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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 15 to 30
15.
For you did not get slavery's spirit to fear again,
but you got the spirit of sonship, in which we are
crying, "Abba, Father!"
The
law led to slavery, not sonship. Fear is not for us. Justification and
reconciliation lead us unafraid into the Father's presence. Just as the
little Hebrew child would lisp its "Abba" in the familiar Aramaic
household speech, or, as our children say trustingly, "Papa," so
we are without constraint in the august presence of the Divine Majesty. Concordant Commentary
Humanity finds itself in an
environment of fear and superstition and misinformation, not having a perception
of God, and living under the sinister control and deception of the
Adversary. Its worship of its conceptualized deities springs out of fear of wrath and repercussions, and
religion is based on rites, rituals and ceremonies that, hopefully, will appease and placate these demanding and easily-offended gods.
1Cor.12:2 You are aware that when
you were of the nations,
you were led
away to the voiceless idols, as ever you were led.
Gal.4:8 But then, indeed, having no perception of God,
you were slaves
of those who, by nature, are not gods.
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.
Eph.2:2 … 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
Rev.12:9 …the great dragon…the ancient
serpent called Adversary and Satan, who
is deceiving the whole inhabited earth.
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.
2Cor.4:4 …the god of this eon blinds the apprehensions of the
unbelieving
so that the illumination of the evangel of the
glory of Christ,
Who is the Image of the invisible God, does not irradiate them.
In His wisdom and in accord
with His purpose, and ‘because of His
vast love for us’ (Eph.2:4), God is now giving His holy spirit to us
whom He has foreknown and designated beforehand and called, making us His sons. We have been removed from the
slavery we were under to idols and false gods, and have been brought into
the family of the only and true God (Eph.2:19). We are no longer living
under fear, seeking to appease
some tyrannical deity but, rather, having now the disposition that Christ
has, in the spirit of sonship we
endeavour to please our Father in
every way.
Eph.1:5 in love designating us beforehand
for the
place of a son for Him
through Christ Jesus;
in accord
with the delight of His will,
Gal.4:6,7 Now, seeing that you are
sons,
God delegates the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying "Abba!
Father!"
7 So that you are no longer a slave, but a son.
1Cor.2:12,13 Now we obtained,
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God,
that we
may be perceiving that which is being graciously given to us by God,
13 which we are speaking also, not with
words taught by human wisdom,
but with
those taught by the spirit,
matching
spiritual blessings with spiritual words.
2Tim.1:7 for God gives us,
not a spirit of timidity,
but of
power and of love and of sanity.
16.
The spirit itself is testifying together with our spirit
that we are children of God.
God's
Spirit says we are His children. Our spirits claim Him as our Father. If
this be the case, then, even as our children have the enjoyment of all that
is ours, so all that is God's is for us. Indeed, even the great glories in
store for Christ are ours if we, too, tread the path of suffering which led
Him to them.
The
creation has been involved in the treadmill of corruption through the sin
of man. We are associated with the creation on the physical side. When our
bodies are delivered from their present slavery and death at our Lord's
descent from heaven, He will transfigure them to conform them to His body
glorious (Phil.3:21). Later, when we are unveiled, the creation will be set
at liberty from the bondage which now enthralls it. How it ought to comfort
us to know that the patient, suffering creatures, who had no hand in their
own degradation, will yet find a real release from the pain and sorrow from
which they have no escape now! Its physical aspect waits until our Lord's
return. Concordant Commentary
The fact is that God’s holy
spirit is making its home in us
(residing permanently), and not merely ‘tabernacling’
(dwelling temporarily). This
spirit witnesses together with our
spirit that we are children of
God.
We have received, not the
spirit of slavery and a life of apprehension and fear for the future, but
that spirit which qualifies us for an intimate family relationship as sons, and fellowship with GOD!
17. Yet if children, enjoyers also of an
allotment,
enjoyers, indeed, of an allotment from God,
yet joint enjoyers of Christ's allotment,
if so be that we are suffering together,
that we should be glorified together also.
We are considering two allotments here.
