The Spiritual Significance of Colors – White, Part 1

[Study Aired December 21, 2025]

As with every word we have covered, this word ‘white’ also has both a positive and a negative application. Why is that? It is because of what we learned in our last study:

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

I asked Google why the color white cannot be produced by mixing the three primary colors of the natural realm, and this was the answer I was given:

“Primary colors do not mix to make white in paint because of subtractive color mixing. In this process, pigments absorb (subtract) certain wavelengths of light. When you mix primary colors [of the natural realm] (like red, yellow, and blue, or cyan, magenta, and yellow), each added pigment absorbs [subtracts] more light, resulting in a darker color—typically a muddy brown or black—rather than white.” (End Quote)

The fact that the primary colors of the natural realm produce black instead of white signifies this in the spiritual words of scripture:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

The three primary colors of the natural realm of what are called “subtractive colors” because they absorb all colors except the one seen by natural eyes. The three primary colors of this natural realm are red, yellow and blue. White cannot be produced by these three primary colors. Instead when combined they produce black. They cannot produce white, which signifies the light of life because they signify this dying, physical, natural realm. Instead they can only produce black and darkness in the eyes and mind of the natural man. That is why the cloud that came between Egypt and Israel was darkness to Egypt, because Egypt signifies our old man.  In the events which transpired between Israel and Egypt at the Red Sea, Christ brings darkness and death to Egypt, which signifies our old man, and the same cloud brings light and  life to Israel which signifies our new man.

Exo 13:21  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

Something must be given to the Lord’s people which will cause that cloud to give light and life instead of darkness and death. The thing we are given to indicate this life-giving change is the replacing of the sickly and deadly color yellow with the life-giving color green. When yellow is replaced with green as a primary color in the ‘intellectual realm’, (think spirit) we are then given to see the colors which are all hidden in the light passing through a prism. The three primary colors, which signify the work of the spirit in our dying, corruptible bodies of clay, are now red, green, and blue. Replacing yellow with green and combining these three primary colors in the intellectual (think spiritual) realm now produces pure, life-giving white light. Yet this is the same cloud which is producing darkness and death on its flip side, the side of our old, natural, dying, carnal-minded man.

Here is how does this ‘cloud’ appear to those who do not know Christ:

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

God’s Word is “a cloud and darkness to them.” The natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit, because they are foolishness to him. He “cannot hear” Christ because He has not been given ‘ears that hear’:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? Because ye cannot hear my word.

This is the reason we are given for why the “multitudes” who come to Christ “cannot hear [His] word.”

Mat 13:2  And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

This spiritual blindness is not unique to the Jews. Spiritual blindness is a human condition, and that is why all of humanity is guilty of the crucifixion of Christ:

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

“They are foolishness to him” means that God’s spiritual Words are “a cloud and darkness” to the natural man, and at the same time, they “give light by night to these”; to those to whom the Father is revealing Himself.

Christ, the cloud, separates His people from Egypt. ‘Egypt’ signifies our natural man. That separation is accomplished by blinding Egypt while simultaneously giving light to His own people. While those with whom God is working can see that Christ creates both light and darkness, they can also understand that it is He who creates both good and evil (Isa 45:7).

Something must occur within the life of the natural man before he can begin to see with spiritual eyes. That event which begins to give our old man the ability to die daily to his old way of seeing the Words of Christ is signified in “the things that are made” (Rom 1:20) by replacing the primary color of deadly yellow with the new life-giving primary color green. This changes everything, and now these three primary colors, red, green, and blue when combined, produce white, which signifies the “light of life”:

Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

This all seems to be contradictory to the natural man. The natural man cannot see how “sins as red as crimson” can be “washed white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

It is a total contradiction to the natural man to be told that one can “find his life [only] by losing it.”

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

How is it possible to say that one can only see by acknowledging his blindness, and how is it possible to avoid judgment by being judged?

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

The natural man cannot understand how it is possible to avoid the lake of fire by going through that same consuming fire here and now, and the natural man cannot see how we all avoid the wrath of God by enduring “God’s wrath on the children of disobedience” and “fulfilling the seven plagues of the seven angels” Yet we are told:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

This is the hardest part of “the things which are written therein which we are to keep” for the natural man to understand and believe:

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

The natural man cannot see that it is God’s elect who must “live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

“Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” certainly includes the words of Revelation 15:8, which unequivocally tell us that “no man was able to enter into the temple (“which temple we are”, 1Co 3:15-16) till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.”

To the natural man it is contradictory to say that God is the creator of both good and evil. It is contradictory to say that Christ is a cloud which is both light and darkness, but that is why every word of the Word of God has both a negative and a positive application. It is because Christ is the cloud which separates His people from the people of Egypt. It is Christ in us which separates the natural man from the man who is “spiritually minded.” It is because Christ is His Word, and that word is “a cloud and darkness to them, but it gives light by night to these: so that the one comes not near the other all the night.”

