Romans 14:4

“ Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall stand; for God is powerful to hold him up. ”

The idea is: It is to the advantage or disadvantage of his master, not of his fellow-servants, that a servant fulfils or neglects his task. The terms standing and falling refer, not to the servant's absolution or condemnation at the judgment, but to his daily faithfulness or unfaithfulness, and to the strengthening or weakening of his inward relation to Christ. What proves this, is the ground for confidence indicated in the words: “Yea, he shall stand; for God is powerful to hold him up.” There is no more need of being held up, or at least of being so by the power of God, in the judgment day. Of course the servant's sincerity, in the line of conduct which he has adopted, is assumed, even if he were in error on a particular point. Paul affirms that the Lord will be able to hold him in communion with Himself.

Here the Lord is probably, as generally in the N. T., Christ. It is He, indeed, who is Master of the house, and for whom the servants labor (Luke 12:41-48).

There is a slight touch of irony in this reason: “Yea, he shall be held up.” It is as if Paul said to the weak: “thou mayest assure thyself about him; for, even if he is mistaken, his Master is powerful enough to avert the bad effects of a piece of flesh.” This argument applies, of course, only to things which arise exclusively on the domain of the individual conscience.

In the last proposition, the Greco-Lat. reading ὁ Θεός, God, it seems to me, ought to be preferred to that of the other documents: ὁ κύριος, the Lord; for the act in question is that of strengthening, which is naturally ascribed to God. The reading ὁ κύριος has probably arisen from the τῷ κυρίῳ which precedes.

How easily do these verses find their explanation, if we imagine the church assembled for the love-feast! The majority gives an affectionate welcome to the minority. They sit down altogether for the feast; then immediately the difference breaks out between neighbors. It is the moment for watching: “Well!” says the apostle, “no perverse debates on this occasion; but let each beware of the danger which threatens him at this instant, the one of despising, the other of judging.