I thought about turning my attention to the Gospels, since chronologically they began to appear around AD 60, which would put Mark or Matthew right in the middle of Paul’s letters, but the Gospels are complicated so I am studying them in preparation for a future examination.

In the meantime, I will continue following Paul’s writings.  Bible historians tell us that AD 61 was a big year for Paul in writing letters.  We have some sense, because of what Paul included in his writings and what Luke wrote in Acts of which letters were written in what order. Therefore, I will turn my attention to the letter to the Philippians. After the dense theological study of Romans , I think Philippians will be a more joyful pursuit.  This is not to say that Philippians does not contain theological topics, just that Paul was in a lighter mood when he wrote it. The church at Philippi made Paul smile.

Philippi was a city in the Roman province of Macedonia where Paul did missionary work in Acts 16. In ancient times, the site was a gold mining region (hmm, Alaska without snow??). After 400 BC, Philip II of Macedonia (whose son Alexander would conquer much of the known world) seized the mines, fortified the city, and named it for himself. That seems rather consistent with what history records of the family egotist streak. All of Macedonia came under Roman colonial control after 200 BC. In 42 BC, Philippi was the site of a decisive battle that sealed the fate of Rome as a republic and set the stage for the establishment of an empire. It is odd to think that just 90 years before Jesus’ crucifixion, the Rome was more-or-less an Italian Republic with a larger than average territory, but no real empire.  They came a long way in a few years. Philippi was the site where the future-Caesar Augustus (first emperor) and Antony defeated the army of Brutus and Cassius shortly after Julius’ murder. In part because of this decisive victory, it soon became a Roman province.

Paul first visited Philippi on his second missionary journey in response to his Macedonian vision in Acts 16. He and his companions sailed from Troas across the Aegean Sea to Neapolis, on the eastern shore of Macedonia and then journeyed a few miles inland to Philippi. On the sabbath, Paul went to a prayer meeting on the river bank. When Paul spoke, Lydia and others opened their hearts to the Lord. As a rule, Paul first went to the Jewish synagogue when he came to a new city. The fact that he did not do this in Philippi likely indicates that Philippi had no synagogue.

The Roman character of the city is apparent from Paul’s other experiences in Philippi. He healed a possessed slave girl whose owners charged that Jews troubled the city by teaching customs unlawful for Romans to observe. The city magistrates ordered Paul and Silas to be beaten and turned over to the jailer. After their miraculous deliverance and the jailer’s conversion, the magistrates sent the jailer word to release Paul. Paul informed the messengers that he was a Roman citizen. Since he had been beaten and imprisoned unlawfully, Paul insisted that the magistrates themselves come and release him. The very nervous magistrates went to the jail and pled with Paul to leave the jail and the town. The establishment of the church at Philippi marks the first church Paul established in Europe.

The authentic of the letter to the Philippians is well-accepted among Bible scholars. The terminology and theology presented therein is thoroughly Pauline. Dating the letter is a different matter. Paul writes that he is imprisoned. Traditionally, the letter was assumed to have been written from Rome while Paul was imprisoned there, which would set it around AD 60-62. However, Paul was imprisoned in Ephesus and in Caesarea, so the letter could have been written in the mid-to-late 50s.

Similarly, it is not known where Paul was when he wrote the letter. However, reference to Caesar’s household (4:22), the praetorium or palace guard (1:13) as well as the ability to receive visitors (Acts 28:16, 30-31) and the possibility of execution (1:20-26) seem to line up with the imprisonment described in the last passages of Acts. However, an Ephesian origin for Philippians has been credibly presented. As capital of Asia, it would have had a governor’s guard and the governor’s residence would have been termed “Caesar’s household.” It would certainly make more sense of Paul’s stated intent to visit Philippi upon his release, as Paul intended to go to Spain if released in Rome. There is also the implication that several trips by messengers had been made between Paul’s locale and Philippi. A trip to Rome from Philippi took several weeks while a trip from Ephesus to Philippi required only several days. A Caesarean origin for the letter has had less scholarly support. Paul apparently didn’t fear execution while in Caesarea, since he had the option to appeal to Caesar and Caesarea is a long way from Philippi.

In spite of the negative circumstances from which Paul wrote, Philippians is a warm, personal, positive letter (Chapter 3 is the exception). Paul wrote to thank the church for a gift it had recently sent to Paul in prison and to inform them of his circumstances and the travel plans of Timothy and Epaphroditus. The underlying theme which holds the letter together is a call for unity in the church and that of rejoicing in whatever circumstances God places us in.

Philippians is structured much like a typical personal letter of that day. The introduction identifies the sender(s): Paul and Timothy, and the recipients: the saints, overseers, and deacons of the church at Philippi. This typical letter form, however, is filled with Christian content. The usual secular greeting and wish for good health is transformed into a blessing and thanksgiving for the Philippian church’s faithful participation in the work of the gospel, and a prayer that they may be blessed with an ever growing, enlightened, Christian love.

The body of the letter begins with Paul explaining his current situation. Paul then revealed that his primary concern of proclaiming of the gospel was being accomplished in spite of his difficult circumstances. His captors were being evangelized and his compatriots have gained confidence through his bold example. Even the brethren who were working with wrong motives were sharing the good news actively. (There is no hint that these were preaching a false gospel; Paul rejoiced in their work in verses 15-18). The severity of Paul’s imprisonment is reflected in the letter; his death appears to be a real possibility. Death would unite him with Christ. Life would give him the joys of continued productive ministry. He found cause for genuine rejoicing in both. Paul seemed confident, however, that he would eventually be released and reunited with the Philippians.

When Paul returned to Philippi, he hoped to find the church there united in Christ; the letter is a multifaceted call for unity in the church. The great cause of the proclamation of the gospel calls for them to be united in spirit, in task, and in confidence. Their common Christian experience and purpose required that they set aside any self-centered, self-serving attitudes. Those who follow Christ must follow him in selfless service to others.

Paul was concerned that the Philippians demonstrate the reality of their Christian profession in action. Neither the grumbling so characteristic of Israel in the wilderness nor the perversity of a world that does not know God should characterize the church. Paul had sacrificed himself to engender true faith in the Philippians. His desire, for them and for himself, was that he be able to rejoice that his sacrifice was not in vain.

The tone of the letter changes in Chapter 3. The change is so marked that some scholars posit that Chapter 3 is a later addition to the letter.  From encouragement to rejoice, Paul unexpectedly turned to stern warning, as if a problem threatened the church at Philippi which had the potential of destroying the foundation of unity and joy this church possessed.  The exact nature of the problem is unclear. Jewish legalism, Christian or gnostic perfectionism, and pagan libertinism are all addressed. Perhaps one heretical system was blending all three together or perhaps all three were presenting different threats to the church. Unfortunately, scholars at this time do not have enough information to explain Chapter 3 thoroughly. Paul clearly countered the heretical teachings with Christian truths: Jesus Christ is the only avenue to righteousness; the stature of Christ is the goal of Christian maturity; and the nature of Christ and His kingdom is the standard by which the Christian must live.

I would note that when Paul wrote this letter, as with all his other letters, it took several days to complete. He didn’t have a word processor or even good paper and ink. Letter writing was an intellectual and studied process in those days. It is possible that Paul heard news from Philippi – or from another church – that caused him to be concerned for their faith. It is also entirely possible that as he wrote, his anxiety decreased – or news arrived suggesting that the threat was not that dire – and he returned to his earlier theme. Again, we simply do not have enough scholarship currently to definitively give an answer.

Chapter 4 returns to a more positive instruction and affirmation of the church. General exhortations to rejoice and to remain faithful led to Paul’s expression of gratitude for the Philippians’ faithful support of him and his ministry. The letter closes in typical Pauline fashion, with an exchange of greetings and a prayer for grace.

Chronologically, the synoptic canonical Gospels were written AD 60-65, right in the middle of Paul’s most prolific period of writing.  I am doing some studies on the Gospels, but I am finding the subject large and hard to organize, so I’ll just put studies in from time to time. An ongoing (and friendly) debate with a fellow Christian of the Calvinist bent caused this parable from Matthew 22 to come to mind. It actually ties in with my previous post about “strange fire”.

^“Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables:
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent out his slaves to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come.

“Again, he sent out other slaves, and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet. ’
“But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business.

“And the others seized his slaves, treated them outrageously and killed them. The king was enraged, so he sent out his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned down their city.

“Then he told his slaves, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, go to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’ So those slaves went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests. 

“But when the king came in to view the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot,  Other mss add take him away and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
 

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”   Matthew 22:1-14

(Color coding is intended to separate the words of Jesus from the words of the king. We know they’re the same thing, but my husband thought it read a little easier.)

Jesus used a fictional story of a royal feast as an illustration of the gospel provision made for perishing souls.  Although we don’t see this sort of eastern liberality often in our world today, I think we can understand the meaning very well. God invites all of us to the banqueting table, which He has spread with great blessings for the perishing spirits of His rebellious creation – you and me.  There is more than enough comfort and everlasting happiness in the salvation of Jesus. This is the best feast that’s ever been!

The guests invited first, of course, were the Jews. Invitations were sent out many times via the prophets of the Old Testament, John the Baptist and Jesus Himself. The Jews were told multiple times the kingdom of God was at hand, but they kept making apologies for not coming.  The apostles and other ministers of the gospel were sent, after Christ's resurrection, to tell them (again) it was come and to persuade them to accept the invitation. In his commentary, Matthew Henry stated “the reason why sinners come not to Christ and salvation by [H]im, is, not because they cannot, but because they will not. Making light of Christ, and of the great salvation wrought out by [H]im, is the damning sin of the world.”

Like these wedding guests, the unsaved are careless with their spirits. They are not directly averse to things spiritual, but they simply have other things on their mind – the business and profit of worldly employments hinder many in considering salvation until it’s too late.

In this parable we find a stern warning for saved and unsaved alike. Whatever we possess of the world we must take care to keep it out of our hearts, lest it come between us and Jesus. The utter ruin coming upon the Jewish church and nation is represented here. Some even persecuted Christ's faithful ministers. The offer of Christ and salvation to the Gentiles was not expected; it was such a surprise as it would be to bums hanging on the street corner to be invited to a royal wedding-feast. The gospel plan is to gather spirits to Jesus. If the Jews were unwilling, the Gentiles would do.

I’m the first to admit there are non-Christians pretending to be Christians who are members of Christian churches. The news doesn’t surprise Jesus; He foretold it 2000 years ago.  The guest not clothed in the wedding garments represents such hypocrites. We have no place at the banquet if we have not put on the garments of salvation that comes only from Jesus Christ.  Acting like a wedding guest is not enough to gain our admittance to the feast and the “wedding garment” is not something that comes to us naturally. The day is coming when hypocrites will be called to account for all their presumptuous intruding into the Christian churches. Take him away! Those who pretend to a salvation they do not possess will forfeit all the happiness they presumptuously claimed.

Jesus finished the parable to explain what it teaches. Hypocrites follow the light of the gospel right down to utter darkness. Many are called to the wedding-feast, that is, to salvation, but few have the “wedding garments” that are the salvation of Christ. We should examine ourselves, asking if we are saved by faith and thus approved by God. Many are invited, but few are chosen. The ones who were chosen were the ones who showed up and put on the wedding garments, that is, salvation. There is no other way to be an acceptable guest at Jesus’ banquet. Just as there was no excuse for the man who was inappropriately dressed, there will be no excuse for hypocrites and for those who have failed to understand what it takes to be acceptable at the feast.

I would note that nothing is said about the man’s behavior. He was apparently not causing any trouble at the feast. He was ejected for the sole reason that he lacked the appropriate garments. Although salvation by faith alone is taught throughout the scripture, this is just one example. It’s not about lifestyle or background (behavior or heredity). It’s about responding to an invitation (grace) and donning the wedding garments (salvation). Good behavior (lifestyle sanctification) is not a bad thing, but it’s not a required thing for getting into the banquet.

Come and put on Christ! That’s all that is required for admission to Jesus' feast!

The seed of this study comes from a discussion with a non-believing friend who wants to know “what is truth”. He thinks he knows, but he has admitted that his definition of truth seems to be different from God’s definition of truth.  If there is such a thing as “true believers” what is the truth they are meant to believe?

Something many evangelicals do that leads us into problems is to emphasize the New Testament and avoid the Old Testament at all costs. I see this on Townhall all the time and I see the results, that those who do not know either testament cut and paste and cherry-pick the Old in an attempt to argue us out of our faith, to make it seem null and void.  The fact is that the Old Testament, by itself, is an obsolete book. If all you base your beliefs on is the Old Testament, then you’re as bound for Hell as Caiaphas was. On the other hand, the New Testament has shallow roots if you don’t tap into the rich background of the Old Testament. Jesus’ disciples were Jews who became Christians. They continued to worship in the Jewish Temple and synagogues. They didn’t think they were establishing a new religion. They were, in fact, completing Judaism, bringing it to the point where God had wanted it to be all along – a people living in faith. The Old Testament tempered and explained by the New Testament is the complete Bible. Often times the Old Testament stories are shadow tales that find their greatest meaning in the salvation of the New Testament.

