6/2/2021 0 Comments Romans CommentaryPaul writes this letter from Corinth during the near end of his third missionary journey (ca. AD 56), and entrusts the delivery to Phoebe while he travels back to Jerusalem with relief funds for the poor believers. Rome, the capital city of the Roman Empire, founded in 753 BC, is home to over one million people, a large portion of whom were slaves. It boasts of some of the most magnificent human architecture, but is abutted by ghettos in which most lived. Ro 1
Paul: a slave of Christ Jesus. Paul sees himself as someone who has no choice but to preach the gospel. Paul greets the church in Rome. Paul shows his care for the church through his prayer, and wanting to fellowship with them in person, so that they are encouraged as well as he. Paul paints the inevitable spiralling-down cycle of all the societies in the world:
Paul turns his attention from condemning Gentiles to condemning Jews. Paul condemns the self-righteous who knows enough to judge others, but also guilty of the same things. Paul strikes to the core of Jews' dignity: your circumcision means nothing. You are a transgressor of the Law, and the same as a Gentile transgressor, who, by virtue of being created in God's image, knows instinctively moral right and wrong. God is impartial. Everyone, Jew and Gentile, will be judged according to their level of knowledge and their faithfulness to obey it. Ro 3 Paul argues with an imaginary opponent (O); O: so the Jews have no benefit from being God's covenant people at all? P: They have huge benefit of having God's prophecies. O: Well, what good did that do? They rejected the revelation. P: So what? God remains true to His word and fulfills His promises. Paul says we can attain to righteousness through faith, which was impossible through trying to keep the commandments. God justifies sinners and God is still just, because of the faith in the sacrifice of Jesus. Ro 4 a little sampling of how Paul would have persuaded his kinsmen in every synagogue he entered: From the very beginning, sinners were only made righteous by faith in God's Word, not by keeping the law of Moses. By sheer favour, not by earning it by meritorious works. Do you want to be made righteous? Do you want to give God glory? The content of faith God requires for righteousness now is faith in God who vindicated Jesus' sacrifice by His resurrection. ro 5 Paul proves to the Jews that the Messiah had to suffer for His people. Paul says 'exult' three times. This hope-filled joy is because we know for certain of eternal life through substitutionary atonement of Jesus. Justification/righteousness/reconciliation/peace/free gift/God's love all are different words for the same reality: salvation. We also rejoice in trials and persecution, because it produces strength and endurance>a rugged and useful faith, tested and proven>assurance of salvation. This assurance is guaranteed, because of the Spirit's self-evident witness that God loves us. ro 6 Since you have been justified by grace, and not by the law, you Christians can enjoy sinning in any way you want, and no worry about the wrath? No. Because we have been justified by grace and not by the law, we can finally serve God and not sin. Being justified by grace is not a matter of appending an insurance policy to your sinful ways that lead to death. It is a matter of complete transformation of your self. Thus if you are under grace, you are not going to entertain the sinful false logic of antinomianism, and ponder whether you should serve God and not sin. You WILL serve God. You WANT to serve God. Paul's illustration that proves that Christians de facto don't live in sin: The old self died and the new self rose with Christ. We were freed from slavery to sin and became slaves to God. we are not becoming more sinful and dying. We are becoming more righteous and have eternal life. Paul says that Christians are dead to sin, alive to God, no longer slaves of sin, are now slaves of God. Thus, Paul tells them, "Show on the outside, who you are on the inside. Live according to your profession as slaves of God who are freed from sin. Walk like the resurrected people that you are. Live a life of obedience, not because you need to free yourself from sin and enslave yourself to God (as if it's even possible; ref. Ro 8:7) and not because you must finish the salvation work that Christ has started. Do it, because Christ has finished the work for you and because Christ Himself has freed you from sin and enslaved you to God." ro 7 Paul turns the blazing spotlight completely on the pride of his Jewish brothers: the Mosaic law, which they believe to be the source of life. Paul continues to destroy any lingering reliance on the law for life: Yes, the Law is good...but you are not. So when the Law meets you, your only mode of response is to say "the Law is meant to be broken" and dig yourself all the way to death. You, as a fleshly sinner, are the wrong person to marry the spiritual Law, who has no intention of leading the likes of you to life: you will only become more rebellious, and lead yourself to death in that relationship. The law's only purpose then is to show you your need for a different marriage Partner, and show God His need to kill you immediately. The spirit/intent of the law can finally be fulfilled by Christians, but Paul still finds an enemy of God within himself that he must fight, and it frustrates him. He