disputable matters

I’ve heard it said often that following Jesus is counter-cultural. I thought of that this morning while reading from Romans 14. 

The first four verses of that chapter say this: “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.”

Don’t quarrel over disputable matters. Don’t judge other people about what they do. There are probably more counter-cultural things I could do, but I can’t think of very many. Americans argue about everything, and the only ones who probably argue more are Calvinists. And judging people? Isn’t that covered in the Bill of Rights?

But Paul says that the best thing we can do for weaker brothers and sisters is to accept them lovingly in all areas, and to correct them only when it’s really important to do so. After all, every point of doctrine that is critical has been made clear. The disputable matters are the ones scripture doesn’t spell out. That means they aren’t critical for salvation – if they were, we’d be told the right answer.

So I need to set aside my need to be right, and let some things go. Church is about the indisputable matters, not the ones that are ambiguous. As always, love is more important that judgment.