This chapter begins with the idea of judgment. Paul says that there is no excuse for those who judge other people. Today, many people have the wrong concept when it comes to this idea of judging. Many people feel cornered when someone confronts them about sin in a biblical manner. This is not the "inexcusable" act of judging addressed by Paul here. In reading Romans, one must remember that it is a letter. Concepts build on one another. Paul just finished a discourse on the gospel. He explained that without Christ, we are guilty of breaking the law and are deserving of punishment from God. He explained the penalty for sin and the provision for escaping the punishment of this sin. The judgment here is condemnation. It is not my telling someone else that they have sinned, but it is my trying to decide the penalty and punishment of that sin. Here Paul addresses another aspect of that judgment in the double standard. The people referenced in the first five verses look down and condemn others who are committing the same sins and the one looking down his nose! These people despise the goodness, patience, goodness, and grace of God.
The only One who can truly pass judgment on someone and decide penalty or reward is God. He will "render to every man according to his deeds." Verses seven through eleven detail examples of this rendering. To those who seek good, God rewards them according to those deeds. Those who seek evil will receive due recompense for their actions. God, unlike us humans, does not render a sentence according to the standard of the person being judged. He sticks to His standard.
Verses twelve through sixteen detail the standard whereby we are judged. The word "law" is mentioned eleven times. The law is the standard by which we are judged. The only way we can escape being held to the standard is by allowing Christ to take our places. This is the gospel.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Romans 1:16-32
At the end of the previous section and the beginning of this selection, Paul mentions that he is eager to preach the gospel in Rome because he is not ashamed of the gospel. As the good news spread in the first century, persecution of these believers of the "new faith" increased. For many of us today, news of any kind of "persecution" will make us squirm and shut up about anything resembling the good news of Christ. For Paul, this was not a deterrent or a daunting matter. He wanted to go to the heart of the known world to share the news of the One Who could change hearts and lives. He said he was not ashamed because he knew the power of the gospel.
Here is the power of the gospel: if I have faith, I receive righteousness. That is a very powerful exchange. Salvation occurs when I trust in Christ as my only way to heaven. I admit that I am filthy and rotten and that I have nothing within me that could ever merit eternity. I am unrighteous. When God looks at me in an unrighteous state, He sees my SIN. God is just and must punish sin! If He sees my sin and does nothing about it, He is NOT a fair God. When I realize my state and the deficiency of righteousness I have, and then I see the righteousness of Christ and believe in His atonement, Christ imputes His righteousness to my account. The righteousness of God begins and ends with faith (17). If you really grasp that concept, you will be blown away by the power of the gospel unto salvation. The attribute of the righteous is faith.
After Paul presents the power of the good news of righteousness by faith, he transitions to the flip side. There are two verses here on obtaining righteousness and about fifteen on the ungodly or unrighteous. As I mentioned earlier, God would be unfair if He did not punish unrighteousness. So we can pin-point unrighteousness, Paul gives us the attributes of unrighteousness. In verse 18, Paul says that they suppress the truth. All that can be known about God has been made plain to them (19), but instead of believing they fight all the signs of truth. These people ignore all evidence plainly pointing to God. They see the world around them and explain it away by means of evolution. They attribute blessings of God to luck or circumstance. They refuse to honor and thank God (21). These people also concoct pointless plans and imagine futile ideas (21). They waste their time with idle minds. The last one makes me laugh a little to myself. These unrighteous people boast themselves to be wise when they are really fools (22). Have you ever heard someone go on and on about how wise they are? You know that you think to yourself, "When will this idiot just be quiet?!" That is a characteristic of an unrighteous person! If you notice, all these attributes deal with faith and trust as well. There is a huge difference. The righteous man believes himself to be lacking and trusts in God and His Son. The unrighteous man believes God to be lacking and trusts in his own way. Verse 25 says that they "exchanged the truth about God for a lie." OUCH! What a substitute? I do not want to choose to be "duped." There are immense consequences for voluntarily being ignorant.
The consequences of trading the truth for a lie escalate in verses 24-32. If you notice, God is always in control. First God gives the unrighteous over to their own lusts. He says, "OK, have it your way. Enjoy your sin for the season." The unrighteous begin following the lusts of their impure hearts. The example given is that they dishonor their bodies among themselves. Unrighteous people love to fellowship with more unrighteous people. They love to be able to ''do whatever makes them feel good." They begin to "worship a creation" (25). Next, God gives them over to dishonorable passions. Here Paul references homosexuality. So people slide from their lusts and dishonoring their bodies (most likely through substance abuse and sleeping around heterosexually) to dishonorable passions of homosexuality. The unrighteous woman begins experimenting with lesbianism and the man begins flirting with being gay. The scary part of this section is that they will receive "in themselves the due penalty for their error." Continuing down the slope away from God, the unrighteous man is given up to a debased or reprobate mind. Paul has a very long list of sins that regularly make the headlines: murder, evil, slander, ruthlessness. HE also adds in that the unrighteous are disobedient to parents, are prideful, and gossip. Whoa! That does not even sound close to being on the same page as fornication, homosexuality, or murder! Furthermore, Paul says that people who practice these things deserve to DIE! HARSH, right?
