Bearing with the Weak

      Paul wrote, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please our neighbor for his good, to build him up” (Romans 15:1-2, ESV). In the specific context of Romans 14, Paul is saying we do not demand our rights and our liberties. Instead, we submit to the scruples of those whose faith is weak about some issue. However, I think this is one of those cases where Paul is going from lesser to greater. That is, there is a message in the specific context, but he is moving from the specific illustration to demonstrating a bigger principle.

      Romans 15:1-2 is not merely about protecting the consciences of our brethren. It is about spending ourselves to serve our brethren, even those who are weak. It is easy to despise those whose faith is not as deep as ours, whose virtue is not as spotless as ours, whose knowledge is not as wide as ours, whose self-control is not as disciplined as ours…(cf. II Peter 1:5ff). It is easy to look down our noses and not want to tough it out with people who keep struggling. It is easy to get aggravated with those who keep asking the same questions over and over again. It is easy to want to leave behind those who just don’t seem to measure up.

      That may be the way the world deals with the weak. That is not the way Christ and His church deal with the weak. Instead, we are to bear with one another in all things. Love demands that (I Corinthians 13:7). Galatians 6:2 says we bear one another’s burdens. Hebrews 12:12-13 explains we must lift drooping hands, strengthen weak knees and make straight paths for the feet of the lame.

      One point that might help is to recognize weakness is not always an across the board issue. In the context of Romans 14, Paul is not dealing with Christians who are weak in all aspects, but Christians who are weak in an area. When we recognize that we all have strengths and weaknesses, we all have great accomplishments in certain areas and little progress in others, perhaps we can be more patient with those whose progress, strengths, and accomplishments are in areas other than ours and whose weaknesses are in other areas than ours.

      We please and edify the weak by strengthening and encouraging them, by teaching them, by praying with them. We lift them up accepting them when they have fallen—even when it is the seventy and seventh time. We demonstrate our patience by forgiving them when they ask. We bear with them by helping them overcome instead of abandoning them in their weakness.

      Don’t just please yourself. Bear with the weaknesses of the weak and thus please the Lord.

Edwin L. Crozier