All of the Christian life consists of making choices and decisions, no matter the age or time period in which you live. Decision-making is part of life; it is unavoidable. And it is accurate to say that the Bible doesn’t explicitly deal with every issue or choice you have to make. Either Scripture doesn’t mention it at all or perhaps Scripture isn’t entirely definitive in what it does mention. But God’s Word does equip us to make biblical, God-honoring decisions in those cases.
Every Christian during every age has faced making daily decisions about issues and topics that the Bible either doesn’t mention at all, or that, if it does, are not entirely definitive. These issues have been known as “Christian liberties.”
So far in Pastor Tom’s series, we’ve considered together the fact that we, as Christians, should expect legitimate differences on issues where the Bible either doesn’t mention at all or it doesn’t address specifically. Those issues have been called “issues of conscience.” These differences were certainly true of the apostle Paul and the church in Rome in the first century—that is why Paul wrote this portion of Romans.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he emphasizes that those decisions shouldn’t be divisive or detrimental. In other words, our Christian liberty choices should reflect first the glory of God and the gospel. If Christ, through His life, death, and resurrection, was willing to accept us into His family, shouldn’t we who are Christians do the same by accepting other Christians?
In the first century, there were two primary issues on which there was huge disagreement in the churches: the first was eating unclean foods, and the second was observing the Jewish holy days that are listed in the Old Testament. As the apostle Paul sought to shepherd those Christians in those churches, he laid out several biblical principles to help their decision-making in those situations.
Every generation of Christians faces decisions about issues and topics the Bible either doesn’t mention at all or that, if it does, are not entirely definitive. As we’ve learned so far, God, through the writing of the apostle Paul, provides Christians with several principles to navigate those situations.
All of Scripture teaches that every moral decision that every Christian will ever make can be divided into one of three categories. First, the Bible explicitly commands it, and there is a chapter and verse to support it. Second, the Bible explicitly forbids it, and there is a chapter and verse that forbids it. Or third, it’s an issue of conscience, or Christian liberty, where there is no specific verse that commands or forbids it.
In every age, Christians will have to navigate making decisions about issues and topics that the Bible doesn’t mention at all or is not entirely definitive. This was a major challenge for first-century Christians and one of the reasons the apostle Paul wrote the great letter to the Romans.
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