Good morning. All right, so God chose one person over another, and chose pharaoh for destruction – what does that mean? So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, why does He still find fault? For who resists His will? In other words how can He condemn us to the bad place, since He is the one who chose us to not believe? On the contrary, who are you, O man who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this, will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? Again it sounds like we don’t have a choice – it is predestination. This is what others would say, not what is reality. Then a hypothetical: what if God (Paul is not saying that God did, but rather what if He did the following), although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of w...
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Good morning. So Abraham had two sons; but God chose Isaac. Paul then gives other instances where God chose one over the other. Remember that Rebekah had twins – Jacob and Esau. For though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God‘s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “the older will serve the younger.“ Isaac did not earn God‘s choice, and neither did Jacob. And of course we also didn’t. In today’s world, people would say that God was not fair. He should’ve been all inclusive. We would’ve heard all about it over the news media. God is evil; He is not fair! What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? Never! But that is not how the news media would portray it. “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.“ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who h...
Good morning. Paul is getting ready to tell the Roman Christians something, and he wants them to know that what he saying is the truth, and that he’s not just being politically correct. I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. That’s pretty strong. It sounds like he would be willing to take their place; that he would be willing to give up his salvation, if all of them could receive theirs. Would we be willing to do that, even if they were our relatives? He then talks about the benefits of being Israelites. Remember that they are God‘s chosen people; and yet without Christ, they are doomed. Remember also the promise that God made to Abraham. But is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended fro...
Good morning. Another one of our favorite verses: Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Of course we already know the answer – nothing! What about all of these things that he talked about – that he actually experienced; did they get him down? But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. Wait for it – for I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Whee doggies! As the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz said: “Ain’t nuttin’, no how!” Notice that it does not say that we barely make it through – it says that we overwhelmingly conquer! We don’t just win by a field goal in the last second of the game – we win by seven touchdowns! Father thank ...
Good morning. What shall we say to these things (Foreknew, predestined, conformed, called, justified, glorified)? If God is for us, who is against us? A statement of the form If…, then is called a conditional. The “then” part is guaranteed to occur, provided that the “If” part occurs. There is always a possibility that the “If” part does not happen. My Bible says that the form of the condition (in Greek) makes it clear that there is no doubt about it – the “If” part will happen - God is definitely for us. Therefore, who can be against us - no one! He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? If God did the “most-ist” “best-ist” thing for us, how could He not give us “lesser “ things? Everything else is of no consequence compared to Him giving us His Son. Who will bring a charge against God‘s elect? God is the one who justifies; Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was...
Good morning. I have a feeling you were in this deluge. OK so we are called according to His purpose. Paul then gives the process by which we came to know God. They are all in the past tense. For those whom He foreknew, He also pre-destined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. There are some questions concerning these verses but no definitive answer. Is he talking about us as individuals, or the selective group of all Christians? Did God personally know each of us in the ancient past, or simply know about us; again as an individual or as a group? Is this predestination in the traditional sense? The predestination here says to become conformed to the image of His Son, not pre-destined to salvation – meaning no free will. In other words, those who do exercise their free will and make Je...
Good morning. Remember that the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; also having the first fruits of the Spirit we groan within ourselves. In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the Saints according to the will of God. Most of the time we don’t realize that all of this is going on within us. We don’t have to be concerned about whether or not the Spirit is praying the right prayer like we do when we pray. My Bible comments: whether Paul means words that are unspoken or words that cannot be expressed in human language is not clear. And then one of everyone’s favorite verses: and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. There is at least one manu...
Good morning. Last time it said that we were waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. We sing the Big Daddy Weave song, “I am Redeemed“, but we think of that as our spirit or soul being redeemed. We don’t think about our body being redeemed, but it is – it just won’t be manifested until the resurrection. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? Remember from the book of Hebrews, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. If you have $100 bill in your hand, you don’t have to hope that you will get one some day. Faith is seeing that hundred dollar bill in your hand, even when it’s not physically visible. But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. We don’t “see“ our bodies already resurrected, but we do eagerly wait for it. In second Corinthians, Paul will go into this in more detail. Father thank You that one day we...
