But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat
The apostle proceeds to give reasons why, though he was so fully
persuaded that nothing was unclean of itself, and so he, and any
other of the same persuasion, might lawfully eat anything; yet
they should forbear, and not make use of this liberty; because if
a brother should be grieved by it, that is, either should be
concerned and troubled at it inwardly, both because the person
that eats is thought by him to have transgressed a command of
God, and because he himself is not only despised as a weak
brother, but as if he was a "judaizing" Christian, and walked not
uprightly, according to the truth of the Gospel; or else should
be emboldened thereby to eat, and so wound and defile his weak
conscience; or be so galled and offended at it, as to stumble and
fall off from his profession of Christianity, and withdraw his
communion, as judging there is nothing in it, no regard being had
to the law of God:
now walkest thou not charitably;
this is a breach of the rule of charity or brotherly love; such
an one is a brother, and though a weak one, yet he is to be loved
as a brother, and to be charitably walked with: true charity, or
love, vaunts not itself over, nor is it puffed up against a weak
brother; nor is it unconcerned for his peace, but bears with his
weaknesses, and forbears the use of things grieving to him:
destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ
died.
This is to be understood, not of eternal destruction, that can
never be thought to be either in the will or power of any man;
such a degree of malice can never arise in the heart of any, to
wish for, desire, or take any step towards the eternal damnation
of another; and could any thing of this kind be among the men of
the world, yet surely not among brethren of the same faith, and
in the same church state; and were there any so wicked as to
desire this, yet it is not in their power to compass it, for none
can destroy eternally but God; see ( Matthew
10:28 ) ; besides, it is not reasonable to suppose, that
eternal damnation should follow upon eating things indifferent,
or be caused by an offence either given or taken through them;
moreover, though such as only think themselves, or profess
themselves, or are only thought by others to be such, for whom
Christ died, may be eternally destroyed, yet none of those can,
for whom Christ really died; for they are his special people, his
peculiar friends, his own sheep, his body the church, which can
never perish; and he, by dying, has procured such blessings for
them, such as a justifying righteousness, pardon of sin, peace
with God, and eternal life, which will for ever secure them from
destruction: besides, should anyone of them be destroyed, the
death of Christ would be so far in vain, nor would it appear to
be a sufficient security from condemnation, nor a full
satisfaction to the justice of God; or God must be unjust, to
punish twice for the same fault: but this is to be understood of
the destruction of such a man's peace and comfort, which is
signified by grieving, stumbling, offending, and making him weak;
and the words are a fresh reason, why they that are strong in the
faith of Christian liberty, should nevertheless forbear the use
of it, to preserve the peace of a weak brother; which is a matter
of importance, and the rather to be attended to, since it is the
peace of one that belongs to Christ, whom he has so loved as to
die for, and therefore should be the object of the regard and
affections of such as believe in Christ and love him.