But why dost thou judge thy brother?
&c.] These words are spoken to the man weak in faith, that
scrupled eating of certain meats, and chose rather eat none, and
live on herbs, and who esteemed one day above another; and was
very apt to censure and condemn such as made use of their
Christian liberty in these things, though they were brethren, not
in a natural or civil, but in a spiritual relation:
or why dost thou set at nought thy brother?
these words, on the other hand, are directed to the stronger
believer, who believed he might eat all things, and esteemed
every day alike; being fully persuaded, that the distinction of
meats and of days was now ceased; and such were apt to be puffed
up with their superior knowledge and faith, and were ready to
treat with an air of contempt those that were weak; showing
little or no regard to their peace and edification, though they
stood in the same relation to each other. The emphasis lies upon
the word "brother", in both branches of the expostulation; and
the force of the apostle's reasoning is that they should not
judge or despise one another, because they were brethren, stood
in the same relation to God and Christ, belonged to the same
family, were partakers of the same grace, and had no pre-eminence
one over another; they had but one master, and all they were
brethren: and which he further enforces with the following reason
or argument,
for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ;
at the last day, when he shall sit on his throne of glory, and
all nations shall be gathered before him, and he shall pronounce
and execute the decisive sentence on each of them: there is a
particular, and a general judgment; a particular judgment at
death, when the soul is immediately consigned to bliss or woe;
and a general one in the end of time; which may be proved both
from reason, as from the relation creatures stand in to God, from
the inequality of things in this life, and the conscious fears of
men with respect to a future one; and from divine revelation,
Christ will be the Judge, he is so appointed by his Father, and
is every way fit for it, being God omniscient and omnipotent; and
when he shall appear in his glory, he shall sit on his judgment
seat, the dead will be raised, the books will be opened, and all
shall be summoned to appear before him, of every age and sex, of
every rank and degree, and of every character, good or bad: here
the saints are particularly designed, "we shall all stand";
whether ministers or private Christians, weak or strong
believers; they that are apt to judge, and others that are too
ready to despise; they shall all stand before the tribunal of
Christ, who is sole Judge, and shall render to every man
according to his works, and from whom they shall all receive
their sentence. The allusion is to human courts of judicature, in
which the judge sits upon a bench, and they that are tried stand
before him; see ( 2
Corinthians 5:10 ) . The Alexandrian copy reads, "the
judgment seat of God".