It’s easy to make that statement without corroboration, but fortunately, the Old Testament provides plenty of corroboration for those of us who will seek to mine it.

“Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his own firepan, put fire in it, placed incense on it, [Lv 16:12; Ex 30:7–9; Nm 16:17,46] and presented unauthorized fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them to do. Then flames leaped from the Lord’s presence and burned them to death before the Lord.

“So Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when He said: I will show My holiness to those who are near Me, and I will reveal My glory  [Nm 20:13; Ezk 28:22; 39:13; Jn 12:28] before all the people.” But Aaron remained silent.

"Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, Ex 6:18,22 and said to them, “Come here and carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp.” [Lv 21:1–4; Nm 5:1–3] So they came forward and carried them in their tunics outside the camp, as Moses had said.

“Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair hang loose and do not tear your garments, Lv 21:10 or else you will die, and the Lord will become angry with the whole community. However, your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn over that tragedy when the Lord sent the fire. You must not go outside the entrance to the tent of meeting or you will die, for the Lord’s anointing oil is on you.” So they did as Moses said.

The Lord spoke to Aaron: “You and your sons are not to drink wine or beer [Nm 6:3; Pr 20:1; Ezk 44:21; 1 Tm 3:3,8] when you enter the tent of meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean, and teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has given to them through Moses.”  Leviticus 10:1-11

**The color coding is to help you understand who is speaking when. Sometimes Moses is speaking and sometimes God is speaking. It’s good to be aware of which because what is said is very vital.

Many people read this passage with anger in their hearts toward God for His capriciousness. These young men hadn’t done anything all that bad, not worth being incinerated. Or had they? What exactly did they do and why did it result in such anger from God? Again, it’s important to understand the language of the Bible and the historical setting. To look at this from a non-understanding 21^st Century perspective is ignorance.

In the Holman Christian Study Bible, the translators chose to use the word “unauthorized” to translate what the KJV calls “strange”.  I looked it up in Strong’s Concordance and found the definition behind the translations.  “Strange” or “unauthorized” fire is translated from “zuwr”, a primitive root meaning: 1) to be strange, be a stranger; 1) to become estranged; 2) strange, another, stranger, foreigner, an enemy (participle); 3) loathsome; 4) strange woman, prostitute, harlot; 5) to be estranged; or, 6) to be a stranger, be one alienated

There was something wrong with this fire.  I like the word “strange”, but unauthorized is perhaps the more correct term. It all has to do with the source of the fire and the spirit in which it was offered.  Altars were pretty common in the Old Testament. The patriarchs set them up whenever and wherever they felt the presence of God. Altars were intimately associated with a dwelling place for God in the minds of the Israelites.  The Israelites, being a nomadic monotheistic people, carried two altars with them through the desert as part of the tabernacle of testimony (the tent temple the Israelites carried with them in the desert). These two altars were inextricably linked by their functions. The altar of sacrifice had been kindled by God at the dedication of the tabernacle.  Constantly sprinkled with the blood of sacrifices, this altar was a place of reconciliation with God, Who had kindled the flames Himself at the dedication of the tabernacle. It stood at the door of the tabernacle where the entire camp could see the sacrifices and know that their fellow Israelites were getting right with God. The altar of incense, which resided inside the tabernacle, was where what we might call an “adoration” offering was made. Incense, a very costly item in those days, was burned upon the altar as a sweet-smelling offering to God.

A direct link existed between the two altars in the tabernacle of testimony: the only coals that could heat the incense to make it a fragrant offering were those on which the blood of sacrifice had been spilled. In other words, the fuel for the worship offering came from the sacrifice of atonement. Any other fuel for petition and worship was absolutely unacceptable. Any other fire was “strange” (unauthorized) fire. And any other coals except those stained in blood were unacceptable.

The position of the two altars assured that the fragrant offering was only possible because of the sacrificial offering. Until someone had experienced atonement at the first altar, he or she could not offer the fragrant incense of prayer, praise, and worship at the second altar because he would be without an intercessor.

We don’t know where Nadab and Abihu got the fire they used except that they didn’t get it from the altar of sacrifice. We don’t know why they chose to use that fire over the authorized fire, but we do know the results. God was not pleased with their offering.  What could have made the fire they used strange, unholy, or unauthorized? Priests, which is what Nadab and Abihu were, used authorized censers to scoop coals from the altar of sacrifice and to place them underneath the altar of incense to keep it burning. Nadab and Abihu erred in bypassing the altar of sacrifice and using fire from another source to heat the incense. There is no mistake they knew the correct way to make the offering; it had been previously discussed. Whether they understood the reason is another matter and one that a human like myself is unqualified to answer; best leave it to God, Who’s commandments we are discussing.

The offering was so unacceptable that they were consumed. This judgment seems harsh to us, but we must bear in mind that God was using this generation of priests to teach all subsequent generations how to approach Almighty Yahweh. Moses' explanation was clear: those who share the privilege of being nearest to God must also bear the responsibility of exemplifying His holiness through obedience. They must set the example for the nation to approach the awesome God of Israel with reverence.

By not following the rules governing the sacrifice, Nadab and Abihu were showing a lack of reverence for the Creator of the Universe and the Kindler of their souls. They were approaching Him unworthily and, for the sake of future generations, God could not allow that. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding, and the result of this horrific punishment was that Aaron and his remaining sons were much more careful to approach God as He deserves.

So what does this mean to us in the 21^st Century?  The New Testament speaks to true worship as well, in John 4.  The Samaritans were the descendents of Jews who had been left behind during the Babylonian captivity. With the priests and intellectuals gone from the land, they had intermarried with surrounding tribes and admixed a lot of Canaanite ceremonies into Judaism. The Temple had been destroyed, so they established a worship center at the site of a Canaanite high place. By the time the Jews moved back from Babylon, they Samaritans had become convinced that they were worshipping correctly. The Jews didn’t like the Samaritans for this and avoided them at all cost, but Jesus went out of his way to encounter a Samaritan woman at a well and discuss truth with her.

“Jesus told her, “Believe Me,  woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans  worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. B
ut an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  John 4:21-24

The Samaritans didn’t really understand what they were worshipping. The Jews had a better idea, but they were still off-base. The time was coming (and was actually sitting right there at the well of Sychar speaking these words) when true worshipers would worship God in spirit and truth. It wouldn’t be about the times and places or forms of worship, but about a right relationship with God. Because the Samaritans and Jews were worshiping God with their bodies rather than their whole souls, they risked being cut off from the kingdom of God. The woman at the well of Sychar did not let the opportunity to become right with God pass. She leapt to the task.  This brings us to the 21st Century.

The incident with Nadab and Abihu makes clear that we never have the right to simply chat with God. To approach the throne of God, we must do it in the right way.  No matter how spiritual we become, on our own we will never have the right to lift even the most pious prayers to God. Only Christ has that right. He must intercede with our every word before the throne of grace. Only after we have met Him at the altar of sacrifice are we eligible for petition, praise, and worship at the altar of incense.

When Jesus told the woman at the well that we would soon worship “in spirit and in truth” the question is raised -- what is worshipping in spirit and truth? When God created humans, He gave us something no other creature had received: a spirit. This spirit makes us in His image because God is spirit. Our spirit gives us the capacity to know and experience God. Our soul, which is often misrepresented as spirit, is the source of our emotions and personality-that which represents our conscious selves. Much of our problems in the modern-day church revolve around the confusion of the two. Our mind and emotions are not our spirit. They are a manifestation of our brain. Spirit is above soul. The third component of the triune human is the physical body. When God says that we must worship Him in spirit, He means that the only acceptable worship is that which is motivated and controlled by our spirits. The body and soul may accompany the spirit in worship, but they can never acceptably overthrow it. Our bodies and souls may express praise as long as they accompany a deep spiritual longing to know and reverence God. Only the spirit can provoke and control worship for it to be acceptable. We can clap our hands or dance as an accompaniment to spiritual worship, but the emotion and personality can never acceptably take the lead. Any variance from this balance would be "strange incense" (Exodus 30:9, KJV). Spiritual worship comes from our very core and is fueled by an awesome reverence and desire for God. Spiritual worship is focusing all we are on all He is, both personally and universally. It is the incomparable expression of awe and affection for God. As such, it is the highest of human privileges. This is worshipping in spirit.

The second part is to worship in truth. It’s modern concept to question “what is truth?” God already defined it a very long time ago.  The Bible fortunately provides us with many examples of truth as God defines truth. The book of John uses the same word “truth” several times.  Every verse you are about to read translates the word “truth” from the same Hebrew word “aletheia”, which means “unveiled reality.” This definition brokers no discussion of the matter. Truth is truth in whatever sense it is being discussed.

“The Word became flesh  [Heb 4:15] and took up residence [tabernacled] among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the  One and Only Son  from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

“[F]or although the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."  John 1:17

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:32

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come.”  John 16:13

Jesus Christ is the Truth through whom we must worship! As He made clear in John 14, He is unveiled reality and our only access to the throne of grace.

Evangelism is never over!  Paul had covered a good deal of ground in a short number of years.  He accepted Jesus as Savior in about AD 35, two years after Jesus’ death. By the writing of this letter to the Romans in AD 55-56, he’d been a Christian 20 years and working in the Gentile areas about five. He had preached in Jerusalem, Damascus, Asia Minor and Greece. He hoped to travel to Rome and then onto Spain. He knew he had a great deal of ground to cover.

“Now, my brothers, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Nevertheless, to remind you, I have written to you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of God’s good news. My purpose is that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God. For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the good news about the Messiah from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum ^{[a Roman province northwest of Greece on the eastern shore of the Adriastic Sea].}  So my aim is to evangelize where Christ has not been named, in order that I will not be building on someone else’s foundation, but, as it is written: Those who had no report of Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.^{[Isaiah 52:15]} Romans 15:14-21

Paul admitted that the letter to the Romans was different from previous letters he’d written, which were probably already in circulation.  He’d written more boldly to the Romans. I think this was largely because church at Rome had a large Jewish contingency and he wanted to assure that they understood the role of the Gentiles and the Jews in God’s plan of salvation. The Gentiles Christians were fine. They didn’t need anything to complete them. The Jewish Christians, having come to Jesus in the same way as the Gentiles, also needed nothing more to complete their faith.  Paul was careful to note that he had not done anything among the Gentiles. God had done the work.  He intended to continue evangelizing and letting the Holy Spirit work in areas where Jesus’ message had not been heard. It’s interesting to me to note that Paul did not want to follow other evangelists. He wanted to work in new mission fields.

“That is why I have been prevented many times from coming to you. But now I no longer have any work to do in these provinces, I have strongly desired for many years to come to you whenever I travel to Spain. For I do hope to see you when I pass through, and to be sent on my way there by you, once I have first enjoyed your company for a while. Now, however, I am traveling to Jerusalem to serve the saints; the churches of these provinces [Macedonia and Achaia] were pleased to make a contribution to the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual benefits, then they are obligated to minister to Jews in material needs.
 
"So when I have finished this and safely delivered the funds to them, I will go by way of you to Spain. But I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing ^{[of the gospel]} of Christ.
Now I implore you, brothers, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to agonize together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf:  that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,
and that, by God’s will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you. The God of peace be with all of you. • Amen.”  Romans 15:22-33

Paul was headed back to Jerusalem after collecting an offering to support the Christians there. The churches of Greece and Macadonia had been generous, recognizing that the Jewish Christians had brought them salvation, something far more valuable than the coin they were sending to Jerusalem.

Paul would go to Rome after this visit to Jerusalem, but he would do so on the empire’s nickel, as a prisoner arrested for not paying his taxes in Jerusalem.  Doesn’t that make you grimace? Paul had just finished writing that Christians should pay their taxes. Of course, this is what he was accused of, not what he was guilty of. He had done what he was supposed to do. The Jews simply sought to rid themselves of him by accusing him falsely.  This is not unusual in the world. In a decade Nero would falsely blame Christians for burning down much of Rome. It gave him excuse to kill some, as the tax issue gave the Jews an issue to imprison Paul upon.

Paul’s Roman citizenship would afford him some protection that the Jews probably weren’t expecting. They no doubt thought they could get rid of him as they had Jesus, Stephen, James the apostle, and many other Jewish Christians. Paul was unique and he made use of that. He would live in Rome under house arrest for some time, even witnesses to members of the emperor's own household. Some apocryphal stories suggest he was released and traveled to Spain before he was re-arrested and executed in Rome, but there’s no Biblical evidence for that. Why would Paul, the great writer, stop writing when he was released from Roman captivity and why does Acts end so optimistically while he is still serving that first imprisonment?  More likely, he was executed without release around AD 64.

After a standard Pauline ending, Paul attached a post-script. Likely he had completed the letter before he found a messenger to carry it and he thought of more to say.  Remember, he didn't have a word processor, so he simply wrote a PS.

