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February 9, 2026
Dear Brethren,
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are guided strictly by the Scriptures—and thus called upon to defend those Scriptures. This is all part of contending for the faith once delivered (Jude 3). Sadly, Protestants are among the worst offenders when it comes to violating Scripture. Any time you get into a serious discussion with a Protestant over the Law of God, they invariably paint themselves into a corner. Ultimately, they are forced to admit that they have no real issue with God’s Law—until it comes, as it always does, to Sabbath-keeping and God’s food laws. Those are the key stumbling blocks for mainstream “Christians.” Why? Because, as Paul shows, they have never yielded themselves to God’s authority. They are simply not converted—their carnality is still fully intact. Thus, they are “at odds” with God and His laws—for “the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God” (Rom. 8:7)—because it refuses to be in subjection.
Consequently, Protestants will go to great lengths to discredit Sabbath-keeping and the laws concerning clean and unclean meats. Overwhelmingly, they turn to Romans 14, cherry-pick a couple of passages, pull them totally out of context, and say, “See! There it is!”
Thus, it is vital that we understand this complex chapter. With that in mind, this month’s letter will focus entirely on Romans 14, particularly as it is abused by Protestants. Included are a short paper and a sermon transcript on Romans 14. We hope you will find them helpful.
Brethren, thank you for your dedication to God’s Word—for allowing the Scriptures to find fertile ground in your hearts and minds. We pray for you every day—for God’s blessings and protection. We thank you for your tithes and offerings. We pray that God will bless you and keep watch over you in all things. May God’s love and grace continue to be upon you.
With love in Christ Jesus,
Fred R. Coulter
FRC
PS: Our program of distributing Bibles and Greek-English Interlinears continues to be a success! And we still have plenty of Bibles and Interlinears left—so feel free to request copies if you can place them into the hands of those who have a sincere desire to study the Scriptures. You can order copies individually or by the box—paperback, 8 in a box; vinyl, 6 in a box; and Interlinears, 4 in a box. Thank you and keep up the good work!
Romans 14
Pursuing Peace in the Body of Christ
Romans 14 ranks high on Protestantism’s list of gotcha texts used to “prove” that the seventh-day Sabbath is no longer required to be kept by Christians. They also use Romans 14 to “prove” that the “archaic” laws of clean and unclean meats are obsolete. They quote verse 5—“One man esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind”—and say, “See, there it is! Clear as day! Christians have the freedom in Jesus to choose what day we want to worship on. We just need to be ‘fully persuaded’ in our own minds!” Then there’s verse 14: “I know, and I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him who esteems anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean”—which also means that if anything is esteemed to be clean, then, for you, it is clean!
But do these texts actually say this? Not at all. The fact is, in this chapter the Sabbath and food laws are not only not mentioned, they are not even on Paul’s radar!
People make three critical mistakes when approaching Romans 14. First, they ignore the context, isolating individual passages to “prove” their point. Yes, in isolation verse 5 does seem to say that whatever day you prefer is the day you should observe—which is taken to mean you are free to ditch the Sabbath and honor Sunday instead. And verse 14 does seem to imply that whatever foods one considers to be clean—well, they’re clean! It’s just a matter of personal choice, right?
But when the context is taken into consideration, it becomes obvious that these passages mean something altogether different.
Mistake number two: not looking closely at the actual Greek (the KJV will mislead you!). As you’ll see, the Greek word typically used to refer to unclean meats is nowhere employed in this text. Rather, a different word is used that has a much different meaning.
Lastly, the third mistake is actually the most critical: taking a biased approach to Romans 14. This means you are not searching for the truth or for understanding; you are looking to prove your preconceived antinomian position that God’s laws are obsolete.
We’ll discuss these three points in detail as we go along.
Understanding Paul’s Intent
So what is Romans 14 all about? The chapter is essentially a call for unity. Paul sums up the chapter with this appeal: “So, we should pursue things that bring peace, things that edify and build up one another” (verse 19). Paul was directing the church at Rome to unite around God’s Word—and not become divided on matters of opinion.
And that is the key point to the context of Romans 14: no doctrine or point of law is being discussed at all. The chapter is all about having personal opinions and letting others have their personal opinions as well—all while getting along. Indeed, Paul emphasizes the need to accept—and not judge—those with whom we differ on matters of opinion. As the passage shows, brethren will have different opinions on certain matters that are beyond what is considered “the faith once delivered” (Jude 3).
So let’s get into the chapter. Verse 1: “Receive the one who is weak in the faith, but not for divisive arguments.” In other words, accept those weak in the faith, but not just so you can debate with them over their opinions. The key is to realize that Paul is dealing with people’s opinions—not points of law or doctrine. These are “disputable” or “debatable” matters. The Sabbath, however, is not an opinion; it is not disputable. Likewise, God’s food laws are not opinions or matters of doubt. Whatever issues Paul is dealing with here are matters of personal opinion on which the Scriptures are silent.
The initial issue is apparently vegetarianism verses eating meat. Verse 2: “Now on the one hand, one believes he may eat all things that are lawful [including clean meats]; but on the other hand, another one, who is [doubtful], eats only vegetables”—is a vegetarian. “The one who eats meat should not [look down on] the one who does not eat [meat]. And the one who [is a vegetarian] should not condemn the one who eats meat, for God has received him. Who are you to be judging another man’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he shall be made to stand because God is able to make him stand.”