has thoughts, plans and desires that are good, but he finds that he cannot fully execute his plans, and that he always fails in some way. ro 8 So God sent His Son to be the perfect sinless substitute for sinners, so that the penalty of breaking His Law could be satisfied, and so that we could be freed from the Law's demand for death. But now that the Law's penalty has been annihilated, what about the Law's relationship to our old sinful nature? Do we still have the same nature? Do we still find ourselves aroused by the Law to become more rebellious? Here then is the aftermath in the life of the ones justified by faith: Paul honours the Spirit for His work in: -enabling believers to live according to the spirit of the Law: love, so the war against sin within the believer can begin. -assuring us of our new relationship with God as His children, and eventual fellow heirs with Messiah. -giving us hope of full realization of salvation from sin. -praying on our behalf. -exalting Christ by making little Christ-imagers. Paul finds nothing more to add. Paul rightly feels invincible. Bring it on, O World. ro 9,10 Paul wants his fellow Israelites to be saved, to the point that he would choose to be damned in their place if possible, to whom all the promises of the Messiah rightly belong. They work hard under the Law to reach a false righteousness, while all they have to do in order to reach true righteousness is with their lips and their mind: Jesus is Lord. Meanwhile, God sends the gospel out to the Gentiles so they find the righteousness, if perhaps to motivate Israel through jealousy. Paul still believes the promise of the kingdom will be fulfilled in Israel, but also concedes that it has always been fulfilled in the believing remnant chosen by God, not the entire ethnic nation. Paul says God's choosing whom He will or will not save is to display His mercy and wrath. They are all the prerogatives of God, and is not at all the business of the sinners who only should worry about whether to believe or not. ro 11 Paul assures His Jewish brothers that God's covenant people will always remain His people, as has been for all of Israel's history. But it has always been God's chosen few who believe. Paul says the salvation of the Gentiles is a means to the end, that Israel will believe also. Believing Gentiles should never feel superior to the unbelieving Jews, knowing they are outsiders reaping benefits of Israel's heritage. There is a future salvation of the entire Israelite generation coming, which will mean even more blessing for the Gentiles than Israel's present rejection of the gospel. ro 12 Paul calls believers to whole-hearted worship of God. Believer are all gifted by God in different ways, and must fulfill their services according to their strengths. Paul encourages believers to do sundry things related to interpersonal relationships and day-in-the-life happenings. The overtone is a call for self-control, genuine and strait-laced care for others, emotional empathy, and trust in God for retribution. ro 13 Paul calls for submission to the institution of government and police, as they are placed by God for justice and righteous punishment. Christ's kingdom is coming soon, not by our effort or insurrection. Believers have obligation to fulfill the spirit of the law: love. All the more pressing need to separate from the common vices of society and cut off all the loose ends of your thoughts that linger on worthless lusts, and be devoted to God's kingdom, as our time of service is closing. ro 14 Paul speaks to the dynamics of the relationships between spiritually weaker and stronger believers, and believers of differing worship routines by which they serve God. It is pointless to belittle, or judge as sinful each other, as each of us will give an account to our Master for their own faithfulness. But one warning in the midst of all the liberty you have to make your own personal routine for worship: don't flaunt your liberty so your weaker brother's convictions are violated. Your liberty has become sin, and if your brother violates his conscience for you, you will reap double guilt. Need motivation? Christ died for him. He is God's work. God will want to kill you if you do. ro 15 Christ Himself accepted us; we should accept each other. Christ submitted Himself to be identified with Israel for the greater purpose of vindicating God, and bringing many praises to God. Paul continues to warn stronger believers to follow the example of Christ not neglect weaker brother's strong feelings of moral and immoral, but to come alongside and be in the same lot. Practice empathy, and solidarity. Only then unified worship that glorifies God is possible. Paul hopes to fellowship with the Romans soon, but he was busy planting the gospel where no gospel existed. Also he also first must bring the monetary gift from Gentiles to the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem. Paul asks for prayers for safe travels to Rome. ro 16 Paul's honourable mentions. Paul cannot help but inject a warning against flattering, eloquent teachings contrary to the faith. Paul closes with a worship to God who has revealed finally the secret of the gospel to all the world.
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CategoriesAll Discourse Doctrines Gospel Humour NT Commentaries OT Commentaries Tactical Life Date
August 2023
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