We all are probably familiar with the cliché: God hates the sin but loves the sinner.  When we understand the connection that the Bible makes between sin and the heart of the sinner, we will see the absurdity of the statement. In the final judgment of mankind, it is the people on the left and the people on the right that God judges; it is the people, not the sin. John 3:36 tells us that the one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but God’s wrath remains on the one who does not obey the Son. God is not just mildly disturbed at sinners; He hates all evildoers. (Psalm 5:5) The confusion that comes from the opening statement results from a misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God.

When we consider what the Bible has to say about salvation, on the one hand we see that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8), but, on the other hand the Bible tells us that God has disdain for sinners. We wrongly assume that sin is the issue, not the person. A correct understanding of John 3:36, that God’s wrath remains on the person, leads to eternal consequences. It is true that God loves sinners unconditionally, but if we wrongly separate the sin from the sinner, we wrongly separate the boundary of God’s love. God’s salvific love and fellowship with Him is given only to believers who have repented of their sin. The Triune God brings us into fellowship with Him, but that love has boundaries. When unbelievers learn that God’s love is unconditional, they begin to disassociate themselves from their actions, but we know that our actions flow from our heart (Matthew 15:18-19). It is the essence of the heart that is the problem.

Every human being must come to an understanding of who Christ is. Every person must receive Christ in order to escape divine wrath. If you do not repent of your sin and receive salvation by grace through faith, you will not enter the kingdom of God; God does not accept you the way you are. Humanity is divided into two groups: the righteous and the unrighteous, God’s children and the devil’s children, the redeemed and the lost, those who are in the kingdom of light and those who are in the kingdom of darkness. This is the fundamental dichotomy of the human race.

In this section of Scripture, Paul draws the minds of his readers up from the circumstances around them. They were making temporal circumstances have eternal consequences. As they will someday stand before the judgment seat of God, they will have to give account for the way they dealt with these issues. Paul’s point here is that the temporal things (eating, drinking, holidays) are affecting eternal consequences. There is a greater truth, a greater perspective, a greater reality, that when the focus is on temporal issues, we risk destroying the work of God (verse 20).

The issues that the Roman church faced are basically the same ones we experience today. As we live the Christian life, we can forget the nature and character of the kingdom of God. Our relationships become a litmus test for our theology. Our relationships reveal what we believe about God and what we know about His kingdom. The people were making the essence of Christianity to be about meat, vegetables, holidays and wine. Essentially, we do this today when we stand on our opinions: hair dye, tattoos, make-up, playing cards, smoking, drinking, food, holidays, media, etc. Whenever we make our opinions law, we get lost in the details and miss the greatest picture of the kingdom of God. Jesus constantly confronted the Pharisees over things like these; they were tithing mint and dill and cumin but were neglecting the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and love (Matthew 23:23). We need to examine our life to see if we have these same tendencies.

The Pharisees had lost sight of the big picture and had yoked themselves to a law which they had created. Paul wrote, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1) This explains the message of Paul in this chapter of Romans. Paul was chastising the Judaizers because circumcision was not the gospel; circumcision is not a litmus test of your righteousness. If they believed that circumcision was essential, then Christ was of no advantage to them. (Galatians 5:2) Paul was telling the Romans that the kingdom of God is not about such things. The Judaizers were elevating opinion over God’s law, they had forgotten what they had been saved from.

1. The Kingdom Principle

The idea that God hates sin but loves sinners is antithetical to the gospel and creates a false dichotomy. Following this line of thinking results in buying into notions that are called Christianity. Regeneration must lead to a transformed life. The kingdom principle is simple; a person’s life reflects their kingdom allegiance. We understand the depravity of man and we long for people to be saved, but we must stick to the truth of Scripture and believe that, if we proclaim the truth faithfully, God will fulfill His promise, He will produce the fruit. In speaking to the Jews who didn’t believe in Him, Jesus said “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.” (John 8:44) Habitual, unrepentant sinful behavior is to be expected of those who are shackled to sin in the kingdom of darkness. We cannot call Christians who propagate carnal Christians. Christians are those who have been set free, are able to overcome sin and live righteously for God.

