WHAT ABOUT ROMANS 14?

14:1 Now to him who is weak in trust, give a hand, and have no doubt in your reasoning.
14:2 For there is one who has trust that he may eat everything, but he who is weak eats vegetarian.
14:3 Now that one who eats, should not treat with contempt that one who does not eat, and that one who does not eat, should not judge that one who eats, for Eloah has received him.
14:4 Who are you, that you judge a servant who is not your own, who, if he stands, stands before his Adon, and if he falls, falls before his Adon? But he will indeed stand, for it will be by the hands of his Adon that he will be
established.
14:5 There is one who judges a day from a day, and there is one who judges all days: but let each man be assured in the thoughts of his nefesh.
14:6 He who is mindful of a day, is mindful [of it] before his Adon: and everyone who is not mindful of a day, is not mindful [of it] before his Adon. And whoever eats, eats before his Adon and thanks Eloah: and he who does not eat, does not eat before his Adon and thanks Eloah.
14:7 For there is not a man from us, who lives to his nefesh, and there is not a man who dies to his nefesh,
14:8 Because if we live, we live to our Adon, and if we die, we die to our Adon. And whether we live therefore or whether we die, we belong to our Adon.
14:9 Because of this also, the Messiah died, and is alive, and is raised: that He might be YHWH to the dead and to the living.
14:10 Now why do you judge your brother? Or why also do you treat your brother with contempt? For all of us will stand before the bema of the Messiah.
14:11 As it is written, I live, says YHWH. Every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will confess Me.
14:12 Therefore every man from us, will give an account for his nefesh to Eloah.
14:13 Therefore let us not judge one another, but rather determine this: that you will not place a stumbling stone before your brother.
14:14 For I know, and am persuaded by YHWH Yeshua, that there is not a thing that is defiled from itself. But to him who thinks concerning a thing that it is unclean, to him alone it is unclean.
14:15 And if because of food you grieve your brother, you are not walking in love; by your food do not destroy him, for whose sake the Messiah died.
14:16 And let not our good be blasphemed:
14:17 For the Kingdom of Eloah is not food and drink, but righteousness, and shalom, and joy, in the Ruach HaKodesh.
14:18 For he who serves the Messiah in these [things], pleases Eloah, and is approved before sons of men.
14:19 Now let us follow after shalom, and after edification, one with another.
14:20 And let us not depart from the works of Eloah because of food, for everything is pure: yet it is wrong for a son of man who, in stumbling, eats.
14:21 It is good that we not eat flesh, nor drink neither wine, nor anything by which our brother stumbles.
14:22 You, who have trust, keep it in your nefesh before Eloah. Blessed is he who does not judge his nefesh in a thing that he distinguishes.
14:23 For he who doubts and eats is condemned, because it is not in trust: for everything that is not from trust, is sin.
(Romans 14:23 HRV)

This chapter has been very misunderstood. The chapter speaks of not judging others in regards to issues like doctrinal vegitarianism and clendar issues. These are key issues to the proto-Ebionite-Essenes.

Likewise we read in Col. 2:16-17

Let no man therefore judge you
in meat, or in drink,
or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon,
or of the sabbath days:
Which are a shadow of things to come;
but the body is of Christ.
(Col. 2:16-17 KJV)

First the passage speaks not only of “meat” but of “drink” so it cannot be speaking about the kosher laws which deal with food not drink. Paul’s opponent here has differing views regarding “meat”; “drink”; “holydays”; “new moons” and “sabbaths”. Clearly his opponent here are the Essene influence within the movement which later re-emerged as the Ebionites. These Essene-Proto-Ebionites were vegetarians, they all took the Nazarite Vow (and thus abstained from wine) and they used a Solar Calendar. Thus they differed with Paul on issues of “meat”; “drink”; “holydays”; “new moons” and “sabbaths”. So Paul is not speaking here about the validity of Torah, but of his opponents positions on these issues.

Also we must once again look at the KJV’s use of italic in Col. 2:17. Remember the italics in the KJV indicate words that are not really there in the Greek, but which the KJV has added to the text. This is supposed to be to help the text make sense in English, but in some cases like this one the italics have been used to completely and radically change the meaning of the text. If we remove the italicized word “is” from the phrase “body is of Christ” we see the familiar phrase “body of Christ” which appears over and over in the New Testament. Why would one disrupt the common phrase “body of Christ” by inserting the word “is”? If we reread the KJV without this word something interesting happens:

Let no man therefore judge you
in meat, or in drink,
or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon,
or of the sabbath:
Which are a shadow of things to come;
but the body of Christ.
(Col. 2:16-17 KJV without italics)

Suddenly the passage is no longer contrasting “shadow” with “body” it is contrasting “man” with the “body of Christ” or “body of Messiah”!

Both Col. 2:16-17 and Romans 13-14 are saying not to let these Proto-Ebionite Essenes disturb the body, because individuals do not set halacha for the body, the Beit Din does.

In Romans 14:14 we read:

For I know, and am persuaded by YHWH Yeshua,
that there is not a thing that is defiled from itself.
But to him who thinks concerning a thing that it is unclean,
to him alone it is unclean.

Unkosher foods for example are not defiled from themselves, but from (by) YHWH. He who follows YHWH “thinks concerning a thing that it is unclean” (because it is unclean) and to him it is unclean. However if one believes something is unclean and consumes it anyway (even if you are wrong) one has still rebelled against YHWH in ones mind, and has still sinned in their heart.

 

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