Jesus was lord of both the dead and the living

JESUS WAS LORD OF BOTH THE DEAD AND THE LIVING
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Romans 14:9 9Forthis very reason, Christ died and
returned to life so that he might be the LORD of both
the dead and the living.
GreatTexts of the Bible
Eternally the Lord’s
None of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself. For whether we live,
we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we
live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died, and lived
again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.—Romans 14:7-9.
1. This text is interpreted for us by the sectionof the Epistle to the Romans in
which it is found. That sectionis devotedto the elucidation of the principles by
which the early Christians were to be guided as to their observance ornon-
observance ofparticular festivaldays, and as to their abstinence or non-
abstinence from certainkinds of meats and drinks. To understand the matter
fully we must have a clearperceptionof the difficulty with which the Apostle
was seeking to deal.

Living as they were in the midst of paganism, the Gentile Christians were
frequently invited to feasts atwhich meat was servedwhich had been offered
to an idol. Some partook of it without any hesitation, believing, as St. Paul
himself did, that an idol was nothing in the world and that nothing was
unclean of itself. Others, having less enlightened consciences,refusedto touch
it, believing that if they did eat it they would be guilty of countenancing
idolatry. The Jewishconverts, again, were divided on the question of the
observance oftheir national feasts. Some of them maintained their old habits
in the matter of those Mosaic appointments, and others contented themselves
with the simple keeping of the Lord’s Day. All of them relied upon the
sacrifice ofChrist for justification, and therefore are to be carefully
distinguished from those againstwhom the Epistle to the Galatians was
written, and who insisted on circumcision as essentialto salvation. No vital
principle was at stake in this instance. The error of the scrupulous was that of
asceticism, not that of legalism;and so the Apostle here counsels mutual
forbearance. He condemns everything like intolerance and recrimination.
Those who had attained to such breadth of view that they felt no difficulty
about eating anything that was setbefore them, were not to arrogate to
themselves superiority over those who felt no such liberty; and on the other
hand, those whose consciences wouldnot allow them to partake of every sort
of food were not to condemn such as had no scruples on the matter. The
Jewishbeliever who kept all the festivals of his nation was not to look upon
himself as better than he who observedonly the Christian festival of the first
day of the week;and neither were they whose strength of mind had raised
them above such things to despise those who still consideredthat they were
important. There was to be an agreementbetweenthem to differ in love; and
if in any case the exercise of his undoubted liberty by one should seriously
imperil the spiritual welfare of another by leading him to commit sin, then
that liberty was to be cheerfully sacrificedin order that a brother should not
be destroyed, for “the kingdom of God” was not a thing of “meats and
drinks,” but of “righteousness andpeace and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
Now the truth which has been affirmed in regard to the use of food, and
observance ornon-observance of days, is here based on a large truth of which

it is a part. The whole life of the Christian belongs not to himself, but to his
Lord. “None of us liveth to himself,” means that no Christian is his own end in
life; what is always presentto his mind, as the rule of his conduct, is the will
and the interest of his Lord. The same holds of his dying. He does not choose
either the time or the mode of it, like a RomanStoic, to please himself. He dies
when the Lord will, as the Lord will, and even by his death glorifies God. In
Romans 14:14 ff. St. Paul comes to speak ofthe influence of conduct upon
others; but here there is no such thing in view; the prominence given to “the
Lord,” three times named in Romans 14:8, shows that the one truth presentto
his mind is the all-determining significance, forChristian conduct, of the
relation to Christ. This (ideally) determines everything, alike in life and in
death; and all that is determined by it is right.
The following verses indicate that St. Paul has at heart the truth that we live
for everrelated to one another, but he reaches itthrough the greater, deeper,
antecedenttruth of our relation to the Lord. The Christian is relatedto his
brother-Christian through Christ, not to Christ through his brother, or
through the common organismin which the brethren are “eachother’s
limbs.” “To the Lord” with absolute directness, with a perfect and wonderful
immediateness, eachindividual Christian is first related. His life and death
are “to others,” but through Him. The Master’s claimis eternally first; for it
is baseddirectly upon the redeeming work in which He bought us for Himself.
I
In Life
“None of us liveth to himself … we live unto the Lord.”

1. What is meant by this strange phraseologytranslated“unto” or “to”? We
live “unto” the Lord. It seems to impart at once to the phrase an air of
unfamiliarity, if not of actual unreality. Shall we try to understand this? The
right and full understanding of it, indeed, would make any one a masterof St.
Paul’s philosophy, but some understanding of it we may all win.
We have very close relations with one another. Eachone of us has duties to his
friends, his society, his country. No one saw more clearly than St. Paul that
religion was bound to take all these duties into account, to illuminate and
sanctify them. Christ’s religion is above all others the religion of humanity.
And on this aspectof religious duty—our duty to one another, and to the
societyof which we form a part—St. Paul spoke and wrote often and urgently.
These duties are so exhaustive in their sphere, so far-reaching, so varied, that
they make almost a religion of themselves.
But St. Paul knew very well that the religion which is based only on men’s
relations to one another would be a very imperfect one. There is a third
element in religion which must never be absent, and that is God. If we wish to
graspthe significance ofreligion we must keepin view the thought of God, the
thought of the world, and the thought of our own individual soul, and assign
to eachits proper place. If we leave out the thought of the world we may sink
into a morbid, unpractical life of superstition and seclusion;if we leave out the
thought of God we shall certainly fall into a somewhatfashionable philosophy,
which is, however, one-sided, incomplete, not profound or final.
Now St. Paul, by this word “unto”—live “unto” the Lord—embodies the
relation betweenthese three greatelements; not consciously, but all the more
instructively because the expressionarose unconsciouslyout of his natural
and habitual modes of thought. “Live,” he says (and the context shows that he
is speaking of the complicatedlife in a society), “live, and perform all your
duties to societyand to one another; and the way to do so is to live unto the

Lord.” St. Paul might tell us to live with men, for men, by men; but it is
impossible that St. Paulshould tell us to live unto men. Here comes in the
third element. We are to live with men, for men, but with our thoughts
reaching out unto God. These real personalrelations betweenour individual
soul and God are not to be sacrificedto our duties to one another; nay, more;
we cannot live as St. Paul bids us live until we live unto God, with our eyes,
and thoughts, and prayers turned to Him.
2. The “Lord” here spokenof is at once Christ and God. This is manifest from
the ninth verse, where Christ is identified with the “Lord of both the dead and
the living”; from the tenth verse, where He is declaredto be the supreme
Judge of the world; and from the eleventh, where the Apostle, to establishthat
title, directly applies to Christ the solemn declarationof the forty-fifth chapter
of Isaiah,—“Iam God, and there is none else. Unto me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.” The God, then, to whom we must make this utter
and unreserved surrender of the heart, is the Godwho was revealedin Christ
Jesus, and who, by the mystery of the Incarnation, has for ever united in
Himself the Divine and human natures, and has consecratedthe one by the
other. Unto Him, as Christians, we are called upon to live; He who is the
principle of our spiritual life is also made the objectof it; as the vapours of the
oceansupply the rivers that return into the oceanitself.
I quite appreciate your difficulty in accepting the term “the Lordship of
Christ,” and I would not for a moment assertthat “to know God as Spirit”
may not be a more advancedperception or apprehension. But the Personality
of the term “Lord” helps me; the Lord Jesus is my PersonalGod, and for the
awakening, sustaining, and developing of my affections I seemto need that
“individualized” presentation of Deity. “Spirit” is too abstractat present for
me. I find in the apprehensionof God, which “the Lord” represents to me, the
Comforter or Helper. I quite agree with you that “Lord” seems an
individualized word, and gives the thought of limitations, while “Spirit” is free
and diffused; but do we not, through the knowledge ofthe individualized

“Lord,” get really to the knowledge of“Spirit” universal and diffused?1
[Note:R. W. Corbet, Letters from a Mystic of the PresentDay, 208.]
3. Let us consider, then, how a real, living obedience to the command to live
“unto the Lord” would affectour lives here, in our present society.
(1) To live means with us all, to work. Work in one form or another occupies a
large part of our lives. Would it not make a greatdifference to any man if he
felt that all his work was done “unto the Lord,” not unto men? It would not so
much increase his diligence, but it would make it uniform, trustworthy; he
would not be influenced so much by lowerand temporary motives; vanity
would have no place;consciouslysuperficialwork would be impossible, the
work being done for the eye of the Masterin heaven.
(2) And what dignity it adds to labour. Much the greatestpart of any man’s
work is a sort of drudgery, or what in some moments of wearinesswe are
tempted to call so. Certainly much is monotonous, almostmechanical,
attention to endless details. We are apt to grow impatient of this, to think that
we have a soul above such petty details, to do our work, whateverit may be,
badly and superficially, and to find some excuse for ourselves in the triviality
of the things we neglect. But the thought that we are living “unto the Lord,”
with our eyes on Him, and His on us, dignifies all the most trivial details of
duty, and removes impatience. We are working under our Master’s eye;and
no work that He gives us is petty or uninteresting.
All true Work is sacred;in all true Work, were it but true hand-labour, there
is something of divineness. Labour, wide as the Earth, has its summits in
Heaven. Sweatofthe brow; and up from that to sweatof the brain, sweatof
the heart; which includes all Kepler calculations, Newtonmeditations, all
Sciences, allspokenEpics, all actedHeroisms, Martyrdoms,—up to that

“Agony of bloody sweat,”whichall men have calleddivine! O brother, if this
is not “worship,” then I say, the more pity for worship; for this is the noblest
thing yet discoveredunder God’s sky. Who art thou that complainestof thy
life of toil? Complain not. Look up, my weariedbrother; see thy fellow-
Workmen there, in God’s Eternity; surviving there, they alone surviving;
sacredBand of the Immortals, celestialBodyguardof the Empire of
Mankind.1 [Note: Carlyle, Pastand Present, ch. xii.]
They said, “The carpenter’s son.” To me,
No dearer thing in the Book I see,
For He must have risen with the light,
And patiently toiled until the night.
He too was wearywhen evening came,
For well He knowethour mortal frame,
And He remembers the weightof dust,
So His frail children may Bing and trust.
We often toil till our eyes grow dim,

Yet our hearts faint not because of Him.
The workers are striving everywhere,
Some with a pitiful load of care;
Many in peril upon the sea,
Or deep in the mine’s dark mystery,
While mothers nor day nor night canrest;
I fancy the Masterloves them best.
For many a little head has lain
On the heart pierced by redemption’s pain.
He was so tender with fragile things,
He saw the sparrow with broken wings.

