Romans 1:5 (the introduction) Part 3

"through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake,"

Now I think we need to cover the most unpopular word in the verse: obedience.  It is one thing to stay in the hypothetical but obedience is where the rubber meets the road.  James tells us, "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works?  Can that faith save him?" (James 2:14)  That does seem to contradict Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; no as a result of works, so that no one may boast."  That is until you look closer.  Many say that they believe in God; many say that the believe in Jesus; many say that Jesus is their savior.  However, even if you confess Jesus Christ as your lord and savior by faith and continue in sinful behavior there is a good chance that your faith is worthless.  Just to be clear, faith + obedience does not equal salvation; rather the equation should be grace + faith = salvation and obedience.  What that means is if you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, it should manifest in obedience to His commands and good works.  After all, "If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?"  We as Christians  are guilty of that very frequently.  We say, "I will be praying for you," and don't lift a finger to help; we often even forget to pray (I know that I frequently do).  Now prayer is a wonderful thing and we should absolutely pray for our brothers and sisters in need but we shouldn't stop there; God has given us all spiritual gifts to glorify Him and to serve others.  If you find someone in need even the smallest actions can be a dramatic blessing.  Even talking to them can help immensely.  It is a matter of living sacrificially for your neighbor.

This is also a question of the Lordship of Jesus.  Romans 10:9 tells us, "that (or because) if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;"   The Greek word for lord is kurios (koo-ree-os) and it means chiefly he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord.  Since that is a central part of salvation we should do what He says and wants don't you think?  Jesus has more than earned that right (not as though He needed to do so but He did anyway).  He suffered and died to pay for our sins; something no one else could ever do.  Any mortal man could conceivably go through the physical torments that Jesus experienced: pray so hard that you weep tears of blood; get betrayed by one of your closest friends; get beaten; spend the night in a cold jail cell; get questioned in a kangaroo-court; then questioned by a political weenie; then scourged until the skin on you back is hanging of in ribbons; then have a crown of thorns pressed on your head; then be forced to carry a 300 lb. block of wood across town with guards wiping you every time you stumble with exhaustion (which Jesus did a few times); and then have someone nail your to the cross in your wrists and feet so you hang there.  Of course that was just a warm-up for Jesus, the worst was yet to come.  When Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  Some Theologians believe that is when Jesus was experiencing the full wrath of God for the sins of those who would believe in Him.  There is no way any of us could survive the full wrath of an almighty, infinitely holy, and infinitely just God.  Without Jesus, a person will spend eternity paying for their own sins and will never come anywhere close to satisfying the whole debt of their own sin.  Now imagine paying for the sins of untold trillions of people.  All that was accomplished by Jesus.  God the Father greatly exalted Jesus Christ as it is written, "Being found in appearance as a man, He [Jesus] humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God  highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:8-11).  There is one last sobering consideration in Jesus' own words, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" (Matthew 7:21-23).  Note that these people were claiming all the showy flashy works to try to earn their entrance into Christ's Kingdom; all those things that are crowd drawing and self-glorifying and yet their lives were measured demonstrations of sinful behavior.  Any person who claims Jesus as Lord and yet carries on in a sinful lifestyle is like someone who is building his house on sand which will eventually wash away and leave him with out God and without hope.

That is all the time we have; tune in next week for the eventual conclusion of this loaded verse.


Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
But to Your name give glory
Because of Your lovingkindness,
Because of Your truth.

Romans 1:5 (the introduction) part 2

"through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake,"

What does Paul mean  by "...to bring about the obedience of faith"?  There are two ways of looking at this passage.  The first covers the response to the gift of faith the Holy Spirit grants upon regeneration.  Refer to the classic passage of John 3 starting in verse 3, "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (or from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God.'"   A lot of people contend that this happens upon salvation however it is my belief that regeneration by the Spirit of holiness precedes salvation.  Consider Ephesians 2:1, "And you were (or being) dead in your trespasses and sins," preaching salvation through Jesus Christ to people who are dead in their spirit would be just as useful as going to a grave yard and telling the corpses to rise.  Fortunately Ephesians goes on to say in verses 4 and 5, "But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in (or by reason of) our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)," and again in Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."  Or as the great Puritan Preacher John Owen tells us:

