⁷ Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

We cannot be reminded enough about how we are to treat our fellow Christians. Accepting one another is not optional; we are not free to pick and choose which Christians we accept and which we don’t. We are part of the same family. But what does “accept” mean? Does it mean we condone another Christian’s behavior that we think is unwise, or worse, sin?

On one level, Paul’s inspired train of thought began in Romans 14:1: “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.” The context has to do with disagreements in the gray areas, behaviors that some Christians choose to engage in while others do not—and both have principled reasons for their respective choices. Some Christians really believed it was sin to eat food that had been used in idol worship and then later sold in the marketplace. Were they now commanded to condone those who ate that kind of meat, against their conscience?

That is not what Paul is saying here. We do not accept an activity that we think is sin, but we accept the Christian who engages in that activity. There is a big difference. So what then does it mean to accept a person who does things we feel are sin, activities we cannot condone? The example is Christ accepting us, even when we have sinned against Him. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). He “demonstrated His own love toward us,” so we should demonstrate our own love to our fellow Christians even though we can’t condone what we believe is sin. We should not marginalize them or speak ill of them. While we cannot fellowship with them in the activity we cannot condone, we can and should fellowship with them in every other area of normal, vibrant Christian community.

What about 1 Corinthians 5, where a believer should be put out of the church for sinful behaviors? In that situation, gross sin was involved—in fact, a man having sex with his stepmother. That is not a “gray area” matter. Even the non-Christian world saw that as an abomination. That passage goes on to list other qualifying sins for discipline, including: direct idolatry, drunkenness and financial deception. So how does one distinguish between sins worthy of discipline and gray-area issues? For example, direct idolatry is to be disciplined, but not eating food offered to idols. It’s a judgment call. Mature Christians should lead the way in providing guidance and insight in these matters. But in all things we should make every effort to accept one another despite differences.

Lord, help me be gracious and accepting of ________, just as You accepted me.