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SECTION G – Doctrine: Justification,
Individual (3:21 –
4:25)
Balanced
by SECTION g – Doctrine: Justification, National (9:30
– 10:21)
Romans Four - verses 1 to 12
13. For not through law is the promise to
Abraham, or to his Seed,
for him to be enjoyer of the allotment of the world,
but through faith's righteousness.
As
further developed in Galatians, the law was not given till hundreds of
years after Abraham was counted righteous. The promises he received in
connection with it were unconditional, dependent only on God's
faithfulness. They were given without any reference to the law and do not
depend on any legal observance for fulfillment. When the law did come it
did not confirm these promises. It was brought in to show how impotent
their own efforts were when they sought to attain to Abraham's divinely
given righteousness by the keeping of the law. The law hindered rather than
helped. Instead of making them just, it drew down God's indignation for
their failure to live up to it. Concordant Commentary
Abraham
was not given the promise to be the enjoyer of the allotment of the world
because he observed some law of God (none
were given to him), but because he believed
what God said to him. He
believed God before he underwent
circumcision and long before the law was given (430 years later).
Gen.12:1,2 Now saying is Yahweh to Abram,
"Go you from your land and from your
kindred and from your father's house
to the land which I shall show you. 2 And make you will I
into a great nation,
and bless you will I and make your name great,
and become must you a blessing.
Gen.12:3 And bless those will I who bless
you,
and those making light of you will I curse.
And blessed in you and in your seed are all the families of the
ground.
Gal.3:16 Now to Abraham the promises
were declared, and to his Seed.
He is not saying "And to seeds," as of
many,
but as of One:
And to "your Seed," which is Christ.
Gal.3:29 Now if you are Christ's, consequently you are of Abraham's seed,
enjoyers of the allotment according to the promise.
14. For if those of law are enjoyers of the allotment,
faith has been made void and the
promise has been nullified,
If now what was promised is reserved
only for those who have to qualify through the keeping of law, faith is
made redundant and the promise
God made to Abraham, in effect, cancelled! It would be no longer a promise
but a payment for services
rendered or for value received! But Scripture insists that Abraham will
receive the allotment according to
the promise God made to him, and even independent of his subsequent
actions – the promise was unconditional.
Gal.3:17,18 …this am I saying: a covenant,
having been ratified before by
God,
the law, having come four hundred and thirty
years afterward,
does not invalidate, 18 so as to nullify the
promise.
For if the enjoyment of the allotment is of law,
it is no longer of promise.
Yet God has graciously granted it to Abraham through the promise.
15. for the law is producing indignation.
Now where no law is, neither is there
transgression.
‘…the law is
producing indignation…’
Law
must be accompanied by its enforcement through execution of its stipulated
penalties for, otherwise, it would be mere wishful thinking. The
transgression of God-given laws draws down His indignation on their
perpetrators. What is even more serious, to those who seek righteousness
through law, is that the law system is reckoned as a whole – so that the
breaking of even one means the transgression of all.
Gal.5:3 Now I am attesting
again to every man who is circumcising,
that he is a debtor to
do the whole law.
Jas.2:10 For anyone who should be keeping
the whole law,
yet should be tripping
in one thing, has become liable for all.
The
fact is that since no one has been able to keep it perfectly (except Jesus
Christ, of course), the law can only bring down the attached penalties of
condemnation and indignation rather than blessings!
‘…where no law is, neither is there
transgression…’
Paul asserts a logical
universal principle which, though obvious, is seldom realized and often
glossed over: It is not possible for us to transgress a law that does not
exist, or one that is not directed to us
for observance.
Psa.147:19,20 He is telling His words to Jacob,
His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.
20 He
has not done so for any other nation,
And His ordinances, they do not know them at all. Praise Yah.
The law was given
explicitly and exclusively to Israel. It was an integral part of a solemn covenant, a contract, between God and
the people of Israel.
Deut.4:7,8 For what great nation is there which has elohim so near to it
as Yahweh our Elohim is in all that we call to
Him?
8 And what
great nation is there which has statutes and judgments
so righteous as all this law that I am putting
before you today?
Deut.4:32-35 For ask now about the former days
which came before you,
from the day that Elohim created humanity on the
earth,
and from one end of the heavens unto the other
end of the heavens:
Has there occurred anything like this great
thing,
or has anything been heard like it?
