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SECTION G – Doctrine: Conciliation,
Individual (5:01 –
8:30)
Balanced
by SECTION g – Doctrine: Conciliation, National (11:01
– 36)
Romans Eight – Verses 1 to 14
01. Nothing, consequently, is now
condemnation to those in Christ
Jesus.
Not according to flesh are they
walking, but according to spirit,
Condemnation
is utterly out of the question for all in Christ Jesus. This is infinitely
more than the atonement or shelter provided for sin by the sacrifices
offered under the law. It is far beyond the pardon, or forgiveness,
contained in the proclamation of the kingdom. The atonement needed to be
renewed year by year, the pardon might be recalled, but the justification
we have in Christ Jesus is nothing less than God's righteousness, which is
absolutely inviolable. It was not secured by any act of ours and cannot be
marred by aught that we can do. Sin only enhances the graciousness of it,
but cannot sully or impair it. Concordant Commentary
‘Nothing, consequently, is now
condemnation to those in Christ Jesus….’
Scripture declares that, as
a consequence of the fact that it
is grace that delivers us from
this ‘body of death’ that we have, nothing
can bring on condemnation.
Rom.5:20 … Yet where sin increases, grace
superexceeds,
In contrast to this freedom
in justification that we have in
the evangel we have been graced to believe in, there was always the spectre of condemnation
for the believers of the Circumcision
evangel.
[We need to keep in mind
that only those of Israel who believe that
Jesus is the promised Messiah of Israel are members of the
Circumcision. All others of Israel do not
believe this and, though they may call themselves Jews, are now reckoned as
exterminated from the true Israel
of God (Act.3:22,23) and are, therefore, already under condemnation. As
such, the professing Jew of today, though he observes the law as far as he
is able to without the Temple rituals, is not reckoned as part of the chosen people.]
Heb.6:4-8 For it is impossible for those once enlightened,
besides tasting the celestial gratuity and
becoming partakers of holy spirit,
5 and tasting the ideal declaration of God,
besides the powerful deeds of the impending
eon,
6 and falling
aside, to be renewing them again
to repentance while
crucifying for themselves the Son of God again
and holding Him up to infamy.
7 For land which is drinking the shower
coming often on it,
and bringing forth herbage fit for those because
of whom it is being farmed also,
is partaking of blessing from God;
8 yet, bringing
forth thorns and star thistles,
it is disqualified and near a curse, whose consummation is burning.
Heb.10:26-31 For at our sinning voluntarily after obtaining the recognition of
the truth,
it is no
longer leaving a sacrifice concerned with sins,
27 but a
certain fearful waiting for judging and fiery jealousy,
about to be eating the hostile.
28 Anyone repudiating Moses' law is dying
without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 Of how much worse punishment, are you supposing, will he be counted worthy
who tramples on the Son of God, and deems the blood of the covenant
by which he is hallowed contaminating, and
outrages the spirit of grace?
30 For we are acquainted with Him Who is
saying,
Mine is vengeance! I will repay! the Lord is saying,
and again, "The Lord will be judging His
people"
31 Fearful is it to be falling into
the hands of the living God!
2Pet.2:20,21 For if, while fleeing from the
defilements of the world
by the recognition of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ,
yet, being
again involved in these, they are being discomfited,
their last state has become worse than the
first.
21 For it were better for them not to have recognized the way of
righteousness, than,
recognizing it, to go back to what was behind, from the holy precept given over
to them.
Examples, from even the
early days of the fledgling Circumcision ecclesia, of this susceptibility
to condemnation under the Circumcision evangel bear this out.
Act.5:1-11 Now a certain man named Ananias, together
with Sapphira, his wife, sells an acquisition
2 and embezzles from the price (his wife also
having been conscious of it)
and, bringing a certain part, he places it at
the feet of the apostles.
3 Now Peter said, "Ananias, wherefore does
Satan fill your heart
for you to falsify to the holy spirit and to
embezzle from the price of the freehold?
4 Did it not, while remaining, remain yours? And,
being disposed of,
it belonged to you by right. Why is it that you
placed this matter in your heart?
You do not lie to men, but to God."
5 Now Ananias, hearing these words, falling down, gives up the soul.
And great
fear came on all those hearing these things.
6 Now rising, the younger men enshroud him, and
carrying him out, they entomb him.
7 Now it occurred, after an interval of about
three hours,
that his wife, not being aware of what has
occurred, entered.
8 Now Peter answered her, "Tell me if
you took so much pay for the freehold?"
Now she said, "Yes, so much."
9 Now Peter said to her, Why is it that you
agreed to try the spirit of the Lord?
Lo! the feet of those who entomb your husband
are at the door, and they shall be carrying you out."
10 Now, instantly, she falls at his feet and gives up the soul.
Now entering, the youths found her dead, and
carrying her out, they entomb her with her husband.
11 And great
fear came on the whole ecclesia and on all those who hear these things.
Act.8:9-20 ..a certain man named Simon
existed in the city by using magic
and amazing the nation of Samaria, saying
himself to be some great one,
10 whom they all heeded, from the small to
the great, saying,
"This man is the power of the god which is called Great."…
12 Yet when they believe Philip bringing
the evangel
concerning the kingdom of God and the name of
Jesus Christ,
they were baptized, both men and women.
13 Now Simon, he also believes, and being
baptized, was waiting on Philip.