‘…enjoyers also of an allotment, enjoyers,
indeed, of an allotment from God,…’
Each and every one who is
called to be believing has his or her own individual allotment from God. This glory is unconditional,
faulty or disqualified service notwithstanding.
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.
1Cor.3:11-15 For other foundation
can no one lay beside that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone is building on this foundation
gold and
silver, precious stones, wood, grass, straw,
13 each one's work will become apparent,
for the day will make it evident,
for it is being revealed by fire.
And the fire, it will be testing each one's
work--what kind it is.
14 If anyone's work will be remaining which
he builds on it, he will get wages.
15 If anyone's work shall be burned up, he
will forfeit it,
yet he
shall be saved, yet thus, as through fire.
‘…yet joint enjoyers of Christ's allotment,
if so be that we are suffering together, that
we should be glorified together also.’
This other allotment is conditional. Only for those of
the body of Christ who endure the
evils and suffering that come with
the evangel will there be a further glory. These are to also share in the
allotment that belongs to Christ.
Those who prefer not to continue living devoutly in Christ Jesus, enduring
the sufferings that attend the evangel, though they will be snatched away
with the rest of the body of Christ, will be deemed unfit to reign with Him
Eph.1:8-12 …in all wisdom and
prudence
9 making known
to us the secret of His will
(in accord with His delight, which He purposed
in Him)
10 to have an administration of the
complement of the eras,
to head up
all in the Christ--both that in the heavens
and that on the earth--
11 in Him in
Whom our lot was cast also, being designated beforehand
according to the purpose of the One
Who is operating all in accord with the counsel
of His will,
12 that we
should be for the laud of His
glory, who are pre-expectant in the Christ.
2Tim.2:11-13 Faithful is the saying:
"For if we died together, we shall be living
together also;
12 if we are enduring, we shall be reigning
together also;
if we
are disowning, He also will be
disowning us;
13 if we
are disbelieving, He is remaining
faithful--He cannot disown Himself."
Phil.1:29,30 for to you it is graciously
granted, for Christ's sake,
not only to be believing on Him, but to be suffering for His sake also,
30 having the same struggle such as you are
perceiving in me, ….
2Tim.1:8 …but suffer evil with the evangel in accord with the power of
God,
Col.1:24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for you,
and am filling up in my flesh, in His stead,
the
deficiencies of the afflictions of Christ, for His body, which is the
ecclesia
2Tim.3:12 And all who are wanting to live devoutly in Christ
Jesus
shall be
persecuted.
2Cor.12:10 Wherefore I delight in
infirmities, in outrages, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake,…
Eph.4:16 out of Whom the entire body,
being articulated together and united through
every assimilation of the supply,
in accord with the operation in measure of each one's part,
is making for the growth of the body, for the
upbuilding of itself in love.
Each of us can, therefore,
look forward to our own allotment from God as well as to a sharing of
Christ’s - if at present we suffer together, and not become despondent for
we have God’s assurance that we will be
glorified together also.
18. For I am reckoning that the sufferings
of the current era
do
not deserve the glory about
to be revealed for us.
The glory God has prepared
for us is so vast that He likens it, to not a mere load, but to a burden! With such gracious
allotments for and through the coming eons awaiting us, we should not allow
ourselves to become distracted from a life of dedicated service to the Lord
and of pleasing God by our fleshly reluctance to undergo any form or level
of suffering, and by the transient pleasures the world has to offer us in
lieu of that single-mindedness.
2Cor.4:17 For the momentary
lightness of our affliction
is producing for us a transcendently
transcendent eonian burden
of glory,
1Cor.2:9,10 But, according as it is written,
That which the eye did not
perceive,
and the
ear did not hear, and to which the
heart of man did not ascend--
whatever God makes
ready for those who are loving Him.
10 Yet to us God reveals them through His spirit,
for the spirit is searching all, even the depths
of God.
Col.3:2-4 Be disposed to
that which is above, not to that on the earth,
3 for you died, and your life is hid together
with Christ in God.
4 Whenever Christ, our Life, should be
manifested,
then you also shall be manifested together with Him
in glory.
