Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 14:16
Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
16. then ] therefore. The word sums up and applies the previous reasonings.
your good ] i.e. your Christian light and liberty, in the “kingdom of God.” Misuse of this would be sure to embitter Christian intercourse, and to weaken the tenderness of conscience and so the holiness of life in the community. Cp. 1Pe 2:12; 1Pe 2:15-16.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Let not then your good … – That which you esteem to be right, and which may be right in itself. You are not bound by the ceremonial law. You are free from the yoke of bondage This freedom you esteem to be a good – a favor – a high privilege. And so it is; but you should not make such a use of it as to do injury to others.
Be evil spoken of – Greek, Be blasphemed. Do not so use your Christian liberty as to give occasion for railing and unkind remarks from your brethren, so as to produce contention and strife, and thus to give rise to evil reports among the wicked about the tendency of the Christian religion, as if it were adapted only to promote controversy. How much strife would have been avoided if all Christians had regarded this plain rule. In relation to dress, and rites, and ceremonies in the church, we may be conscious that we are right; but an obstinate adherence to them may only give rise to contention and angry discussions, and to evil reports among men, of the tendency of religion. In such a case we should yield our private, unimportant personal indulgence to the good of the cause of religion and of peace.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rom 14:16
Let not then your good be evil spoken off
We ought not, for we have none too much.
We may through–
1. Ignorance.
2. Levity of temper.
3. Moroseness.
4. Want of stability.
5. Improvidence.
6. A number of little things which, like dust upon a diamond, obscure its lustre, though each particle is almost nothing. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Let not your good be evil spoken of
1. The Bible speaks much of the beauty of holiness. It represents Jesus as the altogether lovely. His beauty consists in His perfect excellence, in the absolute symmetry of His whole character.
2. Believers are epistles of Christ. They are His witnesses. It is their solemn duty to make a fair representation of what He is, and what His religion is before the world.
3. There are two ways in which professors dishonour Christ, and make a false representation of Him and His religion–when by breaking the law they give men to understand that Christ allows such transgressions, and when they cause even their good to be evil spoken of, i.e., when they so act on right principles as to give those principles a bad character, or so conduct themselves as to mislead others as to the true nature of the gospel. This is done–
I. When men so use their Christian liberty as to injure their brethren. The distinctions between months, days, and meats had been abolished. It was right that this fact should be asserted and taught, and that Christians should act upon this liberty; but if they so used it as to destroy their brethren, they sinned against Christ, and caused their good to be evil spoken of. So now in regard to temperance, men may make such a use of truth, and so act on true principles as to do great harm.
II. When undue stress is laid on trifles. Paul says that religion does not consist in meat and drink; and to act as though it did is to slander the gospel. This is true of fanatics of all classes, and all bigots. They belie religion, as the tattooed New Zealander or painted Indian misrepresent the human face divine.
III. By the sanctimonious, who make a false representation of religion and cause it to be evil spoken of when they hold it up thus caricatured before men.
IV. By the censorious. Not only in making non-essentials of too much importance, but also in misrepresenting the spirit of their Master. His religion does not justify their harsh judgments.
V. By those who carry any right principle to excess.
1. By the Puritans in regard to the Sabbath, to things indifferent in worship, to days of religious observance.
2. By Quakers in regard to dress and conformity to the world.
3. By those who deny the Church any liberty in her organisation. In every case of this kind the human degrades the Divine. What is indifferent is made essential, and what is essential is made indifferent. (C. Hodge, D.D.)
Good evil spoken of
(Missionary Sermon):–Our good is evil spoken of–
I. If we propagate among others that which we do not receive for ourselves. Create any great system of efforts, and there will be many blindly carried away with it. Many are, therefore, induced to enrol themselves in our missionary associations. Come, see my zeal, said the ancient king, for the Lord of Hosts. Was not his zeal selfishness rather? But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord, etc.
II. When we violate that solemnity which is appropriate to all such transactions. May it not be feared that, in some cases, too great a temper of flippancy has pervaded our assemblies, and characterised our institutions? Could a traveller, in exploring the vestiges of an ancient city, pass along its fallen theatres, its broken aqueducts, its prostrate temples, with levity? Could a philanthropist proceed through the walls of the lazaretto, or the cells of a prison, in a careless and unfeeling mood? Could a negotiator address the revolted and the insurgent with a sportive look and in a jocular tone? Let us copy His faithfulness who upbraided Capernaum, and imitate His compassion who wept over Jerusalem; remembering that we are now labouring in the same course, and should know the fellowship of the same sufferings.
III. When we forget that due estimate which we should take of what is distant and of what is near in the condition of mankind. Cast your eyes on your native land. Tens of thousands are before you, most imbruted, most immoral. And these are your kinsmen; a thousand ties of brotherhood make them one with yourselves. Cast your thoughts upon the distant realms of idolatry. You cannot tell how great is that darkness, for there is no contrasting light; you cannot tell the dimensions of that misery, for there is no measure by which you can gauge them. And in some districts of our favoured kingdom there are more Christian pastors than these societies have scattered around the circumference of the globe. Now, our good may be evil spoken of if we adopt any invidious partiality in our judgments. There are no souls more precious than those which throng the margins of the Indus, the Ganges, and the Nile; but the souls are alike precious which throng the majestic strands of the Severn, the Humber, and the Thames.
IV. If we forget the proportion which should exist between effort and prayer. There is a devotion which becomes selfishness. It wraps itself in a contemplative dream; it will make no sacrifice, engage in no exertion. There is an exertion which becomes impious. It is full of noise and ostentation. Now, it is necessary that devotion and activity be blended. Our labour must be habitual, not accidental–our devotion must be habitual, and not fitful. Look at the apostles–what were their prayers? Pentecost fully come–what were their deeds? Think of angels–they do always behold the face of their God; but they are winds–they are flames of fire. Think of the Son of God, how He spent whole nights in prayer! you see Him going about doing good. Let our prayers sanctify our efforts–let our efforts authenticate our prayers; let us take heaven by violence through the means of the one, and earth by violence through the means of the other.
V. When we call in the aid of worldly excitement. Have all our institutions to say that they are unspotted from the world? Has there been no strange fire which we have offered before the Lord? Has there been no suppression of truth, no evasion of facts, no adornment of narrative? Surely, if our purpose be to captivate the world to the Saviour, we must be on our guard, lest, in attempting it, we ourselves be led captive by the world.
VI. If we entertain a light view of the eternal danger of the heathen. Make Christianity a question of comparative advantage, of ameliorated state, a measure to give an increase of light already sufficient, a confirmation to hopes already well founded, and the missionary apparatus will soon come to neglect; men will necessarily decry it, as an unmeaning toy and a gaudy superfluity.