Besides, beholding the signs and great powerful
deeds occurring,
he is amazed…
18 Yet Simon, perceiving that through the
imposition of the hands of the apostles
the spirit is being given, offers them money,
19 saying, "Give me also this
authority,
that on whomsoever I may be placing my hands, he
may be obtaining holy spirit."
20 Yet Peter said to him,
"May your silver be for destruction together with you, seeing that you infer
that the gratuity of God is to be acquired by means of money!
However, for us of the
Uncircumcision evangel, there is grace and faith and peace and an expectation through a God-guaranteed deliverance.
Eph.1:13,14 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
14 (which is an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment,
to the
deliverance of that which has been
procured) for the laud of His glory!
2Cor.1:22 Who also seals us and is giving the
earnest of the spirit in our hearts.
Eph.4:30 And do not be causing sorrow to the
holy spirit of God
by which you are sealed for the day of deliverance.
Rom.5:1,2 Being, then, justified by faith,
we may be having peace toward God, through our Lord, Jesus Christ,
2 through Whom we have the access also, by faith,
into this
grace in which we stand,
and we may be glorying in expectation of the glory of God.
1Cor.1:30 Yet you, of Him, are in Christ Jesus,
Who became to us wisdom from God,
besides righteousness and holiness and
deliverance,
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.
2Cor.5:17 So that, if anyone is in Christ,
there is a new creation:
the primitive passed by. Lo! there has come new!
Even for those out of Israel who have been graced
to believe our evangel, the law,
which they had hitherto been under, poses no impediment to this
deliverance. The law had served to keep them in ‘protective custody’,
acting as an escort to Christ and as guardian and tutor until it was each
one’s time to be believing the evangel of the Uncircumcision. At the point
when they are delivered to the doorstep of faith, so to speak, the law,
having fulfilled its objective for
them, becomes redundant to them.
[We need to keep in mind
that when Paul speaks concerning the law in his letters, he is usually
addressing the Jewish element among the believers in the body of Christ, explaining to them the relevance the law
had had with them before they
came to believe in the evangel of the Uncircumcision.]
Gal.3:23-25 Now before the
coming of faith we were garrisoned
under law,
being locked up together for the faith about to
be revealed.
24 So that the law has become our escort to Christ,
that we may be justified by faith.
25 Now, at
the coming of faith, we are no longer
under an escort,
Gal.4:1-5 … for as much time as
the enjoyer of an allotment is a minor,
in nothing is he of more consequence than a
slave, being master of all,
2 but is under guardians and administrators until the time
purposed by the father.
3 Thus we also, when we were minors,
were enslaved under the elements of the
world.
4 Now when
the full time came, God delegates His Son,
come of a woman, come under law,
5 that He should be reclaiming those under law,
that we may be getting the place of a son.
Gal.3:13 Christ reclaims us from the curse of the law,
becoming a curse for our sakes,…
For us, believers in the
evangel of the Uncircumcision who are out
of the nations, the law has no such relevance or context.
‘…Not according to flesh are they walking,
but according to spirit,’
The spirit, one of the two
components that each one of humanity consists of, tends to life, urging for
behaviour that will keep us
alive. It produces the virtues that humanity
exhibits.
[This condition, we must
remind ourselves, is not the
exclusive reserve of believers. Otherwise we must conclude, against
Scripture and all evidence, that all
unbelievers (those who profess other religions) do not at all display
these virtues in their relationships with their families and friends.]
Gal.5:22-23 Now the fruit of the spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 meekness, self-control:
against such things there is no law.
But our flesh, the other
component, seeks death, to return to its original state before the spirit of the living was
given. As constituted sinners, by and of ourselves, we will consistently
seek to satisfy our flesh in its desires and cravings – in spite of our
spirit urging us not to. We sin and, therefore, draw the ration of death.
Gal.5:17 …the flesh is lusting
against the spirit, yet the spirit against the flesh.
Now these are opposing one another,
lest you should be doing whatever you
may want.
Rom.8:4 For the disposition of the flesh is death,
yet the disposition of the spirit is life and peace,
Mt.26:41 … The spirit, indeed, is eager; yet the flesh is infirm.
Jn.6:63 The spirit is that which is vivifying. The flesh is not benefiting anything. The declarations which I have spoken to you are spirit and are
life.
Rom.6:23 For the ration
of Sin is death,…
It is only when we are
called and justified in Christ that God
works in us so that
we are inspired and empowered to
behave as the spirit of humanity in
each of us, that He has given, has been attempting with intermittent
success to produce in us all along. We are not what we make of ourselves. Instead, we are His achievement.
Phil.2:13 for it is God Who is operating in you
to will as well as to work for the sake of His delight.
Eph.2:10 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.
02. for the spirit's law of life in Christ
Jesus
frees you from the law of sin and death.
The
spirit's law of life, in Christ Jesus, is the opposite of the law of Sinai.
That said: Obey, and live; disobey, and die. The spirit's law imparts life
for the eons as God's gracious gift, apart from obedience or disobedience. Concordant Commentary
It is only from that point
in time when we were given to be believers, to be in Christ Jesus, that the spirit’s law of life frees us from the law of sin and death. This is when we are delivered from the
law of sin and death (that of sinning and dying rather
than the law given through Moses
which was never given to us of the nations) which had held each one in
slavery hitherto. Deliverance was not in operation for us before this.