When God looks that the unrighteous, He sees the SIN. God sees one ounce of sin, and He has no choice but to punish that sin because the sinner is not meeting the standards set by the Holy God. This is where the good news comes into play. God loved us so much that He compromised and sent His Son to pay the price and bear our iniquities upon Him that by His stripes, we may be healed (Isaiah 51). When I allow Jesus to use His blood to purchase me back from the kingdom of unrighteousness and to cleanse my sins, the Father looks at me and sees His Son. THIS is the power of the gospel.
Here is the power of the gospel: if I have faith, I receive righteousness. That is a very powerful exchange. Salvation occurs when I trust in Christ as my only way to heaven. I admit that I am filthy and rotten and that I have nothing within me that could ever merit eternity. I am unrighteous. When God looks at me in an unrighteous state, He sees my SIN. God is just and must punish sin! If He sees my sin and does nothing about it, He is NOT a fair God. When I realize my state and the deficiency of righteousness I have, and then I see the righteousness of Christ and believe in His atonement, Christ imputes His righteousness to my account. The righteousness of God begins and ends with faith (17). If you really grasp that concept, you will be blown away by the power of the gospel unto salvation. The attribute of the righteous is faith.
After Paul presents the power of the good news of righteousness by faith, he transitions to the flip side. There are two verses here on obtaining righteousness and about fifteen on the ungodly or unrighteous. As I mentioned earlier, God would be unfair if He did not punish unrighteousness. So we can pin-point unrighteousness, Paul gives us the attributes of unrighteousness. In verse 18, Paul says that they suppress the truth. All that can be known about God has been made plain to them (19), but instead of believing they fight all the signs of truth. These people ignore all evidence plainly pointing to God. They see the world around them and explain it away by means of evolution. They attribute blessings of God to luck or circumstance. They refuse to honor and thank God (21). These people also concoct pointless plans and imagine futile ideas (21). They waste their time with idle minds. The last one makes me laugh a little to myself. These unrighteous people boast themselves to be wise when they are really fools (22). Have you ever heard someone go on and on about how wise they are? You know that you think to yourself, "When will this idiot just be quiet?!" That is a characteristic of an unrighteous person! If you notice, all these attributes deal with faith and trust as well. There is a huge difference. The righteous man believes himself to be lacking and trusts in God and His Son. The unrighteous man believes God to be lacking and trusts in his own way. Verse 25 says that they "exchanged the truth about God for a lie." OUCH! What a substitute? I do not want to choose to be "duped." There are immense consequences for voluntarily being ignorant.
The consequences of trading the truth for a lie escalate in verses 24-32. If you notice, God is always in control. First God gives the unrighteous over to their own lusts. He says, "OK, have it your way. Enjoy your sin for the season." The unrighteous begin following the lusts of their impure hearts. The example given is that they dishonor their bodies among themselves. Unrighteous people love to fellowship with more unrighteous people. They love to be able to ''do whatever makes them feel good." They begin to "worship a creation" (25). Next, God gives them over to dishonorable passions. Here Paul references homosexuality. So people slide from their lusts and dishonoring their bodies (most likely through substance abuse and sleeping around heterosexually) to dishonorable passions of homosexuality. The unrighteous woman begins experimenting with lesbianism and the man begins flirting with being gay. The scary part of this section is that they will receive "in themselves the due penalty for their error." Continuing down the slope away from God, the unrighteous man is given up to a debased or reprobate mind. Paul has a very long list of sins that regularly make the headlines: murder, evil, slander, ruthlessness. HE also adds in that the unrighteous are disobedient to parents, are prideful, and gossip. Whoa! That does not even sound close to being on the same page as fornication, homosexuality, or murder! Furthermore, Paul says that people who practice these things deserve to DIE! HARSH, right?
When God looks that the unrighteous, He sees the SIN. God sees one ounce of sin, and He has no choice but to punish that sin because the sinner is not meeting the standards set by the Holy God. This is where the good news comes into play. God loved us so much that He compromised and sent His Son to pay the price and bear our iniquities upon Him that by His stripes, we may be healed (Isaiah 51). When I allow Jesus to use His blood to purchase me back from the kingdom of unrighteousness and to cleanse my sins, the Father looks at me and sees His Son. THIS is the power of the gospel.
