The phrase God’s Kingdom or (“the Kingdom of God”) is used only here in the book of Romans. Elsewhere in Paul’s letters it is used in 1 Corinthians 4.20; 6.9, 10; 15.24, 50; Galatians 5.21; Ephesians 5.5; Colossians 4.11; and 2 Thessalonians 1.5. See also Colossians 1.13. The primary meaning of this phrase is always “the rule of God.” That is, the emphasis is always upon the actual kingship or sovereignty of God rather than upon the territory over which he rules. This verse might then be translated: “God’s rule in our lives is not related to matters of eating and drinking, but is concerned with righteousness, peace, and joy that the Holy Spirit gives.” These qualities of righteousness, peace, and joy describe the believer in terms of his relation to other believers.

It is not at all easy to translate God’s Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking. In the first place, a matter of is highly generic in meaning and rarely has a close equivalent in languages with entirely different structures. In fact, it may be necessary to radically restructure the form of the first clause of verse 17—for example, “whether one eats one thing and not another or drinks one thing and not another, this is not what God’s rule is all about; rather, it is about righteousness, and peace, and joy.” In other languages one may need to say: “When one speaks of God’s ruling one does not talk about rules concerning eating and drinking, but one talks about righteousness, and peace, and joy.”

In this context righteousness may well be translated as “doing what God requires” or “doing what God says is good.” Peace may be understood as “being at peace with God” in the sense of having been reconciled, and joy may be “happiness of heart” or “inner happiness.”

That the Holy Spirit gives (literally “in the Holy Spirit”; see Revised Standard Version) is to be connected with all three of these qualities, and not merely with that of joy. Most commentators understand this phrase in the sense in which the Good News Translation renders it, and many translations make this explicit (New English Bible “inspired by the Holy Spirit”; New American Bible “that is given by the Holy Spirit”; Jerusalem Bible “brought by the Holy Spirit”). In a number of languages that the Holy Spirit gives is best translated as a causative—for example, “these are what the Holy Spirit causes” or even “we experience these by means of the Holy Spirit.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .