Romans 14.8a-The Christian Lives And Dies For The Benefit Of The Lord Therefore Whether He Lives Or Dies, He Is The Lord's
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday March 11, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:8a-The Christian Lives And Dies For The Benefit Of The Lord
Lesson # 470
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
This evening we will begin a study of Romans 14:8 by noting the spiritual principle that whether if the Christian lives, he lives for the benefit of the Lord or if he dies, he dies for the benefit of the Lord.
Sunday we will note the inference that he draws from this spiritual principle, namely that whether if the Christian lives or if he dies, he is the Lord’s.
Romans 14:1, “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.”
Romans 14:2, “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.”
Romans 14:3, “The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.”
Romans 14:4, “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
Romans 14:5, “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”
Romans 14:6, “He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.”
Romans 14:7, “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.”
Romans 14:8, “for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.”
Romans 14:8 is a causal clause that presents the reason why Paul’s previous statement in Romans 14:7 is true.
Romans 14:7, “Therefore absolutely not one person among us as an eternal spiritual truth lives for the benefit of himself. Also, absolutely not one person among us dies for the benefit of himself.” (My translation)
Paul’s statement in Romans 14:8 explains why it is true that there is absolutely not one Christian who lives or dies for the benefit of himself or herself.
Verse 8 makes clear that there is absolutely not one Christian who lives or dies for himself or herself “because” they live and die for the Lord.
Romans 14:8 is a correlative clause that is formed by employing the enclitic particle te (tev) (ta) twice as a correlative conjunction and should be translated “whether…or.”
This correlative clause demonstrates the close connection or “correlation” between the Christian’s living and dying in that both are for the benefit of the Lord or in other words, to bring glory to Him and to accomplish His will for them.
Therefore, Paul is saying with this correlative “whether” if we live, we live for the Lord “or,” if we die, we die for the Lord.
“If we live, we live for the Lord” is a fifth class conditional statement that teaches a spiritual principle that if the Christian lives, then he lives for the benefit of the Lord in that he serves His purposes.
So in Romans 14:8, Paul employs a fifth class condition in order to teach a spiritual principle that is applicable to all Christians whether they are weak with respect to conviction or strong.
Namely, that if the Christian lives, then he lives for the Lord since they are accountable to only Him and were bought by Him at the Cross.
2 Corinthians 6:20, “For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.” (NET Bible)
“We live” is the first person plural present active subjunctive form of the verb zao (zavw) (dzah-o), which means, “to be alive” and is used of the Christian’s existence on planet earth in the temporal human body contaminated by the sin nature.
This existence would involve the believer’s thoughts, words, actions and decisions.
“For the Lord” is the dative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (kuvrio$) (ker-dee-oce), which is a reference again to Jesus Christ emphasizing that He is the sovereign ruler of the church and thus the approval or disapproval of a member of His church is based upon His evaluation.
The noun kurios functions as a dative of advantage indicating that if the Christian lives, they live “for the benefit of” the Lord in that the Christian fulfills His purposes and brings glory to Him.
It stands in contrast with the statement “absolutely not one person among us as an eternal spiritual truth lives for the benefit of himself” that appears in Romans 14:7.
The Christian does not live or die for the benefit of himself but for the benefit of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 14:8, “for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.”
“If we die, we die for the Lord” is a fifth class conditional statement that teaches a spiritual principle that if the Christian dies, then he dies for the benefit of the Lord.
“We die” is the first person plural present active subjunctive form of the verb apothnesko (a)poqnhv|skw) (apo-tha-nee-sko), which refers to physical death of a member of the body of Christ.
It refers to the termination of the believer’s soul and spirit existence in a temporal human body that is contaminated by the sin nature.
Physical death does not end the Christian’s service to God but rather it simply brings about a change in the character and nature of that service in that physical death for the Christian results in the perfection of himself and thus His service to the Lord.
“For the Lord” is the dative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (kuvrio$) (ker-dee-oce), which is a reference again to Jesus Christ emphasizing that He is the sovereign ruler of the church and thus the approval or disapproval of a member of His church is based upon His evaluation.
The noun kurios functions as a dative of advantage indicating that if the Christian dies, they die “for the benefit of” the Lord in that the Christian’s death fulfills His purposes and brings glory to Him in that the Christian will praise Him for giving him the victory over physical death.
It stands in contrast with the statement “absolutely not one person among us dies for the benefit of himself” that appears in Romans 14:7.
Again, the Christian does not live or die for the benefit of himself but for the benefit of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's” is the result of an inference from the previous statement “for if we live, we live for the Lord or if we die, we die for the Lord.”
Paul is saying that based upon the eternal spiritual truth that whether if the Christian lives or dies, he lives or dies for the benefit of the Lord, we can conclude that whether if they live or if they die, they are His possession and owned by Him and are His servants.