The Bible is silent on vegetarianism. It is a personal choice, as is eating meat. Neither are a sin. But, people do have their opinions on the matter. Paul’s point is that these are personal preferences. They do not violate Scripture. So we are not to judge each other on matters that are simple personal choices based on personal opinion. God alone is judge. And if we approach the issue in a godly manner, then God has received both parties.
Verse 5 moves into another area of dispute—or personal preference. Based on the text, the issue here apparently deals with fasting—specifically the day of the week on which a person might choose to fast. This passage could also be dealing with disputes among non-vegetarians as to which day should be dedicated to eating meat. Either way you look at it, the passage is commonly hijacked by Protestants in an attempt to do away with the Sabbath and prove that we as “liberated” Christians can choose whatever day of the week we prefer. Notice:
“While one person regards a particular day as better or more important than other days, others look at every day the same. Each person should be fully convinced in his own mind.” Verse 5 does not yet tell us what Paul is dealing with—other than the idea that some prefer one day over another. Again, personal preference, personal opinion.
But importantly, there is no mention here of the Sabbath or a holy day. You have to “read into” the passage any notion of the Sabbath being discussed. Any attempt to use this verse to annul the Sabbath is completely dishonest with the text and only reflects a preexistent bias.
Verse 6 clarifies things: “So when one prefers a particular day, he does so to the Lord. The one who eats, he eats to the Lord—giving thanks to God for the food. Likewise, the one who is fasting, he does so to the Lord—also giving thanks for the opportunity to fast.”
In Paul’s day, it was common for Jews to fast on one or two specific days of the week (see Luke 18:12). This practice was carried over to some degree into the church—even in Rome. So it is not surprising to see that the issue had become a matter of debate between Jewish Christians and their Gentile brethren. But again, which day (or days) a person preferred for fasting was a personal preference, a personal opinion. Other than the Day of Atonement, the Bible is silent on this matter.
In verses 7-12, Paul again stresses acceptance and tolerance of other people’s opinions or preferences. He emphasizes that we all belong to God—and will all be judged by God. So why, he asks, do we judge one another and treat each other with contempt? (verse 10). In verse 13, he urges us to “stop passing judgment on one another”—and strive to never be a cause of offense to a brother or a sister.
Does Romans 14 Annul the Biblical Food Laws?
Romans 14:14 is a little tricky—and Protestants love to use it to tear down the laws dealing with clean and unclean meats. First, the flawed KJV rendering: “I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” As noted earlier, the term “unclean” is a mistranslation and is thus misleading—making it look like the text is indeed dealing with food laws. However, the Greek term used in the New Testament to refer to unclean foods—akathartos—is not used here. Rather, koinos is used—which is typically rendered as common. The general meaning is something that is common, ordinary, not holy, not set apart by God—or even something ritually defiled.
Here are some examples of how these two Greek works are used. In Acts 10, both words are used in the same passage (verses 14-15): akathartos (unclean) and koinos (common). This proves that they have distinctly different meanings—thus koinos cannot be used to indicate unclean meats. Jesus used the term akathartos in referring to “unclean” spirits (Luke 9:41). In Mark 7:2, Jesus’ disciples are said to have “defiled” (koinos) hands because they ignored the ritual hand washings required by the Pharisees. In Hebrews 10:29, the writer refers to apostates who considered the blood of Christ an “unholy” (koinos) thing (KJV). William Tyndale—often referred to as the “Father of all English Bibles”—translated koinos as “common” throughout his New Testament (the single exception being Hebrews 10:29, where he used unholy).
The Greek koinos is also used to refer to things people have “in common”—such as in Jude 3, referring to our “common salvation.” In Acts 2:44, the church is said to have all things “in common” (koinos).
As these examples show, the word koinos is never used to refer to unclean foods, but can refer to someone or something as being common, unholy, or ceremonially defiled. Thus, it is completely incorrect for translators to render koinos as “unclean” in Romans 14:14.
A better rendering of Romans 14:14 would be: “I understand and I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is common or defiled in and of itself. However, if a person believes something to be common or defiled, to that person it is common or defiled.” This verse has nothing directly to do with clean and unclean meats. Indeed, God has already clearly defined what is clean and unclean in terms of food (Lev. 11).
Remember, it was common for pagans to sacrifice even biblically clean meats as part of their religious rituals. A portion of this meat was often sold later, so a Christian might easily—even unknowingly—buy such meat in the marketplace. For some, this was no big deal. They understood that the idol was nothing, that the meat was fine to use. On the other hand, some who were “weak” in the faith would never knowingly buy or eat such meat and would consider the meat to be “defiled”—even though it was biblically clean (see I Cor. 8 and 10).
So here is the crux of the verse: If you are convinced that something is actually defiled, then to you it is defiled—and, for the sake of your conscience, you must act accordingly. Again, there is absolutely nothing in this passage that even remotely relaxes God’s restrictions on clean and unclean meats. The passage is ultimately about not defiling your own conscience.
This ties in with verses 22-23: “Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats [meat] because his eating is not of faith; for everything that is not of faith, is sin.” Again, nothing here on unclean meats. But the idea here is that if you have doubts about eating meat—whether meat in general or because you are concerned that the meat might have been sacrificed to an idol—you must not eat of it.