His mother, loveliestwoman born,
Had humble tasks in her home eachmorn,
And He thought of her the cross above,
So burdened woman must have His love.
For labour, the common lot of man,
Is part of a kind Creator’s plan,
And he is a king whose brow is wet
With the pearl-gemmedcrown of honest sweat.
Some glorious day, this understood,
All toilers will be a brotherhood.
With brain or hand the purpose is one,
And the master workman, God’s own Son.

4. Then there is another consequence ofthe thought that we are living “unto
the Lord,” an instantaneous and most important consequence.If we canbring
the thought of God as a factorinto our relations with the world, it will prevent
us, as nothing else will, from making, more or less consciously, ourown
happiness our aim. Now if we aim at happiness, a thousand things occurto
disappoint us; either we do not get what we want, or, quite as often, we get
what we want and then do not enjoy it; it is different from what we expected,
or there comes with it a little bitter sting of consciencewhichdestroys all the
pleasure. But if in our life and work we think of God, if we do our work “unto
the Lord,” we escape the personalelement in disappointment; our failures will
chastenus without making us sullen or morose. Forsuch a thought leaves no
room for vanity, from which most of our disappointments spring. Such a
thought transplants us into a region above vanity.
Though now thou hast failed and art fallen, despair not because ofdefeat,
Though lost for a while be thy heaven and wearyof earth be thy feet,
For all will be beauty about thee hereafterthrough sorrowful years,
And lovely the dews for thy chilling, and ruby thy heart-drip of tears.
The eyes that had gazed from afar on a beauty that blinded the eyes,
Shall call forth its image for ever, its shadow in alien skies.

The heart that had striven to beat in the heart of the Mighty too soon
Shall still of that beating remember some errant and faltering tune.
For thou hast but fallen to gatherthe last of the secrets ofpower;
The beauty that breathes in thy spirit shall shape of thy sorrow a flower,
The pale bud of pity shall open the bloom of its tenderest rays,
The heart of whose shining is bright with the light of the
Ancient of Days.1 [Note:A. E., The Divine Vision, 73.]
5. And thus we come back to the first part of the text: “None of us liveth unto
himself.” Fora man cannot live unto the Lord, and live to himself. There will
be no room for selfishness in a life that is really devoted to the Lord. “None of
us liveth to himself”—this alone is a sublime text for the socialist. Butit was
not the text of St. Paul, and we only need to turn over the pages ofexperience
to find out where it breaks down. If we make the right beginning and
remember that we live unto the Lord, an unselfish attitude to our fellow-men
will follow as a natural consequence. “Tolove is the perfect of the verb to
live.”
Few men in his generationsoughtto live so much for Christ and his people as
did Thomas Guthrie, the Scottish pulpit orator and philanthropist, and the

secretof all was that he had learnedat the foot of the cross to sacrifice selfand
to love all for whom the Masterdied. I have heard him often, and always with
delight, but never, I think, with such quivering emotion tingling through my
frame, as when, at the close ofa glowing appeal for his raggedchildren, he
repeatedwith the deepestfervour, these lines, which were peculiarly
appropriate on lips like his—
I live for those who love me,
For those who know me true;
For the heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit, too;
For the cause that lacks assistance,
For the wrongs that need resistance,
For the future in the distance,
For the goodthat I can do.
That was his motto, because he had learned the meaning of the love of Christ
to his own soul.2 [Note:W. M. Taylor.]

II
In Death
“And none dieth to himself … we die unto the Lord.”
1. “None dieth to himself.” The expressionis striking, but it is practically
meaningless if separatedfrom the rest of the passage. It is the thought which
follows that we must emphasize. We die unto the Lord. So then, it results that
if we live to the Lord and die to the Lord we are eternally the Lord’s. Once
graspthat thought firmly, and we shall hold a weaponstrong to disarm the
grim fear of death.
Deathis the withdrawal of all human support from around the soul, of its
vesture and home, of the very body which is its secondself, that it may be
alone with Christ, and feel Him to be enough for it, more to it than any
createdthing. He invites the soul and constrains it to put all its confidence into
that last actof surrender; to castitself, bare of every aid but His, into the
mysterious infinite, feeling that underneath it are the everlasting arms. For a
man to learn this perfect confidence in Christ, he must die.1 [Note:John Ker.]
Once when I was visiting a dear child whose death-bed was a very happy one,
she told me she had been dreaming that she was in the actof departing, and
she felt not the slightestalarm. It reminded her of a day long previously, when
she was being bathed in the sea, and her big brother suddenly caughther up
and carried her out far beyond her depth. It gave her only a sensationof
delight, for she knew she was safe in his arms.2 [Note:J. Gibson.]

2. The Apostle four times over in this short paragraph makes mention of
death, and of the dead. “None of us dieth to himself”; “whetherwe die, we die
unto the Lord”; “whether we die, we are the Lord’s”; “that he might be Lord
of the dead.” And this lastsentence, with its mention not of the dying but of
the dead, reminds us that the reference in them all is to the Christian’s
relation to his Lord, not only in the hour of death, but in the state after death;
it is not only that Jesus Christ, as the slain One risen, is absolute Disposerof
the time and manner of our dying; it is not only that when our death comes we
are to acceptit as an opportunity for the “glorifying of God” (John 21:19;Php
1:20) in the sight and in the memory of those who know of it. It is that when
we have “passedthrough death,” and come out upon the other side,
When we enter yonder regions,
When we touch the sacredshore,
our relation to the slain One risen, to Him who, as such, “hath the keys of
death and of Hades,” is perfectly continuous and the same. He is our absolute
Master, there as well as here. And we, by consequence andcorrelation, are
vassals, servants,bondservants to Him, there as well as here.
For doubt not but that in the worlds above
There must be other offices of love;
That other tasks and ministries there are,

Since it is written that His servants there
Shall serve Him still.1 [Note:R. C. Trench.]
3. “Eternallythe Lord’s.” Let us welcome the assurance from His own
teaching. “To-dayshalt thou be with me in Paradise”—whereverthat
mysterious spot may be in space, at leastsomewhere where He is living a
continuous life. The death of Jesus Christ is no ceasing,no ending of His
personalexistence. This is as clearas anything can be. Put to death in the
flesh, He was quickened in the Spirit, and He went in that Spirit and preached
to the spirits in prison. Deathwas to Him no ending of existence;it was an
incident in the endless life; not an incident that came to Him as other incidents
had come and were to come, of His Father’s will, and in the time of His
Father’s ordaining. It has never touched for a single moment the continuity of
His personalexistence. And as with Him, so with us. He died, He rose, He
revived in order that He might make manifest to us what our death is. Death,
then, to us as to Him, does not touch personalexistence at all. Whether we live
we live unto the Lord; whether we die we die unto the Lord; living or dying,
we are the Lord’s. It is not surviving death. Death is only the inevitable
incident that comes to us in a life which is of endless continuance.
Deathis anotherlife. We bow our heads,
At going out, we think, and enter straight
Another golden chamber of the King’s,

Larger than this we leave, and lovelier.2 [Note: P. J. Bailey, Festus.]
III
The Lord’s
“Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ
died, and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”
In these words, as so often in generalstatements of this kind in St. Paul, there
seems to be a universal reference, and a particular one also. Forwhile it is
obvious that the greatassertionof the text has a sense in which it is true of the
whole race of man, in which every man, whateverhe may be doing or
suffering, is Christ’s, it is equally obvious that there is also anothersense, and
that the only blessedand full one, in which they and they alone are His who
are consciouslyunited to Him in His death unto sin and His life unto
righteousness;who shall reign and walk with Him in light, where He is in the
glory of the Father.
1. Let us take first the generalfactannounced in the words: “To this end
Christ died, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the
living.” The Apostle is speaking of the duty of all Christians to judge one
another charitably, and grounding it on this fact that it is not to himself, but
to the Lord, that every Christian man lives and dies and performs all his
actions. We therefore, in judging another, are judging the servant of a far
higher master, to whom, and to whom alone, he standeth or falleth. And the
proof of this is the fact that we are not our own. And how is it that we are not
our own? It is because with His most precious blood, shed in our humanity,
Christ purchasedus to Himself—purchased, that is to say, this universal race
of man, to be His in a peculiar manner, in which it was not and could not be
His without the shedding of that blood, and the triumph which He achieved

through death. Moreover, the Apostle declares thatto become possessorand
Lord of both the dead and the living was the very objectand end which the
Son of God setbefore Himself in His sufferings and His triumphs.
(1) The death of Christ is usually and rightly lookedupon as the great
atonement for our sin—for the sin of the world. But in so regarding it, men
not only stophere when they should go very much further, but they do not
understand even this much aright. As long as they have an idea of Christ the
Son of God, as merely one living man substituted for other men in God’s sight
as their atonement, they cangive no accountwhatever of the fact that by so
doing He intended to become Lord of our nature.
If A pays a penalty on behalf of B, there may exist a claim of gratitude, but
there results no fact of lordship or ownership whatever. And it is
characteristic enoughthat those who regard the death of our Lord as the mere
substitution of one person for another, commonly forget, or even deny, the
fact of His universal lordship and headship over our race. Here is one of the
reasons why evangelicalpreaching oftenfails to work socialchangesand
renew men’s souls. Preachersallow to pass out of sight the one truth of God,
that He who was strickenthus as our substitute, was not merely a personal
man, but the personalSon of God with our whole nature upon Him; bearing
in His own Divine Personour flesh, the flesh of all the many thousand millions
of mankind, as certainly and as actually as Adam bore us all in himself when
he stood alone in God’s world.1 [Note:DeanAlford.]
(2) Now in order that Christ may be Head and King of the race, it is not
necessarythat we should first believe it. We are not the measure of this fact; it
exists irrespective of us and our belief; it is God’s eternal truth; it is God’s
One eternal truth, by which He will save the world. But when we apprehend
this truth that Christ is our Head and King, that He lives in us and through
us, that His death is our death, His victory our victory, His crownour crown,