VII. If we obtrude party opinions and singularities. How pleasing is it that ours is a common cause, and that now, more than ever, ours is a common spirit. When the infidel and the scorner see we are moving in our different tracts, and yet are moving under a common influence and for a common purpose, we shall thus vindicate our good, and, in the absence of all that is little in sectarianism, we shall have our good compelled to be spoken well of.
VIII. When there is any disposition to disparage the missionary character. We have formed a heroism of principle and a dint of courage which were unknown; we can bring forth, confidently, men who have died unshrinkingly as martyrs. Can we ever use one term of detraction towards these men? Can we ever yield to them a supercilious patronage and a grudging support? We are honoured that they will go–we are honoured that we may sustain them. Let us remember that the very life–credit–character of our missionary institutions, must depend on the men whom we entrust with this work; and when they have been thus faithful in their work, let us give to them all that cordiality of confidence which they so well deserve, and which it would be unjust to refuse.
IX. When we apply a harsher rule to our converts than we apply to ourselves. The former may occasionally be carried away by error; but let us think of our own deviations at home. We should, indeed, be disheartened if ever we had to report of any of our native Churches abroad what the apostles had to report of Corinth and of Galatia.
X. If we at all encourage the hope of an unscriptural consummation. Remember that the present dispensation is a spiritual one; that it is complete, and nothing can be added to it; that it is an unearthly one, and therefore cannot admit of secular aggrandisement; and it is a final one–it therefore allows of no ulterior revelation. What know you other than this–than that all the world should be Christians?–other than this, that the gospel shall be universally preached? This is your consummation: you desire here no other paradise but to see the earth filled with the trees of righteousness.
XI. If we do not follow up our exertions and improve our success. We have made a lodgment, and Gods salvation has been openly showed in the sight of the heathen; and there have been those who have gone up to occupy the breach. Shall we leave them to perish? We have sown the seed; the harvest is come–it invites the sickle. Who would not enter with ecstasy into such a field, and crowd as labourers into such a harvest? (R. W. Hamilton, D.D.)
Our good
(Christian liberty.)
I. Is evil spoken of–
1. By the enemies of the truth, when they see a want of harmony in the Church.
2. By the weak, when they condemn the free conduct of their stronger brethren.
3. By the strong, when they give offence to the consciences of the weak.
II. Must be protected.
1. Against what?
(1) Reproach.
(2) In consequence of–
(a) Offence.
(b) Misuse.
2. How?
(1) By not laying too much stress on matters unessential.
(2) By a supreme regard for those things that are indispensable.
3. Why? Thereby–
(1) We serve Christ.
(2) Win the approbation of men. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Misrepresented goodness
Some men seek to impress the world by their goodness when they really have no goodness. Such were the Pharisees. But the apostle has in view men who have goodness, but who do themselves injustice. We need to be careful about the manifestation of our religion, as well as about the reality of it. It is possible to be very good, and yet so to act as to put men out of conceit with religion itself. There is a book entitled Roses: How to grow and How to Show them. Anybody might say, Ah! the question is, how to grow them. Bring your flower into fulness of glory, and it will show itself and win the prize. But it is just for want of this particular skill that many a clever grower has missed the prize. So it is with character. Our good to be evil spoken of.
I. By sadness. A serious spirit is a true spirit, and one we should ever cherish. But how easy it is to turn it into sourness, and thus make a grand character repulsive! With all our solemnity there ought to be cheerfulness. A man who is all laughter counts for little, a man who is all groans counts for less; but he who lets a hopeful spirit shine through all his religion does much to recommend his faith.
II. By narrowness. The world often miscalls a noble self-denial strait-lacedness, and we must be prepared for it. But there is sometimes self-denial that is really narrowness, and that damages the reputation of good men. This illiberality of mind sometimes reveals itself in an orthodoxy that prevents a man from looking calmly and boldly at religious questions, sometimes in a harsh, exclusive denominationalism; sometimes in an asceticism which makes a man intolerant of recreations; sometimes in a fear of worldly conformity. Let us beware of this suspicious, conceited, uncharitable spirit. Let us hold a theology as broad as judgment, mercy, and truth. Christ stood at the utmost remove from the pettifogging Pharisee. He was the ideal Catholic. Let it be thus with us.
III. By hardness.
1. You may see this in business men sometimes. A Christian trader is in all things severely conscientious. And yet nobody likes him. The reason is his conscientiousness looks very much like selfishness, and is currently reckoned as such. Now, he might be all that a smart business man needs to be, and yet be popular into the bargain. He wants to understand the by-play of life–how to soften the severe rigid laws of the business sphere with little acts of forbearance, patience, generosity.
2. And you may see this hardness in family life. It was said of the mother of one of our most distinguished women that she did her duty to her children, made sacrifices for their welfare, and yet there was no sympathy in it all. And the gifted daughter grew up feeling that the lack of warmth and love in her early training was a lifelong loss. Oh, what a grand thing is graciousness in all our spirit and conduct! Some excellent people are sadly wanting here. They do not know how to show their roses–they thrust the posy into your face and you are more scratched with the thorns than regaled by the fragrance. We often hear about diamonds in the rough; there are Christians after that order, but it is a serious defect to be in the rough–Christs diamonds, like Himself, ought to be full of beauty and grace.
IV. By unseasonableness. Character is timeliness, a fine perception of what is becoming to the persons, to the place, to the hour. If we do not attend to this our mirthfulness may be reckoned levity, our strictness intolerance, our liberality weakness, our large-mindedness licence. We have need to pray constantly that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom, etc.; so shall we serve the apple of gold in the basket of silver. Let us not despise this matter. Do not say, Let us get the solid thing, and never mind the rest. A jeweller works altogether with gold and gems; but it is not enough to mix these anyhow. So we, as Christians, must be careful how we arrange our precious material, for of the virtues we may make an eyesore or a picture. We must work with judgment, sympathy, courtesy, or our good will be evil spoken of. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Reputation
I. Nothing is more easily destroyed than a good reputation. You may be years, a life-time even, in building it up, and yet a moment, a single act, may suffice to destroy it. A breath of scandal may blast it, an indiscretion may tarnish it, a dead fly in the ointment may make it offensive. How sedulously should we guard it!
II. Nothing on earth is so valuable or so potent as a good name. Wealth beside it is dross. Office, station, fame, are nothing worth in comparison. Talent, learning, and gifts of oratory, pale and fade in the presence of it.
1. For our own sake we should sacredly guard it–for it is our crown jewel, the one potential element of usefulness we possess.
2. For societys sake we should do nothing, omit nothing, that will tend to obscure it. For Christs sake and the Churchs sake, we are bound to guard it as we would guard life itself: to wound it is to wound Christ in the house of His friends, and bring reproach upon His Church. Oh, it is these tarnished reputations, these soiled garments, these discredited names, in the household of faith, that so weaken the testimony of the Church and fill the mouths of scoffers and infidels. (Homiletic Monthly.)