19. For the premonition of the creation
is awaiting the unveiling of the sons of
God.
The sentient creatures of
God have a ‘premonition’, a sort of intuitive
expectation of something much more than what their present experience of
life affords. Not having been given to believe the revelations of God,
however, their minds are unable to fathom things that pertain to the
spirit.
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.
Nevertheless, at the back
of their minds, on a sub-conscious level, there is this faint glimmer of
some great good to come.
It is not that they know anything
concerning ‘the unveiling of the sons of God’, but that event will mark the
beginning of the realization of their premonition.
20. For to vanity was the creation
subjected,
not voluntarily, but because of Him Who
subjects it,
This is a very telling verse
in Scripture. Men are inordinately proud of themselves and of their
achievements and seek recognition and glory for these. They will do all it
that it takes to ‘get there’ - by fair means and foul, by overt and covert
operations. Those who are born to or achieve a ‘high station’ in life
imagine that it is their inalienable right, through birth or conquest, to
impose their wills on, and exercise authority over, others.
But, somehow, men die and
leave behind everything they have come to ‘own’, and this includes all that
their fellows consider of worth and value. Men would definitely prefer not to have it so – but there is
nothing they can do to effect even the slightest change in the situation.
Scripture declares that God has
designed it so.
Rom.11:32 For God locks up all together in
stubbornness,…
Gal.3:22 But the scripture locks up all together under sin, ….
Rom.9:16 Consequently, then,
it is not
of him who is willing, nor of him
who is racing,
but of God, the Merciful.
This is true even now for
the Chosen People, Israel. Though orthodox theologians would object to the
statement, most out of Israel have been prevented
from believing in Christ until a scheduled time still to come. For now,
they cannot be believers and are,
therefore, outcasts of the true Israel.
Rom.11:7,8 …What Israel is seeking for, this
she did not encounter,
yet the chosen encountered it. Now the rest were calloused,
even as it is written, God gives them a spirit of stupor,
eyes not
to be observing, and ears not to be
hearing, till this very day.
2Cor.3:14-16 But their apprehensions
were calloused, for until this very
day
the same covering
is remaining at the reading of the old covenant,
not being uncovered, 15 for only in Christ is it
being nullified. But till today,
if ever the reading of Moses should be reached, a covering is lying on their heart.
16 Yet if ever it should
reach a turning back to the Lord,
the covering is taken from about it.)
This verse speaks not only of
men, but also of all that God has brought into being through Christ – and
this includes all beings in the celestial realm. All that these try to
achieve on their own will also come to nothing. Even Satan’s work stems
from his inordinate pride, his vanity, and will also be in vain, coming to
nothing.
Col.1:16 … in Him is all created,
that in the heavens and that on the earth, the
visible and the invisible,
whether
thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities,
all is created through Him…
Eph.6:12 …it is not ours to wrestle
with blood and flesh,
but with
the sovereignties, with the authorities,
with the
world-mights of this darkness,
with the
spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials.
1Jn.3:8 … from the beginning is the Adversary
sinning.
For this was the Son of God manifested,
that He
should be annulling the acts of the Adversary.
21. in expectation that the creation itself, also,
shall be freed from the slavery of
corruption
into the glorious freedom of
the children of God.
‘…to vanity was the
creation subjected…’ in expectation of the attainment of some objective.
This is the premonition that creation has been given. Men look for some
meaning in life, something to bring on real fulfillment and satisfaction, a
realization of something which, for now, remains intangible and ephemeral.
Men long for immortality,
for a release from their present condition of slavery to suffering and
sorrow, to death and decay. They want to live forever in health and vigour.
So, men have ever been led
astray to try to ‘earn their place in the sun’ through various rites and
rituals of religion. Satan holds sway over these, who are easy prey to the
unscrupulous who would, to their own advantage, purport to provide a way of
escape into joyous immortality.
This yearning for, and
expectation of, freedom from corruption, Scripture declares, will become a
reality for all - but reserved for some time in the future when God is All
in all. What was necessary to bring this about has already been
accomplished.