33 Has a people ever heard the voice of the
living Elohim
speaking from the midst of the fire just as you
heard it, and lived?
34 Or has an elohim ever tried to come
and take for himself a nation from among another
nation by trials, by signs
and by miracles, by war, by a steadfast hand and
by an outstretched arm
and by great fear-inspiring deeds,
such as all that Yahweh your Elohim did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 You were shown this to know that Yahweh,
He is the only Elohim.
There is no one else aside from Him.
People may sin (Greek: harmati’a = UN-MARKING,
missing the mark), and they may offend
(para’ptöma = BESIDE-FALL, hurt the feelings of others),
but they cannot transgress
(parabain’ö = BESIDE-STEP, step out of bounds) when there
is no law to transgress! Scripture goes to declare that law was added so
that there could be
transgression, and so that sin is demonstrated as something
very serious in God’s eyes. People must come to realize just how obstinate,
how headstrong, they actually are.
Rom.5:13 for until law sin was in the
world,
yet sin is not being taken into account when there is no law;
Gal.3:19 What, then, is the law? On behalf of transgressions was it added,…
Rom.7:11 For Sin,
getting an
incentive through the precept, deludes me, and through it, kills me.
Rom.7:13 But Sin, that it may be
appearing Sin,
is producing death to me through good,
that Sin may become an inordinate sinner through the precept.
One may hurt the feelings
of others unknowingly, but the offence is compounded when one, aware of
what will hurt, knowingly and deliberately causes such hurt.
Rom.5:20 Yet law came in by the way, that the offense should be increasing….
1Cor.15:56 Now the sting of Death is
sin, yet the power of sin is the
law.
Rom.7:7-12 What, then, shall we declare? That
the law is sin?
May it not be coming to that! But sin I knew not except through law.
For besides, I had not been aware of coveting
except the law said, "You shall not be
coveting."
8 Now Sin, getting an incentive through the precept,
produces in me all manner of coveting. For apart from law Sin is dead.
9 Now I lived, apart from law, once,
yet at the coming of the precept Sin revives.
Yet I died,
10 and it was found that, to me, the precept
for life, this is for death.
11 For Sin, getting an incentive through
the precept, deludes me,
and through it, kills me.
12 So that the law, indeed, is holy, and
the precept holy and just and good.
The main function of the
law is to identify what sin is, to enable a recognition of it. It declares
what is unrighteous. In this
context, it has vindicated its existence. But, it is neither intended nor
designed to empower or to dispense righteousness.
Rom.3:20 …for through law is the recognition of sin.
Heb.7:19 for the law perfects nothing,…
Gal.3:21 Is the law, then, against the promises of God?
May it not be coming to that!
For if
a law were given that is able to
vivify, really, righteousness were out of law.
If God allows for law to be
the means for dispensing righteousness, He would be undermining His own
pre-determined operation. If this is a viable alternative, did God hate His
Son so much as to make Him drink
the cup of suffering and death to save sinners? Would He have forced His
beloved Son through that traumatic experience when there actually was an
alternative means at hand? He would have caused Christ to have died without
any need to – to have died for nothing.
Mt.26:39 And coming forward a little, He
falls on His face, praying and saying,
"My Father, if it is possible, let this cup
pass by from Me.
However, not as I will, but as Thou!"
Gal.2:21 …for if righteousness is through law,
consequently
Christ died gratuitously.
16. Therefore it is of faith
that it may accord with grace,
for the promise to be confirmed to the
entire seed,
not to those
of the law only, but to those also of the faith of Abraham,
who is father of us all,
Faith
has not the least merit. We do not deem it meritorious to believe an honest
man. It is no effort. It is not work. It is the simplest, easiest, freest channel
God could choose to convey His righteousness to us. Let us exult in His
explanation that it is of faith that it may accord with grace. In Ephesians
we have the further truth that such a salvation—through faith—calls for
further favor in the future (Eph.2:8).
Concordant Commentary
‘…it is of
faith that it may accord with grace…’
Faith
and grace go hand in hand. We believe only because of God’s grace which
enables us to. If that grace is not dispensed, we cannot believe. The faith we have is God-given and not inherent
in us, not self-generated – so, we cannot lay claim to any credit for it, or for what we do because of
it. The glory must go to God Who, in grace, gives us that faith. We must come to realize that God is God - that all is of God – this is what Scripture
insists on!
