Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
17. the kingdom of God ] This important phrase occurs elsewhere in St Paul, 1Co 4:20; 1Co 6:9-10 ; 1Co 15:50; Gal 5:21; Eph 5:5; Col 4:11; 1Th 2:12 ; 2Th 1:5; 2Ti 4:18. In these passages (as generally in N. T.) the radical meaning of the phrase is always the same the Reign of God over Redeemed Man, revealed and effectuated by the Gospel. This radical meaning branches into different references; and thus the Kingdom may mean (according to the varying contexts) (1) the state of grace in this life; (2) the state of glory in the life to come; (3) the revealed truths which are the laws and charter of the kingdom; (4) the dignity and privilege (here or hereafter) of the subjects of the kingdom. This latter is the special meaning here. Q. d., “What we gain as the subjects of the Kingdom of God is not freedom to eat what we please, but the possession of righteousness, peace, and joy.”
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ] In view of the argument of the Epistle it is best to explain these sacred words by ch. Rom 5:1-5. “ Righteousness ” is the state of the justified in the eye of the Holy Law; “ peace ” is the reconciliation of God and believing man; “ joy in the Holy Ghost ” is the blissful realization of this state of peace and mercy, by the hearts in which “the love of God is poured out by the Holy Ghost given unto us.” These Divine gifts stand here in supreme contrast to the petty gains of temporal and bodily freedom of choice and pleasure.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the kingdom of God – For an explanation of this phrase, see the note at Mat 3:2. Here it means that the uniquenesses of the kingdom of God, or of the Church of Christ on earth, do not consist in observing the distinctions between meats and drinks, it was true that by these things the Jews had been particularly characterized, but the Christian church was to be distinguished in a different manner.
Is not – Does not consist in, or is not distinguished by.
Meat and drink – In observing distinctions between different kinds of food, or making such observances a matter of conscience as the Jews did. Moses did not prescribe any particular drink or prohibit any, but the Nazarites abstained from wine and all kinds of strong liquors; and it is not improbable that the Jews had invented some distinctions on this subject which they judged to be of importance. Hence, it is said in Col 2:16, Let no man judge you in meat or in drink; compare 1Co 8:8; 1Co 4:20.
But righteousness – This word here means virtue, integrity, a faithful discharge of all the duties which we owe to God or to our fellow-men. It means that the Christian must so live as to be appropriately denominated a righteous man, and not a man whose whole attention is absorbed by the mere ceremonies and outward forms of religion. To produce this, we are told, was the main design, and the principal teaching of the gospel; Tit 2:12; Compare Rom 8:13; 1Pe 2:11. Thus, it is said 1Jo 2:29, Everyone that doeth righteousness is born of God; 1Jo 3:10, Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God; compare 1Jo 3:7; 1Co 15:34; 2Co 3:9; 2Co 6:7, 2Co 6:14; Eph 5:9; Eph 6:14; 1Ti 6:11; 1Pe 2:24; Eph 4:24. He that is a righteous man, whose characteristic it is to lead a holy life, is a Christian. If his great aim is to do the will of God, and if he seeks to discharge with fidelity all his duties to God and man, he is renewed. On that righteousness he will not depend for salvation Phi 3:8-9, but he will regard this character and this disposition as evidence that he is a Christian, and that the Lord Jesus is made unto him wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; 1Co 1:30.
And peace – This word, in this place, does not refer to the internal peace and happiness which the Christian has in his own mind (compare the notes at Rom 5:1); but to peace or concord in opposition to contention among brethren. The tendency and design of the kingdom of God is to produce concord and love, and to put an end to alienation and strife. Even though, therefore, there might be ground for the opinions which some cherished in regard to rites, yet it was of more importance to maintain peace than obstinately to press those matters at the expense of strife and contention. That the tendency of the gospel is to promote peace, and to induce people to lay aside all causes of contention and bitter strife, is apparent from the following passages of the New Testament; 1Co 7:15; 1Co 14:33; Gal 5:22; Eph 4:3; 1Th 5:13; 2Ti 2:22; Jam 3:18; Mat 5:9; Eph 4:31-32; Col 3:8; Joh 13:34-35; Joh 17:21-23. This is the second evidence of piety on which Christians should examine their hearts – a disposition to promote the peace of Jerusalem; Psa 122:6; Psa 37:11. A contentious, quarrelsome spirit; a disposition to magnify trifles; to make the Shibboleth of party an occasion of alienation, and heart-burning, and discord; to sow dissensions on account of unimportant points of doctrine or of discipline, is full proof that there is no attachment to Him who is the Prince of peace. Such a disposition does infinite dishonor to the cause of religion, and perhaps has done more to retard its progress than all other causes put together. Contentions commonly arise from some small matter in doctrine, in dress, in ceremonies; and often the smaller the matter the more fierce the controversy, until he spirit of religion disappears, and desolation comes over the face of Zion:
The Spirit, like a peaceful dove,
Flies from the realms of noise and strife.
And joy – This refers, doubtless, to the personal happiness produced in the mind by the influence of the gospel; see the notes at Rom 5:1-5.
In the Holy Ghost – Produced by the Holy Spirit; Rom 5:5; compare Gal 5:22-23.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rom 14:17-18
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink.
Gods kingdom
I. The description given of the kingdom of God.
1. The import of the term. Christs spiritual kingdom established on earth–His dominion over His redeemed people, having its seat in the soul, and extending over the entire life. This is a kingdom totally diverse from all others–one not in word or mere outward form, but in soul-subduing, life-transforming power, one that ultimately brings every thought into harmony with Christs holy mind and will.
2. Its peculiar characteristics.
(1) Negatively. It is not meat or drink, i.e., it does not consist in the observance of distinctions between different kinds of food and drink, or in any merely external forms.
(2) Positively. It is–
(a) Holy conformity to God–righteousness.
(b) A mild and gentle demeanour–peace.
(c) Spiritual gladness of heart–joy.
(d) The presence and power of the Holy Spirit as producing all these.
II. The character of the true spiritual service of Christ (Rom 14:18). Observe–
1. The indispensable requisites of Christs service. In order to serve Christ, we must possess and manifest righteousness, and peace and joy, through the power of the Spirit of God. For these things there is, there can be, no substitute. Without that, however great your knowledge and profession and zeal may be, your service is a vain oblation.
2. In what respect Christ is served by these things.
(1) His authority as a Master is acknowledged. Christ has expressly enjoined these things on all His followers.
(a) Be ye therefore perfect.
(b) Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.
(c) Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
(2) His power as a Saviour is made manifest. These are not the natural product of the human heart. The Lord Jesus is their alone Fountainspring.
(3) His example as a forerunner is imitated. Was not His an example of righteousness, peace, and joy?
(4) Witness is borne to the nature and design of His gospel. Serving Christ in these things, we declare plainly to the world, in a way they can far better understand than by any verbal statement, what Christ has come to do in and for man!
III. The blessed result of that service. There will be–
1. Divine acceptance. The ground of a guilty sinners acceptance before God is exclusively Christs finished work; but our text speaks not of that acceptance, but of the believers acceptance of his Heavenly Father. Gods complacency and delight in a holy life.
2. Human approval. Such a life as that delineated in our text cannot but commend itself even to the world. It is, however, only men of God who can, in the fullest sense of the word, appreciate it. (P. Morison.)
The kingdom of God
consists in–
1. Righteousness in respect to God.
2. Peace with respect to others.
3. Joy in respect to yourself. (T. Robinson, D.D.)
The kingdom of God
A peasant boy was asked, What is the kingdom of God? He paused, and with an expression of seriousness and devotion which I shall never forget, placing his hand on his bosom, he said, It is something here! and then raising his eyes, he added, and something up yonder. (J. Leifchild, D.D.)
The constitution of the kingdom of God
I. Not–
1. Abstinence from earthly pleasure.
2. Observance of external forms.
3. The adoption of a religious deportment.
4. Zeal for orthodoxy.
II. But–
1. Righteousness in faith and life.
2. Peace with God and man.
3. Joy in sorrow and reproach. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Distinguishing marks of the kingdom of God
Every kingdom is renowned for some distinctive feature. Rome was conspicuous for its warlike propensities. The Grecian States were celebrated for their love of the fine arts. France is eminent for its taste. The American States are famous for their enterprise. But the distinguishing mark of the kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
The inward and spiritual character of the kingdom of God
I. In its privileges. As some painters can produce a striking likeness by a few clear though rapid strokes of the pencil, so is it with this beautiful sketch of the new man.
1. The first lineament is righteousness. By this must be meant an entire justification and freedom from every charge and condemnation which sin might urge, and which Gods broken commands might pass upon the Christian. This is the choicest mercy in the catalogue of mercies. It is–
(1) An enriching mercy, entitling to every good.
(2) A most voluminous mercy, in which there is more than can be counted or imagined.
2. Peace is another lineament. Pardoning love hath subdued enmity against God. Peace hath been made by the blood of the Cross. This is one of the most gracious, as it is one of the most blessed, fruits of the Spirit.
3. Joy. It is the privilege of Gods children to rejoice, as the distinguished objects of His adopting love. And, surely, when the Spirit bears witness with the Christians spirit that he is a child of God, he hath the elements and materials for a holy joy, which the world, with all its pleasures, can never give, and which, with all its enmity, it is impotent to take away.
II. Is its duties.
1. It is righteousness in the Holy Ghost. Not only is the satisfaction of Christs perfect merit imputed to the soul, but the work of his sanctification by the Holy Ghost, making the believer one with Him, is commenced within the heart. Then will conscience be made of every duty towards God and man. Faith is in the soul, as lightning in the air, which purifies; as fire in the metal, which refines. The heart, which heretofore was the thoroughfare of Satan, becomes the enclosure of God.
2. Peace also is a duty to the subjects of the Great Salem; and as wars and fightings come of the lusts of men, so will the disciples of Jesus be self-denying men, in order that they may dwell in peace with Him and with each other.
3. And how shall the Christian manifest his joy as a duty? Even by the holy delight which he takes in that service which is perfect freedom. (R. P. Buddicom, M.A.)
The spirituality of the kingdom of God
These words do not infer that we may eat and drink as we please; the very opposite is implied, namely, that whether we eat or drink, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost should determine our spirit and conduct. The doctrine is, that the kingdom of God is not founded on things outward, or any artificial arrangement of these; but on the absolute difference between right and wrong, happiness and misery; and that, accordingly, its design is to establish virtuous dispositions and holy joys. This doctrine is manifestly in direct antagonism to the tendency at Rome to indulge in disputation about the obligation of existing customs, and needs to be taught in the present day. There is a very general disregard of the spirituality of Christs kingdom, and of the sufficiency of its truths to meet the wants of man. To make the tree good, that its fruit may be good, is a process far too slow and undemonstrative for this enterprising age. Accordingly, we are overwhelmed with improvements, reforms, schemes, societies, and movements, to effect a speedy and decided change. Note–
I. The design of the kingdom–viz., the diffusion of righteousness, peace, and joy.
1. Societies are formed with a leading object in view. Zeal for that object is the distinguishing mark of the members of each society. Diversity of taste and opinion is tolerated so long as it does not interfere with the interests to be promoted. There are religious communities of whose institutions distinctions of meat and drink form an essential part. Such is the general character of Hindooism and Mohammedanism. Such was the general character of Pharisaism. John the Baptist adopted similar means of distinction; he came neither eating nor drinking, nor clothing himself like other men. But Christ, instead of building up such walls of partition, removed them, and strove, by the example of loving, familiar intercourse, to overcome deep-rooted antipathies. Henceforward, righteousness, peace, and joy, are to be the distinguishing tokens of His subjects–not any style of living or appearance peculiar to them as members of a community.
2. Tried by this test, Romanism, and all imitations of it, must stand condemned; but let us apply it to ourselves as members of a Church claiming to be scriptural. We belong to different grades of society, and have different tastes and habits, Hence there is no small risk of uncharitable judgments. Simple tastes and manners to some appear little short of barbarous, and refined tastes and manners to others voluptuous and worldly. How uncalled for these insinuations! To any disposed to make much of outward distinctions, we must ask–
(1) What of righteousness? Is not the first thing desirable–a heart right with God?
(2) What of peace? Is not peace Christs great legacy to His disciples? and peacemaking the duty He has blessed, as peculiarly that of the children of God?
(3) What of joy? Is it not the will of God that we should rise above anxiety and discontent, to grateful, hopeful joy? Murmuring about ourselves or our fellow-Christians is neither right nor profitable.
(4) What of Divine grace as the source of all spiritual excellence? God the Holy Ghost is not to be limited by mans prescription of meats and drinks, days and times, dress and postures.
II. The fitness of the design.
1. It accords with the extent of the kingdom. God, as the rightful sovereign of all men everywhere, commands them to return to their allegiance. The kingdom must therefore include men of all nations. How great the diversity of conditions of existence! And in His wisdom and love God has provided a system adapted to all these conditions. A religion eminently spiritual and practical, having very few and simple ordinances of worship, Christianity belongs specially to no clime, grade, or class.
