Romans 14.9-The Christian Belongs To The Lord Because He Died And Came To Life In Order That He Would Be Lord Of The Dead and The Living
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday March 16, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:9- The Christian Belongs To The Lord Because Christ Died And Came To Life In Order That He Would Be Lord Of Both The Dead And The Living
Lesson # 472
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
This evening we will study Romans 14:9, which teaches that the reason why the Christian belongs to the Lord Jesus as His possession is that the Father’s purpose for His Son’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross and His resurrection was to establish the human nature of His Son as Lord of both the dead and the living.
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 14:9, “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
In Romans 14:9, Paul teaches that the Christian belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and is under His authority because Christ died and came to life in order that He would be Lord of both the living and dead.
“To this end” indicates the purpose for which Christ died and was raised to life.
“Christ” is the nominative masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (xristov$) (cree-stoce), which designates the humanity of Jesus Christ as the promised Savior for all mankind who is unique as the incarnate Son of God and guided and empowered by the Spirit as the Servant of the Father.
“Died” is the third person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb apothnesko (a)poqnhv|skw) (apo-tha-nee-sko), which refers to both the spiritual and physical deaths of Christ on the cross.
This is indicated in that Christ’s spiritual death solved the problem of personal sin in the human race and His physical death and resurrection solved the problem of the sin nature.
Both deaths serve together to redeem (1 Tim. 2:6; Mark 10:45; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rev. 5:9) and reconcile sinful humanity to a holy God (2 Cor. 5:18-21; Eph. 2:14-16; Col. 1:20-22; 1 Pet. 3:18) and propitiated the Father’s holiness, (Rom. 3:22-26; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10).
Both fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law that sin and sinners be judged since the Law condemns the human race because of personal sin and the sin nature (Galatians 3:13; Romans 8:1-4).
Both destroyed the works of the devil (see Hebrews 2:14-15; 1 John 3:8).
Both the sin nature and personal sins served to condemn the entire human race before a holy God, thus propitiation, redemption, reconciliation and paying the penalty the Law required from sinners were accomplished by the spiritual and physical deaths of Christ since the former dealt with personal sins and the latter, the sin nature.
The Father rewarded His Son Jesus Christ in His sinless, glorified humanity establishing Him as Lord of both the dead and the living as a result of His spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection, which placed the entire human race under His authority.
His deaths and resurrection established Him as Lord over both the dead and the living since His spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection gave Him the victory over spiritual and physical death.
His resurrection established the fact that the Father approved of His spiritual and physical deaths as the solution to the human race’s problem of the sin nature, personal sins, guilt before the Law, spiritual and physical death and eternal condemnation.
His resurrection demonstrated that God the Father established Him in His glorified human nature as sovereign over both men and angels and every creature and all of creation (Philippians 2:5-11).
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.”
“Lived again” is the third person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb zao (zavw) (dzah-o), which means “to come back to life physically after having died physically” and refers to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The aorist tense of the verb is an “ingressive” aorist used to stress the beginning of an action or the entrance into a state indicating that after His human body was dead three days in the grave, the eternal Son of God entered into a new state of indwelling an immortal resurrection body.
“That He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” is a purpose-result clause, which indicates that the Father’s purpose for the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ accomplished what He intended in that it enabled Him to establish His Son in His humanity as Lord of both the dead and the living.
“Both…and” is the correlative use of the conjunction kai (kaiv), which show the “correlation” and “close connection” between the Lordship of Christ over the dead and His Lordship over the living emphasizing that they are inseparable.
“He might be Lord of” is the third person singular person aorist active subjunctive form of the verb kurieuo (kurieuvw) (keer-dee-ev-owe), which means, “to have jurisdiction” over a person, “to be lord of, to rule over, to have dominion over.”
The verb kurieuo in Romans 14:9 refers to the exercise of Jesus Christ’s power and authority over the dead and the living and which authority He received in His human nature from His Father as a result of His death and resurrection.
The aorist tense of the verb is an “ingressive” aorist emphasizing the Son of God, Jesus Christ entering into a new state of being Lord of both the dead and the living in His glorified humanity.
“The dead” is the genitive masculine plural form of the adjective nekros (nekrov$) (neck-kroce), which means “dead ones” referring to those members of the human race who have died physically.
“Of the living” is the genitive masculine plural present active participle form of the verb zao (zavw) (dzah-o), which refers to those human beings who are alive in contrast to those who are dead physically.
Romans 14:9 teaches that all believers, whether dead or alive are under Christ’s authority as His servants since His spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection solved their problem with spiritual and physical death, personal sin, the sin nature, being condemned by the Law, being enslaved to the devil and eternal condemnation.
Therefore, believers should not be condemning or criticizing each other for their convictions in relation to non-essentials.