Good morning. Remember: we are suffering for Jesus. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. Even the creation gets in on the act. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. I guess you could say for both the creation and ourselves; no pain – no gain. It’s easy to see why some Christians give up. At times life can be really hard....
Good morning. OK, so we have all these wonderful words that say that we are children of God. Is there any way other than just words that we can know that we are children of God? The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. Of course we don’t go by feelings; but there are definitely times when we “feel something“ deep down inside of us. And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. The way that sounds in English, it seems like we don’t get the inheritance unless we do the suffering. My Bible says that the Greek construction used here does not set forth a condition but states a fact. In other words the inheritance is not predicated on the suffering, but the suffering is a natural result of being Christians. It’s part of the “job description“. Now most Christians (at least in America) do not suffer any where near the way Jesus did. For some Christians, it’s me...
Good morning. How do you know that you truly are a Christian? All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. That’s pretty clear; but sometimes it is hard to do. Speaking as a mathematician 🙃 : logically that does not mean that just because you’re not being led by the Spirit of God that you are not a child of God. It just guarantees that if you are being led by the Spirit of God, that you are a child of God. It could be true in reality – but that is not the logical way to interpret this passage. I know, I know… Unfortunately I have heard various speakers interpret other scriptures that way. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” My Bible says that adoption was common among the Greeks and Romans, who granted the adoptive son all the privileges of a natural son, including inheritance rights (can anyone say Ben Hur?). Some people who were adopted f...
Good morning. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Death came because Adam sinned. Just because we are Christians, does not mean that our body will not die. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. This life is guaranteed to us. Of course the life that He gives our mortal bodies will be different when we are raised from the dead. Notice from yesterday and today the different ways that Paul speaks about the Spirit. Sometimes he uses the phrase Spirit of God, and sometimes he talks about the Spirit of Christ, almost alternating them. Is he doing that just for variety; saying that they are two different Spirits; or is he emphasizing that They are the same? Good question. So then we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh - for if you a...
Good morning. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The mind set on the flesh not only is not able to subject itself to the law of God, it does not even want to. We should be seeking how we can better set our minds on the law of God, and not just on Sunday. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. True, but some who profess to be Christians do not act that way. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. That is the big difference between true Christianity and religion. It is the defining factor that makes o...
Good morning. After chapter 7, it makes us feel like - woe is me! But after chapter 7 comes – chapter 8! Therefore: remember the saying, if you see the word therefore, find out what it is there for. After the doom and gloom: Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Are you in Christ Jesus? Then there is no condemnation. Yes you have messed up; but if you are striving to serve the law of God, there is no condemnation. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. We are free! For what the law could not do; weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. The law was not meant to save people. It was a guideline as to how they were to act without having the Holy Spirit l...
Good morning. Happy St. Patrick's Day. So Paul, how do you feel about yourself? Wretched man that I am! Don’t water it down; how do you really feel? Who will set me free from the body of this death? It looks like you are between a rock and a hard place. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. In Galatians, Paul writes, for the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for they are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. I’m sure you’ve heard this before: there are two wolves inside of you fighting against each other. Which one wins – the one that you feed. The more you give in and feed the flesh, the harder it is to resist. The more you feed the spirit, The easier it is to resist the flesh. I didn’t say it was easy, just easier. How do we feed our spirit - with the word. Fathe...
Good morning. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. Thankfully he clarified that – in my flesh. In and of ourselves, we can and will do no good thing. Thankfully we do not walk in the flesh, but in the Spirit. For the good that I want, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not want. That is true apart from God. Before we became Christians, we possibly wanted to do good; but were utterly helpless to do so on a regular basis. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. This totally does not sound like a Christian. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. So is he talking about the Mosaic law before he became a Christian? However, even as Christians we agree with God‘s laws, but sometimes it seems we are unable to ...