2. It accords with the number and variety of the enemies to be overcome. Confessedly there is a great deal of irreligion and vice in the world; and no religion is worthy of the name that does not engage its adherents to a course of resolute opposition to these evils. But there is a great deal of sin and misery where these evils are neither seen nor heard. Seemly forms of religion and correct moral deportment have not been sufficient to satisfy the heart and purify the conscience. Churches have been rent, homes made desolate, and hearts broken, by men touching the righteousness which is of the law blameless. We do not need more fasts, zeal for traditions and customs; we need a religion that will strike at the root of all the evil in our nature. This religion we find in Christianity, which obliges us to follow after righteousness, peace, and joy.
3. It accords with the attributes of God; for there is blasphemy in the very supposition that the Divine Being can be satisfied with a religion chiefly ceremonial or outwardly correct. He is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.
4. It accords with the character of Christ. How strange that His name should have been given to such systems as have borne it! So far from patronising externalism, He exposed Himself to the wrath of the Ritualists of that day; so far from affecting peculiarity of living, He exposed Himself to the calumny that He was a gluttonous man and a winebibber. Everywhere and always He proclaimed the necessity of a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Were He this day amongst us, no word of sympathy would be heard from Him with those who compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and only succeed in perverting his better nature. His sympathy would be with those who assert their freedom from the commandments of men, and who joyfully own their obligation to love and obey their Father which is in heaven.
5. It accords with the destiny of all true subjects of the kingdom. There must be a meetness, as well as a title, belonging to all the heirs of glory. A training of the soul in righteousness, peace, and joy, we can well believe to bring about a meetness for the society of the spirits of the just made perfect; but we are at a loss to conceive how a round of forms and ceremonies, or a careful conformity to usages and example, in matters wholly of this world and of this body, can constitute any such preparation. (W. Limont.)
The kingdom of God is a soul-kingdom
Why was it called a kingdom at all? Well, since a mans disposition is the fountain from which all his enjoyments that are worth having spring in this world, the condition of the soul becomes a kingdom in the sense that it represents to men the idea of felicity. The old notions were that a king was about the happiest man on earth. Hence the phrase, Happy as a king. Therefore in the description of the disposition, which is the soul-kingdom, it is called a kings dominion, or a king-dora. But there is a more important reason–namely, that a king in his kingdom dominates, controls, governs. It is the disposition of men, their character, that controls. Their enjoyment, all their life, depends upon what they are in themselves, and inside of themselves. If a mans soul is one that works itself out in righteousness, in peace, in joy in the Holy Ghost, that is the dominating influence which controls the whole life. Now I aver that men are happy in the exact proportion in which their dispositions are qualified to make happiness. The enjoyment of men is in the ratio in which they have a right inward condition. A man who has right feelings and right dispositions, either finds happiness or makes it. It will happen to a man who is all right in himself. He either finds or makes life a blessing. A man who is in good health, who has a right temperament, all of whose dispositions are noble, and who is hopeful, courageous, and cheerful, loving God and loving men, thanks nobody for making him happy; he is happy of himself. The human soul was just as much made to produce happiness as a music-box was made to produce music. If it be in a right and normal condition, harmonised with God, with the spirit-world, for which we are being trained, and with men, then it is happy. The soul must needs produce its own happiness out of the harmony of its own condition; but men do not believe in this. You will find young men saying, If I were as rich as Vanderbilt, would not I enjoy myself? Do you enjoy yourself now? No–oh, no. Then you would not then. (H. W. Beecher.)
The essentials of Christianity
I. A negative description of the kingdom of god. Meat and drink includes the carnal and sensational in every shape and form. True religion is not–
1. Ceremonial observances. Godliness is at a low ebb when great importance is attached to external rites. Ceremonialism is the respirator worn by a Church when its lungs are too weak to breathe the bracing atmosphere of revealed truth. Consumption has set in, and in time it will die of exhaustion, and be decently buried in tile grave of formality. This was the case with the Jewish Church. The temple services were carried on with regularity and gorgeousness, while the soul of religion was gone.
2. The gratification of the appetites. Pagan converts ran to the other extreme–religion to them was a matter of cookery, confectionery, and stimulants. Previous to their conversion they had been accustomed to associate worship with gluttony, drunkenness, and licentiousness of the lowest type. Their countrymen indulged in the wildest revelries while celebrating the festivities of Bacchus and Venus. What wonder, then, that such should come into the Church, expecting it to furnish them with fresh opportunities to pamper their carnal appetites? They even turned the Lords Supper into a carousal.
3. AEsthetic idealism. Many minds have been so corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ by what is called higher criticism, as to lose all relish for doing, and they spend their time in dreaming. In this state of mind they devise for themselves an ideal Christ, no more like the real Christ of the gospels than the sensitive plant that grows in the hothouse to the hardy oak whose giant arms defy the storm. To the idealist the Bible is a poetical perfumery to regale the jaded senses, and not the voice of God, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it. The house of prayer is a floral halt, where the roll of music soothes the feelings, and the dim light plays softly on the eye, and fashion displays the contents of its costly wardrobes; and not the house of God, where sincerity agonises and devotion sheds tears of penitence and joy.
II. A positive description of true religion. It consists in–
1. Rightness of motive–Righteousness. One of the old schoolmen has said that manners make the man. That is true as far as society is concerned; but motives make the man in the sight of God; external accomplishments go for nothing if the moving springs of character are crooked and unrighteous. But how are they whose motives are wrong and character corrupt to be made right? For it is written, There is none righteous, no not one. By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight. But, thank God, there is a way of escape–Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, etc.
2. Tranquillity of mind–peace–
(1) With God. The old enmity against the Divine character and government is slain, the hostile parties become reconciled, and the peace which passeth all understanding fills the believers mind–For He is our peace, who hath made both one. Tranquillity of mind is simply impossible until this reconciliation is effected. Who can be free from fear whilst the sentence of condemnation, like the sword of Damocles, hangs over his head?
(2) With ourselves. Conscience gives up accusing, the passions are kept under restraint, and the little kingdom within, once in a state of insurrection, becomes quiet and subdued and loyal to the Prince of Peace. But distinguish between a state of indifference and a state of peace. The former resembles the oppressive stillness of the atmosphere before the storm, and the latter the bright sunshine and verdant soil after the storm. Many are lulled to sleep in false security, like the drunkard who slept on the beach fancying himself at home; the advancing tide rudely awoke him to a sense of his danger, but in trying to escape he only went deeper into the water and was swept away by the current. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, etc.
3. Jubilation of heart–joy in the Holy Ghost.
(1) Righteousness is the lowest stage in Christian experience; peace is the middle state; joy is the crowning state. Righteousness is the foundation of the temple safe and sound; peace is the superstructures roofed in, affording shelter to the weary, heavy-laden soul; joy is the tower, with a peal of bells giving forth a clear musical expression of the incalculable advantages of a holy life. Or, to change the figure, righteousness is the root of the matter, strong and healthy; peace is the flower, fine and fragrant; joy is the fruit, ripe and delicious.
(2) Many Christians remain throughout life in a state of righteousness–are, indeed, alive unto God through Christ our Lord–but their spiritual life is of the lowest type. Others have advanced a step higher, and have attained to a state of peace. Sovereigns, when first minted, are rung on a sounding-iron, and those that do not give out a clear sound are reckoned dumb, and are sent back to be melted again. The dumb blanks are good gold, but as they lack the ringing sound, they are not allowed to pass into the press-room to receive the last impression of the die. Even so those Christians who have reached a state of peace and never advance further; they are good gold, nevertheless they are dumb blanks, and have need of being re-melted, so as to reach that jubilant state of feeling which breaks out into exultation.
(3) The inspirer of this joy is the Holy Ghost. There is another kind of joy produced by stimulants; it rattles on the tongue, flashes in the eye, leaps in the heart, and breaks out into all kinds of riotous comicalities. All this boisterous gaiety leaves the heart sad and sorrowful, and it ends in gloom and despair. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, etc. This joy in the Holy Ghost is–
(a) Demonstrative in its character. The outpouring of the Divine Spirit on the day of Pentecost was a most exciting scene; and during seasons of great awakening this has been repeated.
(b) Permanent. As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. To possess it is to possess the most precious of treasures, the sweetest of pleasures, and the richest of feasts; it is a constant summer in the soul, and a heaven in miniature. (W. A. Griffiths.)
True religion
I. Negatively. Does not consist–
1. In anything of a mere external kind.
2. In orthodox opinions or right modes of worship.
3. In a system of observance that is either constrained by fear or is employed as a sort of compromise to ward off the Divine displeasure, or made a ground of claim in the way of merit to the Divine favour.
4. In mere temporary feeling, be those feelings of what kind they may.
II. Positively. It does consist in–
1. Righteousness.
(1) Justifying.
(2) Internal.
(3) Practical.
2. Peace.
(1) As opposed to hostility.
(2) As opposed to condemnation.
(3) Internal tranquillity.
3. Joy.
(1) Of faith.
(2) Of love. As implying–
(a) Gratitude.
(b) Complacency.
(3) Of hope. (Josiah Hill.)
Moral goodness, or true religion
is–
I. The reign of God is the soul. The reign–
1. Of reality, in contradistinction to that of appearance.
2. Of spirit, in contradistinction to that of matter.
3. Of love, in contradistinction to that of selfishness.
4. Of the absolute, in contradistinction to the reign of the contingent and fleeting.
II. A spiritual service rendered to Christ (Rom 14:18). Not in meat, drink, and mere ceremonies, but in spiritual exercises. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. To serve Christ is the grand end of being; to serve Christ is to serve in the highest sense your own interests, the good of the universe, and the will of God.
III. The highest glory of man. It ensures two things–
1. The favour of God. Acceptable to God. To please God–what is higher than this? To have His smile, to enjoy His friendship and fellowship.
2. The favour of men. Approved of men. Christly goodness commands the involuntary homage of all consciences. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
But righteousness.
Righteousness of life as the fruit of righteousness by faith. Righteousness practised as the effect of righteousness imparted. Righteousness before man as the evidence of righteousness before God. Believers are to be filled with the fruits of righteousness (Php 1:11). Death to sin and life to righteousness fruits of Christs death. (T. Robinson, D.D.)
The kingdom of God righteousness
I. It is based upon righteousness. If we trace earthly kingdoms up to their origin this will scarcely be affirmed of any of them. Whatever may be said about its present procedure, what existing throne has not been erected on the ruin of human rights and liberties? But God reigns by right. We belong to Him as His creatures and His children.
II. Its Monarch is righteous. Many potentates are manifestly unrighteous, and of the very best it can only be affirmed that on the whole they rule righteously. Compassed by infirmity, with the best intentions, they are often betrayed into deeds which charity is compelled to cover. But that astounding fiction when otherwise applied, the king can do no wrong, is absolutely and ever true in regard to God.
III. Its laws are righteous. Of none other can this be said. The best system has some bad laws–legislation, part of which presses inequitably of some portion of the community, and which is endured because of the righteousness of the rest. But Gods laws are all good, and good to all alike.
IV. It aims at the production of righteous character. The best earthly governments are content if the people are contented and law-abiding, i.e., if their subjects are materially prosperous and do not break the law. But the members of Gods kingdom are urged to keep His laws with a view to their own moral perfection and the ultimate moral perfection of the world. Hence the kingdom of the future is to be one wherein dwelleth righteousness, and the people thereof are to be all righteous. (J. W. Burn.)
Peace.—
The kingdom of God a kingdom of peace
This is one of its notable characteristics as pourtrayed in the Bible.
I. Its chief is the prince of peace.
II. Its rule was inaugurated by the proclamation of peace. Peace on earth.
III. Its measures are pacific. Its only wars are against the enemies of peace.
IV. Its subjects are peaceable. Disturbance here is disloyalty and treason.
V. Its universal establishment will secure world-wide peace. Arbitration, treaties, alliances, etc., will only effect partial and temporary peace. (J. W. Burn.)
And joy in the Holy Ghost.–
The kingdom of God a kingdom of joy
I. It was heralded as such. Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy.
II. As SUCH IT PROMOTES THE JOY OF ITS SUBJECTS, Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.
III. Its subjects therefore are commanded to be joyful. Rejoice evermore. (J. W. Burn.)
Joy in the Holy Ghost
1. Not natural, but spiritual.
2. Not imaginary, but real.
3. Not dependent on external circumstances, but upon the revelations of the Spirit to faith.
4. Not transitory, but; permanent.
5. Not extinguished in death, but perfected in heaven. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Joy
Jesus is the bringer of spiritual spring into the soul. When He comes the time of the singing of birds comes with Him. He is the Sun of Righteousness who turns January into May. Really, we ought to understand that God allows every child of His to make his own almanac. We can have warm weather, and flowers and fruits and bird-songs all the year through if we only live in the rays of Christs countenance. The sorest sorrows of life are of our own making. We shut out Gods larks from our hearts, and bring in the bats and hooting owls of miserable unbelief. These birds of evil omen disappear when the dayspring on high visits our souls. (T. L. Cuyler.)
