Rom 14:7-9 | JFB | STEP | 7, 8. For none of us —Christians liveth to himself —(See ), to dispose of himself or shape his conduct after his own ideas and inclinations. and no man —"and none" of us Christians "dieth to himself."

Romans 14:7-9

7, 8. For none of us—Christians

liveth to himself—(See 2Co 5:14, 15), to dispose of himself or shape his conduct after his own ideas and inclinations.

and no man—"and none" of us Christians "dieth to himself."

8. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord—the Lord CHRIST; see Ro 14:9.

and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's—Nothing but the most vivid explanation of these remarkable words could make them endurable to any Christian ear, if Christ were a mere creature. For Christ is here—in the most emphatic terms, and yet in the most unimpassioned tone—held up as the supreme Object of the Christian's life, and of his death too; and that by the man whose horror of creature worship was such, that when the poor Lycaonians would have worshipped him, he rushed forth to arrest the deed, directing them to "the living God," as the only legitimate Object of worship (Ac 14:15). Nor does Paul teach this here, but rather appeals to it as a known and recognized fact, of which he had only to remind his readers. And since the apostle, when he wrote these words, had never been at Rome, he could only know that the Roman Christians would assent to this view of Christ, because it was the common teaching of all the accredited preachers of Christianity, and the common faith of all Christians.

9. For to 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 object of His death was to acquire this absolute Lordship over His redeemed, both in their living and in their dying, as His of right.