Gal.3:22 But the scripture locks up all together under sin,
that the promise out of Jesus Christ's faith
may be given
to those who are believing.
Jn.6:63b …The flesh is not benefiting anything….
Rom.8:6a For the disposition of the flesh is death,…
Rom.8:7,8 because the disposition of the flesh is enmity to God,
for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither is it able.
8 Now those who are in flesh are not able to please God.
Rom.3:24 Being justified
gratuitously in His grace,
through the
deliverance which is in Christ
Jesus
Jn.8:34,36 Jesus answered them,
"Verily, verily, I am saying to you
that everyone who is doing sin, is a slave of
sin……
36 If ever, then, the Son should be making
you free, you will be really free.
But, now that we have been
enabled to walk in spirit, we are empowered, invigorated, to have an
ascendance over the debility of our flesh under which we had been in
hopeless freefall to sin.
2Tim.2:1 You, then, child of
mine,
be invigorated by the grace which is in Christ Jesus.
Gal.5:24 Now those of Christ Jesus
crucify
the flesh together with its passions, and lusts.
Gal.5:16 Now I am saying, Walk in spirit,
and you should under no circumstances be
consummating the lust of the flesh.
03. For what was impossible to the law, in which it was infirm
through the flesh,
did God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sin's flesh
and concerning sin, He condemns sin in the
flesh,
‘…For what was impossible to the law,…’
Out of all the nations God
chose one, the nation of Israel, to be His special people. To them, and to them only, He gave the law in a holy
covenant through Moses at Sinai. No other nation was privy to this holy contract that set apart Israel as the Chosen
People of God.
2Sam.7:24 Yea, You do establish to You Your
people Israel,
to You for
a people unto the eon,
and You, Yahweh, have been to them for Elohim.
Deut.4:5,6 See! I have taught you statutes and judgments
just as Yahweh my Elohim had instructed me,
for you to do thus within the land where you are
entering to tenant it.
6 And you
must observe and obey them,
for that
is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of all the peoples
who shall hear of all these statutes and will
say:
Surely this
great nation is a people wise and understanding.
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?
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.
Deut.26:17,18 To Yahweh have you affirmed today that He is to be your Elohim,
and you are to go in His ways and to observe His
statutes, His instructions
and His judgments and to hearken to His
voice.
18 As for Yahweh, He affirms today that you are to be for Him a special people,
just as He promised to you, and that you are to
observe all His instructions;
Ex.19:5,6 Now, if you shall hearken,
yea hearken to My voice and observe My covenant
then you will become Mine,
a special
possession, above all the peoples, for Mine is all the earth.
6 As for you, you shall become Mine, a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation.
These are the words which you shall speak to the sons of Israel.
Psa.135:4 For Yah chose Jacob for
Himself, Israel for His
special possession.
Deut.32:9 For the portion of Yahweh is His people;
Jacob is the line of His allotment.
One would have expected
that, since Israel was now God’s special people and possessed this standard
concerning what was expected of them, she would surely be righteous and pleasing to Him.
However, though the law
required the meticulous observance and obedience of its details to meet the
righteous behaviour God expected from His people, it was neither intended
nor designed to empower the perfect observance and obedience
required to attain that righteousness.
The fact is that instead of
making her righteous, the law actually placed Israel in a precarious
position, in greater jeopardy. She could now transgress and bring down on herself whatever penalty that was attached to such
transgression.
Rom.5:13 …yet sin is not being taken
into account when there is no law;
Rom.7:8 … For apart from law Sin is dead.
Rom.4:15 for the law is producing indignation.
Now where
no law is, neither is there transgression.
Rom.5:20 Yet law came in by the way, that the offense should be increasing….
‘…in which it was infirm through the flesh…’
In spite of other causes
men may propose, Scripture declares that we sin because it is inherent in our flesh that we are
dying creatures, all constituted sinners, all locked together
under sin.
Rom.5:12 ...and thus death passed through into all mankind, on which all sinned
Rom.5:19 through the
disobedience of the one man,
the many
were constituted sinners,
Gal.3:22 But the scripture locks up all together under
sin,…
Rom.8:6 For the
disposition of the flesh is death,…
1Cor.15:56 Now the sting of Death is sin, ….
Of primary consideration is
the fact that the law has no
provision at all for removing the sentence mankind is under, of being
dying creatures, and cannot,
therefore, remove the basis of mankind’s sinning.
As such, it is impossible for the law to surmount the law of sin and death under which
mankind operates. It has no power to actually overcome the flesh in its inherent disposition.
The law is not meant to
justify anyone under it. Its primary purpose is to define what
constitutes sin so that its adherents can recognize what sin actually is,
and can, because they continually
fail, come to realize how really unworthy
they are of His blessings and benevolence.
Heb.7:19 for the law perfects nothing,
yet it is the superinduction of a better expectation,
through which we are drawing near to God.
Heb.10:4 for it is impossible
for the blood of bulls and of he-goats to be eliminating sins.
Rom.3:20 .. .by works of law, no flesh at all shall be justified
in His sight,
for through law is the recognition of sin.
Gal.2:16 … a man is not being
justified by works of law,….
seeing that by works of law shall no flesh at all be justified.
1Cor.1:29 so that
no flesh at all should be boasting in God's sight.