Rom.11:36 seeing that out of Him and through Him and for
Him is all:
to Him be the glory for the eons! Amen!
1Cor.8:6 Nevertheless for us there is one
God, the Father, out of Whom all
is,
1Cor.11:12 For even as the woman
is out of the man,
thus the man also is
through the woman, yet all is
of God.
2Cor.5:17,18 So that, if anyone is
in Christ, there is a new creation:
the primitive passed by.
Lo! there has come new! 18 Yet all is of God,…
The fulfilment of the promise to Abraham that he and
his entire seed would be the enjoyers of the allotment of the world is
dependent only on faith - in this case on the faith that Abraham displayed.
It is gratuitous; it accords with the principle of grace; there are no
conditions attached, and no further conditions may be attached
subsequently. There is nothing that can prevent it from completing its
inexorable march to fulfilment! That fulfilment is unconditional!
God specifies
who constitute the seed of Abraham
– not those through Ishmael but through Isaac, not those through Esau but
through Jacob.
Rom.9:8 …the children of the flesh, not
these are the children of God,
but the children of the promise is He reckoning for the seed.
Rom.9:6,7 for not all those out of Israel, these are Israel;
7 neither that Abraham's
seed are all children,
but "In Isaac shall your seed be
called."
Gen.17:20,21 And as to Ishmael, behold! I hear
you. Behold! Bless him do I,
and fruitful do I make
him, and increase him exceedingly exceedingly.
Twelve princes shall he
beget, and I make of him a great nation.
21 "Yet My
covenant will I set up with Isaac,
whom Sarah will bear for
you at this, the appointed time another year.
Rom.9:11-13 For, not as yet being
born,
nor putting into
practice anything good or bad,
that the purpose of God
may be remaining as a choice,
not out of acts, but of Him Who is calling,
12 it was declared to her
that "The greater shall be slaving for the inferior,"
13 According as it is written,
"Jacob I love, yet Esau I
hate."
Rom.2:28,29 For not that which is
apparent is the Jew,
nor yet that which is
apparent in flesh is circumcision;
29 but that which is
hidden is the Jew,
and circumcision is of the heart, in spirit, not
in letter,
whose applause is not of
men, but of God.
If a
man with two men working equally hard in his employ, pays one and not the
other of them, there is injustice. But if of two men to whom he owes nothing, out of his benevolence he gives a
present to one and not to the other, where is the injustice? It is his choice, his right – not theirs.
Rom.9:15,16 For to Moses He is
saying,
"I shall be
merciful to whomever I may be merciful,
and I shall be pitying
whomever I may be pitying."
16 Consequently, then, it
is not of him who is willing, nor of him who is racing,
but of God, the Merciful.
‘…not to those
of law only but to those of the faith of Abraham…’
God is,
thus, not limited in such choice. He may extend it to whomsoever He will.
The evangel is declaring that God, from the beginning, has had those of the
nations in mind, too. It is only that only now has the scheduled time
dawned. So, believers in the evangel with their Jewish background should
now understand that God remains circumspect in dispensing, in His grace and
choice, faith to those of the nations, too, so that they believe. He gives
them the same type of faith He gave Abraham first. Thus he is considered
‘father of us all’ who possess that faith.
Rom.3:24 Being justified gratuitously in His grace,
through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus
Eph.2:8-10 For in grace, through faith, are you saved,
and this is not
out of you; it is God's approach
present,
9 not of works, lest anyone should be
boasting.
10 For His achievement are we, being
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God makes ready beforehand, that we should
be walking in them.
Rom.11:6 Now if it is in grace, it is no longer out of
works,
else the grace is coming to be no longer grace.
Now, if it is out of works, it is no longer grace,
else the work is no longer work.
Col.3:11 wherein there is no Greek and Jew,
Circumcision and Uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but all and
in all is Christ.
17. according as it is
written that, A father of many
nations have I appointed you
-- facing which, he believes it of the God
Who
is vivifying the dead and calling what
is not as if it were--
Abraham
believed God when all the evidence was against Him. He was, for all
practical purposes, as good as dead himself, and Sarah, his wife, was
worse, if that could be. He faced the facts. He considered his own
condition as well as that of his wife, yet never doubted that God could and
would do as He had said. He believed in a God Who was superior to death,
and thus made it possible for God to vindicate him. Apart from death we can
see how God could pardon his sins, or cover them by means of atonement, but
it is only as having died to sin, and being alive in resurrection, that we
can realize that Abraham is justified.
