And because he saw the crowds, he went up a mountain. And after he sat down, his students came to him. Then, he opened his mouth and began to teach them, saying...
Matthew 5:1-2
What are you thinking about as you sit down to read this today? Maybe you’re thinking, “I really need to feel connected to God.” Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, here we go - I’m going to be disciplined and read some spiritual stuff now.” Maybe you’re a naturally disciplined person, and you’re doing this out of habit - a very good habit - but thinking about other things that you’ve got lined up for the day.
Whatever it is you’re thinking about, I think you’d agree that what we think about is a result of what we long for, and the action of longing comes from an underlying belief that if we get what we long for, we’ll be happier and avoid pain. And that’s normal. As people, we all are on a pursuit to find lasting happiness and avoid pain.
The people who heard and saw Jesus were no different. They heard the promises of a perfect, happy Kingdom which would be given as a gift to everyone who submitted to God’s commands. And they saw the preacher reverse the effects of sin in the world - stopping sickness, pain, and even death. Word spread, and people gathered. Like us, these people wanted to be happy. And this guy looked like a good candidate to give them what they wanted.
He went up the mountain...
Jesus responded to the gathered crowds by going up a mountain. Now, Matthew, who was one of Jesus’ students who was there, and who wrote this book, isn’t trying to be a good storyteller in telling us that Jesus went up a mountain. He’s not trying to simply give us a setting for this sermon; there are no other setting elements. Further, Jesus intentionally went up the mountain. He was sending a message by his actions along with his words that would shock the crowds (7:29).
This is why Jesus’ ascending the mountain would’ve been surprising. The most important prophet in Israel’s history was Moses. That’s because God established his relationship, technically ‘covenant,’ with Israel, through Moses. Moses was commanded to ascend a mountain to get the terms of the covenant from God to deliver them to the people. And when he did, God, accompanied by darkness, thunder and lightning, from the mountain, verbally announced his Law to the whole nation. They were, understandably, terrified. (See Exodus 19-20.)
God’s covenant with Israel included laws, and it also included promises - promises that were ultimately for the forgiveness of sins and eternal joyful life in God’s presence. The God who had announced himself to all of Israel was certainly scary, but he was also certainly good and loving - and could be trusted. God had introduced himself to Israel way back then - and it was an act of favor to people who had no real, lasting hope.
So when Jesus, the herald of God’s coming Kingdom, went up a mountain he was sending a message. God was about to speak again. God was about to introduce himself. God was about to initiate relationship with man.
Humans were about to see the glory and hear the voice of the God who loves.
He sat down...
When Jesus sat down, he was taking the cultural posture of a preacher in that day. It was as if he was getting behind a pulpit. His students, or disciples, came to him. They were committed to his teaching before this point; but now their attention was really grabbed. And why wouldn’t it be? What experience would be more momentous than God relating to you?
He opened His mouth and taught...
Matthew then tells us that Jesus opened his mouth and taught. On a quick reading, one might pass over that phrase ‘opened his mouth’ as just a strange manner of speaking of ancient people. But it wasn’t. Matthew, reflecting back on this sermon years later, purposefully said ‘Jesus opened his mouth.’
The reason for this is that in the past God is said to have opened the prophets’ mouths - particularly Moses’. That’s an idiom for saying that he gave them the words to say. They were acting as prophets - speaking God’s words. Matthew wrote this to clue us in on this startling fact: Jesus was speaking about the eternal Kingdom of God based on his own authority over it. He opened his own mouth.
Matthew didn’t understand that at this point. But it would just be a short time after this that Jesus would be publicly and brutally murdered. Matthew and the others were scared out of their minds. For a couple days, anyway. Then Jesus rose from the dead and came back to his students. They went up the same mountain together, probably recalling the first time they’d ascended it; and then, Jesus told them clearly: “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me”(28:20).
In that sentence, Jesus claimed to have sovereignty over everything that exists. And when he did, the disciples probably thought back to the first time he ascended this mountain - and remembered with awe - they were not just hearing God’s words given to them by a prophet like Moses, though that would in itself be amazing. No - they sat in the presence of God himself, as God himself spoke to them, based on his own authority as creator of everything they could see, everything they couldn’t see, and every event that would ever take place in space and time.
They weren’t just hearing from a prophet of God. They were actually with God. Or, to be a little more precise, God had come down to be with them.
After rising from the dead, Jesus also told them to announce his teachings to every culture on earth, because he would grant some people entry into his Kingdom. And he promised that he would be with his students always, until the end of the world (28:19-20).
But how would he be with his disciples? Because it certainly doesn’t look or feel like he is here sometimes. Simple - the same way he had done so with the disciples before. By his word. By his teaching... as he governs and controls everything that exists.
Jesus’ disciples didn’t see a cloud of darkness and fire descend on a mountain, with thunder and lightning, and the terror-inducing voice of God like Moses and the ancient Israelites did. They saw a man who they liked, who was righteous, who did miracles - and they sat with him. And they would look back on that moment and be in awe: “We sat with God!”
But that God - Jesus - is still the one who is in charge of everything. And he still comes to relate to people by the words that Matthew and the other disciples recorded. When we come to these words of Jesus, we are coming to more than a religious document, a self-help manual, a list of rules, or a historical writing. We are coming to God himself, just as Jesus’ students were.
But unlike the disciples we can know it now. Jesus came and announced a new Kingdom. He announced the forgiveness of our apathy towards God and the breaking of his laws. He showed what that kingdom would be like by reversing suffering in the world. And he promised to be with us forever.
If you have turned to him as God, away from yourself, he is with you. When you sit down with his word, depending on him to hear from him, God himself, is sitting down with you, to talk to you. And one day, you will be in the physical presence of Jesus. You’ll actually hear his voice, and you’ll actually see his kindness as he listens to you.
Things you may want to pray about:
1. It’s very easy to forget that the greatest gift God gives to people is the experience of knowing him... so thank him for stooping down in love to us so that we could know him, because of Christ.
