Receive him that is weak in the faith, but not for passing judgment.
Read Chapter 14
Ambrosiaster
AD 400
As I mentioned in my prologue to the epistle, those who led the Romans to faith had mixed it up with the law because they were Jews, which is why some of them thought that they should not eat meat. But others, who followed Christ apart from the law, thought otherwise, that it was permissible to eat meat, and for this reason there were disputes among them. The apostle tried to solve these disputes by arguing that the person who abstained from eating gained no advantage in the sight of God, nor did the one who ate lose anything thereby. He says that the person who is afraid to eat because the Jews had forbidden it is weak. He wants this person to be left to his own judgment, so as not to be hurt and depart from that love which is a mother of souls. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
Paul says that we should receive the weak man in order that we might support his weakness by our strength. Neither should we criticize his opinions by daring to pass judgment on someone else’s heart, which we do not see.
If, then, she is the beloved and spouse who alone is sanctified by Christ, and alone is cleansed by His washing, it is manifest that heresy, which is not the spouse of Christ, nor can be cleansed nor sanctified by His washing, cannot bear sons to God.
Who would be so inhumane as to lay aside any sympathy for the weak and trample on them, not even offering them the help they need in adversity? Paul makes this an absolute command and accompanies it with the teaching that the law and all the behavior it entailed has been abolished in Christ. Yet he was conscious that the ethnic heritage weighed more heavily on the Jew, who felt that he would be sinning against his brothers if he went against the law. .
Not in disputes about thoughts. That is, without blaming or condemning the thoughts, and reasonings (as it appears by the Greek) of those new converts, who had been Jews, and who were still of this opinion, that they ought to abstain from meats forbidden by the Jewish law, and observe the Jewish festival days. You must charitably bear with the weakness of such converts. (Witham)
Be tender with him who is weak in faith; enter not into disputes with him, which only serve to extinguish charity, and create inveterate prejudices.
Non in disceptationibus cogitationum, me eis diakriseis dialogism on. Non in condemnationem rationum vel cogitationum. Ver. 22. Tu fidem habes? upon which St. Chrysostom, om ks. p. 209. ou ten peri dogma ton (pistin) alla ten peri tes prokeimenes upotheseos.
Paul points out that the person in question here is not healthy and that he must be received because he needs a lot of attention, because of his infirmity. Furthermore, he makes it appear that the weak man’s error is of such a nature that the others, although they do not share his weakness, are nevertheless disconcerted by it and liable to fall into uncertainty themselves.
1081. After showing how one ought to become perfect [n. 953], the Apostle now shows how the perfect should act toward the imperfect. First, he shows that they ought not scandalize or judge them; secondly, that they ought to uphold them, in chapter 15 [n. 1142]. In regard to the first he does two things: first, he forbids improper judgments; 533 secondly, he forbids placing stumbling blocks before the weak [v. 13b; n. 1115]. In regard to the first he does three things: first, he gives an admonition; secondly, he explains it [v. 2; n. 1083]; thirdly, he assigns a reason [v. 3b; n. 1090]. 1082. In regard to the first it should be noted that in the early Church some of the Jews converted to Christ believed that the practices of the Law must be observed along with the Gospel, as is clear from Ac (v. 15). These the Apostle calls "weak in the faith of Christ," as though not yet perfectly believing that faith in Christ is sufficient for salvation. He calls those perfect or strong in faith who ...
