“For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”
If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. — Zao and apothnēskō are reframed kyrio (to the Lord). Possession (kyriō, to belong to the Lord) transcends the life/death boundary. This recalls 6:9's triumph over death—the Christian's ultimate allegiance supersedes bodily state.
Church Fathers on Romans 14:8
“For none of us lives unto himself, and no man dies unto himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord,” by this too he makes the same clearer. For how can he that lives unto the Law, be living unto Christ? But this is not the only thing that he effects by this, he also holds back the person who was in so much haste for their being set right, and persuades him to be patient, by showing that it is impossible for God to despise…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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