Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

In Romans 15:1, Paul talks about how we can have healthy relationships based on our healthy relationship with God. There are two categories of people: strong and weak. Remember, sin is crossing the line that God makes. Moving in with your boyfriend or girlfriend is crossing the line. Cheating on your spouse is crossing the line. Getting drunk is crossing the line.

Repentance is acknowledging you have crossed the line and then returning to God’s side of the line. Paul told us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This means that we all crossed the line at various points. Jesus died to allow us to come back to the other side. God draws the line and never moves that line—He got it right the first time.

Now what happens regarding the line—the national border of behavior and belief—is that there are strong people who can go right up to the line and have no problem at all. They drink but don’t get drunk. They have friends of the opposite sex but don’t flirt or get into emotional adultery. They can manage a lot of money but not be tempted to steal any of it. They enjoy freedoms right up to the line without crossing them.

Then some weak people cannot even get near the line because they know they will run right over it if they do. If they have one drink, then they will end up getting drunk. There’s no dimmer switch for that area in their life. They can’t manage large sums of money because they know they will be a bad steward. Different people have different areas in which they are strong and weak. Those who are strong can live close to the line, and those who are weak need a lot of distance between them and the line.

Was Jesus Christ weak or strong? He was strong. He could come right up to the line. He drank alcohol but never got drunk. He could be friends with women and never have inappropriate relationships with them. Lazarus’s sisters, Mary and Martha, were two of Jesus’ dearest friends. Jesus could eat food without being a glutton. He could go to parties without doing anything sinful or wrong. Jesus lived right on the line.

Who criticized Jesus the most? The Pharisees and other Jewish religious leaders did because they were weak. The weakest people are the most religious people. The weakest people are the most judgmental people. The weakest people are the most controlling people. The Pharisees and scribes drew lines for themselves, and Jesus lived over their line (even though He was well within God’s line). So, they kept criticizing Jesus. “He must be a drunkard and a glutton. He’s a friend of sinners.” Well, that last one is true—Jesus is a friend of sinners. After all, that’s how I got saved. Anyone who is saved is glad Jesus is a friend of sinners; otherwise, He wouldn’t be friends with people like us.

It’s okay for you to have a line that’s your opinion, but God has a doctrine. You don’t sin unless you cross the line God draws, not the line you draw. Religious people don’t understand this fact. That’s why the religious people crucified Jesus—not because He crossed God’s line and sinned, but because He crossed their line.

Today’s Reflection

What human lines have you crossed while staying within God’s line?