Romans 1:1-7
In this opening passage of Romans, Paul gives the credentials for three things- himself, the gospel, and the Christ- before he really begins the meat of his letter. In verses 1,6, & 7, Paul speaks of his authority and life purpose. He is a servant (1) of Jesus Christ. He no longer acts according to his own will, plan, and desires, but he works our the will of the Father. He speaks of his authority be calling himself an apostle (1) or a sent one. He had seen Jesus post- Resurrection and was given a mission to be "separated unto the gospel." His whole life was about spreading the good news. In 6& 7, he broadens the scope to include the readers of his letter. He says that they are also called of God. The same authority that was placed on Paul also resides over my life. I have been separated unto the gospel and have been called to be a servant of Christ.
Next, he gives credit to the gospel of God to which he had been sanctified. He says that even the Old Testament bears witness of Christ and confirms the gospel message. None of the writers of the New Testament invented any part of Christ. The gospel was prepared before man ever came to the planet...before there ever was a planet! This stamp of validity on the gospel also adds credibility to Paul's ministry.
He then moves on to the credentials of the focus of the gospel- Jesus. He first says that Jesus is God's Son. This gave Jesus power in heaven and on earth "according to the spirit of holiness." Christ had the power to do all to the glory of God and nothing to the detriment of this holiness. An example lies in the temptation in the wilderness. Satan tempted Him to use His power against this holiness, so Jesus had to refuse. There is nothing in Him to defy holiness. This perfect power was made concrete by his Resurrection. The Resurrection of Jesus was the final stamp of approval fro His Father in His First Appearing. This same power is the working force behind the grace and calling we've received, thus adding validity to the gospel and to the authority of the saints. This power works in us the same way it worked in our Savior- unto holiness. We are obedient to the faith through His power so that all nations may know His name.
Last Paul's credit to Christ is that He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. The first connection gives him a relation to Divine power by being God's Son. This second connection gives him a relationship to human frailty. We have a High Priest Who has been touched with our infirmities. He relates specifically to the Jewish frail system by specifically being from the lineage of David, which adds to his credibility as being Messiah. Paul opens the relation to all men when he added "according to the flesh." We follow a Savior that was not only 100% God, but he was also 100% man. He bore our sin, shame, and sentence on Himself and felt every bit of that human frailty. Because of that, I can come to Him more freely. He is not only a Jesus who has Divine power, but He is my Jesus who feels my hurt. I may partake in the power and the humanity of my Savior. This Savior calls His servants, sanctifies His gospel message, and displays His own credentials for Lordship in my life.
Next, he gives credit to the gospel of God to which he had been sanctified. He says that even the Old Testament bears witness of Christ and confirms the gospel message. None of the writers of the New Testament invented any part of Christ. The gospel was prepared before man ever came to the planet...before there ever was a planet! This stamp of validity on the gospel also adds credibility to Paul's ministry.
He then moves on to the credentials of the focus of the gospel- Jesus. He first says that Jesus is God's Son. This gave Jesus power in heaven and on earth "according to the spirit of holiness." Christ had the power to do all to the glory of God and nothing to the detriment of this holiness. An example lies in the temptation in the wilderness. Satan tempted Him to use His power against this holiness, so Jesus had to refuse. There is nothing in Him to defy holiness. This perfect power was made concrete by his Resurrection. The Resurrection of Jesus was the final stamp of approval fro His Father in His First Appearing. This same power is the working force behind the grace and calling we've received, thus adding validity to the gospel and to the authority of the saints. This power works in us the same way it worked in our Savior- unto holiness. We are obedient to the faith through His power so that all nations may know His name.
Last Paul's credit to Christ is that He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. The first connection gives him a relation to Divine power by being God's Son. This second connection gives him a relationship to human frailty. We have a High Priest Who has been touched with our infirmities. He relates specifically to the Jewish frail system by specifically being from the lineage of David, which adds to his credibility as being Messiah. Paul opens the relation to all men when he added "according to the flesh." We follow a Savior that was not only 100% God, but he was also 100% man. He bore our sin, shame, and sentence on Himself and felt every bit of that human frailty. Because of that, I can come to Him more freely. He is not only a Jesus who has Divine power, but He is my Jesus who feels my hurt. I may partake in the power and the humanity of my Savior. This Savior calls His servants, sanctifies His gospel message, and displays His own credentials for Lordship in my life.
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