For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.–
The ideal character and service
I. The ideal character.
1. Righteousness. This is characteristic of the man who is right–
(1) With God.
(a) Through justifying faith.
(b) By a sanctified experience.
(2) With man through a dutiful fulfilment of the obligations of every human relationship.
(3) With both in thought, resolve, word, deed.
2. Peace. This marks the man who–
(1) Has made his peace with God.
(2) Is at peace with man.
(3) Has a peaceful mind.
3. Joy. This–
(1) Flows from the other two.
(2) Wells up from a grateful heart.
(3) Streams over in a glad and beneficent life.
II. The ideal service.
1. In these things we serve Christ. Christs work is to make us righteous, etc. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. When we work out what He works in we are workers together with Him and so serve Him. What shall we say about the man who professes to be the servant of Christ, and is unrighteous, quarrelsome, or morose? These characteristics defeat Christs end in the world, and bring dishonour on his Masters name and cause.
2. In these things we are–
(1) Acceptable to God. Because–
(a) They are conformable to His own nature. He is the righteous Father, the God of Peace, the blessed God.
(b) They accomplish His design in creation, providence, and grace.
(2) Approved of men, even when unacceptable in the case of bad men. The natural conscience is compelled even when depraved to silently applaud what is righteous, etc. (J. W. Burn.)
Mens approbation desirable
1. For their own sakes.
2. For the sake of the Master whom we serve.
3. For our own comfort and influence. To please God the surest way to be approved of men. (T. Robinson, D.D.)
Christianity approved
It would not be a fair thing to test a philosophy, or a body of political, or scientific truth, by the conduct and character of the men that professed it; but it is a perfectly fair thing, under certain conditions and in certain limits, to test a system of practical morality, which professes to do certain things with peoples character and conduct, by its professors. It is just as fair, when a creed comes before our notice which assumes to influence mens conduct, to say, Well! I should like to see it working, as it is for any of you mill-owners to say, when man comes to you with a fine invention upon paper, Have you got a working model of it? Has it ever been tried? What have been the results that have been secured by it? Or as it would be to say to anybody that claimed to have got a medicine that will cure consumption, to say,Have you any cases? Can you quote any cures? So when we Christians stand up and say, We have a faith which is able to deaden mens minds to the world; which is able to make them unselfish; which is able to lift them up above cares and sorrows; which is able to take men and transform their whole nature, and put new desires and hopes and joys into them, it is quite fair for the world to say, Have you? Does it? Does it do so with you? Can you produce your lives as working models of Christianity? (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. For the kingdom of God] That holy religion which God has sent from heaven, and which be intends to make the instrument of establishing a counterpart of the kingdom of glory among men: See Clarke on Mt 3:2.
Is not meat and drink] It consists not in these outward and indifferent things. It neither particularly enjoins nor particularly forbids such.
But righteousness] Pardon of sin, and holiness of heart and life.
And peace] In the soul, from a sense of God’s mercy; peace regulating, ruling, and harmonizing the heart.
And joy in the Holy Ghost.] Solid spiritual happiness; a joy which springs from a clear sense of God’s mercy; the love of God being shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. In a word, it is happiness brought into the soul by the Holy Spirit, and maintained there by the same influence. This is a genuine counterpart of heaven; righteousness without sin, PEACE without inward disturbance, JOY without any kind of mental agony or distressing fear. See Clarke on Mt 3:2.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This verse contains a new argument to persuade Christians not to strive about meats, or such like things; and that is, that the kingdom of God doth not consist in these, but in weightier matters. By the kingdom of God, you may understand the gospel, or true religion and godliness; that kingdom which God erects in the hearts of men, Luk 17:21; 1Co 4:20. When he saith, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, he means, that it doth not stand or consist therein.
Meat and drink are put by a synecdoche for all things of an indifferent or middle nature; such things as, the apostle elsewhere says, commend us not to God, 1Co 8:8; they are no part of his worship and service; the kingdom of God, or godliness, is not promoted, either by the use or the forbearance thereof: see Gal 5:6; 1Ti 4:8.
But righteousness, and peace, and joy: here he tells you positively wherein the kingdom of God consisteth; not in outward observations, but in inward graces and gracious dispositions. He doth not reckon up all, but contents himself with these three, righteousness, peace, and joy. By righteousness, some understand that which is imputed, of which you read, Rom 4:1-25; others, rather, that which is implanted and inherent; it is the same with holiness, both the habit of it in the heart, and the exercise of it in the life. By peace, some think, he means peace with God, or peace of conscience; others, that he rather means peace with men; or, if you will, peaceableness, or Christian concord and unity. This suits best with what follows, Rom 14:19, and it is often commended to us in Scripture. By joy may be understood that spiritual comfort. which ariseth from a present feeling of the favour of God, or from a well grounded hope of future salvation; as also, the comfort and delight which Chrisiians take in the good alld welfare of each other. He that loveth his brother, rejoiceth in his welfare, 1Co 13:6; and therefore will not offend, or occasion him to sin.
In the Holy Ghost; this is added, to show the efficient cause of these graces, which is the Spirit of God; and to distinguish this righteousness, peace, and joy, from that which is merely civil and carnal.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. For the kingdom of Godor,as we should say, Religion; that is, the proper business andblessedness for which Christians are formed into a community ofrenewed men in thorough subjection to God (compare 1Co4:20).
is not meat and drink“eatingand drinking”
but righteousness, and peace,and joy in the Holy Ghosta beautiful and comprehensivedivision of living Christianity. The first”righteousness”hasrespect to God, denoting here “rectitude,” in itswidest sense (as in Mt 6:33);the second”peace”has respect to our neighbors,denoting “concord” among brethren (as is plain from Ro14:19; compare Eph 4:3;Col 3:14; Col 3:15);the third”joy in the Holy Ghost”has respect toourselves. This phrase, “joy in the Holy Ghost,”represents Christians as so thinking and feeling under the workingsof the Holy Ghost, that their joy may be viewed rather as that of theblessed Agent who inspires it than their own (compare 1Th1:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink,…. Neither the kingdom of glory, nor the ultimate glory and happiness of the saints in the other world, is attained to by any such things; for neither eating and drinking, nor not eating and drinking, can recommend to the divine favour, or give a meetness for heaven, or a right unto it; see 1Co 8:8, nor does the kingdom of grace, the principle of grace, lie in such things, nor in anything that is external; nor does the Gospel, or Gospel church state, which frequently go under this name of the kingdom of God, consist of such things as the ceremonial and the legal dispensation did, but the Gospel and the dispensation of grace are opposed unto them; see Heb 9:10.
But righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The kingdom of glory, which is the kingdom of God, because of his preparing, giving, calling to, and putting into the possession of, is attained unto by righteousness; not the righteousness of men, but the righteousness of Christ imputed by God, and received by faith; and through peace made by the blood of Christ, and rejoicing in him, without having any confidence in the flesh, which is a branch of the Spirit’s grace in regeneration. The kingdom of grace, or the governing principle of grace in the soul, and which is of God’s implanting there, lies in righteousness and true holiness, in which the new man is created; in truth and uprightness in the inward parts, where the laws of God are put and written; and in peace of conscience, arising from the blood and righteousness of Christ; and in that spiritual joy and comfort the Holy Ghost produces, by leading to a sight of Christ, and an interest in him and his atonement. The Gospel, which gives an account both of the kingdom of grace and of glory, reveals the righteousness of Christ, and teaches men to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world: it is a publication of peace by the blood of Christ; it calls men to peace, to cultivate peace one among another, and to seek those things which make for it; and when it comes in power, is attended with joy in the Holy Ghost, and is the means of increasing it; and this is another reason, persuading to Christian forbearance, in the use of things indifferent.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The kingdom of God ( ). Not the future kingdom of eschatology, but the present spiritual kingdom, the reign of God in the heart, of which Jesus spoke so often. See 1Co 4:21. Paul scores heavily here, for it is not found in externals like food and drink, but in spiritual qualities and graces.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The kingdom of God. See on Luk 6:20, and compare Mt 3:2. “The heavenly sphere of life in which God ‘s word and Spirit govern, and whose organ on earth is the Church” (Lange). Not the future, messianic kingdom.
Meat and drink [ ] . Rev., eating and drinking. Both words, however, occur frequently in the sense of A. V. Meat [] , that which is eaten, occurs in ver. 15. The corresponding word for that which is drunk [] is not found in the New Testament, though poma drink occurs 1Co 10:4; Heb 9:10, and both in classical and New – Testament Greek, posiv the act of drinking is used also for that which is drunk. See Joh 6:55. A somewhat similar interchange of meaning appears in the popular expression, such a thing is good eating; also in the use of living for that by which one lives.
Righteousness [] . On its practical, ethical side, as shown in moral rectitude toward men.
Peace [] . Not peace with God, reconciliation, as ch. 5 1, but mutual concord among Christians.
Joy [] . Common joy, arising out of the prevalence of rectitude and concord in the Church. The whole chapter is concerned with the mutual relations of Christians, rather than with their relations to God In the Holy Ghost. Most commentators construe this with joy only.
Meyer says it forms one phrase. Compare 1Th 1:6 While this may be correct, I see no objection to construing the words with all these terms. So Godet : “It is this divine guest who, by His presence, produces them in the Church.”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For the kingdom of God is not,” (ou gar estin he basileia tou -theou) “Because the kingdom of God (is) does not exist of,” or consist of, is not made up of — The true reign of God over his children is by nature first spiritual, then material, Mat 6:33. To be right with God in life and doctrine is the way to be and stay right with ones brother.
2) “Meat and drink,” (Bromis kai posis) “Eating and drinking,” mere entertainment, satisfaction for the belly or physical things –things over which there had been controversy among Christians in Rome, Corinth, and Galatia, Gal 4:9-11; Col 2:20-23; Col 3:1-2. Neither receiving nor rejecting meat and drink constitutes the kingdom of God, 1Co 8:8; Heb 13:9.
3) “But” – “but in contrast”,
a) “Righteousness,” (dikaiosune) “It is by nature righteousness,” right principles, morals, and ethical behavior or conduct before God and men.
b) “And peace,” (kai eirene) “And it is by nature peace,” in contrast with confusion, conflict, and disorder. It means peace with God and ones fellowman, especially in the church, Rom 5:12; Mat 5:9; Php_4:7.
c) “And joy “ (kai chara) “And it is by nature joy,” a fruit of regeneration, the new spiritual nature, found in Jesus Christ who saves the believer, Luk 2:10; Joh 15:11; Gal 5:22; Joh 16:24; 1Pe 1:8; 1Pe 4:13; 2Jn 1:12.
4) “In the Holy Ghost,” (en pneumati hagio) “In the Holy Spirit;” Both peace and joy are fruits of the holy spirit in the believer, reflecting the imputed righteousness of God that is reflected in the new, Divine nature of the believer, Rom 15:13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
17. For the kingdom of God, etc. He now, on the other hand, teaches us, that we can without loss abstain from the use of our liberty, because the kingdom of God does not consist in such things. Those things indeed, which are necessary either to build up or preserve the kingdom of God, are by no means to be neglected, whatever offenses may hence follow: but if for love’s sake it be lawful to abstain from meat, while God’s honor is uninjured, while Christ’s kingdom suffers no harm, while religion is not hindered, then they are not to be borne with, who for meat’s sake disturb the Church. He uses similar arguments in his first Epistle to the Corinthians:
“
Meat,” he says, “for the stomach, and the stomach for meat; but God will destroy both,” (1Co 6:13 🙂
again,
“
If we eat, we shall not abound,” (1Co 8:8.)
By these words he meant briefly to show, that meat and drink were things too worthless, that on their account the course of the gospel should be impeded.
But righteousness and peace, etc. He, in passing, has set these in opposition to meat and drink; not for the purpose of enumerating all the things which constitute the kingdom of Christ, but of showing, that it consists of spiritual things. He has at the same time no doubt included in few words a summary of what it is; namely, that we, being well assured, have peace with God, and possess real joy of heart through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. But as I have said, these few things he has accommodated to his present subject. He indeed who is become partaker of true righteousness, enjoys a great and an invaluable good, even a calm joy of conscience; and he who has peace with God, what can he desire more? (430)
By connecting peace and joy together, he seems to me to express the character of this joy; for however torpid the reprobate may be, or however they may elevate themselves, yet the conscience is not rendered calm and joyful, except when it feels God to be pacified and propitious to it; and there is no solid joy but what proceeds from this peace. And though it was necessary, when mention was made of these things, that the Spirit should have been declared as the author; yet he meant in this place indirectly to oppose the Spirit to external things, that we might know, that the things which belong to the kingdom of God continue complete to us without the use of meats.