2. Think of people in your life: friends, family, people in your church, people around the world. Think of places in the world where God isn’t known. Ask God to make himself known to those people and in those places so that they can know him.
3. Think about the things on earth that you trust in to make you happy that aren’t God. Tell God you’re sorry for turning to those things instead of trusting him for joy. Ask him for help.
4. Ask God to deepen your knowledge of him and your love for him. He’ll do this by showing you more and more of his own glory.
Grace and Peace,
Onesimus
Showing posts with label Bible Commentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible Commentary. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Thursday, June 16, 2011
The God of All Comfort
In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul called God the 'God of all comfort,' and repeatedly draws attention to the fact that God loves to comfort his children. He loves to give them reprieve from suffering. He loves to grant them joy.
As a result, I've regularly prayed for the joy and comfort of people who are going through difficult circumstances. I think that's wise and good and would stand by it.
I do, however, want to make some observations about the comfort that God gives:
1) It is in the midst of suffering, not as a replacement for it.
2) It is in the midst of community, and given through speaking with each other about Christ.
3) Our suffering is to imitate Christ's sufferings if we expect to share in comfort. That means that it must either be the result of living like Christ on earth OR the result of living on earth in expectation that Christ will fix the world at the last day.
4) God often pushes us to be desperate, even of life itself, to give us comfort. Desparation and comfort are not mutually exclusive in our experience, and desperation can get pretty bad - but it is a surgical tool in the hand of the God who desires our comfort.
5) Our comfort is ultimately rooted in the fact that God has raised Christ from the dead and will raise us as well. Seeking mere existential comfort without historical rootedness is sub-Christian.
That's not an exhaustive study of the chapter, but I think it's telling that the purpose of comfort is not to rid us of suffering - but to show us, in history, and through godly conversation, how it has been dealt with and will be dealt with.
So, enough with the platitudes and seeking to drive at comfort and security without suffering before Jesus comes back. The comfort God gives, even now, in the midst of desparation, through the message about Christ, is better.
And he loves to grant it to his children.
As a result, I've regularly prayed for the joy and comfort of people who are going through difficult circumstances. I think that's wise and good and would stand by it.
I do, however, want to make some observations about the comfort that God gives:
1) It is in the midst of suffering, not as a replacement for it.
2) It is in the midst of community, and given through speaking with each other about Christ.
3) Our suffering is to imitate Christ's sufferings if we expect to share in comfort. That means that it must either be the result of living like Christ on earth OR the result of living on earth in expectation that Christ will fix the world at the last day.
4) God often pushes us to be desperate, even of life itself, to give us comfort. Desparation and comfort are not mutually exclusive in our experience, and desperation can get pretty bad - but it is a surgical tool in the hand of the God who desires our comfort.
5) Our comfort is ultimately rooted in the fact that God has raised Christ from the dead and will raise us as well. Seeking mere existential comfort without historical rootedness is sub-Christian.
That's not an exhaustive study of the chapter, but I think it's telling that the purpose of comfort is not to rid us of suffering - but to show us, in history, and through godly conversation, how it has been dealt with and will be dealt with.
So, enough with the platitudes and seeking to drive at comfort and security without suffering before Jesus comes back. The comfort God gives, even now, in the midst of desparation, through the message about Christ, is better.
And he loves to grant it to his children.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Romans 10 BIble Study
The Love of God through Preaching – Romans 10
Gospel in a Sentence: Jesus the Christ was sent to the earth to die, paying the penalty of sin in our place and taking our judgment upon himself; and he rose from the dead, bringing us back to life and giving us new and perfected righteous lives in Himself, who is now the Lord of our lives.
Big Picture: Israel has missed the saving righteousness of God because they’ve rejected Christ.
Goal: That we celebrate the proclamation of the message of the Gospel.
Key Ideas
1) Being passionate doesn’t justify someone; the righteousness of Christ received by faith does.
2) The point of the Law is justification by Christ’s work through the Gospel.
3) Preaching is a gift of God so that we can hear the Gospel and be saved.
4) Israel, by in large, has rejected Christ.
Key Terms
Heart – The seat of the whole self, including mind, emotions, and will. It should not be understood as the seat of the emotions or in any way a reference to emotions. A word that could be substituted for it in your thinking could be ‘soul.’ Also, band made famous by the amazing and infectious song, ‘Barracuda.’
To Save – To rescue from danger, in this case, from death and hell. It’s worth remembering here that the whole discussion in Romans is based on the belief in a future judgment day, which is part of the Gospel message (Romans 2:8-9, 16).
Word – Message. The word ‘word’ usually does not mean an individual word, but a whole message comprised of many words. Also, a colloquialism used in response to indicate agreement or affirmation.
Moses – The person God chose as a mediator for the whole nation of Israel, by whom he gave the Law. Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 18:15-19, God had Moses tell the people that in the future, God would raise up another prophet like Moses, who would directly mediate between God and Israel. That’s Jesus.
Isaiah – Old Testament prophet who made God’s word known when the Kingdom of Israel was about to end. Israel, a nation set apart by God for his glory, had been entrenched in idolatry, and Isaiah prophesied about the fall of the Kingdom of Israel to worldly powers and Israel’s being exiled – scattered in captivity among Gentile nations. However, he also prophesied about Israel’s return from exile and the coming restoration of the whole world.
Key Observations
10:1-2 Paul tells his fellow-Christians that he wants and prays that Israel would be saved. He yearns for their salvation, in part, because they do have a passion for God. However, this passion is an ignorant passion. They don’t know the truth.
3 Here, Paul explains how Israel’s ignorance was demonstrated; hence, the ‘for.’ Israel was ‘ignorant’ of the righteousness from God; that is, they were ignorant of justification by a righteousness which was outside of them credited to them through faith. They did not submit to the message about God’s righteousness.
4 This verse explains Israel’s failure to submit to God’s righteousness. (Again, hence, the ‘for.’) Why did Israel miss God’s righteousness? Because they missed Christ. The whole point of the Law (the end, or goal, of the law) is Jesus himself. With Jesus, one gets righteousness, and thus, justification. This is given to every believer in him – not just Jews.