It is no fault of the law
that it cannot deal with sin. Though given by God, it was simply neither
intended nor designed for this purpose.
Gal.3:21 For if a law were given that is able to vivify,
really, righteousness were out of law.
‘…did God, sending His own Son in the
likeness of sin's flesh and concerning sin,
He condemns sin in the flesh,…’
Since man cannot
help himself where sin is concerned, and even the law is shown to be of no
assistance in this matter to those under it, the solution to man’s
predicament must come from some other source.
God demonstrates His love
and His righteousness when He intervenes with His gift of salvation, for
all mankind, from being inherently dying and, therefore, sinning creatures.
He deals with sin to a completion by eliminating its cause! What the law could not even begin to do, God did.
Scripture does not say that
God will solve the problem,
concerning sin, someday. It declares that God already has! And, the only way possible to deal with sin was
through sending His Son, His Beloved, into the world.
Jn.3:16 For thus God loves the world, so that He gives His only-begotten Son,
that everyone who is believing in Him should not
be perishing,
may be having life eonian.
Jn.3:17 For God does not dispatch His
Son into the world
that He should be judging the world,
but that
the world may be saved through Him.
Jn.1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacles among us,
and we gaze at His glory, a glory as of an
only-begotten from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
Jn.12:47 … for I came not that I should be
judging the world,
but that I
should be saving the world.
Jn.4:42 …for we ourselves have heard Him,
and we are aware that this truly is the Saviour of the world,
the Christ.
Heb.2:9 Yet we are observing
Jesus,
Who has been made some bit inferior to
messengers…
so that in the grace of God, He should be tasting death for the sake
of everyone.
1Tim.2:5,6 … Christ Jesus,
6 Who is giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all …
Heb.2:14,15 Since, then, the little
children have participated in blood and flesh,
He also was very nigh by partaking of the same, that,
through
death, He should be discarding him who has the might of death,
that is, the Adversary, 15 and should be clearing those whoever, in fear of death,
were
through their entire life liable to slavery.
Jn.1:29 … he is observing Jesus
coming toward him, and is saying,
"Lo! the Lamb of God Which is taking away the sin of the world!
Phil.2:8 and, being found in
fashion as a human, He humbles Himself,
becoming
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Mt.26:39,42 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!" …….
42 Again, coming away a second time, He
prays, saying,
"My Father, if this can not pass by from Me if I should not
drink it,
let Thy
will be done!"
Jn.18:11 … The cup which the Father has given Me,
may I by no means be drinking it?
Heb.9:25,26 Nor yet is it that He
may be offering Himself often, …
26 since then He must often be suffering from the disruption of the world,
yet now, once,
at the conclusion of the eons,
for the
repudiation of sin through His sacrifice, is He manifest.
Heb.9:28 …Christ also, being offered once for the bearing of the sins of many,
Heb.7:27 … for this He does once for all time, offering up Himself.
As the
serpent, representing what was killing those of Israel in the wilderness,
was exalted to bring an end to their suffering and dying (Num.21:4-9), so
too, Christ has been exalted – and all those who are moved to look up to
Him find salvation. He represented Sin, so that when He died, Sin was put to death, too.
Jn.3:14,15 And, according as Moses
exalts the serpent in the wilderness,
thus must
the Son of Mankind be exalted,
15 that everyone believing on Him should
not be perishing,
but may be having life eonian.
Jn.12:32 And I, if I should be exalted
out of the earth,
shall be
drawing all to Myself."
2Cor.5:21 For the One not knowing
sin, He makes to be Sin for our sakes.…
Act.13:38,39 "Let it then be
known to you, men, brethren
that through this One is being announced to you
the pardon of sins,
39 and
from all from which you could not be justified in the law of Moses,
in this One everyone who is believing is being
justified.
God has now, since Sin has
been dealt with, prepared the way for His further operation of salvation
with those who are being called to be members of the body of Christ and, in
this operation, only the faith of Christ in the offering up of Himself is
of importance.
Rom.3:21-23 Yet now, apart from law, a
righteousness of God is manifest
(being attested by the law and the
prophets),
22 yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith,
for all,
and on all who are believing,
for there is no distinction,
23 for
all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God.
Gal.2:16 except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus,
we also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faith of
Christ
Phil.3:9 … that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is from God for faith:
Gal.2:21 …for if righteousness is through law,
consequently Christ died gratuitously.
Gal.3:22 But the scripture locks up all together under sin,
that the promise out of Jesus Christ's faith
may be given
to those who are believing.
Scripture reveals that the
occurrence of sin and its remedy were planned for even before mankind was brought into being! So, sin did not slip
into the world by some accident. And,
God was not reactively trying to repair the damage by condemning His
Son to death for the world. And,
God is not appealing for the world to stop sinning so that the death of His
Beloved works out to be worthwhile. All is of God!
Rev.13:8 … the Lambkin slain from the disruption of the world.
1Pet.1:19,20 …with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a flawless and unspotted lamb,
20 foreknown, indeed, before the disruption of the world,…
Phil.2:9-11 Wherefore, also,
God highly exalts Him,
and graces Him with the name that is above every
name,
10 that in the name of Jesus
every knee should be bowing, celestial and
terrestrial and subterranean,
11 and every tongue should be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord,
for the
glory of God, the Father.