• The Nature of the Kingdom of God (v. 17a)

The Kingdom Principle involves embodying righteousness, peace, and joy through the Holy Spirit, prioritizing internal transformation over external rituals and opinions, thereby reflecting God’s will and His kingdom on earth. This definition can be summarized in one word: freedom. The kingdom principle has two main elements: heavenly presence and heavenly practices. The believer is to be a heavenly presence on the earth. We are to represent God in our sphere of influence. 1 John 4:12 says, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” If you have the love of God within and you love another person, that person will recognize that they are being loved by God. They understand that we are only a conduit of God’s love, so they truly experience God’s love. As we show love, and mercy, and grace, justice, and faithfulness, we are God’s real presence in this world.

Before we can represent God’s presence in the world, we have to understand the nature of His kingdom. Simply put, the kingdom of God is the divine domain of God. It is a universal kingdom, “his kingdom rules over all” – Psalm 103:19; it is an eternal kingdom, an “everlasting kingdom” – Daniel 4:3; it is a spiritual kingdom, “not of this world” – John 18:36. Jesus confirmed to Pilate that He is a King, but not a worldly king, not a kingdom that can be seen. For the moment we will think of the kingdom of God as being the sphere of salvation. The kingdom of God is the spiritual rule over the hearts and lives of those who have been born again. The entry point into the kingdom of God is the new birth. Jesus explained to the confused Nicodemus that he must be born again, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God… You must be born again.” (John 3:3-7) These verses highlight the spiritual aspects of the kingdom, and the impossibility for unbelievers to understand the kingdom of God.

While the kingdom of God is invisible to unbelievers, believers can watch it grow. It is growing by the proclamation of the gospel. The gospel call goes out, people respond and are saved, adding to the kingdom of God. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, proclaimed a message of repentance. Mark 1:14-15 says, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’" Jesus emphasized that the kingdom of God is now. On earth, the kingdom is only spiritual currently, but it is a physical reality in the heavenly realms now (Ephesians 3:10). The saints in heaven are exalting and praising God right now! Someday the kingdom will be a physical reality on earth. Jesus’ divine work was begun on earth and will be consummated in heaven.

This is what Paul meant in Philippians 1:6, when he said, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Paul was confident that there is a kingdom of God, that believers are part of this kingdom, and this kingdom will continue on earth until we are with him in glory. Paul emphasizes his confidence in the believer’s perseverance even though there was conflict in the church. Euodia and Syntyche had lost the reality of the kingdom and had disagreed over some non-essential matter. It was causing division within the church, but Paul expressed confidence that they would resolve their dispute because he was certain that their names were written in the book of life (Philippians 4:2-3). True believers will resolve conflict.

• The Character of the Kingdom of God (v. 17b)

Paul begins to draw our minds from a focus on ourselves to a focus on the kingdom of God. He begins by stating what the kingdom is not: it is not a matter of eating and drinking. The kingdom of God is not about superficial, temporal things. In themselves there are no eternal consequences but, in the abuse of them, there can be serious eternal consequences. Believers in the church were making matters of opinion the essence of Christianity, and this is an easy slide for all of us. We find it easy to believe that God approves of our standards, and then we apply them to others. Paul’s point is that they were so preoccupied with matters of opinion and non-essential aspects of life that they were forgetting their position as citizens in the kingdom. They were using their standards to determine someone else’s standing before God, whether they were righteous or not, holy or not, whether or not God is pleased with them. Paul sarcastically asks, have you forgotten what the kingdom of God is all about?

Paul told the church that the kingdom is not about food, drink, holidays, etc., he says it is about freedom. He wants them to remember what they have been set free from. He says the kingdom of God is about righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. This kingdom exists in the hearts of believers NOW. There is debate over whether this righteousness refers to the believer’s position before God or whether it is the believer’s righteous behavior before God. In the context of Romans 14, it is both – our position and our participation. We understand our position from Romans 4:5 for our “faith is counted as righteousness.” We have a righteous standing before God. At one point, we were unrighteous and not a part of the kingdom of God, separated from God. But when God gave us the gift of faith, we believed, and God imputed Christ’s righteousness to us; He then sees us standing before Him with Christ’s righteousness.

