:: In.a.Mirror.Dimly ::

Continuing my series of meditations on the book of Romans…

Paul has established that there is salvation in Christ mediated through the Holy Spirit in chapter 8. Nothing can separate God’s people from his love. However, there may be a wrinkle in his argument here. That is what he aims to set straight.

If Israel could be described as God’s chosen people, how is it that they were separated from God? Shouldn’t the new Jew/Gentile church expect God’s plan to unravel just as it did for the Jews? Romans 9 marks the beginning of Paul’s discussion of the ramifications of Christ’s salvation for the Jewish people, while also explaining the joining of Jews and Gentiles into one people.

Throughout scripture God always reached out to the rest of creation through a chosen tribe or remnant. Abraham had several children, but only one descendant received the promise. In addition, Isaac had twins, but only Jacob received the promise. In other words, being a descendant of Abraham has never meant instant access to God. The children of God are determined according to God’s gracious action.

Though all of Israel may not have responded in faith, God has a plan to fulfill that has not gone off track. God is still working with a remnant as he has in the past. However, just as Abraham was set apart to be a blessing to all nations, there is a calling among God’s chosen people to do the same. We don’t know why God chooses some and not others, but we can rest in two simple truths from elsewhere in scripture.

For starters, God desires that all people should be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4). It’s had to know how to make sense of Romans 9 and the doctrine of election when running into Paul’s letter to Timothy. However, there is a sense in Romans 9 that somehow God’s election sets things into motion that will spread the knowledge of himself and enable him to be merciful. Even Pharaoh was raised up in order to display God’s power throughout the world.

Secondly, when preaching to the Athenians in Acts 17:26-27, Paul says, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 2God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” Therefore, God clearly takes a very active role in his creation and orders our world so that we will reach out to him. Even in God’s election and control of circumstances, God also expects humanity to respond to his salvation and allows even the Jewish people to go astray.

Such notions are hard to compute. Our human effort cannot win God’s favor that is freely given to those he chooses. However, God desires all to be saved and reaches out to all, hoping we will respond. Regardless of the exact mechanics, the correct response is obedience to God’s calling, accepting whatever task he sets before us, whether noble or not.

The point of Romans 9 is to put Christians in their place as the vessels of God. On the one hand, there is tremendous freedom in the notion that no one can earn a place in God’s favor. In fact, for those who continue in faith, there is nothing that can separate them from God’s love. Even those who have given themselves over to sin may receive God’s merciful patience and kindness that will hopefully lead them to repentance one day.

It’s easy to get hung up on a detail or lost in the minutiae of salvation and the way God offers righteousness. It is good to meditate on these things. However, it is not good to miss out on God’s salvation when fretting over the particulars. Don’t miss out on the depth and width of God’s mercy and grace, God’s desire to extend salvation to all people, and even the hope that the Jewish people will one day widely accept Jesus as their saving Messiah.

While the Roman Christians trust in Christ as their rock, Paul turns to the application of everything he’s already shared to the Jewish people of his day. He writes that while he is the apostle to the Gentiles and believes Christ has fulfilled the requirements of the law, he shares God’s commitment to the salvation of the Jewish nation.

Continuing my series of meditations on the book of Romans with chapter eight…

There is no condemnation under sin or the law for those who belong to Jesus and live by the power of the Spirit. With this bold statement, Paul has essentially wrapped up his arguments concerning the law and sin.

He has already established that the law itself is not bad. Rather, it is incapable of saving. That is why God initiated the incarnation of Jesus who died and rose in order to destroy sin’s control over humanity and its misuse of the law to bring condemnation. Paul wants the Romans to know they are in right standing before God and the law because the Spirit applies God’s new life to them.

The Holy Spirit now takes center stage in God’s redemptive work.

As the Romans struggle with obedience and sin, Paul explains their conflict between the sinful nature and the Holy Spirit. In vv. 5-17, the Roman church is presented with a choice to allow sin or the Spirit to control their lives. Those who live under the control of the Spirit are able to live in peace, pleasing God through obedience.

The ramifications for living under God’s Spirit include belonging to Christ, freedom from the control of sin, and the same Resurrection power that brought Christ to life bringing God’s full life to fruition. Living in the freedom and obedience of God’s Spirit means the Roman believers have nothing to fear from God since they are no longer under the condemnation of sin and can consider themselves sons of God.

However, being a son of God is not free from suffering. In fact, being in God’s family requires sharing in the suffering of Christ (v.17).

In fact, life will be difficult for those patiently waiting for God’s glory to be revealed. Even with the Holy Spirit living among them, the Romans will have to wait with the rest of creation, confidently expecting God to give them full rights as his adopted children.

