We have been noticing that a lot of people calling themselves Christians actually distance themselves from the Christ in ways that even the blind should be able to see. The usual parameters for discussing the matters of Christ and God are king and priest and prophet and judge and those kinds of official functions. The panorama of the Gospel does not allow for judges, prophets, and priests to have any authority over the people of God. All of the authority the rests solidly on the shoulders of Christ the King. His designation as king at birth and confirmed by his ride into Zion a week before his glorification is a stiff rebuke to all who confuse the dead with the living, to those who condemn guiltless and those who mutilate the king’s agenda with cheap and childish rudiments.

16) Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; 17) for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14:16-17

Those who might have introduced the Roman Church to food and drink as the marks of God’s Kingdom are certainly under Paul’s glare at this point in his letter (chapter 14). What believers have in common, being in the world, are first of all human things: family life, work, social links, and secondarily and most importantly, faith in the Son of God.

The authority and the authorized

Some people want your allegiance in matters that have nothing to do with God’s kingdom. We know who they are today as surely as Paul knew who was bewitching the Roman believers. Any attempt to connect God’s kingdom with any other kingdom, including the priestly kingdom of the Aaronic order, is an insult to the surpassing excellence of Christ. It cannot be true that Gentiles are eligible for fellowship with God but not with Christ’s disciples. It cannot be true that food that sustains large swathes of humanity disqualifies people for fellowship with God and Christ’s who embedded excellence in all the earth from creation.

They are simply trying to be different from all other believers. This is primarily evidence of a holier-than-thou mindset. It is bad enough that people think this way of what Christ brings to human life, so when people carry on their lives despising people for what they eat, drink or wear the claim of belonging to Christ is thrown into question.

Myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth

To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.

Titus 1:15