Righteousness is our entry point into the kingdom of God. Jesus said to His hearers on the Mount of Olives, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20) Everything in their life was concerned with external conformity, but the law of God is focused on internal conformity. The Christian life is not one of self-righteousness, but Christ’s righteousness imputed to us. We need to wrestle with this and work it out. The kingdom of God is all about righteousness; we are people who have been made righteous.

Think about your salvation and look at your life. You might ask God why He would make you righteous. If you are honest with yourself, you will recognize that there is nothing in your life that would warrant God choosing to set you free from the bondage to sin and make you righteous. Peter declared (1 Peter 2:9), “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” Peter then explains why God chose believers: to proclaim the excellencies about God, His goodness, mercy, justice, grace, and His gift making us righteous. Paul had a similar message – he wanted the believer to realize who they are before God, and then put away petty opinions and arguments. Believers are citizens of a kingdom that transcends holidays, food, and drink. Believers stand righteous before God and may not judge other believers based on opinions.

The believer’s righteousness is not stagnant, it produces righteous acts as God imparts righteousness to us. The believer’s positional righteousness sets him free to participate in practical righteousness, i.e., sanctification. This is Romans 12:1-2 where Paul appeals to us to lay our bodies on the altar and ask God to use us as He sees fit. We are free from sin; we are free to identify the sin in our life and overcome it. We then allow God to use us as a righteous vessel. The kingdom of God is being concerned about what is pleasing to God. Paul wants us to hunger and thirst for righteousness (See Matthey 5:6). Believers can live righteously because they possess the righteousness of God. The Psalmist said, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Psalm 42:2) A thirst for God produces a righteous, obedient life. As Paul said to the Philippians (1:21), “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

A practical result of a righteous life is that we will have a right standing with fellow believers and we will love our neighbor. As Christ lived a perfect righteous life, He fulfilled the law. And as we live in righteousness, we also fulfill the law. Righteousness is concerned with modeling the righteousness of Christ because we love Him. Christ overcame temptation and we need to ask God to help us overcome temptation.

Applying the kingdom principle, we have been freed to have differences of opinion regarding non-essential matters. We have freedom to defer to other believers; we have freedom to engage in behaviors that do not offend God or other believers; we have freedom to restrict ourselves. We have freedom to lay our life on the altar for others. Your righteousness governs your life. But we want a righteousness that accepts our sin. We want a righteousness that holds our opinions, preferences, and conscience as law, a righteousness that turns a blind eye to our sin but not our neighbor’s, a righteousness that doesn’t require that we change. We want a righteousness that hates sin but loves the sinner. We desire a righteousness that doesn’t require us to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

Biblical righteousness is described in 2 Timothy 2:22, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” Paul is telling Timothy to, with great urgency, run from sin to righteousness. Paul wants Timothy to flee from unrighteousness as if his life depends on it, flee as Joseph did before Potiphar’s wife. Unrighteousness is like a freight train barreling down on you – flee from it! Flee to righteousness. Our obedience exposes our position before God, and righteousness is to be our supreme desire. In our lost state, we could not pursue righteousness, and now, as believers, we should not remain there. God has set us free from unrighteousness.