04.
that the just requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us,
who
are not walking in accord with flesh, but in accord with spirit.
We
do not fulfill the law in its letter. Grace leads us to act far beyond its spirit.
Its just requirements, love to God and man, are fulfilled only by those who
walk in spirit. Concordant Commentary
‘…that the just requirement of the law may
be fulfilled in us,…’
The
law, being spiritual, was to educate those
under it not to follow the dictates of the flesh. It was to
identify sin; it was not designed to overcome it. Because of the inherent weakness of the flesh, such
people were not able to make use of it positively. As far as their
salvation is concerned, the law is impotent.
Rom.3:19 Now we are aware
that, whatever the law is saying, it is
speaking to those under the law,…
By
themselves they had been unable
to overcome the weakness of the flesh to fulfill ‘the just requirements of
the law’. Paul uses his own experience to demonstrate this fact in Romans
7. But he shows that God's GRACE will more
than make up for this inherent inability.
Rom.5:20 Yet law came in by the way, that
the offense should be increasing.
Yet where sin increases,
grace superexceeds,
1Tim.1:14 the grace of our Lord overwhelms, with faith and love in
Christ Jesus.
And,
now that God has dealt with Sin through the death of His Son, He makes us,
who are the body of Christ, including those who had once been under law,
participants of Christ’s obedience and righteousness, too.
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.
Col.2:10-12 And you are complete in Him,
Who is the Head of every
sovereignty and authority,
11 in Whom you were
circumcised also with a circumcision not made by hands,
in the stripping off of
the body of flesh in the circumcision
of Christ.
12 Being entombed together
with Him in baptism,
in Whom you were roused together also through faith
in the operation of God,
Rom.6:4 We, then, were entombed together
with Him through baptism into death,
that,
even as Christ was roused from among the dead
through the glory of the Father,
thus we also should be walking in newness of life.
‘…who are not
walking in accord with flesh, but in accord with spirit…’
With
God’s gift of holy spirit at our being called, we have the invigoration we
need to walk a virtuous path that pleases our Father.
Gal.5:22,23 Now the fruit of the
spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 meekness, self-control…
Christ exemplified this disposition, this frame of
mind (Phil.2:5-8), of ‘walking in accord with spirit’ to an optimum, dying
for the sake of all – even for rabid enemies.
Heb.4:15 … but One Who has been tried in all respects like us, apart
from sin.
Heb.2:18 For in what He has suffered, undergoing trial,
He is able to help those who are being tried.
Rom.13:13 Yet now are remaining faith, expectation,
love--these three.
Yet the greatest of these is love.
Mt.22:37-40 …"You shall be loving the Lord your God with your
whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole
comprehension.
38 This is the great and
foremost precept.
39 Yet the second is like
it: `You shall be loving your associate as yourself.'
40 On these two
precepts is hanging the whole
law and the prophets."
Jn.15:13 Greater love than this has no one,
that anyone may be
laying down his soul for his friends.
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 … while we are still sinners, Christ died for
our sakes.
Rom.5:10 …being enemies,
we were conciliated to
God through the death of His Son,
As
members of the body of Christ, we should cease walking in accord with flesh
and truly walk in accord with spirit.
Gal.5:16 Now I am saying, Walk in spirit,
and you should under no circumstances be
consummating the lust of the flesh.
Gal.5:24 Now those of Christ Jesus
crucify
the flesh together with its passions, and lusts.
05. For those who are in accord with flesh
are disposed to that which is of
the flesh,
yet those who are in accord with spirit to that
which is of the spirit.
The
flesh is not able to be subject to God's law. It is useless to try to train
it to please Him. We are not justified in flesh. It is only in spirit that
we can count ourselves as beyond all condemnation. The flesh is after the things
of flesh and leads to death. But the spirit is concerned with spiritual
things and makes for life and peace. Concordant
Commentary
‘…those who are in accord with flesh are
disposed to that which is of the flesh,…’
Those who seek to satisfy
their passions and desires will have a preference for things that will give
them that satisfaction. These things become the goals that spur them on,
their source of motivation, and they will do whatever possible to satiate
their sensual drive. Things that pertain to the spirit become unwanted
impediments to the attainment of their desires. Promptings of their spirit,
that urge an opposite course, become less important and less relevant to
their chosen lifestyle, and are ignored and rejected. Their consciences become
calloused.
Gal.5:17 …the flesh is lusting against the spirit, yet the spirit against the flesh.
Now these are opposing one another,
lest you should be doing whatever you may want.
1Cor.2:14 Now the soulish man
is not receiving those things which are of the spirit of God,
for they are stupidity
to him, and he is not able to
know them,
seeing that they are spiritually examined.
Gal.5:19-21 Now apparent are the works of the flesh, which are
adultery, prostitution, uncleanness,
wantonness,
20 idolatry, enchantment, enmities, strife,
jealousies, furies, factions, dissensions, sects,
21 envies, murders, drunkennesses, revelries, and
the like of these, …
2Pet.2:10 yet specially those going after the
flesh in defiling lust and despising lordship.
Audacious, given to self-gratification,
they are not trembling when calumniating
glories,
Those under law are just as
susceptible to seeking the pleasures of the flesh. The law is spiritual,
but these are ‘of the flesh’ and their disposition overrides any spiritual
value they see in the law, even taking advantage of what they learn in the
law to explore and experience what it explicitly prohibits.
