Weak Faith
“Those who have strong faith can follow their conscience before God and avoid sin. According to St. John Chrysostom, those who are weak in faith may sin, not because the action is wrong in itself, but because in their hearts they think they are betraying God and proceed anyway. This action is sin because it does not come from that person's faith.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Romans 14:22-23)
“…we lose our relationships to Christ by the erosion of our faith. This wearing away of our faith does not happen all at once. But over time, if we do not make sure that our faith is nourished, it will become weak. Eventually, the trials and troubles of life will destroy it. And in the end, cynicism and despair will surely replace the conviction that we once have.” (Fr. Basil)
“When our faith in God is weak or under assault, we would do well to recall the apostle’s [Peter’s] clear declaration that faith does not come to us primarily through our own efforts, but rather as a gift from God (2 Peter 1:1). Our attraction to the Lord Jesus and His teachings, the Church, the Holy Scriptures, and the saints awakens in us when the Holy Spirit moves in our hearts and souls…Faith, like life itself and the air we breathe, is God’s gift. By all means, let us ask for that precious gift!” (Dynamis 1/26/2018)
“Paul writes in Romans 14:1 that we should “receive one who is weak in the faith…” Sometimes that person is us and we need to receive ourselves gently. Sometimes our faith gets challenged by circumstances and our thoughts and feelings can range from doubt to despair. We begin to question what we previously felt convicted about. In those moments we need to do remember to not make it worse by chastising ourselves for weakness. We need to pray, whether we feel like it or not, and we simply need to remain faithful – go to church, read the scriptures, pray daily, and pray as a first resort not as a last resort. We care for our children and loved ones even when we are mad as heck at them. We do our jobs even when we hate them because we need to make a living. There are a lot of things we do despite our emotional state. Christ knows we will have moments of weakness and He receives us anyway. If we hang in there and do the things of faith by remaining faithful our faith will strengthen again.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
“It is natural that the theological approach to contemporary problems should be measured against perfection, which is the measure of Christ. But this measure, which Christians should always have before them, should not be converted into a sword to overcome those who are weak in the faith (Romans 14:1). Certainly Christian perfection is for everyone and should not be concealed from any of the faithful. But human weakness is common to all and we are not allowed to condemn anyone because of it. The Church has unlimited respect for human freedom and exhausts all its stock of lenient understanding in order to preserve it. The explicit opposition of the Church begins from the moment that people’s freedom is ignored and its sanctity is disdained.” (George Mantzarides)
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