5 ‘For’ indicates that Paul is giving an explanation for the Jews’ missing of Jesus, and therefore their missing of the righteousness of God. That is, they attempted to attain a righteous status by doing what the commandments require, which we know is impossible. Verse 5 cites Leviticus 18:5.
6-8 These verses are continuing explanation of the Jews’ missing of Jesus. They start off by saying what the message of righteousness through faith does not say, then, they instruct us as to what the message of righteousness through faith does say.
First, we are taught that we need not perform impossible tasks to bring Christ near to us. He has already been incarnated and has risen from the dead.
Second, we are taught that the saving message of the Gospel is something that has drawn near to us. It has been made available to be trusted – and thus, the righteousness of God has been offered to humanity.
Thus, Israel missed Jesus not because they weren’t offered his righteousness – but because of a failure to trust in him.
How Paul Quotes the Old Testament in Romans 10
Some of the more astute students in your study may see the footnotes in their Bibles and decide to look up the passages in the Old Testament that these quotations are from.
While this is certainly a good thing, there is a good possibility that they might end up extremely confused, and might even think that Paul is misusing the Old Testament.
The key to understanding the way that Paul is quoting the Old Testament is to understand verse 4 – ‘Christ is the goal of the law for righteousness.’ The point of the Law is Jesus, not doing enough good to get to heaven. When the New Testament authors cite the Old Testament, they do it in light of the fact that Christ has come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.
The first quotation in this section is from Deuteronomy 9:4. Here, Israel is warned that they are not being given the Promised Land because of their righteousness. God reminds them of their unrighteousness. Now, the ‘Promised Land’ was a sign of what was to be granted in the future – a New Creation (Romans 4:13, Hebrews 11:9, 10, 13-16). By citing Deuteronomy 9:4, Paul is drawing our attention to the fact that we do not inherit the New Creation by our righteousness – but by Christ’s.
The second quotation in this section is from Deuteronomy 30:11-14. Here’s the problem: in the context of the passage, these truths aren’t about Jesus – they’re about the Law. The basic message is that the message of the Law has been given to Israel and is understandable. They can’t say they didn’t know what the Law required.
So is Paul just misusing the Old Testament to try to make a point about Jesus? No. Remember, he’s just said that Christ is the goal of the Law. He’s the point of the Law and the fulfillment of the Law. The Law is a signpost that points forward to Christ.
So, just as the Law was given in a way that resulted in its accessibility, by the grace of God, so now the fulfillment of the Law, the Gospel, has been given in a way, by the grace of God, that makes it accessible.
Another way of thinking about it is that the message of God began to be given in such a way that made it understandable, and the completion of its being given has been in the same way.
But not only is the fulfillment of God’s message, the Gospel, understandable – it also results in change of the actual heart and mouth. That word becomes part of a person through faith – part of their heart and speech. And it saves them. (See vv. 9, 10.)
This makes total sense in the context of Deuteronomy 30. In this chapter, God promised a future in which he would circumcise the hearts of his people and cause them to turn to himself. And this is exactly what he has done in the Gospel – he has changed hearts and turned people towards himself, and has given them a righteousness that is not theirs, but is Christ’s own righteousness. Therefore, we will be saved.
So, this message of righteousness through faith does not tell us to do impossible tasks – but rather, it instructs us to receive the Gospel of Christ which transforms and saves us.
9-10 Why can we say that the Gospel is near to us – in our mouths and hearts? Because when that word becomes a part of us, we get the promise of salvation. Verse 10 is further explanation (‘for’) of the content of the message of righteousness based on faith. We trust Christ and are given righteousness, confessing him and getting salvation. We should not understand ‘confession’ here as any sort of added condition for salvation, but rather, the natural evidence of a message becoming a part of a person. You take it in and trust it, and you also speak it. The Gospel becomes part of our speech. It is, after all, a message.
11 This verse is a defense of the fact that salvation is received by faith alone. It cites Isaiah 28:16. The shocking thing in this verse is that every believer gets eternal life. In other words, it is not just for ethnic Israelites.
12 This verse is a defense of the idea that everyone who believes in Jesus, regardless of Jewish background, will be saved. That’s why it begins with ‘for.’ The Lord is God, and treats all according to the same Gospel.
13 ‘For’ indicates that this is further defense of the idea that salvation is without reference to ethnicity. It quotes Joel 2:32.
14-15 Paul has just finished arguing that the message of the Gospel has been brought near to be believed – and that Israel’s problem was a rejection of that Gospel. Here, he asks a string of rhetorical questions about the nature of salvation, given that the Gospel must be believed for it. Ultimately, for belief and salvation to happen, a preacher must be sent. The citation of Isaiah 52:7 tells us two things – 1, it tells us that preachers are necessary for the spread of good news. 2, it tells us that preachers have come with the Good News.
16 Even though preachers have been sent out, not everyone has obeyed what the Gospel demands – belief. Isaiah 53:1 is enlisted to support Paul’s point – the Gospel has been rejected. In context, here, ultimately the nation of Israel is responsible for its condemnation. They have rejected the Gospel.
17 ‘Therefore’ or ‘so’ at the beginning of this verse indicates that Paul is giving us a conclusion – and also a transition back onto the topic in general. Faith comes by hearing the Gospel.
18 One might ask then if people, particularly the Jews, have heard the Gospel. People have. Not all are saved because not all believed.
Psalm 19:4 in Romans 10:18
One would like for people to read this verse and simply just think, “Yes, preachers have gone out and people who have rejected Christ are responsible for their condemnation,” since that’s the point of the verse.
However, if someone from your Bible study looks up the quote from Scripture, there will probably be mass confusion. Here’s why. Psalm 19:4 is about nature, not about the Gospel. It says that nature declares God’s glory.