(430) What is here said is no doubt true of the kingdom of God; but by considering what is afterwards said in the two following verses, we cannot well accede to this exposition. Righteousness, peace, and joy, mentioned here, are things acceptable to God and approved by men: they must then be things apparent and visible, which men see and observe; and to follow “the things of peace,” refers to the conduct. “Righteousness” then must mean here the doing of what is right and just towards one another; “peace,” concord and unanimity, as opposed to discord and contentions; “joy,” the fruit of this peaceable state, a cheering delight, a mutual rejoicing, instead of the sorrow and grief occasioned by discord; and these come “through the Holy Spirit” and are produced by him; and they are not the semblances of such virtues and graces, presented in some instances by false religions. See Gal 5:22. [ Doddridge ], [ Stuart ], and [ Chalmers ] have viewed the passage in this light, though the latter, as well as [ Scott ], seemed inclined to combine the two views: but this is to mix up things together unnecessarily, and to destroy the harmony of the context. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) Meat and drink.Strictly, eating and drinking.
Righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.By righteousness and peace is not here meant imputed righteousness, or justification and reconciliation with God, but rather the moral condition of righteousness in the Christian himself, and concord with his fellow-men. These are crowned in the confirmed Christian by that feeling of subdued and chastened exultation which is wrought in Him by the presence in his heart or constant influence of the Holy Spirit.
It is remarkable how, with all the wide difference in terminology between the writings of St. Paul and the Gospels, they yet come round to the very same point. The kingdom of God, as here described, is exactly what we should gather from the fuller and more detailed sayings of our Lord. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; The kingdom of God is within you; The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; Blessed are the peacemakers; Rejoice and be exceeding glad.
It has not been beyond the power of heathen or even Christian philosophers, such, e.g., as Marcus Aurelius, to arrive at the conception of righteousness and peaceableness as duties to be observed and striven after. The peculiarity of Christianity consists in the unity which it gives to these attributes as naturally flowing from a spring of deep religious emotion, and from the finish and perfection which it adds to them by the introduction of that third term, joy in the Holy Ghost. Many individuals have shown, and still show, with greater or less approximation, what the Christian type should be, but the great and only perfect Exemplar is Jesus Himself, and that less, perhaps, in the later portion of His career, when He was fulfilling that other side of His mission, to bear the sins of many as the Saviour of mankind, than in the earlier untroubled phase which finds expression in the Sermon on the Mount. This is in closest contact with the normal life of men.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Kingdom of God The divine dominion in the soul under Christ.
Not meat Its essence is not in distinctions of food.
Righteousness Of heart and life.
Peace With God, with our neighbour, with ourselves.
Joy The result of our righteousness and peace. The whole process is beautifully expanded in Rom 6:1-5.
In the Holy Ghost This clause is to be applied to each of the three.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For the Kingly Rule of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.’
However, in the ancient world eating and drinking were seen as very much a part of worship and celebration, and the popularity of much worship resulted from the fact of its religious feasts which were seen as in some way uniting the worshippers with their gods. Thus this may have been very much in mind here. Even the coming Messianic kingdom had been seen in terms of a Messianic feast (e.g. Isa 25:6), although never in Scripture as anything other than a joyous celebration. For most people feasting was the main source of enjoyment in the past. That makes this an important statement in a wider sense, for it indicates that the Messiah had come, but not in order to satisfy the outward man and provide him with physical luxuries (the belief of many Jews). Rather it was in order to feed men’s hearts (compare Isa 55:1-3) and fulfil what was in their inner beings.
This definition of the Kingly Rule of God as consisting in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit mirrors the earlier part of Romans. There righteousness is underlined in Romans 3:24-5:25; Rom 5:15-21, whilst in Rom 5:1 it is our being accounted as righteous by faith which results in peace. And this in turn results in joy (Rom 5:2) and all the consequence of the work of the Holy Spirit (in Rom 5:2-5), while later on practical righteousness is required Rom 6:16; Rom 6:18-19. These are thus the things on which we should concentrate our attention, trying to ensure that they are enjoyed by all. So ‘righteousness, peace and joy’ are to be seen as the hallmark of the Kingly Rule of God because such a Kingly Rule is concerned with man’s inner spirit, not with outward forms. Whether or not we eat and drink certain things has nothing at all to contribute towards the Kingly Rule of God one way or the other (even if some think that it has). On the other hand arguments about it may destroy the righteousness, peace and joy of the weaker brother or sister. Thus we must walk with great care. A similar contrast comes out in Eph 5:18-20, ‘Do not be drunk with wine in which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the LORD, giving thanks always for all things —.’
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 14:17. For the kingdom of God is not meat, &c. “The kingdom of God neither prohibits nor enjoins such things as these, nor is it taken up with such little matters; but the great design of it is to regulate the temper of its professors, and in the most effectual manner to cultivate and promote righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; that is, a serene temper and a holy joy, supported by a consciousness of strict integrity, established on principles of universal love, and inspired by the blessed Spirit of God.” See Scott’s Christian Life, vol. 1: p. 285.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 14:17 . Motive for complying with the . . . ., with reference to the contents of the possible slander.
. . ] is not anywhere (comp. on Mat 3:2 ; Mat 6:10 ; 1Co 4:20 ; Col 1:13 ), and so is not here, anything else than the Messiah’s kingdom , the erection of which begins with the Parousia , belonging not to the , but to the (1Co 6:9-10 ; 1Co 15:24 ; 1Co 15:50 ; Gal 5:21 ; Eph 5:5 ; Col 4:11 ; 1Th 2:12 ; 2Th 1:5 ); not therefore the (invisible) church , the regnum gratiae , or the earthly ethical kingdom of God (Reiche, de Wette, Philippi, Lipsius, following older expositors), res Christiana (Baumgarten-Crusius), and the like. “ The Messianic kingdom is not eating and drinking;” i.e. , the essential characteristic of this kingdom does not consist in the principle that a man, in order to become a member of it, should eat and drink this or that or everything without distinction, but in the principle that one should be upright, etc. Less accurate, and, although not missing the approximate sense, readily liable to be misunderstood (see Calovius), is the view of the Greek Fathers, Grotius, and many others: the kingdom of God is not obtained through, etc. Comp. on Joh 17:3 .
, eating, i.e. actus edendi , different from , food , Rom 14:15 (comp. Tittmann, Synon . p. 159), which distinction Paul always observes (in opposition to Fritzsche); see on Col 2:16 .
. ] can, according to the entire context (comp. esp. Rom 14:15 ), and specially according to Rom 14:18 ( .) and Rom 14:19 ( ), be taken only in the moral sense, and therefore as ethical uprightness and peace (concord) with the brethren; not in the dogmatic sense: righteousness and peace (of reconciliation) with God (Calvin, Calovius, and many others, including Rckert, Tholuck, and Philippi; de Wette blends the two meanings). But that these virtues presuppose faith in Christ as the soil from which they sprang, and as the fundamental principium essendi of the kingdom, is self-evident from the whole connection.
. .] forms one phrase. Comp. 1Th 1:6 . It is the holy joyfulness , the morally glad frame of heart which has its causal basis and subsistence in the Holy Spirit , who rules in the Christian; comp. Gal 5:22 , also Phi 4:4 . It is present even in tribulation, 2Co 6:10 , and does not yield to death, Phi 2:17 . The transitive explanation of the joy which the Christian diffuses over others (Grotius, Koppe, Reiche, and others) is supported neither by the simple word nor by N. T. usage elsewhere.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1917
PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY ILLUSTRATED
Rom 14:17-19. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
TO have a clear view of Christian doctrines is necessary; but to have a just apprehension of the Christian spirit and temper is no less necessary: and it is much to be regretted, that where the doctrines are well understood, the Christian temper is often grievously overlooked: nay, the very importance of the doctrines is often made a pretext for exercising tempers most repugnant to vital Christianity. People are not willing to distinguish between the essentials, and the non-essentials, of religion. There is in every man a disposition to exalt some favourite sentiment of his own, and to press it upon others beyond what its relative importance requires; whereas the spirit of Christianity calls rather for mutual forbearance in relation to things indifferent, and mutual concessions, in order to the preservation of peace and harmony.
The scope of the chapter before us is to mark out a line of conduct for Christians in relation to this matter: and in this view it deserves the most attentive consideration. To present the subject before you in all its most important bearings, we shall,
I.
Shew wherein practical Christianity consists
[The Jewish religion consisted much in the observance of rites and ceremonies, which were marked with great precision, and enjoined under the severest penalties. The forbearing the use of certain kinds of food, the keeping as sacred certain times and seasons, and the complying with certain ordinances, were commanded with all the same authority as the decalogue itself. But those things were to cease with that dispensation [Note: Heb 9:10.]: they were appointed only till the times of reformation: and now they are to be observed no longer [Note: Col 2:16-22.]. The kingdom of God, that is, the kingdom of Christ established in the heart, does not consist in them; it is not in meat and drink, but in something more substantial, more excellent, more spiritual; namely, in righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Many interpret these words as importing faith in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and peace through the blood of his cross, and joy in the Holy Ghost as the fruit of our acceptance with God. But we apprehend that these words relate rather to holy and heavenly dispositions, as contrasted with the spirit that is generated by an undue attachment to rites and ceremonies. We understand by them an universal love of righteousness, as opposed to a zeal for forms; a peaceful state of mind, as opposed to the irritation that is cherished, and the dissensions that are occasioned, by a contentious spirit; and a joy in God, as opposed to the self-complacency which is fostered by a self-righteous compliance with prescribed forms. The scope of the whole context seems to point to this interpretation, and to direct our thoughts into the channel marked out for us by the words of Balaam to Balak [Note: Mic 6:6-8.]; or by those of our Lord to the self-righteous Pharisees, who paid tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, but neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith [Note: Mat 23:23.].
In these things vital Christianity consists. The turning of the whole heart to the observance of Gods laws, is the great promise of the Gospel, and the certain effect of it, wherever it is received in truth: A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments to do them [Note: Eze 36:26-27.]. And again, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts [Note: Jer 31:33.] Nor is a peaceful disposition less certainly imparted by the Gospel: for love is the necessary fruit of faith [Note: Gal 5:6.], and forms the most striking feature in the character of every true believer [Note: 1Jn 3:14.] Joy also in the Holy Ghost will invariably accompany these holy dispositions: for the Holy Ghost delights to dwell where God is honoured, and man is loved for Gods sake. In the hearts of such believers he will glorify the Lord Jesus, and will shed abroad the Fathers love: he will fill them with joy unspeakable and glorified Such righteousness, such peace, and such joy, are the fruits and evidences of the reign of Christ in the soul: and in them, rather than in forms of any kind, does his kingdom consist.]
Having thus marked the nature of practical Christianity, we shall,
II.
Point out its peculiar excellence
The ordinances relative to meats and drinks were mere beggarly elements: they had no value at all, except as shadows of good things to come. But these holy dispositions are truly valuable: and every man who cultivates them,
1.
Is accepted of God
[The observers of forms and ceremonies were not at all accepted, unless their services were accompanied with a suitable and corresponding frame of mind [Note: Isa 1:11-14.]; yea rather, they were hateful, even as the offering of swines blood, or as murder itself [Note: Isa 66:3.]. But not so the services of which we have been speaking: they are truly pleasing in the sight of God; and the dispositions exercised are in his sight an ornament of great price. Yes, the righteous Lord loveth righteousness, and will meet him who rejoiceth in working it [Note: Isa 64:5.]. There is no token of his love which he will not vouchsafe to those who cultivate a loving spirit, and seek all their happiness in him. He will set his love upon them; and will hear and answer all their petitions: he will be with them in trouble: he will deliver them and honour them: with long life also will he satisfy them, and will shew them his full and complete salvation [Note: Psa 91:14-16.],]
2.
Is approved of men
[Those who spend their zeal on the externals of religion may be commended by partisans, but they will never be respected by those who differ from them, nor indeed by their own party. The dispositions exercised by such persons are unamiable, and therefore they can never generate love in the breasts of any. But the holy man of God, who labours to fulfil all righteousness, and to promote the happiness of all around him, and to live in the constant enjoyment of his God, he, I say, has a testimony in the breasts of all, even of those who differ from him in things of less importance: and though from circumstances they may keep at a distance from him, they honour him in their hearts, and have an inward persuasion that God is with him of a truth. The ungodly world indeed may hate him, just as they hated the Apostles and our Lord himself: but yet even they will feel an awe in his presence, and, at the very time that they revile and persecute him, have oftentimes the secret thought in their hearts, If I were dying, I should be glad to be found in your state.]