1Cor.15:24-28 thereafter the
consummation,
whenever He may be giving up the
kingdom to His God and Father,
whenever He should be nullifying
all sovereignty and all authority and power.
25 For He must be reigning
until He should be placing all His enemies
under His feet.
26 The last enemy is being abolished:
death.
27 For He subjects all
under His feet.
Now whenever He may be saying that all is
subject,
it is evident that it is outside of Him Who
subjects all to Him.
28 Now, whenever all may be
subjected to Him,
then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to
Him Who subjects all to Him,
that God may be All in all.
Col.1:20 and through Him to reconcile all to
Him
(making peace through the blood of His cross),
through Him, whether those on the earth or
those in the heavens.
1Tim.2:3-6 …our Saviour, God,
4 Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the
truth.
5 For there is one God, and one Mediator of God
and mankind,
a Man, Christ Jesus, 6 Who is giving Himself a
correspondent Ransom for all
(the testimony in its own eras),
But, even before this
materializes, in the eon of the new heavens and new earth, ideal conditions
will prevail for the experience of those blessed to be in it.
Isa.65:25 Then a wolf and a lambkin will graze alike,
and the lion,
as the beeve, will eat crushed
straw,
and the serpent
has soil for its bread.
They will not
do evil, nor ruin in all My holy
mountain," says Yahweh.
Isa.11:6-9 Then the wolf will sojourn with the he-lamb,
and the leopard
will recline with the kid.
And the calf
and the sheltered lion will
graze together,
and a small lad will lead among them.
7 And the young
cow and the bear will graze
together,
and together
they will recline their young.
And the lion, as the beeve, will eat crushed
straw.
8 And the suckling will revel over the hole of a cobra,
and on the light-shaft of a yellow viper the weanling his hand obtrudes.
9 They will not
do evil, nor will they ruin, in
all My holy mountain,
for full is the earth of the knowledge of Yahweh.
As water for the sea floor is a covering.
22. For we are aware that the entire
creation
is groaning and travailing together until
now.
The entire creation is in
chaos – physically, politically, socially, religiously. It is in a state of
increasing confusion and disintegration. Nobody desires such a situation of
trouble and uncertainty. But, though God has declared His remedy in Scripture, not being privileged to
be believers, creation is unable to find the consolation that it provides.
Expecting, but not really knowing what God has in store for it, creation
continues to groan and suffer in expectation of the release that it has a
premonition of.
23. Yet not only so, but we ourselves also, who have the
firstfruit of the spirit,
we ourselves also, are groaning in ourselves,
awaiting the sonship, the
deliverance of our body.
And we believers, having God’s guarantee of holy spirit and made privy to what God has chosen
to reveal concerning the future, groan even
more as we await, in eager anticipation, the deliverance of our body
that will make us ‘sons of God’ in fact, immortal, incorruptible,
indestructible.
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.
2Cor.5:4,5 For we also, who are in the
tabernacle, are groaning,
being burdened, on which we are not wanting to be
stripped,
but to be dressed, that the mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He Who produces us for this same
longing is God,
Who is also giving us the earnest of the spirit.
1Cor.15:51-53 Lo! a secret to you am I telling!
We all, indeed, shall not be put to repose, yet we all shall be changed,
52 in an instant, in the twinkle of an eye,
at the last trump.
He will be trumpeting,
and the
dead will be roused incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal put on immortality.
24. For to expectation were we saved.
Now expectation, being observed, is not
expectation,
for what anyone is observing,
why is he expecting it also?
‘…For to expectation were we saved…’
We were graced to believe the evangel of our salvation.
And this evangel contains revelations that those who have not been so
graced cannot know nor experience
for themselves.
For example,
Only we believe that our realm is inherent in the heavens
and that our present bodies, designed for the time of our humiliation, will
be transfigured to cope with living even beyond the confinements and
restrictions of this earth.
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
Only we believe that we will be vivified, made alive and
beyond the reach and taint of death at the moment of our being snatched
away.
1Cor.15:51-53 Lo! a secret to you am I telling!