Good morning. The Ides of March. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? In other words did it have unintended consequences? God forbid! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. Now we get to the controversial part of chapter 7. Is Paul talking about himself before he became a Christian or afterwards? For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. That is true about our old man, who is now dead. Unfortunately, we do not act like our old man is dead. It seems like he is alive and kicking. We all do go through some form of the following at times. What I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I’m doing the very thing I hate. One would think that after becoming a Christian that Paul’s desire to disobey would be eradicated. But if I do that very thing...
Good morning. Paul continues: but now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. While we are not under the law of Moses, there are some Christians who live their lives as if they are under some kind of law. They have a list of things that they must/cannot do. We are to live our lives following the leading of the Holy Spirit. No matter how long a list we have, it will never cover every situation. Besides, if we kept the list, we could brag that we were the ones living the Christian life. So if the law of Moses was so bad, was it sin? God forbid! Then what use what is it? I would not have come to know sin except through the law; for I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, you shall not covet. Remember that earlier Paul said “until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law“. Sin, taking opportunity through the commandme...
Good morning. Now one of those famous verses that all Christians know: for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You get wages for working, and your paycheck for working all of that sin is death. You don’t have to work for eternal life; it is a free gift. As the current hit song says: I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it; still You give Yourself away. Now we get to the hotly debated chapter 7. Is Paul talking about himself, or is he talking about a generic nonbeliever? In some places it seems like he’s talking about before he became a Christian; and in others it seems like he’s talking about while he is a Christian. As Yul Brenner said in the movie “The King and I”: Tis a puzzlement. Do you not know that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? So that does not sound like he’s talking about a Christian. You were made to die to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to...
Good morning. Sometimes Paul likes to say the same basic thing two or three different ways to help you understand. Just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. The choice is up to us as to which one we present ourselves. Just as lawlessness begets more lawlessness; so righteousness begets more righteousness. Legally we are sanctified at rebirth; but it takes a lifetime to work it out in our lives. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. People of the world are not ashamed of what they are doing; in fact they rejoice in them and encourage others to join them. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eter...
Good morning. OK so we are not under law but under grace. Does that mean we can do whatever we want? Paul says: shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? Grace is not a “free pass“ to do anything that you want. If you do sin, grace means that it’s not all over – that you won’t go to heaven. It’s kind of like with Adam. God said that in the day you eat from the tree, you will die. Eve ate from the tree, and she did not drop over dead. It gave him the boldness to try also. You sin, don’t immediately go to the bad place, so you think why not sin again - I can just ask for forgiveness. After a while, you are hooked and don’t even care whether or not you are forgiven for doing it. But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you became o...
Good morning. I hope everything is great there. OK so we are to consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus – then what? Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts. That is easier said than done. Notice that it says do not “let” sin reign in your body. First of all that says that it is a choice; it doesn’t force you to do anything. Secondly, it says don’t let it “reign”. That does not mean that you won’t ever sin again; but it is not going to be the master of you. You are to be in charge, not it. So what should we do? Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness (we do not put ourselves into situations where we are tempted to sin); but present yourself to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. You have to choose. You are either going to present yourself to sin (as one dead), or to God (as one alive). Sin shall not be the master...
Good morning. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. Before Christ, death was our master. It was always looming over us and was a fearful prospect. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; the life that He lives, He lives to God. Since we died with Christ, we also should be dead to sin. So what do we do? Even so consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The accomplishment of that is a lifelong process. It is not just a simple step of wishing that were true. It does start with our thinking. It’s kind of like having all of your debts paid off and $1 million in the bank. You don’t go around groveling, afraid to spend a dime. You are no longer subject to the slavery of indebtedness and having no money. You are free, and must start to act like it. We are no longer slaves of sin, and should not ...