His spirit our spirit—then, and not till then, can we lift up ourselves, and
shake off the dust of death, and stand up in God’s sight pardoned and
justified men, with God’s work before us and God’s help to do it with.
Christ is the universal head, and man’s belief is just the lighting up of this fact
in reference to the individual man, and making it to be to him the fact of his
own individual life. Well then, you say, you come to faith after all. Come to
faith? Yes, certainly. Do you suppose this wonderful being of ours, body
animated by life and lighted by spirit, can be rescued, canbe saved, canbe
glorified, without and in the abeyance of its higher powers? If you are to
benefit the body by medicine, must not the body take it in? If you are to turn a
man’s course for good, must you not persuade him? And if this inclusion in
Christ, this fact and potentiality of God which He has brought about in the
mystery of redemption, is in its turn to bring about in you holiness, and joy,
and fruit for God, and future glory, do you suppose it can do so without your
apprehending it, without your applying it as a reality to your whole life and
thoughts? Of course we come to faith, and always must come to faith, in every
spiritual matter.1 [Note:DeanAlford.]
2. Now we come to the more proper and more close applicationof the words—
that in which the terms “we” and “us” are referred to those who have
apprehended, who do feel, who are living in, and making their own, this
glorious truth. And the difference betweenthem and others is that they are
consciouslyrealizing to its fullest extent the fact of Christ’s Lordship. They
are one with Christ. He is their King, as He is King of all, but they are His
willing and devoted bondmen.
Speaking of Phillips Brooks in early manhood, his biographer says:To be true
to himself, to renounce nothing which he knew to be goodand yet bring all
things captive to the obedience of Christ, was the problem before him. He
hesitatedlong before he could believe that such a solution was possible. His

heart was with this rich attractive world of human life, in the multiplicity and
wealth of its illustrations, until it was revealedto him that it assumeda richer
but a holier aspectwhen seenin the light of God. But to this end, he must
submit his will to the Divine will in the spirit of absolute obedience. Here the
struggle was deep and prolonged. It was a moral struggle mainly, not
primarily intellectual or emotional. He feared that he should lose something in
sacrificing his own will to God’s will. How the gulf was bridged he could not
tell. He wrote down as one of the first of the texts on which he should preach,
“Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power,” with the comment that
“willingness is the first Christian step.” Thus the conversionof Phillips
Brooks becomesa representative process ofhis age. So far as the age has been
great, through science orthrough literature, its greatness passedinto his soul.
The weakness ofhis age, its sentimentalism, its fatalism, he overcame in
himself when he made the absolute surrender of his will to God. All that he
had hitherto loved and cherishedas the highest, instead of being lost, was
given back to him in fuller measure. To the standard he had now raisedthere
rallied greatconvictions and blessedexperiences, the sense of the unity of life,
the harmony of the whole creation, the consciousnessofjoy in being alive, the
conviction that heaven is the goalof earth.2 [Note: Phillips Brooks, 82.]
3. Now it follows with every man who thus apprehends the Gospelof Christ
and Christ Himself, that his life and thoughts must be changedand purified
and sanctifiedby Christ’s Spirit. Forif I, with my inner man, have laid hold
on this truth as my truth of life, that Christ is my Lord and Head, that it is
Christ who lives in me, not I myself merely, and that I am the partakerof
Christ’s victory and Christ’s glory, just so far as His holy and sin-hating and
godly life is carried on and carried out in me, is it not totally impossible that I
should live in sin or to sin?
Writing to the Corinthian Christians St. Paul does not endeavour to persuade
them into the belief that they are living a new life in Christ; he speaks ofit in
the simplest language offact—“Ithank my God always on your behalf, for the

grace ofGod which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in every thing ye are
enriched by him, in all utterance and in all knowledge;even as the testimony
of Christ was confirmed in you: so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:4-7). This is the strain
in which men write to their friends about assuredfacts;thus would a man
express thankfulness for his friend’s health or his prosperity, or the
advancementof his children, or any of those matters of fact which admit least
doubt, and require leastargument. More than one of the apologists of
Christianity, as Justin Martyr and Tertullian, appeal to the existence of
conspicuous Christian virtues amongstthem, which even their enemies are
expectedto admit. Their patience of wrong and of suffering, their strict
morality, their unselfishness, their mutual love, contrastedso strongly with
the tone of pagansociety, that they were like water-springs in a dry and
barren ground. “Christ,” says Augustine, “appearedto the men of an old and
expiring world, that whilst all around them was fading away, they might
receive through Him a new life and youth.” It was the evidence of goodworks,
rather than of miracles, that attracted new inquirers to the Christian ranks,
even whilst persecutions were thinning them. Young lads and tender women,
common workmen and slaves, showedthat a new spring moved all their
actions;and those who came into contactwith them, if they had in their hearts
any germ of goodat all, must have felt the influence of this moral superiority.
And can we find any other solution of this change than the simplest of all, that
Christ was keeping His promise of being ever with His disciples? It was God
who wrought in them; it was the promised Spirit of God who guided them; it
was the Lord of the dead and the living who was sitting at the right hand of
God, and helping and communing with those whom the Father had given
Him.1 [Note:Archbishop Thomson.]
They whose hearts are whole and strong,
Loving holiness,

Living cleanfrom soilof wrong,
Wearing truth’s white dress,—
They unto no far-off height
Wearily need climb;
Heaven to them is close in sight
From these shores of time.
Only the anointed eye
Sees in common things,—
Gleam of wave, and tint of sky,—
Heavenly blossomings.
To the hearts where light has birth
Nothing can be drear;

Budding through the bloom of earth,
Heaven is always near.1 [Note:Lucy Larcom.]
4. It was preciselythis that was in St. Paul’s view when he affirmed that “none
of us liveth to himself,” and that “none dieth to himself.” He was not speaking
of any persons who had attained to this perfection, but of the law of spiritual
life under which we all have passed. Godis our Law; Christ is our Rule; and
while we are no longerfree to follow inclinations that would draw us out of
accordwith Christ’s rule, we are liberated from all lowerauthority. God’s
service is then perfectfreedom; we are no longer free to live to ourselves,
because our will has passedinto a higher life. How can he, says St. Paul, who
is dead to sin, live any longer therein? We are determined, even as God is
determined, by the highestlife that is in us. And in the Apostle’s words,—for
we might fear to use such words from ourselves—webecome joint rulers with
God as we become His servants from our hearts. We rule through willing
submission: accordwith the Highest is command over all that is lowerthan
He. We obey natural law, and it obeys us; we obey the laws of labour, and it
yields us its returns; we obey God, and He is the strength of our souls and our
portion for evermore. This is the greatlaw of life which delivers us from
ourselves and our own blindness, so that, living or dying, life and death are
freed from the colours of earthly accident, and centred in God. This is the
only true liberty, to know that we are not our own masters.
“We are the Lord’s,” and they amongst whom we work are the Lord’s.
Miserable some of them are and disappointing, and unsatisfactory;but they
are the Lord’s. There are some who repel us, and make us feel inclined to turn
awayin despair, squalid and half-human as they seemto be; but they are the
Lord’s. Living or dead, wretchedand mean though they be, they belong to
Him. He has not finished with them yet. “It doth not yet appear what they

shall be “; but it will help us to value the souls of our fellow-men, and to
discoversomething better than the sordid and the unlovely, if we remember
that Christ Jesus is their Lord. There are forces at work to frustrate His
designs, and He sends us forth to grapple with “the wrongs that need
resistance”and to help “the cause that lacks assistance.” In all socialservice,
Jesus works with His disciples, for all men are His.1 [Note: J. S. Corlett.]
Me this unchartered freedom tires;
I feel the weight of chance-desires:
My hopes no more must change their name,
I long for a repose that ever is the same.
Oh, let my weaknesshave an end!
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-sacrifice;
The confidence of reasongive;
And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live!2 [Note: Wordsworth, “Ode
to Duty.”]

Eternally the Lord’s
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Dominion Of Christ
Romans 14:9
S.R. Aldridge
It is characteristic ofapostolic ethics to turn from details of conduct to the
main principles which should permeate every Christian life. The centraltruth
governing all religious behaviour is our relationship to God, as manifested
and actualizedin Christ Jesus. Thus the historicalfacts of Christ's death and
resurrectionnecessarilygive rise to doctrine, and they cannot be separated
from our belief without tending to overthrow the whole edifice of Christian
living based on Christ as its Foundation. It matters comparatively little
whether a man eats meat or abstains from it, observes certaindays or
disregards their specialsanctity, provided that the scruple allegedor the
freedom enjoyed is conscientious, springing out of his conceptionof the nature
of the religion Jesus Christhas revealed. It is not for others to despise the
punctilious or to blame the informal. Eachwill be judged by his Master. That
Masteris Lord of both quick and dead; he presides not only over our earthly
life, but over our departure to the largerlife. Christians may differ in point of
intellectual attainment and particular opinion, but every face believingly
turned to the Sun of Righteousness reflectssome ofits glory; every
worshipper is brought near to every other as he gathers at the feet of the
Infinite Objectof adorationand praise.

I. THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST.
1. Christian freedom is not unconditional liberty. "Ye are not your own" is
the watchwordof grateful service. The emancipationof a slave does not set
him free from all law; he is releasedfrom degrading servitude to be useful to
his country and king. Modern civilization teaches the compatibility of
numerous statutes with true essentialfreedom. The rule of Christ is
recognizedand illustrated in the Acts of the Apostles, "Thou, Lord, show
which of these two thou hast chosen;" "The Lord added to them daily."
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" is the first question of the new life.
There would be no difficulty in any department of Church-fellowship if the
authority of Christ were fully recognized. "One is your Master, evenChrist,
and all ye are brethren." Finances, activity, brotherly regard, all flourish
where hearts are surrendered in entirety to the swayof Christ.
2. This Lordship means protectionas well as government. As under Roman
law' eachnoble patrician had his clients, whose wrongs he redressedand
whose interests he promoted, so the Saviour throws the aegis ofhis love over
his subjects, directing them by his wisdom, shielding them by his
interposition. "Fearnot; no man shall seton thee to harm thee." The very end
of government is the welfare of the governed. Old ideas that the monarch has
no duties and the people no rights have passedfor ever; and we are warranted
in seizing nobler conceptions of the sovereigntyof God than prevailed when
despotism reignedunquestioned. Let men beware lest they lop off limbs from
the body of Christ, and by their divisions and excommunications rend his
seamlessgarment.
3. The dominion of Christ may wellconsole us as we think of the dead. He is
the Lord of all worlds, has "all authority in heavenand earth." His voice
comforts the bereaved, sounding amid the stillness of the sepulchre, "Fear
not: I have the keys of death and of Hades." "He is not the Lord of the dead,
but of the living.' The dead pass not into a dreary unillumined state;they
"depart to be with Christ." And where mournful reflections on wastedlives,
sudden departures, check hopeful sorrow, and memory emits little fragrance
from the past; yet we may leave all in his hands who, as the supreme Architect

of humanity, rejoices in restorationrather than destruction. "Shall not the
Judge... do right?"
II. THE MANNER IS WHICH THIS LORDSHIP WAS WON.
1. By stooping to the condition of his subjects. He is Lord by creation, but still
more by virtue of his redemptive work. Wellhas he earned his title who
entered into our humbling nature, tastedour sorrows, and drank the cup of
bitterness as our Sin Offering. He himself passedthrough the gloomy portals
of death, and in rising againrevealedboth the love and the might of God.
Only he can be a true Masterwho first subordinated himself to service. For
the suffering of death is he crownedwith glory and honour. He candeclare, "I
am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore."
"Because Ilive, ye shall live also."
2. After this model, service to the Church becomes the stepping-stone to
honor. Christ has furnished the pattern to his followers according to which
office and rank are conferred. He who is most profitable to the body is to be
most esteemedby the members. Empty sinecures are unknown in his
kingdom. And if we would benefit our fellows, we must by real sympathy
share their need and trouble. "He that will be greatest, lethim be your
minister." Christ rose as the Firstfruits, and in Christ shall all be made alive,
but every man in his ownrank. - S.R.A.

