What does it mean that the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (Romans 14:17)?

Paul went about preaching "the kingdom of God" (Acts 20:25), and he wrote concerning it, "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). The practical results of being in God's kingdom are evinced in the lives of God's saints. Judaism had much to say regarding what should be eaten and what should not be eaten, but Christianity is not occupied with prescriptions and prohibitions: it consists of what is moral, of what is pleasing to God in the lives of His own. We are to manifest what is right in the eyes of God, all our steps are to be marked with peace, and our joy is to be from the Holy Spirit who gives us to enter into what is found in Jesus.

In Romans 14:17, we read, we have been brought under the sway of God, in contrast to the dominion of sin. You are under God's will, the sway of God in grace; the kingdom of God is set up in your soul. When one is saved and put under the will of God, what is begun in the soul is but the forecast of what is going to be established in a world-wide way by and bye. When the kingdom of God is outwardly manifested, and Christ has come as God's King over the whole earth, there will be three great marks which everybody can recognise: — (1) It will be a righteous rule, all wrongs will be righted, and the reign of that wonderful King will be righteous. (2) There will be peace. The nations will not learn war any more, nor will there be international strife, nor class war, but the will of God will be dominant; and in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, it will be absolute autocracy linked with absolute justice, what has never been known on earth yet; the effect of righteousness will be peace; (3) There will be joy. The ransomed will return with songs to Zion, everlasting joy will be upon their heads, and the sounds of sorrow will be hushed. These are the three great marks of the coming kingdom of God, which will then be universal. But the Holy Ghost dwelling in you sets up the rule of God in your heart, and these three marks are exemplified in the Christian now. The Christian under the rule of Christ is righteous, (i.e., speaking of him characteristically, and as subject to the will of God), he is peaceful, and happy. "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink"; it does not consist in your being a vegetarian, but the Holy Ghost brings you under the sway of God in grace, making you righteous and peaceful (i.e., you are not a disturber of the peace), and happy. The gospel lays the foundation in your soul for the kingdom of God. Yet while the kingdom of God is referred to, the doctrine in its immensity is not developed.

God's kingdom, into which Christians have been brought, does not consist in such matters as eating and drinking. Therefore these things should not greatly occupy those who have better things to engage them. Practical righteousness, walking in peace before God and men, and joy proceeding from the Holy Spirit within us, should engage us, for these are the marks of the kingdom of God, the things in which it practically consists (Rom. 14:17).

The reader will observe how "the kingdom of God" is used here, not so much dispensationally as morally. Indeed it is so where the phrase occurs in Matthew, who alone also uses the well-known formula "the kingdom of heaven." Only the latter phrase invariably occurs in a dispensational sense, and means that state of things where the heavens rule now that Jesus is cast out from the earth; first, while He is hid in God; secondly, when He comes again in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. But the kingdom of God might be said to be already there, already come upon them, when He, by the Spirit of God, cast out demons. The kingdom of heaven, contrariwise, could not be said to have come till He went on high. Thus the kingdom of God might be used where the kingdom of heaven occurs but also as here where it could not be. The apostle insists that the kingdom of God cannot be lowered to that which perishes with the using; it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, the inward spirit and practical power of the Christian. "For he that in this serves Christ [is] acceptable to God and approved of men." It is walking in the Spirit, in short, the true guard against fulfilling any lust of the flesh. "Against righteousness and peace and joy there is no law." "Let us therefore pursue the things of peace and the things of mutual edification." God Himself is the God of peace, and the Lord is Himself the Lord of peace who gives us peace continually in every way. Knowledge puffs up, love alone builds up. And as He builds His church infallibly upon the rock, the confession of His own name, so we, by the godly use of His name, are called to build up one another. We can understand therefore how impressively the apostle again urges, "Do not for the sake of meat undo the work of God." "All things indeed [are] clean." This is freely allowed to the strong, but "it is evil to the man that eats with stumbling." This is the danger for the weak, and love would lead the strong to consider the weak, assuredly not to help the enemy against them. "[It is] right not to eat meat nor to drink wine [nor anything] in which thy brother stumbles or is offended or is weak." (Ver. 21.) There might be various degrees of danger; but the only thing that becomes the saint in this is to seek his brother's good. "Hast thou faith? have [it] to thyself before God: blessed he that judges not himself in what he allows." To be strong in faith then is right: only it should be conjoined with the energy of love for those who are weak, guarding against all boast also in that which is received by grace from God. "But he that doubts is condemned if he eat, because [it is] not of faith; but whatever [is] not of faith is sin:" a maxim often strained in ancient and modern times to pronounce upon unbelievers and the worthlessness of every act in their lives. But this is clearly not in question here; rather is it a matter between Christians, some of whom saw their liberty, others being still in bondage. It is a great favour to enjoy the liberty of Christ in the smallest matters of every-day life; but he who has entered into this is so much the more bound to consider the believer who is still hampered with doubts as to this or that. To imitate liberty without believing its ground would be to endanger the work of God. Grace respects the conscience of him that doubts, and instead of trifling with scruples would rather seek to lead into the due application of Christ to the case by faith: without it all is vain or worse. "Whatever is not of faith is sin."