How the Natural Man sees the Color White

The natural man sees white only as a type of light and righteousness. He cannot see white as a type of his deceived and diseased condition. Here is the only way ‘white is perceived in the eyes of the natural man:

Mat 17:2  And [Christ] was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Mar 9:3  And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

Ecc 9:8  Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

These four verses will serve to express how most of us think of the color ‘white’. We think of white as snow, wool and the light of the Truth. One more verse will serve to demonstrate how this word is used in its positive sense:

Rev 19:8  And to her [Christ’s bride, signifying His elect] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

The Spiritually Negative Application of the Color White

This is not how ‘snow’ and ‘white’ are always used in God’s Word. Here are a couple of examples of their negative application:

Exo 4:6  And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.

Num 12:9  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them [Miriam and Aaron]; and he departed.
Num 12:10  And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

Christ appears as “white as the light.”

Mat 17:2  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Babylon also appears as “an angel of light”:

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

So Satan, too, is ‘white as light”, but it is the ‘white’ of the incurable disease of leprosy. It is incurable because “flesh… cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1Co 15:50). Flesh must begin to be relinquished before we can begin to enter into the kingdom of God.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Many of the verses in the early parts of God’s Word connect the color ‘white’ to the disease of leprosy. We will bring this out later, but let’s begin where the Bible begins and see where ‘white’ first appears. White first appears in the King James Version of the Bible in ‘Babylon’ with all of its white sheep. By ‘Babylon’ I mean in Haran, where Jacob had gone on the other side of the flood, the river Euphrates, fleeing from his brother and looking for a wife. Jacob has served his father-in-law for two of his daughters and was now ready to go back to the land of Canaan:

Gen 30:25  And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country.
Gen 30:26  Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.
Gen 30:27  And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.
Gen 30:28  And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.
Gen 30:29  And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.
Gen 30:30  For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?
Gen 30:31  And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock:
Gen 30:32  I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and [of such] shall be my hire.
Gen 30:33  So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.
Gen 30:34  And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
Gen 30:35  And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
Gen 30:36  And he set three days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
Gen 30:37  And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

In this story Jacob typifies Christ and those in Christ. Christ’s flocks have “some white in them,” but they are “speckled and spotted”, and none of the sheep belonging to Jacob are all white. All of the sheep are brown or speckled. Laban knew that sheep were generally white by nature, just as we are all leprous by nature. Laban actually believed that he had made a tremendous deal and that Jacob would probably get just a very small fraction of the increase of the flocks. However, this is all a parable about what is taking place within each of us. What God is showing us is that we are anything but white in any spiritual sense. At the same time, we are being brought to see that the white flocks of Laban and Babylon are nothing more than the “snow white” of spiritual leprosy. Laban never crosses the Euphrates River to go into the Promised Land, and yet it is very interesting that the Hebrew word for ‘white’ is ‘laban.’

H3835
la ban
law- ban’
A primitive root; to be (or become) white; also (as denominative from H3843) to make bricks: – make brick, be (made, make) white (-r).

The reason I said that “according to the King James Version” the word ‘white’ first appears in the story of Jacob’s time spent in the area of Haran is that, in reality, the word ‘white’ actually first appears in the Hebrew back in Genesis in the story of the building of the Tower of Babylon. It appears in the Hebrew word translated ‘brick’ as in the bricks used to build the Tower of Babel. The Hebrew root for this word translated ‘brick’ comes from the primitive root for the Hebrew word for white. It is:

H3843
lebe na h
leb- ay- naw’
From H3835; a brick (from the whiteness of the clay): – (altar of) brick, tile.

Gen 11:3  And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick [Hebrew: 3843 lebenah] for stone, and slime had they for morter.

The builders of Babel had vastly inferior bricks for stones, and they had vastly inferior slime for actual mortar. Christ is the “stone hewed out of the mountain without hands” (Dan 2:45), and it is His spirit, His doctrines and His Words which are the mortar which unites the “lively stones” of His temple (1Pe 2:5, 1Co 3:15-16). The brick and slime of Babel is all the false doctrines which have produced 45,000 and counting, conflicting and contradicting ‘Christian’ denominations. The Truth, which is the words of Christ and His doctrines (Joh 14:6), is the spirit (Joh 6:63) which keeps those who know the voice of the True Shepherd united as “one spirit with the same mind and the same judgment.”

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and, that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many.