You must not go against your conscience, but live according to your convictions. The following translation is helpful: “Your personal convictions on eating (or not eating) biblically clean meats are a matter of faith between you and God—and it is good if you have no qualms about the matter. But if you eat meat with a guilty conscience, you have done wrong—because your actions are not according to your faith. And when we act apart from our faith, we sin.”
Throughout Romans 14, Paul is intensely focused on not being a source of offense. As we have seen, this might happen as a result of judging a brother’s personal preferences—thus putting your opinion ahead of another’s opinion. Not doctrines, not matters of law—opinions. So he finishes the chapter admonishing us to avoid such offenses and strive for peace in the church. He continues: “But if, because of [your eating or not eating] meat, your brother is offended, you are no longer walking according to love. With your [dietary preferences], do not destroy the one for whom Christ died…. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking; rather, it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
So, “do not destroy the work of God” for the sake of your dietary choices or opinions. Indeed, “it is an evil thing for someone to cause an occasion of stumbling through his [dietary choices]. It is better not to eat meat, or drink wine, or [do] anything else by which your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak” (verses 15-21).
To repeat verse 19: “We should pursue things that bring peace, things that edify and build up one another.”
Why do so many take a biased approach to Romans 14? Because they have never been humbled, have never come to yield themselves to God’s will. Thus, as Paul says in Romans 8:7, they are yet carnal, quite at odds with God’s Law.—by Philip Neal
The following is a transcript of a sermon given by Fred Coulter on January 17 of this year.
The Proper Understanding of Romans 14
Common vs. Unclean
Today, we’re going to carefully examine Romans 14 and that will be in relationship to the Sabbath and clean and unclean meats. We’re also going to examine and see what God says. We will find that most of the translators of the New Testament hate the Laws of God, and especially despise the Sabbath. That is true with all Protestants and Catholics.
They think that there’s a place in Rom. 14 that 1) allows them to choose any day they want as the Sabbath; and 2) allows them to eat any kind of unclean meats or foods that they desire.
Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things...”
Let’s think about that for a minute. Above everything that there is the human heart is deceitful. You might say, ‘I’m a good person.’ You may think you’re a good person, and in the world you may be looked upon as a good person. But…what do you really think? Let’s look at it another way:
How many lies do you believe and practice? When was the last time you lied to yourself?
Then the rest of Jer. 17:9 says: “and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
That’s hard for people to grasp, but if you’re watching any of the news, all you have to do is see what’s going on in Minneapolis—just that one place! You see the carnal mind going crazy under the inspiration of Satan the devil, because there is a Satan the devil, but a lot of people don’t believe that there is.
First of all, what did Jesus say? Let’s look at the Laws of God—because the carnal mind, as we will see, is not subject to the Laws of God, and neither indeed can be!
What happens when people first get a Bible? They look upon it as an ordinary book, and they try to understand it 1) from human education and philosophy and 2) from their carnal mind and their evil wickedness.
They don’t like to think they’re evil and wicked, but I’ll show you that in Romans 14 all of the translators in the 26 Translations of the New Testament are liars! And they know it! But when you come to that point, you think you’re greater than God.
Now, stop and think about this a minute. If you read something in the Bible, let’s just take the Ten Commandments, and you don’t like the Commandment that says, ‘you shall not commit adultery,’ you will say, ‘God is not fair.’
Are you right? or Is God right?
Just take that one commandment; look at all the trouble that all mankind goes through in everything because of adultery and various forms of sexual perversions.
Has it produced good? Has it helped people become more loving? Has it helped people become more kind? Or, has it made them more deceitful and hateful?
I’ll let you be the judge, and you just look around and see!
Matt. 5–-this is what the Protestants and Catholics do not like to read!
They like to claim the name of Jesus; they like to praise God for His grace; they like to say that His love is unconditional, when it’s very conditional.
So, they have set themselves up as ‘God’ to judge the Word of God, which means you’re judging God. So, they don’t like to read certain parts of the Bible because they disagree with it. But God doesn’t! The only way to approach the Word of God is this:
The Word of God is truth and life and every word is God inspired or God breathed! Meaning that the power and force of God and His righteousness is behind every word that He has inspired His servants to write—whether it be Moses, the prophets, the apostles, or for those of us today, living in the world. How do we live our lives?
God has a lot to say about what you think. That’s important because we all think, don’t we? We all talk to ourselves, don’t we? Yeah, we do!
Sometimes good, sometimes not so good; sometimes an outright lie, sometimes the truth.
But, what is the measurement of right and wrong and good and evil?
What anyone thinks is what the world believes, but that’s not what Jesus said!
Here’s this section of Scriptures that the Protestants and the Catholics will not agree to or believe, but they will say the famous words: • Yeah, but… • I think…. • I believe…
Let’s see what Jesus said: Matthew 5:17: “Do not think...” That means:
• don’t let it enter your mind • don’t entertain the thought
Let’s go back to Matt. 4:4, where we can see what Jesus said when He was tempted by the devil.
Matthew 4:4: “It is written”
That’s the first thing we need to understand! God is so great that He has given His Word in print, and also digitally, so that you can have all of it. Now, wrap your mind around that! Is there any other book, any other writings by men that can even come close to that? In almost every known language that people speak wherever they are on the earth!
Now then, let’s see what Jesus said when the devil was only trying to “help Him out.” I mean, if you hadn’t eaten anything or drunk any water for 40 days and 40 nights, you’re just an emaciated skeleton of a person with skin hanging on your bones. So, the devil was only trying to be good. First lesson: Satan comes to you with good, with pleasure!
