Bible Commentaries

Romans 14:5

"Do consider the immense strength of that single verse, Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind," writes Dr. Arnold of Rugby. "I am myself so much inclined to the idea of a strong social bond that I ought not to be suspected of any tendency to anarchy; yet I am beginning to think that the idea may be over-strained, that this attempt to merge the soul and will of the individual man in the general body Romans 14:7

Man is by his natural genius a social being. From the beginning of things it was ordained by God that he should not live alone. The story of Eve's creation from one of the ribs of Adam has this everlasting spiritual truth underlying it. It is thus that the one is very closely bound up and intimately connected with the other. Man cannot live without his fellow- Romans 14:7

Whittier, in his introduction to Woolman's Journal, calls attention to the fact that "in his lifelong testimony against wrong," the Quaker "never lost sight of the oneness of humanity, its common responsibility, its fellowship of suffering, and communion of sin. Few have ever had so profound a conviction of the truth of the Apostle's declaration that no man liveth and no man dieth to himself. Sin was not to him an isolated fact, the responsibility of which began and ended with the individual transgressor; he saw it as a part of a vast network and entanglement, and traced the lines of influence converging upon it in the underworld of causation."

References.—XIV:7.—J. T. Bramston, Fratribus, p190. XIV:7 , 8.—F. J. A. Hort, Village Sermons in Outline, p92. T. Barker, Plain Sermons, p136. XIV:7-9.—H. D. Rawnsley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliv. p212. J. Keble, Sermons for Easter to Ascension Day, p44. H. Bonar, Short Sermons for Family Reading, p235.

Unto the Lord

Romans 14:8

The text describes two complementary movements: the one of man towards the Lord, the other of the Lord towards men. "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord;" that is man's movement towards God. "Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord"s," that is God's movement towards man. The two movements together constitute what we call spiritual communion.

I. Let us look at the movement of man towards God. A practical controversy was tearing the Apostolic Church. How far could a Christian believer retain the customs of his old life? The Apostle enunciates no petty regulation. He gives a large principle which the individual judgment must apply to every problem in the eternal life. What is the principle? Let us begin the statement of it in this way: Every act creates a certain trend. Every act contributes its quota in the determining of destiny. Now in many people, perhaps even in the majority, this final trend of action is unconsidered. And such limitation of views issues in what we call "drift". Now, in face of this peril here is the Apostle's counsel: Choose your drift. That is to say, intelligently and deliberately choose your end, and consistently hold to it. Let that end be "the Lord". And then choose your acts in relation to this end. We must live "unto the Lord". That is the Christian conception of life. And if this end dominates the life it will also dominate death.

II. And now, look at the movement of God towards man. "Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord"s." That is the complementary conception of Christian communion. "We are the Lord"s," not merely labelled property; it is a father's possession of a child. It Romans 14:8

These were the last words that could be made out amid the dying ejaculations of Edward Irving: "If I die," he murmured, "I die unto the Lord. Amen."

References.—XIV:8.—T. T. Munger, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliii. p104. A. Tucker, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xviii. p559. XIV:8 , 9.—G. Body, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lix. p225.

Easter-tide

Romans 14:9

Jesus Christ died on Friday and rose again on what we call the Sunday, and we have by the providence of God, ever good and large, gathered around an empty tomb, and then around a risen Lord. It would be beautiful, if in the hands of a true artist, to compare the Friday and the Sunday. They belong to one another; the Sunday would not be half so bright but for the Friday. Your joy would not be so exquisite if there were not an historic background of tears and sorrow and speaking silence.

I. Now there is some great fight being fought this Friday. They have nailed His hands, and they have nailed His feet, and they have pierced His side, and the environment seems to vindicate and justify their villainy. It is all over; Job would withdraw his faith, and David would cease his song. Rest awhile, pause for a day or two; never hasten God; never try to force your own destiny; be great by being quiet. Now comes the day on which everything will be silent It must be Romans 14:10

Paul does not mean that God will punish him, and that we may rest satisfied that our enemy will be turned into hell-fire. Rather does he mean, what we too feel, that, reflecting upon the great idea of God and on all that it involves, our animosities are softened, and our heat against our brother is cooled. From Mark Rutherford's Deliverance.

References.—XIV:10.—W. G. Rutherford, The Key of Knowledge, p200. F. E. Paget, Helps and Hindrances to the Christian Life, vol. i. p112. XIV:10-12.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii. No1601. XIV:11.—Expositor (4th Series), vol. i. p137. XIV:12.—C. Perren, Outline Sermons, p306. W. H. Evans, Sermons for the Church's Year, p10. J. S. Bartlett, Sermons, p184. J. Keble, Sermons for Advent to Christmas Eve, p164. R. W. Dale, The Epistle of Romans 14:17

Using the language of accommodation to the ideas current amongst His hearers, Jesus talked of drinking wine and sitting on thrones in the kingdom of God; and texts of this kind are what popular religion promptly seized and built upon. But other Romans 14:22

Whenever conscience speaks with a divided, uncertain, and disputed voice, it is not yet the voice of God. Descend still deeper into yourself, until you hear nothing but a clear and undivided voice, a voice which does away with doubts and brings with it persuasion, light, and serenity. Happy, says the Apostle, are they who are at peace with themselves, and whose heart condemneth them not in the part they take. This inner identity, this unity of conviction, is all the more difficult the more the mind analyses, discriminates, and foresees.

—Amiel.

References.—XIV:22.—W. M. Sinclair, Words from St. Paul's, p99. XIV:27.—Expositor (5th Series), vol. vii. p119. XIV:31.—Ibid. vol. iii. p261.