The importance of a good man taking care of his reputation
Character and reputation are not convertible terms.
1. A bad man may have a good reputation. He may have the art of so concealing the reigning elements of his character as to give to his compeers a false impression. Hence, in all circles there are counterfeits that pass for true coin. The miser in heart passes for a philanthropist; the sensualist in heart for a man of chastity.
2. A good man may have a bad reputation. Genuine saints have often been regarded as great sinners. Against this the text is a warning.
I. There is a danger in this, arising–
1. From some things in society.
(1) Its envy. All men instinctively feel that goodness is an excellency, and those who have it not naturally envy those who possess it. The ugly envy beauty, the poor wealth, the obscure fame, the depraved excellence. The delight of envy is ever to mal-represent its object.
(2) Its self-complacency. All men desire to be on good terms with themselves, and to be regarded by society as worthy of honour. But the virtues of the good flashing on the lives of the corrupt tend to destroy this. A bad man in the presence of a good man must feel self-condemned.
(3) Its stupidity. The great bulk of society are so dull in relation to spiritual virtues that moral distinctions are disregarded by them, and they often confound good with evil.
2. From some things in the good man himself. The more goodness a man has in him, the less suspicious he is, the more confiding, and the more regardless of conventional proprieties. He is natural, and like all natural objects shows himself as he is. He is likely to care no more for what men think of him than trees for the opinion of the birds, or flowers for the opinion of spectators. Great goodness is constantly making conventional mistakes and trampling artificial properties underfoot.
II. There is an evil in this. A mans power to do good depends greatly upon the faith that society has in his goodness. If society suspects his genuineness or disinterestedness, he may preach like Paul, but he will accomplish but little good. Hence it has often happened that truly good men and powerful preachers have, by disregarding certain recognised proprieties of society, destroyed their usefulness for ever. Conclusion: Hence, because of this danger and evil, let us walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise; let us avoid the very appearance of evil, knowing that the loss of reputation tends to disqualify us for usefulness. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
On the imprudent way of discharging sacred duties
Perhaps there never was a time since the world began in which so much was done for the cause of God and of truth, as at the present. Yet it becomes us to rejoice with trembling, and to act with care. In proportion to our zeal, is the enemys malignity; while we act, the world watches, and connects the cause with the demeanour and temper of those who have espoused it. Sacred duties may be discharged in such a way as that they may be evil spoken of, and neutralised completely in their influence and effect. Take the case of–
I. Social prayer. Our good may be evil spoken of–
1. When the prayer-meeting is left without some wise and judicious leader.
2. When they are converted into anything but what they profess to be–meetings for prayer–when the time is much occupied in exhortation, or discussion.
3. When the language employed in prayer is pompous and inflated.
4. When undue familiarity with God is used in prayer.
5. When prayers are spun out to an unreasonable and wearisome length. Whitfield once said to a good man who had fallen into this error, Sir, you first prayed me into a good frame, and then you prayed me out of it.
6. When much time is occupied in prayer with such petitions as are only applicable to the case of the leader.
II. The visitation of the sick. This duty is improperly discharged.
1. When the conversation is confined entirely, or chiefly, to the disease under which the patient labours.
2. When an indiscriminate offer is made of the consolations of the gospel, which belong to believers only.
3. When special reference is not had to the peculiar circumstances of the case in prayer.
4. When there is harshness or severity in the manner of address.
III. Domestic religion and instruction.
1. Where there are no stated periods for the observance of family religion and instruction, but it is left to convenience, or caprice–to inclination, or to chance.
2. When the reading and explanation of the Scriptures do not form a great part of domestic instruction.
3. When the duty is hurried over with carelessness and haste.
4. When there are no inquiries made, as to their increase in the knowledge and understanding of Divine things.
IV. Active employment in religious and benevolent institutions. Such as Bible associations and Sunday Schools. Conclusion: Observe some general principles, the observance of which are of importance in efforts to do good.
1. Look well to your motives. If they are wrong, your conduct cannot be acceptable to God, nor is it likely to do your Christian profession credit before men.
2. See that your spirit and temper are always suitable to the character you sustain, and the objects which you have in view.
3. Do as much good as you possibly can in private.
4. Never talk much in what you do, or of what you do. Let your works, and not your words, praise you in the gate–and rather imitate the deep and silent river, that pursues its noiseless way, and is only known by the fertility and luxuriance it diffuses in its course–than the impetuous brook, that attracts the eye by its clamour, only to behold its shallowness.
5. Persevere in all you undertake, and then your activity will not be attributed to the mere impulse of the moment, but look more like the result of conviction and principle.
6. Let there be a cheerful alacrity in all you do, that it may appear to spring from a willing mind, and be esteemed rather your relaxation than your work.
7. Avoid the introduction of your own particular religious tenets.
8. Never do evil that good may come.
9. Seek to do good, abstracted from all the evil which may be connected with it.
10. Never refrain from doing good, for fear of its being evil spoken of.
11. Refer all that is good in what you do to God, and all that is evil to yourselves.
12. Cherish an abiding sense of your own helplessness, and ever rely on the power of God for strength, the Spirit of God for direction, and the work of Christ for acceptance.
13. Keep your great account in view–and the Lord grant you may find mercy of the Lord in that day. (T. Raffles, LL.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. Let not then your good be evil spoken of] Do not make such a use of your Christian liberty as to subject the Gospel itself to reproach. Whatsoever you do, do it in such a manner, spirit, and time, as to make it productive of the greatest possible good. There are many who have such an unhappy method of doing their good acts, as not only to do little or no good by them, but a great deal of evil. It requires much prudence and watchfulness to find out the proper time of performing even a good action.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Here is another argument against offences; it will cause our good to be blasphemed, or evil spoken of. Some, by good here, would understand the Christian faith, or the gospel in general; but others do rather understand it of our Christian liberty in particular: q.d. Give none occasion for this great privilege of your Christian liberty to be traduced; use it so, as that neither the weak Christian nor the infidel may reproach or accuse you as licentious or contentious: see 1Co 10:29,30.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16, 17. Let not then your goodthatis, this liberty of yours as to Jewish meats and days, well foundedthough it be.
be evil spoken offorthe evil it does to others.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Let not then your good be evil spoken of. The Vulgate Latin reads it, “our good”, and so the Syriac version; the sense is the same, and to be understood either of the Gospel in general, which is good in its author, matter, effects, and consequences; is good tidings of good things, and which might be blasphemed by the men of the world, on account of the divisions and contentions among the professors of it, about such little trivial things, as eating this or the other sort of food; and therefore care should be taken, that it be not evil spoken of through such conduct: or else the doctrine of Christian liberty in particular, which is a good thing; Christ has procured it, and bestows it upon his people; it is a valuable blessing in itself, and is attended and followed with many considerable privileges and immunities; but may be evil spoken of by those, who do not so well understand it, through an imprudent use of it by those who do; and who therefore should guard against any reproach that may be cast upon it; and rather than this should be the case, forego the use of it, in things of an indifferent nature; see 1Co 10:30; so that this is another of the apostle’s reasons, why though nothing is of itself unclean, yet it should be abstained from on account of others.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Your good ( ). “The good thing of you” = the liberty or Christian freedom which you claim.