Some have concluded, then, that one can know the Gospel through nature and be saved without the preaching of missionaries. This is contextually problematic, given vv. 14-15. It’s also contextually problematic given 1:18-21, in which all nature can do by demonstrating God’s glory is to condemn us.
So how does this quotation work? If we look back at Psalm 19 we see that it compares the glory of God in nature with the glory of God in the Law. The basic premise is that God’s glory is widespread in creation and yet made special and more glorious through the Law.
We must remember then, that Christ is the fulfillment of the Law. The Law reveals God’s glory even more than creation itself does. So, just as God has caused himself to be glorified in creation, so now, he causes himself to be even more glorified through his word spread to the world through preaching. In other words, Christ is the fulfillment of God’s self-revelation to mankind which began through nature. This self-revelation is being proclaimed to all the world just as it began to be with nature’s splendor.
A simpler explanation is this: Paul is not appealing to this verse to prove that the word of Christ has gone out to the ends of the world. Don’t get caught up on the word ‘world,’ here! Paul is appealing to Psalm 19:4 to demonstrate that it is in God’s character to disclose himself to the world for the sake of his glory. Therefore, God has ordained that preachers be sent out with the word of Christ.
What’s the point of the citation of Psalm 19:4? Everyone is held accountable to believing the Gospel if they’ve heard it. Everyone who has rejected it is guilty for doing so. Paul is particularly applying this truth to the Israelites.
19-20 Paul here narrows his focus on just Israel. Did they merely hear without comprehension of the message? No. Paul appeals to Moses (Deut 32:21) and Isaiah (Isaiah 65:1) to demonstrate his point. In both of these texts, God is honored as gracious in initiating relationship with Israel. Yet, Israel rejects God, and so God lets them go into sin while drawing those who did not seek him, (in this case, Gentiles) to himself.
21 Paul’s final response to the question about whether or not Israel could comprehend the Gospel is from Isaiah 65:2. Indeed, God has opened wide the offer of salvation to Israel; yet, they have continued to reject him.
Sample Discussion Guide:
-Last time we looked at the fact that God’s word doesn’t fail – he does exactly what he desires to do for his glory. That includes electing people to salvation based on his desires, and hardening whom he desires.
-Then we looked at the outcome of God’s election – those he elected believed and got God’s righteousness. Those whom God did not choose did not come to Christ and so stand condemned. Today we’re going to look more at human responsibility in responding to the Gospel message.
-What do you think are different reasons that people reject the Gospel?
-Why do you think so often that Christians, even, do not respond positively to the Gospel being preached to them?
-Would you say that your church does a good job of making sure that the Gospel is the point of every sermon? Why/Why not?
-Our goal tonight is to delight in the widespread glory of God through the Gospel’s being preached (Pray)
-Have someone read vv. 1-4.
-Part of the reason Paul yearned and prayed so much for his fellow-Jews is because they had a zeal for God, but apart from knowledge. What do you think that might look like in the world today? Do you think it’s possible to be a “Christian” in name and have a zeal for God without knowledge? Why or why not?
-Paul says that the Jews sought to establish their own righteousness. What are some ways that modern Americans seek to establish their own righteousness? (Why do we think we’re good?) What behaviors do you take pride in?
-God tells us that seeking to establish one’s own righteousness is dangerous, even damning, because it prevents people from receiving God’s righteousness. He explains how Israel missed out on God’s righteousness in verse 4. Take a minute and write down your paraphrase of v. 4. After a minute or two, have people share their paraphrases.
-Vv. 5-13 develop the idea that the righteousness of faith comes through the preached message of the Gospel. This is in contrast with trying to become righteous by trying to keep the Law, as ancient Israel did. Have someone read vv. 5-13.
-Paul mentions here that the idea of going to heaven or to the grave to somehow attain salvation is ridiculous. What are some of the things that people do today to try to give themselves assurance of a good afterlife?
-What are some things other religions require for salvation? How does that make you feel about the fact that Christ has accomplished salvation, and that it’s simply received by faith?
-Have someone read vv. 14-17.
-We saw in the previous section that faith in the message is necessary for salvation. This section brings out the need for a preacher and hearing.
-Who first clearly explained the Gospel to you? How did he/she do it?
-Are there people in your life that you don’t think have heard the Gospel clearly? Who? What are some practical ways we can respond to that reality?
-Out of about 16,000 ethnic groups in the world, over 6,000 have no church in their own languages. What does this passage say about people that have not heard the Gospel?
-What are some different things we can do about that?
-Have you considered spending time overseas to take the Gospel to people who have no access to it – for a month, a year, or even a lifetime? What are some obstacles to you doing so? (Some people are inevitably going to respond to this question in the language of ‘feeling called’ or ‘feeling led.’ This will be a great opportunity to ask what they mean by those phrases, since they’re unbiblical phrases that often express very unbiblical concepts.)
-Have someone read vv. 18-21.
-Here Paul shows us that God has been gracious in giving the Gospel to Israel, even though Israel has, by in large, rejected it.
-What are some words or phrases that stand out with respect to God’s treatment of Israel?
-Where are we talked about in this section?
-How does this reveal God’s grace?
-Given what this passage says about the Gospel, ignorance, preaching, and human responsibility, how do you think we should pray for ourselves? Our friends? Butler University? The world?
-Spend time in prayer for those spheres.
Gospel in a Sentence: Jesus the Christ was sent to the earth to die, paying the penalty of sin in our place and taking our judgment upon himself; and he rose from the dead, bringing us back to life and giving us new and perfected righteous lives in Himself, who is now the Lord of our lives.
Big Picture: Israel has missed the saving righteousness of God because they’ve rejected Christ.
Goal: That we celebrate the proclamation of the message of the Gospel.
Key Ideas
1) Being passionate doesn’t justify someone; the righteousness of Christ received by faith does.
2) The point of the Law is justification by Christ’s work through the Gospel.
3) Preaching is a gift of God so that we can hear the Gospel and be saved.
4) Israel, by in large, has rejected Christ.
