Romans 14 is primarily a call for the strong to love the weak. It goes the other way too. For example, in verse 3 Paul says, “Let him who eats despise him who abstains, and let him who abstains not judge him who eats, for God has welcomed him.” So, both those who are free in their conscience to eat and those who are not, must learn to love one another and not to judge or despise one another. But mainly the chapter is aimed at the strong who are in danger of flaunting their freedom and tripping up the weak.
Exhortations to the Strong
Thus the exhortations to the strong run through the chapter: Verse 13: “Decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.” Verse 15b: “Do not destroy him for whom Christ died.” Verse 20: “Do not destroy the work of God because of food.” Verse 21: “It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.” Verse 22: “The faith that you have, keep it between you and God”
I left out a very important one in verse 19 because I want to finish with it: it is a positive summary exhortation: “Let us pursue what contributes to peace and mutual edification.” We will come back to this.
Reasons why these exhortations must be obeyed
In addition to these exhortations addressed primarily to the strong, the chapter is interwoven with Paul’s reasons why these exhortations to love and not to destroy should be obeyed. For example, verse 9: Christ died to be Lord both of the dead and of the living, how much more of the strong and the weak! Verse 3b: Do not judge the brother because “God has welcomed him.” Verse 10: Do not judge because “we will all appear before the judgment seat of God.” Verse 6b: Do not judge or despise because it is possible to glorify God by eating and abstaining: “He who eats eats to the Lord’s honor, for he gives thanks to God, while he who abstains abstains to the Lord’s honor and gives thanks.” goodbye.”
Now in today’s text what Paul does is give one more reason why the strong should not flaunt their freedom and put stumbling blocks in the path of the weak. We see the exhortation in verse 16 and then the positive expression of it in verse 19. Verse 16: “So do not speak evil of what you regard as good.” Verse 19: “Then let us follow what contributes to peace and mutual edification.” Then between these two exhortations (the negative in verse 16, the positive in verse 19) he gives a reason that he has not mentioned before in this chapter. But he is deeply rooted in chapters 1 to 8.
He says in verse 17, “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” .” Then, in verse 18, he confirms that serving Christ in this way is indeed a manifestation of the kingdom of God because it pleases God and earns the serious approval of man. “He who thus serves Christ is pleasing to God and approved by men”
Do not use your good to hurt your brother (v. 16)
So let’s start with verse 16: “So don’t let what you think is good be spoken of as bad.”
Paul just said in verse 15, “If your brother is saddened by what you eat, you no longer walk in love. By what you eat, do not destroy him for whom Christ died.” Now he says he, Therefore (oun), “do not allow what you consider to be good to be spoken ill of.” In other words, if you take your good faith and you good freedom and you good clean food and you use it in a way that causes a brother to be afflicted, and possibly even destroyed, then your “good” faith and your “good” freedom and “your” good clean food will not be commended. They will be spoken of as bad. In fact, they will have turned wicked: you are no longer “walking in love” (v.15). and heartbreak should be considered a bad thing.
So Paul says in verse 16: Don’t do that. Don’t let that happen. Don’t use your good faith and your good freedom and your good clean food in that way. Why would you do that?
And he gives the new reason now in verse 17 why that doesn’t make sense. Why would you think that eating and drinking freely is so important that you should hurt your brother? Don’t you know (v. 17) that “the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
What Paul means by “Kingdom of God”
This is the only place in the book of Romans where Paul uses the word “kingdom.” But he uses it elsewhere and we can know what he means by “kingdom of God.” Four clarifications:
1) First, it refers to the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of God. We tend to think of a kingdom as a place. But for Jesus and for Paul it hardly ever has that meaning. Rather it means the reign or rule of God. You can see that here: Where the Holy Spirit is bringing justice, peace and joy, the kingdom (that is, the reign of God) is being manifested.
two) The kingdom of God refers to his saving reign, not his total providence over all things. In a sense, God reigns over all. Then you could call the whole “kingdom of God”. But clearly that is not the way Paul uses the term. The kingdom of God is the redemptive reign of God. The saving reign of him. When Jesus said to pray, “Hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10), he meant that the coming of the kingdom would be the extension of God’s rule. where your name is hallowed and your will is done the way angels do it, obediently and joyfully. So the kingdom of God is the kingdom of God, not the kingdom; and it is his saving and redeeming kingship that produces the sanctification of his name and the joyous fulfillment of his will.