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

So the tower of Babel was apparently built of white brick, but it is the whiteness of leprosy. Here is another Old Testament story which “happened to them and is written for our admonition” (1Co 10:11), which shows the connection between the color white and the incurable and deadly disease of leprosy:

2Ki 5:1  Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, [but he was] a leper.
2Ki 5:2  And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
2Ki 5:3  And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
2Ki 5:4  And [one] went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that [is] of the land of Israel.
2Ki 5:5  And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand [pieces] of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
2Ki 5:6  And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have [therewith] sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.
2Ki 5:7  And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, [Am] I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. [Leprosy was considered a death sentence.]
2Ki 5:8  And it was [so], when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
2Ki 5:9  So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
2Ki 5:10  And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
2Ki 5:11  But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
2Ki 5:12  [Are] not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
2Ki 5:13  And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, [if] the prophet had bid thee [do some] great thing, wouldest thou not have done [it]? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
2Ki 5:14  Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean [1Co 1:1-7, 1Co 3:1-4].
2Ki 5:15  And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that [there is] no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
2Ki 5:16  But he said, [As] the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take [it]; but he refused. [Abraham took nothing for delivering the king of Sodom, and John tells us to “take nothing of the Gentiles” [Gen 14:23, 3Jn 1:7].
2Ki 5:17  And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.
2Ki 5:18  In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, [that] when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing.
2Ki 5:19  And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.
2Ki 5:20  But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, [as] the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.
2Ki 5:21  So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw [him] running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, [Is] all well?
2Ki 5:22  And he said, All [is] well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.
2Ki 5:23  And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid [them] upon two of his servants; and they bare [them] before him.
2Ki 5:24  And when he came to the tower, he took [them] from their hand, and bestowed [them] in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.
2Ki 5:25  But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence [comest thou], Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.
2Ki 5:26  And he said unto him, Went not mine heart [with thee], when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? [Is it] a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?
2Ki 5:27  The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. [Leprosy never leaves the carnal-minded and those whose thoughts and affections are on the things of this earth.]

Far too many ‘Christian’ ministers have their affections set on “things on the earth” and not “on things above”:

Col 3:1  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

The word ‘white’ appears in sixteen different verses of Leviticus 13, all in relation to the connection between the color ‘white’ and the signs of leprosy in either the color of the flesh or the color of the hair upon the flesh. White flesh and white hair upon the flesh are both signs of the incurable disease of leprosy, and leprosy is a physical type of the spiritual condition of the carnal mind.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Here are a few of the sixteen verses which describe the whiteness of leprosy, representing the spiritual type of “the body of this death.”

Lev 13:3  And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and [when] the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight [be] deeper than the skin of his flesh, it [is] a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.

Lev 13:10  And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising;
Lev 13:11  It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean.

He is ‘white’, but “he is unclean.” He is a “whited sepulchre”.

Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

If this verse only means the local Babylonian minister to you and you have never yet come to see that this is, was, and will be dying daily within you, then you are still in Babylon. As with all the other seeming contradictions of the things of the spirit, the only way to “come out of Babylon” is to admit that “dying daily” is “coming out of Babylon… daily.”

We have mentioned both the positive and negative, the light and the darkness of this color white, but we have dealt mostly with the negative application this week. Next week we will deal with the spiritually positive application of the color white in the word of God. What we should be coming to see is that, just as God could create a crooked serpent and a tree of knowledge of good and evil and pronounce it all “very good”, even so we should begin to understand these verses of scripture:

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Ecc 3:11  He hath made every [thing] beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

[Here is the link to the next study in this series.]

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/what-does-the-story-of-naaman-teach-us/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-does-the-story-of-naaman-teach-us Tue, 03 Mar 2015 03:19:18 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=9160

Greetings,

Do you have any insight from the story of Naaman?

I see true baptism, the washing of water by the word, to present us a glorious church without spots and wrinkles.

I also see that we need to wash ourselves seven times in the water, which speaks of the seven steps of salvation depicted by the seven Jewish feast to bring us into perfection.

Does this tie with the sum of God’s word?

Ybic,

M____Hi M____,

The one thing I will add is that when Naaman asked Elisha to ask God to forgive him when he bowed to his master’s god, this is what happened after Naaman humbled himself, did what was commanded, and was healed of his leprosy:

2Ki 5:15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
2Ki 5:16 But he said, As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.
2Ki 5:17 And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.
2Ki 5:18 In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing.
2Ki 5:19 And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.

Elisha quietly refused to sanction Naaman’s weakness, and his inability to pay the price for what Naaman knew to be true, by simply telling Naaman “Depart in peace”.

You and I can learn from this story that we have no dominion over the weak faith of others. Nevertheless, we must never allow the weakness of the weak to cause us to compromise our own consciences. We must never become weak while we are bearing with the infirmities of the weak. “Depart in peace” is just another way of saying “what is not of faith is sin”, without agreeing with the weak who often want those whose faith is stronger than theirs to say that their strong meat is sin. It is not sin, and he that “eats all things [strong meat] will be held up by God, just as the weaker brother will be preserved until he is able to digest and be nourished by the strong meat of being cast out of the temples and synagogues of this world “because of the word”:

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.
Rom 14:15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
Rom 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Rom 14:18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Rom 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
Rom 14:20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
Rom 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Rom 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
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.

