Now St. Paul had heard of a new form of the old difficulty at Rome[10]. There was a Jewish asceticism--similar to what is found frequently among orientals, and was practised in Europe among the Pythagoreans--which required men to abstain from animal food altogether and from wine. Such was probably the rule of the Essenes in Palestine[11], as of the Therapeutae in Egypt, and such was, according to a very early authority, the rule of St. James, the Lord's brother. Such a practice, then, had found favour among a minority of Christians at Rome. And { 142} St. Paul in the passage we are now to study, in principle plainly approves of the indifferentist practice of the majority. He knows, and _is persuaded in the Lord Jesus_, that nothing is unclean of itself. It is, he implies, a weak and unduly scrupulous conscience which makes men vegetarians. But, on the other hand, this weaker brother--this man with less clear perception of Christian principle in the matter--must in no way be alienated. He is to be made welcome. There is no obligation upon him to eat meat. God laid no such requirement upon him when he became a Christian. 'God received him.' The Church must continue the like liberality, and not even seek to pronounce judgement in the matter. In life and death each man is Christ's servant, and is responsible to God for what he does or does not do. Therefore let each man simply be faithful to his own conscience before God in this matter, so that whatever he eats he can 'say his grace,' or 'give thanks,' with a good conscience; and let him be respectfully tolerant of his brother's practice--the strong not despising the weak, nor the weak judging and condemning the strong.
So far for liberty. But if, by using our liberty to eat meat, we are found to run a risk of really { 143} troubling our brother, or even (what is worse) leading him to act against his conscience and eat what he feels he ought not[12], then we must abstain. This becomes matter of character and peaceable fellowship and spiritual joy, and these are the really material things in the kingdom of God. Sooner than do injury to this really divine cause, sooner than be a hindrance to his brother, the Christian had better willingly abstain altogether from flesh and wine too.