We all, indeed, shall not be put to repose, yet we all shall be changed,
52 in an instant, in the twinkle of an eye,
at the last trump.
He will be trumpeting,
and the
dead will be roused incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal put on immortality.
Only we believe that at that instant we will have
completely new bodies, not merely
repaired or re-assembled and refashioned out of the present ones.
1Cor.15:42-44 Thus also is the resurrection of
the dead.
It is sown in corruption; it is roused in
incorruption.
43 It is sown in dishonor;
it is roused in glory.
It is sown in infirmity; it is roused in
power.
44 It is sown a soulish body; it is roused
a spiritual body.
Only we believe that there will be reward for us for
present service under the Lord rather than for observance of rites and
rituals and pompous ceremony.
1Cor.3:11-15 For other foundation can
no one lay
beside that which is laid, which is Jesus
Christ.
12 Now if anyone is
building on this foundation
gold and silver, precious stones, wood, grass,
straw,
13 each one's work will
become apparent,
for the day will make it evident, for it is
being revealed by fire.
And the fire, it will be testing each one's
work--what kind it is.
14 If anyone's work will be remaining which
he builds on it, he will get wages.
15 If anyone's work shall be burned up, he
will forfeit it,
yet he shall be saved, yet thus, as through
fire.
Only we believe that part of our future service in the Lord
will be among messengers in the celestial regions.
1Cor.6:3 Are you not aware that
we shall be judging messengers,
not to mention life's affairs?
Such is our belief, and
such is our expectation.
‘…Now
expectation, being observed, is not expectation,
for
what anyone is observing, why is he expecting it also?...’
We do not as yet have what
we expect to have – obviously! It is only in figure, because of God’s guarantee on its
dispensation, that we ‘have’ particular blessings such as eonian life.
This, after all, is faith. It is based on God’s integrity!
Heb.11:1 Now faith is an assumption
of what is being expected,
a conviction concerning matters
which are not being observed;
Rom.4:19-22 And, not being infirm in
faith, he [Abraham] considers his body, already deadened (being inherently
somewhere about a hundred years)
and the deadening of the matrix of Sarah,
20 yet the promise of God was not doubted in
unbelief,
but he was invigorated by faith, giving
glory to God,
21 being fully assured
also, that, what He has promised, He is able to do also.
22 Wherefore, also, it is reckoned to him
for righteousness.
The fact that we,
believers, still die, that we continue to be dying creatures with all the
accompanying debilities, should be enough to demonstrate this. One day,
sometime in the future, all that we look forward to will come to be – expectation will be realized.
1Cor.1:4-9 I am thanking my God always concerning you
over the grace
of God which is being given you in Christ Jesus,
5 for in everything are you enriched in
Him, in all expression and all knowledge,
6 according as the testimony of Christ was confirmed among you,
7 so that you are not deficient in any grace,
awaiting the unveiling of our Lord Jesus
Christ,
8 Who will
be confirming you also until
the consummation,
unimpeachable
in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 Faithful
is God, through Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord.
25. Now, if we are expecting what we are
not observing,
we are awaiting it with
endurance.
The
glory that is about to be ours will much more than compensate, by an almost
infinite margin, whatever sufferings we may have to undergo according to
God's plans for us!
1Cor.2:9,10 But, according as it is
written,
That which the eye did not perceive, and the ear
did not hear,
and to which the heart of man did not ascend—
whatever God makes ready
for those who are loving Him.
10 Yet to us God reveals them
through His spirit,
for the spirit is
searching all, even the depths of God.
2Cor.4:17 For the momentary
lightness of our affliction
is producing for us a
transcendently transcendent eonian burden of glory,
18 at our not noting what is being observed, but what is not being observed,
for what is being observed is temporary,
yet what is not being observed is
eonian.
Rom.8:18 For I am reckoning that
the sufferings of the current era
do not deserve the glory about to be revealed for us.
