Monthly Archive for May, 2010

Romans 1:7

Published on May 9, 2010 in Romans. 6 Comments
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7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

7 To all [not some] who are in Rome,

Paul addressed this letter to believers in the church at the city of Rome. These are the addressees of the epistle. Rome was the capital of material power and paganism in the world. This church was not founded by Paul, Peter, or any other apostle. Paul had not been to Rome at the writing of this epistle.

beloved of God,

Roman believers were loved by God. God loved them by giving them the gospel set forth in the previous verses. They were the objects of God’s love because they belonged to Christ. God’s love for us does not change or vary.

Jer 31: 3 The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”

called to be saints:

Again, the words “to be” are in italics, indicating that these words are not in the Greek. The Romans were “called saints.” These people were constituted saints by the effectual call of God to salvation.

The idea of “saints” is those set apart unto God. They belong to God, not Satan. There is something separate or distinct about belonging to God. This is a term to designate people as believers.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Grace” is the Greek greeting and “peace” is the Hebrew greeting. We receive grace but we experience peace by receiving God’s grace. Both the Father and the Lord Jesus combine in giving grace and peace. The Father and the Son act jointly in giving us these commodities. The Father is the source and the Son is the instrument. That is where we find the ultimate source of these dynamics.

PRINCIPLE: Believers in the person and work of Christ hold distinction before God.

APPLICATION: God sets believers apart in a special way. He views us as special in His economy. A “saint” is not some super-special person who acts saintly, but anyone who trusts Christ’s work for salvation. A saint is a sinner who answers in faith to the claims of Christ. Do you deem yourself special before God?

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Romans 1:6

Published on May 8, 2010 in Romans. 1 Comment
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6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

 

6 among whom you also are the called

Jesus Christ also called Roman believers. As God called Paul to be an apostle, He also called Romans to be saints (1:7). God summoned them by an effectual call to accept His grace.

Salvation is the outworking of something already done on our behalf. It is analogous to a lawyer calling us and indicating that we will receive a vast inheritance. We as heirs of property become owners in the light of the law. The lawyer works out of the details for us. God calls us to a privilege and function.

of Jesus Christ;

Roman saints were called to be Christ’s possession.

PRINCIPLE: Faith cannot stand alone with an effect.

APPLICATION: Faith does not stand alone. God calls us to bring the gospel to “all nations.” We witness for “His name.” Every believer is an ambassador; we represent Him on earth in time.

The outcome of the gospel results in both justification and sanctification. Faith in the gospel message will result in obedience of sanctification. True faith and obedience are inseparable.

Mission is at the heart of Christian responsibility. The name of Christ deserves our entire devotion. We need to pass it on. This will transform our lives.

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Romans 1:5

Published on May 7, 2010 in Romans. 0 Comments
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5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,

 

5 Through Him

It is through the wonderful Person described in the previous verses that Paul and the other apostles received the unique message from God.

we have received grace and apostleship

The apostles received the gift of the office of apostleship by the grace of God. “Grace” refers to everything that God is free to do for us because of the work of Christ on the cross for our sins. “Grace” characterized their apostleship, for it was a gift. It was not from anything they deserved.

1 Pe 4:10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

for obedience to the faith

The apostles sought to present the gospel to all nations; it is a universal message.  “The faith” is the Christian system of belief (Ac 6:7). This construct of belief springs from faith in the content of the gospel message. God placed Paul on earth to bring about obedience that springs from faith in the gospel.

The word “for” refers to result. God gave Paul the grace of apostleship with the result of bringing about obedience to the faith. The word “obedience” means to hear under—that is, to listen to what God has to say by acting on it. The phrase “obedience to the faith” occurs one other time:

Ro 16: 26 but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith . . .

The debate about the phrase “obedience to the faith” concerns whether obedience is subjective or objective. That is, is this referring to (1) the subjective act of believing or (2) trust in the objective content of our faith (the doctrine to be believed)? The former view holds to a works-righteousness: it focuses on our work, not the work of Christ. The proper view is that we are obedient to “the faith”—that is, that we have faith in the body of truth God sets forth to be true. This is an issue of effect rather than cause. Because of our faith in the objective truth, we obey the faith or the gospel; our obedience is a result of our faith.

Faith in the gospel message is the condition of salvation. Faith in the work of Christ is a central argument in the book of Romans; this faith will result in certain effect. The argument of the book of James is that faith produces a changed life (works).

among all nations

“Nations” refers to Gentiles. God wanted Gentiles to obey the Christian faith. This was Paul’s particular mission—a mission to the Gentiles (Ac 26:17). Peter’s mission was to the Jews.

for His name,

The word “for” in “for His name” means on behalf of or for the sake of. “Name” refers to all that God is in His being. It carries the idea of reputation or character. If we say, “That man has a name for integrity,” we mean that he has a reputation for integrity. God has a reputation for integrity in His message to man. The final goal of the gospel is to bring glory to the name of Christ.

PRINCIPLE: We give glory to Jesus’ name by spreading the gospel of grace.

APPLICATION: There is a glory in the gospel of Christ. It is the glory of His grace. He has done it all; all to Him we owe. Salvation is by the work of Christ in its entirety.

Ro 3: 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus . . .

Ep 2: 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

It is grace that gives us our marching orders to spread the gospel to all nations. We received these orders directly from Jesus Himself (Mt 20:18-20). Believing that Alexander the Great lived does not do much for me. However, believing that Jesus died for my sin and rose from the dead to give me eternal life does do something amazing for me.

God is able to give us grace, no matter what we are like, and still not compromise His character. Why? Because He did all that was necessary to meet the holy demands of His character by dying for every sin of every man on the cross.

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Romans 1:4

Published on May 6, 2010 in Romans. 0 Comments
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4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

 

4 and declared to be the Son of God

The title “Son of God” harks back to Psalm 2:7. This term speaks of the deity of Christ.

The word “declared” means to mark out the boundaries or the limits of something. The word “declared” carries the idea of having been determined, defined, appointed. We get our English word “horizon” from the Greek term. A horizon marks boundaries between earth and sky. The Son of God was eternally God, but God declared Him openly to be so to men. As man Jesus became something He was not before, but God declared His deity during Jesus’ earthly life. His birth as a man required this declaration. Thus, God separated the deity from the humanity of Christ. The resurrection defines the Son of God.

Jesus is both God and man in one person. The humanity of Christ is not the deity and the deity is not the humanity of Christ. Christ was both true humanity and undiminished deity in one person forever. Verse three teaches Jesus’ humanity and verse four teaches the deity of the Son of God.

with power

The fourth verse has three parallel phrases that describe what God did to portray Jesus’ role to man:

  1. “with power”
  2. “according to the Spirit of holiness”
  3. “by the resurrection from the dead”

The power of the resurrection is indeed an awesome thing. This was declared with power. Jesus existed with unprecedented power in His humanity but especially in the event of the resurrection.

Paul did not say that Jesus was appointed the Son of God by the resurrection. However, since He was born in weakness of human flesh, He was raised with power. The resurrected Christ is a powerful idea. The resurrection is what declared or defined His deity. It proves His deity but it is also the crucial transition point in His work as the Savior. His resurrection was the deathblow to death itself.

according to the Spirit of holiness,

The Holy Spirit accomplished the resurrection. The Holy Spirit raised the humanity of Jesus from the dead.

by the resurrection from the dead.

The resurrection of Christ from the dead declared His deity. The resurrection was the point where He transitioned from humiliation in His humanity to His glorified life. Thus, as a result of the resurrection God declared Jesus to be the Son of God with power. God declared Jesus to be His everlasting Son by the resurrection. We see His glorification as the Son of God by the resurrection. The resurrection asserted His Sonship.

