Righteousness; Peace; Joy

“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Romans 14: 17 (KJV)

Many of us are familiar with the words of this verse, not from scriptures, but from the popular song-“righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost; righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; That’s the kingdom of God; Don’t you wanna be a part of the kingdom? Don’t you wanna be a part of the kingdom? Don’t you wanna be a part of the kingdom? Come on, Come on everybody!” Excellent song by Ron Kenoly. An all time favourite for me, and I know for many of us. Many of our best gospel songs are lifted direct from the words of the Bible. One of the worship songs I really love is taken straight out of Isaiah 25:1-“O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth” Powerful words with which Prophet Isaiah praised his God and exalted his faithfulness, and a most soul moving worship song.

But then I digress. This article is about Romans 14:17 and righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost! I always like to start from the King James Version which in its “ancient” language (oh another heavenly song-“Ancient of Days; As old as you are, As old as you are; You will never change; Ancient of Days; As old as you are, As old as you are; You will never change) gives me a sense of the antiquity and unchanging nature of God. He was, he is, and he will forever be! Psalm 90: 2 says of him, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting , thou art God.” That is why Daniel called him the “Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:9, 13 and 22).

As we see above, the verse in the KJV simply says “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Now let’s turn to other translations for better insight and understanding, starting with the New King James Version which says, “…for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The words in the New American Standard are exactly as in NKJV and the New International Version is quite similar as well. So let’s turn to the Amplified Bible-“(After all) the kingdom of God is not a matter of (getting the) food and drink (one likes), but instead it is righteousness (that state which makes a person acceptable to God) and (heart) peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

I have once written of the brilliance and completeness discernible from the Bible and this verse is another example. In that single verse, God tells us first what his kingdom is NOT, before telling us what it actually IS. Teachers know only too well that human beings learn better through comparison. That is why our teachers in primary school spent so much time on words and opposites! This verse tells us the kingdom of God is not just about satisfying our desires, needs, wants, pleasures, emotions, even when these are legitimate. It is not just about praying to God for all we want-more money, good health, good food, wealth, more power, victory over our enemies etc It is more than that.

He says his kingdom is about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit! The Amplified version already gave us an implicit definition of “righteousness”-living in a manner acceptable to God. The Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines righteousness as “holy and upright living, in accordance with God’s standard” and says “God’s character is the definition and source of all righteousness” and adds that “In the context of relationships, righteous action is action that promotes the peace and well-being of human beings in their relationships with one another.” In the New Testament context, “The cross of Jesus is a public demonstration of God’s righteousness. God accounts or transfers the righteousness of Christ to those who trust in him” Thus righteousness is loving God and our fellow men, accepting Christ and living in a manner consistent with, and acceptable to God.

In Macarthur’s study of this verse, he characterises the “Kingdom of God” not just in terms of the hereafter, but in terms of our hearts. When we are saved, our hearts become an integral part of the kingdom of God-“…for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness…” (Romans 10:10). That is where we will decide which kingdom we belong to. If your heart is not in the kingdom, then you are not in the kingdom. He likens “eating and drinking” to a metaphor for all “external observances” or religious behaviour while the real job of salvation is in the heart of man. The “peace” the verse talks about is “the loving tranquillity produced by the Spirit that should characterise believers’ relationships with God and with each other” and “joy in the Holy Spirit” refers to an “abiding attitude of praise and thanksgiving regardless of circumstances, which flows from one’s confidence in God’s sovereignty.”

These are what the kingdom of God is about-righteousness, peace and joy, not as in the world, but in the Holy Spirit. But of course, there is good news-when we focus on these things that God demands, then all the meat and drink, and more that we want will be ours. For he says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”. (Mathew 6:33) So when next you sing that beautiful song, “righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost….” remember it’s not just a nice song, but the kingdom of God!


Opeyemi Agbaje