Romans 14.17-God's Kingdom Is By No Means Characterized By Food And Drink But Righteousness, Peace And Joy By Means Of Fellowship With The Holy Spirit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday April 8, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:17-God’s Kingdom Is By No Means Characterized By Food And Drink But Righteousness, Peace And Joy By Means Of Fellowship With The Holy Spirit
Lesson # 484
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:14.
This evening we will study Romans 14:17 and in this passage Paul instructs the Roman believers that the kingdom of God is by no means characterized by the food they eat or don’t eat and by what they drink or don’t’ drink but rather righteousness, peace and joy by means of fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
Romans 14:14, “I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.”
Romans 14:15, “For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.”
Romans 14:16, “Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil.”
Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 14:17 presents the reason why Paul’s readers are to obey his prohibition in Romans 14:16.
Therefore, Paul is saying continue making it your habit of not causing your freedom with respect to food, which is good in character, to be spoken of as evil by your weak brother “because” the kingdom of God is by no means characterized by eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
“The kingdom of God” is composed of the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun basileia (βασιλεία) (vah-see-lee-ah), “the kingdom” and the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun (θεός) (thay-oce), “of God.”
Dwight Pentecost states that there are three interrelated within this term basileia: (1) The right to rule: The authority delegated by God to a king or sovereignty or dominion granted by God to someone reigning over a kingdom (Luke 19:11-27; Revelation 17:12). (2) The realm of rule: This involves the subjects of the one in authority rather than the authority himself (Matthew 21:43; Mark 1:15; Acts 1:6; 2 Timothy 4:1; Revelation 11:15). (3) The reality of rule: The exercise of royal authority in a realm over which one has sovereign right to rule (Matthew 16:19; Daniel 5:7, 16; 6:1, 3; John 19:14-15). (Thy Kingdom Come, pages 12-14).
Pentecost states that “there is an eternal aspect as well as a temporal aspect; it has a universal nature as well as a local nature; or there is an immediate sense of the kingdom in which God rules directly, and a mediated sense of the kingdom in which God rules indirectly through appointed representatives.” (ibid, page 15).
He goes on to state that “the nature of the kingdom is derived from the person of God and is a reflection of what is found in Him.” (ibid, page 15).
There are four essential truths that characterize its eternal aspect: (1) It is timeless since God is eternal (Psalm 10:16; 74:12; 145:13; Jeremiah 10:10; Lamentations 5:19). (2) It is universal since God is omnipresent (1 Chronicles 29:11-12; Psalm 103:19; 139:7-10; Daniel 4:17, 25, 32; Amos 9:2). (3) It is administered through appointed representatives whom God deals sovereignly through men (Genesis 45:7-8; 50:20; Proverbs 21:1; Isaiah 10:5-6; 45:1-4; Jeremiah 25:8-12; 27:48; 51:11-24, 27). (4) It is miraculous in that God sometimes directly intervenes in the affairs of men (Exodus 7:3-5; Psalm 135:6-10). (Ibid, pages 15-19)
In Romans 14:17, Paul’s emphasis is upon the manifestation of the kingdom of God through members of the body of Christ, which is indicated by the context in that Paul is addressing the proper conduct of the strong in relation to the weak.
The noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), which refers to the Father since the articular construction of this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity.
Further indicating that the noun refers to the Father is that the Father delegated authority to the Son to rule the kingdom and the Spirit manifests the kingdom through the King and His subjects (Matthew 6:10, 33; 1 Corinthians 15:24).
“Is not” is composed of the emphatic negative adverb ou (ou)) (oo), “not” and the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί) (ee-me), “is.”
The verb eimi means, “to possess a particular characteristic” and its meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which means “by no means” and emphatically negates the idea that the Father’s kingdom is characterized by eating and drinking.
“Eating” is the noun brosis (βρῶσις) (vah-roe-cease), means “meat” in the sense of any type of solid food and not “eating” in the sense of consuming solid food since the emphasis is upon what the weak don’t eat and what the strong do eat.
“Drinking” is the noun posis (πόσις) (poe-cease), which means “drink” in the sense of the liquid itself and not “drinking” in the sense of consuming liquids such as water and wine for nourishment and to satisfy thirst since the emphasis is upon what the weak don’t drink and what the strong do drink.
Drinking is mentioned here for the first time in Romans 14 but not as a compliment to eating but a reference to the weak abstaining from wine because they were afraid that it has been contaminated by association with pagan religious practices.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that in Romans 14:21, Paul mentions the weak abstaining from the drinking of wine because of fear that it was contaminated because it was associated with pagan religious practices.
Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
“But righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” emphasizes with the strong that the kingdom of God is characterized by righteousness, peace and joy by means of fellowship with the Holy Spirit, which stands in direct contrast to the idea that it is characterized by what they eat and drink or do not eat and drink.
“Righteousness” is the noun dikaiosune (dikaiosuvnh) (dik-ah-yos-oo-nay), which refers to the believer experiencing the righteousness of God.
“Peace” is the noun eirene (εἰρήνη) (ear-ree-nee), which refers to the believer experiencing the peace of God.
“Joy” is the noun chara (χαρά) (ha-rah), which refers to the believer experiencing the joy of the Lord.
The believer experiences God’s righteousness, peace and joy by experiencing fellowship with the Spirit and this is accomplished by exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the Word that they have died with Christ and have been raised with Him.
This in turn enables the Holy Spirit to produce a righteousness, peace and joy that are divine in quality and character.
The emphasis with the nouns dikaiosune, “righteousness,” eirene, “peace” and chara, “joy” is the righteousness, peace and joy that exists between believers since the context indicates that Paul is addressing the proper conduct of the strong in relation to the weak.
“In the Holy Spirit” emphasizes that the manifestation of God’s righteousness, peace and joy among believers that manifests the kingdom of God on earth is accomplished by means of fellowship with the Spirit.
Paul is reminding the strong in Romans 14:17 that the essentials of the kingdom of God are righteousness, peace and joy by means of fellowship with the Holy Spirit and not their freedom in Christ from the ceremonial aspect of the Law.
Serving in the kingdom of God is not based upon externals such as what they eat or don’t eat or what they drink or don’t drink but rather internal spiritual divine qualities of righteousness, peace and joy that are the direct result of experiencing fellowship with the Spirit.