Romans 14: Liberty of Conscience

All Christians have been made free by Christ (John 8:36), but not all have an equally strong grasp of what this means in practice. Some are weakened by scruples about things which are strictly neither right nor wrong, while others assert their liberty in a way which risks doing violence to the consciences of the weak. It was this situation which the Apostle Paul addressed in Romans 14. He insisted that, while Christian liberty was to be maintained, it was never to be asserted in such a way as to hurt the consciences of others, or to embolden them to do what they believed to be wrong.

In this the last volume of the series, Dr Lloyd-Jones explains the implications of this issue for the church today. The fitting conclusion of his exposition of Romans is that true Christianity is not, in the end, concerned with such matters as what may be eaten or what days should be observed, but with a divine kingdom, characterized by inward righteousness, peace and joy.