We must not however overlook that which gives to these services their chief excellence
[It is supposed that the person who performs these services is already Christs subject, and servant, having through Divine grace been converted to God, and translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Gods dear Son: and that, in performing them, he is not attempting to establish a righteousness of his own, but to serve and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. It is necessary that he keep this end in view; and that all that he does be done for Christ, that is, from a regard to his authority, and with a view to his glory. Indeed faith in Christ, and love to his name, are the only principles that will operate to the production of the dispositions before mentioned. A man may have the semblance of them without faith in Christ; but the reality he cannot have. In the mind of the unbeliever, the circumstantials of religion will have an undue weight: in the believer only will the essentials have their full scope and paramount ascendency. When therefore we speak of these dispositions as accepted of God and approved of men, it is supposed that in them we serve Christ, by whose grace alone we can do them, and through whom alone they can ever be accepted.]
Having now shewn the nature and excellence of practical Christianity, we shall, in conclusion,
III.
Give some directions for the exercise of it
The general direction in our text is, to follow after the things that make for peace, and things whereby one may edify another. But that the whole scope of the chapter may be brought more fully into view, we will descend somewhat more to particulars.
1.
Lay not an undue stress on things indifferent
[As amongst the Jews there were many who laid more stress on the washing of pots and cups than on obedience to Gods commandments [Note: Mar 7:8-9.], so now there are many whose zeal has respect to little else than the circumstantials of religion. The Papists are ready to confine salvation to those who are within the pale of their Church: and almost every distinct sect of Protestants is ready to arrogate to itself the same exclusive privilege. It is grievous to think what mutual aversion has been created among Christians, by the circumstance of worshipping with, or without, a form of prayer, or by differences still less important. But things ought not so to be. We should lay no more stress on any thing than we find laid on it in the Scriptures of truth. The fundamental doctrines of religion must be held fast, and sacrificed to none. The plain duties also of religion must be executed with a firmness that is immoveable: but whatever interferes not with these, should be left to the judgment and the conscience of every individual; neither being imposed on him as of necessity, nor exacted of him with rigour, nor made a ground of alienation from him. We should concede to others the liberty we claim for ourselves; and be more anxious to preserve an union of heart, than by dictation to produce an uniformity of sentiment. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. And what says St. Paul to this? Let the more powerful of the two compel the other to adopt his views? No: but, Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind [Note: ver. 5.].]
2.
Be tender in judging those who differ from you
[Those who saw their Christian liberty, despised their weaker brethren, for scrupling to eat what had been offered to an idol; whilst, on the other hand, they who doubted the lawfulness of eating such things, condemned their stronger brethren, as presumptuously disregarding the commands of God. A similar disposition to despise or condemn each other exists among the advocates for certain doctrines which have for ages divided the Church of God. Those who think they have a deeper insight into the Divine decrees, look down with pity and contempt on their less enlightened brethren; whilst these, on the other hand, feel embittered against the others, and load them with all manner of obloquy. Alas! alas! when shall the professed members of Christs body cease to exercise such dispositions towards each other, and agree to cultivate a spirit of mutual forbearance? When shall men cease to dogmatize, as if they were infallible? The probability is, that the truth lies not exclusively with either of these parties, but is found rather with those who receive with meekness, and interpret with diffidence, the apparently opposite declarations of God, and wait his time for the fuller explication of them. No man is in the exclusive possession of all truth; nay, persons may in some things pursue an opposite conduct, and yet both be right, because the things wherein they disagree may be matters of pure indifference [Note: ver. 6.]: therefore, whilst every man should seek to acquire the most correct sentiments, every man should leave others to stand or fall to their own master [Note: ver. 4.].]
3.
Be cautious in the exercise of your liberty
[An action may be good in itself, yet it may become bad by being done in the presence of another who doubts its lawfulness, and may by means of it be induced to violate the dictates of his own conscience in following the example. This is a point well worthy of our attention. We should have respect to the consciences of others, and be careful not to lay a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in our brothers way. As we should not presume to force him to act contrary to his conscience, so neither should we tempt him to do so, lest we lead him into sin, and thereby destroy his soul. Our blessed Lord laid down his life to save such persons; and shall we not forego a trifling gratification for their welfare? Yea, shall we, for the sake of some small indulgence, risk the plunging them into everlasting ruin? Shocking impiety! In so acting, we sin against Christ, and greatly endanger the salvation of our own souls. And rather than be guilty of such wickedness, we should deny ourselves the most innocent gratification in the world: If meat make our brother to offend, we should eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest we make our brother to offend [Note: ver. 21. with 1Co 8:9-13.].]
4.
Be anxious, not to proselyte to a party, but to edify your brother in love
[Here almost all classes of the Christian world are greatly to blame. If a brother begin to have his conscience awakened, the first object of the generality is to bring him over to their own particular party. For this end they set before him those particular points which may lead his mind into the particular channel which they wish. But St. Paul expressly forbids such hateful conduct: Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations [Note: ver. 1.]. How many hopeful blossoms have come to nought in consequence of their being thus blighted by the breath of vain dispute! How many, instead of coming fully to Christ, and devoting themselves entirely to him, have been led to rest in the adoption of some particular creed, an union with some particular party, or a submission to one particular rite! Verily, they who, by such an use of their influence, keep back an inquiring soul, have much to answer for. To build up a brother in faith and love should be our only object; and, whether he belong to our particular party or not, it should satisfy us to see that he grows in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of labouring to proselyte him to our party, we should forget that we ourselves are of any party [Note: 1Co 9:9-22.]: or, if of a party we must be, let it be of that which Moses approved, and which comprehends the universal Church,the Lords side [Note: Exo 32:26.]. To unite each other unto him, and build up each other in his faith and fear, is the only proper exercise of Christian love, and Christian influence.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (18) For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. (19) Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. (20) For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. (21) It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
What a very precious Scripture this is, in conclusion of what had been said, concerning all the controversies of meat and drink? The Kingdom of God is not meal and drink. Here we have the decision. Meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse, 1Co 8:8 . How everlastingly disposed the minds of men have been, in taking up with anything short of the change of heart! This throws to the ground every attempt of compromise with God. Nothing short of the work of God the Spirit in regeneration, can bring sinners to God. It is the special, and peculiar office of God the Holy Ghost, to effect this blissful change. He convinceth of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. And, by holding up to the sinner’s view, the Person, work, and glory of Christ, and working in the sinner’s heart, faith to believe the record God hath given of his Son; he gives grace, to possess an interest, in all the communicable rights of the Lord Jesus, which he wrought for his people; and thus renders the kingdom of grace here, leading to a kingdom of glory hereafter, the privilege of the whole Church. Reader! doth your experience correspond with the Apostle’s, and is this kingdom in your esteem, righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost? If so, sweet to the soul is the testimony of God the Spirit by the Apostle. For he that in these things serveth Christ, is acceptable to God, in the beloved , and approved of men!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Ver. 17. For the kingdom of God, &c. ] That was a swinish saying of Epicurus, that eternal life should be nothing else but a continual eating of the fat and drinking of the sweet, even unto an incessant surfeiting and drunkenness, . The Turks to this day promise Paradise to such as die in war for the Mahometan faith, where they shall have delicious fare, pleasant gardens, all sensual delights, eternally to be enjoyed, notwithstanding any former sins. Fit lettuce for such lips.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17. ] For it is not worth while to let it be disgraced and become useless for such a trifle; for no part of the advance of Christ’s gospel can be bound up in, or consist in, meat and drink : but in righteousness ( , Chrys., but of course to be taken in union with the doctrine of the former part of the Epistle righteousness by justification, bringing forth the fruits of faith , which would be hindered by faith itself being disturbed), and peace ( , , id.) and joy ( , , id.) in the Holy Ghost: in connexion with, under the indwelling and influence of, as ( Php 4:4 ) and the expressions ., , generally: not, as De W., ‘ joy which has its ground in the Holy Ghost ,’ though this is true . So, on the other hand, a man under the influence of, possessed by an evil spirit, is called , Mar 1:23 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 14:17 . Insistence and strife on such matters are inconsistent with Christianity: . . . Usually in Paul is transcendent; the kingdom is that which comes with the second advent, and is the inheritance of believers; it is essentially (as it is called in 2Ti 4:18 ) a . . See 1Th 2:12 , 2Th 1:5 , 1Co 6:9 f., 1Co 15:50 , Gal 5:21 . This use of the expression, however, does not exclude another, which is more akin to what we find in the Gospels, and regards the Kingdom of God as in some sense also present: we have examples of this here, and in 1Co 4:20 : perhaps also in Act 20:25 . No doubt for Paul the transcendent associations would always cling to the name, so that we should lose a great deal of what it meant for him if we translated it by “the Christian religion” or any such form of words. It always included the reference to the glory to be revealed. . : eating and drinking the acts, as opposed to , Rom 14:15 , the thing eaten. . . : are these words ethical or religious? Does . denote “justification,” the right relation of man to God? or “righteousness,” in the sense of just dealing? Is peace with God, the result of justification (as in Rom 5:1 ), or peace among the members of the Church, the result of consideration for each other? The true answer must be that Paul did not thus distinguish ethical and religious: the words are religious primarily, but the ethical meaning is so far from being excluded by the religious that it is secured by it, and by it alone. That the religious import ought to be put in the forefront is shown by . . which is a grace, not a virtue. In comparison with these great spiritual blessings, what Christian could trouble the Church about eating or drinking? For their sake, no self-denial is too great.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
kingdom of God. App-114.
meat, drink = eating, drinking.
righteousness. See Rom 1:17.
joy. Compare Gal 1:5, Gal 1:22.
Holy Ghost. App-101.:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17.] For it is not worth while to let it be disgraced and become useless for such a trifle; for no part of the advance of Christs gospel can be bound up in, or consist in, meat and drink: but in righteousness ( , Chrys., but of course to be taken in union with the doctrine of the former part of the Epistle-righteousness by justification,-bringing forth the fruits of faith, which would be hindered by faith itself being disturbed), and peace ( , , id.) and joy ( , , id.) in the Holy Ghost: in connexion with, under the indwelling and influence of, as (Php 4:4) and the expressions ., , generally:-not, as De W., joy which has its ground in the Holy Ghost, though this is true. So, on the other hand, a man under the influence of, possessed by an evil spirit, is called , Mar 1:23.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 14:17. , the kingdom of God) The kingdom of God is, when a man is under the power [influence] of God, so 1Co 4:20.- , eating and drinking [not meat and drink, which would be , etc.]) It does not consist in the bold and careless use of liberty, for example in relation to meat and drink.-, righteousness) in respect of God. The three points of this definition relate to the sum of the whole epistle in their order. The one peculiar characteristic of faith and life [in the Christian], independently of the article of the sinners justification [through faith] is righteousness.-, peace) in respect of our neighbour; comp. ch. Rom 15:13.-, joy) in respect of ourselves: comp. ch. Rom 15:13.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 14:17
Rom 14:17
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,-The kingdom of God is not to provide meat and drink, nor is it to gratify our taste in these things, nor will the kingdom of God be promoted by eating one kind of food or another. We should not, therefore, for the sake of eating and drinking, act in such a manner as to counteract and defeat the ends of Christs death.
but righteousness-Right doing and right living, encouraging active work in the way of righteousness. This is placed in contrast with doing things not taught.
and peace-Follow after or practice the things that promote peace, in contrast with disputations of untaught questions.
and joy in the Holy Spirit.-Rejoicing in following the teaching of the Holy Spirit, which bestows the joy that the Spirit in its mission brings to every man faithful and true to the law of God. [These are weighty matters of the kingdom, and, therefore, the matters of chief concern to us, and not the indifferent and trivial questions of eating and drinking. But as it was in the kingdom in those days, so it is still. There is a large class of professed Christians who are never through with scruples of conscience on untaught questions, but who can never know anything or never will care anything about righteousness, peace, and joy. They, of course, are always righteous themselves, and their peace and joy must ever be consulted; but as for others, they are not concerned.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
kingdom See, Gal 4:9-11; Col 2:20-23. (See Scofield “Mat 6:33”).
righteousness (See Scofield “Rom 10:10”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
A Definition of the Kingdom
For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.Rom 14:17.
The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. That is a glorious saying, because it is so strong, so clear, so sweeping. It lays down a principle to which one may always appeal; it is a fundamental law of the Kingdom which can never be abrogated, or shelved, or made of none effect by human explanations.
St. Pauls readers were scarcely so ignorant and unspiritual as to suppose that the Kingdom of God did consist in eating and drinking. But they were much engrossed just then with questions relating to meat and drink, with warm disputes among themselves as to whether flesh that had formed part of idol sacrifices and had come from heathen altars could consistently be eaten by Christians. They were greatly agitated and exercised about this, some maintaining that it ought not to be eaten, and rigidly refusing to touch it, and others insisting that it might without any inconsistency be eaten; some strenuous for abstinence and urging it as a solemn duty, and others condemning and seeking to draw away from it as a pitiable weakness. St. Paul tells them that this controversy about meat and drink is not furthering the interests of the Kingdom of God. It does not touch the things which belong to the Kingdom, except in the way of hindering them. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
The text falls naturally into three divisions:
I.The Kingdom of GodWhat are we to understand by it in this connection?
