Don't be misled by Paul's Teaching.
Much like the book of Hebrews, Romans is also a book that is used a lot to refute the claim that Christians should not be following God's Law set out in the Torah (The first five books of the Bible). Side note - Not all Law's can be followed since a lot apply to different things (e.g. some apply to women, some to men, some to farmers, some only in God's Temple, etc....)
So much like I did in Part II (Which you have to read if you have not!), I will again go through the misconceptions in Romans to help show Christians how to truly follow Christ.
Also, if you have not read my article on Peter's warning against Paul's teachings, I encourage you to read that as well.
Let's go! (Note I will only pick out the verses/chapters that caused the most confusion)
Romans 6:
Rom 6:14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
If you read this verse in isolation, as many Christians tend to do, we will end up with the idea that God's Law no longer applies to us. I have been guilty of this many times, but as I will show you, reading in isolation is a bad idea.
Usually, the first step I will use to justify my point of view is to establish context, but here it does not help so much, because it is more the wording that Paul uses that will give us insight. The only important thing to know is that he is speaking to Romans who know the Law well.
If you read one verse on, it becomes very clear that Paul is not telling us to stop obeying the Law:
Rom 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
But more importantly, his use of the words "under the law" has significance. A person under the law does not mean they have the authority to break it (i.e. be above the law). It does not mean we are released from the law.
What this verse tries to explain is that we are free from being under the dominium of the Law. The Law directed us to Christ, and when Yeshua died for our sins, we became under the dominion of Christ as he became our high priest. Being under the law means that we are liable to receive all the condemnation that comes with breaking it. Yeshua has become our high priest, and so freed us from that dominion, but this does not mean we become above the Law, instead, we must still walk in the Law by obeying it (Just as Yeshua did). Paul makes it clear we are not to sin just because we are now under Christ. And how do we identify sin? It is from the Law!
Romans 7:
This next verse was one that I always remembered because I remember reading it and thinking, "Hmmm did Paul really say this?", and looking back its so easy to look at myself and think me a fool at that moment, but if you read the following verse:
Rom 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
It is very easy to come away with the conclusion that we are now "released" from the Law of the Old Testament. Lets see if this is the case when we read it in context and analyse the wording according to the original texts.
Who doesn't like a random cat photo?
This can be very challenging for Christians to hear. It goes completely against mainstream Christianity, but I ask you to test everything I say against God's Word. God's Word is always perfect, and no confusion is ever from Him, but mostly from our own understanding.
In part II, I spent a lot of time establishing the context of the letter. This often clears up a lot of misunderstandings. So I will do the same here.
Chapter 7 opens up with the context we need:
Rom 7:1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?
Rom 7:2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.
Rom 7:3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
Rom 7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.
It might not be obvious at first, but we are the women (Us / Israel), and God represents the husband. We are bound to God through the Law if we enter His Kingdom. We therefore must stay faithful to our Husband (God) whilst He is alive.
However if whilst our husband is alive (i.e. God is alive), and we commit adultery (i.e. worship other God's), we are unfaithful.
This is what the Law says. But the Law also says that if our Husband dies (i.e. if God dies), we are released from the law that called us unfaithful
Now, God (Also Yeshua), died for us, so technically we are "free" from the Law that called us unfaithful and now free to marry the resurrected Yeshua.
You might need to read that a few times. I will try to summarise in one sentence:
We as believers are now set free from the Law that made us guilty of unfaithfulness to God, because of what Yeshua did.
This can be further explained in the next verses:
Rom 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Again, this reiterates that we are free from the law of unfaithfulness to God and we now serve in a new way, guided by the Holy Spirit, and we don't just have the written letters to learn. This is the whole idea of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 - "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts"
Rom 7:7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
This reminds us that the Law helps us identify what sin is.
Rom 7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.
Rom 7:9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
Rom 7:10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
Rom 7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
Rom 7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
These verses can also trip people up. We know Law exposes sin. Therefore without the Law, there is no sin, because sin cannot be defined, but with the Law, you recognize the sin inside you.
It is therefore clear that Paul is not telling us that the Law is Old or we are released from following God's Law, but instead uses the Law to explain that we are dead to sin through Yeshua's sacrifice. We are delivered from the specific Law that deemed us unfaithful to our Husband (God), which meant we deserved death. We now serve in a new way, led by the Holy Spirit, which is done by having the commandments / Law written on our hearts, instead of being limited to a written letter.