“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant  [Others interpret this term in a technical sense: deacon, or deaconess, or minister] of the church in Cenchreae. So you should welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever matter she may require your help. For indeed she has been a benefactor of many—and of me also.”  Romans 16:1-2

We don’t know a lot about Phoebe. This is the only time she is mentioned. However, looking at the Greek, we see she is identified with the word “diakonos” which is transliterated “deacon” (or deaconess) in English.  It means “1) one who executes the commands of another, esp. of a master, a servant, attendant, minister; 1a) the servant of a king; 1b) a deacon, one who, by virtue of the office assigned to him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use; 1c) a waiter, one who serves food and drink  As this word shares the same root meaning as the word used when Stephen and the other seven were selected to wait tables and distribute food and other aid to the widows and orphans, it is reasonable to assume that Phoebe had the same status in the church that they did; there are some denominations (my own included) who would disagree with that conclusion. It is fair to say that she was a woman of some responsibility who was apparently on some errand to Rome and Paul asked the church there to treat her with respect. In the same way, Priscilla was often mentioned with respect and as a co-laborer, not apparently a subordinate, to her husband Aquila.  Women throughout the New Testament were generally afforded much more freedom and honor than they normally received in either Jewish or Greek society of that day.

“Now I implore you, brothers, watch out for those who cause dissensions and pitfalls contrary to the doctrine you have learned. Avoid them; for such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.” Romans 16:17-18

“The report of your obedience has reached everyone. Therefore I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise about what is good, yet innocent about what is evil.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Timothy, my co-worker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow countrymen, greet you. I Tertius, who penned this epistle in the Lord, greet you.
Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you. [The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.]^{[Other mss omit bracketed text; see v 20]}.   Romans 16:19-24

Romans 16:3-16 has Paul saying howdy to a great many Roman Christians, showing that he knew a lot about the church and, though he had never been there, knew many of its members.

In the midst of his final greetings he warned the Roman Christians to be careful of those who cause divisions or who try to lead them away from the doctrine they had previously been taught. Such people, he claimed, do not serve Jesus, but their own greed. It is entirely possible that he was reminded of this while he was signing the letter by some incident around him at the time. If he was indeed writing from Corinth, a church with a lot of divisions, this would make a great deal of sense.

He was pleased with the general news out of Rome. The Roman Christians were obedient to the gospel. He made sure they knew he was pleased. However, he warned them to be wise about what is good and to be innocent about what is evil. This doesn’t mean they should be idiots, but that they should not partake of evil. God will take care of Satan. They needn’t worry about that.

Once more, it is important to note that Paul rarely wrote singularly. His signature appeared on these letters and I’m sure that the words and thoughts written there were his own, but he didn’t just advance his own theology. Timothy, Lucius (possibly Luke), Jason, Sosipater were there with him. His scribe Tertius greeted the church. Paul mentioned Gaius, his host who was apparently the pastor of the church at Corinth at that time, Erastus, who was the town treasurer, and Quartus were there as well. It is reasonable to assume, since Paul mentioned them, that they had read the letter and at least approved, if not had some input, into its contents.

[Many scholars agree that verse 24 is a scribal error inserted much later in the Christian era, probably borrowed from verse 20, which says essentially the same thing. It doesn’t change the meaning of the text. It is simply an error. Scholars tell us that only about 1% of the errors found in later copies reflect upon doctrinal issues and those are usually easily reconciled by reference to other scriptures or within the context of the passage.]

“Now to Him who has power to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the sacred secret kept silent for long ages, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God, to advance the obedience of faith among all nations—
to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to Him be the glory forever! [Other mss have these vv. at the end of chap 14 or 15]. Amen.” Romans 16:25-27

Paul’s primary message was always the glory of God. He lived and died to glorify God. He didn’t count any gain for himself as something worth acquiring, but gain for God was something for which he would give his life.  Thus, he ended the greatest theological letter ever written with a praise to Jesus Christ his Savior. The confusion that had affected the Jews for so long had been swept aside. It was clear through the explanation of this letter that salvation was by faith, not by works, for both the Jews and the Gentiles. This is the message we carry to the nations – that God, through Jesus, asked for our obedience in accepting Jesus’ salvation by faith. In this way, God will be glorified forever.

Faith requires a second look, a review before closing out this study.  We come to Jesus by faith, accepting that He is God, that He can erase our sins and that He will save us (Romans 10). We live by faith as Christians. Each day we renew our commitment to faith and live, work and face difficulties trusting that God has planned good for us (Jeremiah 29:11). God has asked that we trust that He exists and when we do, He shows us through our relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s work in our minds and hearts that He truly does exist. By trusting Him each day, we continue to allow the Holy Spirit to remake our innermost being. We do not live free of sin, but we do have the means to turn our sin over to God. In this way, we become acceptable to Him – not because we were born acceptable or because we have done anything worth being accepted, but because we have agreed to allow Him to make us acceptable.

This is the message we are meant to preach and it is worth noting that evangelism is never over. We live in a world today that is so connected that it is sometimes easy to believe that everybody in the world has heard the gospel. Yet, daily, I encounter people on TH and other places who have not heard the true gospel of the Bible. Christians are called, ordered by Christ’s last words on this planet, to go to the whole world and tell people about Jesus, bringing those who become believers into the Church. We are not called to force people to believe or obey God (we cannot, in fact, do so), but we are called to keep speaking the gospel into a hostile world until Jesus returns.

Evangelism is never over! It was never meant to be!

A paradox that many non-believers cannot grasp and, truthfully, many Christians fail to understand, is that Christians are meant to put others before themselves. This is the example of Jesus Christ, Who went to the cross for us while we were still in disobedience to Him.  That is the ultimate example of sacrificial and unconditional love. For those who receive much, much will be required.

“Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. Each one of us must please his neighbor for his good, in order to build him up. For even the Messiah did not please Himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.^{[Psalm 69:91]} For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, so that through our endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope. Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you agreement with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice.”  Romans 15:1-6

The bulky mule strikes again and truly, if the foregoing study on accommodating the weak in faith had not been so long, I might have included this in with it because it is a continuation of the discussion. However, much is written here that can be dealt with separately.

God allowed Christian liberty not for our pleasure, but for the glory of God and the good of others. We should act to please our neighbor for the good of his soul; not by serving his wicked will, and humoring him in a sinful way. We are not serving Jesus if we seek to please men.  Jesus’ entire life was a denying of self and of personal aggrandizement. That should be our example for living the Christian life. Considering his purity and holiness, it is revolting to think that He was “made sin and a curse for us” and felt the reproaches of God. The just suffered for the unjust, bearing our sin in its fullness so that we would have to bear only a small portion of it. 

For to whom much is given, much will be required. Jesus bore the presumptuous sins of the wicked; we who have received that marvelous blessing are called only to bear the failings of the weak. Consider this: we are the body of Christ. I have a knee that has seen a few hard times and occasionally hurts more than the other. When that happens during a hike, the good leg compensates for the bad and thus I am able to continue the hike. Should we who are the hands of feet of our Savior not be humble, self-denying, and ready to consider the other members of the Body? The Scriptures are written for our use and benefit in the 21^st Century as much as to those Christians in the 1^st Century. We should not ignore it or its instructions, but commit it to our memories and allow it to inform our lives.

Paul encourages unity at this point. Unity of thought and message would become an increasing theme among the Church, culminating in the “catholic” ecclesiastic system. Christian unity is a precious gift of God for which we must earnestly seek. However, this like-mindedness must be according to the teaching, pattern and example of Jesus. Yet we cannot do it without careful consideration to Scripture and the patterns of both Christ and the early Church. While unity is a high ideal, obeying God is higher still. All Christian actions, individual and group, should be for the glorification of God; nothing encourages this more than the mutual love and kindness of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Those that agree in Christ should agree among themselves, so long as what they are agreeing to is Scripturally-based.

“Therefore accept one another, just as the Messiah also accepted you, to the glory of God.

"Now I say that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised [the Jews] on behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises to the fathers, and so that Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles, and I will sing psalms to Your name.^{[2 Samuel 22:50; Psalm 18:49]} Again it says: Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people!^{[Deuteronomy 32:43]} And again: Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; all the peoples should praise Him!^{[Psalm 117:1]} And again, Isaiah says: The root of Jesse will appear, the One who rises to rule the Gentiles; in Him the Gentiles will hope.^{[Isaiah 11:10]} Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:7-13

Jesus fulfilled the prophecies and promises relating to the Jews. The Gentiles, being brought into the Church, are companions in patience and tribulation. Both should praise God for the gift of salvation. We shall never seek Jesus until we trust in Him. The whole plan of redemption is designed to reconcile us to one another as well as to our God, so that an abiding hope of eternal life, through the sanctifying and comforting power of the Holy Spirit, may be attained. We will never reach this in our own power; therefore where this hope abounds, the Holy Spirit must have all the glory. "All joy and peace;" all sorts of true joy and peace, so as to suppress doubts and fears, through the powerful working of the Holy Spirit.

Paul was persuaded that the Roman Christians were filled with a kind and affectionate spirit in conjunction with knowledge. He had written to remind them of their duties and their dangers, because God had appointed him the minister of Christ to the Gentiles. Paul preached to them; but what made them sacrifices to God, was, their sanctification (their daily walks leading them closer to God). This was not Paul’s work, but the work of the Holy Spirit. God saves us from our sins. Paul was merely a preacher of that message, as are we. For all his great evangelism, Paul could not make any one obey God. He could only preach and let the Holy Spirit do the rest, convicting non-believers of their need for Jesus. It is the same with Christians today. We can only present the gospel; it is not for us to convince anyone of their need to obey God. The work of the Holy Spirit will bring them to repentance and we can assist them in growing in discipleship, but it is not our place to try to “save” anyone. That is the work of the Savior.

There are many types of human beings who inhabit the Church of Christ. Sometimes reading secular writers take on Christianity, you’d think only a certain segment of the population would be “duped” into being Christians – poor, poorly educated, followers. Thirty years a Christian and I haven’t experienced a church of poorly educated sheep yet. My 73-year-old friend RV is one of the examples I’d like these ignorant commentators to meet – bluff, outspoken, a bit acerbic, a leader, a businessman, a Bible scholar, a former chemist, a frontiersman, a missionary …. Trying to turn RV into a sheep would be like trying to herd cats or turn lead into gold. His son Jon is perhaps the most brilliant man I have ever met in terms of a renaissance knowledge of the world as well as a former Olympic-class athlete. Another son is an accomplished musician. Excellence is a way of life. Those are the sorts of Christians I know best.

There are many others – a whole range of the human population, sometimes in the same church. Some people have incredibly strong faiths. Others have weaker faiths. And some, me included, know there are things of the world we shouldn’t participate in because they affect our walk with the Lord in a negative ways.

This same range existed in the Roman church and Paul, as he moves into the practical advice portion of the letter, addresses this.

“Accept anyone who is weak in faith, but don’t argue about doubtful issues. One person believes he may eat anything, but one who is weak eats only vegetables.

"One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat; and one who does not eat must not criticize one who does, because God has accepted him.

"Who are you to criticize another’s household slave? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And stand he will! For the Lord is able ^{[or For God has the power]} to make him stand.

"One person considers one day to be above another day. Someone else considers every day to be the same. Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind.

"Whoever observes the day, observes it to the Lord.^{[other mss add but whomever does not observe the day, it is to teh Lord that he does not observe it]} Whoever eats, eats to the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is to the Lord that he does not eat, yet he thanks God.”  Romans 14:1-6

I attend a church with a large Alaskan Native group. One thing Alaskan Natives share with many Indian populations is their lack of tolerance for alcohol. Therefore, many Natives are alcoholics. Many came to Jesus because they had run out of secular options to save their own lives. Jesus provided them with the strength and purpose of mind to give up alcohol.

Jesus turned water into (very excellent!) wine, so obviously alcohol is not an inherently evil substance (the denomination of which I am a member disagrees). There are Christians I know who have no compunction concerning popping the top on a beer after work or having a glass of wine at dinner. And, I’m okay with that so long as it doesn’t affect their relationship with Jesus – or harm the people around them. 

Meat offered to pagan idols was commonly sold in the marketplace as a way to raise temple funds. Sometimes it was the only meat available to the poor. It was common practice to buy it. Apparently, Christians bought and ate it just like everyone else. Some, however, were bothered by this practice. Perhaps they’d been pagan worshippers before they became Christians while others had not been – or perhaps the idea that these meats were offered to pagan gods bothered them out of simple devotion to God.  Paul gives the same advice here as he does later in Corinthians.  All things are lawful, but not all things are useful. If you’re strong in the faith and can eat meat, do so, but don’t condescend to those who are bothered by it. On the other hand, if you’re bothered by eating meat offered to idols; don’t criticize the person who is able to do so with a clear conscience.

