WEAK BROTHERS
COVID MASKS
Public worship had been shut down for eight weeks, and our pastoral team was determined to reopen in the ninth week of the COVID ordeal. So we decided to hold an outdoor worship service on Mother’s Day 2020.
We called our scheduled guest preacher for that Sunday and asked if he was willing to preach in person for our first Sunday back.
He said, “I will be happy to be there, as long as I don’t have to wear a mask.”
We replied, “Sure. No problem. We’ll be worshipping outside. That won’t be an issue.”
Then we called the worship leader scheduled for that same Sunday.
His reply was, “I will be happy to do it, as long as everyone wears masks and stays in their cars with the windows rolled up.”
We had unknowingly scheduled both ends of the mask mandate debate to lead the reopening of in-person church!
That was the moment our pastoral team realized the divide over COVID protocols, and how people thought the church should respond, was going to affect almost everything.
Here’s the thing. Both of these men are the most solid Christians you will ever meet. To this day, I would trust either one of them with my passwords, my bank accounts, my life, and my grandkids. They are men of integrity. They are excellent examples of Christ.
But on this issue, which greatly impacted the church gathering for worship, fellowship and Bible studies, they were on opposite sides.
Nothing changed either of their minds.
Both believed they were right.
For months, from hundreds of people, our pastoral team heard all of the following regularly:
Love your neighbor by simply wearing a mask to protect the vulnerable.
God has given you personal responsibility to guard yourself. You can mask up, distance yourself, or stay home without imposing it on me.
Submit to the governing authorities. They are protecting public health for the common good.
The government does not get to dictate how the church gathers or worships.
The secular world should not see Christians acting recklessly, like we do not care if people get COVID.
“Science” is being used to gain power through mandates.
So what do you do when people of genuine integrity read the same Bible, love Jesus, and land on opposite sides of serious issues? Let's turn to Romans 14 and see what we can learn.
CONVICTIONS AND OPINIONS
Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. –Romans 14:1
This may become our favorite verse!
Don't say anything to me about my temper, my gluttony, or my creative tax returns. Accept me as I am. And as long as my conscience is clear, Paul says you've got no business trying to talk me out of it.
Except that's not what Paul is saying.
"What they think is right or wrong" translates a Greek phrase meaning opinions and personal judgments.
Paul is not talking about clear sin, Sermon on the Mount and Ten Commandments type stuff. He is talking about things someone else may have labeled as sin, but really, it’s personal conviction or a debatable interpretation of Scripture.
He is not saying right and wrong are up for grabs. One chapter earlier, he names sexual sin, murder, theft, and coveting without flinching (Romans 13:9). What “they think is right or wrong” refers to a completely different category than the things Scripture actually commands, the stuff we are to hold each other accountable to.
So many times, we take our personal convictions, read them into Scripture, and then make them a Christian litmus test. That happened for a year, as Christians across the country read their convictions about mask mandates into some portion of Scripture and judged other Christians by whether they properly followed or rejected the mandate.
It became such a challenge in our church that I made a video in early 2021 on masks in the context of Romans 14. You can find that four-minute video here.
WEAK BROTHERS AND SISTERS
"Weak in faith" sounds like an insult. But it's not. So Paul paints two pictures of what he means.
For instance, one person believes it's all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. –Romans 14:2
Vegetables. Why would a grown man in Rome decide to live on cabbage and turnips?
Picture a man who spent his life in the temples before becoming a follower of Jesus. In the pagan world, the temple and the meat market were often connected. Animals were sacrificed in pagan temples, dedicated to some god, and a good deal of that meat ended up back in the market, sold for dinner. Everybody knew it (Craig Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary).
Our man stands there, coins in hand, staring at a cut of beef that may have been lying on Jupiter's altar that
very morning, and his stomach turns. His head says, It's just meat. His heart says, You used to bow that.
So he buys vegetables and walks home feeling like he dodged a spiritual bullet.
In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. –Romans 14:5
Now picture a woman. Jewish her whole life. Raised on a calendar that God gave her ancestors. Passover in the spring. Pentecost. The Day of Atonement. Her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather kept these days. For her to stop celebrating them was unthinkable.
Then, in her new faith, she learns Christ saved her by faith, not by the Jewish calendar. She knows and believes it.
But the first spring since she began following Jesus comes. Passover arrives, and she imagines doing none of the Jewish customs around Passover and treating it as an ordinary Christian Tuesday. And the thought of it causes her heart to sink. She would feel unfaithful. This celebration is a thousand years old. Who is she to start ignoring it?
Two Christians with opposite backgrounds. Two different spiritual struggles. One can't shake the pagan altar. The other can't shake the Jewish calendar. Both of them love Jesus. Both of them know better. And neither one can force their history or heart to catch up to Paul's teaching.
Paul says the immature and the mature in faith are to treat one another with care. The honest convictions of the weak and the well-informed opinions of the strong don't get to become rules for the whole church.
WHAT ABOUT US?
Most of us are not in the meat aisle at Kroger asking the butcher if these sirloins come from a cow that was sacrificed in the pagan temple.
But we have our own versions of Romans 14.
Mask Mandates. Vaccine Policies. Political Parties. Alcohol. The expressive words we use. The memes we laugh at. The list is long, and every generation seems to find new ways to turn a personal conviction into a test of Christian faithfulness.
Paul saw it coming. He aimed at both sides in a single sentence.
"So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God." –Romans 14:10
Paul says neither the weak nor the strong believer gets to play judge, because the seat is already taken. Our brothers and sisters answer to God.
Then Paul tells us what we keep forgetting.
"For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." –Romans 14:17
Romans 14 does not say, “Stop caring about holiness.”
It says, stop conflating your convictions with biblical prescriptions.
So here is the question Romans 14 puts in front of us.
Where have I taken something Scripture does not clearly command or forbid and treated it as the obvious Christian position?
And then a second question.
Where has flaunting my freedom made it harder for another believer to follow Jesus?
That is the application.
Before you repost it, repeat it, confront someone about it, or quietly judge someone over it, ask: Is this Scripture, or is this my conviction? Is this sin, or is this my opinion? Am I helping my brother or sister stand before Christ, or am I just trying to win them to my personal conviction?
Here is the takeaway.
Hold Scripture firmly and don’t bend on biblical holiness.
Hold your convictions and opinions honestly while holding your brothers and sisters gently.
"So let's stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall." –Romans 14:13
"So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up." –Romans 14:19
On this side of the new creation, we will not agree on everything Scripture leaves open. We were never asked to. But Paul does call us to meet at the same communion table, worship together, serve each other, and spread the gospel through our unity in Christ.
One table. Many convictions. One Lord.
©2026 Greg McNichols, All rights reserved.
Click here to connect with Greg McNichols - Bio and Links