God’s goal for his children is that they bear a family resemblance to Jesus, the first-born son of the family. Therefore, God’s Spirit prays in accordance with God’s will, helping sons and daughters with their struggles against sin. As the Spirit prays, God works everything for the good of those who respond to God’s calling and purpose with love for God. Those who love God can trust they are being supported and carried as they submit to God’s purpose for their lives. For those called by God and known by him, there is struggle and sacrifice, but God is gracious, offering them right standing before God and his glory.

For those in God’s family through the Holy Spirit, there is nothing that can separate them from God’s love. External or internal circumstances have no sway, even in the most dire of situations involving hunger, danger, or death. God’s deep love is for his people, and so no other power or situation can change that.

These are the spiritual realities of the Christian life, and they are worthy of our deepest consideration.

Another meditation in my series on the book of Romans…

If Jesus died to conquer sin while all were still sinners, then Paul reasons Jesus will continue to save those who have been reconciled through his death. The Romans church can boast of Christ’s sacrifice that not only cancelled their debt with God, but also includes them among God’s saved people.

This chapter particularly focuses on the the significance of God’s saving work through Christ that brings us peace with God. The gift of salvation is more generous and powerful than any offense that could separate us from God.

A key illustration involves the sin that Adam brought to the world. Through sin death began to reign, as everyone who followed Adam, also followed into sin and thus into death. However, if one sin brought death, then Christ’s gift of life through his one righteous act conquered sin and death. In this way, Christ is supreme as the one who not only rights past wrongs, but also offers a new way to live.

Unlike God’s gracious gift through Christ, the law was not given to make us right with God, but rather to point out sin. Thus rules and regulations have value within their role sorting right from wrong, but only in the work of Christ on the cross can sin be defeated. Therefore, Christ has both kept and fulfilled the law, making himself superior to sin, death, and the law. Christ has made God both just and the one who justifies.

Therefore, Christ brings us peace with God, and offers us a chance to live free from sin’s power. The details of living new lives apart from sin will be spelled out in chapter six.

This continues my series of meditations on the book of Romans. Today we have chapter three…

Paul has been building an argument for the equality of Jews and Gentiles under sin, but by the end of chapter three he extends this equality into the realm of salvation. For starters though, the Jews and Gentiles are mired sin and separated from God.

In spite of sin that alienates people from God, God is faithful to offer salvation as a gift through Christ. Nevertheless, God’s patient and redemptive acts do not give anyone an excuse to continue sinning. God will fulfill his promise and bring salvation to Jew and Gentile alike, but there is a stern warning that judgment will come to those who persist in sin. Therefore, Paul tells his readers to use the law to become conscious of sin, but to have faith in God for their salvation.

Therefore, whether or not someone has the law, the verdict is the same, but so is the way out. God’s salvation is not dependent on the law or whether or not someone has any kind of religious or ethnic credentials. I’m particularly taken with the thought that God is not only just, but also the one who justifies. God is essentially clearing the path for whoever wants to believe in him rather than setting up standards to be met.

The hard part of the argument for Paul’s listeners must have been  upholding the law by faith and not by observing it. It would seem that the only way to God and the path to obedience is by recognizing one’s complete and utter dependence on God for salvation. However, living by faith does not mean anyone can ignore the law. In fact, faith is the only path to truly obeying it.

That strikes me as an easy lesson to twist. God will judge those who ignore his patience and salvation by continuing to sin, but the way to be made right with God depends on believing in the saving work of Christ and living by faith. One would expect Paul to hammer on obeying the law, but he doesn’t. I can see how some would twist Paul’s arguments into a kind of antinomian Christianity where more sins only draw on more unlimited mercy.

Paul is no doubt challenging this sin-challenged church to be obedient and faithful to God. However, the only lasting way to be made right with God and to remain faithful is through faith in the life-changing work of Christ.

It is this work of Christ that fills up the following chapters in Romans where Paul explains how saving faith need not result in indulgent sinfulness.

How should we confront false doctrine today?

Well, if you’re an approved workman of God able to handle the truth (2 Timothy 2:15), you should be able to lay some holy Bible smack down on false teachers, right? I mean, if you don’t confront them, who will? Are you just going to sit by and watch false teachers make a mess of things?

When Paul instructed Timothy on the best way to handle false teachers in Ephesus, he actually told Timothy to step back. Really. He eventually instructed Timothy to gently teach those who have erred, but for the most part, Paul’s approach is not all that aggressive or confrontational. Paul is far more concerned with the state of Timothy and his own purity of spirit and the purity of his Gospel.

In fact, he tells Timothy to avoid godless chatter. This godless chatter just happened to be calling the resurrection into question. Serious no doubt, godless for certain, but to be avoided all the same.

What should Timothy do instead? Find out in 2 Timothy 2. It’s got something to do with faith, love, and holiness.