Biblical Illustrator
For to this end Christ both died and rose,...that He might be Lord both of the
dead and living.
Romans 14:9
How we should improve the end of Christ's death and resurrection
J. Benson.
Christ's death and resurrectionare firmly believed, and often consideredby
us; but too little attention is paid to the end of both.
I. WHAT IS THIS END?
1. That He, as man, might be the lawful possessorofthe dead and living. Man
has, by sin, forfeited all he has and is, into the hands of justice. Christ, by His
death, has satisfiedjustice, and purchasedus for Himself: and in consequence
of His resurrectionHe rescues us, both the living and the dead (Philippians
2:6-10).
2. That He might be their Deliverer, Protector, and Ruler, defending them
from their enemies, and reigning in and over them.
3. That He might be their Master, that they might obey His will, and promote
His glory: His sufferings and death supply the greatestinducement to this,
and procure grace forus: His resurrectionconfers that grace, and enables us
to live to Him.
4. That He might be the Head and Husband of the dead and living. Lord
sometimes means husband. His death manifests His love to His spouse, the
Church (Ephesians 5:25): His being raised, makes Him able to fulfil the part
of a husband (Romans 7:4), including union (1 Corinthians 6:17), communion,

maintenance, guidance, government. Hence it appears that the dead are not
dead: He will not be the Husband of the dead.
5. That He might be the Judge of the dead and the living (vers. 10-13;Acts
17:31). This honour is conferredupon Him as a fit reward of His sufferings
and death: He rose to give full assurance ofit: He is thereby capacitatedto
exercise it.
II. THE USE WE SHOULD MAKE OF THIS DOCTRINE.Did He die and
rise again—
1. That He might be our Owner? Then let us give Him His own (1 Corinthians
6:19, 20).
2. That He might be our Governor? Then let us be subjectto Him in heart and
life, and dependent on His protection.
3. That He might be our Master? Thenlet us live to Him (2 Corinthians 5:14,
15); this is our duty, in justice and gratitude.
4. That He might be our Husband? Then how great the honour and happiness
He designs for us! Let us immediately embrace it.
5. That He might be our Judge? Then let us keepthe awful day in view, and
prepare for it.
(J. Benson.)
Christ, Lord of the dead and the living
Bp. Huntington.
This Lordship —
I. PROVIDES THE ONLY SOLID AND SATISFACTORYASSURANCE OF
THE FUTURE REUNION AND RECOGNITION OF HIS FOLLOWERS.
The question that rises oftenerthan any other to the lips of the bereaved
touches this point of reunion. You may try to construct a heaven cut cleanoff
in all its sympathies and attachments and recognitions from this world we are

in now. But you will almost certainly then have before the mind a heaven
practically destitute of sympathies and attachments, too vague to awaken
expectation, too unreal to inspire enthusiasm. He who rose is the Lord of the
living and the dead. They are not two families, but one, because they are all in
Him, in spite of the transient curtain that hangs betweenthe departed and
ourselves — a curtain that probably has its only substance in the eyes of our
flesh. The resurrection of the body of Jesus signifies the literal reality of all
that is promised the Christian in his future home — the actualidentity of the
person here and the person there, and the actualrenewalof affections and
their interchange;for what is the identity, or the blessing of it, if the heart has
got to begin its whole history afresh? It signifies the actualrestoration, too, of
the society, only in more exalted forms, of those who have believed and
worshipped the same Saviour here. There will be no confusion of persons, no
obliteration of the lines that mark off one soul from another. We shall be just,
as distinct persons:with all personalfaculties, affections, sympathies,
substances, yes, andappearances, as we are now. In those celestial
congregations there will, no doubt, be something to be recognisedby, in
feature or form, inbred on earth and indestructible by dissolution. Hence the
need of a glorified resurrection body, to be set free at the last change —
following the analogystill of His body who died and rose the same.
II. SUGGESTSTHAT OUR RESURRECTIONLIFE WILL BE SOCIAL AS
WELL AS INDIVIDUAL. As everything in the kingdom of heaven has its type
and model in the Personof our Lord, so in the rising of His form, and the
subsequent interviews with His disciples, we see a promise that, literally and
for ever, those to whom He imparts His Spirit will move togetherin a family
order and freedom about Him. Nothing less than this can be taught us by the
parable of Lazarus, by the inspired images of the Apocalypse, by the company
of saints made perfect; but, more than all these, by the reappearing, in the
body, of the Lord of the dead and the living. Whither would the forth-going
soul take its strange journey if there were no centre of spiritual attraction, no
Christ receiving the believer to Himself where He is?
(Bp. Huntington.)

Christ's Lordship
R. Sibbes, D.D.
I. ITS NATURE.
1. Universal. He is Lord overall the dead and all the living; but in a peculiar
manner over His Church, even as a husband is lord overhis wife, which is a
lordship with sweetness.It is indeed a lordship; but it is such as is goodfor His
subjects. Christ accounts Himself happy in His Church, which is His fulness,
and (Ephesians 1:23) the Church is most happy in His government.
2. Independent. Only His Father joins with Him. All human authority is
derived from Him (Proverbs 8:15). "King of kings," He is Lord Paramount
over all.
3. Complete. He is a Lord of the whole man, body and soul. He sits in the
throne of conscience.There He prescribes laws to it, pacifies, stablishes, and
settles it againstall fears. He bows the neck of the inward man, and brings it
wholly to be subject to Him.
4. Eternal. Other lords have nothing to do with men when they are dead,
because they are lords overthe outward man only. But Christ's lordship is
when we are gone hence, and then more especially. Forthen we are more
immediately with Him (Philippians 1:23).
5. Excellent. He hath all things that a lord should have.(1) Authority. He
purchased it, and His Fathergave it Him (Psalm 2:8; Matthew 28:18; John
17:2).(2) All graces andvirtues fit for a lord and governor — righteousness,
wisdom, bounty, affections, etc. (Psalm45:6).(3)Strength. Answerable to His
authority; for He is a Lord that is God.
II. DEDUCTIONSFROM IT. We see —
1. That the grounds of a Christian's faith and comfort are very strong. God
doth all to ends, it being a point of wisdom to prefix an end, and work to it.
Here the greatestwork hath the greatestend.

2. That the principal points of religion have an influence on all the particulars.
For one is the cause of another, and one depends upon another. Christ is
proved to be Lord of all, because He died and rose.
3. The truth of the Catholic Church, from the first man living to the end of the
Church, under one head Christ (Hebrews 13:8; Acts 4:12).
4. The blessedness ofbeing under the sovereigntyof Christ. To be Solomon's
servant was accounteda greathappiness (1 Kings 10:8). What shall we think
of those that are under Christ, who is greaterthan Solomon(Matthew 12:42).
For Christ's servants are so many kings (Revelation1:6), and such kings as do
not rule over slaves, but over the greatestenemies ofall. A Christian can think
with comfort upon those enemies that make the greatesttyrants quake —
death, sin, and the law. Therefore, those Christians that are afraid of death,
forgettheir dignity. If Christ be their Lord when they die, what need they fear
to die?
5. The duty we owe to our Lord —(1) To live to Him. This we do —(a) When
we know and acknowledgeChristhath a full interest in us. Upon this issues all
other obedience.(b)When we are directed by His will, and not our own. Christ
squared His life immediately according to His Father's will (Psalm40:7). So
all that are Christ's must have the same spirit.(c) When we aim at the glory of
Christ in all things (1 Corinthians 10:31). The contrary to this the apostle
complains of (Philippians 2:21).(2) To die to Him. This we do when we know
and acknowledgethat Christ hath powerover us when we die, and(a)
thereupon submit ourselves to Him, and not murmur when He comes to call
for our life.(b) When upon any goodoccasionHe calls for our life in standing
for a goodcause — for the Church or State — we are ready to lay it down.(c)
When we carry ourselves so, when death comes, as we may express such
graces as glorifyGod, and when we study to do all the goodwe can, that we
may die fruitfully.
6. What we may expect from Christ, and what we ought to return to Him
again. For relations are bonds.(a) That He will make us willing and able
subjects. He is such a Head as quickeneth dead members; such a Husband as
makes His spouse beautiful. A king cannotalter his subjects;but He is such a