1917 309 The kingdom of God therefore concerns itself with matters above the range of eating and drinking. Its domain, as the apostle Paul says, is characterized by righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14:17). The moral and spiritual traits of the sons of the kingdom abide for ever, but foods of whatever nature perish in the using; "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God shall bring to nought both it and them" (1 Cor. 6:13).

The kingdom of God is not characterised by meats and drinks, but by righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. These are moral characteristics of the kingdom to be enjoyed now by the believer in the power of the Spirit. They will be universally enjoyed when the kingdom is set up in power. These are the qualities to be pursued by both "weak" and "strong". These things are acceptable to God and approved by men. The effort to impose my liberty on another, if it offends his weak conscience, is condemned by God and man.

Hence in the passage that I have read we find the kingdom of God referred to, and we are told that in its practical details it does not concern itself with "meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Righteousness does not consist so much in my enforcing what is due to me, as in my paying to all others what is due to them. We must yield to God all that is His due, and give to Christ the place that is His, and then practise everyday righteousness with all our neighbours, both saved and unsaved. Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost are then the practical outcome. Righteousness is the foundation on which they rest. This fourteenth chapter gives instruction in righteousness to all saints.

“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” How many minor points men will occupy themselves with! And how unwilling it seems we are to forego our own privileges for the sake of “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Are these things not precious and real to us when we willingly deny ourselves for the sake of other saints?

We are taught, also, that the kingdom of God is not meat or drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is so easy to fall into externalism, and to lose sight of the state of our souls, and even be zealous for Christian liberty when our souls are withered up from want of divine nourishment. The truth is that if we cultivate the enjoyment of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, our hearts will overflow with love to our brethren, and then we should instinctively act with due regard for their weakness. As we read in this same epistle, "Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law"; that is, as another has said, "By the conduct which flows from love the law is already fulfilled before its requirement is applied." In this state of soul, instead of claiming our liberty, or even asserting our judgment, we should be ever on the watch for the welfare of our brethren. Fuller light we may have, but, if we have, we shall show it in increasing humility and in seeking opportunities of serving one another in love. And "he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men." (v. 18.) What a motive to follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another!

Turning now to the other side, to God's system, His world, what, let us inquire, are its principles. Three may be at once given: they are righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. There are its moral elements in contrast with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. These are, in fact, the moral elements of the kingdom of God at the present moment as described by the Apostle Paul. (Rom. 5:1-2; Rom. 14:17.) Nor can the order in which they are given be changed. Righteousness is, and ever must be, the only basis of peace, whether for the individual soul or for God's government. We thus read, Having made peace by the blood of the cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. God declared, as before said, His righteousness in the blood of Christ, and in it He laid the immutable basis of peace for ever. Thereupon, when peace is secured and enjoyed, joy in the Holy Ghost will spring up and, possessing the soul, will continually overflow in praise and adoration. This, we do not forget, may be the present experience of the redeemed; but it cannot be too much insisted upon that every moral or spiritual principle abides, and that consequently what we enjoy now we shall enjoy throughout eternity.