Key Terms
Heart – The seat of the whole self, including mind, emotions, and will. It should not be understood as the seat of the emotions or in any way a reference to emotions. A word that could be substituted for it in your thinking could be ‘soul.’ Also, band made famous by the amazing and infectious song, ‘Barracuda.’
To Save – To rescue from danger, in this case, from death and hell. It’s worth remembering here that the whole discussion in Romans is based on the belief in a future judgment day, which is part of the Gospel message (Romans 2:8-9, 16).
Word – Message. The word ‘word’ usually does not mean an individual word, but a whole message comprised of many words. Also, a colloquialism used in response to indicate agreement or affirmation.
Moses – The person God chose as a mediator for the whole nation of Israel, by whom he gave the Law. Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 18:15-19, God had Moses tell the people that in the future, God would raise up another prophet like Moses, who would directly mediate between God and Israel. That’s Jesus.
Isaiah – Old Testament prophet who made God’s word known when the Kingdom of Israel was about to end. Israel, a nation set apart by God for his glory, had been entrenched in idolatry, and Isaiah prophesied about the fall of the Kingdom of Israel to worldly powers and Israel’s being exiled – scattered in captivity among Gentile nations. However, he also prophesied about Israel’s return from exile and the coming restoration of the whole world.
Key Observations
10:1-2 Paul tells his fellow-Christians that he wants and prays that Israel would be saved. He yearns for their salvation, in part, because they do have a passion for God. However, this passion is an ignorant passion. They don’t know the truth.
3 Here, Paul explains how Israel’s ignorance was demonstrated; hence, the ‘for.’ Israel was ‘ignorant’ of the righteousness from God; that is, they were ignorant of justification by a righteousness which was outside of them credited to them through faith. They did not submit to the message about God’s righteousness.
4 This verse explains Israel’s failure to submit to God’s righteousness. (Again, hence, the ‘for.’) Why did Israel miss God’s righteousness? Because they missed Christ. The whole point of the Law (the end, or goal, of the law) is Jesus himself. With Jesus, one gets righteousness, and thus, justification. This is given to every believer in him – not just Jews.
5 ‘For’ indicates that Paul is giving an explanation for the Jews’ missing of Jesus, and therefore their missing of the righteousness of God. That is, they attempted to attain a righteous status by doing what the commandments require, which we know is impossible. Verse 5 cites Leviticus 18:5.
6-8 These verses are continuing explanation of the Jews’ missing of Jesus. They start off by saying what the message of righteousness through faith does not say, then, they instruct us as to what the message of righteousness through faith does say.
First, we are taught that we need not perform impossible tasks to bring Christ near to us. He has already been incarnated and has risen from the dead.
Second, we are taught that the saving message of the Gospel is something that has drawn near to us. It has been made available to be trusted – and thus, the righteousness of God has been offered to humanity.
Thus, Israel missed Jesus not because they weren’t offered his righteousness – but because of a failure to trust in him.
How Paul Quotes the Old Testament in Romans 10
Some of the more astute students in your study may see the footnotes in their Bibles and decide to look up the passages in the Old Testament that these quotations are from.
While this is certainly a good thing, there is a good possibility that they might end up extremely confused, and might even think that Paul is misusing the Old Testament.
The key to understanding the way that Paul is quoting the Old Testament is to understand verse 4 – ‘Christ is the goal of the law for righteousness.’ The point of the Law is Jesus, not doing enough good to get to heaven. When the New Testament authors cite the Old Testament, they do it in light of the fact that Christ has come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.
The first quotation in this section is from Deuteronomy 9:4. Here, Israel is warned that they are not being given the Promised Land because of their righteousness. God reminds them of their unrighteousness. Now, the ‘Promised Land’ was a sign of what was to be granted in the future – a New Creation (Romans 4:13, Hebrews 11:9, 10, 13-16). By citing Deuteronomy 9:4, Paul is drawing our attention to the fact that we do not inherit the New Creation by our righteousness – but by Christ’s.
The second quotation in this section is from Deuteronomy 30:11-14. Here’s the problem: in the context of the passage, these truths aren’t about Jesus – they’re about the Law. The basic message is that the message of the Law has been given to Israel and is understandable. They can’t say they didn’t know what the Law required.
So is Paul just misusing the Old Testament to try to make a point about Jesus? No. Remember, he’s just said that Christ is the goal of the Law. He’s the point of the Law and the fulfillment of the Law. The Law is a signpost that points forward to Christ.
So, just as the Law was given in a way that resulted in its accessibility, by the grace of God, so now the fulfillment of the Law, the Gospel, has been given in a way, by the grace of God, that makes it accessible.
Another way of thinking about it is that the message of God began to be given in such a way that made it understandable, and the completion of its being given has been in the same way.
But not only is the fulfillment of God’s message, the Gospel, understandable – it also results in change of the actual heart and mouth. That word becomes part of a person through faith – part of their heart and speech. And it saves them. (See vv. 9, 10.)
This makes total sense in the context of Deuteronomy 30. In this chapter, God promised a future in which he would circumcise the hearts of his people and cause them to turn to himself. And this is exactly what he has done in the Gospel – he has changed hearts and turned people towards himself, and has given them a righteousness that is not theirs, but is Christ’s own righteousness. Therefore, we will be saved.
So, this message of righteousness through faith does not tell us to do impossible tasks – but rather, it instructs us to receive the Gospel of Christ which transforms and saves us.
9-10 Why can we say that the Gospel is near to us – in our mouths and hearts? Because when that word becomes a part of us, we get the promise of salvation. Verse 10 is further explanation (‘for’) of the content of the message of righteousness based on faith. We trust Christ and are given righteousness, confessing him and getting salvation. We should not understand ‘confession’ here as any sort of added condition for salvation, but rather, the natural evidence of a message becoming a part of a person. You take it in and trust it, and you also speak it. The Gospel becomes part of our speech. It is, after all, a message.