Concordant Commentary
Abraham's
seed include 'those of law' who
believe, as well as those not
under the law but who also believe God's evangel (or good news) to them
concerning salvation.
Instead
of believing his own 'logic' and 'scientific facts' which afforded strong
apparent evidence that reproduction (as far as he and Sarah were concerned)
was impossible, Abraham
confidently believed that God could and would fulfil whatever He promised. This was counted for righteousness.
God's
evangel to Abraham includes declarations such as:
Gen.17:4,5 And speaking with him is the
Elohim,
saying, "I, behold! My covenant is with
you.
And you are to become the forefather of a throng of nations.
5 And no further shall your name be called Abram.
Yet your name becomes Abraham, for the
forefather of a throng of nations have I made you.
Gen.15:5,6 And forth is He bringing
him outside and saying,
"Look, pray, toward the heavens and number the stars, if you can
number them."
And saying is He to him, "Thus shall your seed become."
6 And Abram believes in Yahweh Elohim,
and reckoning
it is He to him for righteousness.
Gen.22:16-18 "By Myself I swear,
averring is Yahweh, that,
because you have done this thing
and have not kept back your son, your only one,
from Me,
17 that, blessing, yea, blessing you am I,
and increasing, yea, increasing your seed am I
as the
stars of the heavens
and as the
sand which is on the sea shore….
18 and blessed, in your seed, shall be all
the nations of the earth, …
'…Who is vivifying the dead…'
Scripture does not use ‘has vivified’ or ‘will vivify’. It declares that God is vivifying the dead. Though none except Christ Jesus has been vivified,
that event is proof that the operation for the vivification of all has
taken off.
1Cor.15:22-24 For even as, in Adam,
all are dying,
thus also, in Christ, shall all be vivified. 23 Yet each in his own
class:
the Firstfruit, Christ;
thereupon those who are Christ's in His
presence;
24 thereafter the consummation,…
1Tim.6:13 I am charging you in
the sight of God, Who is vivifying all, …
Jn.5:21 For even as the Father is rousing the dead and vivifying,
thus the Son also
is vivifying whom He will
Rom.8:11 Now if the spirit of
Him
Who rouses Jesus
from among the dead is making its home in you,
He Who
rouses Christ Jesus from among the dead
will also be vivifying
your mortal bodies
because of His spirit making its home in you.
'…calling what is not as if it were…'
Most who call themselves
‘Christians’ believe that those who have died are actually quite alive at
present in ‘an after-life’ – whether ‘in glory in heaven’ or ‘under
damnation in hell’. And one defence of their unscriptural position is the
claim that God ‘is not the God of the dead but of the living’. The context
of the passage is ignored.
Mt.22:31,32 Now concerning the resurrection of the dead,
did you not read that which is declared to you
by God, saying,
32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
He is not the God of the dead but of the living."
It is a wonder that many
take these verses to mean the opposite of what they are meant to convey.
The context of the passage is the resurrection
of the dead, an event so certain that its results are taken for
granted. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are dead – and so is every
body else who has been put to repose. And, if there is no resurrection,
they are ‘perished’, never to be alive again. God acknowledges them as His
– that He is their God – for when
they are resurrected, that
statement will be true in fact.
1Cor.15:16-18 For, if the dead are not
being roused, neither has Christ been roused.
17 Now, if Christ has not been roused, vain
is your faith--you are still in your sins!
18 Consequently those also, who are put to
repose in Christ, perished.
19 If we are having an expectation in
Christ in this life only,
more forlorn than all men are we.
All prophecy is spoken in this
sense of certainty – even personalities and events are sometimes specified.
It is not a mere hope that these events may
perhaps transpire but, instead, an expectation that they inevitably will.
18. who, being beyond
expectation, believes in expectation,
for him to become the father of
many nations,
according
to that which has been declared,
"Thus shall be your seed."
This is the faith that
Abraham was given for him to exemplify. Even when a prophecy looks
impossible to fulfil, because God
has declared it, it will be. It
must – for God’s integrity is at stake.
Num.23:19 El is not a man that He
should lie.
Nor a son of humanity that He should feel regret.
Does He say
it and then not do it? Or speak
and then not carry it out?