Be evil spoken of (). Present passive imperative of for which see Matt 9:3; Rom 3:8.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Your good [ ] . Referring, most probably, to the liberty of the strong. Others think that the whole Church is addressed, in which case good would refer to the gospel doctrine. 68 Be evil spoken of [] . See on blasphemy, Mr 7:22. In 1Co 10:30, it is used of evil – speaking by members of the Church, which favors the reference of good to the strong.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Let not then your good,” (oun humon to agathon) “(Let) not the moral and ethical good of you”; The liberty which you have in grace, the release you have from obligation to the law of Moses, Gal 5:1; Gal 5:13.
2) “Be evil spoken of,” (me blasphemeistho) “Let it not be blasphemed,” or spoken against in an hurtful manner, through your exercising your freedom or license of liberty, Gal 5:13; 2Co 8:20-21. The freedom of conscience will get a bad name, a bad reputation if it be exercised in an uncharitable, inconsiderate, or loveless manner. Such may cause even good to be blasphemed, 1Co 10:30; 1Ti 6:11; Tit 2:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom. 14:16. Let not your good be evil spoken of.Let not Christian liberty be abused by offence given to the weak.
Rom. 14:17. The kingdom of God.What commends us to God is not the outward but the inward, only the outward must be in conformity with the inward. Peace, in opposition to discord among brethren; a peaceful and gentle demeanour.
Rom. 14:18. Acceptable to God.The things being required of Him. Approved of men, is profitable to them. Saying of the Rabbins: He who conscientiously observes the law is acceptable to God and approved of men.
MAIN HOMILETIC S OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rom. 14:16-18
A new kind of kingdom.We cannot prevent our good being evil spoken of, for evil men will both think and speak evil. St. Paul himself did not prevent it. Jesus Christ, the best of men, was numbered among the transgressors both in His death and in His life. We cannot hope to escape slaneer, but we must strive so to live that the slanderous tale may be baseless. We must conduct our lives according to the laws of Gods spiritual kingdom, and thus we may move in peace amid the strife of evil torgues. Let not then your good be evil spoken of: for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Here we have a new kind of kingdom set up in the worldnew, doubtless, in the apostles day. If not new in these times, certainly far different from the kingdoms set up by men. Let us examine and compare the constituent elements of this kingdom. This is a kingdom in which:
I. Material forces do not reckon.Take any kingdom of human device and material forces are placed in the ascendant. The kingdom of the state of course depends upon material forces. The commercial kingdom is mainly materialistic. The modern intellectual kingdom is tending in the same direction. What about our moral kingdomsour kingdoms for social reform? There is a constant appeal for funds; there is a large number of secretaries; there is extensive organisation. He who said the kingdom of God is not meat and drink stood almost alone, and yet he effected the greatest moral and social reformation the world has seen.
II. External pomp does not count.The modern conception of a kingdom is that of one in which there shall be effective display. This is the day for advertisements. A kingdom without external pomp is not our modern notion. A kingdom without its banquets! A kingdom without either meats or drinks does not suit an earthborn and earthbound nature. Complexity and not simplicity is too much the modern idea of a kingdom, whether commercial, social, or ecclesiastical.
III. Vague yearnings are not sufficient.George Eliot says: Justice is like the kingdom of God: it is not without us as a fact; it is within us as a great yearning. The reputation of George Eliot is such that to say the sentence looks to us meaningless might be to provoke the smile of contempt. Is then justice a yearning? Is the just man one who has a yearning after an abstraction defined as justice? Suppose justice to mean rectitude in dealingwould it satisfy any one if a man pleased himself with wronging his neighbour and indulging in yearnings after justice? Whatever may be said of the definition of justice, we are quite sure that the definition of Gods kingdom is not correct. The kingdom of God is both within us and without us. It is within us as a sanctifying force, making us righteous, producing peace, inspiring joy; it is without us, for it is seen in righteous conduct, in holy lives. It is not enough to yearn after righteousness. Vapid sentimentalism is not adequate. We must strive after righteousness. Christs righteousness must be both imputed and imparted. Great yearnings tell of the dignity of human nature; but great yearnings, earnest desires, without corresponding efforts tell of human littleness.
IV. The territory cannot be measured.The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. Viewed from the standpoint of the political economist, it is a non-productive realm, and the members are supposed to be non-producers, and therefore not valuable as citizens of earth. But the members of this kingdom do always increase the material wealth of any kingdom. They own no lands, it may be, but all lands are better for their presence. The political economist has not the word righteousness in his vocabulary, but he shows how much is lost to the community by the dishonesty of men, by the need of overlookers, etc., so that the righteous man is indirectly a producer of material wealth. The territory of this kingdom cannot be measured. It is unseen, but extensive.
V. The possessions cannot be either weighed or calculated.They are of little account at the bank; and yet how much gold many a man would give for peace of mind, for joy in the Holy Ghost, if he only understood the priceless nature of the blessing! The small footrules of time cannot be applied to the righteousness of God. We can measure the great mountains on the surface of our planet, but the great mountain of Gods righteousness is of infinite height. The righteousness also of the true member of Gods kingdom rises high above scales of human measurement. The scales of time can be so adjusted as to be sensitive to the slightest air motion, but they cannot weigh righteousness, peace, and joy. Blessed possessions above all price! More to be valued than fine gold! Better far than rubies or diamonds!
I. This is a kingdom in which all the subjects are kings.They are kingly, not by their first but. their second birth. They are kingly, not in outward seeming always, but in inward worth and nobility of character. They are kingly, not in knowing earthly love, but in knowing the love of heaven. They are kingly, not in being able at state etiquette, able in court graces, able in senate or in war, but as being able in heavens graces, in overcoming the great enemies of humanity, in loving and serving the eternal Righteousness.
II. This is an ecclesiastical kingdom in which all are priests.No sphere for priestly ambition, for priestly assumptions, for sacerdotal claims, in this realm, for all the members of this kingdom are priests. They offer themselves living sacrifices; they wear the splendid vestments of righteousness. There floats around them the sacred incense of peace. They walk through earths aisles chanting hymns of praise, for the joy of the Holy Ghost inspires and gladdens their nature.