The resurrection was the dividing line between Jesus’ state of humiliation as a man and His state of exaltation as the Son of God. His resurrection made it abundantly clear that He was the Son. His glorification was the restoration of the full use of His deity (Jn 17:5) from man’s viewpoint. This does not mean that He was restored to His deity but to the use of His deity apart from His humanity.

PRINCIPLE: Christ’s resurrection authenticates His deity.

APPLICATION: The power of the resurrection set Jesus apart and verified the assertion of His deity. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we would not have the uniqueness of the resurrection to authenticate His deity. Jesus was declared to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead.

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Romans 1:3

Published on May 5, 2010 in Romans. 0 Comments
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“concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,”
 
concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
The Scriptures are about Jesus Christ our Lord. They are Christ-centered. The gospel is about the person and work of Jesus. The word “concerning” means around. This is the Greek word peri (around) from where we find part of the English words “perimeter” and “periphery.” The gospel not only concerns Jesus Christ but it surrounds Him. It all about Him; He is the very substance of the gospel.
Jesus was both God (Lord) and man. The title “Son” shows the unique relationship between the Father and Christ as the Son. This title places Him within the Trinity. This passage reflects God’s estimate of His Son.
 who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,
Christ was not only God but also genuine humanity. This phrase demonstrates the weakness of Jesus’ earthly life. Jesus entered into time and space by human birth. We call this His humiliation. He was born in the lineage of David. He was a true human being. This verse declares the humanity of Christ. He was more than human, as we will see in the next verse.
Jesus was born into the royal family of David. This was affirmation of Jesus as Messiah. The words “was born” come from a term meaning to come into being. The idea is that He became something He was not previously. These words imply prior existence. They imply transition from one state to another. The Son of God became the Son of Man without divesting Himself of His deity. Jesus at His birth came into a new condition—membership in the human race. He was eternal God trillions of years previously ad infinitum, but at His birth He became a human being. John used this term in the important verse 1:14
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
“Of the seed of David” means that Jesus had a legal mother and father. He had a real mother but not a real earthly father. Mary was a descendant of David through Solomon’s younger brother Nathan.
“Flesh” refers to the physical body of Christ. “Seed” refers to the genealogy of Jesus. His genealogy harks back to David in ancestry.
God portrays the gospel by both a Person and His work. This Person from eternity was born of a Jewish family of royal lineage. He was also God almighty. If we diminish either His deity or his humanity, we damage the gospel. We value Jesus’ work by His person. If I were to expound on physics, my expostulation would be of little value, for I know very little about physics. Jesus’ credentials as Savior rest on His person.
PRINCIPLE: We should not confound the deity with the humanity of Christ.  
APPLICATION: We must be careful not to confuse the humanity with the deity of Christ. We cannot mix the two. They stand as genuinely separate categories. Deity is not humanity nor is humanity deity. However, the same Person exists in both the humanity of Christ and the deity of Christ. Christ is one in person.
The reason Jesus came as man was to die in his body for our sins. He became the true mediator between God and man. As man he represents man and as God he represents God in the mediating process.
1 Ti 2: 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus . . .
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Romans 1:2

Published on May 4, 2010 in Romans. 1 Comment
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2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,

 

Paul now indicated that we can find the gospel in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.  

2 which [the gospel] He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,

The gospel was not something new in the first century. It was a revelation of the Old Testament as well. God promised the gospel in the Old Testament. He entrusted “prophets” as well as the New Testament apostles with the gospel. We find this in such passages as Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 53:3-6; Psalms 16:10. The gospel was no afterthought.

Acts 13: 32 And we declare to you glad tidings— that promise which was made to the fathers.

These men wrote (scribed) the gospel in the Word of God. The idea here is that Scripture is the Word of God. The method that God chose to communicate with man was by a written process. The prophets wrote down what God revealed. That is why “Scriptures” are “Holy” (set apart as unique).

Lu 24: 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The Greek does not use the definite article “the” before “Holy Scriptures.” This indicates quality or character. God’s Word is in quality holy. The gospel message is unique and true only to Christianity.