Verse 3: “And when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ ”
Now, you’re hungry—but “IF you’re the son of God, you can do it!” Just think what it would smell like while you’re making it into bread. Hot! Delicious! Just all ready to go. I don’t know if he said, ‘I’ll have a little butter here for you, as well’; whatever.
Here is Jesus’ answer, and this ties in with Matt. 5 where we’re reading.
“It is written” (v 4). God has it written down! So… you can’t say you don’t know and you can’t say you can’t find out. Because you have it! IF you don’t have it, you can find it quickly.
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’ ” (v 4).
You need bread, don’t you? You need all kinds of food, don’t you? But is that really life?
No, it isn’t!—“but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (v 4).
Do you believe that? Because that’s where you have to start! You can’t start where you want to start; or where you think you can start. You have to start with what God has said, and what God has had written down!
Let’s read about our thoughts. What are we to think? Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked...”
I would say that’s the best description of Minneapolis, Minnesota today!
Matthew 5:17: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets...”
Think on that! He said He didn’t come to do that! What’s one of the major tenets of Protestantism and Catholicism?
• Jesus came to change the Law • Jesus came to make the Old Testament obsolete
• Jesus came so that we might have grace
That’s a true statement! But, is grace all He came to bring? Does grace give you the privilege and the authority to be lawless?
“I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill” (v 17).
[Fulfill] in the Greek means to complete; that means to fulfill all of the prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming of Jesus the Messiah. To fulfill every one of them, and there are many.
Now, let’s look at something that is absolutely sure and true:
Verse 18: “For truly I say to you”—or in truth I’m speaking to you in written word, however you read it, whether it’s on your digital apparatus or whether it’s in the Bible (the book). “For truly I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall pass away...”
Have we reached that point? No! The heavens are still there. The earth and the whole solar system is still here, and they’re still working. There’s day, there’s night, there’s heat, there’s cold, there’s light, there’s darkness—“until the heaven and the earth shall pass away…” (v 18).
What more proof do you need that some of the things you are told by religious leaders and some of the translations, especially Rom. 14—we’ll cover a little later—are absolutely lying translations! But whole denominations believe those lying translations!
Let’s talk just a little bit about someone who handles the Word of God. The Bible instructs us we are to handle the Word of God in Truth and in Righteousness and with understanding that God gives. Because all of it has come from God, He’s thought of it before we ever existed. We have absolutely no power or authority to tell God what to do! Or to tell God that you know more than He does! We’ve got a whole book of that in the Old Testament called the book of Job.
That’s quite a book. If you read it, you probably won’t understand it, because Job was a good man. But Job didn’t give God the credit, and he said that he was as good as God, until God personally spoke to him. Then he understood!
“...until the heaven and the earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled” (v 18).
Stop and think for a minute on this. In the Faithful Version of the Bible, we’ve got an Appendix which covers “Old Testament and New Testament.”[Appendix I: A Comparison Between the Old and New Covenants]
• there’s still a temple that’s in heaven above
• there are still the Laws of God because Jesus said they wouldn’t be abolished
• the animal sacrifices have been replaced with the sacrifice of Christ
That’s a higher level! Everything in the New Testament raises everything in the Word of God before the coming of the New Testament to a higher spiritual level! It started with Jesus Who said He would complete it.
Now, notice what else Jesus says … about the opinions of men and about the opinions of scholars.
Verse 19: “Therefore, whoever…” What does that word mean? Anyone—you, me—anyone. It doesn’t excuse anybody: No president, no king, no pope, no potentate, no scholar!
“Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least Commandments”—now, think about that!
We’re going to look at that a little later, about the Commandments of God. That’s why I’ve said how many times recently, study all of Psa. 119—22 sections of 8 verses each.
The least Commandment. What is the least Commandment? Well, if you’re looking at ten of them, the ninth one may appear least, because it says, ‘You shall not bear false witness.’ But you lie to yourself and you lie to others. Then it says, ‘You shall not covet’ anything of your neighbors. So, think about it; that’s pretty binding.
Now notice, if you think you can get away with teaching the wrong thing, and if you think you can get away with saying: “this is not important”or “this is not what the Bible says” … when you’re lying!
“and shall teach men so” (v 19).
Now, we’re going to have a conference here tomorrow for the elders in Christian Biblical Church of God. All of them: • love God • keep His Commandments • teach people to keep the Commandments
But what happens IF you don’t? You “shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven” (v 19). It doesn’t say, “you’ll be there”! Least means less than nothing!
“but whoever shall practice” (v 19)
Now that’s interesting, isn’t it? Practice! What does that mean? That means habitually do, day in, day out, all the time. The Commandments of God—remember the Commandments and the Prophets.
“but whoever shall practice and teach them, this one shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven” (v 19).
Not great on the earth. See, the ultimate goal is to arrive at Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, as Matthew wrote here.
Because Jesus was confronted with all of the Pharisees and all of the Pharisaical laws—which we’ll touch on some of those in a little bit—and they thought that if they made laws, they could make laws that are so good and so binding that God had to keep them! Now that’s an amazing thing to contemplate!