Heb.11:11,12 By faith
Sarah herself also obtained power for the disruption of seed,
and brought forth beyond the period of her prime,
since she
deems the Promiser faithful;
12 wherefore, also, were begotten by one,
and these of one who is deadened,
according as the
constellations of heaven in multitude,
and as the
sand beside the sea shore innumerable.
Heb.10:23 We may be retaining the avowal of
the expectation without wavering,
for
faithful is He Who promises.
Job.42:2 I know that You can do all
things,
And no
plan of Yours can be thwarted
Isa.14:27 For Yahweh of hosts has counseled, and who will annul it?
And His
hand is outstretched, and who will
reverse it?
Eph.1:11 …the One Who is operating all
in accord with the counsel of His
will,
19. And, not being infirm in
faith, he considers his body,
already deadened (being inherently
somewhere about a hundred years)
and the deadening of the matrix of Sarah,
There was no precedent set for
Abraham to even think of having a child through Sarah at his age of a
hundred years. He could not help but know
that he could not anymore engender a new life. It looked doubly impossible
for Sarah to conceive. She could not
thirteen years earlier - and for
that very reason the couple had attempted to devise a way to make things
come true, and which led to traumatic complications for both of them as
well as for Ishmael and his mother Hagar. Physically, then, there were no
grounds for belief that such a thing could happen.
Gen.18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah are old,
coming into days.
It had left off to come to Sarah, according to the path of women.
Gen.18:13,14 And saying is Yahweh to
Abraham,
"Why this? Sarah laughs, saying, `Indeed,
truly, shall I bear when I am old?'
14 Is it a
matter too marvelous for Yahweh Elohim?
At the appointed
time will I return to you according to the season of life,
and Sarah has a son."
Gen.21:1-5 And Yahweh visits Sarah, as
He had said,
and doing
is Yahweh to Sarah as He had spoken.
2 And pregnant is Sarah and is bearing for
Abraham a son for his old age,
at the
appointed time of which the Elohim had spoken to him.
3 And Abraham is calling the name of his son who
is born to him,
whom Sarah bears for him, Isaac. 4 And circumcising is Abraham Isaac, his
son,
at eight days of age as the Elohim had
instructed him.
5 And Abraham is a hundred years of age when his son Isaac is born to him.
20. yet the promise of God was not doubted
in unbelief,
but he was invigorated by faith, giving
glory to God,
Thirteen years earlier,
while Abraham was still capable
of having offspring, the couple did
not believe it could happen. Why would they now, when even Abraham knew he
could not bring it about, believe that it could? It must be that the faith
that they now displayed could only have come from outside of themselves. They were brought to realize that it
would be an operation that God would carry out as He said He would.
This time around they were even told when
Isaac would be born.
Heb.11:11 By faith Sarah herself also obtained power for the disruption of seed,
and brought forth beyond the period of her prime,
since she deems the Promiser faithful;
21. being fully assured also, that, what
He has promised, He is able to do also.
This is the same type of
faith that we now display as believers – a gifted faith from God. When God
speaks about what is to happen, we assume
that it will - we expect
it to turn out exactly as specified.
Heb.11:1 Now faith is an assumption of what is being expected,
a
conviction
concerning matters which are not
being observed;
Gen.15:6 And Abram believes in Yahweh Elohim, …
This faith that Abraham now
had held him in good stead through another experience. God had said that
his descendents would be through Isaac. Now God was asking him to sacrifice
that son of promise. How were sons to come from a dead Isaac?
Heb.11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when undergoing trial, has offered Isaac,
and he who receives the promises offered the
only-begotten,
18 he to whom it was spoken that "In
Isaac shall your seed be called,"
19 reckoning that God is able to be rousing him from among the dead also;
whence he recovers him in a parable also.
Our confidence should be in
God through the faith that He has given us, and not in our own abilities to
carry through what needs to be done. Even when failure seems inevitable we
can remain strong because He
works in us and empowers us to endure.
2Tim.1:12 For which cause I am
suffering these things also,
but I am not ashamed, for I am aware Whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded
that He is
able to guard what is committed to me, for
that day.
Ps.115:3 Indeed our Elohim is in the
heavens; All that He desires, He does.