11 This verse is a defense of the fact that salvation is received by faith alone. It cites Isaiah 28:16. The shocking thing in this verse is that every believer gets eternal life. In other words, it is not just for ethnic Israelites.
12 This verse is a defense of the idea that everyone who believes in Jesus, regardless of Jewish background, will be saved. That’s why it begins with ‘for.’ The Lord is God, and treats all according to the same Gospel.
13 ‘For’ indicates that this is further defense of the idea that salvation is without reference to ethnicity. It quotes Joel 2:32.
14-15 Paul has just finished arguing that the message of the Gospel has been brought near to be believed – and that Israel’s problem was a rejection of that Gospel. Here, he asks a string of rhetorical questions about the nature of salvation, given that the Gospel must be believed for it. Ultimately, for belief and salvation to happen, a preacher must be sent. The citation of Isaiah 52:7 tells us two things – 1, it tells us that preachers are necessary for the spread of good news. 2, it tells us that preachers have come with the Good News.
16 Even though preachers have been sent out, not everyone has obeyed what the Gospel demands – belief. Isaiah 53:1 is enlisted to support Paul’s point – the Gospel has been rejected. In context, here, ultimately the nation of Israel is responsible for its condemnation. They have rejected the Gospel.
17 ‘Therefore’ or ‘so’ at the beginning of this verse indicates that Paul is giving us a conclusion – and also a transition back onto the topic in general. Faith comes by hearing the Gospel.
18 One might ask then if people, particularly the Jews, have heard the Gospel. People have. Not all are saved because not all believed.
Psalm 19:4 in Romans 10:18
One would like for people to read this verse and simply just think, “Yes, preachers have gone out and people who have rejected Christ are responsible for their condemnation,” since that’s the point of the verse.
However, if someone from your Bible study looks up the quote from Scripture, there will probably be mass confusion. Here’s why. Psalm 19:4 is about nature, not about the Gospel. It says that nature declares God’s glory.
Some have concluded, then, that one can know the Gospel through nature and be saved without the preaching of missionaries. This is contextually problematic, given vv. 14-15. It’s also contextually problematic given 1:18-21, in which all nature can do by demonstrating God’s glory is to condemn us.
So how does this quotation work? If we look back at Psalm 19 we see that it compares the glory of God in nature with the glory of God in the Law. The basic premise is that God’s glory is widespread in creation and yet made special and more glorious through the Law.
We must remember then, that Christ is the fulfillment of the Law. The Law reveals God’s glory even more than creation itself does. So, just as God has caused himself to be glorified in creation, so now, he causes himself to be even more glorified through his word spread to the world through preaching. In other words, Christ is the fulfillment of God’s self-revelation to mankind which began through nature. This self-revelation is being proclaimed to all the world just as it began to be with nature’s splendor.
A simpler explanation is this: Paul is not appealing to this verse to prove that the word of Christ has gone out to the ends of the world. Don’t get caught up on the word ‘world,’ here! Paul is appealing to Psalm 19:4 to demonstrate that it is in God’s character to disclose himself to the world for the sake of his glory. Therefore, God has ordained that preachers be sent out with the word of Christ.
What’s the point of the citation of Psalm 19:4? Everyone is held accountable to believing the Gospel if they’ve heard it. Everyone who has rejected it is guilty for doing so. Paul is particularly applying this truth to the Israelites.
19-20 Paul here narrows his focus on just Israel. Did they merely hear without comprehension of the message? No. Paul appeals to Moses (Deut 32:21) and Isaiah (Isaiah 65:1) to demonstrate his point. In both of these texts, God is honored as gracious in initiating relationship with Israel. Yet, Israel rejects God, and so God lets them go into sin while drawing those who did not seek him, (in this case, Gentiles) to himself.
21 Paul’s final response to the question about whether or not Israel could comprehend the Gospel is from Isaiah 65:2. Indeed, God has opened wide the offer of salvation to Israel; yet, they have continued to reject him.
Sample Discussion Guide:
-Last time we looked at the fact that God’s word doesn’t fail – he does exactly what he desires to do for his glory. That includes electing people to salvation based on his desires, and hardening whom he desires.
-Then we looked at the outcome of God’s election – those he elected believed and got God’s righteousness. Those whom God did not choose did not come to Christ and so stand condemned. Today we’re going to look more at human responsibility in responding to the Gospel message.
-What do you think are different reasons that people reject the Gospel?
-Why do you think so often that Christians, even, do not respond positively to the Gospel being preached to them?
-Would you say that your church does a good job of making sure that the Gospel is the point of every sermon? Why/Why not?
-Our goal tonight is to delight in the widespread glory of God through the Gospel’s being preached (Pray)
-Have someone read vv. 1-4.
-Part of the reason Paul yearned and prayed so much for his fellow-Jews is because they had a zeal for God, but apart from knowledge. What do you think that might look like in the world today? Do you think it’s possible to be a “Christian” in name and have a zeal for God without knowledge? Why or why not?
-Paul says that the Jews sought to establish their own righteousness. What are some ways that modern Americans seek to establish their own righteousness? (Why do we think we’re good?) What behaviors do you take pride in?
-God tells us that seeking to establish one’s own righteousness is dangerous, even damning, because it prevents people from receiving God’s righteousness. He explains how Israel missed out on God’s righteousness in verse 4. Take a minute and write down your paraphrase of v. 4. After a minute or two, have people share their paraphrases.
-Vv. 5-13 develop the idea that the righteousness of faith comes through the preached message of the Gospel. This is in contrast with trying to become righteous by trying to keep the Law, as ancient Israel did. Have someone read vv. 5-13.
-Paul mentions here that the idea of going to heaven or to the grave to somehow attain salvation is ridiculous. What are some of the things that people do today to try to give themselves assurance of a good afterlife?
-What are some things other religions require for salvation? How does that make you feel about the fact that Christ has accomplished salvation, and that it’s simply received by faith?
-Have someone read vv. 14-17.
-We saw in the previous section that faith in the message is necessary for salvation. This section brings out the need for a preacher and hearing.