II.The negative statementWhat the Kingdom of God is not.
III.The positive statementWhat the Kingdom of God is.
I
The Kingdom of God
1. It is not a little startling in such a connection to find any mention of the Kingdom of God. We should have expected some very different expressionthe right principle of conduct, or the true rule of life, or the proper bond of brotherhood, or the teaching of the Gospel, or the Church of Christ. Any of these phrases would have appeared quite natural. But the Kingdom of God seems not a little out of place. It seems so only because we do not realize, as the Apostle realized, that the dispensation of the Gospel, the Church of Christ, is itself the very Kingdom of God. Notwithstanding the warning which stands recorded, we persist in thinking that the Kingdom of God cometh by observation, that it must be a kingdom of pomp and circumstance, that therefore it is something very remote and distant and distinct from anything we see about us. But St. Paul viewed it quite otherwise. This little society of men and women; this motley group of Jews, Greeks, Syrians, immigrants from all parts of the world; gathered together mostly from the middle and lower classes of society, artisans and small shopkeepers, struggling for a livelihood; despised where they were not ignored by mighty Rome, in the heart of which they livedthis little society, with its trials and its sufferings and its dissensions, is the Kingdom of God.
It may almost be said that it is to Coleridges Aids to Reflection we are indebted for Bushnell. He began to read it in college, but it seemed foggy and unintelligible, and was put aside for a long time. He took it up later with this result: For a whole half-year I was buried under his Aids to Reflection, and trying vainly to look up through. I was quite sure that I saw a star glimmer, but I could not quite see the stars. My habit was only landscape before; but now I saw enough to convince me of a whole other world somewhere overhead, a range of realities in higher tier, that I must climb after, and, if possible, apprehend. This book stood by him to the end, and in old age he confessed greater indebtedness to it than to any other book save the Bible. We have only to quote one passage, taken almost at random, to show what a fountain of light was unsealed to him in this volume. It was an epoch-making book, but Bushnell was one of the first to turn its light upon the theology of New England.
Too soon did the Doctors of the Church forget that the heart, the moral nature, was the beginning and the end; and that truth, knowledge, and insight were comprehended in its expansion. This was the true and first apostasy,when in council and synod the Divine Humanities of the Gospel gave way to speculative Systems, and Religion became a Science of Shadows under the name of Theology, or at best a bare Skeleton of Truth, without life or interest, alike inaccessible and unintelligible to the majority of Christians. For these, therefore, there remained only rites and ceremonies and spectacles, shows and semblances. Thus among the learned the Substance of things hoped for passed off into Notions; and for the unlearned the Surfaces of things became Substance. The Christian world was for centuries divided into the Many that did not think at all, and the Few who did nothing but think,both alike unreflecting, the one from defect of the act, the other from the absence of an object.1 [Note: T. Munger, Horace Bushnell, 46.]
2. What are the signs by which the citizens of the Kingdom of God are recognized? Not any uniform which can be laid aside when we enter our secret chamber; not any watchword which we can learn by an easy tradition; but a character which clothes itself in deeds, a creed which is translated into a life. Each citizen of the Kingdom is known by the inner life. There is a Kingdom of God within us. Behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luk 17:21). We are known and marked as citizens, not by outward observances, but by character; not by what we profess, but by what we are.
Its the flesh and blood folks are made on as makes the difference. Some cheeses are made o skimmed milk and some o new milk, and its no matter what you call em, you may tell which is which by the look and the smell.2 [Note: Mrs. Poyser, in Adam Bede.]
The throne of the Kingdom of God is not erected in the land of doing, but in the land of being; primarily it is a matter not of clean hands, but of clean hearts.3 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]
II
What the Kingdom of God is Not
The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. Who ever thought it was? It seems a strangely inadequate conception. How did it arise? In heathen society every meal was in a manner dedicated to the household gods by laying some portion of it on the family altar. When one member of a heathen family had become a Christian, he would at once be confronted with the question, rising in his own conscience, whether by partaking of such food he might not be countenancing idolatry. And even though his own family was entirely Christian, the difficulty was not removed, for much of the meat offered in worship in the Temple found its way into the common market, so that at every meal the Christian ran the risk of eating things sacrificed to idols. Was a Christian at liberty to eat such food? Yes, said one. No, said another. Each reproved and condemned the other. Which was right? Possibly both. Possibly neither. Said one, You can eat, and still be of the Kingdom of God. Said another, If you eat, you are not of the Kingdom of God. And to both of these St. Paul made reply, The Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking; it is determined by something that lies further backward and inward, by a mans personal relationship to the Holy Ghost.
1. The burning question among the Christians in Rome at this time was the question of meats. Some convertsJews by birthbrought into the fold of Christ the strict observance of the Mosaic prohibitions in which they had been brought up. They were careful not to violate the distinction of animals clean and unclean, as laid down by the law. Otherseducated we know not under what influenceswent beyond this. They would not touch animal food at all. They were strict vegetarians. Perhaps they had conscientious objections to taking life; perhaps their abstention was a development of asceticism. Others again, Gentiles by birth and education, took the opposite extreme. They ostentatiously vaunted their indifference in these matters. They would eat anything that came in their way. It might be clean or unclean from a Jewish point of view; it might even have been offered for sacrifice on a heathen altar in an idols temple. They suffered no scruple to stand in their path.
But they were not content each to follow his own practice, and to leave his neighbours alone. The abstainers denounced the non-abstainers as men of loose principles who brought dishonour on the Church. The non-abstainers despised the abstainers as men of narrow views who were ignorant of the true Gospel of liberty. Thus there was strife and dissension, there was mutual recrimination, there was hatred and division, where there should have been union and peace and brotherly love.
It was a pitiable dispute in the Apostles eyes. They needed all the strength which union alone can give; and yet they diminished, they dissipated, they neutralized what force they had by internal quarrels. And quarrels about what? About meats and drinksthings which perish in the using, things mean and transitory, utterly valueless in themselves. It was a pitiable dispute. So the Apostle told them plainly. He pronounced that every creature of God was good. He declared that all things were pure, and nothing was unclean. And, on the other hand, he said that eating and drinking are in themselves so unimportant that every scruple should be respected, and every form of food willingly given up.
2. St. Paul could do no more than bring his own piety and common sense to bear upon the special questions of his day: and even he cannot free us from the obligation to use ours in the questions of our day.
(1) Even to-day we need to remember that the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. As Christians we can never eat or drink without some distinct reference to Christ, and to our position as His servants and soldiers. But, apart from these considerations of the moral effect it may have upon ourselves and others, there is not anything religious about eating and drinking. It is absolutely indifferent; and all the Church regulations or Church censures in the world cannot make it otherwise. In all ages people have had very strong ideas on the subject of eating and drinking, some of them sensible enough, and some very foolish; but from the point of view of the Kingdom they are equally valueless. To put it quite simply (and sometimes it is well to use great plainness of speech) God does not care in the very least what or when or how we eat or drink, so as we do not damage ourselves or others. And He cannot be made to care, and therefore it cannot be made to matter.
To many minds a ceremony or a form comes with all the force of a principle or a fact. Not what man has done man may do, but what man has done man must do is their creed, which cramps their limbs and chills their blood and makes them fail of the little good they are seeking. For no man by sheer imitation has yet reached his pattern. Even if in native power he is more than equal to the task, and so in outward deeds even excels his example, the flush and glow of original achievement which made the model a living, warm, breathing thing, is wanting to the copy, which is cold and stiff and dead.1 [Note: Phillips Brooks, Life, 51.]
(2) The Kingdom of God is not a particular form of church service or ritual. How inevitable a tendency there is in all forms, even the best, to lose all the spirit which once animated them, and become like lifeless corpses.
I do not believe that the doctrines of sacerdotalism and of sacramentalism which are so much in vogue, and which some people would seem to wish to make the very essence of Christianity, as a power of sanctifying the human soul, are doctrines of a true priesthood, or of a true sacramentalism. There is a sad fact which we can neither hide from others nor ignore ourselves, which destroys all the comforts that would naturally flow from this conviction that all good men are really labouring for what they believe to be the extension of Christs Kingdom, the cause of righteousness, and the good of the souls of mennamely, the fact that excessive ceremonialism is often attended by moral torpor and religious decay. Can history point to a single age, from the womb of time, in which an excessive addiction to ceremonialism and the externals of religion was not accompanied by a corresponding and proportionate dulness of the conscience and deadness to the higher forms of duty? It was so emphatically in Isaiahs day. It was so again, though with a perceptible and instructive difference in outward manifestationthe hypocrisy was more highly organized, the mask more skilfully paintedin the days of Jesus of Nazareth. And with our present-day Epicurean cynicism, cruelly mocking at life, itself secure; abjuring every high aim in the lofty pursuit of personal comfort; checked by no moral considerations whatever in its froward path of pure selfishness; carelessly wrecking womans honour, wickedly shattering simple faith; discussing the most solemn verities, at least the most solemn questions, tooth-pick in hand, over olives and winewith this unhappy, but only too legitimate, offspring of an age that has resolved religion into phrases, and Gods service into a gorgeous ceremonialism, I do not feel disposed to hold either truce or terms. Of course questions of ritual must be settled, and St. Paul is careful indeed to tell us that he recognized a law: he speaks of the duty of conforming to the customs of the Churches; he preaches distinctly that God is not the author of confusion; he would have everything done decently and in order; but the law was a law of liberty, not of bondage; the customs were few and simple, and their aim seems to have been not a mystic symbolism, but practical edification; and an elaborate ceremonial, each part in which has to be rehearsed by its actors that the tableau may be complete with a kind of mechanical completeness, would have been perhaps as far removed from St. Pauls ideal of decency and order as anything conceivably could be.1 [Note: Bishop Fraser.]
Spirit is EternalForm is Transient; and when men stereotype the form and call it perpetual, or deny that under other and very different forms the selfsame truths may lie (as the uncovering of Moses feet is identically the same as our uncovering our headsay, and I will even dare to say, often with the covering of the Quakers, when reverence for God is the cause for each), then I feel repelled at once, whether the form be a form of words or a form of observance.2 [Note: F. W. Robertson, Life and Letters, 427.]
And what are forms?
Fair garments, plain or rich, and fitting close,
Or flying looselier, warmd but by the heart
Within them, moved but by the living limb,
And cast aside, when old, for newer,Forms!3 [Note: Tennyson, Akbars Dream.]
(3) The Kingdom of God is not identical with any particular Church. This follows necessarily. Yet it is a hard lesson to learn. In every religious communion we find a widespread temper of unrest and dissatisfaction. The man who wishes to take advantage of this unstable temper is always at hand. You must change your sheepfold. But what most people need is not a new Church, a new rite, a new system of doctrine, but a new surrender to the will of God, and a great increase of trust in His redeeming power.
The holy Church of the future, the Church of the free and equal, shall bless every progress of the Spirit of truth, and identify itself with the life of humanity; it shall have neither Pope nor laity, but all shall be believers, all priests with different offices. And on the transformation of the corrupt aristocratic church of to-day into this renewed popular church of the future, depends, I will not say the solutionthat is not in the power of manbut the mode, more or less violent, more or less dangerous, of the solution of the religious question.1 [Note: Bishop Stubbs.]
God asks not, To which sect did he belong?
But Did he love the right and hate the wrong?2 [Note: A Little Book of Eastern Wisdom, 69.]
(4) All rules of conduct for the Christian, all questions as to legitimate amusements and recreations, come under the same category. These things are not the Kingdom of God. A disciplinary rule, as suchthat is, a disciplinary rule which begins and ends by being a disciplinary ruleis likely to be a hollow and worthless observance. It would not be untrue to add that a disciplinary rule which begins and ends as a disciplinary rulea fetter outside and irksome to the heartmay do, and often has done, more harm than good. It does harm to the man himself, because it deceives him, and makes him seem to find holiness, where holiness is not. It does harm to those who are around him, because it does not deceive them: because they recognize, and recoil from, an ideal of Christian service which they know to be unreal.
The Bible has no express teaching on the question of amusements. It furnishes us with no list of duties or pleasures to which its ethics and principles may be applied. This has been a disappointment to those who seek in its pages for rules to guide them in every possible contingency. It is not a directory of moral details. Christianity is a temper, a spirit, a Divine motive and law, which is meant to pervade and inspire every part of our life, and not a code of minute regulations by conformity to which we shall be enabled to keep ourselves safe amid surrounding dangers. It says nothing about the callings we should pursue, except to bid us be faithful in the one we have chosen. It does not declare that one calling is more dignified than another, or that there are duties that are worthy and noble and duties that are common and unclean. It draws no distinction between trades and occupations and engagements, marking some as helpful and others as hurtful. It simply insists that whatever we do we shall do it to the glory of God, and it leaves it to our conscience and common sense to discover whether our conduct and work tend to glorify God or not.1 [Note: W. Watson, A Young Mans Ideal, 152.]
