14:10 {11} But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
(11) The conclusion: we must leave to God his right, and therefore in matters which are either good or evil according to the conscience of the individual, the strong must not despise their weak brethren, much less condemn them. But this consequent cannot be taken of equal force in the contrary, that is, that the weak should not judge the strong, because the weak do not know that those who do not observe a day and eat, observe it not to the Lord, and eat to the Lord, as the strong men know that the weak who observe a day and do not eat, observe the day to the Lord, and eat not to the Lord.
14:10 Why dost thou judge thy brother? Christ, the Lord of all, is his Lord. He shall judge him and us alike. We are not the judges, for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.
14:10 Or why dost thou despise thy brother - Hitherto the apostle as addressed the weak brother: now he speaks to the stronger.
14:7-13 Though some are weak, and others are strong, yet all must agree not to live to themselves. No one who has given up his name to Christ, is allowedly a self-seeker; that is against true Christianity. The business of our lives is not to please ourselves, but to please God. That is true Christianity, which makes Christ all in all. Though Christians are of different strength, capacities, and practices in lesser things, yet they are all the Lord's; all are looking and serving, and approving themselves to Christ. He is Lord of those that are living, to rule them; of those that are dead, to revive them, and raise them up. Christians should not judge or despise one another, because both the one and the other must shortly give an account. A believing regard to the judgment of the great day, would silence rash judgings. Let every man search his own heart and life; he that is strict in judging and humbling himself, will not be apt to judge and despise his brother. We must take heed of saying or doing things which may cause others to stumble or to fall. The one signifies a lesser, the other a greater degree of offence; that which may be an occasion of grief or of guilt to our brother.