Outward darkness is when men do not have that light by which they are enabled to see. So outward spiritual darkness is upon men when there is nothing to enlighten them about God and spiritual things (Matt 4:16; Psa 119:105; Psa. 19:1-4,8; 2 Pet 1:19; Rom 10:15, 18). It is the work of the Holy Spirit to remove this darkness by sending the light of the gospel (Acts 13:2, 4; 16:6-10; Psa. 147:19,20). 

Inward darkness, on the other hand, arises from the natural depravity and corruption of the minds of men concerning spiritual things. Man’s mind is depraved and corrupted in things which are natural, civil, political, and moral, as well as in things which are spiritual, heavenly and evangelical. This depravity is often held back from having its full effects by the common grace of the Holy Spirit. So, man’s mind being darkened, he is unable to see, receive, understand or believe to the saving of his soul. Spiritual things, or the mysteries of the gospel, without the Holy Spirit first creating within the soul a new light by which they can see and receive those things, cannot bring salvation.

However brilliant the mind may be, and however brilliant the preaching and presentation of the gospel might be, yet without the Holy Spirit first creating this light in them, they cannot receive, understand and agree with the truths preached, and so will not be led to salvation (Eph 4:17, 18). 

So the unregenerate ‘walk in the futility of their mind’ (Eph 4:17). The natural inclination of the unregenerate mind is to seek those things that cannot satisfy (Gen 6:5). It is an unstable mind (Prov. 7:11-12). The unregenerate understanding is darkened and cannot judge things properly (Jhn 1:5). The unregenerate heart is blind. In Scripture the heart includes the will also. Light is received by the mind, applied by the understanding and used by the heart. ‘But if the light within is darkness,’ said Jesus, ‘how great is that darkness.’

...Even though the unconverted mind is highly educated and talented, yet it is utterly unable to receive and understand spiritually those things needful for its eternal salvation. It will not respond to the preaching of the gospel until renewed, enlightened and enabled to do so by the Holy Spirit: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned’ (1 Cor 2:14). The subject of this verse is the natural man. The natural man is quite opposite of the spiritual man (1 Cor 15:44; Jude 19).

I apologize for making the quote so long but it is hard to anything out.  I would highly recommend reading the whole article http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/owenoverthrow.html  So, in regenerating us the Holy  Spirit grants unto us faith by which we are able so see the glories of Christ; we can perceive our sinful nature and desperate need of salvation.  Thus in accepting Jesus' death and resurrection as a personal atonement you are showing the obedience of faith.

Unfortunately that is all the time we have.  Tune in next week for more exciting adventures in Romans!

Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
But to Your name give glory,
Because of Your lovingkindness,
Because of Your truth.

Romans 1:5 (the introduction) Part 1

"through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake,"

This verse shows the fruit of the gospel: that trough the manifestation of Christ (His life, death, and resurrection) we who are in Him are justified which is to say found not guilty before a just and holy God.  That is what God's grace is: His unmerited favor to those who absolutely do not deserve it.  The emphasis on God's grace in our salvation should remind us that we can never be good enough to be justified (be found not guilty) before a righteous and holy God.  Unfortunately, the common thought is that if I do enough good deeds that will outweigh my bad deeds.  I am pretty sure that is the view of every other religion and anti-Christian cult.  The problem they and we run into is that God demands perfection and as it is written, "There is none righteous (without guilt), not even one;" (Psalm 14:1;53:1; Romans 3:10) and again, "for all have sinned and fall short of the gory of God," (Romans 3:23).  The closest I can think to being good enough is like going to the world's greatest long-jumper and asking him to jump from San Diego to Beijing.  It is impossible!  The good news is that God mercifully put the guilt of the sins of those who would believe upon His Son, Jesus Christ; so that in Him we are completely forgiven.

