THERE is no break between the beginning of chapter 15 and the end of chapter 14. The argument continues unbroken. In the previous two verses Paul has encouraged those who are strong in faith to hold fast in love to what they know to be right, and not allow others to make them feel guilty. It is important to stand for principles, for if we don't then those principles will be lost and the fellowship of believers will ultimately suffer and become under bondage. Paul continues in chapter 15 to give a balanced view point. The strong must hold fast to what they believe is right, but this must not mean being inconsiderate to those who are weak.

STRONG AND WEAK.

Paul has been speaking about strong and weak Christians throughout chapter 14, but it seems to me it would be good to stop a moment here, where Paul distinguishes between strong and weak, to consider this matter of what is being referred to under the headings of 'strong' and 'weak'.

These two words describe two sorts of believers which will always be present in any fellowship of Christians. This is a fact of Christian fellowship wherever it is present. Nor must we fail to understand that the distinction between strong and weak is not clear cut. Far from being clear cut we shall find gradations of being strong and gradations of being weak, and the two will inevitably run together at one point. It is also well for us to understand that a person may be strong in one matter and then weak in another. Few, perhaps, can claim to be strong in every respect. However Paul realises that to speak about this matter there must be a distinction between the two in order to make the teaching clear.

Who are being refered to as the 'strong' in this context? Surely the strong are those who are strong in faith and in knowledge. The more we know of God's truth, and the more we understand it, and are able to apply it to our lives, the stronger we will be in all the many details of living in this fallen and sinful world, and also in the fellowship of the people of God. Then the greater our faith is, that is our ability to apply the truth of God to our living, and hold fast the the truth and promise of God, the stronger we will be in being able to live a comfortable, peaceful, and stable life for Christ in the world.

The fact is that even the strongest of Christians will know some weakness, and even the weak may well be strong in one direction. For this reason strength and weakness is only relevant as it is related to some issue which faces us in our Christian living.

We are now able to determine what is meant by the 'weak'. These a Christians who are weak in knowledge and in faith. Weakness is found when the truth of God is little known and so the Christians armour in the fight of faith will be vulnerable to all the attacks and insinuations of the evil one. If knowledge and understanding of the truth is limited, then faith will have less on which to build and so will be vulnerable to fail.

This makes it so important that every believer is built up in the doctrine of the apostles and prophets, and in the truths that are in Christ Jesus. This is why in verse 4 Paul speaks of the value and importance of Scripture and our need to learn from it.

In the case of the conditions of the fellowship of believers in the time of Paul, one of the great problems was the fact that meat sold in the market was normally first involved in idol worship and had been offered to idols. The strong believer knew that the idol was nothing, and meat offered to it was in no way contaminated by the process, and therefore was good for food. The weak believer was afraid of the idol, and feared being influence by the idol, and was therefore troubled by the question whether the meat being sold had been offered to idols or not. There would have been a further problem of whether eating meat offered to idols was giving any credence to belief in idols, and therefore commending idol worship.

Issues like this are not as clear cut as may seem on the surface. The strong, by applying the word of God, and seeing idols as impotent, would be at peace when eating meat sold in the market, asking no questions for conscience sake. The weak, however, may well worry and be troubled by what to do, and so feel unable to eat any meat.

The fact is that this problem of Christian living is not one we identify with today, but the teaching is still relevant because there are so many problems and issues of life in our day which present a problem as to how we should relate to them, and act in accordance with them, and Paul's teaching is relevant here. In each issue of Christian living there will be strong and there will be weak, and Paul's teaching here relates to these.

PAUL'S INSTRUCTIONS TO THE STRONG.

The principle which Paul lays down in verse one is that no Christian lives to please himself. In these days when the secular world is occupied with standing up for our rights, there is little idea of leaving self and our rights in the back ground, and living for the benefit of others. However, whether we may feel we may be exploited in the fellowship of believers, the rule Paul lays down is that others always come first, and specially those who are weak. There is nothing new in this teaching because Jesus expressed this in his summary of the Law. We must love God first and foremost, and then we must love our neighbour as ourself. The order of God, others, then self, is paramount in the way of Christ.

This is not as easy as it may sound on the surface. Immediately we approve of the instruction, but then when we begin to put the instruction into practice, we may very well find ourself feeling hard-done by when people seem to take advantage of our good will; or when the good of someone else has to take pride of place before something we particularly want to do. Satan will be very ready to assert our rights before us, and we must resist him.

In verse 2, we see what a good and faithful teacher Paul is. Most of us would have been content to leave the instruction at the end of verse one, but Paul does not. In verse 2 we see Paul puts the instruction in the context of the greatest good for our neighbour; and then in verse three encourages us and presses home the instruction with the example of Christ.

VERSE 2.

Paul repeats the instruction to put the needs of a neighbour first, but brings in a qualification to explain how best we can care for a neighbour. There is a problem here which is rarely dealt with by us who seek to expound God's word. This is the problem of who are neighbour is. In the context of Paul's letter the neighbour is a weak brother or sister in Christ. But is this the only meaning of the word explicit in the context. Some will say that our neighbour is anyone and everyone, putting an umbrella over all human beings. Some confine neighbour simply to fellow believers. We can't really quarrel with either of these understandings, but to leave the question of who is our neighbour in this rather vague context is not practical. Jesus expounds the meaning of neighbour in the parable of the Good Samaritan. In that story we can see that our neighbour is anyone who comes into the orbit of our conscious lives, and who we relate to. It may be a fellow believer, or it may be someone who may be a natural enemy, like the Jew was to the Samaritan.

We must put our neighbour first says Paul but the way we do this must be governed by the greatest good that we can do for that person. As far as a Christian neighbour is concerned the good must be to build them up, and strengthen them in their faith and service for Christ. It is easy sometimes simply to give help without any thought about the consequences of the help we are giving. Such help may well make us feel good because we believe that we are doing what is right, but we are not concerned in our loving our neighbour simply to make ourself feel good and virtuous, but in love seeking to do what will bring the greatest good to the one we are helping. The trouble here is that such help is costly. It is costly in time, for it will inevitably require constant and enduring attention. We may see a person who seems to be destitute or homeless, and give that person a gift of money. This may not be for that persons greatest good. In the first place it is simply a one off, but has no enduring or lasting value. In the second place it may be unkind because it will simply aggravate the problem that brought this person to destitution. Putting our neighbour first requires enduring love and forgetfulness of self. As I write I feel very much condemned, because such caring for others that I have achieved falls short in my estimation of the caring I am speaking about. I need, as we all do, to prayerfully take this matter to the Lord, seeking his grace and guidance to improve.

VERSE 3.

Paul is a faithful and wise teacher. He brings us the example of Christ, in order to encourage us in our caring, and give us an encouragement for our caring. There is nothing which motivates the Christian in service and holy living so much as the contemplation of and remembrance of the infinite and wondrous love of Christ in caring for our souls, and in giving his life in atonement for our sins.

Paul tells us that Christ did not please himself, but lived and acted for the good of sinners. Paul reminds us of a Psalm where the love and grace of Christ is spoken of. The verse from Psalm 69 tells us that the insults, the sins, committed against God, fell on him. He accepted the the consequences of those insults in love for us sinners who had insulted God by our sins, and so deserved the condemnation of God. Jesus accepted responsibility for those insults, and suffered what they deserved in our place. He did not consider himself at all, but considered only our sorry and lost condition, and the awful retribution from God we had incurred by our sin. There could be no greater forgetfulness of self than this, and no greater sacrifice of caring for others than this. If Jesus did this for us, the comparatively little caring that is required of us can't possibly be burdensome.

CONCLUSION.