“One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” -Romans 14:5
The fact that Paul moves from using dietary laws as his example in matters of personal persuasion to now using holy days as his examples implies that he is concerned with general disputes about the ceremonial laws that are coming to an end with the close of this epoch (70 A. D.).
In other words, not every belief or matter of personal persuasion in the Christian life is a matter of subjective opinion as some attempt to claim. Scripture is clear, for example, that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And, in matters of morality, “do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10).
So then, in what kinds of matters are believers to not take issue with one another, but be fully convinced in his own mind? In the case Paul is addressing, there was a period of transition between the resurrection of Christ and the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 A. D. when the epoch of the Mosaic Law came to an end. The early Christians began meeting on the first day of the week, but others continued to observe the Jewish Sabbath on the 7th day of the week. Additionally, there were days of fasting to be observed under the Mosaic Law that believers who followed Christ no longer felt the need to observe since they were only shadows of the reality (Colossians 2:17 Cf. Hebrews 10:1).
Paul is saying in matters not clear from Scripture, or where there seems to be ambiguity in the application of the Scriptures, we should be gracious toward our brothers and sisters in Christ who observe diets and days (for example) differently than we do, while simultaneously faithfully living out those things of which we are fully convinced in our own minds (Romans 14:23).
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