In His
wisdom, God has determined that the whole creation is subject to
vanity! Again, there is no choice
in the matter for the creation itself! It came into being without a choice, is being sustained
without a choice, and will
fulfill its purpose for having come into being also without choice! That choice has been only GOD's to make. But, because God is Who He is, the future for this creation is not hopeless and forever bleak. But God decides that it is for all to wait expectantly for freedom from
the slavery of corruption and for the glorious freedom of the children of
God.
Eph.1:11 … according to the
purpose of the One
Who is operating all in accord with the
counsel of His will,
We
ourselves, who have the firstfruit of the spirit (which is the earnest, the
downpayment, the purchase-guarantee which God has given to us when we first
believed), await with longing and eager anticipation for that moment when
we will receive the promised balance of the purchase price of the
holy spirit, the moment when we become immortal, incorruptible,
unassailable by death, the moment when we become fully sons of God. This is
our destiny - and we wait in expectation for its realization!
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.
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.
Rom.8:29,30 …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.
26. Now, similarly, the spirit also is
aiding our infirmity,
for what we should be praying for,
to accord with what must be, we are not aware,
but the spirit itself is pleading
for us with inarticulate
groanings.
Here
is the true "form" for acceptable prayer in this economy. It is not
definite persistence, like the importunate widow. It is acknowledged
weakness and ignorance casting itself on God, urged on by His Spirit,
knowing only the need and the One Who can meet it in His own way. Concordant Commentary
Though believers have been
made privy to some of God’s operations, there are many details, especially
those which involve our personal lives, we do not know. So, we usually find
ourselves at a loss to know what to pray for that will accord with God’s
will and intention for the present. Scripture, here, declares that it is a
function of His gift of holy spirit to inspire and prompt us in such
matters.
1Cor.2:9-13 But, according as it is written,
That which the eye did not perceive,
and the ear did
not hear, and to which the
heart of man did not ascend--
whatever God makes ready for those who are
loving Him.
10 Yet to
us God reveals them through His spirit,
for the spirit is searching all, even the depths
of God.
11 For is any of humanity acquainted with
that which is human
except the spirit of humanity which is in it?
Thus also, that which is of God no one knows,
except the spirit of God.
12 Now we obtained, not the spirit of the
world, but the spirit which is of God,
that we may be perceiving that which is being graciously given to us by God,
13 which we are speaking also, not with
words taught by human wisdom,
but with those taught by the spirit,
matching spiritual
blessings with spiritual words.
27. Now He Who is searching the hearts
is aware
what is the disposition of the spirit,
for in accord with God is it pleading for the
saints.
Though
we are unable, therefore, to pray in exact accord with God's plans for us,
God's spirit which makes its home in us, adjusts our disposition
to align with His intentions.
28. Now we are aware
that God is working all together for the good of
those who are loving God,
who are called according to the purpose
Though
we know not what to pray for, this is not at all necessary, for we do know
that God is making everything cooperate for our welfare. No matter how
things appear, they can work no ill to us who love God, for He first loved
us, and has included us in His vast purpose, of which we form a vital part.
Concordant Commentary
God makes us aware of the underlying operation
along which He works with each of us who are being called to be members of
the body of Christ. In accord with
His purpose, He is working all
together, both the good and the
evil that we experience in our lives, for our individual and collective
benefit. Nothing will be allowed to forestall the attainment of His
objective.
Eph.1:11 in Him in Whom our lot
was cast also,
being designated beforehand according to the
purpose of the One
Who is
operating all in accord with the counsel of His will,
Isa.14:27 For Yahweh of hosts has
counseled, and who will annul it?
And His hand is outstretched, and who will reverse it?
Isa.46:10 …`All My counsel shall be confirmed, and all My desire will I do.'
Job.42:2 I know that You can do
all things,
And no
plan of Yours can be thwarted.
God is
working all together for the good of all – but only we who are members of
the body of Christ, have been graced to believe this revelation now. This
assures us that everything in our destiny, on our road to being glorified,
is being taken care of by the One
Who has planned and scheduled every detail from start to finish.
1Tim.4:9-11 Faithful is the saying
and worthy of all welcome
10 (for for this are we toiling and being
reproached),
that we rely on the living God,
Who is the Saviour of all mankind,
11 especially of believers.
