8 March 2016

Scripture: Romans 3:21-31

Observations:

So, right off the bat, Paul clarifies that the righteousness of God has made itself known apart from the Law. He is quick to note, however, that the Law and the prophets hint as to how it would be revealed, the specific manifestation of God's righteousness is available through faith in Jesus.

Paul answers the looming question of "Why" in just a moment.

You see, as Paul writes, he clarifies that all of us have sinned and we all deserve death because we no longer reach God's standard of righteousness.

Paul says it outright in vv 24-25. God's justification of man is a gift, one received by faith. Because of this show of righteousness, a man's sins are overlooked and God is fully able to act justly while acting mercifully towards a man's sins.

In light of all this, Paul remarks, "Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded." Because our salvation is based upon faith in Christ, we have nothing to boast over. He closes, stating that this does't mean we have no need to follow the Law. As he puts it, "[W]e uphold the law."

Application:

I cannot boast. My deliverance from temptation and sin is not of my own ability and strength, but by the mercy and grace of God who, in a display of righteousness, justice, and love, redeemed me from my sinful nature and desires through the payment of my punishment by Jesus, His Son, who is fully man and fully God, seated at the right hand of the throne of the Father.

Every victory over temptation and sin is a testament to the redemptive work taking place within me, as I am being sanctified, being remade in the image of God.

So, I cling to God and seek to honour him. I follow the Law not as a means for salvation, but because it is the directive of God for how to live. I do not boast over my successes in following the law, because I know such successes are only the providence of God,

1 March 2016

Scripture: Romans 3:1-8

Observations:

Paul follows from yesterday with a statement that there is still some benefit to having been a Jew or having been circumcised. (Remember, Paul was laying into the hypocrisy of those who had the law and were physically circumcised, but were living contrary to the law, stating how they were, in essence, uncircumcised).

The first benefit is that the Jews were entrusted with the word of God. So what if some of the Jews were unfaithful. Does their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness? (Similarly, does a Christian's non-Christlikeness negate the nature of Christ?) No. In fact, Paul goes so far as to say, "Let God be true though everyone were a liar."

"If our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say, that God is unrighteous for judging us?" Before I interject, wait for Paul's answer.

"By no means! For then, how could God judge the world?"

If God is perfectly righteous and perfectly just, there is no way he cannot punish unrighteousness. Once again, our false perception of innate human goodness skews our perception of God. We deserve nothing but death from God. The fact that God has made redemption possible is astounding enough as it is.

Following this, Paul raises a couple questions in a Devil's advocate manner:

• "But if through my lie, God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?"
• "And why not do evil that good may come?"

These are actually questions Christians at the time had been accused of asking.

Now, yes, Paul answers these questions later, but I would ask these questions: If we have repented and committed to following Christ, how could we willingly and intentionally commit sin? How could we tolerate or even enjoy sinning?

So, God works despite our failures and His nature is highlighted by our flaws, but that does not give us license to engage in sin. Let me refer you to yesterday's passage (which I was too tired to do justice). Read vv 17-24. In claiming allegiance to God and engaging in sin, you dishonour God and blaspheme His name amongst the unsaved, turning them away from the gospel

Application:

Seek God first.

Seek to honour God. If I fail, then I fail, but I will not engage willingly in sin. I will constantly seek God.

29 February 2016

Scripture: Romans 2:12-29

Observations:

This is a hefty segment, following after the last passage. I'll try to complete the passage tonight, but I may end up tapping out mid-way. We'll see what God has in store.

In vv 12-13, we see that God will judge man by what he knows. If he does not know the law, then he dies outside the law. If he knows the Law, then he will be judged by the Law. Paul is making an initial statement, saying that knowledge of the Law is not sufficient for salvation.

He makes this point in vv 14-16 wherein he states that a Gentile who follow the Law, though he does not know the Law and its requirements, bears evidence of the Law being written on their hearts.

Paul then flips the tables in vv 17-24 wherein he addresses the Jews, who relied on the Law and prided themselves on their adherence to the Law. He calls them out for practising the opposite of what they preach. As Paul writes in v 23, "You who boast in the Law dishonour God by breaking the law."

Lastly we see Paul's take on circumcision. In vv 25-29, Paul makes some key statements:

1. Physical circumcision only has value when paired with obedience
2. An uncircumcised man who follows the Law is considered circumcised

Paul makes it very clear here that God is not interested in the outward circumcision, the following of Laws for Laws' statement. God bases judgment on  the internal circumcision. In fact, the  externally circumcised individual who does not follow the Law is judged more sternly because he know what is right and did not do it.