III. This is a kingdom in which all are successful.No blanks in this kingdom; no disappointments; no working for honours and dying of broken hearts. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. St. Paul was not approved of menthat is, not of all men: approved of men who worthily bear the name, who show the nobility of manhood. Let us then in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost serve Christ, and we shall meet with highest approvals. Heavens plaudits will amply compensate for every loss, for every effort, in the cause of truth and righteousness.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom. 14:16-18
Let not then your good be evil spoken of.
1. We are to inquire what we are to understand the apostle to mean by our good. And here we may meet with different opinions: some, by our good, understand our religion, which is indeed every Christians chief good; and according to this sense of the words the apostle must be understood to exhort us to have a regard to the honour of the gospel in all our actions, to administer no occasion to the enemies of our religion either to deride or despise our holy calling. And thus the text amounts to an argument or exhortation to move us to a simplicity of manners and an inoffensive behaviour, for fear lest we bring a reproach upon our profession. But the apostle seems to aim at something further: his business here is, not to deter us from the practice of evil, but to direct us in the use and practice of that which is good, that our virtue may be without offence, and secured from calumny and reproach; and our good, mentioned in the text, is not the topic from which the apostle draws an argument or exhortation, but is the subject-matter concerning which he is giving directions. According to this interpretation of the words the text may be thus paraphrased: Be not content with merely doing that which is in itself good and commendable, but look forward to the consequences which are likely to attend it, and endeavour to prevent any mischief that may grow out of it to yourself or others, that your good may be inoffensive and irreproachable. In this sense it is that I propose to consider the text, and shall now proceed:
2. To show that our good is often exposed to be evil spoken of through our own indiscretion, and consequently that it is often in our own power to prevent it. This is one way by which men expose their good to be evil spoken of. Their mistake lies in not rightly distinguishing between a servile compliance with the world and a prudent behaviour towards it; and yet there is as much difference between them as between virtue and vice: one is the way which men who sacrifice honour and conscience to their interest make use of; the other is the method which wise and good men take to recommend the practice of virtue and religion. And what a wide difference is this! In the first case to comply with the world you must be like it, you must conform yourself to it; in the other you treat the world civilly, that it may the more easily become like youthat you may gain upon and instil the principles of virtue, which may be infused by gentle degrees, but cannot be obtruded by noise and violence. Sometimes men expose their good to be evil spoken of out of pure pride and haughtiness of temper: this is the case when men have such a contempt for the world as not to think it worth their while to guard against the misapprehensions of those about them. They reckon it below their dignity to render any account of what they do, and a mark of guilt to descend so low as to justify their actions. But surely, if we estimate the thing fairly, it is betraying of that which is good to reproach, and laying of stumbling-blocks in the way of the blind.
3. That as it is often in our power to prevent our good from being evil spoken of, so in many cases it is our duty. This duty may, I think, be deduced from these principles: the honour of God and of truth, the charity that is owing to our brethren, and the justice that is due to ourselves.Sherlock.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 14
Rom. 14:18. Livingstones answer to the charge of neglecting his work.When Livingstone was charged with neglecting missionary work, he boldly answered: My views of missionary duty are not so contracted as those whose only ideal is a man with a Bible under his arm. I have laboured in bricks and mortar, and at the forge, and at the carpenters bench, and in medical practice as well as in preaching. I am serving Christ when I shoot a buffalo for my men, or take an astronomical observation, or write to one of His children who forgot during the little moment of penning a note that charity which is eulogised as thinking no evil.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(16) Your good.That blessing of Christian liberty which you enjoy. This is not to be used so as to give rise to reproaches and recriminations which will make a bad impression on the outside world.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Your good Your right-doing as in eating meat, or your Christian integrity in any case.
Evil spoken of Endeavour not only to be and do right, but also so to appear clear and right that others may not misinterpret you to their own soul’s damage.
It, perhaps, often needs an apostle to apply and modify these principles wisely and apply them rightly. Generally, in this world, it is about as much as a man can do to be and do right, and then let his character in the long run speak for itself. It is often right for a man to say, “It is my business to be right, it is other folks’ business rightly to interpret me.” Yet there are other cases, like the present, where it is of primary importance to secure that others may not be harmed by misunderstanding our principles of action.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Do not then let your good be evil spoken of,’
Thus we are not to let our good (our knowledge that nothing in itself is unclean) become something that is evilly spoken of because of the harm it does as a result of our insisting that others believe as we do.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 14:16. Let not then your good be evil spoken of “Let not your liberty, which is a good that you enjoy under the Gospel, be evil spoken of.” See 1Co 10:29-30.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 14:16 . ] namely (comp. 2Th 2:3 ; 1Ti 4:12 ), through your fault .
] your good , i.e . , Rom 14:17 . So also Ewald and Umbreit. It is the sum of the , Heb 9:11 ; Heb 10:1 . How easily it might come to pass that a schism, kept up by means of condemnation and contempt, on account of eating and drinking, might draw down on that jewel of Christians the object of their whole endeavour, hope, and boast calumnious judgments at the hands of unbelievers, as if maxims respecting eating and drinking formed that on which the Christian was dependent for attaining the blessing of the kingdom! In opposition to the context in Rom 14:17 , following the Fathers (in Suicer, Thes . I. p. 14), de Wette holds that faith is meant; Luther, Calovius, and others, including Philippi: the gospel; Origen, Pelagius, Beza, Calvin, Grotius, Bengel, and many others, including Flatt, Borger, Fritzsche, Tholuck, Nielsen, Baumgarten-Crusius, Reithmayr, Maier, Bisping, with irrelevant appeal to 1Co 10:30 : Christian freedom; van Hengel generally: quod in vobis Romanis bonum est; better Hofmann: that which, as their essential good , gives Christians the advantage over non-Christians , a view, however, which leaves the precise definition of the notion unsettled. With , Paul, after having previously addressed a single party in the singular, turns to all; hence we are not, with Fritzsche, to think in . of the strong believers only (and in . of the weak believers). Note, further, the emphasis of the prefixed (comp. Phi 3:20 ): the possession belonging to you , to you Christians, which you must therefore all the more guard against slander from without.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Rom 14:16-17
“Let not then your good be evil spoken of: for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking [R.V.]; but righteousness, and peace [ lit., peaceableness], and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
Proportionate Character
Here we have an exhortation, and here, secondly, we have a reason for it. “Let not then your good be evil spoken of,” do not fritter yourselves away; do not let the one thing that is good about you be mistaken or discredited, because of several little things in you that are unworthy of your profession and status in Christ. There is something good in you, take care if it; you are not without quality, do not debase it; be jealous about yourselves, about your character, about its proportion, about its perspective, about all its relations and energies. It is not enough to be good; we may be good, and yet spoil the good. Men thus injure themselves, and no man can injure himself alone: who injures himself injures Christ, crucifies the Son of God afresh, misrepresents the Divine kingdom. It is not enough to say that, with all his eccentricity and peculiarity, he is at the heart of him a good man. It is always a pity when a man so conducts himself that he has to be explained and apologised for in that way, as who should say, After taking oft a hundred wrappings you will come to something that is really not inferior, something that is indeed more or less excellent. That is a poor representation of the Divine kingdom; that is a miserable way of representing the living, loving, pure, beautiful Christ, that he has to be dug out of the grave of our eccentricities and follies.