-Who first clearly explained the Gospel to you? How did he/she do it?
-Are there people in your life that you don’t think have heard the Gospel clearly? Who? What are some practical ways we can respond to that reality?
-Out of about 16,000 ethnic groups in the world, over 6,000 have no church in their own languages. What does this passage say about people that have not heard the Gospel?
-What are some different things we can do about that?
-Have you considered spending time overseas to take the Gospel to people who have no access to it – for a month, a year, or even a lifetime? What are some obstacles to you doing so? (Some people are inevitably going to respond to this question in the language of ‘feeling called’ or ‘feeling led.’ This will be a great opportunity to ask what they mean by those phrases, since they’re unbiblical phrases that often express very unbiblical concepts.)
-Have someone read vv. 18-21.
-Here Paul shows us that God has been gracious in giving the Gospel to Israel, even though Israel has, by in large, rejected it.
-What are some words or phrases that stand out with respect to God’s treatment of Israel?
-Where are we talked about in this section?
-How does this reveal God’s grace?
-Given what this passage says about the Gospel, ignorance, preaching, and human responsibility, how do you think we should pray for ourselves? Our friends? Butler University? The world?
-Spend time in prayer for those spheres.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Romans 9 Bible Study
The Word of God Does Not Fail – Romans 9
Gospel in a Sentence: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”(Romans 10:9).
Big Picture: God is faithful to his word in having mercy on whomever he wills.
Goal: That we honor God for being true to his word in having mercy on whom he wills.
Key Ideas
1) Paul desired fellow-Jews to be saved, since God had set them apart with his word.
2) People are recipients of God’s promise by election, not ethnicity.
3) God is righteous in electing people from every nation for his glory.
4) The result of God’s electing grace is justification through faith for people in every nation.
Key Terms
Nothing new this week.
Key Observations
This section will prove emotionally and intellectually challenging for many people. It challenges the very core of what people normally believe about their rights before God, and it even challenges how highly we think of the nature of mankind – and of God.
It’s worth remembering why this passage is here. Paul has just finished, in Romans 8:18-39, telling us that we should trust that God is working out everything for our good, and will bring us into his kingdom without fail. Inevitably, one will doubt God’s promises; and one may be brought to doubt his promises if he looks at the history of Israel – and the fact that many Jews are not saved.
This section is written to support our faith in God, teaching us that salvation is not by ethnicity, but by the electing grace of God. God has always been true to his word, and his word does not fail, but does exactly what he desires it to do. Therefore, we can trust it, and we should glorify him for glorifying himself in having mercy on whom he wills.
I must admit at the outset here, that I am taking a ‘Calvinistic’ or ‘monergistic’ reading of this text. It’s impossible to go through this text and get at the heart of it without ‘taking sides.’ If you would like a more in depth look at the monergistic interpretation of these verses, check Doug Moo’s commentary on Romans (creatively titled “Romans”). If you would like to read a scholarly reading of the text from an Arminian/synergistic point of view, check out Grant Osborne’s “Romans.” I would encourage you at the outset to avoid exploring the interpretations of these texts through internet sources, most of which are unscholarly, unreliable, and full of straw men and emotionalism.
9:1-3 Paul seems to break his flow of thought here to say something personal. He goes to great lengths in v. 1 to let us know that he’s telling the truth. In v. 2 he tells us about the massive pain he’s experiencing. In v. 3, he tells us why his pain is so great – those closest to him, the Jewish people, are by in large under the curse of God, and Paul wishes he could substitute himself for them. We’re not supposed to ask, as a result of this statement, if we would go to hell in the place of others. Paul wants us to know here how much he loves the Jewish people, because of what he’s about to say about God’s plan for them, which includes the hardening and perishing of a great number of them.
4-5 Paul here explains further reasons for his pain over the exclusion of so many Jews from the grace of God; namely, that they were recipients of the Old Testament Scriptures, Old Testament worship, and the Messiah himself in person, and were set apart by God to receive his promises if they would keep his covenant.
6 In contrast with the blessings Israel received, however, Paul asserts that God’s word has not failed. The reason? Not all Israel is Israel. In other words, not all of the ethnic Jews belong to the Israel who was to receive God’s covenant blessings. We’ve already seen this concept in 4:9-17.
7 Not all ethnic Jews are Abraham’s children, that is, receiving the blessings of God’s covenant with Abraham. To support this point, Paul refers back to Genesis 21:12. Though Abraham had other physical offspring, God would only establish his covenant with Isaac. In like manner, inheriting Abraham’s blessings is not by physical descent. For the full story, see Genesis 16-17.
8-9 Verse 8 interprets verse 7. Children of the ‘flesh’ – or children in the way of thinking in the old world (by physical descent) are not necessarily considered true offspring. It is the children of promise that are. In other words, God chooses people to receive his promises just as he did with Isaac before he was born in Genesis 18:10, 14.
10 ‘And’ indicates that Paul’s going to give another piece of evidence for what he’s teaching. He begins the argument by saying that Rebekah conceived children by one man, which is significant, because that one man was a child of promise. One would naturally think that all his children would be as well. For the background of Isaac and Rebecca, see Genesis 24. For the narrative about their children, see Genesis 25:19-26.
11-12 However, because God desired to uphold his purpose of election, not based on any goodness or badness of the children but based on God’s ability to call whom he desires, he told Rebekah that the younger child, Jacob, would receive God’s covenant blessings. (Genesis 25:23).
13 Paul cites Malachi 1:2-3 to support his point. The reference here is to the fact that God chose Israel (Jacob’s descendants) before they’d done anything good or bad and rejected Edom (Esau’s descendants) in the same fashion. Now, both Israel and Edom were in rebellion against God. However, God gives promises to rebellious Israel for their repentance and salvation; yet, grants no such opportunity to the Edomites. This ‘state of affairs’ was determined by God before Jacob and Esau were born.
God Hates?
