ACC ~ Romans 14 v17

FINALLY RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL BE OUR FOOD AND DRINK. ORIGEN: Just as there is no marriage in heaven, so there is no eating and drinking there either. All that will be over and done with and will have no place there. Rather there will be “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, Paul urges us to concentrate on those things and to realize that we already have their substance here below, which we shall take with us when we go to the heavenly kingdom. Peace and righteousness and whatever else we acquire from the Holy Spirit will be our food and drink in the kingdom of heaven. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: He who eats of this meal, the best of all, will possess the kingdom of God, fixing his gaze on the holy assembly of love, the heavenly church. CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 2.1.

AUGUSTINE: By “the kingdom of God” Paul means the church, in which God reigns. LETTER 36.

[PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Here Paul shows clearly that the kingdom of heaven does not have corporeal food and drink but that everyone lives in a spiritual way there. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

WE ARE NOT JUSTIFIED BY FOOD. PELAGIUS: We are not justified by food. But one should also note that Paul did not say that “fasting and temperance” are not the kingdom of God but rather food and drink.The gifts of the Holy Spirit are more easily maintained through abstinence, for where there is righteousness (by loving one’s neighbor as oneself) there is also peace, and where there is peace there is also spiritual joy, because distress and trouble always arise out of discord. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: We ought to laugh at those who think that after the resurrection we shall eat and drink, when Paul’s words so clearly say the opposite. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

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