• Rom. 14:5 “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”
• Rom. 14:23 “And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
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Romans 14 is the most often referred to passage I have personally heard other than a few other passages like Jn. 3:16 and Ps. 23. When I was first saved as a teenager, most still knew the exact book and chapter number of Rom. 14. Now, most don’t even remember that much and constantly just throw out the phrases “fully persuaded” and “faith.”

• – “Fully persuaded” in vs. 5 is preceded by “let.” The obvious emphasis is that you should not make a fellow believer choose what is right, but rather, “let” a fellow believer become convinced themselves of God’s truth. This does not mean that you can make any choice without consequence, but rather, that you cannot make a fellow believer choose. (See Myth #12.)
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• – Persuasion requires an argument or discussion that convinces. A modern definition of persuasion would be, “a process in which one person or entity tries to influence another person or group of people to change their beliefs or behaviors.” Strong’s defines the word here in vs. 5 as “to carry out fully (in evidence), i.e. completely assure (or convince)….” So, if you say you are fully persuaded about why you are doing what you are doing, who or what persuaded you? Most are not honest with themselves and others about what persuaded them. If you are persuaded by anything or anyone other than Scripture, your persuasion is not acceptable to God because it “cometh not of him”:
• Gal. 5:8 “This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.”
• If, dear reader, your persuasion is to be accepted by God, you must be “fully persuaded” by God Himself in His Word that dealt specifically with the issue you brought to Him.
• This is why Paul said in the same passage, Rom. 14:14:
• Rom. 14:14 “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.”
• God-accepted persuasion comes by Jesus the Word as revealed in the Scriptures.
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• – When the Bible mentions faith, it is always connected with God’s Word.
• Rom. 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
• According to God, true faith comes from His Word.
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• -In Rom. 10:17, the word for “word” is not “logos” as it is used when referring to Jesus (Jn. 1:1). The word is “rhema” referring to a specific phrase or passage of Scripture. Strong’s defines rhema as “an utterance”. To God, the only acceptable faith is one that is born from specific passages of His Word that specifically address the subject at hand. True faith originates from specific “rhema” that addresses the specific issue. If your “faith” does not come from a specific “rhema” that specifically addresses the specific issue, then it is sin. (“…whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”) Rom. 14:23 is not endorsing a believer believing whatever they want or using whatever Bible verse to support their views. No, the way God views faith is as an enabling grace (II. Cor. 8:7, Gal. 5:22) coming from God’s written Word the Bible (Rom. 10:17) and the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:20). True faith only comes from humbly listening to God’s Word when He addresses each specific issue of life, and being fully persuaded and fully accepting of what God says concerning each specific issue.
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• – Faith and persuasion are regularly seen together because of their similarities. At the same time, God-ordained faith and persuasion are consistently connected with God’s Word.
• Heb. 11:13 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
• (God’s Word is seen as “the promises” in this verse. Faith and persuasion are both seen together, originating from God’s Word, and accepting of God’s Word.)
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• – And lastly, please remember that Rom. 14 specifically addresses meat and drink and observance of days. As has been repeated throughout this Rom. 14 series, you and I do not have permission to insert and replace those two subjects with whatever we want to make the passage say different from what God breathed and intended.