Romans 14.8b-The Christian Belongs To The Lord Jesus Christ Whether If He Lives Or If He Dies
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 14, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:8b-The Christian Belongs To The Lord Jesus Christ Whether If He Lives Or If He Dies
Lesson # 471
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
Thursday evening we began a study of Romans 14:8 by noting the spiritual principle that whether if the Christian lives, he lives for the benefit of the Lord or if he dies, he dies for the Lord.
This morning we will note the inference that Paul draws from this statement, namely that whether if the Christian lives or if he dies, he is the Lord’s.
Romans 14:1, “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.”
Romans 14:2, “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.”
Romans 14:3, “The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.”
Romans 14:4, “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
Romans 14:5, “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”
Romans 14:6, “He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.”
Romans 14:7, “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.”
Romans 14:8, “for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.”
The statement “for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord” teaches the spiritual principle that if the Christian lives, he lives for the benefit of the Lord of if he dies, he dies for the benefit of the Lord.
“Therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's” is the result of an inference from the statement “for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord.”
In this inferential clause, Paul is saying that based upon the eternal spiritual truth that whether the Christian lives or dies, he lives or dies for the benefit of the Lord, we can conclude that whether they live or die, they are His possession and owned by Him and are His servants.
“Whether we live or die” is a correlative clause that contains two fifth class conditions that teach the principle that if the Christian lives or dies, they are the Lord’s in that they are His possession and His servants since they were bought by Him at the Cross by means of His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths.
“We live” is the first person plural present active subjunctive form of the verb zao (zavw) (dzah-o), which means, “to be alive” and is used of the Christian’s existence on planet earth in the temporal human body contaminated by the sin nature.
This existence would involve the believer’s thoughts, words, actions and decisions.
“We die” is the first person plural present active subjunctive form of the verb apothnesko (a)poqnhv|skw) (apo-tha-nee-sko), which refers once again as it did earlier in the verse to physical death of a member of the body of Christ.
It refers to the termination of the believer’s existence in a temporal human body that is contaminated by the sin nature.
“We are” is the first person plural present active indicative form of the verb eimi (ei)miv) (i-mee), which means, “to belong to a particular class of individuals” in the human race who are identified by the expression tou kuriou, “the Lord’s.”
The present tense of the verb is “gnomic” used to make a statement of a general, timeless fact or in other words, an eternal spiritual truth.
It indicates that whether the Christian lives or dies, he “as an eternal spiritual truth” belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“The Lord’s” is the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun kurios (kuvrio$), which refers once again to the Lord Jesus Christa and functions as a genitive of possession indicating that the Lord Jesus Christ owns the Christian whether he lives or dies.
Romans 14:8 emphasizes with Paul’s readers that the life and death of both the weak and strong believer are inseparable in the sense that both are for the benefit of the Lord and His glory.
All the circumstances, thoughts, decisions, words and actions the make up human life on earth for the both the weak and strong believer and all the circumstances surrounding their physical death are governed by the Jesus Christ who is their Lord.
In life and in death, both the weak and the strong remain under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and are accountable to Him and Him alone.
All of these circumstances surrounding the life and death of the weak and strong believer are for the benefit of the Lord in that they glorify Him.
Therefore, the fact that the strong believer does not observe the dietary regulations and honor certain days as prescribed in the Law for Israel does not dissolve or disturb their union and identification with the Lord Jesus Christ.
It does not remove them from being under the authority of the Lord and thus does not change the fact that they are accountable to Him and Him alone.
In the same way, the fact that weak believer does observe these dietary regulations and does honor these special days does not maintain their union and identification with the Lord Jesus Christ either.
It does not maintain their position of being under the authority of the Lord and thus does not maintain their accountability to Him.
Therefore, the observance or non-observance of the dietary regulations or certain days as prescribed in the Mosaic Law for Israel does not dissolve, disrupt or disturb or affect adversely in anyway or even maintain the weak and the strong Christian’s marriage to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 14:8 emphasizes that the life and death of the believer, whether they are weak with respect to conviction or strong is one of service that benefits the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, whether a believer honors the special days and observes the dietary regulations prescribed for Israel in the Mosaic Law or not, they are serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
Life and death encompass the believer’s entire existence.
Therefore, Romans 14:8 emphasizes that there is no circumstance or word, action, thought or decision in life or circumstance surrounding the believer’s death that would place them outside the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ or could sever their relationship to Him or could maintain that relationship.
Consequently, condemning another believer for his convictions with respect to non-essentials is sin since doing so displaces the Lord from His position of authority over the believer and in fact rejects His authority.
If the believer is under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ whether in life or death, his brother or sister in Christ has no business and is out of line and is seeking to replace the Lord Jesus Christ as sovereign king over the church by condemning them for their convictions with respect to non-essentials.