To this point I have shown from Scripture that alcohol belongs in the category of adiaphora, which means that it is something indifferent, that is in and of itself alcohol is not evil.  Vos explains it this way,

Scripture recognizes a classification of things or actions which are commonly called adiaphora, or 'things indifferent.' This term must not be misunderstood. It does not mean that a Christian, in performing any particular act, can be regarded as himself morally neutral or indifferent, or that the Christian can at any time take a moral holiday and concern himself wholly with things morally indifferent. Man is a moral agent and is always accountable to God for the state of his heart and for his every thought, word and deed. Everything that the Christian is and does always has moral significance. This is shown by Col. 3:17 and I Cor. 10:31: 'And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.' 'Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.'

No matter what he does, the Christian is always either living for the glory of God or else sinning against the glory of God. 'Whatsoever is not of faith is sin' (Rom. 14:23). A Christian performing any particular act under any particular set of circumstances, must be either glorifying God or else committing sin; there can be no third possibility. This does not mean that there are no adiaphora or things indifferent in themselves; it simply means that the right use of things indifferent, that is, the careful, temperate, God-fearing and conscientious use of or abstinence from them, is for the glory of God, whereas the wrong use of things indifferent, that is the abuse of them, is contrary to the glory of God and therefore sinful. But while the Christian himself is never morally neutral, still there are certain things and practices which, considered in themselves, are morally indifferent. This cannot be denied for it is clearly taught in Scripture, especially in such passages as Rom. 14:1-23, I Cor. 8:1-13 and I Cor. 10:23-32 (The Separated Life).

Now, this does not mean that one cannot abuse something that is adiaphora, for Scripture talks of the evil ways in which alcohol can be used.  But, and this is important, no where in Scripture is alcohol consumption forbidden.  In fact, at times alcohol consumption is encouraged, and the availability of it is a gift from God himself.

If it is true that alcohol is in the category of adiaphora, there are two primary passages in Scripture that deal with things indifferent.  Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8-10.  What we will do next, then, is look at what Romans 14 says regarding things indifferent, and begin to answer some of the questions posed in earlier posts on this subject.

Though it will make this post long I will post all of Romans 14 and then work through the argument presented by Paul.

¹ Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.          ² One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.  ³ The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.  ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.          ⁵ One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.  ⁶ He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.  ⁷ For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone.  ⁸ If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.  ⁹ For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.  ¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.  ¹¹ It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"  ¹² So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.  ¹³ Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.  ¹⁴ As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.  ¹⁵ If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.  ¹⁶ Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.  ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,  ¹⁸ because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.  ¹⁹ Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.  ²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.  ²¹ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.  ²² So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.  ²³ But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin (Romans 14:1-23, NIV).

This passage is directed initially at the strong.  For they are to welcome those who are weak in conscience (v. 1).  This, incidentally, is a bit different than today, where it is the weak who will not associate with the strong.  Because of the strength of one’s faith, one eats all foods and the other only eats vegetables.  Paul admits that because of the strength of one’s faith in matters of indifference there are going to be varying positions.  This is the way it is.  We are commanded in matters of sin to flee from them, and that even putting ourselves into temptation is sinful, yet with matters of indifference, which we have already from Scripture shown alcohol to be, there will be varying practices.  Because of this Paul commands that those who are strong must not look down on the one who cannot because of weak faith do all that the strong is able to do.  The weak on the other hand must not condemn those who are strong, because even though they may think the strong are sinning, they are not sinning, and because God has accepted them.  The weak should not condemn the strong, because the matter at hand, that is things indifferent, are matters which are private, and are between the Christian and his Lord.  If the Lord does not condemn the practice of his servant, who does the weak brother think himself to be in that he condemns where God vindicates.

Now we get even more interesting, because unlike many in the Evangelical world Paul has a category for being convinced in one’s own mind, when dealing with things indifferent.  Because of this, each Christian is to be convinced in his own mind as to the significance of days or non-significance (Here is the connection to Halloween I mentioned in an earlier post), the propriety of eating meat or being a vegetarian.  The point in matters of indifference is to do all with thanksgiving and honor to Jesus our Lord.  Here Paul reminds us as well that it is not simply a matter of opinion, our conscience is bound to the Lord and the Lord Jesus alone.  Thus, it is not simply about what I want to do and when I want to do it, all must be done to the Lord.  We will all give an account for what we do, and what we do with things indifferent is between the Christian and his Lord, no one else may make claims to the conscience in matters indifferent.

If the weak are not to condemn, then the strong are not to flaunt their freedom before the weak.  Though things indifferent by definition are not sinful in themselves, the weak believe the thing indifferent to be sinful.  Thus, to them it is sinful.  Thus, what can happen is that the strong flaunt their liberty in public and in doing so vex the weak and tempt them to possibly act contrary to their conscience.  The weak can reason thus, if Bill can eat meat and drink beer, then so can I.  But the weak one not being convinced in his own mind, but simply following the example of Bill, the strong one, will act contrary to his conscience, which still believes that meat and beer are sinful in themselves, and thus his conscience will condemn him, and he will stumble and stumble hard.

Because of this it is good to use one’s liberty in private not in public.  Not because the thing eaten or drunk is evil, but because of love, love for the weaker one, lest they fall.  Thus, the strong one is do enjoy his freedom in private, to keep these things between himself and God (v.22).  This of course does not mean that we should be silent about these things, and not let our convictions be known for the purpose of building one another up, so that the weak will become strong, because this is exactly what Paul is doing in chapter 14.  In fact, he tips his hand in verse 14 saying, “As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself.”

So from this passage let me summarize a few things pertaining to things indifferent.

1.  There is a category of things indifferent, and what God has not called evil we cannot call evil.

2.  With things indifferent there will be varying positions on these things in the Church of Jesus.

3.  Those who are more restricted are weak and those who are free are strong.

4.  The strong should not mock or look down on the weak and the weak ought not condemn those whom Jesus vindicates.

5.  The weak faith of the weak does not make the indifferent thing unclean, but to the weak one it is as if it is unclean, thus for him to violate his conscience is for him to stumble and fall under his conscience’s condemnation.

6.  The strong are not in anyway prohibited from exercising their freedom in private, but they should live in love not liberty in public, lest the weaker brother stumbles because of the freedom of the strong.