Rom.7:14 For we are aware that the law is spiritual,
yet I am
fleshly,
having been disposed of under Sin.
Rom.7:7,8 …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."
Now Sin, getting
an incentive through the precept,
produces in me all manner of coveting….
Rom.7:5 For, when we were in the flesh,
the passions of sins, which were through the law,
operated in our members to be bearing fruit to Death.
‘…yet those who are in accord with spirit
to that which is of the spirit….’
Those, on the other hand, who
are inclined to the urgings of the spirit are disposed to that which will
bring the results they seek. The truth and permanence of the things of the
spirit draw their attention and appreciation.
2Cor.4:18 … for what is being
observed is temporary,
yet what is not being observed is eonian.
1Cor.12:15,16 Now he who is spiritual
is, indeed, examining all,
yet he is being examined by no one.
16 For who knew the mind of the Lord?
Who will be deducing from Him? Yet we have the mind of Christ.
06. For the disposition of the flesh is death,
yet the disposition of the spirit is life and
peace,
The flesh desires ease and
satisfaction in its experience and is unreceptive to any restriction placed
on it. But, this disposition leads it to the works of the flesh and these
inexorably lead to death. The flesh is infirm in that it cannot, of itself,
even begin to fight this tendency.
Mt.26:41 Watch and pray, lest you may be
entering into trial.
The spirit, indeed, is eager; yet the flesh is infirm.
Gal.5:17 For the flesh is lusting
against the spirit, yet the spirit against the flesh.
Now these are opposing one another,
lest you should be doing whatever you may want.
The disposition of the
spirit, however, is towards a virtuous lifestyle that, inherently, brings
peace and blessings.
Rom.8:10 Now if Christ is in you, the body,
indeed, is dead because of sin,
yet the
spirit is life because of righteousness.
07. because the disposition of the flesh is enmity to God,
for it is not subject to the law of God,
for neither is it able.
The flesh, desiring to be
independent of control outside of itself, wanting to be free to ‘do its own
thing’ without restriction, is unable
to subject itself to the law of
God. So its disposition goes against this law, even flaunting its defiance
of it, and is, thus, at enmity to the One Who gave it.
Eph.2:2,3 … 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.4:17-19 By no means are you still to
be walking
according as those of the nations also are
walking, in the vanity of their mind,
18 their comprehension being darkened,
being
estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the callousness of their hearts,
19 who,
being past feeling,
in greed
give themselves up with wantonness to all uncleanness as a vocation.
1Cor.2:14 …the soulish man
is not receiving those things which are of the spirit of God,
for they are stupidity to him, and he is not
able to know them,
seeing that they are spiritually examined.
Rom.7:18 For I am aware that good is not
making its home in me
(that is, in
my flesh),
for to will is lying beside me, yet to be
effecting the ideal is not.
Gal.5:19-21 Now apparent are the works of the
flesh,
which are adultery, prostitution, uncleanness,
wantonness,
20 idolatry, enchantment, enmities, strife,
jealousies, furies, factions, dissensions, sects,
21envies, murders, drunkennesses,
revelries, and the like of these,
which, I am predicting to you, according as I
predicted also,
that those committing such things
shall not be enjoying the allotment of the
kingdom of God.
1Jn.2:16,17 for everything that is
in the world,
the desire of
the flesh, and the desire of the
eyes, and the ostentation of
living,
is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing by, and its
desire,
yet he who is doing the will of God is remaining
for the eon.
08.
Now those who are in flesh are not able to please
God.
This is
a very clear statement. Those who seek to gratify the flesh and satiate its
desires are not able to
please God.
To be
in accord with flesh is to have a mind that gives in to the flesh in its pride
and in its lusts, overriding the promptings of the spirit, and this means
enmity with God; it cannot please
God.
Eph.2:1-3 And you, being dead to your offenses and sins,
2 in which 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),
Col.3:6,7 …the indignation of God is coming
on the sons of stubbornness--
7 among whom you
also once walked, when you lived in these things
Phil.2:14,15 All be doing without
murmurings and reasonings,
15 that you may become blameless and artless, children of God,
flawless, in the midst of a generation crooked and perverse
among whom you
are appearing as luminaries in the world,
Rom.7:5 For, when we were in the flesh,
the
passions of sins, which were through the law,
operated in our members to be bearing fruit to Death.
09. Yet you are not in flesh, but in
spirit,
if so be that God's spirit is making its home in you.
Now if anyone has not
Christ's spirit, this one is not
His.
‘…Yet you are not in flesh, but in spirit,
if so be that God's spirit is making its home in you….’
Unless God gives us holy
spirit which seals us, we cannot
be believers of the evangel of the Uncircumcision, in which Christ is Lord, and through which we are
saved. Only with holy spirit can we acknowledge that Jesus is truly our Master and we His slaves.
Eph.2:13,14 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
14 (which is an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment,
to the deliverance of that which has been procured) for the laud of His glory!
1Cor.12:3 … I am making known to you
that no one, speaking by God's spirit, is saying, "Anathema is Jesus."
And no one is able to say "Lord is
Jesus" except by holy spirit.
Rom.10:9 … if ever you should be
avowing with your mouth
the declaration that Jesus is Lord,
and should be believing in your heart
that God
rouses Him from among the dead, you shall be saved.
