Romans 14.7-There Is Absolutely Not One Christian Who Lives For Himself And There Is Absolutely None Who Dies For Himself
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 10, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:7-There Is Absolutely Not One Christian Who Lives For Himself And There Is Absolutely None That Dies For Himself
Lesson # 469
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
This evening we will study Romans 14:7, which teaches no Christian lives for himself and none dies for himself.
Romans 14:1, “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.”
Romans 14:2, “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.”
Romans 14:3, “The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.”
Romans 14:4, “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
Romans 14:5, “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”
Romans 14:6, “He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.”
Romans 14:7, “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.”
Romans 14:7 presents the reason for Paul’s previous statement in Romans 14:6.
This statement in Romans 14:7 presents the basis for Paul’s assertions about the weak and the strong Christian in Romans 14:6.
This statement in verse 7 presents the basis or reason why both the weak and strong conduct their lives according to certain convictions.
They both conduct their lives according to certain convictions “because” they both are seeking to please the Lord as His servants by doing His will.
On one hand, the strong have the conviction that they do not have to observe the dietary regulations in the Mosaic Law or honor certain days in Israel’s calendar.
On the other hand, the weak have the conviction that they must observe these regulations and honors these special days.
Yet, both conduct themselves according to their own convictions “because” they believe that they are obeying the Father’s will and are pleasing the Lord by conducting their lives according to their convictions.
“Not one” is the nominative masculine singular form of the cardinal number oudeis (ou)deiv$) (oo-theece), which functions as a substantive and means “absolutely not one” and emphatically negates the idea that any Christian, weak or strong, conducts his or her life for himself.
“Of us” is the genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun hemeis (h(mei$) (ee-mece), which refers to Paul and his fellow Christians in Rome and functions as a partitive genitive or wholative genitive meaning that the word denotes the whole of which the head noun oudeis, “absolutely not one” is a part.
This indicates that absolutely not one person, “which is a part of the body of Christ” conducts his or her life for himself.
“Lives” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb zao (zavw) (dzah-o), which means, “to conduct oneself” in relationship to oneself.
The word refers to the manner in which a Christian behaves or conducts himself in relationship to himself or herself.
This word is emphatically negated by oudeis.
Therefore, these two words indicate that there is absolutely not one Christian who conducts his or her life for the benefit of himself or herself.
“For himself” is the dative third person masculine singular form of the reflexive personal pronoun heautou (e(autou) (aff-too), which means “himself” and emphasizes the action of the Christian living for himself.
The word emphasizes Paul and his Christian readers participation in conducting their lives for the benefit of themselves.
The reflexive pronoun heautou functions as a dative of advantage indicating that there is absolutely not one Christian who lives “for the own benefit.”
Romans 14:7, “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.”
“And not one dies for himself” presents a reason for Paul’s assertions about the weak and the strong Christian in Romans 14:6 that is “in addition to” the previous one that there is absolutely not one Christian who lives for the benefit of himself.
“Not one” is the nominative masculine singular form of the cardinal number oudeis (ou)deiv$) (oo-theece), which functions as a substantive and means “absolutely not one” and emphatically negates the idea that any Christian, weak or strong, dies for himself.
“Of us” is the genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun hemeis (h(mei$) (ee-mece), which refers to Paul and his fellow Christians in Rome and functions as a partitive genitive or wholative genitive meaning that the word denotes the whole of which the head noun oudeis, “absolutely not one” is a part.
This indicates that absolutely not one person, “which is a part of the body of Christ” dies for himself.
“Dies” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb apothnesko (a)poqnhv|skw) (apo-tha-nee-sko), which refers to physical death of a member of the body of Christ.
This word’s meaning is emphatically negated by oudeis.
Therefore, together, these two words indicate that there is absolutely not one Christian in the body of Christ that dies for the benefit of himself or herself.
Physical death does not end the Christian’s service to God but rather it simply brings about a change in the character and nature of that service in that physical death for the Christian results in the perfection of himself and thus His service to the Lord.
“For himself” is the dative third person masculine singular form of the reflexive personal pronoun heautou (e(autou) (aff-too), which means “himself” and emphasizes the action of the Christian dying for himself.
The word emphasizes Paul and his Christian readers participation in dying for the benefit of themselves.
The reflexive pronoun heautou functions as a dative of advantage indicating that there is absolutely not one Christian who dies “for the own benefit.”
Romans 14:7 emphasizes that both the strong and the weak Christian live and die in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Their purpose is to please Him and Him alone.
This passage emphasizes that both the weak and the strong Christian are ultimately accountable to God.
He will ultimately determine if they were a faithful or unfaithful servant.