King as can, and does. He takes them out of a contrary kingdom, as being not
born its subjects, but "born anew by the Spirit."(b) Advancement. The
meanestman that is a subject to Christ is a king, and a king over that which
all others are slaves to. They rule over others, but they are in thraldom to
their own lusts.
7. How to carry ourselves to men otherwise affected. Christrules over us, both
living and dying; therefore be not the servants of men, but "in the Lord" —
i.e., so far as it may stand in the will and pleasure of Him that is the Lord of
lords. For when the authority of any superior doth countermand againstthe
will of this Lord, it ceasethto bind.
(R. Sibbes, D.D.)
Christ's lordship over the dead and living
R. S.Candlish, D.D.
I. IT IS PLAINLY A MEDIATORIAL LORDSHIP THAT CHRIST IS HERE
SAID TO HAVE. It is altogetherapartfrom the supreme dominion belonging
to Him as God, and from that universal lordship which has been conferred on
Him as Mediator. The apostle is teaching a lessonof Christian forbearance.
You differ from one another about some doubtful points. But do not judge one
another. Let every man judge for himself. You are not one another's lords.
Nay, you do not belong to yourselves. You all belong to Christ, who, that He
might be your Lord, both died and rose again. Thus far the argument tells for
its being a restrictedlordship. But why is there any mention made of the dead
as distinct from the living? It is the living only who are or can be concerned
about the rule. But the living, who have to do with the rule and the reasonfor
it, are soonto be themselves the dead. You are to look at the point in dispute
in the light in which it will appear to you when you are dead. You are equally
amenable to the Lord now as then. Dead, you will completely own His
lordship; living, own it all the same. The lordship of Christ, therefore, is a
lordship over His people;and such a lordship over them living, as has its type,

one may say, as well as its consummation, in His lordship over them when
dead.
II. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THIS LORDSHIP OF CHRIST AND
HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION IS VERY CLOSE. " To this end"
(Hebrews 12:2) —
1. It is the appropriate reward, the natural fruit and issue of His dying and
rising again, that He is Lord. Christ died and rose again, not as an isolated
private individual, transacting with the Father for Himself alone. He bore a
representative character. He had gatheredup in His one single personall the
interests of all His people. Lordship over them is really involved in His dying
and rising again. He has them as much at His disposalas He has His own
body.
2. Yet there is not much of apparent lordship here. He appears rather as
passive than as active. Dying and rising again, He stands forth as not Lord,
but servant. But it is through this service that He reaches His lordship. And
the lordship answers to the service in all respects.(1)The persons interested
are the same. He is, no doubt, Lord over all mankind; but what is here
assertedis a lordship which only true believers canacknowledge — viz., a
lordship founded on the Lord's dying and rising again. They may not be more
absolutely in His hands, as mediatorial Lord, than all creationis. And in both
casesHis mediatorial lordship is the fruit of his dying and rising. But —(a)
There is intelligence and consentin the one case thatwe cannotfind in the
other.(b) There is a real distinction, as regards the dependence of Christ's
lordship, in His dying and rising again, betweenthe two cases.It is
indispensable to the accomplishment of the end for which He died and rose
again, that He should have as part of His recompense this wide prerogative of
universal lordship. But the end itself, the joy setbefore Him, was surely a
lordship more peculiar and more precious (John 17:1, 2).(2) There is a
correspondence betweenthe lordship itself and that on which it rests, and
from which it flows. It rests on service and flows from service — the service of
sacrifice. ButHe died and rose not that He might be different as Lord from
what He was as dying and rising. No. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever. It would seem, therefore, that His lordship must be in some sense a

continuation of His service. Christ, as His people's Lord, cannot be to them
different from what He was when as the Father's servanton their behalf He
died and rose.
3. Thus, carrying back the lordship into the dying and rising, we may see,
even in the humiliation, the real glory of the exaltation. He is Lord, when He
dies and rises and lives; Lord, in their life and in their death, of those for
whom He dies and rises and lives. His dying and living againis in itself an act
of lordship over them.
III. IN THE LIGHT OF THIS CONNECTION, CONSIDERTHE
LORDSHIP OF CHRIST IN ITS BEARING UPON THOSE OVER WHOM
IT IS EXERCISED.
1. As dying and rising, He is Lord of His own dead.(1)Giving them victory,
and taking from death his sting.(2) Receiving them to Himself.(3) Changing
their mortal bodies, that they may be fashionedlike unto His own glorious
Body.(4) Leading them among the many mansions of His Father's house, and
finding them, as He rules them, congenialsubjects.
2. The Lord of you living; the Lord of your life — of the life which you have in
Him as dying and rising. Surely it is a Blessedlordship for you now to realise
and own. Is not that a source of confidence alike in life and in death? And is it
not also a motive to most thorough self-surrender?
(R. S.Candlish, D.D.)
The dominion of Christ over mankind
J. Lyth, D.D.
is —
I. MEDIATORIAL.
1. As God, He reigns in His own eternal right.
2. As man, by the appointment of the Father.

II. ABSOLUTE. He has all power —
1. To determine their conditions.
2. To pardon and save them.
2. To command their service.
3. To decide their eternallot.
III. UNIVERSAL. It includes the living and the dead.
IV. RIGHTEOUS. It is securedby —
1. His death.
2. His resurrection.
(J. Lyth, D.D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(9) And rose, and revived.—Forthese words the best MSS. substitute simply
“and lived.” The Receivedtext is a gloss upon this. It was through the
resurrectionthat Christ was finally enthroned at His Father’s right hand, and
that universal dominion was given to Him.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
14:7-13 Though some are weak, and others are strong, yet all must agree not
to live to themselves. No one who has given up his name to Christ, is allowedly
a self-seeker;that is againsttrue Christianity. The business of our lives is not
to please ourselves, but to please God. That is true Christianity, which makes

Christ all in all. Though Christians are of different strength, capacities, and
practices in lesserthings, yet they are all the Lord's; all are looking and
serving, and approving themselves to Christ. He is Lord of those that are
living, to rule them; of those that are dead, to revive them, and raise them up.
Christians should not judge or despise one another, because boththe one and
the other must shortly give an account. A believing regardto the judgment of
the greatday, would silence rashjudgings. Let every man searchhis own
heart and life; he that is strict in judging and humbling himself, will not be
apt to judge and despise his brother. We must take heed of saying or doing
things which may cause others to stumble or to fall. The one signifies a lesser,
the other a greaterdegree ofoffence;that which may be an occasionofgrief
or of guilt to our brother.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
For to this end - For this purpose or design. The apostle does not say that this
was the "only" design of his death, but that it was a main purpose, or an
objectwhich he had distinctly in view. This declarationis introduced in order
to confirm what he had said in the previous verse, that in all circumstances we
are the Lord's. This he shows by the fact that Jesus died "in order" that we
"might" be his.
And rose - This expressionis rejectedby most modern critics. It is wanting in
many manuscripts, and has been probably introduced in the text from the
margin.
And revived - There is also a variation in the Greek in this place, but not so
greatas to change the sense materially. It refers to his "resurrection,"and
means that he was "restoredto life" in order that he might exercise dominion
over the dead and the living.
That he might be Lord - Greek. Thathe might "rule over." The Greek word
used here implies the idea of his being "proprietor" or "owner" as wellas
"ruler." It means that he might exercise entire dominion over all, as the
sovereignLawgiverand Lord.

Both of the dead - That is, of those who "are" deceased, orwho have gone to
another state of existence. This passageproves that those who die are not
annihilated; that they do not ceaseto be conscious;and that they still are
under the dominion of the Mediator. Though their bodies moulder in the
grave, yet the spirit lives, and is under his control. And though the body dies
and returns to its native dust, yet the Lord Jesus is still its Sovereign, and shall
raise it up again:
"Godour Redeemerlives,
And often from the skies.
Looks down and watches allour dust,
Till he shall bid it rise."
It gives an additional sacrednessto the grave when we reflectthat the tomb is
under the watchful care of the Redeemer. Safe in his hands, the body may
sink to its native dust with the assurance that in his own time he will again call
it forth, with renovatedand immortal powers, to be for ever subject to his
will. With this view, we can leave our friends with confidence in his hands
when they die, and yield our own bodies cheerfully to the dust when he shall
call our spirits hence. But it is not only over the "body" that his dominion is
established. This passage proves that the departed souls of the saints are still
subject to him; compare Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:27. He not only has
"dominion" over those spirits, but he is their protectorand Lord. They are
safe under his universal dominion. And it does much to alleviate the pains of
separationfrom pious, beloved friends, to reflect that they depart still to love
and serve the same Saviour in perfectpurity, and unvexed by infirmity and
sin. Why should we wish to recallthem from his perfectlove in the heavens to
the poor and imperfect service which they would render if in the land of the
living?
And living - To the redeemed, while they remain in this life. He died to
"purchase" them to himself, that they might become his obedient subjects;
and they are bound to yield obedience by all the sacrednessandvalue of the
price which he paid, evenhis own precious blood; compare 1 Corinthians

6:20, "Forye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and
in your spirit, which are God's;" 1 Corinthians 7:23; Revelation14:4 (Greek,
"bought"); 1 Peter2:9, (Greek, "purchased"). If it be askedhow this
"dominion over the dead and the living" is connectedwith the death and
resurrectionof the Lord Jesus, we may reply,
(1) That it is securedover Christians from the fact that they are "purchased"
or "ransomed" by his precious blood; and that they are bound by this sacred
considerationto live to him. This obligation every Christian feels 1 Peter1:18,
and its force is continually resting on him. It was by the love of Christ that he
was ever brought to love God at all; and his deepestand tenderest obligations
to live to him arise from this source;2 Corinthians 5:14-15.
(2) Jesus, by his death and resurrection, establisheda dominion over the
grave. He destroyed him that had the powerof death, Hebrews 2:14, and
triumphed over him; Colossians 2:15. Satanis a humbled foe;and his sceptre
over the grave is wrestedfrom his hands. When Jesus rose, in spite of all the
powerof Satanand of people, he burst the bands of death, and made an
invasion on the dominions of the dead, and showedthat he had powerto
control all.
(3) this dominion of the Lord Jesus is felt by the spirits on high. They are
subject to him because he redeemedthem; Revelation5:9.
continued...
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
9. Forto this end Christ both, &c.—The true reading here is, To this end
Christ died and lived ("again").
that he might be Lord both of the dead and—"and of the"
living—The grand objectof His death was to acquire this absolute Lordship
over His redeemed, both in their living and in their dying, as His of right.
Matthew Poole's Commentary