Verse 20: “For I say to you, unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees…”
They think that they know it all. I’ve got a whole book up here called Code of Jewish Law by Ganzfried & Goldin. We also have a book: Judaism: Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men?We’ve got a series on Church at Home: Judaism. I invite you to go to churchathome.org and watch the whole series. I want you to especially watch where it talks about hand washing.
You will see that none of those laws have anything to do with what God commands. But rather laws and injunctions of men that they want God to recognize as good and great. Well, they’re not! Now notice what he says concerning that kind of righteousness.
“there is no way [think about it] that you shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (v 20).
What about all of these Protestants that say ‘once saved, always saved,’ and under grace ‘we can do anything we want to do’ and ‘the grace of God covers everything because God loves us unconditionally.’
Really? Are you not making yourself greater than God? Think about that! Because…
• you’re not going to go to heaven, and • you’re not going to enter into the Kingdom of God!
Now we’re going to do a little study on the one day the Protestants hate, the seventh-day Sabbath!
Go to the Ten Commandments and what do you find for the fourth commandment? All of them are binding, because Jesus said they were. What was God’s command concerning the Sabbath? The Protestants and Catholics believe that it should read:
• forget the Sabbath, for it’s of no value. • we have something better, we have Sunday
…yet never telling you that sun-worship is a sin!
Mark 2–-we’ll look at the very words of Jesus concerning the Sabbath.
Mark 2:23: “Now, it came to pass that He went through the grain fields on the Sabbaths [He had did this more than once!] and as His disciples made their way through the fields, they were picking and eating the grain.”
Have you ever done that? Tastes pretty good! Verse 24: “Then the Pharisees said to Him, ‘Look at them! Why are they doing that which is not lawful on the Sabbaths?’ ”
Were they harvesting? No, they were hungry and plucking a little something to eat!
Verse 25: “And He said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he was hungry and in need of food, he and those with him? How in the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered into the house of God and he ate the showbread, which it is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?’” (vs 25-26).
Well, the bread that was there was only holy for a certain period of time. It wasn’t holy after that. That’s why he could eat it. Now notice what Jesus said concerning the Sabbath, because it tied into the creation. Jesus said that “heaven and earth shall pass before anything’s done away.”
Verse 27: “And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man”—on account of man, because man needs rest. Not only rest, man needs to be in contact with God.
On the first Sabbath (Gen. 2) God put his presence there with Adam and Eve to show that every Sabbath God’s presence is going to be in that day—perpetually from that time on!
But people don’t look at it that way. That’s why He made it. And the Commandment is: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. For in six days God made the heavens and the earth and rested on the seventh-day.” Therefore the Sabbath day is holy. That’s the 4th Commandment!
For those of you who despise the Sabbath or think any other day can replace the Sabbath, what are you going to do with that? God made it the seventh-day. He sanctified it by putting His presence in it. He said to remember and keep it. We’ll look at some of their arguments a little bit later.
Verse 27: “And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; therefore, the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath’ ” (vs 27-28).
Now that’s interesting because that’s in the accusative, which means He owns it!
Let’s come back here for a little lesson in the Old Testament to understand who owns what.
Leviticus 23. Now, we’ve been there many times, especially because there is not only the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, there are also annual Sabbaths!
Remember what Jesus said: “Not one jot or tittle shall in any way pass from the Law.”
Leviticus 23:1: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, “Concerning the appointed Feasts of the Lord….” ’ ” (vs 1-2)—accusative; He owns them!
Maybe there are a lot of people out there who have never heard of them, but they are there. You get our book, God’s Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days. You want a good in-depth study? You go through that, a thousand pages. That’ll take you through the Sabbath and all the Holy Days.
“Concerning the appointed Feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations, even these are My appointed Feasts” (v 2). Then He emphasizes the Sabbath again.
Why am I going through all of this in a very laborious way? Because everything out there in the world is upside down and backwards! Everything of interpreting the Bible—by Sunday-keepers, Catholics and scholars—they reject what the Bible tells us.
Matthew 11:25 “At that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent….’ ”
How does God do that? By letting them think with their own carnal mind! They can have the Bible right in front of them; they can read it and they still deny it!
“and have revealed them to babes” (v 25).
That means, compared to God, we’re like infants! But we’re to grow in grace and knowledge with the Word of God and the Spirit of God!
Verse 26: “Yes, Father, for it was well pleasing in Your sight to do this. All things were delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son personally chooses to reveal Him” (vs 26-27).
Conversion is a special intervention of God in your life!
Verse 28: “Come to Me...”
Now, let me just interject here. You’ll see this all the time: Franklin Graham or some other minister coming on with an advertisement. Just pray this little prayer and ‘ask Jesus to come into your heart and you’ll be saved.’ I saw that four times yesterday. Listen! Here is a truth you need to understand right here: God can call you, but God does not come to you. You come to God!
Let’s see the kind of repentance God wants. He doesn’t want a stupid, simple, little prayer that is meaningless and virtually a lie. Here’s what God wants:
Isa. 55—this is how we are to come to God. We don’t come to God and say, ‘God, how great I am.’ We come to God and we say, ‘O Lord God, forgive us our sins.’ That’s the first thing we ask for! Jesus said, ‘All of you come to Me.’
• you got problems • you got difficulties • you have sins
• you have things that you don’t know what to do
Here’s how you come to God—it is a moving experience mentally, emotionally, and physically, because you’re coming before your Creator! But here’s what you have to do:
Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near [God can be near or far off]…. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts [that’s how you come to Christ; that’s it right there] and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (vs 6-7).