Scripture tells us that
since we have holy spirit ‘making its
home in us’, which is an exclusive characteristic of our evangel, our disposition is to spirit rather than to flesh.
We need to realize this as a fact and not, any longer, be inveigled into
surrendering to the flesh.
2Tim.1:14 … the holy spirit which is making its home in us.
1Cor.3:16 Are you not aware that
you are a temple of God
and the spirit of God is making its home in you?
1Cor.6:19 Or are you not aware
that your body is a temple of the holy spirit in you,
which you have from God, and you are not your
own?
‘…Now if anyone has not Christ's spirit,
this one is not His.’
Our Lord did not obey God
only when He was in glory as the
Logos. Rather, it is more to His credit that He obeyed when He could
actually experience suffering and pain and loss just as much as we humans
do! We falter and fail - He never did!
Heb.2:14 Since, then, the little
children have participated in blood and flesh,
He also
was very nigh by partaking of the same,…
Heb.4:15 …One Who has been tried in all respects like us, apart from sin.
2Cor.5:21 … the One not knowing sin,…
The objective and focus of the
Son is to bring glory to God, His Father, regardless even of what it would
cost Him.
Phil.2:5-8 For let this disposition be in you, which is in Christ Jesus also,
6 Who, being inherently in the form of God,
deems it not pillaging to be equal with
God,
7 nevertheless empties Himself, taking the form of a slave,
coming to be in the likeness of humanity,
8 and, being found in fashion as a human, He humbles Himself,
becoming
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Heb.12:2 … to the Inaugurator and Perfecter of faith, Jesus,
Who, for the joy lying before Him, endures a cross, despising the shame,…
This disposition, this
frame of mind, this attitude, of
Christ is the spirit of Christ.
As members of the body of Christ, we are sons of God and this same spirit
permeates us and moves us to please God, our Father. Those who are Christ’s
have this spirit, those who are
not do not have it. As the
complement of Christ, believers in the evangel of the Uncircumcision were
foreknown and designated beforehand for this
very purpose of becoming conformed to
the image of Christ, God’s Son.
Rom.8:29 that, whom He foreknew, He designates beforehand, also,
to be conformed
to the image of His Son,
for Him to be Firstborn among many brethren.
Rom.12:2 …
to be transformed by the renewing of
your mind,
for you to
be testing what is the will of God, good and well pleasing and
perfect.
2Cor.3:18 Now we all, with
uncovered face, mirroring the Lord's glory,
are being
transformed into the same image, from glory to glory,
even as from the Lord, the spirit.
1Cor.2:16 For who knew the mind of the Lord?
Who will be deducing from Him?
Yet we have the
mind of Christ.
Gal.5:24,25 Now those of Christ Jesus
crucify
the flesh
together with its passions, and lusts.
25 If we may be living in spirit, in spirit we may be observing the elements
also.
10. Now if Christ is in you, the
body, indeed, is dead because of sin,
yet the spirit is life because of
righteousness.
With God’s spirit making its home in us, we now have ‘the spirit of
sonship’, the disposition which Christ displayed, this attitude of doing
that which is pleasing to our Father. And, for each of us, though our body is reckoned dead because of
sin, our spirit is life because
of righteousness as it is now empowered and invigorated by holy spirit to produce its fruit.
Phil.2:13 for it is God Who
is operating in you
to will as well as to work for the sake of His delight
1Cor.5:5 to give up such a one to Satan for
the extermination of the flesh,
that the
spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Phil.3:9 and may be found in Him,
not having my righteousness, which is of law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is from God for faith:
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.
Mortal
bodies are such as are dying, in a physical sense. Their vivification
cannot refer to the future resurrection, but to the present power of God's
Spirit to use an utterly unresponsive, hostile instrument, as our bodies,
and constrain its members to do the bidding of our spirits. Concordant Commentary
We perceive two issues
being dealt with here, the one based on the other.
The immediate issue here is
the operation of our spirit with
the indwelling of God’s spirit in
us. This invigorates and reinforces
our spirit enabling the
fruit of our spirit to be witnessed more often and consistently in our
living. Led by holy spirit, we are children of God, doing the will of
God and not anymore obligated to the flesh. We are operating in a way that
is no longer as if still dying
through doing the works of the flesh, but as if at present already vivified and seeking to
please God in every way.
Rom.8:16 The spirit itself is
testifying together with our
spirit
that we are
children of God.
Eph.2:4-6 yet God, being rich in
mercy, because of His vast love with which He loves us
5 (we also being
dead to the offenses and the lusts),
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,
Rom.6:13 … but present yourselves to God as if alive from among the dead,
and your members as implements of righteousness to God.
The wider issue is that we
are already living under God’s guarantee of vivification, of
actual deliverance of that which
has been purchased through the downpayment of holy spirit given on our
believing the evangel of our salvation.
Eph.1:13,14 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
14 (which is an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment,
to the
deliverance of that which has been procured) for the laud of His
glory!
When it comes to the
‘snatching away’, only those having
this earnest of the spirit will be roused, will have their mortal
bodies vivified. No others will experience this.
Rom.8:29,30 that, whom He foreknew,
He designates beforehand, also, to be conformed
to the image of His Son,
for Him to be Firstborn among many
brethren.