To this end Christ both died, and rose:q.d. This is the fruit that accrues to
Christ, by his death and resurrection, that he might, & c.
And revived: the Vulgar Latin leaves out this word. Chrysostomleft out the
former word, he arose. Ambrose inverts the order of the words, and reads
them thus: To this end he lived, and died, and rose again. Some think the
preter tense is here put for the present tense:he revived, i.e. he still lives, to
intercede for us, and to exercise dominion over us. Others think that Christ’s
reviving here doth denote that new state of life which he had after his
resurrection.
That he might be Lord both of the dead and living; or, that he may govern
and lord it (ina kurieush) over all his, whether dead or alive; that he might
obtain dominion, or rather the exercise ofhis dominion, over them. As God,
he hath a universal dominion over all; but as Mediator, he hath a more special
dominion over all the Father gave to him: this dominion he purchasedat his
death, and he had the full exercise ofit when he rose again, Matthew 28:18
Philippians 2:9,10.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived,.... This lastword
"revived" is omitted by the Vulgate Latin, but very naturally placed by the
Syriac, betweenChrist's dying and rising. The Alexandrian copy reads, "died
and lived": and the Ethiopic version, "died and revived": the end of all which
was,
that he might be the Lord both of the dead and living; that is, of believers,
whether dead or alive; for though he is Lord of all, as God and Creator, yet
his appearing to be Lord by his dying, rising, and living again, canonly have
respectto them, for whom dying he has abolisheddeath, and destroyed Satan;
whom he has redeemed from sin, and delivered from this present evil world;
and so having freed them from those other lords which had the dominion over
them, shows himself to be their one and only Lord: and by rising againfrom

the dead, ascending to heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God, all
creatures and things being subject to him, he is made or declaredboth Lord
and Christ; and living again, and continuing to live for ever, he appears to
have the keys of hell and death; and will open the graves, and raise from
thence, and judge both quick and dead, those that will be found alive at his
coming, and such as he will cause to rise from the dead then; till which time,
the apostle suggests,the decisionof these differences about meats and days
was to be left; and in the mean time the saints were to cultivate peace and love
among themselves.
Geneva Study Bible
For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord
both of the dead and living.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Romans 14:9. Objective historicalrelation, on which this subjective attitude
towards Christ, Romans 14:8 (ἐάν τε οὖν κ.τ.λ.), is founded.
ἔξησε] became alive, to be understood of the resurrectionlife. Comp.
Revelation2:8; Revelation20:4-5;Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 4:10. The
aoristdenotes the setting in of the state; Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 1. 18.
Wrongly Olshausen(so also Schrader) thinks that the earthly life of Jesus is
meant, so that there occurs a hysteron proteron; in which view he overlooks,
first, that the mutual reference ofthe two elements in protasis and apodosis is
only formal, and secondly, that it was not Jesus’life and death, but rather His
death and life (resurrection), which led to His attainment of the heavenly
κυριότης. Comp. Romans 8:34, Romans 6:9-10; Php 2:8-9; Luke 24:26;
Matthew 28:18.
ἵνα] destination in the divine counsel. This aimed, in the death and
resurrectionof Christ, at the establishment of His munus regium, and that

over the dead (in Scheol, Php 2:10) and living; hence Christians are conscious
of belonging to Him in living and dying (Romans 14:8). Unsuitably to ἔξησεν,
since the raising up of the Lord is certainly, in the apostle’s view, the work of
God (Romans 1:4, Romans 4:24, Romans 6:4, Romans 8:11, and many other
passages), Hofmann sees in ἵνα Christ’s own purpose expressed.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Romans 14:9. εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ… ἵνα: cf. 2 Corinthians 2:9. ἔζησεν refers to the
resurrection, as is shown by the order of the words, the connectionelsewhere
in Paul of Lordship with the resurrection (cf. Php 2:9 ff.), and the aoristtense
which describes an act, and not the continued existence ofChrist on earth
(Sanday and Headlam): cf. Revelation2:8 (ὃς ἐγένετο νεκρὸς κ. ἔζησεν),
Revelation20:4 f. ἵνα denotes God’s purpose in subjecting His Son to this
experience. We must not suppose that ἀπέθανεν is speciallyconnectedwith
νεκρῶν and ἔζησεν with ζώντων; there is the same mannerism as in Romans
4:25. Ratheris it through Christ’s resurrection that His lordship over the
realm of death is established, so that not even in that dark world do those who
are His cease to stand in their old relation to Him. τοῦ κυρίου ἐσμὲν holds
alike in the seenand the unseen.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
9. died, and rose, and revived] Better, probably, died and came to life. The
words “and rose” appearto be interpolated. The balance of the clauses is thus
made precise:—He died and lived; He is Masterof the dead and living.
that he might be Lord] that He might become the Master. The emphasis is on
the word Lord, or Master. Here St Paul states one greatintended effectof the
mode of Salvation. It was Redemption, Deliverance by Purchase;and thus it
made the savedthe personalpossessionof the Saviour. It was also, specially,
through Deathand Revival; with a view (among other objects)to the
realization by His servants that He who, to save them, had dwelt in both
worlds, was their Masterin both.
Bengel's Gnomen

Romans 14:9. Καὶ ἀπέθανε καὶ ἔζησεν, both died and revived) This agrees
with what goes before and with what follows. Baumgartenreads καὶ ἀνέστη,
and alleges the probability of omissionon the part of the transcribers, but
gives no reasonfor this probability. I think the addition probably is due to
this, that the transcribers very easilylaid hold of a very well-known
expressionconcerning Christ, ἀπέθανε καὶ ἀνέστη, 1 Thessalonians4:14;and
when this was done, some omitted καὶ ἔζησεν, others, however, also retained
it, and moreoverplacedit either first, as in Iren. l. iii. c. 20;or in the middle,
as in the Syriac version; or third in order, as in Chrysostom, who, however, in
his exposition, passes overthe καὶ ἀνέστη. Whitby, who, according to
Baumgarten, ought to be consulted, refutes himself; for he says, that ἀπέθανεν
and νεκρῶν, ἔζησεν and ζώντων correspondto eachother (as also Orige[143]
observes, c. Cels., p. 103, ed. Hoesch.)ἀνέστη finds nothing to which it
corresponds. I have clearedawaythe objection from the testimonies of the
fathers, adduced by him, in the Apparatus. The reading ἔζησεν is well
supported; ἀνέζησεν rests on much weakerauthority.[144]—ΝΕΚΞῶΝ, ofthe
dead) The dying and the dead rejoice in the Lord Jesus, who has died and
abolisheddeath and vanquished the devil, Hebrews 2:14.—ζώντων, ofthe
living) The living and those, who are made alive again, triumph with their
living Redeemer, their Kinsman (Heb. Goel.)The living God is the God of the
living, Matthew 22:32. Christ, who lives again, is Lord of those who are
brought to life again. Paul places here, Romans 14:7-8, this life before death,
and, in Romans 14:9, by gradation, after death, that life, as ch. Romans 8:38,
with which comp. 14:34. Christ, says he, died, that he might have dominion
over the dying, Christ revived, that He might have dominion overthe living.
Christ has died, therefore death (the act or rather the passive suffering of
dying and the state of death) will not separate us from Him. Christ has risen
again, therefore the life (of the world to come)will not separate us from Him;
hence the notion of[145]the insensibility of the soulduring the whole night,
whilst the body is in the grave, is set aside by the dominion of Christ over the
dead; and againstthis doctrine solid arguments are derived from the
appearance of Moses andElias, Matthew 17:3, as also from the resurrection
of the saints, Matthew 27:52-53;and from the hope of Paul, etc., Php 1:23; 2
Corinthians 5:8; Hebrews 12:23. To these we may add “the fifth seal,”
Revelation6:9, note, and the ὄχλοι, multitudes of the blessed, Revelation7, 14,

etc. The apostles themselves declined, 1 Corinthians 5:12, to judge “those that
are without.” The state of deserving [the state in which men are capable of
deserts](taking the word in a large sense onboth sides [in a goodand a bad
sense])is doubtless not extended beyond this presentlife. The condition of
man for all eternity depends on [his state at] the moment of death, although
without man’s co-operation, different degrees may exist. Comp. Luke 16:9;
Luke 16:22; Luke 16:25;John 9:4 (comp. Ecclesiastes9:10);Galatians 6:10; 2
Timothy 4:6; 2 Timothy 4:8; Titus 2:12; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 6:11;
Hebrews 9:27; Revelation2:10; Romans 8:23, etc.
[143]rigen (born about 186 A.D., died 253 A.D., a Greek father: two-thirds of
the N. Test. are quoted in his writings). Ed. Vinc. Delarue, Paris. 1733,1740,
1759.
[144]ABC Memph. Syr. later, read ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἔζησεν. But Gg, Vulg. and
Origen, ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἀνέστη; for which lastFulgentius and the Fuld. MS. of
Vulg. correctedby Victor, have ἀνέζησεν. D(Λ)f Iren. have ἔζησεν καὶ
ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἀνέστη. Rec. Text, ἀπεθ. κ. ἀνέστη, κ. ἀνέζησεν.—ED.
[145]ψυχοπαννυχίαν.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 9. - For to this end Christ both died and lived (so certainly, rather than,
as in the Textus Receptus, died, and rose, and revived. His living means here
his entering on the heavenly life after the human death), that he might be
Lord both of the dead and living. "Nammortem pro salute nostra obeundo
dominium sibi acquisivit quod nec morte solveretur; resurgendo autem totam
vitam nostram in peculium accepit;morte igitur et resurrectione sua
promeritus estut tam in morte quam in vita gloriae nominis ejus serviamus"
(Calvin). Forthe idea of this whole passage(vers. 7-9), cf. 1 Corinthians 6:20;
1 Corinthians 7:23; 2 Corinthians 5:15. The apostle now returns to his

immediate subject, warning (as in ver. 3) the one party againstjudging and
the other againstdespising, on the ground of all alike having to abide
hereafterthe Divine judgment (cf. Matthew 7:1, seq.; 1 Corinthians 4:3, 5).
The distinction in ver. 10 betweenthe two parties, marked in the original by
the initial Σὺ δὲ and the following η} καὶ σὺ, is somewhatlostin our
Authorized Version.
Vincent's Word Studies
Might be Lord (κυριεύση)
Lit., might Lord it over. Justifying the term Lord applied to Christ in Romans
14:6, Romans 14:8.
CALVIN
Romans 14:7-9
7. Fornone of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
7. Nemo enim nostrum sibi ipsi vivit, et nemo sibi moritur.
8. Forwhether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto
the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
8. Sive enim vivimus, Domino vivimus; sive morimur, Domino morimur: sive
vivimus sive morimur, Domini sumus.
9. Forto this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, [420]that he might
be Lord both of the dead and living.
9. In hoc enim et mortuus est Christus, et resurrexit, et revixit, [421]ut vivis
dominetur et mortuis.
7. Forno one of us, etc. He now confirms the former verse by an argument
derived from the whole to a part, -- that it is no matter of wonder that
particular acts of our life should be referred to the Lord's will, since life itself
ought to be wholly spent to his glory; for then only is the life of a Christian
rightly formed, when it has for its objectthe will of God. But if thou oughtest