Verse 8 is important, because God wants you to begin to think with His Word and with His truth, because this is the only way that you can have a sound mind! Do you understand that? That’s why there’s: • repentance. • baptism. • the receiving of the Holy Spirit
Because you need to have the mind of Christ! That’s the whole purpose of being a true Christian, and that’s having the Word of God in your mind:
• so you think with the Word of God
• so you understand with the Word of God
• so you discipline yourself with the Word of God
• so you correct yourself with the Word of God and the Spirit of God
That’s what it all means: ‘Come to me, you who are heavy laden.’
Verse 8: “ ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’ ” That’s how you come to God!
Matt. 11—here is one of the most ridiculous interpretations by Protestants. Maybe Catholics, as well:
Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are overly burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Do you know what they say? Jesus is my Sabbath! I keep the Sabbath because Jesus keeps it for me! What did Jesus say about doing and practicing? Blessed is the one who does and practices!
“I will give you rest” (v 28). Learn from Me!
What kind of rest is that? That is relief from the problem. That is NOT the Sabbath being kept by Jesus on your behalf! That’s an impossibility!
“Come to me … and I will give you rest.” This is not the rest of Sabbath! This is rest from the turmoil and trouble—mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually—that you were going through. Today there are a lot of people in that condition.
Verse 29: “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me.”
• study the words of God. • study the Gospels that you have: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
“for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you shall find rest [relief] for your souls” (v 29).
Let’s cover Heb. 4, because here’s where they go to claim that Christ keeps it for you!
We’ll get through this as quickly as possible, then into Rom. 14, because it becomes very important to understand all the particulars of Rom. 14. That’s the one that is used by the Catholics and the Protestants to say that they can keep Sunday and you can choose any day you want.
Hebrews 4:4: “For He [Jesus] spoke in a certain place about the seventh day in this manner: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.’ ”
Verse 7 again, He marks out a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying in David after so long a time … [this is referring to the Sabbath]. “Today, IF you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
That’s a very interesting statement for today, because how many people have hard hearts toward the Sabbath?
Verse 8: “For if Joshua had given them rest…”
In other words, IF it was fulfilled by them getting into the Holy Land and there was no need to keep the Sabbath—“He would not have spoken long afterwards of another day” (v 8).
That is not a different day of the week, but the regular Sabbath Day.
Verse 9: “There remains, therefore, Sabbath-keeping [the Greek is sabbatismos—which means keeping of the Sabbath] for the people of God.”
Not for the Jews, but for the people of God! Who are the people of God? Those who have repented, been baptized, received the Holy Spirit, and are keeping the Commandments of God as we find in:
Revelation 14:12: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are the ones who keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
That tells us that you have to have faith in order to keep the Commandments. IF you don’t keep the Commandments, you have no faith, you have no belief!
Rom. 14—I’m going to read from the King James, because this will help us to understand the problem that’s going on, and what is the correct translation.
We’ve got here a new transcript book: Romans 14, A Faithful Version Compared to Twenty-Six other Bible Translations. And I will add one more, and I will add to it the translation by William Tyndale, done 500 years ago, correctly.
Romans 14:1 (KJV): “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things...” (vs 1-2). Not correct!
Wherever you see “all things” you will see that they are not correct. That does not mean that you can do anything you want. That doesn’t mean you can reject the Commandments of God.
I Cor. 10:25—this is the first lesson that Dr. Dorothy taught us in the Greek class. Here’s the proper translation of it, but it says straight in Greek, ‘all things are lawful.’ NO! That doesn’t mean sin is now lawful. That means all lawful things are lawful, that you can do.
I Corinthians 10:25: “Every lawful thing that is sold in the market you may eat, without asking questions for the sake of conscience.”
So, all lawful things are lawful. That’s what it means. Not everything is lawful, whatever you decide.
Verse 21: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and the table of demons. Now do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? All things that are lawful are permitted to me, but not allthings that are permitted are profitable. All things that are lawful are permitted to me, but all things that are permitted do not edify” (vs 21-23).
It doesn’t mean anything that you think is lawful—but that’s the lie that is told.
Romans 14:1 (KJV): “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things…” (vs 1-2).
That can only mean all lawful things! That does not mean you can eat unclean things. Who gave the law of clean and unclean meats? God did!
Verse 2: “For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs [just like the things sold at the market, you could eat]. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another…” (vs 2-5).
‘Esteem’ does not mean keep. It means ‘thinks that one day is more proper than another.’ Has nothing to do with worship. It has to do, as we will see, eating meats or not eating meats.
Verse 5: “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”
That has nothing to do with Sabbath-keeping or Sunday-keeping. This has to do with on which day would they eat meat or not.
Verse 6: “He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.”
Now, let’s read on here a little bit more, where the great mistranslation comes in. Here’s where they say you can eat unclean meats:
Verse 14: “I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.”
What does that mean? Does that mean you can eat unclean meats? No!
Because the word translated unclean doesn’t mean unclean in the Greek. It means common!
Now, let’s get the difference between common and unclean as was used by Peter, when he comes to Cornelius (Acts 10). Now, we will see the law of the Jews entering in here.
Peter had this vision about eating unclean things. He was up on top of the roof of the house, flat roof, and he was hungry. He had a vision come to him. Acts 10:3: “He clearly saw in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, ‘Cornelius.’ ”
Peter had this vision, and he wondered what it was; he didn’t know what was taking place.