Jer.32:17 Ah, Lord Yahweh, lo, You have
made the heavens and the earth
by Your great power, and by Your stretched-out
arm;
there is nothing
too wonderful for You:
Jer.32:27 Lo, I [am] Yahweh, Elohim of all
flesh:
For Me
is anything too wonderful?
Mt.19:25,26 Now, hearing it, the
disciples were tremendously astonished, saying, "Who, consequently,
can be saved?"
26 Now, looking at them,
Jesus said to them,
"With men this is impossible, yet with God all is possible."
Lk.1:36,37 And lo! Elizabeth, your
relative,
she also has conceived a son in her decrepitude,
and this is the sixth month with her who is
called barren,
37 seeing that it will not be impossible with God to
fulfill His every declaration."
2Cor.9:8 Now God is able to lavish all grace on you,
that, having all contentment
in everything always,
you may be superabounding in every good work,
22. Wherefore, also, it is reckoned to him
for righteousness.
Abraham believed God because
of the faith God gifted him with. And because he exercised and demonstrated
this faith, it is reckoned to him for righteousness.
Gen.15:6b …and reckoning it is He to him for righteousness.
Heb.11:6 Now apart from faith it is impossible to be well pleasing,…
Rom.14:23 … Now everything which is not out
of faith is sin.
23. Now it was not written because of him only, that
it is reckoned to him,
Thus,
we, too, are justified, by the simple process of believing God. We do not
believe concerning our seed, as Abraham did, but concerning his Seed, our
Lord Jesus Christ, Who actually died for our sins and was roused because
the sin He bore was all gone, and we were vindicated. Concordant Commentary
Abraham did not have the privilege of any
precedent recorded in Scripture – there was no written record to refer to.
The record of his experience in faith, therefore, was meant for others
subsequent to his time.
24. but because of us also, to
whom it is about to be reckoned,
who
are believing on Him Who rouses Jesus our Lord from among
the dead.
Israel,
as a nation under God and bound under the covenant given at Sinai, was
expected to observe the law and to carry out its dictates.
Lev.18:4,5 My judgments shall you keep,
and My statutes shall you observe to walk
by them: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.
5 You will observe My
statutes and My judgments,
for the human who does
them will also live by them:
I am Yahweh.
But,
with the advent of Jesus Christ, faith
in Him marked out people of the true
Israel. The unbelieving of Israel were not anymore considered part
of God’s people, Israel.
Act.3:22.23 Moses, indeed, said that: A
Prophet will the Lord your God,
be raising up to you
from among your brethren, as me.
Him you shall hear,
according to all, whatsoever He should be speaking to you.
23 Yet it shall be that every soul whatsoever which should not hear that Prophet
shall be utterly exterminated from among the
people.
Mt.16:15-17 He is saying to them,
"Now you, who are you saying that I am?"
16 Now answering, Simon
Peter said,
"Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Now, answering, Jesus
said to him, "Happy are you, Simon Bar-Jonah,
for flesh and blood does
not reveal it to you,
but My Father Who is in
the heavens.
Mt.13:10,11
And,
approaching, the disciples say to
Him,
"Wherefore art Thou
speaking in parables to
them?"
11 Now, answering, He said
to them that
"To you has it been given to know the
secrets of the kingdom of the heavens,
yet to those it has not been given.
Mt.13:13-16 Therefore
in parables am I speaking to them,
seeing that, observing,
they are not observing,
and hearing, they are not hearing, neither are they
understanding.
14 And filled up in them
is the prophecy of Isaiah, that is saying,
`"In hearing, you
will be hearing, and may by no means
be understanding,
And observing, you will
be observing, and may by no means be
perceiving."
15 For stoutened is the
heart of this people,
And with their ears
heavily they hear, And with
their eyes they squint,
Lest at some time they
may be perceiving with their eyes,
And with their ears
should be hearing,
And with their heart may
be understanding,
And should be turning
about, And I shall be healing them.'
16 "Yet happy are your eyes, for they are observing,
and your ears, for they are
hearing.
For the
true people of Israel, then, works alone has no efficacy. And faith alone
has no efficacy either. These have to go hand in hand, complementary elements.
Jas.2:14 What is the benefit, my
brethren,
if anyone should be
saying he has faith, yet may have no works?
That faith can
not save him.
Jas.2:20-22 Now are you wanting to
know, O empty man,
that faith apart from works is dead?