The Old Testament is latent and the New Testament is patent; the New is revealed but the Old is concealed. The Old reveals Jesus in promises, types, and direct prophecies.

The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed.

The New is in the Old contained; the Old is in the New explained.

PRINCIPLE: The written Word must take precedence over any experience we may have.

APPLICATION: We live in a day when preachers de-emphasize the written Word of God in lieu of subjective experience. How can we value the gospel and deny or de-emphasize the words in which it is found? There are so-called evangelicals who look on Scripture as mummification of ideas. They see no relevance of the explicit statements of Scripture to their lives today. They view their subjective experience with God as priority.

The Lord Himself taught us to find roots of New Testament theology in the Old Testament:

Lu 24:25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

We cannot operate as Christians without the written, historical facts of the Word of God. The resurrected Christ was seen by hundreds of witnesses. Biblical facts are the vulnerability of falsity. The historicity of the resurrection found in Scripture is a major problem to unbelief. There can be no gospel without historical facts.

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Romans 1:1c

Published on May 3, 2010 in Romans. 0 Comments
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"Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God"
 
separated to the gospel of God
Now we come to Paul’s third description of himself. God set Paul apart unto the gospel. The Greek tense indicates the continuing effects of being set aside to the gospel (perfect tense). God established a destiny or ordination for Paul. The gospel is the “good news” God affords those without Christ. It is the news that we have liberty toward God; Christ paid for our sin personally on the cross. 
Ga 1: 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,
The word “separated” means set apart. God singled out Paul for a particular service. God in His omniscience knew that Paul would respond positively to the mission set before him. Paul was a man of focus—“this one thing I do” (Phil 3:13). God drew a line around the life purpose of Paul to preach the gospel.
The term “gospel” means good news. Romans uses “gospel” sixty times in this epistle. This is God’s good news in this context. It is also the gospel “of God.” God is the source of our salvation. Paul did not concoct the gospel. This is the good news that Jesus died for our sin and that we have the right to fellowship with God forever because of it.
PRINCIPLE: Focus to ministry is essential to advance the cause of Christ.
APPLICATION: Christians do not claim exclusive rights to our lives because we have been bought with the price of the blood of Christ. Should we focus on our rights, we would not advance the cause of Christ like we could. With the attitude of a servant of Christ, we press on with determination to move forward the claims of Christ.
A Christian who is separated to the gospel isolates himself from all other ruling aims. He lives apart from any other goal. He draws all his resources together toward this one end.
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Romans 1:1b

Published on May 2, 2010 in Romans. 2 Comments
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1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

 

called to be an apostle,

The second description Paul gave of himself is as an apostle. Paul was a “called apostle” (Greek). Note the words “to be” are italicized, indicating that they are not present in the Greek text. God designated Paul to assume an office. Paul did not decide for himself to be an apostle, but God called him to that position. It was not of his doing—God initiated the call. God Himself enlisted Paul as an apostle; Paul was an apostle by calling from God. The church as well did not call him.

Paul did not fire blank cartridges. He represented God by what he wrote. He was a called apostle. The Greek stresses the nature of God’s intervention in Paul’s life.

The status of an apostle was the most powerful gift in God’s economy. An apostle had the right to write Scripture, to do miracles, and to found the church. This role carried great authority and refers to Paul’s call to the particular service of apostleship, not to salvation. God put him in a place to do His will.

The gift of apostleship ceased with the writing of Scripture (the closing of the canon). It was a temporary gift given to the church. To have the authority to write Scripture, for example, the book of Acts stipulates three qualifications for the office of apostle:

  1. He had to be a personal disciple of Jesus during His earthly ministry.
  2. He had to be an eye-witness of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
  3. He had to be called by Jesus Himself personally.

With the death of the apostles came the close of the canon of Scripture. God gave no further Scripture after the first century. Other apostles endorsed Paul as an apostle and recognized his writing as Scripture (2 Pe 3:15). Paul saw the resurrected Jesus on the Damascus Road.