Romans 14
Often mainstream Christianity tends to look at this chapter and argue that Paul did not observe food laws (Not eating unclean animals), but let us actually read what it is saying. Is he talking about food here, or something else? Remember, just like the letter in Hebrews, context is everything!
Rom 14:1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.
Here Paul is beginning to outline some context - there is an argument over something "disputable" i.e. doubtful. Is God's word doubtful? This should already call into question if the Romans are arguing about God's Law. Let's continue!
Rom 14:2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.
Rom 14:3 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.
Rom 14:4 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.
Rom 14:5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.
Rom 14:6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Rom 14:7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.
Rom 14:8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
Rom 14:9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
Rom 14:10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
Rom 14:11 It is written: “ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’ ”
Rom 14:12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
Rom 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
In these verses, we understand the argument (i.e. the context). There are two types of people - One who fasts and one who does not. (See the clues - One who eats everything vs. one who eats vegetables (i.e. Daniel Fast) and one who eats and one who abstains...).
So it is clear the Romans are arguing whether or not to fast on certain days. The basis of this argument is probably because this kind of fasting is not based on scripture, but on traditions, and believers are now disagreeing with one another.
With that in mind, Paul then writes to not judge the one who fasts and not to judge the one who does not. Because these "traditional" fast days are not scripturally based, it is not wrong or right to fast on specific days, but instead, it is best to be thankful on ALL days, as long as you are convinced that it is good.
Rom 14:14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.
Here is the first point that people might turn to to show one of God's Laws (specifically the food Law) is done away with. It seems to say here that he thinks all foods are clean, but this creates confusion. We know Paul followed God's Law. This is because he made the Nazarite vow, as well as James' declaration that Paul kept the Law (Acts 21:24). We know God's word is perfect, and so when contradictions start to arise, we must ask why!
Let's use the technique we used in Part II, checking the Greek translation for "unclean" in our tool (I use Blue Letter Bible - easily my favourite tool, which you can find here)
G2839 – κοινός – koinos - "Common"
Above we see the word actually translates as common, NOT unclean. Unclean has a different word in Greek (G169 – ἀκάθαρτος – akathartos)
The word common in this context was used to denote something that was impure but to human standards. It refers to the Oral Law that humans had added to God's Law.
Rom 14:15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.
The fact that meat is mentioned here has nothing to do with the food laws, but everything to do with the argument of fasting Paul is addressing. This verse does not mean "Eat unclean meats if it would otherwise cause a brother to stumble". That sentence should be a massive red flag to any Christian. We should never compromise our beliefs under any circumstances.
Rom 14:16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil.
Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
Rom 14:18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
Rom 14:19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
To wrap everything up, Paul again focuses on fasting. It does not matter what day you fast on or how you do it, but instead, you do it in a way that you are led to and do not follow some traditions that were made by man.
Conclusion:
Many parts of Romans have been used to fuel the fire that God's people are free from following God's perfect Law set out in the Old Testament. Often through not understanding the context, mistranslation of words, and lack of knowledge in other parts of the Bible, modern Christians have been led away from truly following Christ.
In Part III, we dived into Romans 6, 7, and 14. The three most commonly used chapters.
In verse 6 we showed Paul is actually referring to us being moved under Christ's dominium, setting us free from the punishment of transgressing the Law, but also not saying we are now to start sinning because we are not above the Law.
In verse 7 we discussed that Paul was not saying we are "released from the Law", but instead he was referring to the Law that said we as God's chosen people were unfaithful to Him in our covenant and that Yeshua's sacrifice freed us from condemnation (death). We now serve in a new way, led by the Holy Spirit, which is done by having the commandments / Law written on our hearts, instead of being limited to a written letter.
By going through Romans 14, we clearly see that the chapter has nothing to do with clean/unclean foods, but instead revolves around fasting, and how the Romans were arguing about when/how to do fasting. Paul then writes to them saying it does not matter how/when you do it, as long as you are led to do it, how you do it does not matter and you should not judge a fellow brother if they are led differently.
I hope this deep dive has helped open your eyes to new ways!
In Part 4, I will do a deep dive into the Book of Galatians, also going through Paul's letter to unpack all the misunderstandings that arise from it.