The next part it a bit more tricky.  There could be two ways of looking at it if we allow that the office of apostle ended with the twelve and Paul (which I personally believe)"...we have received grace and apostleship": the first carries the idea that the "we" that Paul is using refers to just the Apostles and him (and one commentator posits that God did them a favor by giving them their office); the second could use the word apostle more loosely insomuch that all Christian are commanded to preach the gospel to everyone, "Go therefore and make disciples of of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-19).  That, of course, is the great commission in which you could say that in a sense we are all sent ones (apostles) to share the good news (gospel) to all the world.  Of course the original apostles were granted sign-gifts which is to say that they could heal miraculously, cast out demons, and on on occasion raise someone from the dead.  This functioned in the same way God worked in the prophets of the Old Testament.  As an example of what people expected of a prophet in Jesus day consider, "Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent'.  So they said to Him, 'What then do you do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You?  What work do You perform?"(John 6:30)  It is interesting that they would say that after Jesus had just finished feeding the five-thousand with five barley loaves and two fish (although the total amount of people could have been closer to seventy-five hundred to ten-thousand to account for women and children) a little while ago but I digress. 

Romans 1:4 (the introduction) Part 2

 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,

I apologize for finishing the posting last week.  I will do my best to get caught-up.

The term "Son of God" in this instance refers to the willful subjugation of God the Son to the Father's will in all things.  One of the Messianic titles that Jesus has is one that I will bet you have not heard of: the Slave of YHWH.  Isaiah 52:13-14 and 53:11 both use the Hebrew word `ebed (eh bed) to refer to this slave who was both suffering and exalted.  One of the problems that arises is that nearly all Bible translators wimped out and put servant instead; in like manner the Greek word doulos (doo los).  We all know how much baggage the word slave carries in American culture, however in the days of the Bible it was possibly even more so.  Unfortunately, I can only speculate as my attempts thus far to garner clarification on the world-wide-web have been mostly unsuccessful.  It is too bad that I got rid of a book called Slave by John MacArthur that could have shed some light on the issue.  Philippians 2:6-8 further expands on the submission of the Son to the Father's will, "who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped (or asserted), but emptied (i.e. laid aside His privileges) Himself, taking the form of a slave, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."  It is interesting that Paul make the distinction of pointed death on a cross specifically.  At that time prominent orators like Cicero described crucifixion as, "a most cruel and disgusting punishment," and suggested that "the very mention of the cross should be far removed not only from a Roman citizen’s body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears."  It was not even allowed in polite conversation among Roman citizens.  It is also possible that Deuteronomy 21:23 (quoted by Paul in Galatians 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree [or cross]--') could be referring to the infamy of that form of execution in the Jewish mind.  If Paul were not a Roman citizen, you can bet that is the how Nero would have killed him.

 The next part, "...with power by the resurrection from the dead," is an engaging thing to consider.  The Greek word for power is dunamis (doo-nam-is) which is where we get our word dynamite.  The resurrection is quite possibly one of the most important things that we as Christians often overlook.  We often like to say that Jesus died for our sins (and He did) but we commonly do not include He was raised again on the third day.  The thing is that if Jesus did not rise again then our sins are not forgiven.  Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 15:12-17, "Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of  the dead?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain.  Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins." (emphasis mine).

"according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord."  Now to wrap up this amazing verse.  The Holy Spirit may be one of the most important parts of Christianity that we almost never mention.  Without Him we would have no Bible, we would have no spiritual gifts, no indwelling spirit to convict us, and finally no salvation without the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit did mighty works in Jesus during His incarnation when He walked among us and rose Him from the dead.  Here is what it is all about: Jesus Christ our Lord.  When you take apart the last bit of the verse: Jesus means Jehovah is salvation; Christ means anointed and is the Greek word of the Jewish Messiah; and Lord comes from the Greek word kurios (koo-ree-os) which speaks to His supremacy over all things even as it is written in Philippians 2:9-11, "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
But to Your name give glory
Because of Your lovingkindness,
Because of your truth.