Paul reminded his readers that they didn’t serve one another. They served God. One doesn’t criticize someone else’s household servant/slave.  If the owner is pleased with the slave, what business is it of yours? In the same way, if God is pleased with someone, why are their fellow Christians criticizing them.

Note – this does not impact Matthew 15 or the sections in Corinthians talking about church discipline. There are indeed times when Christians violate clear commands of God and must be confronted by their fellows. The New Testament nowhere says we can’t eat meat offered to idols, just as nowhere does it say we shouldn’t drink alcohol. We are called to be sensitive to one another’s weaknesses, however.

It should be recognized that some churches really are guilty in this regard. My church is very accepting of recovering alcoholics, former felons, and people who don’t have a perfect past, but I know churches that are not. I’m always amazed when I hear a member of one of those churches praise my church for our acceptance of “sinners” when I know in fact that those same people had tried to visit that other church and had gotten an icy cold shoulder. Accept those who are weak in the faith; in doing so, most churches would actually be strengthened through variety. They missed out on some of the most dynamic and hard-working Christians you might ever know simply because they deemed them “weak in the faith” and not worth the trouble.

“For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

"Christ died and came to life for this: that He might rule over both the dead and the living.

"But you, why do you criticize your brother? Or you, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.^{[or Christ]}  For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God. [Isaiah 45:23; 49:18]

"So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.”  Romans 14:7-12

What it all comes down to is that each of us, Christian or non-believer, will some day stand before God and give an account of our lives – the people we showed love and compassion to and the people we rejected, the way we impacted the world we live in, the thoughts that we kept secret even from our closest companions. Christians will not suddenly find themselves going to Hell, although some who have tried to follow Christ by works rather than salvation will indeed hear Him say “Depart, I never knew you.” We are secure because we are in Christ’s hand and He is in God’s hand, and nothing can snatch us from it (John 10:28) or separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35).  We will, however, be called to give an account.  I have a friend who believes (bit of personal theology) that we will experience for an instant what God experiences when we Christian disobey Him. Don feels it will feel like flame within our souls and consciences. It won’t be pretty. Then God will say, “It’s forgiven” and we’ll go on to our reward. I don’t know if Don’s right, but just such an account would make sense.

“Therefore, let us no longer criticize one another, but instead decide not to put a stumbling block or pitfall in your brother’s way. (I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean.)
For if your brother is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. By what you eat, do not destroy that one for whom Christ died.”  Romans 14:13-15

Paul had stood against Peter and Barnabas when they had tried to revert back to Jewish food restrictions. He was totally convinced that there was no food that was unclean in itself. However, Christians shouldn’t throw tripping sticks in front of one another. If a companion has issues with eating the meat of idols, or drinking alcohol, or (fill in the blank), even though the practice may not be prohibited in the Bible, Christians should not participate, not because it has somehow become an unclean practice (it hasn’t), but because it threatens to destroy someone for whom Christ died.

“Therefore, do not let your good be slandered, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves the Messiah in this way is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then, we must pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another. Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong for a man to cause stumbling by what he eats. It is a noble thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother stumble. [or offended or weakened]
Do you have faith? Keep it to yourself before God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.”  Romans 14:16-23

Paul reiterated his main point because, I’m sure, God had guided him to understand that some people would protest, “But I have faith! Why should I constrain myself because someone else is weak?”

The person who eats (or drinks) because they feel compelled to by their fellow Christians yet feels that it is an unclean practice is sinning because he is not acting in faith. That can lead to some deep damage in the human psyche. An example – nowhere in the Bible can I find an admonition that I MUST speak in tongues. It is apparently not a gift God has granted me because I regularly worship with charismatic brethren and I have never felt the impulse to speak in tongues. I’ve had charismatic friends tell me “Well, just pray about it and then, just start doing it and God will be there to support you.”  NO! Wresting gifts from God without His permission doesn’t sound like obedience to me. If I were to do that, I think my conscience would prick me and that means that what I am doing is a sin for me. I do not contend that speaking in tongues is a sin for my charismatic friends. Many of them do it in complete faith. It would be a sin for me unless God gave me the gift. He’s given me other gifts. Apparently He doesn’t feel I need that one.

On the other hand, I don’t eat meat around a youth in my church who is currently going through a crisis concerning whether God allows us to eat animals. I think God does – He killed for the first ones, after all, to clothe Adam and Eve. And, I will eat meat around the veggie Nazis at work who give me nonsense about the poor little animals. This teenager is trying to work something out in her spiritual life and it is not my place to make her thought process more difficult. I have sat with her and studied the Bible – I pray with her – I’ve provided her with health information about the benefits of eating meat (she gets plenty of the negatives from the world).  I constrain myself out of love for her, in an effort to build up her faith and to promote peace. When my daughter ordered pizza for the group the other night, she made sure there was a veggie pizza for Melissa (and me, since I don’t eat meat around her).  We may disagree with her decision and we will continue to pray for her faith to be strengthened, but we will not cause our sister to stumble, even though I think pizza isn’t pizza without pepperoni.

Throughout the history of the Christian Church, there has been controversy about the connection of Christians with the government.  The citizens of the United States are in a unique position in that the law of our country does not allow the government to proscribe our religious practices.  This is unheard of almost anywhere else in the world or in history. Christians of the 1^st Century certainly did not live in such fortunate times.

The Romans were a remarkably diverse empire when it came to religion. They had borrowed their pantheon from the Greeks, but they also allowed the worship of various cults. As long as the adherent was also willing to offer homage to the emperor, there was no sanction against most religions. The Jews were even given a special dispensation that allowed them not to worship the emperor since it was a violation of their strict monotheism. Yet, by the time Paul wrote to the Romans, persecution was beginning to grow. More and more, Christianity was being viewed as an outlaw religion. History tells us that this was not because they were criminals, but because they were the exact opposite. They were honest and forthright, helpful to their neighbors, supportive to their own group and law-abiding. The issue was simply that they would not worship anyone or anything other than Jesus and they were willing to die rather than be forced to do so. Although this letter, written about AD 55-56, was written prior to Nero coming to power and blaming Christians for the Great Roman fire of AD 64, the seeds of future Christian persecution had already been scattered. They were a risk to the order of the Roman Empire and their motivations for the good they did were suspect because they appeared not to be self-motivated. They served a Higher Power than the empire. That couldn’t be good! It needed to stop!

Thus, already experiencing the unequal protection that Rome afforded those who did not comply with its orders, Christians had questions about their response to government. It is a testament to the complexity of God and probably a proof that the New Testament did not come from the mind of humans that Paul gave the exact opposite advice than what one might expect from a leader of an outlaw religion.

“Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God.
So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do good and you will have its approval. For government is God’s servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.

Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of your conscience. And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s public servants, continually attending to these tasks. Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.”  Romans 13:1-7

Paul no doubt had encountered some of the same Christians I’ve encountered, people who are certain that Christians should not have to obey the government or pay taxes because we’re not part of this world.  Paul answered them with a firm “You’re wrong!”  The governing authorities derive their authority from God. This, of course, creates problems for revolutionaries and Americans.  Does this mean we are not to oppose bad governments?

Paul actually answered this. Governments are given authority to squelch bad conduct and they support good conduct. Do what is good. Don’t break the law. Pay your obligations to everyone – taxes to the taxman, tolls to the highwayman, respect to those who are in a position to require respect, and honor to those who have earned it. Governmental authorities are busy about the needs of the community and that effort requires taxes and respect for their duties.  If we are doing what is good and paying our obligations, government should have no reason to notice us.

Of course, history has shown this is not completely true. The Roman government would spend a couple of centuries trying to exterminate Christians simply because they wouldn’t worship the emperor.  Christians living in conquered Muslim states would be given a choice to convert to Islam, die or live in virtual slavery.  Dictators would torture their citizens for the simple reason that they could. Christians living in China face persecution and death if they want to worship in authentic faith rather than under the strictures of the state. The Roman Catholic Church working in cohort with the secular governments of Europe persecuted and killed “heretics” for the simple reason that they chose not to worship in Roman Catholic churches and under Roman Catholic rules.

There have been governments that have proscribed Christian worship and have redefined “good” as unlawful. I don’t think Paul was naïve about the evil that governments can produce.  I think he would, if properly introduced, have approved of the American experiment of representative democracy. He would have frowned on rulers like Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler (and the many others who are very similar). He would have objected to rulers torturing their citizens just because they can. I don’t know what his specific stand would be on the Christian response to abusive government. I do know that God authorized Israel to conduct wars against neighboring states who were abusing them. I would note that Christianity became quite popular among Roman soldiers and there is no hint of Paul or any of the apostles suggesting they were breaking God’s law by giving service to their country or even killing their country’s enemies. I think Paul would have approved of voting. He certainly made use of his Roman citizenship when it was needful. Beyond that, it’s hard for me to know exactly what in American democracy would be approved. Generally, all things are lawful, but not all things are useful to the kingdom of God.   In that context, Christians must always weigh whether we are violating God’s law, which is higher than any manmade law. If a secular law asks us to violate God’s commands, then we are required to disobey, but only to that point. Thus, the Christians of the 1^st Century paid their taxes, but they didn’t worship the emperor. Taxes is just money; the emperor is just a man. Their priorities were straight and aligned with God rather than the Roman Empire. It cost some of them their lives.

Christians are to be in the world, not of it. To be in the world means we must participate in the world around us; yet we do it for decidedly different reasons than our co-nationalists. I vote for a president not just because he’ll be pro-defense or fiscally conservative. I think these are good attributes in an elected leader, but I also think character – specifically Christian character – is often overlooked and to the detriment of our country.  So, while I might not always get a chance to vote for a Christian and I might actually end up voting against a Christian for various reasons, I like to look at the character of a candidate more closely than at his stump speeches.  This is because being in the world requires that I care about the secular environment of my world, but not being of the world, I have different motivations and goals than the general public. Jesus goes with me into the voting booth.

“Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal,  do not covet, [Ex 20:13–17; Dt 5:17–21] and if there is any other commandment—all are summed up by this: Love your neighbor as yourself. [Lv 19:18] Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:8-10

A primary reason why Paul could tell the Christians of the 1^st Century through the 21^st Century to obey the government is that our primary purpose in existence is to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Our neighbor includes our enemies – those who use us badly as well as those who treat us well. Revolutionaries tend to become distracted by revolutionary causes, directing energy from God’s primary purpose, which is evangelism. Our passions for anything secular ought never to be greater than our passion for Jesus. When our priorities are properly aligned, we may have difficulty with the world around us, but the complaints the world has about us will be as unjustified as they were against the 1^st Century Christians. They followed the laws of the Roman Empire, but they refused to worship the emperor because he was not God. While the emperor might have seen this as a threat (particularly a megalomaniac like Nero), it really was no threat to the order of the empire. Law-abiding citizens rarely threaten a law-based government (which I suppose was the actual problem with Rome by the time of Nero).

“Besides this, knowing the time, it is already the hour for you [or us] to wake up from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over, and the daylight is near, so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk with decency, as in the daylight: not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires.” Romans 13:11-14

There are four directives for daily Christian living given herein. Now is the time to be awake spiritually and not to be tangled in carnal (fleshly security, sloth and negligence. Christians are called to cast off the spiritual death and somnolence of our prior unsaved state and be about God’s business.  Salvation is at hand. We must be ready, minding our personal lives.

Some of the symbolism here is startling. You can read it for yourselves, but it boils down to a simple progression of events.  Wake up to your sin and repent (turn away from it). Accept salvation and put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-18, which Paul hadn’t written yet, but was evidently developing the themes):

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics  [schemes, or tricks] of the Devil. For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word. With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and stay alert in this, with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.”

When we have properly clothed and armed ourselves, we can then walk the path God has set for us.  Christianity teaches us how to walk so as to please God, regardless of what the world might think. Walk honestly, avoiding the works of evil. Where there are riots and drunkenness, there is usually immoral sex and all sorts of other unhealthy lifestyle choices. Paul referred to Proverbs 23:29-35 to see what provision we are to make against such assaults on our Christian character. Our greatest interest must be to provide for our souls, but we must also take care about our bodies, avoiding arguing and indulging ourselves in irregular desires. Natural wants should be answered, but evil appetites should be checked and denied. We are taught to pray for our daily bread, but to ask meat for our lust is to provoke God (Psalm 78:18).

This chapter is Paul’s example of what a good Christian would look like to themselves and to the world around them.  Law-abiding, moral, kind, temperate, and absolutely determined to follow God’s law – these traits should characterize Christianity. There can be no complaint with such a person.

I skipped Chapter 11 for the same reason I skipped Chapter 9.  Romans is a very dense theological treatice. Parts of it require a greater knowledge of Old Testament theology than I possess and, for me, they are diverting from the main message of gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul was writing to a mixed Jewish and Gentile audience who needed the theological lesson and it may be something I would tackle in the future, but I am going to focus on God’s current message to me. There’s plenty in Romans to examine without focusing on every chapter and verse.

“Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”  Romans 12:1-2

Paul turned from the Jewish nation and the discussion of various practically-applied doctrines to important duties of Christian living. He entreated the Romans, as his siblings in Christ, by the power of God, to present their bodies as a living sacrifice to Him. This is a powerful appeal, but little understood by non-believers. They are perhaps uncomfortable with the sacrificial language or with the urging to actually surrender to a power greater than ourselves.

Every day and in every way we receive the fruits of God’s mercy. Every heartbeat bears His name. Our very existence relies upon Him. Our peace with Him was given to us by Him. He went to the cross to show His love for us. So much has been given to us! What may we give in return?

Let us render to Him all we are, all we have, all we can do!  It is acceptable to God: a reasonable service, which we are able and ready to give a reason for, and which we understand. Our minds were renewed by belief and confession, by our early walk with Jesus; something fundamental has changed within us. The progress of becoming more like Christ, dying to sin more and more, and living to righteousness more and more, continues this renewing work and will continue until it is perfected in heaven.

The great enemy to this renewal is conformity to this world. Careful of planning overmuch for happiness, for it does not lie in the temporal things of this world. Do not be seduced for follow the lifestyle of people who walk in the lusts of the flesh, and mind earthly things. The work of the Holy Ghost first begins in the understanding and continues to the will, affections, and conversation, eventually changing the whole believer into the likeness of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. True godliness is to give up ourselves to God.

“For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.
Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the standard of faith; if service, in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.”  Romans 12:3-8

Pride is a great sin deeply rooted in human nature; we need be aware and armed against it. All the saints make up one body in Christ, who is the Head of the body and the common center of our unity. In the spiritual body, some are fitted for and called to one sort of work; others for another sort of work. We are to do all the good we can, one to another, and for the common benefit. If we actually considered the powers God has given us and how much we fail to properly use and improve them, it would humble us. We shouldn’t make overmuch about our talents, but we should also take heed not to pretend to humility and self-denial to the point where we do not use the gifts God has given us. We must not say, “I am nothing, therefore I will sit still, and do nothing.”  We should say instead, “I am nothing in myself, and therefore I will give of myself to the utmost, in the strength of the grace of Christ.” Whatever our gifts or situation may be, we should work for the Lord humbly, diligently, cheerfully, and in simplicity; not seeking our own credit or profit, but the good of many, for this world and that which is to come.

^"Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, [Deuteronomy 32:35] says the Lord. But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.^{[Proverbs 25:21-22]}   Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.”  Romans 12:9-21

Paul often gave his readers practical advice to employ the theological principles he discussed.  Here, he does just that.  The defining characteristic of Christianity should be our sincere love for Christ and one another. There should be no deceit in the way we treat one another.  We should always be working toward the Lord’s goals and not wearying in doing the work He has set before us.  We should embrace the promises of our future, face affliction and persecution as Jesus did, and continually pray.  We should be hospitable to our fellow Christians, helping one another as they have need. We should face persecution with love for those who persecute us and not hatred and cursing – for this is the best testimony to the power of God that we can show.We should be ready to be happy with those who are happy and to mourn with those who are mourning. Churches should be characterized by basic agreement on the important stuff. It cannot be said enough that it is a sin when churches split over the color of the wallpaper in the fellowship hall.  This comes from pride and self-conceit. We should seek out people who understand true humility for they can teach us not to think of ourselves as so wise.  We don’t need to seek revenge when our enemies persecute us.  It is worthy of Christians to act in scrupulously honorable ways.  If there is a need for wrath, God can provide it far better than we.  Instead, we should off our enemies water and food.  Paul assures us this will drive our enemies crazy as they try to figure out why we’re being so kind.

It comes down to the simple, but oh, so difficult, concept.  Don’t be consumed by the evil around you. Overcome evil by doing good. Change the world around you by showing them a different way of being.

I will admit that this is hard advice aimed at me.  I have a strong sense of justice. I think evil people should be punished. However, I have had opportunity in my life to encounter people who some would call evil who I know are anything but evil. And, this brings us to the point. God knows the heart. We can judge actions, but we cannot know what drives humans to do the things they do. When the Roman Catholic Inquisitors were arresting, prosecuting and persecuting “protestants” throughout the history of the RCC until well into the Reformation, many of them were doing so in sincerity, errantly believing they were defending the faith of Jesus Christ. They were, in fact, defending the human-wrought contrivance of the Roman popes and priests, but in a time when even men of the church frequently weren’t allowed to read the Bible, they had no way of knowing that. Their actions were regrettable; their motives were misplaced. Yet, God loved them as He loved the “protestants”. Among the Amish there’s a story of a anabaptist who was being pursued across a frozen lake that was cracking beneath him as he ran. His pursuer fell through. The anabaptist returned across the treacherous ice to rescue his pursuer from the ice. The Amish consider the anabaptist to be a hero of the faith, even though he was killed for his efforts. History does not record the reaction of the man whom he rescued, but I cannot help think that it at least bothered him that this man gave his life so he wouldn’t die of hypothermia.

God can use people who in love for Him deal with the world in paradoxical ways, who are not consumed with hate for their persecutors, but live in the goodness that God has granted them. This does not mean we are to twist ourselves into pretzels in an attempt to be the worldly definition of “Christian.” Christians are called to obey God, not secular definitions. When we obey God, we will often not be loved by the world around us, but regardless of the screams of denial we might hear from them, they may well be protesting the testimony they cannot discredit. Paul has given us the formula for successful Christian living. It won’t earn us a million bucks or worldly accolades, but it will earn us a “well done” from Jesus Christ. And, the favor of God and Savior should be more than enough!

The theme of this section of the letter is the present ourselves as living sacrifices to Jesus. Occasionally, our faith will require our deaths, but in reality, what Jesus wants from us is far more difficult to give up. He asks that we give our lives to Him so that our every action, every word, every thought is dedicated to Him and available to be used to His purposes. This means that when I am at my job, I dedicate my work to Him. Nobody else need know I do that, but occasionally I receive a compliment for my diligence or whatever, and I give the “roses” to God, because my dedication to the details of my job is not really because I’m a good employee so much as it is because I am doing it unto the Lord. I like my boss, but I want to please my Savior far more.  This means that as a parent or a wife, I also dedicate what I do to Jesus, which infuses it with so much more depth and importance than the ordinary mundane duties of parent and marriage. There are times when such duties are onerous, which is when doing them for the Lord rather than for my children or husband allows me to continue doing well even when they don’t appreciate it.

In the midst of our everyday lives, we may give an offering to God – which is our everyday lives. We should always be ready to give an answer for what we believe, to pray for our fellow man, to give Jesus the moment we’re standing in for no other reason than that He owns the heartbeat that makes it possible. 

In this way, we present ourselves as living sacrifices.

I decided to skip Chapter 9 because my greater subject is not Israel, but Christianity. Briefly, God offered the gospel to the Jews. They were always meant to come to salvation by faith in the same manner as Abraham; they were the ones who became confused and thought that salvation came from following the later Mosaic law. God awaits their recognition of their error. There is therefore no condemnation to all who respond in faith as required, whether Jew or Gentile. All that is required is their response. Paul grieved for his fellow Jews at the same time he reached out to the Gentiles. He certainly didn’t hate the Jews as some “scholars” have claimed. He desired nothing but the best for them. He understood the best to be salvation in Jesus Christ.

“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning Israel  is for their salvation!  I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Because they disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.”  Romans 10:1-3

Paul had been such a Jew as the ones he mourned.  He knew that they had a zeal for God, in that they wanted to do whatever God wanted them to do. When you study the Pharisees, you come to understand that these were not ungodly folk. They desired to please God. They had failed in some way to understand the demands of God.  They disregarded the faith of Abraham and focused instead on their own righteousness, on their ability to obey the law.  In doing so, they refused to submit to God.

“For Christ is the goal  Or gof the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down
or, “Who will go down into the  abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.”  Romans 10:4-7

The gospel Paul and the other apostles preached is the same gospel that Jesus preached. “I am the way, the truth and the life,” Jesus said (John 14:6).  The law of Moses ends with Jesus if one believes what He preached.  Moses actually knew this too. The one who believes the law will live by it. The righteousness that comes from faith, however, puts mankind in our place. We cannot go to heaven to bring Jesus to us and thus make Him a man like us, nor can we got to Hell and bring Christ back from the dead. Those are not actions that lead to salvation, even if we could do them. Paul quoted Leviticus 18:5 to show that the answer had been there all along, in the Hebrew scriptures. In the midst of God declaring His sovereignty, He told the Jewish people that if they lived by His statutes, it would be worship to Him. Yet Paul explained it is much closer than what we do with our bodies. It is in our minds and in our hearts. Salvation is not some hidden mystery. It is something available to all of us who will repent and confess. It’s not about special ceremonies or following 146 rules. It’s about a relationship with Jesus Christ – recognizing our place in the universe in relation to God and stating that understanding.

“On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim:

if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.

Now the Scripture says, No one who believes on Him will be put to shame, [Isaiah 28:16] for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. [Joel 2:32]” Romans 10:8-13 

What an incredibly simple formula leads to salvation!  Believe and confess your belief!  It can’t be that easy! Ah, but it is! The Jewish scholars, Paul among them, missed it.  The Greek scholars never understood it. The early apostles wrote about it. The early Christians lived and died for it. The later Church let it go, added layers of ceremony and noise upon it – sacraments and specially worded prayers that look as pretty as the Jewish ceremonies did, but ultimately meant nothing to God. Believe and confess.  Believing in the heart results in rightness with God. Confessing aloud results in salvation. The Scripture in Romans 8 assured the Christians that Jesus’ followers would not be put to shame. It doesn’t matter what your background was or is.  Call upon the name of the Lord and you will be saved.

“But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How welcome are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things! But all did not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world. But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said: I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding. And Isaiah says boldly: I was found by those who were not looking for Me; I revealed Myself to those who were not asking for Me. But to Israel he says: All day long I have spread out My hands to a disobedient and defiant people.[Isaiah 65:2]”  Romans 10:14-21 

My major emphasis was and will remain versus 9-10; however, I want to briefly address this passage.  Not everyone will accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. That doesn’t mean we have an excuse for not preaching it. I have heard non-believers and even some believers state surprise and even consternation that Christian missionaries go “where they are not wanted” – tribal Africa, Muslim countries, inner cities. Don’t they know it’s dangerous? They shouldn’t go there. Yes, we should.  How can people come to faith in Jesus if no one presents the gospel to them? Someone must do that. It can be dangerous. The apostles died horrible deaths, in some cases worse than Jesus. God didn’t promise us good times as we preach the gospel. We are called to go into scary places and bring a message that is often rejected.  Iin the end, nobody can repent and confess if they haven’t first heard and accepted. When you shine light into dark places, the dark often scatters, but occasionally, something in that darkness responds and becomes a light in darkness itself. That is the business of God and He has required Christians to come alongside Him in it.

Modern-day Christianity takes a lot of heat for many things. Some of the hostility is justified. There are some arrogant Christians in this world. There are some business people who use the title “Christian” as false advertising. Yet, we also anger people with being who we were called to be. Believe and confess. That angers some people. Belief angers them because they cannot conceive of believing in anything greater than themselves and they resent that anyone else might know something they do not. Thus, they reject your knowledge. Confession angers them because in their “theology” they have all the answers and you have no right to tell them they are wrong, even if you never use that phraseology. Truth is relative! How dare you say otherwise! Yet, God still calls us to believe and confess. In confession, we draw others to belief. We become instruments of God’s grace, coworkers with Christ in the field of salvation. It’s not about hot praise bands and special programs. It’s not about life-affirming sermons. It’s not about thousands of people worshipping God at the same time. It’s about someone who has been to the banquet telling his starving neighbor how to find the banquet. One to one, one caring person to another person in need. Belief and confess. It was the simple formula of the early Christians that transformed their world. It should be the simple formula of modern-day Christians to transform our world.

In March of 2007 a coworker was killed by a delusional client. In December, two Denver teenagers were killed by a deranged man as they were going to church. Nice people die of cancer. Babies are abused.  What are we to make of the state of the world in which we live?  It would be easy to look at it and say “The world is horrible and there cannot be anything good in existence.” Yet, truthfully, we cannot say that, because as soon as we do say that we see a soldier risking his life to rescue people caught in a crossfire with the enemy. We see families willing to open their homes and hearts to pregnant teens and the children they produce. Someone paid for my lunch in the drive-through line a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know who, I don’t know why.

Turning his attention from the faith that gives us access to Heaven to the faith that Christians walk in every day, Paul focused on life’s difficulties. Paul was no less clued into the reasons for pain than I am. He knew it had a purpose and he was certain God was in control of that purpose, but he had no pretty platitudes to ease the suffering of his fellow Christians. He simply had the words of the Lord and the knowledge that there was a loving Savior behind those words.

