Romans 14:9

To this end. That is, in order that Christ might become Lord of the dead and the living.

Died, and rose, and revived. Textual evidence favors (cf. p. 10) the reading “died and came to life.” By His death Christ purchased a people. By His resurrection He delivers those whom He has purchased (see on ch. 4:25). After His death and resurrection Christ was enthroned at the Father’s right hand, and universal domination was given to Him (see Mark 14:62; 16:19; Eph. 1:20-22; Phil. 2:8-11; Heb. 1:3).

He might be Lord. Gr. kurieuo, “to rule over,” “to become lord of.”

The dead and living. The reversal of the usual order of these words is perhaps due to the order of the words about Christ in the first part of the sentence. Even in death the Christian belongs to Christ, because when he dies he falls asleep “in Jesus” (1 Thess. 4:14; cf. Rev. 14:13). “The dead in Christ shall rise” and thenceforth “ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). Even those who reject Christ cannot escape their responsibility to Him by death. For all the dead shall rise again, either “unto the resurrection of life” or “unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29; cf. Rev. 20:12, 13). In that day “every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12).

This verse is used by some commentators as evidence that the soul is immortal and that death simply transfers the believer from one sphere of conscious service to another. The interpretation is out of harmony with the rest of Scripture. The question of whether the soul is immortal must be determined on the basis of other passages that deal with the condition of the soul in death, which Paul is not here discussing (see Job 14:21; Eccl. 9:5; John 11:11; etc.).