These things be charging and teaching.
Believers are not promised a bed of roses to lie
on. Instead, there will be evil that
is necessary for us to undergo in the process of spiritual growth. As
examples of God’s achievement, we are being
created in Christ Jesus.
2Tim.3:12 And all who are wanting
to live devoutly in Christ Jesus
shall be persecuted.
Phil.1:29 for to you it is graciously granted, for Christ's
sake,
not only to be believing on Him, but to be suffering for His sake also,
Phil.1:16 …having perceived that I am located
for the defense of the evangel,
1Thes.3:3 No one is to be swayed
by these afflictions,
for you yourselves are aware that we are located for this.
Rom.5:3-5 but we may be glorying also in afflictions,
having perceived that affliction is producing endurance,
4 yet endurance testedness, yet testedness expectation.
5 Now expectation is not mortifying,
seeing that the love of God has been poured out in our hearts
through the holy spirit which is being given to
us.
2Tim.1:8 You may not be ashamed,
then, of the testimony of our Lord,
nor yet of me, His prisoner,
but suffer
evil with the evangel in accord with the power of God,
1Cor.10:13 No trial has taken you
except what is human.
Now, faithful
is God,
Who will not be leaving you to be tried above what you are able, but,
together with the trial, will be making the
sequel also, to enable you to undergo
it.
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.
Our
destiny was fixed by God from the beginning, long before we could have any
part in it. It is higher than our highest dreams, for it is nothing less
than conformity to the image of His Son. And, better still, our exaltation
is the means of putting Him in the place supreme. He cannot be firstborn
without brethren. Thus we are essential to His glory! Concordant Commentary
God has called us to be
believers, not merely for ourselves, but for an even much higher purpose –
for the Son of His love. His intention is that His Son is not to be
separate and alone, but to be the elder in a harmonious relationship among many people of kindred spirit,
conformed to the image of His Son so that He will be the Firstborn among many brethren, having the same disposition
and focus as He.
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.
Gal.4:19 Little children mine,
with whom I am travailing again until Christ may be formed in you!
Eph.1:4-6 according as He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world,
we to be holy and flawless in His sight, 5 in love designating us beforehand
for the place of a son for Him through Christ Jesus;
in accord with the delight of His will, 6 for the laud of the glory of His grace,
which graces us in the Beloved:
Eph.4:13 unto the end that we should all attain to the unity of the faith
and of the realization of the son of God, to a mature man,
to the measure of the stature of the complement of the Christ,
Col.1:15 Who is the Image of the invisible
God, Firstborn of every creature,
Col.1:18 And He is the Head of the body, the
ecclesia, Who is Sovereign,
Firstborn from among the dead,
that in all He may be becoming first,
Col.3:9,10 …stripping off the old humanity
together with its practices,
10 and putting on the young, which is being renewed into recognition,
to accord
with the Image of the One Who creates it,
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.
Here
we have the golden chain of God's sovereignty forged for our blessing. Its
four links cannot be separated. He has designated us and called us and
justified us. Three links are forged. The next is glory! Concordant Commentary
It is
GOD Who is working all together for
the good of all His creatures – yet especially for the family of faith, for
those who are members of the body of Christ, believers. This assures us
that everything in our destiny, on our road to being glorified, is being taken care of by the One Who
has planned and scheduled every detail from start to finish.
This
passage does not say that God is helping us to reach the goal if we so desire it and are willing to work
diligently towards its realization. Neither does it say that we are helping God to achieve HIS goals by our making just a little contribution
towards this end to show our good faith.
NO! It
asserts that it is GOD Who does EVERYTHING! God shows His good faith by graciously
giving us the holy spirit, the earnest, the downpayment, the first
installment (Eph.1:13,14)! This gift reinforces our own human spirit (which tends to life)
for an ascendancy over our flesh (which tends to death). This spirit
bestows on us the spirit of sonship
and inspires us to want to be pleasing to God - and it then empowers us to do the things that please God!
Gal.5:22-24 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.
24 Now those of Christ
Jesus crucify the flesh together with
its passions, and lusts.
