Romans 14:7–9 — Whether We Live or Die, We Are the Lord’s

Why families choose it

Three verses that settle the one question a funeral actually asks: whose is this person now? Paul refuses to treat death as a change of ownership — living or dying, ‘we are the Lord’s’ — and the claim is grounded, not asserted: Christ ‘died, and rose, and revived’ precisely to be Lord of both. It also quietly corrects the loneliness of grief, since ‘none of us liveth to himself’ is true of the mourners too. For those who want brevity without thinness, nothing shorter says as much.

Reading it aloud

The passage moves in matched pairs — live and die, live and die — and the sense lives in the balance, so give both halves of each pair equal weight; do not hurry past ‘die’ to reach the comfort. Let ‘we are the Lord’s’ settle before beginning the last sentence, which is the reason for everything before it. Three sentences in all: nothing needs cutting, and nothing should be rushed.

In the programme, list it in the order of service as “Scripture Reading — Romans 14:7–9” with the reader’s name beside it. The full text is public domain and may be printed on the life-story or back page.