God showed Peter not to call that which God declares to be clean, unclean. Here Paul was declaring that all things indeed are pure. We must keep in mind that this is in relation to things God has created, not that which man has corrupted. There are those who want to declare that a little alcoholic wine is good for a person and God does not condemn it. Those who believe that have never read their Bibles and if they have, they have set themselves up as of greater authority than God.
This is just one example. What makes good things impure, is the evil intent of man. If I am trying to offend another brother by what I am eating, then I have the problem. If I love my brother, I want to help him to know God’s blessings.
In verse 21 we see that it is better to stay away from meat and grape juice or anything else that will cause a brother to stumble. We have talked before about the use of the word “wine” in the Bible. The context will tell you whether God is using it to speak of alcoholic wine or of grape juice. The Bible is very clear that alcoholic wine is forbidden for those who are saved. It is a curse to cause someone else to become drunk. Jesus did not turn water into alcoholic wine. He turned it into the best grape juice the governor of the feast had ever tasted. The drunk loses his ability to judge good from bad. The Bible makes that clear. Jesus would never have been glorified for causing people to get drunk. His disciples would not have believed on Him as the Messiah if He had caused others to become drunk. Jesus would have been a common sinner if He would have caused anyone to become drunk.
In the Old Testament, a Jew that made a vow of a Nazarite was not to drink grape juice or eat any form of grapes. That law was done away in Christ, but there were obviously still Jews who held to that law and others that were no longer necessary. They needed to be taught the facts. Paul and the saints he was writing to would never have been able to reach such a man if they mocked him. If they would teach him the truth, he might repent and be saved, and if he was saved, he would surely grow to see the truth.
Those who are saved do not want to keep Christians weak around them. They want to see them grow. False teachers like to keep their people weak. That is how they can keep teaching them lies. A true man of God wants to see saints grow and be strong in the Lord. That is what Jesus did with the 12. That is what the apostles did in the book of Acts. That is what Paul was directed to do in the book of Romans and elsewhere.
In verse 22 the challenge is to true faith. If a person claims to be a man of faith, then he needs to be true to the God Who saved him. Those who are saved need to be sure they live in such a way that is acceptable to God. Despising a true brother is not how that is done.
The man that is truly happy is the man who does not condemn himself in that which he allows. In the context, it applies to eating things that God says are clean, in front of a brother who has not yet learned this important lesson. You do not need that ham sandwich or that bacon and eggs more than seeing a brother grow in the Lord. Paul is not being directed by God to keep the new believer as a babe in Christ. He is directed to use the right method to help that new believer to become strong in the Lord. We need to keep reminding ourselves that this has nothing to do with the tolerance for sin. There are things that are wrong and Christians should not partake of them. There are too many professing Christians who have allowed some smooth talker to convince them to forget about doctrine and just operate on “love”. That love is a distortion of true love.
In verse 23 we see that doubting is not acceptable to God. We need to be convinced by faith in God. God is well able to remove doubt from His child. Peter took a while to realize that Gentiles could be saved just as Jews were. Even after God showed him that vision in Acts 10 and Peter understood the need to go with the men to meet with Cornelius and his family, he was still not fully convinced of the truth of God’s Word. In Galatians 2 Paul had to publicly rebuke Peter for his continued corruption of the truth. Peter learned and he needed to be publicly rebuked because he was not a new believer. He was a stubborn Jew who needed to humble himself and act like the man of God he was.
In verse 23 we see that doubt is not the way to move forward for the Lord. The person that doubts the truth and tries to pretend to believe the truth is in trouble with God. We need to walk by faith. If I do not obey God by faith, I am sinning. I may be doing what I should be doing, but if it is not of faith it is sin. I am doubting when there is no reason to doubt. I need to humble myself and believe what God says and follow what He says. His way is always right.
God directed the apostle Paul to give some very practical and necessary teaching in this chapter. It is important for God’s people to be students of God’s Word. We must keep the context in mind as we study God’s Word. If we do so, we will not take the wrong turn. The Holy Spirit will guide God’s child in the right way if the true child of God is submissive to God’s will and Word. That is important for each child of God. We must be willing to humble ourselves and accept God’s Word as truth. Rather than run to some perversion that agrees with what we want to believe, the saved person must submit to the truth and follow that. That is the way of blessing.
Pastor Bartel