Let not then your good be discredited. Distinguish between the essential and the incidental. Some people seem to be quite unable to accomplish that little arrangement. Nothing is important to them, because all things are equally important. Where we see nothing but mountains there seem to be no mountains. We may run even great things into monotony and wearisome-ness. The Apostle Paul says, Do make a distinction between one thing and another. God has not painted the universe black and white; observe the fine gradation of shade and colour and mystery of light that there is about everything that God has done. Study proportion. Some men have no idea of the term proportion as applied to Christ’s character. They do one thing as intensely as another. That may not be earnestness; it may be mere exaggeration or miscalculation. Why waste yourselves on littles, on frivolities, or trivialities, or mechanisms? Why not get at the root and heart of things? In this way only, by going to the core, can you correctly comprehend God’s kingdom and Christ’s Cross, and represent the same to men beauteously and persuasively.
Look at the consequences of your being wanting in proportion. Your good will be evil spoken of. Even your greatest beliefs will go for less than they are really worth. People will fasten upon your pedantries, and ritualisms, and ceremonies, and mechanisms, and they will roughly say, What can you expect from people who pay so much attention to pin-points, to trifles? How can they be really great or truly good? If where we really do understand them they are trivial, frivolous, pedantic; if we could understand them still more thoroughly in their souls, we should find that they were true to their own littleness all through and through. Your prayers will be despised; all your best actions will be discounted. Why do you not pay attention to proportion? Why fight about days, and feasts, and fasts, and observances, as if they had anything to do with the kingdom of God? Within their own little limits they may have their significance and their importance, but, when viewed in relation to God’s uppermost thought and purpose in the constitution and destiny of the universe, they are comparatively unworthy of attention. The people who hinder the kingdom of God are the people who do not understand it and yet pretend to do so. They are full of what they call habits; they are well-informed in the matter of religious stipulations and maxims; their life is all scheduled out from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same; they live pedantically, puristically, mechanically: but their whole life can be represented adequately on a printed schedule. The Apostle tears down all your little schedules, and says, The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, getting up at such an hour in the morning, visiting brotherhoods through a part of the day, going out in the evening to see friends and neighbours; that is not the kingdom of God: down with your schedules and your mechanisms! the kingdom of God is righteousness, peaceableness, joy in the Holy Ghost the highest eating and drinking, divinest festival; men at this feast are drunk with the Spirit of God.
That is the exhortation. “Let not your good be evil spoken of.” What is the reason? The reason is given in the seventeenth verse: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” How penetrating, how profound! We are in the grasp of a great reasoner. Paul always vindicates himself as a majestic philosopher. No matter what the subject is, he discusses it with the ease of mastery. This man Paul has got a sound, thorough grip of his subject. He cannot fail. He knows the question through and through; you can suggest nothing to him. He is full of suggestion, apology, exposition, and defence. How good it is to feel one’s soul in the keeping of a strong man! That is what we want at home, in the sick-chamber. There are some persons so healthy that they make others healthy as they draw near, that is to say, they bring a kind of contagion of health with them. Theirs is not that rude boisterous health which is self-trusting, but that complete health of soul and of body which breathes itself into those who are weak and ailing, and in great pain; they say of such visitors, They bring with them morning and youth and summer; they are not overpowering, they are inspiring. It is precisely so we feel towards the Apostle Paul when he preaches, teaches, or expounds. He always seems to be so full of his subject, and to have such grip and mastery of it, that he can make us partakers of his riches if we be right-hearted towards him and towards his subject. Paul had a kingdom, where has that kingdom gone to? Who are these that nibble and mumble and hesitate and apologise in God’s pulpit? Who sent them? We have forgotten that God has a kingdom upon the earth, a great conception of rule and sovereignty and majesty; a great scheme of spiritual law and impulse, and incessant and ever-increasing inspiration. The Church is almost anything but a kingdom; in some respects it is about the poorest mendicant that goes about cap in hand soliciting broken bread that it may keep its life within it. The Church has given up the idea of domination not outward, nominal, formal domination, but the domination which comes of spiritual health and spiritual treasure, and spiritual sympathy. The voice that should make itself heard through all the thunder and tempest and wrath of the ages should be the still, small voice, so still because so majestic, and small because so all-sufficient. Its whisper is more than all other thunder. Let us see if we do not degrade the idea of the kingdom.
What is Paul’s conception? It is not eating and drinking; it is not socialism, it is not routine, it is not conviviality. The Church is not an exchange of visits in which men conceal their deepest conviction and suppress their holiest emotions. The Church is not a programme, it is a revelation. We are great in programmes; we can draw out schedules a week long, and we can so draw them out that on the eighth day we forget that we ever conceived them. The Church is in danger of becoming a programme, a series of little things to be done, a succession of amusements, a series of entertainments, a concatenation of interchanges, so that we are here to-day, and there tomorrow: and that we call the brotherhood. Is there anything wrong in these things? Not necessarily; they may be good; but they may also be set out of right perspective and proportion, they may become so exaggerated as really to inflict indignity upon the idea of the Divine kingdom. The men who have hurt the Church a good deal are men who have had some rude or cultured skill in getting up plans and schemes and entertainments. They have not been mischievous in their purpose; on the other hand they have been zealous for what they believed to be the Christian life: but if they have been devoting themselves to the wrong things, and disturbing God’s proportion as to the set and significance of his kingdom, then they have unwittingly been doing mischief, and the mischief is not the less that it has been unwittingly done. I can hardly conceive anything less like the Acts of the Apostles than a correct and literal transcript of what many Churches are doing this very day. I am willing to risk the issue upon parallel columns; in the one column shall stand the Acts of the Apostles, and in the other column shall stand the programmes and entertainments and observances of to-day: then tell me, thou blind fool, which is apostolic and which is modern Christianity. If I do want to match the Acts of the Apostles I can do so, but then I shall have to bring in the chronicles of our missionary societies, what we are doing amongst the heathen, and the chronicles of our home missionary societies, what we are doing amongst the home heathen and the home poor. But I do not know that I could honestly go to the ordinary Church life of to-day, especially where it is most respectable, if I really wanted to balance in some humble degree the heroic, the tragic, the appalling record of apostolic life.