21 Abraham, our father,
was he not justified by
works when offering up his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You are observing that
faith worked together with his
works,
and by works was faith perfected.
Jas.2:24 You see that by works a man is being justified, and not by faith only.
Jas.2:26 For even as the body
apart from spirit is dead,
thus also faith apart from works is dead.
But
even for them, the precedence of faith is indicated for, in the time of Habakkuk
when it had become impossible to observe the law as Temple rituals had
become discontinued, faith (which was the criterion before the law was
given) continued to hold for those who worshipped God. And, in the days
that are soon approaching, faith will, once again, be emphasized.
Hab.2:4 … Yet the just one by his faith shall live.
Heb.10:38 Now My "just one by faith shall be living,"…
'…because of us also,…'
This
example or pattern of Abraham’s experience is for those of the nations who believe, or who are about to believe God's declarations
concerning their salvation and justification in the way that parallels
Abraham’s believing God concerning his seed! It was the precedent set for our benefit so that we can see that righteousness is from God
only through His gift of faith.
Rom.15:4 …whatever was written before,
was written for this teaching of ours,
that through the endurance and the consolation
of the scriptures
we may have
expectation.
1Cor.10:11 …all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition,
to whom the consummations of the eons have
attained.
Gal.3:11 Now that in law no one is being justified with God
is evident,
for the just one by faith shall be
living.
Act.13:39 …from all from which you
could not be justified in the law of Moses,
in this One everyone who is believing is being justified.
This should demonstrate the
fact that we should not neglect that part of Scripture which is not
directed specifically to us through Paul. Many are the examples recorded in
this area for our benefit and
growth in the understanding of God’s
operations.
1Cor.10:5-7 But not in the majority of
them does God delight,
for they were strewn along in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became types of us, for us not
to be lusters after evil things,
7 according as they also lust.
1Cor.9:9,10 For in the law of Moses it is
written:
"You shall not muzzle the threshing
ox." Not for oxen is the care of God!
10 Or is He undoubtedly saying it because
of us? Because of us,
for it was written that the plower ought to be
plowing in expectation,
and the thresher to partake of his expectation.
It is declared that all Scripture is for our use and
benefit to fit us for our roles in the reconciliation of all to God.
2Tim.3:14-17 Now you be remaining in
what you learned and verified,
being aware from whom you learned it,
15 and that from a babe you are acquainted
with the sacred scriptures
which are able to make you wise for salvation
through
faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All scripture is inspired
by God, and is beneficial
for teaching, for exposure, for correction, for
discipline in righteousness,
17 that
the man of God may be equipped, fitted out for every good act.
To
reiterate, believing God's declarations to us is righteousness! God speaks to us, declaring His will for our
belief, in the evangel directed to us
through Paul. We need to ascertain what He says specifically to us and
differentiate this from what He directs to others. This entails, not just a
reading, nor a mere superficial acquaintance, but an endeavour to correctly
cut the word of truth embodied in Scripture.
Eph.1:13 In Whom you also--
on hearing the word of truth, the
evangel of your salvation--
in Whom on believing also, you are sealed
with the holy spirit of promise
2Tim.2:15 Endeavor to present yourself to God qualified,
an unashamed worker, correctly cutting the word of truth.
2Tim.1:15 Have a pattern of sound words, which you hear from me, …
God uses the experience
He put Paul through to demonstrate the pattern that He has set for our
‘salvation through faith only’. Before he was given to believe, Paul was
not a mere pew-warmer – he was a zealot, fanatical in doing all he could
against the name of Christ.
1Tim.1:13 I, who formerly was a calumniator and a persecutor and an outrager
Act.26:9-11 I, indeed, then, suppose
myself bound
to commit much
contrary to the name of Jesus the Nazarene,
which I do also in Jerusalem.
10 And besides, many of the saints I lock
up in jails,
obtaining authority from the chief priests.
Besides, I deposit a ballot to despatch them.
11 And at all the
synagogues, often punishing them,
I
compelled them to blaspheme.
Besides, being exceedingly maddened against
them,
I
persecuted them as far as the outside cities also.
1Tim.1:16 But therefore was I shown mercy, that in
me, the foremost,
Jesus Christ should be displaying all His patience,
for a
pattern
of those who are about to be
believing on Him for life eonian.
