For whether we live, we live unto the Lord
As natural, so spiritual life is derived from the Lord, and
believers live by faith upon him, and according to his will
revealed in the word; find to his honour and glory; at least they
desire so to do:
and whether we die, we die unto the Lord;
resigning up life unto him, whenever it is his pleasure;
magnifying of him, as by life, so by death; dying to be with him,
to be raised again by him, and live with him for evermore; in the
faith and hope of this, the believer both lives and dies, and so
glorifies Christ both in life and death: hence this conclusion
follows,
whether we live therefore or die, we are the
Lord's;
by the gift of the Father to him, by his own purchase, and the
power of his grace, making them willing to give up themselves to
him: and hence it is, that under a sense of this, that they are
his, and not their own, nor another's, they do all they do for
his glory; whether they observe, or not observe a day, it is to
the Lord; whether they eat, or not eat things formerly forbidden,
it is to him; and whether they live or die, it is to the Lord,
whose they are: and hence also it is, that they are not to be
despised and set at nought, or to be judged and censured by one
another, since they belong to another master, who is their Lord,
and will be their Judge.