Good morning. Hope you’re enjoying your vacation. Expanding on the concept of baptism: For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. If the devil tries to make us feel badly about something we did before becoming Christians, we can point to our baptism and say I didn’t do it; my old man who is now dead did it. And of course in addition to telling no tales, dead men sin no sin. It does not mean that we do not ever sin; it means that we are no longer slaves to sin – it does not control us; we choose to sin. When we are tempted to sin, we should tell ourselves that our old man is dead and resist. Sadly we don’t. We go on acting like he’s still alive and kicking. We have to get rid of that stinking thinking...
Good morning. Remember that Paul just asked how shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? If we are dead, how can we still live in sin? What happens when someone dies? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. We weren’t just dead and buried. If that were the case, you might as well just shoot us as soon as we get saved. Speaking of the children of Israel when they left Egypt; “He brought us out to bring us in”. God did not just deliver them from the slavery in Egypt; He brought them into the land of promise that they might live for Him. Just like they received their liberty back then, we Americans received our liberty in 1776. As Christians, we received our liberty from sin when we made Jesus Lord of our lives. Just like they weren’t ...
Good morning. We saw last time that the law came in so that the transgression would increase. God wasn’t trying to catch more people and send them to the bad place. He was setting a standard so that man cannot say “I have lived a good life and deserve to go to heaven“, without any justification. Now He could say, you have not lived according to My standard. Where sin increased, Grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so Grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? No way dude! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Since man no longer had to do works to be justified, that gave rise to the prospect of what is known as “greasy grace“. I can do whatever I want, because I’ve got my fire insurance. Besides, the more sin I do, the more God will have to exert His grace - it will abound. If we have died to sin, we shouldn’t be tempt...
Good morning. Paul continues with the thought: for if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Talk about unintended consequences. What Adam did, did not affect just him; it affected all humans for all eternity. So then through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. In this case it was intended consequences. Jesus intended that His one act would bring justification to all those who believe. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. Why did God use Moses to give the people of Israel the law? The law came in so that the transgression would increase. Until the law was given, there was no way for man to measure how he stood be...
Good morning. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned - for until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed [ascribe (something, especially something undesirable) as being done, caused, or possessed by someone] when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. As a human, our inheritance is death because of Adam. That is true whether or not we sinned like he did. Even today as Christians, that still applies to us. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the One man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. What Adam did, gave us death. What Jesus did, gave us life! We didn’t do anything to deserve death – we didn’t do anything to d...
Good morning. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. I have said several times that everything happened at just the right time; everything had to be in place for Jesus to come. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. We do see today where people give their lives trying to protect others in shooting situations. In a lot of cases, they don’t even know whether the people they are saving are good or bad. But God knew that we were bad. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Thankfully we did not have to get good enough for Him to die for us - we couldn’t. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. This is what I was talking about before: notice that it says we were justified by His blood; not through His resurrection. For if while we were enemies we were ...
Good morning. OK so we have been justified – now what? Having been justified by faith (not works), we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Having peace with God is a big deal. (that is not the same thing as having the peace of God). Through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations. Now wait a minute Paul! I get that we exult in hope of the glory of God, but exulting in our tribulations??? Why: knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. Isn’t that kind of like praying for patience, and then getting situations in which you need to be patient? What does perseverance bring about – proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Do we have to go through all of that? Can’t we just get our fi...
Good morning. So Abraham believed God, even though the circumstances appeared to be against it happening. What was the result – therefore it was credited to him as righteousness. It wasn’t a true indwelling righteousness as we experience; that only comes through a relationship with Jesus. Now not for his (Abraham’s) sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. The king James uses the word ”for” in both cases where this says “because of”. That is sometimes interpreted as: Jesus was raised in order to obtain our justification; i.e. we would not be justified, if He had not been raised. I believe it should be interpreted as: He was delivered over as a result of our transgressions, and was raised as a result of our justification. I believe that what follows in a f...