“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified.”  Romans 8:28-30

Verse 28 is rather straight forward. Christians may go through rough times, may even face torture and death at the hands of cruel people who hate what they stand for, but Paul assured his readers that all things work together for their good.  First note that he didn’t make a personal statement. There’s no “I think” or “we believe”.  “We know” was what he wrote. Christians know this and they should in deed be convinced of it! God called us to the purpose of spreading His gospel and being a witness for Him on this planet. That may mean having to put up with some sad and lousy things. God doesn’t do these things to us. There’s plenty enough cruelty in the human race without God giving us ideas. We can figure out how to torment one another and ourselves without any help from Him. Individual things that happen to us might seem random and unfair, but if we look at the whole of what life has shaped in us, if we’ve kept our eyes on Jesus rather than our own circumstance, we should find ourselves to be of stronger character looking toward the future with God and able to deal with the present-day without weeping.

Verse 29 and 30 is actually a pretty complex statement that has divided some in the Christian Church in our past. I could get into the whole Calvinism versus Arminianism debate, but I’ve already dealt with that in an earlier post. I suspect the debate is also somewhat that works toward the good of Christians. It causes us to examine what we believe from time to time and come away more knowledgeable, let us hope. There are two Greek words sharing a root that are important here.  The first, proginosko, is translated as foreknew and means: 1) to have knowledge before hand; 2) to foreknow; 2a) of those whom God elected to salvation; 3) to predestinate.  The second, proorizo, is translated as predestinate and means: 1) predetermine, decide beforehand; 2) in the NT of God decreeing from eternity; 3) to foreordain, appoint beforehand. Clearly these words are different and do not mean the same thing, yet often translators and readers try to treat them as if they do.  This is an example of a complex Deity being complex. As I have already dealt somewhat with the subject in my post on Calvinism versus Arminianism, I’m going to let these verses lie as they are and move on with Paul’s larger message.

The following is a doxology of sorts from the New Testament. From time to time, Paul and other writers would include hymns and prayers common among the early churches.  This is such a one and it is normally termed “The Believer’s Triumph.”  In some ways, it sounds like Paul suddenly became full of himself, but in reality, he is quoting a hymn that Christians sang in their worship services.

What then are we to say about these things?

If God is for us, who is against us?

He did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?

Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the One who justifies.

Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the One who died, but even more, has been raised; He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.

Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written: Because of You we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.  [Ps 44:22; see Isaiah 53:7; Zch 11:4,7]

No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!  Romans 8:31-39

If God is for us, who can be against us? How can we argue against that?  Consider God – omnipotent, all knowing, Creator of the Universe. Who wouldn’t want Him on their side?  And, if He is on our side, of what do we have to be afraid?

We stand with the woman caught in adultery and Jesus asks us: “Where are your accusers?” Looking around, she saw they’d all left and Jesus said, “I don’t accuse you either. Go and sin no more.”  Now, there’s an important consideration here. Jesus is the only one who can judge the righteous because He has forgiven our sins. It’s not that we have not sinned. It’s that He’s removed those sins from our debt load. When someone wants to accuse us of those past sins, Jesus says, “No, that account has been settled.”  It is finished, by the power of God.  And, because God lives outside of time, that forgiveness is available to us throughout our lifetime. We are able to overcome sin not because we’re good people (we’re most often not) but because He loved us. And, God’s love is so great that there is NOTHING that can separate us from it, provided that we seek that love through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Typically these songs dated from very early in the Christian church. The doxology concerning Jesus’ resurrection was probably in use within two years following Jesus’ death, the Biblical historians tell us. Doxologies like “the Believer’s Triumph” worked to remind Christians before the New Testament was written and readily available of essential truths of Christianity. God is with us; He will not abandon us. He has forgiven us; that forgiveness is for all times. Nothing, not even our own actions, can separate Christians from God’s love. Those He has adopted are forever His now and in the future. We are no longer separated from God because He has built a bridge between us and Him.

Sometimes when we go through hard times, it is easy to think God isn’t with us. I suspect it was easier for the apostles to face the horrific times they would face because they had seen the resurrected Jesus with their own eyes, but for us, it’s truly something we must take on faith. I see the part of the bridge I’ve already traversed – the myriad of times God has been with me and worked good into my life, sometimes through hard circumstances. It doesn’t make the next step into the unseen easy. It might make it easier, if I remember that God has been with me in the past and He won’t abandon those He has adopted. That’s where a hymn like “The Believer’s Triumph” serves to remind me, as it reminded the early Christians, that Jesus is always with us and even bad times are drawing Christians ever closer to Him.

"Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction. For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by members of Chloe’s household, that there are quarrels among you. What I am saying is this: each of you says, “I’m with Paul,” or “I’m with Apollos,” or “I’m with Cephas,” or “I’m with Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name?" 1 Corinthians 1:10-13

The debate between Calvinism and Arminianism is centuries-old. It divides Protestantism. It sometimes threatens to divide my own denomination by membership, the Southern Baptist Association. It has led to many unnecessary disagreements and even some regrettable accusations of heresy.

Before I explain the difference, I will say that I am not dogmatic. Whether it’s the Apostles Creed, the five point TULIP of Calvinism or the seven points of Arminianism, we’re discussing theological systems, not inspired scripture. Theological systems can be very helpful in understanding God, our relationship with God and man’s place in God’s universe, but they should never substitute for honest Bible study. 

The Letter to the Corinthians records that some believers got distracted from the main issue of salvation by saying they were of Paul or Apollos rather than focusing on being of Christ. The Calvinist/Arminian divide is the same sort of distraction, causing us to spend altogether too much time trying to solve the paradox of God’s sovereignty and the free choice of man rather than following the Great Commission. The Bible clearly teaches that man has the ability and responsibility to choose, and it also just as clearly teaches that God is sovereign over all that happens, including our choices. 

How can we freely choose something that God has predestined and foreordained? If something is predestined, don’t we have to choose it, thereby limiting our free choice? Yet the Bible does speak of both predestination and free choice. In our finite, fallen minds, we cannot comprehend how these two concepts can co-exist. Of course, in our limited capacity, we cannot fully comprehend the Trinity or eternity, either. What is important is that we accept both the free will of man and the sovereignty of God because the Bible teaches both. To try to weasel out of this paradox using reason alone will fail us and lead us to the unbiblical conclusion that God forces the will of man to choose hell for himself. There is nothing about God’s character to say that He would force somebody to go to hell without their own wicked will sending them there. God created men surely knowing what each of us would choose, but He does not make us choose what He knows. His omniscience does not eliminate our free will. Therefore, whether we completely understand it or not, God’s sovereignty, foreknowledge, and omniscience co-exist with our human responsibility. 

We are not robots, for, as with Adam and Eve, we have choices to make and the capacity to do so.  Neither would it be true to say, however, that God is reactive to what we choose. Some have suggested that God only knows the possibilities of our choices, not the exact choice. Obviously, this is foolishness because God knows all. Thus, we are left with a paradox of God’s sovereignty, which includes predestination and the free will of man. Somehow both exist, and we must accept the tension. To veer to either extreme, which Calvinism and Arminianism in many ways are, without balancing it with the other will lead us to very unbiblical conclusions and behavior. We must balance God’s sovereignty with man’s responsibility. 

Calvinism teaches that man is so completely corrupted by sin that we are totally unable to even choose to be saved or to conjure up the desire to be saved. We find this belief encapsulated in Ephesians 2:1 and 2 Timothy 2:26. We were in utter and total need for grace, dead in sin and enslaved to the devil prior to coming to faith. The danger in this point is to eliminate the emotions, mind and will of the person as being responsible for responding to the grace of God. Many Calvinists I know emphasize total depravity to an unhealthy extreme, telling unsaved people to ask God to give them the faith to believe rather than telling them just to decide to believe. This leaves the unsaved person waiting for something that may never come. While I agree we can’t demand that God save someone, God also gives us a command to be His witnesses – to preach, reason and, to the extent possible, persuade a person to believe. We ought to engage fallen minds and pray that God will give them the grace to see and understand our testimony. We are utterly dependent upon God’s grace, but let us not use that truth to negate that reason (Acts 17:2), good works (Matthew 5:16) and truth (Romans 10:17) can help lead a person to faith as God’s grace works in a person’s heart, mind and will. 

The idea of unconditional election basically means that God elected and chose those whom He will save solely based upon mercy, not upon any foreseen acts of goodness that the person might perform.  God knows ultimately who will be saved. It is indeed His sovereign purpose, in one sense, not to save all. Yet, we can’t stop there. We must balance this with the fact that God came to seek and save the lost, not just the elected lost. He wants none to perish, but all to come to eternal life. To use this belief to suggest that God delights to send some to hell or that those who go to hell never had a chance to respond to grace is not Biblical. It is not our job to worry if someone is a member of the elect or not; it is our job to preach to all people indiscriminately, believing that God wants them all to be saved.  God does not choose us because of some foreseen merit on our part; we are adopted into His family when we trust in Christ by faith. We can recognize that God knew we would be saved; thus, we are of the elect. However, to say that God picked some here and rejected some there simply because He can is to present a wrong view of God. God rejects only those who reject Him. Granted, He knew they would reject Him, but they are still responsible for doing so. Unconditional election puts us in danger of blaming God for the eternal damnation of the non-elect.

Limited atonement means that Christ’s sacrifice only covers the sins of those who receive it and not the sins of the whole world. In other words, God died only for the elect. This really flies in the face of the idea of man having any responsibility whatsoever. The Biblical picture is that Christ died for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2). The issue is not whether Christ died for someone or not, but whether that person will receive the grace provided to Him. God presented the entire world with a gift of salvation (Romans 6:23), but only some will choose to receive it. All sin has been paid for, but not all people will get the righteousness of Christ transferred and credited to their spiritual accounts. Limited atonement has dire consequences for Biblical evangelism because it leaves us hoping that Christ died for a person. If Christ did not, what hope can that person have? Why even witness to them? Although this is not the stand of all Calvinists, some have used this belief as a reason not to evangelize. God will save those He has elected and it’s a waste of time to talk to anyone He hasn’t elected. Obviously God calls us as witnesses to all (Acts 1:8). We are to preach the grace of God to all and let the seeds sprout where they may. We should not find ourselves having to challenge someone to pray that maybe God would give them the faith to believe, which is where the concepts of total depravity, the elect, unconditional election and limited atonement lead. We are simply to preach the gospel and let the grace of God work as people either receive or reject Christ.

Irresistible grace teaches that when God chooses to draw a person to faith, they will come to faith as God will overcome all sinful resistances that they have to truth and grace. By implication, If God doesn’t draw a person, they won’t come to faith. The problem presents itself immediately. God sent Jesus to this earth. He calls out not only to those who receive Him, but to those who reject Him. (Matthew 9:12)  How can a person reject a God Who never called them? How could God hold them responsible for not repenting if He never called them in grace to repent? Again, this risks eliminating man’s responsibility in his own fate. It also risks being an attack against the impartial and all-loving heard of God toward all sinners, for He desires none to perish but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

The only unforgiveable sin is the blasphemy of the Spirit which is rejecting the call of God to respond to Him in faith (Mark 3:29). What else wouldn’t God forgive? God’s grace is ready to work in any person’s life who is open to Him (John 3:16). Yes, we all are dependent upon God’s grace, but the key is that it is available to us all if we would respond to it in faith. God doesn’t force someone to faith against their will but He gives us grace as we choose to have faith. Conversely, God doesn’t force someone to go to hell against their will. They choose to reject Him, but they are thus responsible to their eternal destiny outside of God’s presence.  Both the sovereign purpose of God and the free will of man meet in salvation. To choose God is not a work of man but a work of grace; yet it is still a choice. We can resist the grace of God found in Christ and it is this choice that will damn our souls.

Up to this point, I have mostly been on the Arminian side of things. I support the idea that we, just like Adam, were created with free will. God provides grace to draw us toward Christ, but we must respond in faith in order to receive salvation (Romans 10:9-10).  We are responsible for our sin and responsible for our fate. God has not condemned us; He’s merely set standards for the entry into His heaven and we must either comply or be left outside the door. Now I become modified because I agree with the Calvinists on perseverance of the saints.  This means that those whom God has elected will persevere until the end. We cannot relapse into condemnation, as if to lose our salvation, for God will graciously enable us to persevere in righteousness and faith. Southern Baptists call this eternal security. Once a person is saved, they are changed from the inside out, reborn in their spirits, regenerated in their heart and able to present their bodies as spiritual sacrifices to God as they live in holiness. We are sealed with the Spirit, adopted as children of God, seated with Christ in the heavenly places, and destined to be revealed as sons and daughters of God. Nothing and no one can separate us from the love of God or take us from the hand of God. In this, I disagree with Arminians who believe that free will allows the saved to return to an unsaved state through willful sinning. However, I don’t wholly agree with the strict Calvinist view either. To staunch Calvinists, a professing Christian who sins for a time must never have been a Christian. How could a Christian do such a thing? they will ask in complete earnestness. Drawing from the examples of Hymaneus and Alexander in 1 Timothy 1:18-20, we see an example of Christians who shipwrecked their faith. They didn’t lose their salvation; they just made a muck of their Christian walk. The truth is that those who God has called, He has also glorified (Romans 8:30). The perseverance of the saints holds true because of the grace of God Who will perfect His saints when they are glorified. If a person habitually practices sin to the point that sin identifies his lifestyle more than Christ, love, and good works, then it is likely he is not saved (1 John 3:9). It is not so neat and clean to be certain that a person was never saved if they rebel. In such cases, church discipline must be carried out so that the person can be delivered over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh and for the preservation of his soul (1 Corinthians 5:5).  Christians persevere because Christ’s grace is sufficient; in other words, He will bring us home and sanctify us completely. The journey to that point, however, is capable of great highs and lows, depending on whether we walk after the Spirit or after the flesh. We do have a choice.

