Being Fully Convinced

We are faced with an antinomy in Romans 14:5 and 14:23. How does Paul resolve it? He simply does not acknowledge that there is one but says that either position is admissible if it is done in the name of Christ. In other words, the antinomy is not the main point. Yes the scriptures say that one day is to be set aside as a day of dedication to the Lord. Why does Moses instruct the people of God that this is necessary? Because they would not normally do it. They need reminders that this is pleasing to the Lord and so since they would not normally remember to do it, an imperative is described with penalties for not doing it. Presently this is no longer necessary since God writes the law on our hearts. Our reminder comes from the Lord who now resides within us instead of coming from the outside. Furthermore, since this is true, our love for God transcends the law from without so that we do what is required though we are not always aware of it. We know that one day is not enough in our hearts to dedicate to our benevolent God; so we dedicate all days to Him knowing that He has made them all special. This goes to the root of our freedom, which is Paul's thrust here. But some do not see this and so it becomes necessary to be gentle with the "weak". So it is not the antinomy we focus on - for there really is nothing to resolve. The issue has to do with faith in how we look at our day. The one who has dedicated one day as special, separate from all the rest, and is convinced that this is true does so in earnest; from the heart. His reward will not be taken from him because he does so in the fullness of faith and God knows his heart. Nothing escapes God's notice. But, in my freedom, I consider each day special and live such that this is truth; who can say that one or the other is not right? Who can say which is the truth? One day and all days are the truth. A paradox? Indeed! But we are not dealing with a true antinomy either. There is no real contradiction that the human mind must synthesize in a dialectic way. For contained in the "all days equal" is the "one special day" and that "one special day" is contained in "all days equal". It is faith that stretches our horizons further out to see the larger picture. Fighting for our particular point of view is not of vital importance here and it is a sign of maturity to see this. For the "one day special" person may in fact be the more mature of the two if he points this out to the one who enjoys his freedom to the full with no inhibitions. It certainly would be described as mature, if the immature recognizes his own immaturity as a lack of faith; for it is then that he displays his maturity. It is all so very relative pertaining to the counting of who is more "mature" in faith. For the weak may in fact be the strong depending on what point we come in at it. The point remains that it is God who judges and all men are declared righteous if they come at it from faith. Maturity and strength are implied when the man resists what he is not so certain about. Immaturity and weakness are implied when the man cannot resist what he sees his brother freely doing. This is then classified as sin because faith had no part in its performance.

-Joe