What then is the kingdom of God? It is “righteousness.” Who wrote that word so often as Paul wrote it? He must surely sometimes have abbreviated it if he wrote much with his own hand, because he was so familiar with it, and used it so frequently that some symbol alone would indicate his meaning. Paul would have no compromises about anything; he would have it settled squarely and rightly; if it was of the nature of compromise, he would not give up the element of right; if he were going to abstain from eating and drinking, he would say, I have a right both to eat and drink, but if you are so constituted that you will be injured by my eating and drinking, then I will overrule that right by a still larger right the right of charity, the right of self-sacrifice. Still, amid all concessions, and arrangements about Sabbath days, and eating flesh, and drinking wine, Paul would insist upon having the line of right set up, and he would have every concession understood to be a concession and not an acknowledgment of his being wrong, or of the claimants being wise above the revelation which he had received from God. Are social habits then to be neglected? Nay: social habits are to be cultivated, but they are first to be rightly originated. If your habit is a mechanical arrangement, it will go down under pressure: if your habits express your righteousness, peaceableness, and joy in the Holy Ghost, then they are no longer mechanical habits, they express that which is within you of Divine idea, Divine thought, and Divine fire. Habits ought to be incarnations. If a man cannot begin at any point but the point of habit, we must accommodate his weakness; he must, however, be trained to see that the kingdom of God is not external, something to be gazed upon, and measured as if it were a figure in geometry. Little by little some men may have to be trained to see that the whole idea of the Divine kingdom is internal, spiritual, metaphysical, and that even a habit, which seems to be a thing of the hand, goes right back into eternity; it finds in God its origin, its motive, its impulse, and its sanctification. Thus many of our mere habits would have to be torn down and to be publicly discredited. It is easier to cultivate a habit than to enter into the mystery of the life of God. It is easier to go to church than to be in it. Many a man is in the sanctuary, who is a thousand miles away from it at the time of his bodily presence there. Habits are either good or bad, but all depends not so much upon themselves as upon their motive.
Out of all this line of reasoning there will come a great evangelistic and social policy. Now we are prepared for our work. The Apostle has exhorted “Let not then your good be evil spoken of”; he has told us that “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink,” or eating and drinking; “but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost”; if this be so, see what a practical policy comes out of the exhortation and the reason on which it is founded. Here is our missionary policy. We go amongst the heathen to reveal an invisible kingdom. That will take a long time; in proportion to the intensity of the spirituality of the kingdom will time be required to reveal it. They are the wise missionaries who do not begin by upsetting the whole scheme of life in which they find the heathen, but who say, Let us get a right idea into the mind first; as to habits that are grotesque and ludicrous, we must let them go on for a while; if we began our reform at these external points we might do more harm than good; let us therefore live with the people; for a considerable time there need not even be much preaching, let us breathe out our souls in this heathen atmosphere. Let us so act that the heathen will begin to wonder about us; we shall be to them mysteries, enigmas, great wonders: they will not know that we have bread to eat that the world knoweth not of, and yet they will by-and-by begin to suspect this hoarded bread, then they will ask us questions; when an opportunity comes we will drop a word, give a hint, offer a service: but instead of rudely attacking the whole system of habit in the heathen world, let us begin at a comparatively remoter point, yea, a very remote point, and come down gradually upon the whole sphere of life; let our missionary success be an atmosphere, and let it mean a spiritual ministry and influence. It could easily be conceived that many a man would get himself killed by beginning at the wrong end of missionary work. Many a man has been doing more harm than good through not knowing it, through not beginning at the right point. What wisdom we require! We need to be taught everything we do, and we need to say, Father, I will not lift a hand until I am sure I must lift it, nor will I cross the threshold until thou dost send a messenger to go before my face. Thus we need Divine skill, Divine wisdom, as well as Divine sympathy and Divine support. Here we have the great law of action amongst our own home population. If you are going down into what you call the lowest places of your social life with a sort of aggressive, rude, and overpowering reform, you may do more harm than good in the first instance; or you may go down otherwise, with a larger conception of God’s kingdom and God’s purpose. At first sight you may appear to be doing nothing, but every life is doing something; there cannot breathe an honest healthy soul anywhere without doing good. Sometimes we do more good by wisely-calculated abstention than by that onrush and overpowering energy which often defeats its own purpose. What is it that you are going to reveal to the people? Is it mere eating and drinking? Then take your tables, and your vessels, and all your appurtenances and appointments. But is it a Divine kingdom, a spiritual idea, a newness of soul; are you going to make new habits, or new souls, new workers? you will operate accordingly. You can only embody your own conception: if you have a poor and low conception, you will incarnate it; if you have a lofty, pure, and true conception, you may require more space and more time to work in than others require; but in the long run he who is most spiritual will be most useful.
Here is also a law which will operate in your own family. There are many fathers who ought to be turned out of their own households. I have known fathers who were so impiously pious that they have ruined the lives of their own children by their purisms, pedantic arrangements, mechanical stipulations about rising, and sleeping, and eating, and going out, and coming in; things that in themselves have a definite importance, but being pressed out of their proper proportion, being exaggerated, they become mischievous. If this were an argument upon paper one man might vex another by cross-examination, and hinder him by mere verbiage; but when it is a question of Christian life, actual, positive, accessible experience, then we must depend upon facts, not upon any man’s surmisings and speculations. I have known families in which no honest soul could live. The whole household was a set of programmes and plans and stipulations, all originating with one foolish brain, and all controlled by one tyrannous but feeble hand. We must have a wise home policy, if we are to train the children aright. “Let not your good be spoken evil of.” What do your children do when they know that you are little miserable tyrants, mere purists, and not great apostles of the kingdom? This sneer at your prayers, and when you are pouring out your family supplication they are looking at each other over the shoulder and making grimaces at their foolish father. “Let not then your good be evil spoken of.” It is right for you to read the Divine Word, and to offer holy prayer in the family; but if you have been living such a trivial and mechanical life, and if you have been bringing your children into such literal bondage, you cannot expect them to pray; they do not want to pray, and they do not want to go with you to church; your being in church with them destroys the church idea. What then are we to have? Liberty run to seed, mere licentiousness? Nothing of the kind; no wise man could ask such a question or make such a suggestion: what we want is proportion. Children, we would reveal (the father should say) a kingdom of right and peace and joy; not temporary right, not superficial peace, not transient gladness: I tell you, boys and girls, children of mine, we want to reveal a kingdom that is solid, grand, useful, beautiful, that rises all the way up from the rock of righteousness into the gladness of heaven’s own rapture and music. Get that idea into the family life, or into the social lite on a larger scale, and all the habits will come, all the rest will fall into its right place. If you have exceptional instances you must treat them exceptionally; I am now speaking upon the broad general ground-plan of life, and I insist that many men in the family are working mischief, who think they are working good, and are paying more attention to discipline than to inspiration.