"For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God."  Romans 2:28-29

Salvation is not dependent upon ourselves via the Law, but on God. Paul takes the opportunity of speaking out against the Judaizers and their pro-circumcision stance. He also speaks to the couch potatoes.

It's late. I know what Paul is meaning. I'm just having a difficult time putting the puzzle pieces our livesit together

26 February 2016

Scripture: Romans 2:1-11

Observations:

Continuing from Paul's final statement in chapter 1, (Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.) Paul gives no excuse to those who judge.

Why?

They commit the very same acts and, in judging another, they acknowledge their own actions, too, as wrong. Essentially, they are admitting no not merely ignorance of the law, but flagrant flouting of the law. (v 1)

Paul then continues, asking the Romans that, given that we know God punishes such acts, and rightly so, how they, the judgers, presume to escape the punishment of God. Do they presume that the can just slip by unnoticed? Do they, read this, presume upon God's forgiveness and mercy? (vv 2-4a)

Addressing the latter, Paul makes an addendum: in their presumption, do they not know that God's kindness is meant to lead to repentance? (v 4b)

I want to pause over this statement, because it is something I see very prevalent in society and, being part of society, I'm fairly sure I do in my own right as well. That is, I/we sin. I/We judge other based upon their sin. I/We expect to get by with my/our sins uncounted because God is a good, loving God.

God's kindness is meant to lead to repentance.

Let that sink in for a moment.

God is not unaware of how we abuse his kindness. He sees how we carry on in our sin, taking His goodness for granted. Church, I'm talking to you. God is not good for the sake of being good. God is not merciful, forgiving, and kind purely for the sake of those virtues themselves. God could be good simply by removing evil, i.e. us. No, He delays justice that we may appeal for amnesty.

God's kindness is in the delay of justice, which is for the benefit of man that he may receive amnesty and be forgiven.

Let us carry on.

Because man is blatantly impenitent in his conduct, he is instead storing up against himself the wrath of God, which will be unleashed against him at the day of judgment. (v 5)

Now, on to everyone's favourite subject, judgment. Paul states that God will judge each according to their works. (v 6) Now, before you all haul me off and stone me for heresy, let's see what Paul means by that.

"[T]o those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life." (v 7)

Okay, so, at first, you may see "The do-gooders will go to heaven." That's not quite where Paul is going with this. Note the words "patience in well-doing" and "seek for ... immortality". Clearly  Paul is saying that, first, this reward goes to a life lived in continuous discipline and devotion to doing what is right. Second, he is saying that the goal of those seeking eternal life should be beyond this life. In multiple passages, Jesus referred to himself as life or the way to life. It lies to reasonable assumption that seeking immortality is not seeking fame that lingers beyond the grave (akin to Ozymandias), but seeking Jesus.

"[B]ut for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." (v 8)

What are the criteria for punishment? Self-seeking, disobedience, and unrighteousness. If verse seven didn't bring you around to the idea that heaven merely waited for those who do good stuff, then verse eight makes it uncomfortably clear. Self-seeking? Pretty straight and clear-cut. It is seeking one's own desires above those of God or others (again, akin to Ozymandias). Disobedience, unrighteousness? Interesting, we just talked about those yesterday.

Paul then continues to make clear that God's judgment is total and impartial. In verses nine and ten, Paul describes that punishment will come to all who do evil and that reward to all who do good. He even makes the point of distinguishing that judgment will come to both Jew and Greek, that is, both the special "People of God" and the other guys. In addition, if that last point wasn't very clear, in verse eleven, Paul reiterates that God will show no partiality.

Remember, if God is perfect and God is just, then God is, by definition, perfectly just. No one will escape his judgment and no one will be falsely condemned or acquitted. Each will receive the punishment deserved and, if we remember yesterday's passage, we are all deserving of punishment, having obtained salvation solely through the delay of judgment and the sacrifice of Christ, which was sufficient to satisfy the law on our behalf, allowing for God's judgment to have been rendered fulfilled in Christ instead of pending fulfillment in us.

Application:

How, then, do we respond to such great justice? How do we answer such immaculate mercy?

With humility.

We bow our heads in confession. We accept with gratitude the undeserved gift given us. In repentance we commit ourselves, in return, to obedience and righteousness.

25 February 2016

Scripture: Romans 1:18-32

Observations:

Paul begins, explaining his previous statement, that the righteous shall live by faith. Why, because God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.

