Personal Interpretation of Commandments - Romans 14:22,23

Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God... Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Paul explains to us that (v14) there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, it is unclean. Here, he is talking about meat. I gather that some of the saints were offended by their fellow saints by their eating of meat. Paul gives a double edged admonition: don't judge others, and be careful not to offend others. Judging others for eating meat is misguided. Also flagrantly eating meat in front of those who find it wrong is also not good.

In this particular case, it wasn't necessarily the eating of meat that was considered offensive to some, but the fact that it was meat that had been sacrificed to idols. There are two perspectives here, one is: since idols aren't the real God, who cares? It's just meat... The other perspective is: the fact that the meat was used in an unholy sacrifice means it is unholy to eat it. Paul says in essence, it is up to the individual to decide for themselves. But the point is to not judge others that have a different interpretation than you, nor put them in an uncomfortable situation.

There are also many other parallels. Some feel fine about spending many hours watching sports while some find it to be a terrible waste of time. Some are able to justify themselves in drinking sugary or caffeinated drinks, while others view it as an evil. Whichever side of the fence you are on, seek not to offend nor to judge.

Brother Katanuma once said that we should study everything; even evil if it crosses our path. Now, I don't believe this means that we should practice everything that we study, but we should seek to understand it. As Paul said: there is nothing unclean of itself, but if we feel that it is unclean for our self, we should avoid it at all costs. I am definitely not condoning sin here - there are many hard-and-fast rules that we should all adhere to. Many of them are outlined in the ten commandments and elaborated on in the sermon on the mount. What I am talking about here are "gray areas". If there are certain principles that you feel are important for you to keep, do not automatically assume that they apply to everyone.

When Paul says: Whatsoever is not of faith is sin, he means that going against the light that we have personally received is sin - regardless of the subject; whether it be meat, sports or adultery.