The kingdom of God is also about peace, subjective peace and objective peace. The objective peace is peace with God. Before we were reconciled to God, we recognized that we were sinners and we feared God’s judgment. Romans 8:15 says, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’" God’s love has set us free from fear. This objective peace leads to a subjective peace, a peace that we feel. This inner tranquility, indicative of a clear conscience, is a mark of the child of God. If the conscience of a fellow believer is violated, we need to allow God to work with His child; we don’t need to interject our standards. Peace in our conscience will lead to peace with one another and peace in the church. Jesus emphasized the importance of peace in Matthew 5:9, where He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Regarding peace, Paul said in Ephesians 2:14, “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” There was a dividing wall in the temple separating Jew and gentile and there was a dividing wall in the church in Rome between the weak and the strong. A censorious attitude flows from a lack of peace. Such an attitude leads a person to being more concerned with their reputation than God’s reputation, and the person loses sight of God. Such a person becomes hypercritical of others’ morals; they fall back into fear because they have forgotten their freedom, and their peace begins to shake. The dividing wall in the temple was constructed out of fear, and we construct diving walls in the church today for the same reasons. These fears are based on non-gospel issues, and when we are fearful, our opinion becomes law. Then we become overly concerned about our image, trying to keep others from seeing our flaws, and we lose our peace. We become overly concerned when we see other people violating our standards, and our conversations become laced with criticism. Focusing on the flaws in other people allows us to think we are better than we really are.

The loss of peace results when we lose sight of the kingdom principle; the kingdom of God is not about you, it is about God. With ourselves at the helm, we know that our position before God is unstable because we understand that we are a sinner. God’s only requirement is that we have a pure heart. Just keep your heart pure and live for God. When we believe that we must do the right thing in the right way at the right time and in a specific manner, we have forgotten our freedom in Christ. By forgetting the kingdom principle, both the strong and the weak can fall into this trap. We can identify someone who is sliding into this trap by the fact that they become preoccupied with indifferent matters in life. This exposes a heart that has left the kingdom of God, walked into the kingdom of the flesh, and has fallen back into slavery. Such a person has forgotten that for freedom Christ has set us free.

These people are easy to identify from the perspective of a Bible teacher. There are two groups of people listening to the teacher: those who want to learn and those who are hoping that he will say something wrong. We should all be judging what is being taught using the Bible as our standard, but not with a censorious attitude of hoping the teacher makes a mistake so that we can elevate ourselves. We cannot dismiss heretical teaching of the Bible, but Matthew 18:15ff describes the proper way for confronting any sin in a believer.

The church in Rome was to be a heavenly presence on earth, modeling freedom. The world in bondage to sin should look at the church in Rome and ask how they could live so freely. Someone who has peace will be able to give a defense for the reason of their hope, whereas the person who is lost knows that they are not free; they feel the shackles, they know the reality of their souls before God, and it weighs them down.

The kingdom of God is also about joy, a gladness of heart, a state of delight. In Psalm 119, David described a joyous heart as an enlarged heart. Salvation results in an enlarged heart. A joyous heart delights in being set free from the bondage to sin and being given the righteousness of God. It delights in obedience; it delights in the fullness of God and in having peace with God and peace in life. One of the greatest struggles in life is lack of joy. Just like peace, joy is related to righteousness. If you lack joy, you need to work backwards through the chain. We need to determine whether we are delighting in God or the things of the world. Do we have peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Am I fearful when I consider my relationship with God, or do I stand firm in my relationship with Him? Where is my righteous obedience? Is Christ my righteousness or am I trusting in my own righteousness? Acts 13:52 says, “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” They were experiencing God’s presence and were experiencing peace as they sought Christ’s righteousness.

The apostles were called out by God and were continually filled with joy. Their being called out by God is no different from us being called out by God. We are not called out to commonality or to complacency, but to righteous heavenly service. The first aspect of the calling out is a calling out of ourselves. If you stay in yourself, you will lack joy, you will lack peace and your righteousness will be a wreck. We must take up our cross, we must die to ourselves, we must leave behind us the sins that hold us back and keep us from being the heavenly presence to the people around us, then we can be about the work of the kingdom. We are to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these things will be added to us. Let go of the things that shackle you to fear because you have been set free. God has called us out to live freely for Him. The kingdom of God is all about freedom from food and wine from self-righteous opinions, and it is about righteousness and peace and joy.

Selah:

1. What do you believe to be important for your growth in Christ to which others do not subscribe? How will you evaluate these by scriptural standards?
2. Do you see yourself growing in righteousness? If not, why not? Is there some sin in your life that you refuse to confront?
3. Explain the source of your objective peace and your subjective peace.
4. What gives you the most joy in your walk with Christ?