A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.

A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.[i]

So goes the schizophrenia of Martin Luther! Surely we can easily write it off as a hiccup from his inner struggle, trying to make sense of his newfound faith. But we have to reconsider that when we uncover the identity of his teacher. Reading just a bit further in his treatise, The Freedom of a Christian, we discover that he learned this from none other than the apostle Paul! Such seemingly contradictory ideas arose out of the apostle himself helping believers in those early churches to think in entirely new ways.

In those churches were Jewish converts pouring over their scrolls, learning to see the Scriptures with new eyes. Alongside them were converts from Gentile religions. They too immersed themselves in the Scriptures like a parched desert traveler into a cool, fresh oasis. Paul quickly learned that believers could devour those same Scriptures and come away with different opinions on how to live out their walk of faith. Imagine with me how their opinions might have affected relationships.

Julia recently embraced Christianity with the same vigor that she applied to everyday life. It’s all or nothing. If you’re going to do something, go all out. Generally, this works well for Marcus. Having a meticulous wife has its advantages—most of the time. But her intensity also stretches his patience.

Coming into the church, she fell in love with the Jewish Scriptures. Together they’ve devoured every text that they can borrow from Jewish friends in the assembly. But she’s so intense that she sometimes makes herself sick reading the Old Testament prophets. Israel’s idolatry brings up too many memories from her own former worship of pagan gods. Recalling the immorality and the frenzies of worship at pagan temples, she can’t bring herself to even walk past them.

Julia recalls how she used to get excited to hear that meat she bought had been sacrificed to some god or goddess. It made her feel that the meat was specially blessed and enabled her to “share in” the worship of those gods. Now that she realizes demons are actually behind the pagan gods, she believes that to eat meat offered to those gods would be to share in the worship of demons.

Her sensitivity takes its toll on Marcus. He misses the savory dishes that Julia prepared using meats from the local markets. Tears come to his eyes when he passes by other houses and smells meat cooking. He can still remember the aromas coming from his own house before they became Christians. But like Julia, he too is ashamed of their old immoral worship and he thinks Julia is probably right.

Lucius is married to a wonderful cook too. After meeting one another in the assembly at Rome, he and Antonia embraced Marcus and Julia as dear family in Christ. But it hasn’t been easy. In fact, the relationship is strained now.

Lucius and Antonia are also Romans but they immigrated from Philippi a couple years ago. They became believers before moving to Rome. Once he and Marcus discussed dietary requirements in the Jewish law. Lucius didn’t remember much discussion about Jewish Law while in the church at Philippi. Even when Paul had visited their church, he seemed to want to put his old Jewish ways behind him.[ii]

When these couples share meals together, Julia tends to dominate the discussion. She wonders how the Old Testament ought to be used in their lives. What does everyone think about the parallels between Israel’s idolatry and Roman idolatry?

At their last dinner, Antonia went on and on about the quality of meat she found at the new butcher shop. It’s so close to the temple, you know it’s fresh. And at the best prices too.

That was all Julia could take. Did Antonia serve meat that had been sacrificed to idols? Julia nearly became sick just thinking about it. Even though she kept these thoughts to herself, everyone could tell something was wrong. Later, Marcus mentioned it to Lucius. And then Lucius told Antonia. She fumed! She had worked hard on the meal that night and made a special dish just for their dear friends. How could Julia think that way?

Antonia calls Julia “weak” because she doesn’t understand that idols are really nothing. On the other hand, Julia accuses Antonia of not caring about her feelings and seems to look down on her as if she’s not very mature.

A case could be made that each of these women are right in at least some of their understanding and application of Scripture. Antonia is right that idols are not real gods. There is only one true God. It doesn’t need to violate her conscience to eat meat offered to what are not really gods after all. But Julia is right to avoid eating that same meat because of the memories of pagan worship it brings up from her past. Both are right, but both have gotten it horribly wrong. Eventually, news of conflicts like these reached Paul’s ears.

As one of the apostles, he was responsible for helping believers live out their faith in ways that reflect the character of Jesus, their new Lord. And as he had done many times before, he sent the church a letter to help them think this through. How should they live with one another if they are offering their bodies as living sacrifices to God? How should their thinking change? Let’s look at his letter to the church in Rome.

While the story here is a bit of “historical fiction”, hopefully it gives their struggles a flesh-and-blood feel. For the purpose of this discussion, I want to focus on just a few of Paul’s thoughts.

You can be right and yet fail to behave with the other-centered principles that flow out of God’s love.

Both women were right, but how did they get it so wrong? Peeking into his letter, we find, “if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love” (Rom 14:15). They inflicted pain and sorrow on each other. Being right about something is no excuse for causing others to grieve. You can be right and yet fail to behave with the other-centered principles that flow out of God’s love. But isn’t being right, what’s important?

We should indeed strive to understand and apply the Scriptures correctly. Antonia and Julia did that well. But they felt like their cause gave them permission to treat the other harshly. Paul explained that being right isn’t the whole picture because the kingdom of God requires us to carry out our “rightness” in “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17).

Paul then zeroed in on peace. He admonished the Christians in Rome, “let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another” (Rom 14:19). Each of these ladies may have convinced herself that her critical words were intended to build up her sister. Two things show that they are wrong about that.

Their approach did not contribute to peace between them. They should be able to disagree and yet live in beautiful harmony. Also, their treatment of one another did not reflect the Holy Spirit’s work. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit’s ministry in us (Gal 5:22).

There is much more to profit from in Rom 14:1 – 15:13. I commend this passage to all of us for rigorous meditation. But for now, ask yourself, “Do my thoughts and words contribute to peace between my brother/sister and me? Am I seeking to meet their needs? Am I avoiding words that hurt them?”

“Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God” (Rom 15:7).

Under the fig tree:

How are Julia and Antonia likely to respond to Paul’s letter? When you believe you are right, what are specific changes you plan to make in the way you treat others?

[i] Martin Luther, “The Freedom of a Christian”, Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, ed. Timothy F. Lull (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989), p. 596.

[ii] At this point in this fictional account, Paul had not yet written the letter to the Philippians where he discussed how he considered the “benefits” of his old way of life as refuse to throw away. However, from that letter, we get the impression that he taught some of those same truths to them on previous visits (see Phil 1:30; 3:17; 4:9).