Verse 10: “And he became very hungry and desired to eat. But while they were preparing the meal, a trance fell upon him; and he saw the heaven opened; and a certain vessel descended upon him, like a great sheet, bound by the four corners and let down upon the earth; in which were all the four-footed beasts of the earth, including the wild beasts, and the creeping things and the birds of heaven. Then a voice came to him, saying, ‘Arise, Peter, kill and eat’ ” (vs 10-13).
Verse 14: “But Peter said, ‘In no way, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.’ And a voice came again the second time to him, saying, ‘What God has cleansed, you are not to call common’ ” (vs 14-15).
Common in the Greek is koinos. Like in Acts 4, they had all things in common. Jude 3 writes of the common salvation.
Unclean is an entirely different word. Unclean is akathartos.So, he said that he didn’t eat anything common or unclean. Now, this happens several times.
Acts 10:15: “And a voice came again the second time to him, saying, ‘What God has cleansed, you are not to call common.’ ”
Now, it’s interesting. We know that the men came from Cornelius, because God gave a vision to Cornelius, sent in an angel, and saying, ‘Go get Peter.’
Verse 22: “And they said, ‘Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one who fears God, and who has a good report by the whole nation of the Jews, was Divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house, and to listen to words from you.’ ”
Verse 23: “Then he called them in to lodge there. And on the next day Peter went with them, and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And on the next day, they came to Caesarea. Now, Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his kinsmen and his intimate friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet, worshiping him” (vs 23-25).
Hail, the first pope! NO!What did Peter say?
Verse 26:“But Peter raised him up, saying, ‘Stand up, for I myself am also a man.’ And as he was talking with him, he went in and found many gathered together. And he said to them...” (vs 26-28).
Here is the key. Right here. Because the two words, common–-‘koinos’–-and unclean–-‘akathartos.’
Verse 26:“But Peter raised him [Cornelius] up, saying, ‘Stand up, for I myself am also a man.’ And as he was talking with him, he went in and found many gathered together. And he said to them, ‘You know that it is unlawful for a man who is a Jew to associate with or come near to anyone of another race. But God has shown me that no man should be called common OR unclean’ ” (vs 26-28).
Two different categories! In Judaism, the category was this: A Gentile who was circumcised could enter into the synagogue and go to where the Gentiles would sit, he was common. An uncircumcised Gentile could not enter into the synagogue, nor could Jews have anything to do with intimate relationships with Gentiles, because they were common or unclean.
Now, when we come to Rom. 14, the translators deliberately did not translate koinos as common—rather, they deliberately translated it as unclean, which is not correct! Both words are used there.
In Acts 4, when they were sharing everything, they had all things in common–-‘koinos.’
Here’s another thing that’s important in Mark 7. I did not have this correct in the Faithful Version until I went over it again. But here in Mark 7 we find this—about washing hands.
Mark 7:2: “And when they saw some of His disciples eating with common hands”—koinos—theirhands were not washed! Therefore, their hands were considered common; that’s what it should read, not “defiled”!
William Tyndale has ‘koinos’ correctly translated as common! But the translators today in 26 other translations translate ‘koinos’ as unclean, which is incorrect. They had common hands, and they had many other traditions.
Now let’s come back here to the King James Version and then we’ll get to the Faithful Version translation.
Rom. 14:14 (KJV)–-here is a verse that does a lot of destruction, because they deliberately mistranslate it! ‘Koinos’ means common. Anything that was sacrificed at a pagan temple, a clean animal, could be considered common. That’s what Paul is telling them. Not unclean!
Romans 14:14 (KJV): “I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself….” Incorrect! Deliberately in all 26 translations! I’ve checked them all!
“but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean” (v 14).
This has nothing to do with clean or unclean meats! It has to do with whether it is common or not!
Verse 15: “But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of: For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost [Spirit]” (vs 15-17).
The whole thing has to do with eating meat or not eating meat. Now, let me read the whole thing in the Faithful Version. If you want a copy of this, we’ll have it online.
Romans 14:1 (FV)–-correctly translated all the way through: “Receive the one who is weak in the faith, but not for divisive arguments. Now on the one hand, one believes he may eat all things that are lawful, but on the other hand...” (vs 1-2).
That’s special in the Greek; there are two phrases: • on the one hand, and • on the other hand
It was not translated that way in other translations, which it should have been!
Verse 2: “Now on the one hand, one believes he may eat all things that are lawful...”
Because we have the phrase “all things”—that doesn’t mean sin. It can only mean lawful things!
“but on the other hand, another one, who is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats meat should not despise the one who does not eat it. And the one who does not eat meat should not condemn the one who eats it, for God has received him” (vs 2-3).
Verse 4: “Who are you to be judging another man’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he shall be made to stand because God is able to make him stand.”
Again, “on the one hand, someone may prefer one day above another day for eating meat”(vs 4-5)—not for a day of worship! Because that could mean you could meet on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, whatever day you think, and that’s the way that they teach it! But this is the correct translation,
“but on the other hand, another may hold every day to be alike” (v 5)–that is for eating; not for observing!
The word ‘prefer’ comes from think; it doesn’t come from observe. These translations say observe—which is not correct!