I'm just going to break Paul's writing up into consecutive argument points

• God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man (Why?)
• Man, through their unrighteousness suppresses the truth (What truth? Suppressing how?)
• God has made available certain truths about himself since the beginning of time to be easily and clearly perceived
• Seeing God, man chose not to honour or thank God and instead attributed the evidences of God to idols in the image of man and beast.
• Because man chose to worship created beings instead of God, God gave man over to its sinful desires.

Now, from that last statement, Paul breaks down what giving man over to their sinful desires looks like

• Homosexuality (described in detail as men and women trading natural passions for ones contrary to nature)
• Unrighteousness & evil (described below)
• Covetousness
• Malice
• Envy
• Murder
• Strife
• Deceit
• Maliciousness
• Gossip
• Slander
• Hating God
• Insolence
• Haughtiness
• Boastfulness
• Invention of evil
• Disobedience to parents
• Foolishness
• Faithlessness
• Heartlessness
• Ruthlessness

After describing this idea, Paul concludes his argument here with one last statement

• Though man knows God's decree that those engaging in such behaviour deserve death, man continues in its sinfulness and encourages its members to conduct itself accordingly.

Application:

Here, Paul is addressing the depravity of man and, in doing so touches on the idea of a good God and evil.

You'll notice that God did not create evil. Evil sprang from the disobedience of man. As partial punishment, God gave man over to the evil it had indulged in, but God did not consign man to evil and death as an act of malice. 

Here comes time for a good dwelling on the nature of God.

To ask why a perfect, holy God would permit evil to exist, we must first ask why God did not end it earlier and, in pondering why God did not end it earlier, we must wonder why God even allowed the possibility for its existence in the first place, let alone what the Dickens evil actually is to begin with.

So, lets begin with the last and work our way back.

1. If we posit that God is good, and perfectly so, then evil must be the opposite, the lack of righteousness, perfection, goodness, etc.
2. Following that, if we agree that God, being a good, perfect, righteous creator would not make an imperfect, flawed, evil creature, then we must agree that evil came from the agency of the created, which begs the second question.
3. In the Genesis account, we see God giving Adam a specific command - an opportunity for obedience. If man has the choice to obey, then man must have the choice to disobey, else it is not a choice. 
4. Why would God give man a measure of free will if it could be abused to do evil? If man could only do good, then there is no acknowledgement of God as the one to be obeyed. In an analogy, it is the difference between a robot programmed to make tea upon command and a wife making tea when asked. The former has no ability to refuse. The latter, having the choice to refuse, is acknowledging that the one requesting tea is worth making tea for. So, then, God allowed man the free will to disobey in order that man could acknowledge God as worthy of obedience.
5. Before we can answer the third question, we must ask why God would want such an acknowledgement. Some might say that God has worked throughout history such that He would receive the most glory possible. Hence, he gave man free will, as willful obedience gives greater glory than mere programming.
6. That reasoning then follows to the third and fourth questions. If God works to His greatest glory, then there must come a greater return on letting evil persist until now. After all, if we accept that man at this point is inherently sinful, ending evil earlier would have meant destroying and punishing man before now, and ending evil now would mean destroying and punishing all who persist in evil.

So, when you think about it, God's being very gracious in allowing us to exist, enduring the stench of our sin for the sake of redeeming as many as possible back to Him.

24 February 2016

Scripture: Romans 1:16-17

Observations:

Clearly, we can see that Paul is unashamedly passionate about the Gospel. Let's look at why:

• It is the power of God
• It brings salvation to those who believe 
• That is, it is the vehicle for salvation, not that the Gospel itself grants salvation
• God's righteousness is revealed
• His righteousness is revealed from the faith of his followers
• His righteousness, revealed by faith, is for the growing of faith in his followers
• Why? The righteous shall live by faith
• Faith shall be the method upon which followers of Christ base their lives

So, God's power is revealed, leading to salvation; God's righteousness is revealed, leading to faith; and faith is the substance upon which those saved thrive.

I'd say the gospel is pretty important, then.

Application:

23 February 2016

Scripture: Romans 1:8-15

Observation:

Here in this passage, Paul is talking to the Romans, telling them of his desire to visit them and minister to them. Why? So that they may be strengthened and mutually encouraged in their faith.

Notice, though, that while Paul was not able to visit the church in Rome, he is constantly praying for them.

Application:

What I see here is the value of prayer. Paul is passionate for his ministry, both evangelism and discipleship. He is writing to encourage the Roman church. He is expressing his desire to serve them and his inability to do so, due to other demands and yet, the first things he says is that he thanks God for them and that he is constantly praying for them, particularly that he will be able to visit them.