Ultimately the disagreement between Calvinists and Arminians rides on choice. Calvinists have the majesty and sovereignty of God right. God can do anything He wants, including forcing us to believe in Him or to be born with the incapacity to believe. What God can do and what He decides to do are clearly two different things. He clearly created Adam and Eve with free will and allowed them to choose whether to obey Him or not. Some would like to believe that the fall so fundamentally changed our natures that we cannot in any way respond to God, but I think that is a finite human constraint placed upon an infinite God. As humans, we can not and, in truth, will not, seek God. Our fleshly natures are hostile to the things of God.  However, God reaches out to us with grace. He calls us. Paul talked about how the Gentiles knew the law of the spirit without knowledge of the law. They didn’t do this themselves. God reached out to them. They then responded in faith.

It’s a heady concept, that God gave us both grace and faith. He made them available to all of us. When Jesus died on the cross heaven became available to us and only one thing is required of us – respond in faith.  Believe and confess that belief. In truth, we do nothing but accept the gift of salvation offered.

I will finish by going full circle. Theological systems are useful to us in understanding the infinite mind of God, but they are not the Bible and they should never take the place of the Bible.  Both predestination and free will are concepts found in the Bible. They walk hand-in-hand. We cannot give one precedence over the other.  This makes hard and fast theological systems difficult. As I said, I am not dogmatic. Dogmas are position statements of ecclesiastic organizations accepted by members as something akin to doctrine. Dogmas are not doctrine. Doctrine is derived from the Bible.  Anytime a theological system contradicts or ignores Biblical evidence that doesn’t support it, it is in danger of becoming dogmatic. Therefore, we must always take the Bible in its full context.  It is hard to wrap my mind around both God’s sovereign purpose and my free will, yet just because the concept is hard doesn’t mean it is incorrect.  God, Who can do whatever He wants with His creation, has chosen to give His creation a choice of their own – obey or disobey, respond to grace in faith or reject the call of God.  This is the dividing point of the human race. Each person’s eternal destiny rides upon the choice of faith.

The bulky mule strikes again, but at a good transition spot. The monk must have been paying attention. I would not have broken it here because I know the hazard of breaking a continuing message in the middle, but the monk, being a monk in the Middle Ages when people neither read nor were taught much from the Bible, probably thought it wouldn’t matter to the priests who would be reading it.

Paul had just finished a long discussion about the affects of sin on the human race from Adam right down to himself. He declared that all mankind, most of all himself, was born under the yoke of sin and we would never be free. We are inextricably chained to sin.

Then, in the very next sentence, Paul wrote the following.

“Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. What the law could not do since it was limited Or weak by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4

Wow! What a transformation! It reminds me of Paul’s Damascus Road conversion. From a despicable, wretched murderer of Christians, Paul transformed into a righteous preacher for Christian Savior. From Paul’s writing here, I am impressed with the transformation. From wretched sinner to “there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus.” Salvation is truly like that!  In my own experience, I became aware of my sin and I hated myself, but then, when I turned to God and repented, I felt washed cleaned, no longer condemned by what moments before had been trying to drag me to the bottom of a bottomless pit. A Thai woman who used to attend church with me said it well:  “One minute I was a former prostitute hiding my head in shame; the next moment the prostitute was dead and a new woman stood in her place.”

The Hebrew law showed us our sin and our knowledge of our sin made us aware of our deadness in the spirit. Now we Christians are under the law of the Spirit, which has set us free from sin and death. The Hebrew law was limited by what we humans are capable of doing. Separated from the life-river that God designed us to tap into, we could never keep the law to the extent that we needed to in order to be right with God.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. It was not that God suddenly became aware that we could not reach perfection on our own. It was that He had given us time to recognize this for ourselves. Now, what the law could not do because we humans are weak, He did for us, which had been His plan all along. He shattered the chains of sin when we held them up to Him.

Jesus coming to earth, living and dying as a man and rising again is sometimes dismissed as being a pretty parlor trick, but it needs to be recognized that God didn’t have to do any of it. He could have waved His hand and just changed the world, turned us all into robots, stopped Adam and Eve from sinning, caused me to be born without the ability to sin. God didn’t want the worship of robots, so He allowed us free will to disobey Him or not. The results are obvious. Every human sins. The point of Jesus coming to our planet and living as a man is that it shows that He understands His creation. The point of Him dying on the cross is that it shows how much He loves us. The resurrection showed that death (the ultimate consequence of sin) can be overcome. God didn’t have to do any of it; He did it to show that He loves us that much. There is no condemnation.

Chapter 8 is so chock-full of ideas that to write about all of it would create a book, so I am going to just touch on the high points. I have included the text for your convenience. 

“For those whose lives are according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those whose lives are according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. Those whose lives are in the flesh are unable to please God.”   Romans 8:5-8

Verse 7 is perhaps the pivotal statement in this passage.  Some people simply are set on the flesh. They live in the material world to the extent that they cannot envision a spiritual world. This is not something God did to them. It is something they do to themselves. My cousin who is an atheist cannot wrap his mind around the concept of a Being with greater authority or intelligence than himself. He is sometimes angry that God asserts that He is greater than Dave. How dare God claim to be more intelligent than a man with multiple advanced degrees in the sciences! If God’s so smart and so powerful, why doesn’t He just show up at Dave’s latest paleontological dig and reveal Himself to Dave?

That’s another subject and another book of the Bible, another time. However, it begs the question – would Dave even accept that evidence? What would be the next evidence that Dave would require? The men with Paul on the Damascus Road did not become Christians, after all.  The mind-set of those wedded to the material world is hostile to God. It rejects the idea of submission to God’s law. It is, in fact, unable to do so.  Having practiced rejection continuously, they are unable to learn a new rap.  Of course, Paul is an example of a rejectionist who learned to become a disciple of Jesus. It is not a total inability, which is discussed later in the letter.

“You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”  Romans 8:9

“Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead [Or the body will die] because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.”  Romans 8:10-11

“So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh,  for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
All those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—seeing that [Or provided] that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”  Romans 8:12-17

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it—in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits [Nm 15:17–21; 1 Co 16:15] —we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”  Romans 8:18-25

“Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. And He who searches the hearts knows the Spirit’s mind-set, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”  Romans 8:26-27

Materialists, like my cousin, appeal to reason as the only sure foundation of truth. They fail to recognize that their reason is merely their perception of reality, subject to faults in their senses, distortion by their emotions, etc. The mind is a great and wonderful thing, but it has limits. At some point, each Christian on this planet came to that understanding. Yes, we see the world as it is, but what is that just beyond what we can quantify. Why is that Thai woman no longer wracked with guilt over her past? Why were the Amish of Nickel Mines, PA, able to forgive the man who shot their children and embrace his family without rancor? How did a friend gifted with prophesy know that a woman had become pregnant before the woman herself knew? And, why was this particular child, now a dynamic young person who is totally unaware of the prophesy, foretold? These are questions that demand answers and yet those answers are frequently not available through investigation of the material world. There is something metaphysical about those sort of interactions. Human beings can’t explain it by materialistic means. Entire books can’t quantify it. Yet, the experiences are true. The assertion that only material answers are acceptable seems a convenient excuse to ignore metaphysical experiences. You can simply call them insanity, cerebral cortex malfunction or foolishness rather than have to inquire of the Source of these experiences.

The human mind is hostile to God. We don’t like that He is smarter, more powerful and better than us. We prefer to think of ourselves at the top of the power structure on this planet. By insisting upon only materialistic explanations for every experience within the world we inhabit, we can go on denying God’s existence and not have to deal with Him.  For now!

Paul returned to his original subject – the law and its connection with sin.  At the time, Christianity was being assailed by a heresy called Judaizing. Basically, its proponents were Jews who claimed to be Christians who taught that all believers must follow the Hebrew law in order to be Christians. The Jerusalem Council had met about five years before and settled the matter, saying that Gentiles did not need to follow the law because they’d never been Jewish and even Jews failed to follow the law as it was written. Still, the heresy continued for a long time after the Council and the apostles touched on it in almost every letter they wrote. Thus, writing to a mixed Jewish-Gentile Christian church, Paul dealt with the law at length. It was important, but it was never meant to be a central requirement of salvation. So what was its purpose?

If the law showed us our sin, did that mean it created sin?  Paul emphatically denied this!

“What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind.” Romans 7:7-8a

Without the law, you can’t understand sin; just as without a mirror, you may be completely unaware of how dirty your face is.

Paul provided examples.  Exodus 20:17 says “Do not covet”.  Children, being children, don’t know what that means and they go about their lives thinking that pretty much everything they see belongs to them. Then along comes that rule. Don’t want what your neighbor has. Well, but I want it! Sin, making use of the law, demanded disobedience in the child who now covets what his neighbor has.

“For apart from the law sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.”   Romans 7:8b-12

Paul put himself in the hot seat. “I” he says, “became a sinner.” He didn’t blame anyone else. He included himself in with the rest of the human race. Paul was, like his fellow humans, a sinner. Without the law, he had lived in freedom from sin (presumably as a child before the age of reason), but as soon as he learned the law, sin sprang to life and Paul became as spiritually dead as every other reasonable human on the planet. Once you know what disobeying God is, you are responsible to stop disobeying God. Sin took the opportunity of using the commandment “Don’t covet” to deceive Paul and entangle him in slavery to sin.

That sounds like a dirty rotten thing to do, but Paul claims the law to be holy (set aside for God’s use) and the commandment to also be holy and just (fair) and good (all goodness coming from God). The law was not the problem; it was meant to a step toward the solution. However, Paul – like most human beings – focused on the law, thinking it his salvation, when in reality, it was only a guidepost to his salvation. Stopping at the law entangles us in death.

“Therefore, did what is good cause my death? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.”  Romans 7:13

Paul, again anticipating the intellectual arguments that he had no doubt encountered many times in the past, argued the point rhetorically. Was he saying the law caused his spiritual death?  Absolutely not!  Sin, which always stems from disobedience to God, was already at work in Paul, but the law provided a means to quantify it.  Sin became apparent when the law was given.

“For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin’s power. For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.” Romans 7:14-17

Paul was an extremely intelligent man, capable of thinking on a level much higher than most of the people I have ever met and I live in a college town with a foremost research institute.  Compared with the conduct required by the law of God, the apostle found himself very far short of perfection. He saw himself like a man who is sold against his will to a hated master, from whom he cannot gain his liberty. A true Christian unwillingly serves this hated master called sin, yet cannot shake off the strangling chain, without rescue from Jesus. The remaining evil of his heart is a real and humbling hindrance to his serving God. Paul could speak so boldly because he was a mature Christian who understood the depth of his self-abasement and hatred of sin. If we do not understand this language, it is because we are so far beneath him in Christ-like living, knowledge of the spirituality of God's law, and the evil of our own hearts, and hatred of moral evil. Paul enlarged on the conflict he daily maintained with the remainder of his original depravity. He was frequently led into tempers, words, or actions, which he did not approve or allow in his renewed character. By distinguishing his real self (his spiritual part) from the flesh in which sin dwelt, and by observing that the evil actions were done, not by him, but by sin dwelling in him, Paul did not mean that Christians are not accountable for their sins, but he taught the evil of their sins, by showing that they are all done against reason and conscience. Sin dwelling in us does not dominate us. It is like an evil man dwelling in a city who, not ruling there, becomes noticed by the authorities, who seek to remove him from residence.

“For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this principle:  when I want to do good, evil is with me. For in my inner self, I joyfully agree with God’s law. But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.”  Romans 7:18-23

Paul understood that he would struggle all his life with sin. It is a part of the human existence. God made the world perfect. Adam’s disobedience caused it to be bent. The deep channel of relationship with God was diverted and became unavailable to mankind in general unless we submit ourselves to Jesus as Ruler of our souls. Even then, when we can tap into that sweet source water, we struggle with the bent-ness of this world and our own characters for the whole of our lives. We know there are things that we should do, but we don’t really want to. Those people at the soup kitchen give us the shivers and that 10 percent tithe could do me a whole lot more good in my pocket than in the collection plate.  Paul, being the theologian he was and having experienced such a dramatic change in his life at salvation, was well-aware that there was disagreement between parts of himself. His mind (spirit) joyfully agreed with God’s law, but his body had plans of its own and sometimes he felt like a prisoner to its demands.