The term “apostle” carries both a technical and a non-technical usage. There are 79 occurrences in the New Testament. The primary usage is the technical sense. The idea of this sense is that someone has authority to receive direct revelation and write Scripture or found the church, as well as the authority to perform miracles in order to establish their apostolic authenticity in writing Scripture. The non-technical usage can refer to all believers as witnesses for Christ (Ro 16:7; Ac 14:14).

The original idea of an apostle was as an envoy, one sent on a commission to represent a king. Our usage of the word “ambassador” conveys the idea. Paul was an official ambassador of the King of kings.

Ga 1: 1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead). . .  

PRINCIPLE: Everyone who believes in Christ is an ambassador for Him.

APPLICATION: We are to deem ourselves as ambassadors for the King of kings. We are to carry his message (the gospel) to the world. God effectually summons us to that end. We have credentials from God to do this.

1 Co 9: 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!

We need to note that any further claim to revelation is heresy. Joseph Smith claimed Scripture further to the New Testament. Mormonism was the heresy that came of that claim.

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Romans 1:1

Published on May 1, 2010 in Romans. 9 Comments
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1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

 

Paul identified himself in three different ways:

  1. His rank: slave of Jesus Christ
  2. His office: called to be an apostle
  3. His mission: separated to the gospel of God

All three of these affirmations reflect the subsidiary role Paul played in spreading the gospel. He never put himself above God’s plan for his life.

Now we come to Paul’s striking appraisal of himself.

1 Paul,

Paul changed his name from Saul (Jewish name) to Paul during his first missionary expedition. He may have changed his name to facilitate travel in the Roman Empire. Paul was the only biblical writer who gave up his Jewish name for a Gentile name.

Paul was born into a wealthy family. He trained under Gamaliel in Jerusalem, where he amassed knowledge of Jewish law (Ac 22:3). He was the son of a Pharisee (Ac 23:6) and later became a Pharisee himself. Eventually he became a persecutor of the church, killing Christians along the way.

The apostle Paul was the human author of the book of Romans.

a bondservant of Jesus Christ,

First, Paul described himself as a “slave.” Paul was free because he was a citizen of the Roman Empire, yet he declared himself a slave. The word “bondservant” means one who sells himself in slavery to another. The Greek word is the term for an abject slave. Paul used this term in the sense of honor and privilege; it was not drudgery for him to serve the Lord. He viewed himself as belonging to Jesus Christ without reserve. He went from being a slave of Satan to being a slave of the Savior. It was an honor for him to serve the Lord.

Ga 1: 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

PRINCIPLE: God never calls us to be our own man.

APPLICATION: God calls us to be women and men of God. As Paul put himself in the same category as the slaves of Rome, so we should put ourselves in the category of people who minister. We are all purchased with the blood of Christ. We owe, therefore, service to the King of kings.

Accepting the role of a slave for Jesus is the antithesis of the autonomy of today’s thinking among Christians. We hang onto a false panacea about freedom. This is a fundamental flaw. When we accept this false value, we become autonomous from God. We need to think of ourselves as the property of God. We should serve Him willingly. We should not view this as servitude but devotion.

Christians are free in Christ (Ga 5:1). This means God blessed us in grace, the grace of provisions by Christ’s death. We are free in Christ but we chose to give our lives to serve Him. Our freedom allows us to sacrificially love to the maximum. A woman loves a man not because he forces her to do so; she loves him because she is free to do so. She serves him because she wants to serve him. This has to do with the capacity found in her soul. The greater the capacity of knowledge from the Word of God, the greater our love for and service of the Lord. This does not come from superficial musical ditties about Jesus.

God does not call us to celebrity in ministry. Many preachers assume this role in the church today. Those in ministry should never elevate themselves above the servant role. Pride brings failure in ministry. Our ministry is by a decision of God, not by our decision.

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