Romans 14:10 - Forerunner Commentary

Romans 14:10

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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans 14:10:

Romans 14:10-12
Excerpted from: Self-Government and Responsibility (Part Two)

Now let us look at it in a bigger context. The thought here is not that one should not judge. Does that seem like a contradiction to what the verse says? It is just that it is not well translated into the English. It is rather that one should not be passing judgment. There is a big difference between the two.

The responsibility that Paul is talking about here is not that we should not judge. Everybody has to judge. Everybody has to judge in order to make choices. You have to judge between this way, or this way, do you not? Sometimes you are looking at people in order to understand the wisdom of going this way or that way, and see, you have to judge what they are doing, but you do not have the responsibility from God to pass judgment on what those people are doing. You can judge that what they are doing is right or wrong, but you are not to pass judgment on them because that is God's responsibility. I hope that I have made that clear.

For instance, Paul says that we are to follow him as he follows Christ. We can apply this principle or we might say responsibility to anybody. With the apostle Paul or Herbert Armstrong or anybody else that is part of the church of God. I can include myself here, we must judge what Paul or Mr. Armstrong, or John Ritenbaugh does as to whether he is following Christ and whether we want to do what he is doing, and so you judge the situation.

Everybody has to do this, but we do not want to pass judgment on a person as being evil simply because they do something that is evil. You see that is overstepping our responsibility. God is judge and we are the judged. That is what Paul is saying here, we are the judged along with everybody else who is passing before the judgment seat of Christ, because judgment is now on the house of God, is it not?

So we are all being judged. God is Judge and we are the judged, just as surely as the person that we might pass judgment on. It is stupid—Paul is not quite saying this, but the implication of what he is saying is that it is stupid for a person guilty of one sin to point the finger of contempt at a sinner guilty of a different sin, but just as guilty.

There is even a legal basis for this. The basis for what Paul is saying here is that a person being judged—all of us—has no legal right to pass judgment. Did you realize in the United States that when you become a convict, your legal rights are given up? There are liberals who want to change that and they are changing those things and so a lot of guilty people are going free. But it used to be that a convict lost his legal rights and he still loses quite a number of them; such as not being allowed to vote, for example. But you see that is the legal basis for what Paul is saying here, that a person being judged has no legal right to pass judgment.

The good side of this is that, mercifully, God's judgment of us is positive in that He is not seeking ways to destroy us, but rather He is looking for ways to improve us, edify us, and purge us of what is wrong.

Romans 14:10-12
Excerpted from: Government (Part Four)

Our calling (invitation, choosing) and our judgment, all [are done] as individuals.

Articles
Judgment, Tolerance, and Correction
The Beatitudes, Part One: The Sermon on the Mount

Bible Studies
Basic Doctrines: Eternal Judgment
Holy Days: The Eighth Day

Essays
Hur (Part Two)
The Sacred Name Movement

Sermons
Is the United States a Christian Nation? (Part 7)
Numbers (Part One): Journey in the Desert
Biblical Principles of Justice (Part Three)
Facing Times of Stress: Always in God's Presence
Delusions of Perfection
Self-Government (Part 2)
Judging in the Church
Judging in the Church
Five Major Problems in the Wilderness
Carrying Water for Jesus Christ
Christianity Vs. Cultural Paganism
Will You Be Accounted Worthy for the Kingdom?
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 9)
Conscience (Part 2)
Five Major Problems of the Pilgrimage

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