Sermon: 'Adiaphora - matters of indifference' (Romans 14:1-23)

Sermon at Bedok Church of Christ: 'Adiaphora - Matters of Indifference' preached on 11 Sept 2011

Today I am preaching from the NT lectionary text Romans 14:1-12 where Paul talks about 'matters of indifference'. These 'indifferent matters' are not nearly so indifferent as the name suggests, as in fact Paul spent the whole chapter - chp 14 of the letter to the Romans on it - leaving this subject at the end of a long drawn-out argument through the letter concerning the Jew-Gentile relationships in the church. I would like to introduce you to the technical term for this whole category of ethical reflection, popularized by the 16th Century Reformers - *adiaphora*. It refers to a realm/area of ethical issues that are morally and spiritually neutral in and of themselves. They are neither right nor wrong inherently, and covers a whole range of practices and behaviours where the New Testament does not give explicit command or prohibition. This includes:

what we eat or drink - Jesus categorically stated that nothing that goes in through our mouth can make a person unclean and thereby declares all food clean...

what we wear - we are not to worry about what we wear, something the pagans obsess over..

what places we visit - even pagan temples supposedly since 'idols are nothing'

what movies we watch, what music we listen to...

what days we consider sacred....what festivals we choose to celebrate....

Yet, these inherently neutral practices can be right or wrong depending on the context - it depends on the viewpoints, predispostion, intentions, and cultural associations we bring into it...

what is ok with you may not be ok with another. what is frowned upon in one culture may be perfectly normal and acceptable in another culture. So, in a community made up of people from a diversity of cultures and backgrounds, these issues can be a source of contentions.

For example, Christians over the ages continue to debate over whether drinking alcohol is ok, because of its potential for abuse... we argue over eating meat is ok as some groups are committed to vegetarianism...

some have come up with rules on how long should men keep their hair and women their skirt... some raise issues with body-piercing and tattoos..

others debate if the observance of certain festivals like Halloween, Qingming is ok?

and many feel that lines should also be drawn with regards to movies and music on the basis of its censorship ratings, etc...

there are needless to say faithful, committed christians on both sides of the cultural divides ...some have no scruples, whereas others abstain raising issues of conscience...


Paul comes face to face with this sort of adiaphora issue in the church at Rome - there are two groups dubbed the 'strong' and the 'weak' by Paul who struggle with issues of eating meat and observing sacred days.. the weak are likely the Jewish converts who have scruples with eating meat (which is bought from the market, and likely to have been contaminated by having been slaughtered not in accordance with kosher procedures, or having been offered to idols) and the observance of the Jewish feasts, especially Sabbath. Now to the Jews, these are not adiaphora but essential practices that mark them out as God's covenant people... the strong Christians on the other hand are likely the Gentile converts who do not have such cultural conditioning and feel free to eat anything and not obliged to keep the Jewish feast days... Paul apparently sides with the strong, as far as the rectitude of their position is concerned .. saying that the gospel of Christ has set us free from all cultural binds... the gospel of Christ has ushered in the new era with the dominion of Christ, and the Jewish practices which were but a mere shadow of the reality that is Christ are now obsolete. The essential Jewish essential practices have become non-essentials.


Now, the way Paul addresses this situation is instructive and i would like to share with you three principles derived from Romans 14 that can guide us in dealing with issues of adiaphora.

1. Principle of Acceptance.

'Welcome/receive/accept one another as Christ has accepted you.'

John Stott pointed out that this rule of Chist's generous acceptance of sinners is even better than the golden rule. The golden rule commands us to treat others as we would like to be treated, whereas this rule of acceptance calls us to treat others as Christ has treated them, namely to accept them. If Christ has accepted your brothers, who are you to reject or despise them? Since Christ is the Lord of us all, who are we to lord it over one another, for we are all his fellow-servants?

So, the key is that we should not impose standards on others that Christ has not imposed. We should not set up criteria of fellowship, that Christ has not set up.

To be sure, there are boundaries for acceptance into the fellowship of Christ. This is not postmodern moral relativism. It is important that we are talking about issues of adiaphora.

There are theological essentials, that all Christians are to be of one mind on. No one can in good conscience be considered a disciple of Christ if he denies that God is One and that he is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
No one can be properly called a Christian if he denies the divinity and humanity of Christ or that salvation comes through the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

There are moral absolutes that no Christians will in good faith compromise with .. Paul reiterates the Ten Commandments in Rom 13 and above all the command to love. No committed Christian will persist in the vices clearly forbidden by scriptures such as 'adultery', 'stealing', 'slander', 'debauchery', etc.

In matters of essentials, let there be unity, but in matters of adiaphora, let there be liberty. This does not mean that we simply leave our own convictions to ourselves and let each one do his own thing. By all means, talk about it with one another, have lively exchanges of views, bring in the best arguments but do so respectfully and with love... and if at the end, we remain of different views... we should simply agree to disagree.

2. Principle of Personal Accountability.

'Let each be persuaded in his own mind.'

This calls us to consider what our conscience says. Conscience is not perfect or infallible but it is the best guide that we have at any given moment for telling right from wrong. It is the inner moral compass God has placed in each of us. As believers, our conscience has been enlightened by the Spirit and the truths of the gospel. But because we are still not fully mature, our conscience may not have been fully informed or educated and we need to let it grow robust with knowledge. That is why constant learning and discussion of the gospel truths should be the lifelong quest of every Christian. As the Lord says, ' we will know the truth and the truth will set you free.' But we are never to violate our conscience, even if it is wrong. If one thinks that eating meat is wrong, even though the gospel teaches that it is ok, for him to eat is to violate his conscience. God will judge us for the way we exercise our own conscience. For whatever is not of faith is sin.

So, in one sense adiaphora refers to indifferent things, yet in another sense nothing is indifferent in the Christian life --- if one eats with thanksgiving, his eating is done to the honor of God.. whereas if one eats in doubt, then his eating even if by itself is adiaphora eats in violation of his conscience...for none of lives to himself but unto the Lord.. God who sees our heart will take all things into account and before him we are each personally accountable.


3. Principle of Love

'Make every effort to see that we do not put a stumbling block in our brother's way.. but instead do everything that leads to peace and mutual edification.'

This principle calls to consider the *effects* of our actions on others. It is not enough for one to say that my conscience is clear, it has given me the green light but in our action causes another to stumble. It is not worth causing the eternal downfall of my brother by our temporary enjoyment of food and drink! There are different values to things and we should be clear that the spiritual welfare of our brothers and sisters is of our utmost concern! The gospel has given us liberty to many things we enjoy but our liberty must be controlled by the higher principle of love.

So, in conclusion I would like us to ponder how these principles that Paul commends to the Roman church can be translated to our own days as we face issues of adiaphora that indeed make up a huge part of our daily life. As we are drawn increasingly closer to people of many cultures through the social media and mobility, these adiaphora issues are going to multiply. Again these principles when encountering issues of adiaphora:

*look upward to God's acceptance of us - do not impose standards that Christ the Lord did not.

*look inward to our own conscience - and lay it before the Lord, commit to doing what we believe in our heart of hearts to be right and pleasing to God. and continue to grow in the knowledge of God's word that can sharpen our moral discernment.

*look outward to consider the spiritual welfare of our brothers and sisters and do nothing that might cause another to stumble but everything that leads to peace and upbuilding.