Chapter # 14 Paragraph # 2 Study # 7
June 20, 2021
Humble, Texas
(126)
1769 KJV Translation:
17 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 offence.
21 [
It is] good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [
any thing] whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
22 Hast thou faith? have [
it] to thyself before God. Happy [
is] he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because [
he eateth] not of faith: for whatsoever [
is] not of faith is sin.
1901 ASV Translation:
17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
18 For he that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God, and approved of men.
19 So then let us follow after things which make for peace, and things whereby we may edify one another.
20 Overthrow not for meat's sake the work of God. All things indeed are clean; howbeit it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21 It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [to do anything] whereby thy brother stumbleth.
22 The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God. Happy is he that judgeth not himself in that which he approveth.
23 But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because [he eateth] not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
- I. Paul's Major Thesis.
- A. The pattern of his words.
- 14:14 -- Nothing is unclean except to him who thinks it unclean.
- 14:15 -- Do not continue to 'destroy' that one for whom Christ died.
- 14:16 -- Do not continue to allow your good to be blasphemed.
- 14:17 -- The Kingdom of The God is righteousness, peace, and joy.
- 14:18 -- The one who serves pleases God and is approved by men.
- 14:19 -- Pursue peace and the building up of one another.
- 14:20a -- Do not keep on tearing down the work of The God.
- 14:20b -- All things are indeed clean except to the one who eats with offense.
- B. Kingdom people are to live like "Kingdom People" ("...we are to be walking according to Love...").
- II. The Details.
- A. The opening issue: the people of God are not to regard "common" issues as worthy of pursuit or commitment.
- B. The next issue: thinking there is "Life" in the use of God's creation without regard for the reality that "Life" only involves the harmony of "Life" between God and His servant.
- C. The third issue: Do not continue to allow your good to be blasphemed.
- D. The fourth issue: The essential nature of The Kingdom of The God.
- 1. It is NOT "eating" and "drinking", but better, "food" and "drink" (both words are nouns, not participles in the form of gerunds, though "food" can be taken as a metaphor for "eating" and "drink" can likewise be taken as a metaphor for "drinking").
- a. There is an "eating", or "food", that is only good for the present physical condition of the body (John 4:32 compared with John 6:27).
- 1) In Matthew's record, Jesus said certain "treasures" were affected by "moth" and "rust" (6:19-20).
- a) The word translated "rust" is the same word Paul chose in our current text.
- b) The picture is graphic: "rust" gradually eats away at the "treasure" until it is not possible to consider it a "treasure" any longer. This is the point: exalting a temporary benefit over an eternal blessedness erodes the eternal until it is no longer considered a "treasure".
- c) This "eating" is, thus, a reason to not put much effort into accumulating such consumables as "treasure". They may be temporarily worth some level of effort, but that "level of effort" should not be dominating.
- i. This is a truth that is especially critical when "Truth" is of such importance that one is threatened with the loss of a "job" because of that "Truth".
- ii. Typically, a "job" is viewed as "a means of life" so that the loss of it might mean death.
- iii. This is the root issue of the decree of the "beast" who causes all who refuse to swear loyalty to him to not be able to buy or sell (Revelation 13:17).
- d) In the Septuagint this word is used in Malachi 3:11 to refer to some form of insect (translated "devourer" by translators of the NASB). It is very possible that Jesus had this in mind to correspond to "moth". The word Jesus used for "destroy" is a word that means "to make to disappear". This, neither "moth", "rust", or "devourer" accomplish. These factors are all about ruining the "treasure" so that it is no longer "treasure", but a ruined entity that no one would wish to possess as a "treasure". Thus, "destroy" does mean "to make the value disappear", not the object itself.
- 2) In the writing of Hebrews, the author chose this word to describe the meal that Jacob traded to Esau for his birthright (12:16).
- a) That Esau was willing to part with his birthright for a "meal" reveals his character as "immoral" and "godless".
- b) The "point" is that the exalting of a temporary "solution" to a temporary "need" at the expense of an eternal "benefit" is considered both immoral and godless.
- i. The word used for "immoral" is "fornicator".
- ii. The word used for "godless" is a characterization of someone who takes something of high value and walks upon it as if it was of no value. The concomitant idea of "trampling under foot the blood of the covenant by which we are sanctified", also found in Hebrews (10:29), is in a near context to the comment about Esau.
- 3) In the writings of John in his "Gospel", "food" is oftentimes something just for the temporary hunger of the body (4:32 and 6:27), but as such is not "true" food (6:55).
- a) The word translated "true" is a word that was coined to refer to something that could not escape notice and, thus, could not be treated as worthless.
- b) This is exemplified by Jesus' "fasting for 40 days in the wilderness and being unwilling to break the fast by turning stones into bread".
- 4) And, in the writings of Paul, "food" is never to be more "valuable" than "relational harmony" with "Kingdom Heirs" (1 Corinthians 8:13).
- a) This is the point in our current text.
- b) This was also the point when Daniel was confronted with the demand that he eat the impure food of the king that was backed by the threat of the loss of his "head" if he violated the king's provision.
- b. There is also a "drinking", or "drink", that is likewise only good for the present physical condition of the body.
- 1) Like "food", "drink" is only "true drink" when it serves the needs of the "soul", NOT the body (John 6:55).
- a) The allusion is remarkable in that it is "drink" that floods the body as the necessary "carrier" of "food" to all the cells of the body.
- b) In the same way, the play on words in Hebrews 5:12-14 develops this analogy by using "milk" and "solid food" to refer to "teaching" and making the early teaching "milk" and "solid food" the greater truths that follow.
- c) Thus, by way of this analogy, the "blood" of Christ is both the early doctrine that is like "milk" in that it is both "food" and "drink" so that the "food" has within it the necessary "carrier" of all "doctrine" into the mind/heart of the heir of the Kingdom.
- 2) And like "food", physical "drink" is not to be exalted over relational harmony with a brother (Romans 14:17).
- 2. BUT [it is] righteousness, peace, and joy by the Holy Spirit.
- a. "Righteousness".
- 1) There are 86 texts which contain this word in the New Testament. Paul puts 29 of those texts in this letter to the Romans. Matthew and 2 Corinthians each contain 7 such references (by way of comparison). Paul uses "righteousness" 7 times just in chapter four of Romans (by way of comparison). This word in Romans 14:17 is Paul's last reference to "righteousness" in this letter.
- 2) That the first "essential characterization of the Kingdom of The God" in Paul's words in 14:17 is "righteousness" is instructive. It is "righteousness" that qualifies a person to participate in "salvation" according to Paul's first use: Romans 1:16-17. It is God's absolute commitments to "Justice" and the "justification" of the sinner that brought on the shedding of the blood of Christ on Calvary: "righteousness" is of such a crucial concept that it cannot be minimized in any sense (3:25-26).
- 3) The very core of "righteousness" is the legitimate action of one person in regard to another with "legitimacy" established by "Love".