Wow! Paul speaks into the 21^st Century! A friend of mine who is a recovering alcoholic spoke to the youth of our church recently, describing this same battle. He knows in his mind what is right – stay sober. He knows that for him even one drink of alcohol is too many and never enough.  This isn’t a fuzzy concept for him. He KNOWS it! Yet, ever so often, his body takes over and he finds himself in slavery to his personal sin – drinking. He can’t explain it. He doesn’t excuse it. He simply acknowledges it.

My friend is not alone. I am standing right beside him with my own set of sins that demand my obedience even as Jesus demands that I lay them aside if I would follow Him. We should not dismiss these sins as trivial and somehow think that Jesus just waves His magic wand at salvation and causes them to disappear like that milk the magician pours into the hat. Paul knew what to do about it and we should heed his advice.

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.”  Romans 7:24-25

Paul mourned his sinful state. He recognized that he was wretched (from the Greek “talaiporos” meaning: 1) enduring toils and troubles; and 2) afflicted, wretched). He recognized that he was a slave to sin on one level and a slave to God on the other.  He acknowledged that his rescue came from God through Jesus Christ.  That didn’t change the battle, but it gave him tools to combat the enemy that he would not otherwise have had.

When the Israelites were preparing to disperse across the Promised Land, Joshua called them together to renew the Abrahamic covenant with the Lord.  He told his followers that they had choices. They could return to the gods that Abraham’s people had worshipped in Mesopotamia.  They could worship the gods of the Canaanite tribes. Although he either didn’t say it or it wasn’t recorded, they could worship the gods of Egypt, which they would have been familiar. However, Joshua and his family intended to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Who had freed them from Egyptian slavery, brought them through the desert exodus and across the Jordan River and cleared away some of the Canaanite tribes. Joshua warned that renewing this covenant would not make life easy for the Israelites. The God of Israel has never been a particularly enabling parent. He disciplined when His people needed discipline and imparted favor when they had earned it. They weren’t agreeing to be babied. They would be expected to do their part.  Israel agreed to do so – then continually broke the covenant down through the centuries.

For a theologian, Paul had spent surprisingly little time in an ivory tower.  Most of his writings were done as he traveled or worked in a particular community. He was a missionary first, a theologian second. Theology became necessary as Paul could not be everywhere at once and new Christian churches encountered questions they couldn’t answer from the Old Testament. Paul therefore wrote theological treatises wrapped in practical advice. 

Maybe because Paul was a street-preacher, he knew that some people would make certain comments about his teaching and he countered them before they ever spoke. I expect Paul encountered some of these very arguments when he preached in and usually was thrown out of synagogues.

“What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! Do you not know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?”  Romans 6:15-16

This is a reciprocal statement to the one Paul had made previously.  So, since we’re under grace rather than the law, should we ignore the law and live in sin so that grace may abound? Well, that would be stupid, Paul essentially wrote.  We’ve been freed from the bondage of sin; why would we crawl back into that slavery? Naysayers would no doubt report that Paul was teaching that it was okay to sin because the law didn’t matter once you were under grace. Again, Paul rejected this idea strenuously. God forbid such thoughts.

“But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to,
and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.”  Romans 6:17-18

Slavery was prevalent and widely accepted in the ancient world. The economy of Egypt, Greece, and Rome was based on slave labor. In the first Christian century, one out of three persons in Italy and one out of five elsewhere was a slave. The institution of slavery was unquestioned. A person could become a slave as a result of capture in war, default on a debt, inability to support and “voluntarily” selling oneself, being sold as a child by destitute parents, birth to slave parents, conviction of a crime, or kidnapping and piracy. Slavery cut across races and nationalities. Freeing of slaves was possible and common in Roman times. Masters in their wills often freed their slaves, and sometimes they did so during their lifetimes. Industrious slaves could make and save money and purchase their own freedom. By the first Christian century, a large class of freedmen had developed. There was even a synagogue of the Freedmen in Jerusalem (Acts 6:9).

Although there were prior calls for humane treatment of slaves, it wasn’t until John Newton felt the deep pangs of a Christian man for a repented past spent dealing in human flesh and imparted that understanding to William Wilberforce who took the abolitionist charge to the English parliament, slavery was even questioned by most people in almost every society of the world. It just simply was. Paul would discuss slavery in a later letter, but here he’s using a human analogy to explain a spiritual mystery.

In most ancient societies, few things were more despicable than to be a slave. In Israel, however, the idea emerged that it was a great privilege to be a servant or slave of God (the various Hebrew and Greek words could be translated either). Many of the heroes of the Old Testament are so called “slaves”. Jesus adopted a servant’s role and indicated that His disciples should also. Paul referred to himself as a slave or servant of Jesus Christ, as did James, Peter, and Jude .  A life of sin is spoken of as slavery here in Romans 6 and in John 8:34 and Hebrews 2:15. Legalism was characterized as a kind of slavery in Galatians 4:24-25 and 5:1. Paradoxically, there is also a blessed slavery to righteousness here in Romans 6.

The best explanation I ever heard of this asked the audience to consider that they were born slaves and could never become otherwise. They could, however, choose who their master might be. They could be slaves to sin – a master who pays in the coin of death – or slaves to righteousness – a master who pays in the coin of life. They had only to choose one or the other. It was entirely within their power to do so. Failure to make the choice, however, or an escape attempt, resulted in remaining a slave to sin. People in Paul’s day would have understood this relationship far better than we in the 21^st Century, in a society without slavery, can.

“I am using a human analogy [Paul is personifying sin and righteousness as slave masters]; because of the weakness of your human nature. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to moral impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from allegiance to righteousness.” Romans 6:19-20

A slave’s master uses the slave in the industry of the master. A farmer employs field slaves. A rich man employs domestic slaves. Sin employs lawless slaves. It delights in their actions because they are fulfilling the requirements of sin. Disobedience to God is as much the fruit of sin as it is the definition of sin. The slave of sin has no allegiance to righteousness. God doesn’t expect any harvest from that crop (not that there aren’t consequences).

Conversely, the slave who has chosen to be a slave of righteousness will now bear the fruit of righteousness – salvation (sanctification).  The consequences of righteousness is eternal life with God.

“And what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, since you have been liberated from sin and become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification [or holiness] —and the end is eternal life!
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 6:21-23

In a nutshell, you reap what you sow.  If you sow unrighteousness, you will reap the rewards of that, which is unfortunately death in both the physical and spiritual realm. If you sow righteousness, you will harvest sanctification – eternal life with Jesus Christ.

The mule stepped in another hole, because the next section, found in Chapter 7, is really the second point in Paul’s two-point sermon.  Just in case, in this world where slavery was the oil that drove the economy, you weren’t familiar with the institution, Paul provided a second illustration from an institution with which everyone should be familiar – marriage.

“Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers, are you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives?
For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.”  Romans 7:1-3

This was an extremely important distinction. A widow was free to marry. A woman who broke her marriage vows was not. Please don’t get hung up on the gender roles here. This could just as easily have said a “married man is legally bound to his wife while she lives.”  To strain too closely at the gender distinction is to miss the larger message.

It is that death gate distinction that is of critical importance here. The husband’s power over the wife ended at death. The woman was free to marry whomever without being in violation of any laws.

“Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified The bracketed text has been added for clarity. body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God.”  Romans 7:4

We severed the power of sin in our personal lives when we accepted Jesus as Savior. Of course, this doesn’t mean we’ve arrived in any fashion. Paul would address that a little later. However, it does mean that we have moved our allegiance from the slaver sin who is now dead (by Christ’s saving action upon the cross) to the slave owner righteousness who is still living and was freely chosen.

“For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.” Romans 7:5-6

I am dealing with this passage separately because, as often happens in New Testament writings, it seems out of sequence.  It is understandable that this would be so, because the New Testament writers lived in a world with scarce and expensive writing supplies. When Paul wrote, he didn’t have the luxury of a word processor and a ream of paper to decide which version he liked best. While I think he definitely outlined the subject matter of the letter before sitting down to write it, it is also clear that sometimes he would be seized by a remarkable thought and would write it down right then and there. Such is the following passage. In the midst of this discussion on faith, he threw in a lesson on the progression of Christian character. We are blessed to possess this passage for it affirms what we know to be true in our lives, but it doesn’t flow well within the text of the greater message of Romans. So, it seemed best to deal with it separately.

“And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  Romans 5:3-5

First, please note that Paul stated that Christians know the results of affliction. This isn’t something he was theorizing about. It wasn’t something that his readers grasped uncertainly. They KNEW what God was doing through the hardships they faced. The evidence of their growing relationship with God was seen in the way they faced the difficulties the world threw at them because of their expressed faith in Jesus.

Paul knew a little something about afflictions, as did his readers. There are some things we can know about Paul’s life from Scripture and others we can know about his life from knowledge of the historical era in which he lived. Paul must have been married to have been a member of the Sanhedrin. It was one of the rules for membership. Yet, he never mentions a wife and he makes it clear he doesn’t have one and is not seeking one. He was a relatively young man when he accepted Christ, so he probably was not a widower. Likely, she left him when he became a Christian. Paul considered this affliction to be a benefit because it gave him more time to focus on ministry, but it may also have grieved him.  He asked the Lord three times to remove some sort of physical affliction from him, but was denied and stopped asking. He had been arrested, beaten, stoned, chased out of towns, called names, accused falsely and treated rather shabbily by many in his travels, so he had met physical, emotional and social abuse. Paul had lost and suffered a lot because of his faith in Jesus. Yet, here he said he rejoiced in his afflictions and that he recognized that his readers rejoice in their own.  Why?

Affliction produces endurance. This, by the way, is true. A muscle grows stronger by being worked. So do people. When we use that term “long-suffering” we don’t usually associate it with someone who has an easy life. We admire strength in meeting affliction.  There is a truth to this in that people who have rarely experienced hardship in their lives are ill-prepared for hardship when it comes. Hardship comes to almost everyone, but we see people for whom hardship is a mystery. Paris Hilton, for example, has spent most of her young life sheltered for the difficulties that most of us take for granted. It has led her to selfish nihilism and when her behavior created consequences for her, she couldn’t deal with having to do a very short amount of time in jail. The lack of hardship was not a good thing for her. She has never developed any endurance for discomfort because she had experienced precious little discomfort in her life.

Affliction teaches us how to stick through affliction, which is endurance in the making. Enduring hardship rather than avoiding it or manipulating it works upon our character in ways that few things do. Paul identified this as the development of proven character. You grow stronger by continued use of your muscles. You grow more adept at dealing with hardship when you endure hardship and in time, hardship becomes just something to be dealt with and not the end of the world. We call that character.

Character produces hope, Paul said. Hope is a weird concept in our world today. We tend to think of it as wishful thinking, something for starry-eyed dreamers rather than reasonable and practical people. We misunderstand the concept and the writer’s use of the word. Hope in the Biblical sense rarely involved sitting on a mountain top waiting for God to rescue the hopeful. Jesus warned His disciples that the world was going to hate them and try to harm them for what they believed. They received exactly the future Jesus had promised. In the Acts, the apostles experienced much affliction, even to the point of death. They lived very much in the moment, founding churches throughout Asia Minor and parts of southern Europe, giving their followers practical advice in Christian living. Yet, they never lost sight of the “big picture”. Jesus might not come back tomorrow, but He would come back some day and when “some day” came, the afflictions of this world wouldn’t mean much. They’d be just little bits of paper that would burn in the searing heat of His perfection. Christians would be caught up in the clouds to live forever. Yet that wouldn’t happen in ease and comfort. That would happen through afflictions endured, through character developed.

Christian character looks at the world and says “hardships are a pathway to peace. God is teaching me something through them. Maybe I’ll learn the lesson while suffering; maybe I’ll figure it out in 20 years. But through hardship, I will grow closer to God.” As the Christian grows closer to God through dealing with adversity, the petty difficulties of this world come mean less than the relationship with God and the definition of “petty” grows to mean more than just getting cut off at a red light. So what if I can’t own land because I’m a Christian (which Nero did take such right from Christians after he blamed them for burning down Rome). That frees me to travel as a missionary. So what if I’m not allowed to travel? I live in a mission field right here (So said Paul as he was under house-arrest in Rome).” That attitude of taking life as it is rather than as I would have it to be means that I can give more to life. I’m not dreaming about better times in the sweet-by-and-by, but practically living out my Christian life right now. As I learn to do this more effectively, I grow closer to God. This is inevitable, because in order to live through some of the afflictions the early Christians lived through, they had to draw closer to God. The same holds true in our lives today. In growing closer to God, we learn that what the world gives us isn’t all that important, which makes us all the more aware of what God intends to give us in the future. Therein lies hope.

The early Christians faced ravenous animals and murderous gladiators in the arena, refusing to recant what they believed. History records that often these Christians would sing hymns as they looked death in the eye. What would make them so brave? Nothing but the hope that on the other side of that pain headed their way was a glorious future in Heaven with Jesus. That was apparently all they needed.