The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 412

Hcgosippue wrote, llbetinenoe snob BB is word& are, "But see a.I.so the difference of lntimllted In this oho.pter WBB regBrded as the ea.use of the abstinence fr0m creatures B mBrk of superior sBncl;ity by some Ohris• he.ving life BB practised by the Pythagoree.na tillne. Furlher, in the • ApostolicBl Ce.nons' and by the e.ecetics Bmong ourHelves. Far (Canon li. ), Ohristia.ns who abstained from they a.bate.in bece.nse of the fable concerning mo.rrillge, or flesh, or wine, are o.llowed to tbe transmigration of souls : . . . bnt we, be retained in the communion of the Church though we may practise the like, do it llS long as they did so by WBY of religions when we keep under the fl~sh and bring it restre.int only. Age.inst the Bbove view of into subjection" (' Contra Ctla.,' 4). the weak brethren of the chapter before ne Ver. I~Xlm that is weak in the faith ho.ring been eaoetics of the Essenic type, is (rather, in faith, or in h~ faith). The article alleged the strong condemnation of persons before 'll'IIT'T" does not denot.e the faith ob- supposed to have been of the same sort in jectively. Of. eh. iv. 19, µ.¾) &o-9ev!\1Ta< ,,.,i Col. ii. 8, 16, eeq., Bnd 1 Tim. iv. 1-5, 71'1/T'TE<. In 1 Cor. viii 12 it is t h e ~ which is so.id to be inconsistent with the that is spoken of as weak, .,.~JV crv11eio11 1Tiv &o-8e11ou1Tav. Persons are meant whose faith tender tolere.nce recommended here. Bnt the is not sufficiently strong and enliahtened teaohers referred to in the later Epistles, for entering fully into the true spirit of the though inculcating practices similBr to those gospel so as to distinguish between essentials of the " weBk brethren," appear to have and non-essentials. Receive ye (i.e. take w been heretical theosophists, the germ prob- yoursel'llea with kindness-witH reference, it may be, both to persons seeking admission ably of later Gnosticism. Their tenets mBy into the Church e.nd to those already in it indeed, in pa.rt Bt lee.at, hBve been developed who could not get rid of their scrnples. from Essenism ; but it was no longer mere The verb, which is '11'po'1ll.aµ./3cl.11errfJ,, occurs conscientious scrupulosity, but principles in B like sense in Acts ::trnii. 2, and Philem. subversive of the faith, that St. Paul set his 12, 17. It may be regarded here as the face a.go.inst in writing to the Colossie.ns e.nd opposite of <1<1<Aei1Ta, Bell.en, of Gal. iv. 17), but not to doubtful disputations; rather, to Timothy. Ce.nou Ii. in the 'Apostolice.l unw-i.e. so as to reiro.J.t in-judgments of Canons ' above referred to may be adduced thoughts. The Authorized Version has in e.s distinguishing between the principles on margin," tojudgehis doubtful. thoughts," which which asceticism might be practised e.Ilow- is probably nearer the true meaning than ably or otherwise; it being therein laid the text. JJ.1a,cp(1Tis means elsewhere dijudi- catio (1 Cor. rii. 10 ; Heb. v. H ), not ~ dis- down that any who abstained from marriage, putation" or" doubt" (as has been supposed flesh, or· wine, not by we.y of religious re- from the verb B«ucpL11e1T8a.,, meaning "to straint, but e.s abhorring them, forgetting doubt"). "Non dijudicemus cogito.tiones that God mnde a.II things very good, a.nd infirmorum, quasi ferre a.ndeamus senten- that he me.de me.u ma.le Bnd female, e.nd tinm de alieno cor<le, qnod non videtur" (Augustin, 'Prepos.,' 78). blaspheming the work of crention, should Vers. 2, 3.-0ne believeth that he may eat bo ea.et out of the Church. all things (literally, beli1mth t(}--Or, ha.th. It remains to be observed that there was faith to-eat all tllings), but he that is weak diffused among the Gentiles also, through the eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth influence of thll N eo-Pythagorean philosophy, despisa him that eateth not ; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: an nsceticism similar to the Essenio (see for God bath received him. "He tlm t etlteth" Seneo., 'Ep.,' 108, nnd Porphyr., •De Ab- is the oue thnt ha.s fo.ith to eat all thin~; stin.'), which Eichhorn supposes the "weak and it is R,,"'l\inst contempt on his po.rt of the brethren" of this cbBpter to have been weak in faith that the admonition is mainly affected by, regarding them as mostly Gen- directed throughout the chapter ( cf. also eh. xv. 1). But the weak require au admonition tile Christinns. But Jewish influences a.re too. Their temptation was to judge those who much more probnble; the scruples referred imlulgcd in fl'l.'edom which t,i themselves to in 1 Oor. viii. wore certainly due to them; 11ppoared unlBwful; 11nd here, iu 'l"er. 5, the nnd obs~rve ver. 5 iu this chBpter, which npostle gi1·es such RS did so o sbarp reproof. OI\Unot but rDfor to Jewish obsorvBnccs. Thero is o tono of indignation in his a-u Tis ,T d ,cplvoiv; reminding us of his tone towards Further, OrigDn, in the treBtiso Bbove ro- the Judnists in G111t,titl, who would h11vo forrod to, expressly distinguishes botwcrn crippled Christilln lihl'rty. "God h:ith Christillll nnd Pytlmgorcnu nsootioism. His rccoivcd him" rck!'ll L'Ylllc'lltly, us "Pl>CHN GC' THE EPISTLlil OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [011. xiv. 1-23.