3) The kingdom of God is partially fulfilled in the present and will be consummated at the end of the age when Christ comes the second time. Paul speaks of unbelievers who will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9), and thus he treats the kingdom as yet future. But then he also tells believers that he “has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and translated us into kingdom of his beloved Son.” and thus treat the kingdom as already present.
4) The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ are the same. He says in Ephesians 5:5, “Everyone who is a fornicator or impure, or who is covetous. . . he has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” There is a kingdom, and it is the kingdom of Christ and of God. So to serve the kingdom of God is to serve Christ, and to serve Christ is to serve the kingdom of God.
So Paul is saying in verse 16, Don’t use your right
em>—your good faith and your good freedom and your good food—to harm anyone. Don’t put so much weight on eating and drinking. It’s not that critical. Why? He answers in verse 17: Because “the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The saving, redemptive and sanctifying government of God, the kingdom of God, has broken into this world in Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the King, and the evidence of his government in his lives is No eating and drinking. You may think that your freedom to eat of all things is what produces the kingdom of God. But that is not entirely correct. What the kingdom produces is something deeper and greater that governs how you use your freedom to eat of all things.
Justice and Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit (v. 17)
What do you mean by “the kingdom of God is . . . righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”? That is not immediately obvious because Paul uses at least two of these terms in more than one way. Justice it can mean the righteousness that God imputes to us when He declares us righteous by faith, even when we are guilty sinners (Romans 4:5). And it can mean the justice that he then, on the basis of that correct position, begins to work in us (Romans 6:13, 16, 18, 19, 20). Y peace it can mean the peace we have with God (Romans 5:1) or the peace we have with one another (2 Corinthians 13:11).
I am inclined to think that Paul has in mind the second type of justice and peace, namely, the type that he works in us in relation to one another. But it may be that he wants us to think of both and remember that our practical justice and the peace we make with one another are based on the perfect justice imputed to us by faith alone and the peace we enjoy with it.
I say this because it is remarkable how similar this sequence of righteousness, peace, and joy is to the sequence of thought in Romans 5:1-2. “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with god through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we we enjoy in the hope of the glory of God.” so there is Justice imputed through faith, peace with God, and joy in the hope of his glory. So I wonder if Paul doesn’t want us to have that in mind as the basis of the righteousness, peace, and joy that he refers to here in Romans 14:17?
What makes me think that he is probably referring to our lived practical righteousness (rather than Christ’s imputed righteousness) and lived practical peace with one another is the phrase “in the Holy Spirit.” “The kingdom of God is. . . justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This seems to mean that the Holy Spirit is working these things right now. He rules in us to make us more just, more peaceful, and more joyful. This seems to be the fruit of the Spirit now, not a declarative act at the beginning of our Christian life. This work is based on justification by faith. But now the Spirit is producing these things in us: righteousness, peace, and joy.
That, says Paul, is the kingdom of God. In other words, the work of the Holy Spirit and the advancement of the kingdom of God are the same thing. This is exactly what we saw in the ministry of Jesus, for example, in Matthew 12:28. Jesus said, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” The work of the Spirit is the presence of the kingdom of God. Or to put it another way: the kingdom of God is exercised through the Spirit of him.
So when the Spirit rules and conquers our selfishness and pride, and replaces it with the righteousness of Christ, then we will not be grieved or destroyed. a brother because of food. The Spirit of God, the kingdom of God, creates justice, peace and joy. This is what the Spirit of God does. He creates justice and peace and joy. And when you have this, you don’t sadden or destroy the weaker brother.
Serving Christ in this way pleases God (v. 18)
Then in verse 18 Paul confirms this by explaining that what…