Tag Archive for 'Romans'

Never Be Wise In Your Own Sight

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Jeff
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28Apr08
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Never Be Wise In Your Own Sight by John Piper

Proverbs 9:10 NRSV
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.

Matthew 23:12
All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

Romans 12:3
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Duty Calls

Election and God’s Sovereignty

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Jeff
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18Oct07
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Romans

Romans 9:10-16
And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad–in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls–she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

This is not an easy passage for many of us to read. For those who believe in conditional election, that God’s elects those based on foreknowledge of their free will, this passage seems to eliminate any idea of that. The recipient of the blessing was according to God’s sovereign will, not on Jacob’s virtue. God doesn’t explain Himself beyond this other than he has an ultimate plan that will be carried out because of his own will, not on the inclinations of sinful human beings.

What about grace? Schreiner makes a thoughtful point. “…the stunning thing for Paul was not that God rejected Ishmael and Esau but that he chose Isaac and Jacob, for they did not deserve to be included in his merciful and gracious purposes. Human beings are apt to criticize God for excluding anyone, but this betrays a theology that views salvation as something God ‘ought’ to bestow on all equally.”

Again he says, “God’s election of some for salvation does not exclude the notion that he genuinely invites all to be saved.” (2 Peter 3:9) “The resolution of the tension between divine sovereignty and human freedom lies beyond our present rational capacities.”

Knowing Scripture

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Jeff
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16Oct07
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Romans

Paul quotes the Old Testament more in Romans that in any of his other letters.

Two things come to mind:

1) The Old Testament is important to Paul and should be important to us. He says in Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” This was written before there was a New Testament but after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

2) Paul knew the Old Testament. Paul most likely wrote Romans when he was in Corinth so it wasn’t one of the prison letters (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon). At that time he may have had his books and parchments and may not have had to quote everything from memory. But at the time he wouldn’t have had a concordance or a computer to search for the Scripture he wanted to quote. He knew it well enough to find everything he needed and I would guess he had much of it memorized.

While writing the prison letters he may not have had anything written down and have in fact have to have quoted from memory. 2 Timothy 4:13, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.”

I believe a large part of knowing Scripture is memorizing Scripture. In case you need Scripture to support that, here are a few:

  • Joshua 1:8
  • Psalm 1:2
  • Psalm 119:11
  • Proverbs 7:1
  • Romans 15:4
  • 2 Timothy 3:16-17
  • James 1:25

Dead To Sin

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Jeff
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15Oct07
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Romans

Romans 6:3-7
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin.

In his commentary on Romans, Thomas Schreiner says, “…he is not exhorting believers to cease from sin (a command in the imperative mood); he is proclaiming to them the good news that they have died to sin (a statement of fact in the indicative mood).” (emphasis is the author’s) Later, “We died with Christ in baptism in that we were united with him in his once-for-all death. Because we are incorporated into Christ, his death becomes ours.”

Imperative - “It is imperative that you…”
Indicative - Indicates

Verses 11-14 shift from indicative to imperative:
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 6:11-14

We are no longer slaves to sin and don’t have to sin as we used to. Obviously this doesn’t mean that we won’t sin and some still won’t struggle with some habitual sins or addictions. But we are free to know that we are righteous in His sight and that we are free to grow and become what God means for us to be.

Schreiner says, “The indicative is realized in the concrete world of the imperative by which it is demonstrated that the indicative actually is a reality.” This sounds like scholarly gobbledy-gook but it makes sense when we see it as knowing what God has done and who we are in Him compels us to be obedient with the strength that He give us.

The imperative is reminiscent of Philippians 2:12-13:
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Related Scripture:
Galatians 2:20

Belief

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Jeff
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11Oct07
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Romans

Genesis 15:6 says, “And he [Abraham] believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Many assume that in the OT it was through works that people were made righteous but even before the law came about faith was of primary importance (as it was with the law).

Romans 4:3-5 says, ‘For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.’

Thomas Schreiner in his commentary on Romans says, ‘Paul specifically and emphatically contrasts “working” and “believing” in verses 4-5.’ And, ‘”Working is the result of one’s own capability, but “believing” relies on another… Working involves doing, while the genius of belief is receiving.’

Later on he quotes Adolf Schlatter as saying, “He [Abraham] does not believe in spite of his inability, but he believes because of it;” Then Schreiner says, “The full assurance in Abraham’s faith did not stem from his unusual abilities. Its origins lay in contemplating the power of God, for He surely has the power to accomplish what he has promised.” (Romans 4:20-21)

…faith is not merely an attitude—it is also the response to God’s specific promises. In Abraham’s case, his faith answers the divine word, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Faith is not content-less humility that places our hope in a higher power. No, in faith we answer the divine word and its specific verbal content. God speaks, and we believe in him in response to his word.

–Simon Gathercole

Perseverence in the faith

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Jeff
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6Oct07
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Romans

So many in the church today believe that once you pray the sinner’s prayer, you’re in and that’s about all there is to it except for going to church and maybe having a quiet time.

Thomas Schreiner in his Romans commentary says, “…preaching the gospel for Paul involved more than initial conversion. His goal as an apostle was to bring about the obedience of faith, which as 1:1-7 shows is part and parcel of the gospel community. Paul often insists that perseverance to the end is necessary for salvation (e.g. Rom. 8:13; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:1-2; Gal. 5:21; Gal. 6:8-9; Col. 1:21-23).”

Related Scripture:
Romans 11:22, 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, Galatians 5:2-4, Philippians 2:12

Proclamation of the name of Jesus Christ

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Jeff
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2Oct07
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Romans

I’m finally ready to start writing about what I’ve been learning. I’m currently going through 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)but want to backtrack and try to write about some things from reading Romans and Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by Thomas Schreiner.

The first thing that struck me is that according to Schreiner, “The ultimate reason for a mission to the Gentiles was not the salvation of the Gentiles but the proclamation of the name of Jesus Christ.”

That can be tied in with what Garland says in his commentary on 1 Corinthians. He quotes Litfin (1994: 261) outlining five steps of persuasion in Greco-Roman rhetoric (which would be very common in Corinth): (1) attention, (2) comprehension, (3) yielding, (4) retention, and (5) action.

Galand says Paul left the third step, yielding, to the persuasion of the Spirit.

To the Corinthians Paul preached Christ crucified which was foolishness to the Corinthians. (1 Cor. 1:18-25) With no art of persuasion in preaching how else could they believe except through the Holy Spirit? It’s only through the Holy Spirit that we are baptized and saved, not through persuasion and intellectual knowledge.

Here is a great quote from John MacArthur:

The decision of yielding, surrendering and then acting, is between the hearer and God, not between the hearer and the preacher. It is the Holy Spirit’s work.Preaching is proclaiming saving truth, sanctifying truth, and strengthening truth from Scripture, the rest is up to the Holy Spirit. So Paul says, I was entrusted with the proclamation. That’s all that I can do. All I can do is to get their attention and bring comprehension. The message is the Scripture, and since the message is the Scripture, beloved, it should be patently obvious to everyone that the proper kind of preaching should be “expository preaching.” That is the only legitimate way to be true to the divine message.

You know as well as I know that I could manipulate people with stories. I mean, you could tell a tear-jerking story and effect emotional trauma on people. You can move people with things other than the Scriptures, but you are working on their feelings and not on their mind. The message is Scripture. And if the message is Scripture and the preacher is to preach the message he has to preach the Scripture; and preaching the Scripture means you must exposit the Word.

This found at Reformed Geek. Follow the link and discussion for more.