Our cases are not much
different. It is so hard to see the beam in our eyes. So we like to imagine
we have always been ‘good’ people, doing the right things whenever we can,
and always for God. Scripture
will not let us hide behind that façade. We were ‘sons of stubbornness’,
disposed to the flesh and with no concept of God – just as everyone else.
Eph.2:1-3 … once you walked, in accord
with the eon of this world,
in accord with the chief of the jurisdiction of the air,
the spirit now operating in the sons of stubbornness
3 (among whom we also all behaved ourselves once
in the lusts of our flesh,
doing the
will of the flesh and of the comprehension,
and were, in our nature, children of indignation, even as the rest),
Eph.2:4-7 yet God, being rich in mercy,
because of
His vast love with which He loves us
5 … vivifies us together in Christ (in grace are you saved!)
6 and rouses us together
and seats us together among the celestials, in
Christ Jesus,
7 that, in the oncoming eons, He should be
displaying
the transcendent riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Eph.2:8-10 For in grace, through faith, are you saved,
and this is not
out of you; it is God's
approach present,
9 not of works, lest anyone should be
boasting.
10 For His achievement are we, being
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God makes ready beforehand, that we should
be walking in them.
Gal.2:16 having perceived that a man
is not being justified by
works of law,
except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus,
we also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faith of Christ
and not by works of law,
seeing that by works of law shall no flesh at
all be justified.
‘…who are believing on Him Who rouses Jesus
our Lord from among the dead...’
We, too, place our faith on God – on His being able to do
just as He says He will. If He has the power to raise Jesus our Lord, to
give Him life beyond the taint of death, what can He not do? If He declares
that He saves us in grace through
the faith that He gives us, can we allow ourselves to entertain the thought
that we need to do something to earn it, to make ourselves worthy of this gratuitous gift? Did Christ not do
enough on our behalf?
Rom.4:5 Yet to him who is not working,
yet is believing on Him Who is justifying the irreverent,
his faith is reckoned for righteousness.
Rom.9:33 …Lo! I am laying in Zion a
Stumbling Stone and a Snare Rock,
And the one believing on Him shall not be disgraced.
1Pet.2:6 … Lo! I am laying in Zion a corner
capstone, chosen, held in honor,
and he who is believing on it may by no means be disgraced.
Rom.10:11 For the scripture is
saying:
Everyone who is believing on Him shall not be disgraced.
25. Who was given up because of our offenses,
and was roused because of our
justifying.
Our
evangel declares that Jesus Christ was given up on account of our offences,
and was roused because full payment,
through His blood, for our justification has been effected, and accepted by
God! Had that precious price not been enough, insufficient and inadequate,
the operation for justifying everyone could not have even begun. Christ
would have died. Period! No resurrection and vivification could have
followed.
1Tim.2:5,6 For there is one God,
and one Mediator of God and
mankind,
a Man, Christ Jesus, 6Who is giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all
(the testimony in its own eras),
1Tim.1:15 Faithful is the saying, and worthy
of all welcome,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
1Tim.1:19 how that God was in
Christ, conciliating the world to Himself,
not reckoning their offenses to them,
Rom.5:6 For Christ, while we are still infirm, still in accord
with the era,
for the
sake of the irreverent, died.
Rom.5:8,9 yet God is commending
this love of His to us, seeing that,
while we
are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes.
9 Much rather, then, being now justified in His blood,
we shall be saved from indignation, through Him.
1Cor.15:3,4 For I give over to you among
the first what also I accepted, that
Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures,
4 and that He was
entombed,
and that He has
been roused the third day according to the scriptures,
2Cor.5:21 For the One not knowing sin,
He makes to be sin for our sakes
that we may be becoming God's righteousness in
Him.
Gal.1:4 Who gives Himself for our sins, so that He might
extricate us
out of the present wicked eon, according to the will of our God and
Father,
1Jn.4:10 In this is love, not that we love
God, but that He loves us,
and dispatches His son, a propitiatory shelter concerned with our sins
Isa.53:5,6 Yet He was wounded because of our transgressions,
and crushed because
of our depravities.
The discipline for our welfare was on Him,
and by His welts there is healing for us.
6 All of us, as a flockling, have strayed; each
man to his own way, we face,
yet Yahweh, in Him, intercedes because of all our depravity.
1Cor.15:17 Now, if Christ has not been roused, vain is your
faith--
you are still
in your sins!
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Index of Articles - Romans
May 2007
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