Our Responsibilities, Not Our Rights

In commenting on adiaphora, that is, those things that are indifferent or neutral--not inherently good nor bad from Romans 14:13-23, William Barclay writes: "Life must be guided by the principle of love; and when it is, we will think, not so much of our right to do as we like as of our responsibilities to others. We have no right to distress another man's conscience in the things which do not really matter. Christian freedom must never be used as an excuse for rough-riding over the genuine feelings of others."

He continues: "The tragedy is that in so many cases it is little unimportant things which disturb the peace of the brethren, matters of law and procedure and precedent and prestige. A new age would dawn in the Church if we remembered that our rights are far less important than our obligations, if we remembered that, while we possess Christian liberty, it is always an offence to use it as if it conferred upon us the right to grieve the heart and conscience of someone else. Unless a church is a body of people who, in love, consider one another it is not a church at all."

[William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans, Rev. Ed. (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975), 190, 193.]

"O Lord, may we--Your Church, Your body--focus upon our responsibilities to You and to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and not our 'rights'. Help us by Your Holy Spirit to love one another and so fulfill the law of Christ. Then, and only then, will we experience true freedom, genuine liberty. In Jesus' strong name. Amen."