Verse 6: “The one who regards the day in his eating is regarding it to the Lord; and the one who does not regard the day is not regarding it to the Lord [that means he’s not eating meat]. The one who eats meat is eating to the Lord because he gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat meat is abstaining to the Lord, and is giving thanks to God”–eating vegetables!
Verse 7: “For no one among us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we should live unto the Lord; and if we die, we should die unto the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. It is for this very purpose that Christ both died and rose and is living again, so that He might be Lord over both the dead and the living” (vs 7-9).
Verse 10: “Now then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, because it is written, ‘For as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then, each one of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore, we should no longer judge one another, but judge this instead: Do not put an occasion of stumbling or a cause of offense before your brother” (vs 10-13).
• whether you eat meat or not
• whether you eat meat on a certain day or not
• whether you consider every day alike because you’re a vegetarian
That’s just for eating; it has nothing to do with the Sabbath; nothing to do with unclean foods.
Verse 14: “I understand and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is common of itself”
What did Peter say? Call no man common or unclean! Common is ‘koinos’ and has nothing to do with uncleanness. But they translate it unclean in every one of the translations! This is a part of the Bible that the Protestants use to say that:
• they can observe any day they want
• they can keep Sunday or whatever
• they can eat any unclean food because there’s nothing unclean of itself
That’s not what it means! Nothing is ‘common’ not unclean!
“nothing is common of itself, except to the one who regards anything to be common—to that one it is common. But if, because of meat [there it is, eating meat or not eating meat] your brother is offended, you are no longer walking according to love. With your meat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. Therefore, do not let your good be evil spoken of. For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking; rather, it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (vs 14-17).
Now, here is the summary where he sums it all up. This is why it is such a terrible thing that they take the word ‘koinos’ and deliberately mistranslate it—yet every single lexicon states that the word ‘koinos’ means common. Then they add the other thing of defiled or unclean.
But ‘koinos’ is never used as unclean! It is only used as common and should be translated that way!
Verse 20: “Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of meat [for the various ones that are converted]. All things that are lawful are indeed pure”—not all things with no definition are pure!
Is poison pure? Well, it may be pure poison to kill you! This is what it’s all about.
“All things that are lawful are indeed pure; but it is an evil thing for someone to cause an occasion of stumbling through his eating. It is better not to eat meat, or drink wine, or anything else by which your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak” (vs 20-21).
• nothing to do with clean or unclean meats; only to do with that which is common
• nothing to do with observing Sunday or any other day
But … only on which day to eat meat that the person decides to eat it!
So, this is one of the reasons why the Faithful Version is more helpful to you than any other. I’ve gone through all 26 versions, plus the one from William Tyndale. And Tyndale was not polluted with all of the suppositions that we have today.
And everywhere ‘koinos’ is used, it is common!
Verse 22: “Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not of faith; for everything that is not of faith is sin” (vs 22-23).
Let’s come to the book of Jude where the word koinos is used. It is impossible to translate here in Jude 3 koinos as unclean.
Jude 1: “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to the called saints, sanctified by God the Father and kept in Jesus Christ: Mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, when personally exerting all my diligence to write to you concerning the common [koinos] salvation…” (vs 1-3).
Could you translate that as ‘unclean’ salvation? Is not salvation clean?
Koinos has nothing to do with clean or unclean! It has to do with common or shared! So, this verse is really quite important:
“the common salvation [notice what he wrote], I was compelled to write to you, exhorting you to ferventlyfight for the faith, which once for all time has been delivered to the saints. For certain men have stealthily crept in, those who long ago have been written about, condemning them to thisjudgment. They are ungodly men who are perverting the grace of our God, turning it into licentiousness, and are personally denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (vs 3-4).
So you see the proper translation of ‘koinos’ is common. In Acts 4 they had all things in ‘koinos’–common! That which is sold in the market is common. That which is by declaration of God as unclean is unclean!
So I was quite astounded in just going through all of all of this. I had Hiedi Vogele work up this special comparison from Joseph Ackerman’s book on comparing 22 New Testament translations. But they all they all translate the word which means to esteem or regard, as observe—you can observe any day you want, but that’s not true.
So, the Faithful Version is a proper translation and understanding of Rom. 14. It has to do with eating meat or eating vegetables. Not eating meat or that which is considered common.
• nothing to do with clean or unclean meats
• nothing to do with Sabbath-keeping or any other day
[Editor’s note: The Faithful Version has been updated (on line) to reflect this better understanding. Mark 7:2 now reads “common hands” instead of “defiled hands.” Likewise, Hebrews 10:29, which used to read “unholy thing” now says “common thing.” These changes will be added to the next printed edition and reflect a better understanding of the Greek koinos.]
Always remember this: When in doubt, no man can tell God what to do! That’s the whole key! That’s why Jesus said that ‘we practice and do the Law’—and you will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
I just might mention this, in the book by Charlie Kirk. Right after he says that he is a Saturday Sabbath-keeper. Then almost immediately after that it jumps in to Rom. 14 with the awful translation that it’s any day, which destroys his statement concerning the Sabbath!
Now there may be a debate whether he actually wrote that or whether that was put there; doesn’t make any difference—it’s in the book, so there it is.
We have to understand what the truth is in Rom. 14, as found in the Faithful Version, which is absolutely correct!
The only other one who has koinos correct all the way through is William Tyndale, which he translated 500 years ago.
End of sermon.
All Scriptures are from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except as noted).
