I love this chapter because it addresses the very problem with so many Christians. In fact this is a problem with not just Believers but Unbelievers as well. It is the issue of passing judgment on one another. Unbelievers would do well to heed this advice from the Apostle Paul.......it may improve your relationships!
The Apostle Paul writes that Believers are to accept one another without condemnation for personal convictions. We have no right to judge others on such issues, for they are matters of conscience, to be settled between the individual and the Lord. Believers must then stop passing judgement on one another. Instead each person needs to be sensitive to how his or her choices affect others and choose to do those things which lead to peace and to mutual edification. In this way we protect each person's conscience and the quality of his or her personal relationship with God.
In the first verse, it is essentially saying that we are to accept one another. The Greek word....paralambano......is a powerful relational term. It means to welcome, as with open heart and arms, eager and ready to share all of life. This is the kind of love we own one another in Christ. When we pass judgment on one another, it means we determine, on the basis of our own beliefs and convictions that another person is sinning. However, when a person engages in sin, we are not passing judgment to call that act sin, but rather agreeing with God. It's important to have that distinction clearly in mind. Neither individual or congregation has any right to pass judgment.
When we judge others, we are clearly "looking down" on others. The problem with this is that it distorts relationships and keeps us from extending and receiving ministry and love from one another. It is our relationships that God cares about, not whether we eat meat or only vegetables or dot all our I's and cross all of our T's.
When the Apostle Paul talks about the strong and weak in verse 2, they both are to be accepted. Surprising to many, it is the "weak" faith that has problems with the freedoms that others with a stronger faith enjoy! Strong faith realizes that spirituality is not a matter of do's and don'ts, but of loving and serving God while enjoying His good gifts.
Christ is Lord........all people are accountable to Him (Romans Chapter 1). Verses 5-9 affirms the essential truth that we are all personally responsible to Jesus Christ for the choices we make. We are accountable to Him for He is Lord. Too many Christians-leaders and lay people-act as if fellow believers were accountable to them rather than to Jesus. When we pass judgment on others, we usurp Jesus' role as Lord and deny Him the place that is rightfully His in our fellow believer's life. What a terrible sin this is.
On a side note that is relative, God does not call perfect people......in fact, both the men and women that God used mightily had major character flaws but they loved God more than this world. God worked through their weakness to reveal His strength. Moses had a severe anger problem......he even murdered an Egyptian for beating an innocent Hebrew. Abraham was a liar. Jacob was a deceiver. David was both an adulterer and a murderer. Peter was a coward and too impetuous. Paul was hot-headed. The list goes on. The Bible is a great book because it reads like a true soap-opera and involves quite a bit of drama because it so perfectly illustrates the true depraved nature of man apart from God.
I kept my dad's Bible after he passed away. He read only King James which I do too. He had a thing for masking tape, a bit of a fetish, so he put masking tape on the front cover of his Bible and wrote with a black sharpie marker....."Diary of a Mad, Mad Planet"! I couldn't concur more. Just look around you.......how true it is!
Excepted from a fantastic book (which all serious Bible students need), "The Bible Reader's Companion" by Lawrence Richards.