30 Now whom He designates beforehand, these He calls also,
and whom He calls, these He justifies also;
now whom He justifies, these He glorifies also.
2Cor.4:14 being aware that He Who rouses the
Lord Jesus will be rousing us also,
through Jesus, and will be presenting us together with you.
Phil.3:20,21 For our realm is
inherent in the heavens,
out of which we
are awaiting a Saviour also, the Lord, Jesus Christ,
21 Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation,
to conform
it to the body of His glory,
in accord with the operation which enables Him
even to subject all to Himself.
12. Consequently, then, brethren, debtors
are we,
not to the flesh, to be living in accord with flesh,
We
owe the flesh nothing, and it promises us nothing but death. But we do owe
it to the spirit to put the practices of the body to death and thus enjoy
the life which the spirit makes ours in Christ Jesus.
Concordant Commentary
Now that we are reckoned as
good as if already delivered, we owe nothing to the flesh which had
hitherto been a stubborn impediment
to that deliverance.
13. for if you are living in accord with flesh, you are about to be dying.
Yet if, in spirit, you are putting the practices of the body to death,
you will be living.
To live in accord with
flesh is to give in to the disposition
of the flesh – which is the way to dying and death.
Rom.6:20-23 For when you were slaves of Sin, you were free as to
Righteousness.
21 What fruit,
then, had you then?--of which you are now ashamed,
for, indeed, the
consummation of those things is death.
22 Yet, now, being freed from Sin, yet enslaved to God,
you have your fruit for holiness.
Now the
consummation is life eonian.
23 For the
ration of Sin is death,
yet the
gracious gift of God is life eonian, in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Rom.7:5 For, when we were in the
flesh,
the passions of sins, which were through the
law,
operated in our members to be bearing fruit to Death.
To live in accord with
spirit, however, is to be putting away what the flesh seeks to satiate
itself with. And this means truly being alive.
Gal.5:24 Now those of Christ
Jesus
crucify
the flesh together with its passions, and lusts.
Gal.6:8
for he who is sowing for his own flesh, from the flesh shall be reaping corruption,
yet he who is sowing for the spirit, from the spirit shall be
reaping life eonian.
1Cor.9:26,27 Now then, thus am I racing, not as
dubious,
thus am I boxing, not as punching the air,
27 but I am belaboring my body and leading it into slavery,
Tit.2:11-14 For the saving grace of God made
its advent to all humanity,
12 training us that, disowning irreverence and worldly
desires,
we should be living sanely and justly and
devoutly in the current eon,
13
anticipating that happy expectation,
even the advent of the glory of the great God
and our Saviour Jesus Christ,
14 Who gives Himself for us,
that He should be redeeming us from all lawlessness
and be cleansing for Himself a people to be
about Him, zealous for ideal acts.
14.
For whoever are being led by God's spirit, these are sons of God.
To
be a son of God implies more than belonging to Him. As the Son of God
manifests Him so we are sons only insomuch as we display His character in
our words and ways.
Concordant Commentary
When
God's spirit dwells in us it
imparts to us the spirit of sonship so that we have the same disposition
that was, and still is, in Christ Jesus Who did everything to bring honour
and glory to His God and Father. This result of this indwelling of the
spirit is evidence that we belong
to God, that we are His.
Jn.8:28,29 Jesus, then, said to them again that
"Whenever you
should be exalting the Son of Mankind,
then you will know that
I am, and from Myself I am doing nothing,
but, according as My Father teaches Me, these
things I am speaking.
29 And He Who sends Me is
with Me. He does not leave Me alone,
for what is pleasing to Him am I doing
always."
Rom.15:3
For Christ also pleases not Himself, but according as it is
written,
"The reproaches of
those reproaching Thee fall on Me."
Rom.8:9 …Now if anyone has not Christ's
spirit, this one is not His.
Though
our present body `of our humiliation' is disqualified as far as our
salvation is concerned, the indwelling of the spirit imparts righteousness
to us and ensures us of life, for
through this spirit, which indwelt Christ Jesus, we shall be vivified just
as He was.
Phil.3:20,21 For our realm is inherent
in the heavens,
out of which we are awaiting a Saviour also, the
Lord, Jesus Christ,
21 Who will transfigure the
body of our humiliation,
to conform
it to the body of His glory,
in accord with the operation which enables Him
even to subject all to Himself.
2Cor.4:14 being aware that
He Who rouses the Lord Jesus will be rousing us
also, through Jesus,
and will be presenting
us together with you.
Knowing
this, we should live in accord with spirit and eliminate the practices of
the flesh. And being led by the spirit we are sons of God!
Col.3:12-17 Put on, then, as God's
chosen ones, holy and beloved,
pitiful compassions, kindness, humility,
meekness, patience,
13 bearing with one another and dealing
graciously among yourselves,
if anyone should be having a complaint against
any.
According
as the Lord also deals graciously with you, thus also you.
14 Now over all these put on love, which is the tie of maturity.
15 And let the peace of Christ be
arbitrating in your hearts,
for which
you were called also in one body; and become
thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ be making its
home in you richly,
in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
yourselves;
in psalms, in hymns, in spiritual songs,
singing, with grace in your hearts to God.
17 And everything, whatsoever you may be
doing, in word or in act,
do all in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
giving thanks to God, the Father, through Him.
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Index of Articles - Romans
Jan 2008
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