The simple truth is that all these are matters affecting the outward man, the external life. They concern the mans hands but may in no manner concern his heart. A man is not necessarily good because he wears a crucifix, and a man is not necessarily good because he abstains from wearing one. I have heard men declaim against the crucifix who did not possess the spirit of the cross, and their declamation was an offence. A man is not necessarily a Christian because he goes to the theatre; and certainly a man is not necessarily a Christian because he keeps away. You feel that these considerations touch only the surface of the life. They are no indication of the quality and substance of the inner and secret being. And so St. Paul declares that the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking; it is not to be determined by one or two external acts, in which you participate or from which you abstain.2 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]
She stood before a chosen few,
With modest air and eyes of blue;
A gentle creature in whose face
Were mingled tenderness and grace.
You wish to join our fold, they said;
Do you believe in all thats read
From ritual and written creed,
Essential to our human need?
A troubled look was in her eyes;
She answered, as in vague surprise,
As though the sense to her were dim:
I only strive to follow Him.
They knew her life; how, oft she stood,
Sweet in her guileless maidenhood,
By dying bed, in hovel lone,
Whose sorrow she had made her own.
Oft had her voice in prayer been heard,
Sweet as the voice of singing bird;
Her hand been open in distress;
Her joy to brighten and to bless.
Yet still she answered when they sought
To know her inmost earnest thought,
With look as of the seraphim,
I only strive to follow Him.
Creeds change as ages come and go;
We see by faith, but little know:
Perchance the sense was not so dim
To her who strove to follow Him.1 [Note: Sarah Knowles Bolton, Her Creed.]
III
What the Kingdom of God is
The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
1. In every life there is a holy of holies. It is an intensely secret place. The dearest friend we have on earth cannot enter it. It is our temple of secrets, of things which cannot be told. It is a place where only two can meetour spirit and the Spirit of God. It is that inner sanctuary where God and we come face to face. That secret place is the abode of the Kingdom of God. We have to know that secret place, that innermost heart, to know finally whether or not men and women belong to the Kingdom of God. What are they in their most secret being, where only they and the Holy Ghost can meet? We do not eat meat offered to idols! What are we in our innermost self, where no eye but Gods can see us? We do not wear a crucifix! What are we in our heart of hearts, where we meet the Holy Ghost? It is in that utmost privacy of our life that we must look to learn whether we are or are not citizens of the Kingdom of God.
Now the text tells us that when the Kingdom of God is really in the life, there will be three things in that most secret place. There will be righteousness, peace, and joy. When we are of the Kingdom of God we will be righteous in the secret place where only God and we meet; we will have peace in the secret place where only God and we meet; we will have joy in the secret place where only God and we meet.
2. The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy. The Kingdom of God, then, is the realization of our human natures dream and desire, the fulfilment for us of that which we are universally wishing to experience, and reaching out after. It is the object of universal pursuit attained; the answer to the continual cry of humanity. For what is it that is really sought in our manifold and diverse seekings? What is the real end and aim of all labour but these three things in which St. Paul represents the Kingdom of God to consistrighteousness and peace and joy? Wide asunder as our paths may lie, we are all in quest of a common goal. Who will show us what is good? Where are peace and joy to be found? is the language of all mortal scheming and toil. And as to righteousness, Would that I could be made right! is the frequent sigh of thousands whom folly and error hold captive.
Righteousness, peace, joy: the human heart welcomes these three characteristics as marking the society which answers the promise of creation. In these three, that memorable triad, the battle-cry of revolution, which, in spite of every perversion and misuse, has found a wide response in the souls of nations, receives its highest fulfilment. In righteousness, peace, joy we can recognize equality, liberty, fraternity, interpreted, purified, extended. They tell us that the community and not the individual is the central thought in the life of men. They tell us that the fulfilment of duties and not the assertion of rights is the foundation of the social structure. They tell us that the end of labour is not material well-being, but that larger, deeper, more abiding delight which comes from successfully ministering to the good of others. They tell us that over all that is transitory in the form of the Kingdom, over all the conditions which determine its growth, there rests the light, the power, of an Eternal Presence.1 [Note: Westcott, Social Aspects of Christianity, 90.]
i. Righteousness
1. According to St. Paul, the first thing which characterizes the establishment of the Kingdom of God in human life is that we become righteous, right with God in our innermost self. If I want the structure of the Kingdom of God to be built up in my life, then I must begin at the base, at the foundation; and the fundamental requisite is that in the very depths of my being I must become right with God. This is the fundamental requirement; not that we should get peace or possess joy, but that we should be put right, rejoined to God. Our worship, our churches, our Christian institutions, have for their primary purposes the putting of man right with God. The great purpose of them all is this: to bring our lives into touch with God, to join ourselves to Him, that His life may flow like healing waters into ours, to make righteousnessagreement between ourselves and God our Lordto make righteousness in the Holy Ghost.
2. Righteousness comes first, before peace and joy. How we do try to reverse the order! We want the peace of the Kingdom before its righteousness, and God cannot give it. Suppose I go to a doctor with my arm out of joint, and say to him, Doctor, I cannot get any rest or peace. I pass through painful days and sleepless nights. I want you to give me a sleeping draught that I may enjoy a little rest. I think the doctor would smile and say, My dear sir, it is not a sleeping draught you need to give you a few hours of unnatural peace. You must get your arm into its socket; set that right, and then Nature will give you her own sleep and her own peace. But is not that somewhat analogous to what we do in the spiritual life? We seek for spiritual peace; we go in for all manner of sleeping draughts which make our consciences sleep but do not refresh us, and we do not find the peace we seek. And this Book, the great Physicians Book, says to us, Men and women, your life is out of joint, and you will not get peace until the severance is righted. In your most secret being you must be joined to the Lord. That is the teaching of this Book, as it is certainly the findings of experience.
Real righteousnesswhat is it? In one word, it is surrender to the will of God. This is the peculiarity of the righteousness which is evangelical. It is from within: it is life: it is God in the soul of man: it is the life of the spirit. It is not a creed learned by heart; it is not a set of habits acquired; it is not a circle of customs scrupulously observed. It is not a righteousness done, but an infinite yearning after a righteousness which is ever doing. It is not a self-satisfaction which numbers up its performances, but an infinite humility which reckons its best performances as nothing.
This righteousness can set forms at nought, neglecting them. It can afford to make nothing of them. Christs disciples neglected the observance of the very honoured custom of washing the hands when they ate bread. Consider what might have been urged: This is an old time-honoured observance. You owe respect to constituted authorities. Who are you that presumptuously set yourselves up against the customs of your Church and country? Such things were said. But the disciples heeded them not, and Christ supported them in their neglect.
Let us understand this. Doubtless it is a duty to comply with customs, social and ecclesiastical. A man who sets them at defiance is a man of presumptuous spirit. But there are periods when the forms of society become thoroughly false. Then the strong man breaks through the cobwebs of etiquette, asserting the real courtesies of the heart. And there are times when priests and parties multiply observances till life is trammelled, and make things essential which are not essential. Then it becomes a duty, if we would imitate Christ, to assert Christian liberty, and to refuse to be bound by the cry of custom, modesty, or constituted authority.1 [Note: F. W. Robertson.]
With eager heart and will on fire,
I fought to win my great desire;
Peace shall be mine, I said; but life
Grew bitter in the weary strife.
My soul was tired, and my pride
Was wounded deep: to Heaven I cried,
God grant me peace or I must die;
The dumb stars glittered no reply.
Broken at last, I bowed my head,
Forgetting all myself, and said,
Whatever comes, His will be done;
And in that moment peace was won.2 [Note: Henry Van Dyke.]
The Kingdom of God within us is rightness with God, and from that rightness with God comes right dealing with our fellowmen. Not carping criticism, not fault-finding and intolerance, but righteousness and just dealing, should be the characteristic of the citizens of the Kingdom.
Righteousness is a term of comprehensive scope. It comprises honesty, truthfulness, sincerityall the elements which combine to form uprightness and frankness and nobility of character. Righteousness is straightforward in intellectual matters as well as in practical. Righteousness respects the feelings, the affections, the character of others as well as their property. Righteousness is therefore temperate, is pure, is chivalrous. Righteousness pays deference to enemies as well as to friends. It is scrupulously careful not to misrepresent, not to depreciate, not to wrong in any way an antagonistwhether a personal or a religious antagonist.
Can no one stop the din that profanes the grave of Robert Burns? Has no one the heart to hear the inhabitant below or to understand his voice? Of all perverse destinies with which earth could perplex his fame, did it ever visit his imagination that crowds of rhetorical men would go about in never-ending floods of eloquence to prove his life a great moral victory and triumph? Did he ever foresee that every after-dinner orator who wished to show what a flexible thing advanced Christianity can be, would harp upon the passages that saddened his own thoughtful hours, as proofs of what may comport with high moral and Christian excellency? Shame upon them that are so destitute of love for Burns, that have so little sympathy with the pathos of his own view of his own life, as not to understand they are to let that alone! Why cannot they let it alone? Let them celebrate his genius, if it needs to be celebrated; let them celebrate his honest manhooda great deal too straightforward, I will be bold to say, to tolerate the despicable sophistry that is spent on his careerlet them dwell on the undying glow he has shed into Scottish minds and hearts and homes and lives and history; and, for the rest, let it alone. But if they will not, on themselves be the shame.
A curse upon the clown and knave
That will not let his ashes rest.1 [Note: Principal Rainy, Church of Scotland, 159.]
ii. Peace
1. Having got right with God, being joined to God, and purified in the most secret place, we shall then discover the second characteristic of the Kingdom, the possession of an abiding peace. The Kingdom of God is peace in the Holy Ghost, peace in that secret place where only God and we meet. There shall be a holy quietude, an unbroken peace in our innermost self. In our hearts there shall be a Sabbath restfulness all the year round. There shall be all the sweet stillness of a June noontide in our souls. We shall be calm there, where we meet with God! That place is for many of us a place of great unrest. The last place into which many of us would go for peace would be into the secret heart where we meet alone with God. It is the place above all others where there rages a storm. We have to be righted with God before we can look upon Him with sweet and calm delight. But when we are united to Him, joined to Him in right relationship, then there comes to us the gift of His peace. My peace I give unto you; receiving My life you shall receive My peace, the same serenity in danger, the same equanimity in troublous surroundings, the same freedom from anxious care, My peace!
Have you ever spoken to any one who had passed out of storm and turbulence into the possession of Christs peace? Ask them what it means, and they will tell you that when Christ gives His peace, He takes the threat out of yesterday, the despondency out of to-day, and the fear out of to-morrow. When God is shut out of the secret place, His voice rings through it like the weird tolling of a funeral bell. But when God comes in and brings His peace, the threatening bell is silenced. As for to-morrow, for him who is perfectly joined to the Lord, anxiety and fear are lost in perfect trust, and perfect trust is the mother of perfect peace.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]
Oh, this is peace! I have no need
Of friend to talk, of book to read:
A dear Companion here abides;
Close to my thrilling heart He hides;
The holy silence is His voice:
I lie and listen and rejoice.2 [Note: John Townsend Trowbridge.]
2. There will be peace in the community where righteousness prevails. Wherever there is any hesitation about lines of action, peace must step in and decide. Not self-assertion, not consistency, not stickling for rights, not punctiliousness about details, but peace must carry the day. Peace I leave with you, said Christ, and already the small band of believers is torn into factions quarrelling bitterly over questions of meat and drink.
The herald angels sang on earth peace. Nineteen centuries have passed, and Christianity is still a revolutionary and disturbing element wherever it comes, and the promise seems to linger, and the great words that declared Unto us a child is born and his name shall be The Prince of Peace, seem as far away from fulfilment as ever they were. Yes, because He is first of all King of Righteousness, and must destroy the evil that is in the world before He can manifest Himself as King of Peace, His kingdom of Peace will be set up through confusion and destruction, overturning and overturning until the world has learned to know and love His name. First, King of Righteousnessthat, at all hazards; that, though conflict may dog His steps and warfare ever wait upon Himfirst, King of Righteousness, and after that, King of Peace. So the sum of the whole thing is, peace is sure; peace with God; peace in my own tranquil and righteous heart; peace for a world from out of which sin shall be scourged; peace is sure because righteousness is ours since it is Christs.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]
iii. Joy in the Holy Ghost
1. When our life is righted with God in its most secret depths, when there comes into its secret place an unbroken peace, there also springs in the life a deep and quiet joy. The kingdom of God is joy. Is righteousness the pole-star of our lives? Is peace the music of our hearts? If so, then to us, as to the shepherds of old, the message of the Epiphany is addressed, Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. If so, then on us, as true and faithful citizens, loyal to the laws and customs of the Kingdom, our Sovereign will confer His crowning privilege, joy in the Holy Ghost. Not joy as men count joy; no earthly passion and no transitory excitement; but the abiding inward satisfaction of a conscious harmony with the will of God.