to refer whatever thou doestto his good pleasure, it is then an actof impiety to
undertake anything whatever, which thou thinkest will displease him; nay,
which thou art not persuadedwill please him.
8. To the Lord we live, etc. This does not mean the same as when it is said in
Romans 6:11, that we are made alive unto God by his Spirit, but that we
conform to his will and pleasure, and designall things to his glory. Nor are we
only to live to the Lord, but also to die; that is, our death as well as our life is
to be referred to his will. He adds the best of reasons, forwhether we live or
die, we are his: and it hence follows, that he has full authority over our life
and our death.
The application of this doctrine opens into a wide field. Godthus claims
authority over life and death, that his own condition might be borne by every
one as a yoke laid on him; for it is but just that he should assignto every one
his stationand his course of life. And thus we are not only forbidden rashly to
attempt this or that without God's command, but we are also commanded to
be patient under all troubles and losses. If at any time the flesh draws back in
adversities, let it come to our minds, that he who is not free nor has authority
over himself, perverts right and order if he depends not on the will of his lord.
Thus also is taught us the rule by which we are to live and to die, so that if he
extends our life in continual sorrows andmiseries, we are not yet to seek to
depart before our time; but if he should suddenly call us hence in the flowerof
our age, we ought ever to be ready for our departure.
9. Forto this end Christ also died, etc. This is a confirmation of the reason
which has been last mentioned; for in order to prove that we ought to live and
to die to the Lord, he had said, that whether we live or die we are under the
powerof Christ. He now shows how rightly Christ claims this powerover us,
since he has obtained it by so greata price; for by undergoing death for our
salvation, he has acquired authority overus which cannot be destroyed by
death, and by rising again, he has receivedour whole life as his peculiar
property. He has then by his death and resurrectiondeservedthat we should,
in death as well as in life, advance the glory of his name. The words arose and
lived againmean, that by resurrection he attained a new state of life; and that

as the life which he now possesses is subjectto no change, his dominion over
us is to be eternal.
Footnotes:
[420]The words, kai aneste, are dismissedby Griesbachas spurious, and he
substitutes ezesenfor anexesen. The difference in meaning is none; only it
comports with the style of the Apostle to add words of similar import for the
sake ofgreateremphasis, as the case oftenis in the Prophets. -- Ed.
[421]The words, kai aneste, are dismissedby Griesbachas spurious, and he
substitutes ezesenfor anexesen. The difference in meaning is none; only it
comports with the style of the Apostle to add words of similar import for the
sake ofgreateremphasis, as the case oftenis in the Prophets. -- Ed.
PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES
Romans 14:9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be
Lord both of the dead and of the living. (NASB:Lockman)
Greek:eis touto gar Christos apethanen (3SAAI) kaiezesen(3SAAI) hina kai
nekron kaizonton (PAPMPG)kurieuse
Amplified: ForChrist died and lived againfor this very purpose, that He
might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
NLT: Christ died and rose again for this very purpose, so that he might be
Lord of those who are alive and of those who have died.
Phillips: Christ lived and died that he might be the Lord in both life and
death.
Wuest: for to this end Christ both died and lived, in order that He might
exercise lordship over both dead ones and living ones.

Young's Literal: for because of this Christ both died and rose again, and lived
again, that both of dead and of living he may be Lord.
FOR TO THIS END CHRIST DIED AND LIVED AGAIN THAT HE
MIGHT BE LORD BOTH OF THE DEAD AND OF THE LIVING: eis touto
gar Christos apethanen(3SAAI) kaiezesen(3SAAI) hina kainekron kai
zonton (PAPMPG)kurieuse:(Isaiah 53:10, 11, 12;Luke 24:26; 2Corinthians
5:14; Hebrews 12:2; 1Peter1:21; Revelation1:18) (Matthew 28:18; John
5:22,23,27, 28, 29;Acts 10:36,42;2Timothy 4:1; 1Peter4:5)
For (gar) - Foris a a term of explanation. Pause to ponder what Paul is
explaining. This theologicaltruth supports the premise that whether we are
alive or dead we belong to the Lord Jesus. This is why He died and rose again.
To this end - Literally "to this" as "end" is added by the translators. Other
versions have "for this purpose." In explaining why we "are the Lord's"
possession(Ro 14:8), Paul now in turn explains the purpose of the Lord's
death and resurrection.
Died and lived again- Clearly His Crucifixion and the resurrection(both died
and lived are aorist tense which describe a historical event, His death and
resurrection.)
Stott reminds us of the context of Romans 14 explaining that "Because he is
our Lord, we must live for him. Becausehe is also the Lord of our fellow
Christians, we must respect their relationship to him and mind our own
business. Forhe died and rose to be Lord. (Romans-God's GoodNews for the
World -Bible Speaks Today)
Henry Alford - And this lordship over all was the great end of the Deathand
Resurrectionof Christ. By that Deathand Resurrection, the crowning events
of his work of Redemption, He was manifested as the righteous Head over the
race of man, which now, and in consequenceman’s world also, belongs by
right to Him alone. (Romans 14 Commentary)
Christ’s death and resurrectionare given as grounds for Him to exercise
lordship over both the dead and the living.

That (hina) expresses the purpose of His death and resurrection that He might
be Lord. Morris explains that "There is of course a sense in which Jesus was
always Lord; that follows from his essentialnature. Being who and what he is,
he is necessarilyLord of all. But Paul is not talking about that. He is referring
to what happened as a result of Jesus’atoning work;that brought about “the
lordship of redemptive relationship” (Murray). In a very specialsense Christ
is Lord of those to whom he brought salvationthrough his atoning death. Paul
sees both the dead and the living as under the scope of this lordship. (The
Epistle to the Romans- Leon Morris)
Denney adds that hina "denotes God’s purpose in subjecting His Son to this
experience… it through Christ’s resurrection that His lordship over the realm
of death is established, so that not even in that dark world do those who are
His ceaseto stand in their old relation to Him." (Romans 14 - The Expositor's
Greek Testament)
Might be Lord (Master)(2961)(kurieuo from noun kurios = master - powerof
control rather than physical strength) means to rule, to have dominion over,
to exercise authority, to have control over others or to exercise lordship over.
(Lk 22:25, Ro 14:9, 2Co 1:24). Scripture personifies various things which
control human life including law (Ro 7:1), Sin (Ro 6:14) and death (Ro 6:9),
but here speaks ofthe literal Lord of lords!
John MacArthur - The accomplishmentof Christ's death (Ro 14:9) Scripture
specificallystates that Jesus died to be Lord (as opposedto Savior). It is hard
for me to conceive how people believe someone canhave Jesus as their Savior,
yet not have any sense ofsubmission to His lordship. Jesus died and rose that
He might be Lord. The Greek verb kurieu[ma]o is translatedhere as "might
be Lord." The noun form is kurios, the common word for Lord. Jesus died
and rose to be Lord of both the living and the dead. The dead refer to saints
already in glory. Christ died to reign over the saints in His presence and the
saints still on earth. He has dominion over all creationand a special
mediatorial function on behalf of His own people (Heb. 2:17; 7:25). It is
impossible to deny the lordship of Jesus Christ without denying His work on
the cross. (Receiving One Another with Understanding, Part 2)

He might be Lord - James Denney explains that it is "through Christ’s
resurrectionthat His lordship over the realm of death is established, so that
not even in that dark world do those who are His ceaseto stand in their old
relation to Him. (Expositors Greek Testament)
Dead(3498)(seestudy below on nekros)
Paul explains in Ephesians that God manifested"the working of the strength
of His might (This is the same mighty power) 20 which He brought about in
Christ, when He raisedHim from the dead, and seatedHim at His right hand
in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the
one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave
Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fulness of
Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:19, 20, 21, 22, 23-note)
Writing to the Philippian church Paul explained that…
God raisedhim up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above
every other name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus everyknee will bow, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth (the dead and the living!), 11 and
every tongue will confess thatJesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father. (Php 2:9, 10, 11-note)
Comment: Dearreader, I cannot imagine you would be interested in reading
these notes if you had not yet bowed your knee to the Lord of all the universe,
but on the outside chance that there is one reading who has yet to confess
Jesus as Lord and believe in their heart that they might be saved, may today
be the day of the eternal salvationof your eternalsoul (Ro 10:9, 10-note, Acts
16:31, 4:12 2Co 6:2). Bow today, by grace through faith (Ep 2:8, 9-note), but if
you do not, be assuredyou will one day be forcedto bow but then it is too late
for salvation(cp He 9:27, 28-note)
Hodge - By his death he purchased them for his own, and by his resurrection
he attained to that exalted station which he now occupies as Lord over all, and
receivedthose gifts which enable him to exercise as Mediatorthis universal
dominion. The exaltationand dominion of Christ are frequently represented

in the Scriptures as the reward of his sufferings: “Wherefore Godalso hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at
the name of Jesus everyknee should bow,” etc. Phil. 2:8, 9. This authority of
Christ overhis people is not confined to this world, but extends beyond the
grave. He is Lord both of the dead and the living. (Romans 14 - Hodge's
Commentary on Romans)
We are not our ownbut Christ’s (1Co 6:19-note). This right of possession, and
the consequentduty of devotion and obedience, are not founded on creation
but on redemption. We are Christ’s because he has bought us with a price.
In all of Scripture, there is no greatercall
for holy living and for submission <
to the sovereignand unconditional
lordship of Jesus Christ.
To deny the lordship of Jesus Christ in the life of any believer is to subvert the
full work, power, and purpose of His crucifixion and resurrection. Christ's
Lordship is the foundational truth for the unity of the Church amidst
diversity of opinion.
Neither the strong nor the weak lives for himself or dies for himself, and for
the same reason—bothofthem live for the Lord and both of them die for the
Lord. What we do for other believers, we do not only for their sakes but for
our Lord’s sake, because, whetherwe live or die, we are the Lord’s. Christ is
our mutual Lord, our mutual sovereign;and therefore everything we do, even
in our dying, should be to please and to glorify our sovereignSaviorand Lord.
Newell- The argument of Ro 14:7, 8, 9 is that eachone of us is living or dying
absolutely unto the Lord, - whose we are. We are not in any sense one
another's lords, but belong to Christ alone, Who died and lived that He might
rule over us all, and not we be lords of eachother! or of the faith of others.'
Therefore comes the searching question (in Ro 14:10-12). (Ro 14:10-note)
(Romans 14)

Steven Cole - Jesus is the Lord of all; thus we all will give an accountof our
lives to Him. Romans 14:9: “Forto this end Christ died and lived again, that
He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” Christ, of course, was
the Lord of all before He came to this earth. He is the eternal Son of God. But
in coming to this earth as a man, Jesus subjectedHimself to death on our
behalf. When Godraised Him from the dead, He conquereddeath once and
for all. Godhighly exalted Him to His right hand and put all things in
subjection to Him as the crucified and risen Lord (Eph. 1:19-23;Phil. 2:5-11).
By virtue of His death and resurrection, He is “Lord both of the dead and of
the living” (14:9). This means that He is the Judge of the living and the dead
(Acts 10:42; 2Ti4:1; 1 Pet. 4:5). As Paul told the Athenians (Acts 17:31), God
“has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a
Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising
Him from the dead.” Or, as Jesus Himself told the Jews (John5:22-23), “For
not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not
honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” By the way, that is a
strong claim of Jesus’deity. You see the same thing in our text, where Paul
freely moves between“Lord” (referring to Jesus)and “God” (referring to the
Father). In Romans 14:10, Paul says (according to the best manuscripts), “For
we will all stand before the judgment seatof God.” In 2 Corinthians 5:10, he
says, “Forwe must all appearbefore the judgment seatof Christ ….” Since
God and Christ are one (John 10:30), it’s the same judgment seat. We all will
give an accountof ourselves to God and Christ.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “But I thought that there is no condemnation for
Christians (Rom. 8:1). I thought that we will not come into judgment (John
5:24). How is it, then, that we all will stand before the judgment seatof God?”
Paul cites first a phrase from Isaiah 49:18, “‘As I live,’ says the Lord,”
followedby Isaiah 45:23, “Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall
give praise to God.” Then Paul concludes (14:12), “So then eachone of us will
give an accountof himself to God.” The point is, God is the sovereignLord of
all and hence He has the right to judge all, including believers. For believers,
it will not be a determination of heavenor hell, but rather a judgment of our
works. Paulexplains in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15:

Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, straw, eachman’s work will become evident; for the day will show
it because it is to be revealedwith fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of
eachman’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will
receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss;but he
himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
I’m not sure what it means to “suffer loss” atthe judgment, but I don’t want
it to happen to me! It must involve a moment of deep regret and shame over
what I have done or not done with the spiritual gifts that God has entrusted to
me. But, clearly, I should live in light of that certain day aheadwhen I will
stand before the Lord to give an account. Have I lived in light of His
purposes? Have I used my time, talents, and treasure to seek first His
kingdom and righteousness (Matt. 6:33)? Will I be able to say, with Paul (2
Tim. 4:7), “I have fought the goodfight, I have finished the course, I have kept
the faith”?
4. Since God is the Judge of all, we must not judge other believers or regard
them with contempt.
Romans 14:10, “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why
do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the
judgment seatof God.” Again, this does not refer to judging our brothers over
matters of sin or serious doctrinal error. We must judge one another on these
matters. In this context, it refers to not judging one another over non-essential
matters where the Bible gives no commands. This calls for discernment. The
fact that I will stand before the judgment seatof God gives me the courage to
confront a believer who is in sin or who is promoting serious error when by
nature I would not do anything (Ezek. 33:1-10). It gives me the courage to
teachdifficult truths from God’s Word that I would be prone to skip.
But the fact that I will stand before God’s judgment seatshould also cause me
to refrain from speaking againsta brother who may be doing or saying
something that is not clearly commanded in Scripture. If I think that what he
is doing or saying is spiritually immature or will cause him or others spiritual
harm, I may need gently to come alongside and offer correctionat the proper

time. But if it’s a neutral matter, then I should assume that he is doing it for
the Lord and let the Lord be his judge.
Conclusion- A traveler, betweenflights at an airport, bought a small package
of cookies. Thenshe sat down and beganreading a newspaper. Gradually, she
became aware ofa rustling noise. From behind her paper, she was
flabbergastedto see a neatly dressedman helping himself to her cookies. Not
wanting to make a scene, she leaned overand took a cookie herself. A minute
or two passed, and then came more rustling. He was helping himself to
another cookie!By this time, they had come to the end of the package, but she
was so angry she didn’t dare allow herselfto say anything. Then, as if to add
insult to injury, the man broke the remaining cookie intwo, pushed half
across to her, ate the other half, and left. Still fuming some time later when
her flight was announced, the womanopened her handbag to get her ticket.
To her shock and embarrassment, there she found her pack of unopened
cookies!Sometimes, we judge others very wrongly! (Leadership, Spring, 1991,
p. 45.)
Perhaps our text can best be summed up by saying, “Don’t judge your
brother on non-essentialmatters, because Godwill judge him. Judge yourself,
because Godwill judge you” (paraphrasedfrom F. Godet, Commentary on
Romans [Kregel], p. 459).
Application Questions -
1 How can we determine whether a non-essentialmatter is spiritually harmful
or not? When should we talk with a brother or sisterabout such matters?
2 Where are you at on the matter of Sunday being the Christian Sabbath?
Could you use Sundays more profitably than you do?
3 What are some areas where you are prone to judge other Christians or to
look on them with contempt?
4 Do you live in light of standing before Christ for judgment of your works?
How can we make this more central in our daily lives?(Why We Should Not
Judge Others Romans 14:5-12)(Bolding added)

Wayne Barber
Ro 14:9 says, "Forto this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be
Lord both of the dead and of the living."
I want to encourage you that when you finish your life someday, you can look
at others and look at God and say, "I have lived my life, not perfect, but I
have dealt with sin. I have dealt with mistakes as best I know how, but I have
lived my life so as my convictions have never been compromised. Fallen,
failed, yes, but never compromised. But I have also lived my life so that
because ofmy life my brother’s convictions were never compromised or
defeated." Now that is the waywe are supposed to live.
The Apostle Paul saidsomething in Acts 23:1 that caught my attention when
he spoke before the council. It says, "And Paul, looking intently at the
Council, said, ‘Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly goodconscience
before God up to this day.'"
Can you saythat? Have you lived your life that way? That doesn’t mean
perfection at all. Paul wouldn’t even want you to think that. It simply means
that the convictions that governedhim have continued to govern him until
that day but in such a way that he didn’t take his convictions and cram them
down somebody else’s throatto where their convictions somehow were
demeaned and scorned. That is a balancedlife.
You say, "I can’t live that way." Neither canI, but God never said we could.
He can, and He always said He would. You live Romans 12:1 (note), Ro 12:2
(note) and let Him take care of the rest of it. A love without hypocrisy is going
to be developedin you. It is going to cause you to see people in the body
differently and people outside the body differently. It is even going to cause
you to treat people who persecute you in a different way than you ever
thought possible. As a matter of fact, you are going to have a respectfor
government authority that you never dreamed you would have. You are even
going to pay your taxes without grumbling. But not only that, you are not
going to cause a weakerbrotherto stumble with the freedom that you have
found under grace.

How is your spirit? Is it celebrating Christ, celebrating His resurrection,
celebrating His life in you? Then it is going to be seenin the way you handle
people. It is going to be seenin the way you handle a weakerbrother.
(Romans 14:1-6)
><>><>><>
Dead(3498)(nekrosfrom nékus/nekys = a corpse > English - necropsy,
necrophobia, necrophilia, etc)literally describes that which is devoid of life,
that which is in the condition in which breath and all vital functions have
ceased(Acts 20:9). Nekros means deprived of vital force. Lifeless. Useless.
Nekros oftenrefers to resurrection from the dead (Mt 10:8, 11:5, 14:2, 17:9,
22:31-32, 27:64, Mt28:7, Mk 6:14, 9:9, 12:25-26, etc).
Jesus condemnedthe Phariseesas "like whitewashedtombs full of dead men's
bones." (Mt 23:27) The guards at the tomb "became like dead men." (Mt
28:4)
Vine - Nekros is used of (a) the death of the body, cf. Jas. 2:26, its most
frequent sense:(b) the actualspiritual condition of unsaved men, Mt. 8:22;
John 5:25; Eph. 2:1, 5; 5:14; Phil. 3:11; Col. 2:13; cf. Luke 15:24:(c) the ideal
spiritual condition of believers in regard to sin, Ro 6:11: (d) a church in
declension, inasmuch as in that state it is inactive and barren, Rev. 3:1: (e) sin,
which apart from law cannot produce a sense ofguilt, Ro 7:8: (f) the body of
the believerin contrastto his spirit, Ro 8:10: (g) the works of the Law,
inasmuch as, howevergood in themselves, Ro 7:13, they cannot produce life,
Heb. 6:1; 9:14: (h) the faith that does not produce works, Jas 2:17, 26;cf.
James 2:20. (Dead- Vine's Expository Dictionaryof NT Words)
BDAG summarized - (1) pertaining to being in a state of loss of life (2)
pertaining to being so morally or spiritually deficient as to be in effectdead…
(a) of persons… ofthe prodigal son either thought to be dead, missing, or
morally dead, depraved Lk 15:24, 32. Of a congregationthat is inactive,
remiss Rev3:1 (b) of things… dead works that cannot bring eternal life (Heb
6:1, 9:14)… of sin where there is no law, sin is dead, i.e. sin is not perceptible
(Ro 7:8)… Of the believer, in whom Christ lives:… the body (of sarx [flesh]

and sin) is dead Ro 8:10. (3) Pertaining to having never been alive and lacking
capacityfor life, dead, lifeless… Ofpolytheistic objects of cultic devotion.
Gary Hill - figuratively not able to respond to impulses, or perform functions
("unable, ineffective, dead, powerless," L & N); unresponsive to life-giving
influences (opportunities); inoperative to the things of God. nekros ("corpse-
like")is used as a noun in certain contexts ("the dead"), especiallywhen
accompaniedby the Greek definite article. The dead (Gk nekroi)with the
article (hoi nekroi) refers to the dead consideredas "a definitely conceived
whole (Jn 5:21; 1Cor15:52; 2Cor1:9; Col1:18)" (G. Winer, Grammar, 153).
(See excellentresource The DiscoveryBible to enable deeper Word Studies =
http://www.helpsbible.org - see reviews of "The DiscoveryBible")
Friberg - (1) of persons; (a) literally; (i) of human beings and animals no
longerphysically alive dead, lifeless, deceased(Acts 28.6;James 2.26a);(ii)
substantivally ν. dead person (Lk 7.15);οn nekroi the dead, dead people (MK
12.26);(b) figuratively; (i) of persons unable to respond to God because of
moral badness or spiritual alienationdead, powerless (Eph 2.1, 5); (ii) of
persons regardedas dead because ofseparationdead(Lk 15.24, 32);(iii) of
persons no longer under the controlof something dead to (Ro 6.11);(2) of
things; literally lifeless (e.g. idols);figuratively, of what is of no benefit
morally or spiritually utterly useless, completelyineffective (Heb 6.1;James
2.26)(Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament-Barbara Friberg and
Neva F. Mille Timothy Friberg).
Webster's definitions of dead = lacking powerto move, feel, or respond;
inanimate, inert; no longeractive; figuratively, used to describe anything that
has lostany attribute (as energy, activity, radiance) suggesting life;incapable
of being stirred emotionally or intellectually
Dead- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Dead- Matthew 8:22 = Here those who
are spiritually dead are requestedto bury those who are physically dead. The
undertaker may be dead to GOD, having no Saviour, no eternal life, and has
never been born again. He is describedas dead to GOD. The friend whom he
is to take care of in death is physically dead. That one lies helpless in the

Jesus was lord of both the dead and the living

Jesus was lord of both the dead and the living

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