17 For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Now may the God of hope make you full of joy and peace through faith, so that all hope may be yours in the power of the Holy Spirit.
But let your first care be for his kingdom and his righteousness; and all these other things will be given to you in addition.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, a quiet mind, kind acts, well-doing, faith,
For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.
Have you not knowledge that evil-doers will have no part in the kingdom of God? Have no false ideas about this: no one who goes after the desires of the flesh, or gives worship to images, or is untrue when married, or is less than a man, or makes a wrong use of men,
For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace:
Jesus said to him, Truly, I say to you, Without a new birth no man is able to see the kingdom of God.
And the disciples were full of joy and of the Holy Spirit.
To give them a fair head-dress in place of dust, the oil of joy in place of the clothing of grief, praise in place of sorrow; so that they may be named trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and so that he may have glory.
And when the Pharisees put questions to him about when the kingdom of God would come, he gave them an answer and said, The kingdom of God will not come through observation: And men will not say, See, it is here! or, There! for the kingdom of God is among you.
Saying, Let your hearts be turned from sin; for the kingdom of heaven is near.
See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will give to David a true Branch, and he will be ruling as king, acting wisely, doing what is right, and judging uprightly in the land. In his days Judah will have salvation and Israel will be living without fear: and this is the name by which he will be named, The Lord is our righteousness.
For you will go out with joy, and be guided in peace: the mountains and the hills will make melody before you, and all the trees of the fields will make sounds of joy.
Full of strength in the measure of the great power of his glory, so that you may undergo all troubles with joy;
So that your lives might be pleasing to God, who has given you a part in his kingdom and his glory.
And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will put up a kingdom which will never come to destruction, and its power will never be given into the hands of another people, and all these kingdoms will be broken and overcome by it, but it will keep its place for ever.
For which reason, because we have righteousness through faith, let us be at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; Through whom, in the same way, we have been able by faith to come to this grace in which we now are; and let us have joy in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but let us have joy in our troubles: in the knowledge that trouble gives us the power of waiting; And waiting gives experience; and experience, hope: And hope does not put to shame; because our hearts are full of the love of God through the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
But God has given you a place in Christ Jesus, through whom God has given us wisdom and righteousness and salvation, and made us holy:
And the peace of God, which is deeper than all knowledge, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Do not be turned away by different strange teachings, because it is good for your hearts to be made strong by grace, and not by meats, which were of no profit to those who took so much trouble over them.
And, hearing these words, one of those who were at table with him said to him, Happy is the man who will be a guest in the kingdom of God.
To whom your love is given, though you have not seen him; and the faith which you have in him, though you do not see him now, gives you joy greater than words and full of glory:
Be glad in the Lord at all times: again I say, Be glad.
For we are the circumcision, who give worship to God and have glory in Jesus Christ, and have no faith in the flesh:
And so the church through all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was made strong; and, living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, was increased greatly.
I have said all these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble: but take heart! I have overcome the world.
Seventy weeks have been fixed for your people and your holy town, to let wrongdoing be complete and sin come to its full limit, and for the clearing away of evil-doing and the coming in of eternal righteousness: so that the vision and the word of the prophet may be stamped as true, and to put the holy oil on a most holy place.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 14
Commentary on Romans 14 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 14
The apostle having, in the former chapter, directed our conduct one towards another in civil things, and prescribed the sacred laws of justice, peaceableness, and order, to be observed by us as members of the commonwealth, comes in this and part of the following chapter in like manner to direct our demeanour one towards another in sacred things, which pertain more immediately to conscience and religion, and which we observe as members of the church. Particularly, he gives rules how to manage our different apprehensions about indifferent things, in the management of which, it seems, there was something amiss among the Roman Christians, to whom he wrote, which he here labours to redress. But the rules are general, and of standing use in the church, for the preservation of that Christian love which he had so earnestly pressed in the foregoing chapter as the fulfilling of the law. It is certain that nothing is more threatening, nor more often fatal, to Christian societies, than the contentions and divisions of their members. By these wounds the life and soul of religion expire. Now in this chapter we are furnished with the sovereign balm of Gilead; the blessed apostle prescribes like a wise physician. "Why then is not the hurt of the daughter of my people recovered,' but because his directions are not followed? This chapter, rightly understood, made use of, and lived up to, would set things to rights, and heal us all.
Rom 14:1-23
We have in this chapter,