2. Joy comes after peace. Righteousness is the root; peace the stem; joy the blossom. The disappointment so often experienced in the search for happiness is traceable to the non-observance of this order. Joy is put before righteousness and peace.
Who are thy playmates, boy?
My favourite is Joy,
Who brings with him his sister Peace, to stay
The livelong day.
I love them both; but he
Is most to me.
And where thy playmates now,
O man of sober brow?
Alas! dear Joy, the merriest, is dead.
But I have wed
Peace; and our babe, a boy,
New-born, is Joy.1 [Note: John Bannister Tabb, The Playmates.]
3. Joy grows out of peace. In growing calm we become more easily gladdened, more alive to gladdening influences. Why is it that we are so much more pleased to-day than we were yesterday; why has the same scene so much more in it to set us singing, except that we are more at ease to-day than we were yesterday? Wordsworths inborn religious placidity, writes one, had matured in him a quite unusual sensibility to the sights and sounds of the natural world, to the flower and its shadow on the stone, the cuckoo and its echo, the pliant harebell swinging in the breeze, the sweetness of a common dawn, the dance
Of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees.
Mental placidity gives sensibility to many joys of life which in its absence would not thrill or touch us at all, opens our ears to the music of the spheres, and causes the spirit of delight to come to us often on very tiny wings.
If sin be in the heart,
The fairest sky is foul, and sad the summer weather,
The eye no longer sees the lambs at play together,
The dull ear cannot hear the birds that sing so sweetly,
And all the joy of Gods good earth is gone completely,
If sin be in the heart.
If peace be in the heart,
The wildest winter storm is full of solemn beauty,
The midnight lightning flash but shows the path of duty,
Each living creature tells some new and joyous story,
The very trees and stones all catch a ray of glory,
If peace be in the heart.1 [Note: Charles Francis Richardson, Peace.]
4. Jesus names to us a striking peculiarity about the joy of the righteous: Your joy no man taketh from you. No thief of accident or circumstance can steal it! If we find the joy of our life merely in entertainment or amusement, in the club or in the ball-room, there is many a thief can take it away from us. Poverty may dry up our resources in a day. Sickness may throw us upon ourselves, and make a wide gulf between us and our joys. We are called to a joy compared with which all other joys are very insipid and tame, the joy of being a friend of Christ, joy in the Holy Ghost.
If once such joy had filled thine heart,
Earths hatred or earths scorn
Would seem but as a moments smart,
Forgot as soon as borne.
Nay, thou in pain, or shame, or loss,
Christs fellowship wouldst see,
And with thine heart embrace the cross
On which He hung for thee.
Wouldst count it blest to live, to die,
Where He is all in all;
Where rapt, earth unperceived goes by
And from ourselves we fall.
Till, from His secret place below,
To mansions fair above,
He leads thee, there to make thee know
The perfect joys of love.
A Definition of the Kingdom
Literature
Dykes (J. O.), Plain Words on Great Themes, 171.
Fraser (J.), University Sermons, 183.
Hughes (H. P.), The Philanthropy of God, 259.
Lightfoot (J. B.), Ordination Addresses, 194.
Parker (J.), The City Temple (1870), 445.
Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, xi. 177.
Robertson (F. W.), The Human Race, 297.
Sitterly (C. F.), in Drew Sermons on the Golden Texts for 1910, 157.
Tipple (S. A.), The Admiring Guest, 76.
Vallings (J. F.), The Holy Spirit of Promise, 137.
Westcott (B. F.), Social Aspects of Christianity, 85.
Whitefield (G.), in The Great Sermons of the Great Preachers, 253.
Winterbotham (R.), The Kingdom of Heaven, 223.
Christian Age, xxxvi. 114 (MKaig).
Christian World Pulpit, viii. 187 (Beecher); xxvii. 75 (Rogers); lvii. 97 (Douglas); lxv. 265 (Fleming); lxxix. 65 (Ruth).
Examiner, June 18, 1903, 608 (Jowett).
Expositor, 2nd Ser., i. 266 (Matheson).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
kingdom: Dan 2:44, Mat 3:2, Mat 6:33, Luk 14:15, Luk 17:20, Luk 17:21, Joh 3:3, Joh 3:5, 1Co 4:20, 1Co 6:9, 1Th 2:12
is: 1Co 8:8, Col 2:16, Col 2:17, Heb 13:9
but: Isa 45:24, Jer 23:5, Jer 23:6, Dan 9:24, Mat 6:33, 1Co 1:30, 2Co 5:21, Phi 3:9, 2Pe 1:1
peace: Rom 5:1-5, Rom 8:6, Rom 8:15, Rom 8:16, Rom 15:13, Isa 55:12, Isa 61:3, Joh 16:33, Act 9:31, Act 13:52, Gal 5:22, Phi 2:1, Phi 3:3, Phi 4:4, Phi 4:7, Col 1:11, 1Th 1:6, 1Pe 1:8
Reciprocal: Gen 9:3 – even Psa 29:11 – bless Psa 34:14 – seek Pro 3:2 – and peace Pro 14:9 – among Ecc 2:26 – wisdom Isa 11:6 – General Isa 32:17 – the work Isa 48:18 – then had Isa 54:13 – great Isa 61:10 – for Zec 7:5 – did Zec 14:20 – shall there Mat 5:9 – are Mat 12:28 – then Mat 13:19 – the word Mat 15:11 – that which goeth Mar 7:15 – nothing Mar 9:50 – have peace Joh 14:16 – another Joh 14:26 – Holy Ghost Joh 17:13 – that Joh 18:36 – My kingdom is Act 1:3 – speaking Rom 2:10 – and peace Rom 2:29 – spirit Rom 12:18 – General Rom 14:21 – good 1Co 6:13 – Meats for Eph 4:3 – General Col 1:13 – the kingdom Col 3:15 – the peace 1Ti 4:3 – to abstain 2Ti 2:22 – peace Heb 12:11 – peaceable Heb 13:21 – working 1Pe 3:11 – seek
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:17
Rom 14:17. If salvation depended on eating or not eating certain foods, then it would be necessary to insist on one or the other. Since it does not, we should not disturb anyone on it, but give our attention to righteousness and peace.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 14:17. For the kingdom of God. This kingdom is Gods dominion over the heart, instituted and administered by Christ; it is the heavenly sphere of life, in which Gods word and Spirit govern, and whose organ on the earth is the Church (Lange). To refer it here to the future Messianic kingdom seems impossible. If the previous verse refers to Christian liberty, then this verse urges a limitation of it, because nothing essential to the kingdom is involved in this restriction. But if all are addressed, then the motive is derived from the wrong estimate of Christianity which would be formed by those without who blasphemed their good. As what follows has a special fitness for the weak brethren, the latter view is further sustained.
Is not eating and drinking; the act of eating and drinking, not, food (as in Rom 14:15; Rom 14:20).
But righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Two views: (1.) Righteousness from God (= justification), peace with God (= reconciliation) joy in the Holy Spirit, produced by fellowship with the Holy Spirit; these are named as the essential matters in the kingdom of God. This is favored by the tone of the entire Epistle. (2.) Others understand righteousness as moral rectitude toward men, peace as concord in the Church, and joy in the Holy Spirit as above, but with a wider reference to the common joy of Christians. This view is favored by the context, especially Rom 14:18-19, and by the practical nature of the entire passage.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
That is, “The spiritual kingdom of God and Christ in the world consisteth not in these little things of meat and drink, but in righteousness towards God and our neighbour; in peace, that is, in peaceableness of disposition, in Christian love, concord, and unity; and in joy in the Holy Ghost, that is, in the joyful sense of the love of God, shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. In these things Christianity consists.”
Learn hence, That the essence of Christianity, and the life of religion, is far from consisting in little and indifferent things: and therefore for persons to lay a mighty stress upon them one way or the other, is neither wise nor safe.
Learn, 2. That righteousness and holiness, charity and peaceableness, love and joy, and such like fruits of the Holy Spirit; these are the great things wherein Christianity, or the kingdom of Christ, consists, and in which the life and soul of religion is found: The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Rom 14:17-18. For the kingdom of God Into which we enter by believing in Christ, and becoming his subjects, or which thereby enters into us, and is set up in our hearts, namely, true religion; is not Does not consist in; meat and drink Or in any ceremonial observances whatever; but righteousness The righteousness of faith, love, and obedience; or justification, sanctification, and a holy conduct; see notes on Rom 5:21; Rom 10:4; peace With God, peace of conscience, and tranquillity of mind, the consequence of these three branches of righteousness; and joy in the Holy Ghost Joy arising from a sense of the forgiveness of our sins; (Psa 32:1;) and of the favour of God; (Psa 4:6-7;) from a lively hope of the glory of God; (Rom 5:2;) from the testimony of a good conscience; (2Co 1:12;) and from communion with God, and an earnest of our future inheritance in our hearts; (Eph 1:14; Php 2:1.) He that in these things In this righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; serveth Christ Lives in obedience to his commands, and dedicates his soul and body, faculties and members, to serve his cause and interest in that line of life to which he believes God hath called him; is acceptable to God Whether he abstains from the liberties in question, or allows himself in them; and approved of men Namely, of truly wise and good men; how much soever the ignorant and wicked may censure such a man as an enthusiast, fanatic, or hypocrite, he will not want the approbation of those who are truly enlightened by the truth, and regenerated by the grace of God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 17. For the kingdom of God is not food or drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Nothing could be simpler than the connection of this verse with the preceding. The force from above, which is the essence of the kingdom of God, does not consist in being able to eat or drink more or less freely and regardlessly toward our neighbor, but in realizing in life the three dispositions mentioned, by triumphing over our own tastes and vanity. The three terms: righteousness, peace, joy, ought, according to the context, to be taken in the social sense, which is only an application of their religious sense. Righteousness: moral rectitude whereby we render to our neighbor what is his duehere particularly respect for his convictions. Peace: good harmony between all the members of the church. Joy: that individual and collective exultation which prevails among believers when brotherly communion makes its sweetness felt, and no one is saddened. By such dispositions the soul finds itself raised to a sphere where all sacrifices become easy, and charity reigns without obstacle. Such is the reality of the kingdom of God on the earth. Would it not then be folly to seek it in the inconsiderate use of some meat or drink, at the expense of those the only true blessings?
By the words: in the Holy Spirit, Paul indicates the source of these virtues: it is this divine guest who, by His presence, produces them in the church; the instant He retires grieved, He carries them with Him.
It is incomprehensible how this passage has not succeeded in moving Meyer from the interpretation of the term kingdom of God, which he has adopted once for all in his commentary, applying it invariably to the future Messianic kingdom.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
THE KINGDOM OF GOD A PURE SPIRITUALITY
17. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Here you see the pure spirituality of the Lords salvation. Temporalities, e. g., eating, drinking, sacraments, water baptism, church rites, ceremonies and institutions have nothing to do with your salvation. You receive righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost in conversion. These graces are made perfect in sanctification when their antagonisms are all eliminated. False religions always magnify temporalities, e. g., church ordinances and good works, and minify the spiritual graces, which are the whole sum and substance of the matter. Nothing else has anything to do with it. Your old body which receives the ordinances and performs the church duties, you leave in the grave, while your naked soul goes to God. Get your soul emptied of sin and filled with the Holy Ghost and you will be ready to meet God, and your body in due time will rise to be glorified.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 17
Is not meat and drink. Piety does not consist in these outward and ceremonial observances.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
14:17 {17} For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
(17) A general reason, and the foundation of the entire argument: the kingdom of heaven consists not in these outward things, but in the study of righteousness, and peace, and comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The kingdom of God here refers to the sphere over which God rules and in which all believers live and operate.
"[The ’kingdom of God’ is] an echo of our Lord’s teaching. The phrase is used normally in St. Paul of that Messianic kingdom which is to be the reward and goal of the Christian life . . . Hence it comes to mean the principles or ideas on which that kingdom is founded, and which are already exhibited in this world (cf. I Cor. iv. 20)." [Note: Sanday and Headlam, p. 391. See also Robert L. Saucy, "The Presence of the Kingdom and the Life of the Church," Bibliotheca Sacra 145:577 (January-March 1988):42.]
The emphasis in this reference is on the authority of God over His own. The primary issues in the lives of dedicated Christians should not be external amoral practices but the great spiritual qualities that the Holy Spirit seeks to produce in them. These qualities include right conduct (cf. Rom 6:13; Rom 6:16; Rom 6:18), peace with God (cf. Php 4:7), and joy (cf. Gal 5:22-23). Paul wanted his readers to keep their priorities in perspective.