding of God’s word and are fully convinced about the truthfulness of His word, they are therefore able to exercise their faith in His word. As we have already mentioned, Paul uses the example of the Jewish kosher diet to explain this concept to us. In this passage Paul referenced mature Jewish believers who had understood and were fully convinced about the New Testament truth that all foods are clean, because of which they were able to exercise their faith in that word by eating all things. That same principle applies to every spiritual truth in God’s word, i.e. because mature believers understand and are fully convinced about the truths in God’s word, they are therefore able to exercise their faith in every aspect of His word. In other words they are strong in the faith. This brings us to the second part of Paul’s comment in this passage, in which he refers to baby believers not only as being weak in the faith but also simply as being weak. In this passage Paul contrasts the baby believer who eats only vegetables with the mature believer who eats all things. Because Paul refers to the baby believer as being weak, he therefore implies that the mature believer is strong. We have already seen that it is in our spirits that New Testament believers can grow strong, and so clearly when Paul refers to mature believers as being strong; he is referring to them as being strong in spirit. As also mentioned earlier, there is one other issue that Paul discusses in this passage when he advises mature believers not to indulge a weak believer’s desire to argue their own opinions on scripture. It is only mature believers that have the ability to do this, thus displaying their maturity in Christ.
Romans 15:1 “We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul reaffirms two truths for us. Firstly, he reaffirms the truth that certain believers are weak while others are strong. We have already seen that a strong believer is one who is strong in spirit, while a weak believer is weak in spirit. And so we see that a strong believer is one and the same as a mature believer. In the context of this passage Paul compares the strong believer’s greater understanding of God’s word with the weak believer’s lesser understanding of God’s word, and how that difference in knowledge influences the lifestyles of the two. This brings us to the second truth which Paul reaffirms to us in this passage, which is that mature believers are to make allowances for the weak believer’s lack of knowledge, by conducting their lives in a manner that will not cause the weak believer to become offended. Paul therefore advises mature believers to bear with the scruples of the weak and not to please themselves. In other words, because weak believers are unable to understand the liberty in which strong believers are able to walk, strong believers are counselled to walk in a manner that accommodates the weak believer’s level of faith. Again, it is only mature believers that have the ability to do this, thus once again displaying their maturity in Christ.
1 Corinthians 8:9-11 “But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. (10) For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? (11) And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul again contrasts strong believers with those who are weak; the strong believer being the mature believer and the weak believer being the babe in Christ. In this passage Paul gives us the example of the strong believer having grown in their understanding of God’s word and thus in their level of faith so that they can now eat all foods, including foods that have been offered to idols. The weak brother on the other hand, has not yet grown to that level in their understanding of God’s word and thus that level of faith, and so they cannot walk in the same degree of liberty that their stronger brother can. In this passage Paul once again admonishes the mature believer to take the weak believer’s disposition into account and refrain from walking in their liberty when weak believers are present, because the weak believer’s misunderstanding of the strong believer’s actions will motivate the weak believer to act in a manner that would be to their detriment. Again, it is only mature believers that have the ability to do this, thus once again displaying their maturity in Christ.
Acts 20:9-12 “And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. (10) But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, "Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him." (11) Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed. (12) And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.”
The apostle Paul was obviously one of the Lord’s saints that reached maturity in Christ and was therefore strong in faith. The above quoted account shows us just how strong Paul’s faith was, for when the young man fell to his death Paul simply stopped his message and went down to where they had laid the young man, fell on him and brought him back to life. Paul then returned upstairs and continued with his message. And so we see that because he was walking in strong faith, Paul was completely unfazed by the incident and dealt with the situation accordingly. Those who are strong in faith are always in complete control of their environment, whereas it is the other way around for those who are weak in faith.
Acts 28:3-6 “But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. (4) So, when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live." (5) But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. (6) However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.”
We have already identified that the apostle Paul was one of the Lord’s saints that reached maturity in Christ, and so it would be good for us to look at another incident in Paul’s life to see the level of faith that he walked in. The context of the above quoted account is that Paul and his companions had been shipwrecked on the island of Malta and Paul was collecting firewood. In the account we see that a viper bit Paul and hung onto his hand. Paul walked over to the fire, shook off the snake and continued as if nothing had happened. The reason Paul behaved in this manner was because he was walking in strong faith and was therefore completely unfazed by the incident. His onlookers however, because of his behaviour, decided that he must be a god. From this example we see that because mature believers walk in strong faith, they control the circumstances that they are confronted with and not the other way around. We also see that being strong in spirit is synonymous to being strong in faith. In other words one cannot be strong in spirit and weak in faith, and neither can one be strong in faith and weak in spirit. And so we see from the scriptures discussed in this section that one of the key characteristics displayed by mature believers is their strong faith.
Michael E.B. Maher
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