Harmony within the body of Christ glorifies our Creator. Indeed, the goal of corporate harmony is not the harmony itself—as pleasant as it is—but unified worship of the living God.

After instructing believers how to navigate differences of opinion within their local church, Paul closes his discussion on unity with this prayer:

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 15:5-6).

Prayer is necessary because such harmony is ultimately a gift from God. But this harmony, according to Paul’s request, is a means to a greater end: worship.

What is instructive is how Paul teaches believers to maintain unity within the body. In Romans 14:1-15:7, Paul provides several principles for navigating the challenges that inevitably arise within a local church when believers disagree about nonessential matters. I’ve addressed these principles at length here.

In this article, I want to focus on an aspect of Paul’s instructions to help us see what kind of environment is most conducive to spiritual growth among the members of a local congregation.

Welcome One Another for Christ’s Sake

Paul opens his discussion about handling differences of opinion by instructing the church to “Welcome one another, but not to dispute about opinions” (Rom 14:1). Paul bookends this section with the same counsel: “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Rom 15:7). Paul’s latter statement is vital: the basis for our acceptance and warm welcoming of one another into fellowship is Christ’s righteousness alone, not our individual opinions or scruples.

For this reason, then, we cannot bar someone from fellowship because they disagree with us about non-essential issues. In the church at Rome, believers had differences of opinion about whether a Christian should eat meat, drink wine, or observe certain days. These concerns were matters of an individual’s conscience and religious opinion, but they did not touch foundational Christian doctrine—particularly, doctrine linked directly to the gospel.

If someone has embraced the truth about justification that Paul proclaimed earlier in the book, they were to be welcomed fully into fellowship, regardless of whether they could eat meat in a good conscience. Praise God that Christ accepts us based on his righteousness, not on our religious scruples or lack thereof!

But let’s go back to Paul’s opening statement (Rom 14:1). The believers in Rome were to welcome one another, but not with an ulterior motive. That is, they were to embrace a fellow believer as a brother for Christ’s sake—full stop. They were not to use their hospitality as a guise for a deeper desire to engage in debate over their religious opinions.

But someone might ask, “Does this mean we can never talk to a fellow Christian about their differences of opinion?” No, I do not think Paul is forbidding conversations between believers that address our differences of opinion. Such conversations are a natural part of living together in community. But the accent in this section is on welcoming, not debating.

Throughout Romans 14:1-23, Paul focuses our attention on how to care for one another’s conscience. We are to avoid sinfully judging one another for our different opinions and trust that the Lord will sustain the faith of our spiritual siblings (vv. 3-4). We must be convinced of our own positions and never violate our consciences (Rom 14:5, 23). But we must also determine to never put a stumbling block in the way of another brother or sister and tempt them to violate their conscience (Rom 14:13-22).

Bear with the Failings of the Weak

Furthermore, it is the obligation of the strong to bear with the failings of the weak (Rom 15:1). In this passage, strong and weak refer to the respective consciences of believers. Paul classified those who could not eat meat, drink wine, or refrain from celebrating certain days (likely the Old Testament feast days) as “weak” in conscience.

This classification had nothing to do with their standing with God—they had the same saving faith as the strong. Rather, they were weak because their conscience was not yet fully informed by Christian doctrine.

Biblically speaking, Christians are free to eat all things, drink wine, and had no obligation to celebrate Old Covenant feast days. The “strong” understood this; the “weak” did not.

Nevertheless, it was required of the strong to bear with the weak. The strong believers were not to force their freedoms upon the weak or do anything that might tempt the weak to sin against their consciences. When it came to choosing a steak over a brother’s conscience, love makes the decision clear: refrain from feeding your appetite for the sake of your brother (Rom 14:17).

Amazingly, Paul agrees with the strong about their position. Theologically, the weak were not fully informed about these issues. But Paul takes a counterintuitive course in order to maintain unity in this congregation: the strong were not to start a debate with their weak brothers in order to change them, nor were they to flaunt their freedoms around their weak brothers.

Will the Weak Ever Become Strong?

The question we might raise at this point is how weak consciences might become strong. If we are to bear with these weaknesses and not debate with our brethren over their faulty opinions, how might they make progress in their faith and grow from immaturity to immaturity on these issues?

Paul doesn’t answer that question. Instead of directly addressing how the weak will become strong, Paul gives us a blueprint for constructing the environment in which such growth will occur.

The atmosphere most conducive for spiritual growth is precisely the place where we are not first concerned with our brother’s difference of opinion. Rather, growth will most naturally occur when we aim for unity by caring for one another’s consciences.

When a brother has views on the Christian life that restrict his conscience and prevent him from living in the full freedom that Christ and his Word offer, the best place for him is in a church where these issues are not the focus of concern. As other brothers and sisters care for his conscience and allow him room to grow, it is likely that his views will change, and his conscience will settle more in line with Scripture.

Can we address his conscience issues in a personal conversation? Again, Scripture does not forbid such conversations. But Scripture does establish a prerequisite. The priority is love and the protection of the conscience. Once these spiritual qualities are firmly in place, we will have the wisdom and gentleness to engage our brothers on these kinds of issues.

Are there professing Christians who may try to manipulate others with their so-called weak consciences? Yes, and it takes wisdom to determine when someone is genuinely wrestling with an issue of conscience and when they are trying to obligate you to obey extra-biblical requirements. Some claims to “conscience” might even be a smokescreen for heresy (see 1 Tim 4:1-5). But even with these potential concerns, Paul would have us begin with embracing who we perceive to be genuine believers and cultivating a willingness to bear with the weaknesses of the weak.

As we walk in love, we can be confident that, over time, the Spirit of God will enable our brothers and sisters to make progress in their walk with Christ.