Phil.2:12,13 … be carrying your own salvation into effect,
13 for it is God
Who is operating in you
to will as well as to work for the sake of His
delight.
God
calls us for a purpose - that we be conformed to the image of His Son so
that He can become THE Firstborn among many
brethren!
And our
being called to be members of His Body is not haphazard, nor is
it spontaneous – an “on the spur of the moment” impulse, neither is it as
an afterthought or reaction to remedy some ill or flaw in His plans. There
is a definite pattern, an orderly sequence to it all.
God has
known, long before His actual calling of believers, just who He would
call. These He designated, at
that time of His planning, to become the brethren of the Firstborn
(Col.1:15,18). And this was done long
before Adam came into being, before
the disruption of the world, before the earth became a chaos and vacant -
see Ephesians 1:3-12; and even before
He created the eons.
2Tim.1:8,9 but suffer evil with the
evangel in accord with the power of God,
9 Who saves us and calls
us with a holy calling,
not in accord with our
acts, but in accord with His own purpose
and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before times eonian,
1Cor.2:7 but we are speaking God's wisdom in
a secret,
wisdom which has been
concealed,
which God designates before--before the eons, for our
glory,
Eph.3:8-11 To me, less than the least of all
saints, was granted this grace:
to bring the evangel of the
untraceable riches of Christ to the nations,
9 and to enlighten all as
to what is the administration of the
secret,
which has been concealed
from the eons in God, Who creates all,
10 that now may be made known
to the sovereignties and
the authorities among the celestials,
through the ecclesia, the multifarious
wisdom of God,
11 in accord with the purpose of the eons,
which He makes in Christ
Jesus, our Lord;
This
means that we have had absolutely no
choice, no control, and no influence concerning God's
decision for us to be believers and to be recipients of all that is to
surely follow from that point on. The sequence is:
GOD has
known and has designated beforehand all who will be called,
GOD calls and justifies each so-designated individual at
the scheduled time and under His
arranged circumstances, and
GOD is glorifying each and every one of these as they
believe and will climax this phase when Christ Jesus the Lord comes for His
body, the ecclesia.
None so predestined will be allowed
to fall away and fail to be called or justified or glorified; no new ones will be added to the
original pre-designation! God IS working all together for those who love Him. We must emphasize
here that there is nothing said about repentance, or baptisms or anything that we have to perform before each of these essential stages is put
into effect! Every step is a step
GOD takes!
Eph.2:8,9 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.
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.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.
Eph.1:11,12 in Him in Whom our lot
was cast also,
being designated
beforehand according to the purpose of the One
Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His will,
12 that we should be for the laud of His glory, who are
pre-expectant in the Christ.
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.
2Tim.1:9 Who saves us and calls us with a
holy calling,
not in accord with our acts, but in accord with His own purpose
and the grace which is given to us in Christ
Jesus before times eonian,
And all this is in stark
contrast to what is revealed for those being called under the evangel of the Circumcision!
Mt.22:14 For many are the called, yet few are the chosen
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.2:21,22 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.
Our justification, on the other
hand, is not based on some intrinsic faith of our own, imperfect and
inconsistent at best but, rather, on the already perfect faith of Christ!
Gal.2:16 …a man is not being
justified by works of law,
except alone
through the faith of Christ
Jesus, [Christou Iêsou – belonging to, of]
we also believe in Christ Jesus [eis Christon Iêsoun – into, literal]
that we may be justified by the faith of Christ [Christou Iesou]…
Rom.3:22 yet a righteousness of God
through
Jesus Christ's faith, [dia pisteös
Iêsou Christou]
for all, and on all who are believing,…
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, [dia pisteös Christou]
the righteousness which is from God for faith:
It is not any intrinsic
faith of ours but the faith of Christ
that saves us, and this is God’s
gracious gift that initiates and engenders in us a belief in His declarations to us therein reckoning us
righteous. It is out of Jesus
Christ’s faith for our faith.
Rom.1:17 …in it God's righteousness is being revealed, out of faith for
faith,…
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Index of Articles - Romans
May 2008
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