Here then is. the kingdom with which we are associated. This kingdom cannot be successfully assailed. The kingdom of programmes, and schedules, and ecclesiasticisms, and ritualism, can be assaulted, wounded, shattered: but this kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, stands beyond the storm of war, and comes down below it, touching all that is highest in heaven, and all that is deepest in the tragedy of human experience. This is the kingdom we must defend. The critic cannot get at it: the fool cannot understand it: the pedant cannot measure it. If we drag it down to mere documents and dates and signatures, then it is no longer a kingdom, it is an affidavit, it is something for magisterial inquiry. Documents and dates and signatures have their importance, no wise man will doubt that for a moment; but the book is not God’s book because it is dated and signed; it is God’s book because it has in it a kingdom that can be found nowhere else, speciality of experience and force which cannot be discovered in all the literature of the world. This is a question of experience, this is a question of sublime experience; and the Apostle tells us for our joy that if we take the right view and operate on the right policy, this sublime experience will become a social conquest; it shall not only be “acceptable to God,” but “approved of men.” There is the social issue; that is the final outcome of things. It is not approved of men at first. Men cannot understand the spiritual, they cannot penetrate the invisible; you may easily be too profound for men: but you can live so, you can live on such a scale, and in such a spirit, as to become a mystery to your fellow creatures. You can be so righteous, so generous, so strong, so tender, so useful, always most present when most needed, that at last they will begin to say, Truly this man also is a son of God!
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
Ver. 16. Let not then your good ] That is, your Christian liberty purchased by Christ.
Be evil spoken of ] Gr. be blasphemed. Contumely cast upon the people of God is blasphemy in the second table. God, for the honour that he beareth to his people, counts and calls it so.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16. ] Your strength of faith (Orig [121] , Calv., Beza, Grot., Estius, Bengel, Olsh., al., interpret . ‘ your freedom ,’ as in 1Co 10:29 ; but here the contrast is between the weak and the strong : so De W. Chrys. leaves it doubtful: , , ) is a good thing; let it not pass into bad repute : use it so that it may be honoured, and encourage others.
[121] Origen, b. 185, d. 254
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 14:16 . . is somewhat in definite. It has been taken (1) as the good common to all Christians the Messianic salvation which will be blasphemed by the non-Christian, when they see the wantonness with which Christians rob each other of it by such conduct as Paul reprobates in Rom 14:15 ; and (2) as Christian liberty, the freedom of conscience which has been won by Christ, but which will inevitably get a bad name if it is exercised in an inconsiderate loveless fashion. The latter meaning alone seems relevant. For . see 1Co 10:30 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
evil spoken of = blasphemed. See Rom 2:24.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
16.] Your strength of faith (Orig[121], Calv., Beza, Grot., Estius, Bengel, Olsh., al., interpret . your freedom, as in 1Co 10:29; but here the contrast is between the weak and the strong:-so De W. Chrys. leaves it doubtful: , , ) is a good thing; let it not pass into bad repute: use it so that it may be honoured, and encourage others.
[121] Origen, b. 185, d. 254
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 14:16. , not) Liberty is the good of [peculiar to] believers, 1Co 10:29-30, flowing from the privileges of the kingdom of God. Generous service in Rom 14:18, is opposed [antithetic] to the abuse of this liberty. In the writings of the fathers the Lords Supper also is usually denominated , the good, as Suicer shows, Observ. Sacr., p. 85, which is indeed not inconsistent with this very passage of Paul, who, writing on the same subject, 1Co 10:16, takes his argument from the Lords Supper. It is comprehended under the good of believers. But he speaks of , the good, to show the unworthiness of evil-speaking, of which either the weak, who consider the liberty of the stronger, licentiousness, or even others might be guilty.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 14:16
Rom 14:16
Let not then your good be evil spoken of:-Do not use your privileges and rights to bring evil to others, or that may give occasion to speak evil of what you do. This is a much- needed caution. Men sometimes do good in such a manner that it makes a bad impression, is misrepresented, is evil spoken of, and produces evil results. [As strong Christians in faith, we may have liberty to do many things which the weak may think wrong: but if by doing those things we subject our liberty to unfriendly criticism, we must refrain. It is better to seem not free than that our freedom should lead to mischief.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Rom 12:17, 1Co 10:29, 1Co 10:30, 2Co 8:20, 2Co 8:21, 1Th 5:22
Reciprocal: Rth 3:14 – Let it not Eph 5:2 – walk
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:16
Rom 14:16. Your good means the right for the “strong” to eat meat. If he tries to force that privilege on the weak brother, he will speak evil of this strong brother.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 14:16. Let not than your good be evil spoken of, lit, blasphemed. Then implies that to act in the way forbidden in Rom 14:15 would have this result. The exhortation may be applied to the strong; good referring accordingly to their Christian liberty, or strength of faith, which grieved the weak brethren, and would lead to censure. But many think the exhortation is ad-dressed to the whole Church, since the plural is introduced here. Good would then point to the doctrine of the gospel, or the kingdom of God (Rom 14:17). Those who blasphemed would be such of the outside heathen world as noticed the discord. The wider view is favored not only by the emphasis resting upon your, but by the existence of our as a various reading, pointing to a possession of the whole Church, and also by the thought of the next verse.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 16. Let not, then, the good you enjoy be evil spoken of.
The expression your good has been applied to the kingdom of God (Meyer), or to faith (De Wette), or to the gospel (Philip.), or to the superiority of the Christian to the non-Christian (Hofmann). But all these meanings want appropriateness. The context itself shows that the subject in question is Christian liberty (Orig., Calv., Thol., etc.). The you applies not to all believers, but to the strong only. Paul recommends them not to use their liberty so as to provoke the indignation and blame of their weaker brethren. The blessing they enjoy ought not to be changed by their lack of charity into a source of cursing. Carefully comp. 1Co 8:9-11; 1Co 10:29-30.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Let not then your good be evil spoken of [Do not so use your liberty–the good you enjoy–as to provoke blame or censure, for by so doing you lose your power to influence others for good, whether they be weak or strong. A bad name has no power in God’s kingdom– 1Ti 3:7; Mat 5:16; Act 22:22]:
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
16. Therefore let not thy good be evil spoken of. We must not only keep our own conscience clean but the consciences of others also.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
14:16 {16} Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
(16) Another argument: because by this means evil is spoken of the liberty of the gospel, as though it opens the way to attempt anything whatever, and gives us boldness to do all things.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The good thing refers to the liberty to eat meat or to do anything amoral. People could legitimately speak of it as evil if it resulted in the fall of a brother.