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THE STRUGGLE TO STAND

In Romans 14:1–4, Paul confronts the subtle wars that threaten the fabric of Christian community. One believer feels free to eat anything, another restricts themselves to vegetables. One views a holy day as sacred; another treats all days alike. These were not minor matters in the first-century Roman world: food and ritual were charged with meaning. To eat or abstain was not merely diet—it was identity, loyalty, and spiritual belonging.

Yet Paul insists that such differences must not divide the Church. He commands, “Welcome the one who is weak in faith, but not to quarrel over opinions.” Then, as if to strike the final blow against pride and condemnation, he declares:

“Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” (Romans 14:4)

This is the thunderclap of assurance: the believer’s standing is secured not by personal strength, not by communal approval, but by the Lord Himself.

The truth is, we often apply a two-tier standard of righteousness—harsh toward others yet gentle with ourselves. But measuring other people’s actions against our own good intentions is neither fair nor accurate. In reality, our criticism of others usually exposes more about our inner state than it does about them. We treat others in the same way we feel treated by ourselves.

The measure by which we love is too often set, not by the objective horror of sin, but by our own subjective estimation of what we think we have been forgiven. Yet sin is never relative. One drop of poison in a glass renders the whole undrinkable, just as surely as a hundred drops would. Whether our sins are few or many in our own eyes, the reality is the same—they are utterly ruinous, and only grace makes the water of our lives drinkable again

Thus, the depth of our love does not flow from the quantity of our forgiveness but from rightly perceiving the immeasurable mercy by which we have been forgiven at all—for it is this grace that has given us our very lives back.

If we live with a sense of love, we extend love; if we feel unloved, we struggle to love. If we are judgemental toward ourselves, we will be judgemental toward others. If we have learned mercy, we will show mercy. If we carry a spirit of criticism, we will speak critically; if we have embraced compassion, we will act compassionately.

The paradox is that we inevitably treat ourselves the way we treat others.

This is a spiritual principle: we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). When we block grace for others and their journey, we block it for ourselves. If we desire to experience grace, then grace is what we must sow into others. In short, we treat others as God treats us; not as we/they deserve, but as we/they need.

When we refuse to show grace as we have been shown, we become just as wicked in God’s eyes as the offending party is in ours.

Matthew 18:32–33

We must also remember that everyone is on their own journey, doing the best they can with what they have been given (Romans 2:6–7). We cannot make others responsible for our happiness, for that would make it dependent on them.

True happiness is a choice—something we give ourselves because we can, grounded in the only relationship that is unshakably reliable: our relationship with the Lord (Psalm 16:11; John 15:5).

Ultimately, we love others only as deeply as we have learned to love ourselves. We give grace only as we have learned to give grace, not based on merit.

Jesus declared, “Her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:47). The more we receive and internalise His forgiveness, the freer we become to love like the Lord, without condition, judgement, or measure.

COURTROOM AND TEMPLE: WHAT IT MEANS TO STAND

Paul’s language is layered. On one level, to stand is courtroom imagery. To stand before the Judge is to be acquitted, vindicated, and declared righteous. To fall is to be condemned. The believer’s standing, then, is their assurance of acceptance in the ultimate tribunal—not guilty because Christ Himself intercedes.

On another level, Paul taps into the mystical Jewish sense of standing (amad). To stand is to enter the presence of God, as angels stand before His throne (Zechariah 3:7). Humanity falters; angels stand. Yet Paul dares to proclaim that believers in Christ—whether weak or strong, strict or free—will stand where angels stand. Not trembling in exclusion, but steady in belonging.

Thus, “The Lord is able to make him stand” means that our endurance is not earthbound. It is heavenly. We are planted not in the frail soil of human approval but in the eternal ground of divine acceptance.

THE WIND AND THE CHAFF

This assurance resonates with Psalm 1:

“The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” (Psalm 1:4–6)

The wicked cannot stand. They are rootless, like chaff blown away by the wind—weightless, impermanent, without anchor. By contrast, the righteous stand rooted like trees planted by streams of water, their fruit enduring because their roots drink from eternity.

Paul’s word to the Romans is in harmony with this psalm: it is not by human effort that one stands, but by God’s upholding. The wicked collapse under judgment; the righteous stand secure because the Lord knows their way.

THE STORY OF MEPHIBOSHETH: GRACE THAT MAKES US STAND

The story of Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9) gives this theology a human face. Crippled since childhood, he lived in obscurity, dependent on the mercy of others. By the rules of dynastic succession, he had no claim to David’s throne. By the law of strength, he had no capacity to assert himself. He was, in every sense, one who could not stand.

And yet David sought him out. Not to eliminate a rival heir, but to show covenantal kindness (chesed) for Jonathan’s sake. To this broken man David declared: “You shall eat at my table always.” Mephibosheth’s standing did not come from his legs, but from the king’s invitation. His place at the table was not earned, but gifted.

This is Romans 14 incarnate. Believers do not stand before God by their own legs—by conscience, scruples, or freedoms. They stand because the King has spoken: “You shall eat at My table always.” That is enough.

RASHI AND HENRY

Rashi, commenting on Psalm 1, observes that the wicked cannot stand because they have no root. Their way is fleeting, ephemeral, destined to vanish. Matthew Henry echoes this: “The righteous are blessed because God owns their way, and what God owns cannot but prosper.” Paul aligns perfectly with this ancient chorus: those whom God upholds will stand, for their roots are sunk in His faithfulness, not in their own strength.

PRAYER

Lord, I am Mephibosheth—lame in my strength, unable to stand before You by merit or by might. And yet You have called me to Your table, setting me among sons and daughters as one of Your own. Teach me to neither despise those who walk differently nor judge those whose consciences diverge from mine. Plant me by Your living streams. Uphold me in Your courtroom. Let me stand in Your presence, not by the firmness of my steps, but by the grace of Your hand. Amen.

MEDITATION VERSE

“Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him [you] stand.” (Romans 14:4)

QUESTIONS

1. Where am I tempted to despise or judge fellow believers over matters of conscience or practice?
2. Do I seek my security in the approval of people, or in God’s ability to uphold me?
3. How does the imagery of “standing” in God’s courtroom and temple reshape my view of salvation?
4. In what ways do I identify with Mephibosheth—weak, dependent, yet graciously welcomed?
5. What practices help me live like the tree of Psalm 1, rooted in streams of God’s presence rather than blown about like chaff by the wind?