This story of Namaan and his interactions with Elisha, the prophet, with the double portion of Elijah’s anointing, is a type of the lesson Paul gives us in Romans 14. Elisha knew Naaman was weak in the faith, and he was not going to destroy Naaman with His meat. But neither was Elisha, under any circumstance, going to give up his meat just to accommodate Naaman’s weakness. So it was not at all hypocritical of Elisha to say “Depart in peace”, rather than ‘Sure, I will ask God to let you sin so His grace may abound in your life’, as so many seem to think “bear with the infirmities of the weak” means. Paul does indeed tell us in the very next verses to “bear the infirmities of the weak”:

Rom 15:1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Rom 15:2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
Rom 15:3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

‘Bearing the infirmities of the weak” does not mean that we can turn God’s grace into a license to sin. The Jews who were weak in the faith could not receive the fact that Christ has become our sabbath and that “He had broken the sabbath” as far as it was commanded by Moses to be kept. Christ was bearing the infirmities of the weak, but He was not exchanging His strength for their weakness, and that is not what Paul is exhorting us to do. Paul knew that it would have been a sin for the Jews, who wanted Christ dead “because He had broken the sabbath”, to break the sabbath just because Christ could do so. They did not yet have the faith to break the Mosaic sabbath as Christ had (Mat 12:1-8). The strong are able to let the reproaches of Christ fall on themselves, while the weak cannot yet do so, and it would be a sin for them to attempt to live beyond the measure of faith they have been granted. So look at what Paul says to all of us:

Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime [this story of how Elisha, a man who was in type “strong… in the faith”, dealt mercifully and bore the infirmity of Naaman, a man who in type was weak in the faith] were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Elisha, just like Christ, remained strong and did not allow those who were weak in the faith to dispute about discernments of spiritual matters as Paul commands us in the very first chapter of Rom 14.

Rom 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

Here is what we are told is the definition of the Greek phrase translated ‘doubtful disputations’:

Here is the Greek word translated as ‘doubtful’:

διαλογισμός
dialogismos
dee-al-og-is-mos’

From G1260; discussion, that is, (internal) consideration (by implication purpose), or (external) debate: – dispute, doubtful (-ing), imagination, reasoning, thought.

Here are all the New Testament entries for this word:

G1261
διαλογισμός
dialogismos
Total KJV Occurrences: 14
thoughts, 8
Mat_15:19, Mar_7:21, Luk_2:35, Luk_5:22, Luk_6:8, Luk_24:38, 1Co_3:20, Jam_2:4
disputings, 1
Phi_2:14
doubtful, 1
Rom_14:1
doubting, 1
1Ti_2:8
imaginations, 1
Rom_1:21
reasoning, 1
Luk_9:46
thought, 1
Luk_9:46-47 (2)

This Greek word, ‘dialogismos’, is generally used in the sense that 1Co 3:20 uses it:

1Co 3:20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts [dialogismos] of the wise, that they are vain.

Reading all of those entries makes it clear that the holy spirit uses this word in a general sense to speak of the vain thoughts of mankind.

Now this is the word which is translated as ‘disputations’:

διάκρισις
diakrisis
dee-ak’-ree-sis
From G1252; judicial estimation: – discern (-ing), disputation.

Here are all the New Testament entries for this Word, so we can see how the holy spirit uses this word:

G1253
διάκρισις
diakrisis
Total KJV Occurrences: 3
discern, 1
Heb_5:14
discerning, 1
1Co_12:10
disputations, 1
Rom_14:1

This word’s primary definition is ‘discern’, and that is how the holy spirit uses it twice. Since here in Rom 14:1 is the only place where it is translated as ‘disputations’, and since the preceding word is normally translated as “vain… thoughts… disputings”, it is clear that this verse, Rom 14:1, would best be translated as “He that is weak in the faith, [as was Naaman and as were the Jews who believed on Christ and yet wanted Him dead (Joh 8:31-44) ], receive ye but not to disputing with those who are spiritually strong about discernments”.

That is how this 14th chapter opens up, and that is also how Paul concludes his point in the next chapter:

Rom 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to [the doctrine and example of] Christ Jesus:
Rom 15:6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So the story of how Elisha, a man of strong faith, dealt with Naaman, a man who was weak in the faith, happened to them, and it was written down so we would know how to deal with such situations in our own lives and within the body of Christ in this day:

Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

We must deal kindly and patiently with those who are weak in the faith, but we must never allow the weakness of the weak to infect our own heavens or the heavens of the body of Christ, and we must be willing to let the reproaches of Christ fall on us, just as our Lord and as all of His prophets did.

I hope this is of some help to you.

YbitC,

Mike