Romans 14:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Indeed, can one who lives for the law live for Christ? Yet in these words the Apostle considers not this alone. He also restrains those firm in faith from haste in correcting the weak, and persuades them to be patient. He proves that God cannot despise the weak, but will correct them at the proper time. What then does this mean: "None of us lives to himself"? We are not free. We have over us a Master, Who wills that we live and does not desire our death. For Him our life or death matters more than it does for us ourselves. By this the Apostle shows that God cares for us more than we do. He counts our life as gain for Himself, and our death as loss. If we die, we die not only for ourselves, but also for the Lord.

Therefore, whether we live or die, we are always the Lord's. From death in relation to faith he passes to natural death, for he is now speaking about this. Whether we live by natural life, he says, we are the Lord's. Whether we die a natural death, we likewise belong to the Lord.

We are not masters over ourselves. We were bought with a price. While we live, we are the Lord's, and after death we are likewise the Lord's. In other words, neither are you master over him, nor is he master over you, because we all have one Lord.

"If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord." To live and die for the Lord means to glorify Him by life and by death. In other words, we must order our life so that others, seeing our good works, may glorify the heavenly Father (Mt 5:16). We must prepare for death so that both we and others may see in it only a passage to blessed life and to rest from our labors (Rev 14:13). Christians must glorify the Lord by their life and death because He redeemed them by His blood. He died for them and rose again, that He might become their Master in life and in death.

Second, both groups, that is, both the weak in faith and the perfect, are guided by one and the same thought of pleasing God (Rom 14:5-12). "He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God" (Rom 14:6). Therefore it is best to leave the actions of our brethren to the judgment of the Lord, our common Master and Judge, to Whom "each of us shall give account of himself" (Rom 14:12).

If someone eats and drinks according to the demand of reason, to the glory of God, he not only does not sin. On the contrary, he fulfills the purpose of his being. For we were created by the Lord, and must live for the Lord, and likewise die for Him. This is all the more so because not only God the Father, but also His Only-begotten Son, our Savior, now has dominion over the living and the dead. He also will judge all the tribes of the earth. Therefore we have no right to judge others, but must prepare ourselves for judgment. For this reason, the Apostle counsels us to take care that, while not being scandalized by the eating of others, we do not give any scandal by our own not eating.

In accordance with what was said above, the meaning will be this: if we live, or while we live, we must live for the Lord. If we die, or when the end comes in whatever manner, we must so die or depart from life that this too is for the Lord, to His glory. Or again: if we live, or while we live, we live by the Lord. His right hand sustains us, and His power gives us life. When we die, we die according to His decree. In dying, we are not torn from His all-sustaining hands. The Lord is Master of life and death. The whole fullness of our being must be dedicated to Him. Saint Paul himself showed this example, with all boldness expecting and hoping that Christ would be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death (cf. Phil 1:20).