Romans 14:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"For this purpose," he says, "Christ both died and rose and lived again, that He might have dominion over both the dead and the living." Thus this too should assure you that the Lord always cares for our salvation and correction. If He did not provide so greatly for us, what need would there have been for the divine economy? After using such care to make us His own, taking upon Himself the form of a servant and dying, will He despise you after accomplishing this? Impossible, impossible. He will not allow so great a work to perish. "For this purpose," the Apostle says, "He died." This is as if someone said: such a man will not agree to abandon his servant, because he values his own possession. But we do not love money as God loves our salvation. He gave for us not money, but His own Blood.

This, he says, should convince you that the Lord cares for the correction of the weak. He poured out His blood and died in order to be our Lord. Can He fail to care for those who have become His servants? This is like what we commonly say: can anyone fail to care for his servant, for whom he paid so great a price? And if, he says, He cares for the dead, then much more for the living. All this is said to shame the Judaizing Christian and persuade him to consider how ungratefully he acts toward Christ, Who died for him, while he continues to cling to the law.

For to this end Christ died and, having risen, lived again, that He might hold dominion without distinction over the dead and the living.

Creation was made through the Lord Christ, but through sin it separated itself from the Creator and was taken captive. But God the Father sent His Son from heaven to earth to teach His creation what must be done to escape the pirate's hand, so that His work would not perish. Therefore He also allowed His enemies to kill Him, so that, descending into Hades, He might condemn sin, since He was killed while innocent, and free those whom the devil held. Since Jesus showed the way of salvation to the living, accepted death for them, and freed the dead from Hades, He is Lord of both the living and the dead. For He restored the lost as servants to Himself.

He is the Master of all. He gave Himself over to death for us, destroyed the dominion of death, and grants to all of us the promise of resurrection. Therefore we are subject to Him, as those who have received life from Him.

"That He might have dominion over both the dead and the living," that is, over all people. But dominion over the dead indicates the power of Jesus Christ's authority to raise and give life even to the dead, since no earthly power has any authority over them any longer.

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.

That we are in God's hands and are God's is also taught by the natural law of faith. In every heart it is written by nature that the beginning, continuation, and end of our being are all in the hands of the Lord. We are the Lord's, and He is our Master. But, writing to Christians, the Apostle adds to the natural assurance the Christian assurance as well. Our Lord Jesus Christ died, rose, and lived again precisely in order to possess all, both the living and the dead. Through this He became our Master a second time. He is already our Master as Creator and Provider. But when He was pleased to order the wondrous manner of our salvation, He also became Master as our Redeemer. He bought us and possesses us. We are His servants and must serve Him alone.