It can be really easy to get hung up on the idea that God hated Esau. We must avoid three errors in thinking about the hatred of God:
Error 1: that God’s hatred is like human hatred. It is not. When God hates a person, it is based not on passionate response, but on his righteous judgment for his glory. Though Esau had not yet done anything good or bad, he was himself already considered guilty (Rom. 5:12-14) and incapable of pleasing God (Rom. 8:7-8).
Error 2: that God’s hatred is so unlike human hatred that it’s not hatred. It is hatred. God uses this word here for a reason. Our emotional responses were created by God to ‘image’ (Gen. 1:26-28) his own affections. God does not merely hate sin, he hates sinners, that is, everyone who has not trusted in Christ (e.g. Psa. 5:5). For each person who has trusted Christ, Christ himself has absorbed all of the hatred of the Father towards everyone who would trust Christ in his crucifixion.
Error 3: that God’s hatred excludes God’s love. This is not something a human mind could conceive: but God both hates and loves the wicked. Remember Romans 2:4 – God, in patience and kindness, gives the wicked time to repent. God’s love is holy love and his hatred is holy hatred. He is unlike us. It would be wise of us to see these truths and cry out, with Paul, “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom. 11:33)
People are probably going to get hung up on this in your study. Here are some things you can do to get the discussion back on track:
1) Verse 13 is given to support a claim that Paul’s already made. What is that claim, made in vv. 10-12?
2) It may be a good idea to have your group refer to Malachi 1 to see what it says for themselves. It must be noted, though, that this choice of God was made without reference to any ‘goodness’ or badness that Jacob or Esau might produce.
2) You could just explain those three errors and move on.
14 What will a person’s natural response to the teaching of election be? This is unjust! Is it? Paul curses the idea.
15 This verse is very difficult. As a matter of fact, John Piper’s The Justification of God is a thesis just based on the word ‘for’ at the beginning of this verse.
‘For’ indicates that Paul is about to give us the reason that it’s not unjust for God to elect some to salvation and exclude some from salvation without reference to their ‘goodness’ or badness. To show that God is indeed acting righteously/justly, he cites Exodus 33:19. What does this have to do with God being just, though? In brief, in Exodus 33:18, Moses asks God to show him his glory. God says his ‘name,’ which is synonymous with his character or glory (Exodus 33:19). So God revealed his glory to Moses in his ‘name’, which is, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
In other words, Paul is arguing that righteousness is determined by what gives glory to God. Because it glorifies God to elect some to salvation and leave the rest in their sin, it is righteous for him to do so. This excludes the idea that God is unjust in electing some to salvation and passing over the rest. Therefore, God is just in choosing some to salvation and some for death.
Or to put it yet another way:
1) It glorifies God to elect some to salvation and to leave others in their sins.
2) Righteousness/justice is determined by what glorifies God.
Conclusion: the activity of God in election is righteous.
This may seem unfair. Paul will address the objection that election is unfair beginning in verse 19.
16 ‘So then’ indicates that Paul gives a preliminary conclusion to his argument here. That conclusion – election is not based on human desire or work, but on the God of mercy alone.
17 ‘For’ indicates that Paul is giving further ground for his argument for God’s justice. God’s word, recorded in Exodus 9:16, said to Pharaoh that God raised him up for a reason – to display his power and glory in him to the whole earth. We see this theme again – God acts righteously because righteousness is defined by what glorifies him. For the whole narrative of Israel’s redemption out of Egypt, see Exodus 3- 12:42
Several things are interesting here. First, Pharaoh was a Gentile. Paul is widening his argument here from merely talking about Jews. Second, if God had a purpose in raising Pharaoh up, there was not a real possibility of anything else happening except what God had purposed to happen. He would certainly be glorified by Pharaoh’s rebellious actions.
18 Paul draws the same conclusion again (‘so then’) from this passage that he drew from the last. Mercy is based on God’s choice, not a person’s. It may be that people get hung up on the language of ‘hardening’ here. God had purposed to harden Pharaoh’s heart before any of what happened in Exodus 4 and following. However, we must remember that God hardened an already hard heart. Remember that without the regenerating activity of the Holy Spirit, no one is able to please God. One is either of the flesh or of the Spirit (Romans 8:1-17). And so, since Pharaoh was already of the flesh, God hardened Pharaoh further then he had been before, much like his general wrath against humanity in Romans 1:18-32.
19 Normally, people will respond to this teaching by stating that God can’t then judge us for being sinners if he’s determined everything beforehand. This, indeed, is the argument of Paul’s imaginary debate opponent in verse 19.
20-21 Paul’s first line of argument against this idea is to strip us of our perceived rights. We, like Job (Job 38:1-3), have no right to challenge God, our Creator, who owns us. He is the only one with ‘rights’ in this whole scenario. See Isaiah 29:16 and 45:9 for the Old Testament citation in these verses.
22 Though Paul states what is to follow as a question, he means for it to be taken as the reality. He wouldn’t respond to an objector’s objection with a mere possibility of the way things are! Furthermore, he supports the truths of vv. 22-24 with Scripture, in vv. 25-29.
Briefly, God has glorified himself by demonstrating his wrath and power in enduring people that he created for the purpose of receiving wrath.
Many sloppy internet sources will try to claim that this verse says that the people in question prepared themselves for destruction. However, this claim is both grammatically and contextually invalid. God prepared them for destruction for his glory.
23 God prepared objects of wrath for destruction with a purpose (‘in order to’): to make known the riches of his glory for the objects he created to receive mercy and glory.
24 Paul firms up the idea here that he is not just talking about Jews anymore – but all who are called, and therefore justified, just as their spiritual father Abraham was. Israel is not Israel by ethnicity, but by election.
25-29 ‘As’ at the beginning of this section indicates that Paul is arguing for election/calling being applied to Jews and Gentiles alike. To do so, he cites Hosea 2:23, Hosea 1:10, and Isaiah 1:9; and he alludes to Isaiah 10:22-23. In sum, these verses teach us that God had purposed a remnant of Israel to be saved, not the whole of Israel. He also promised that he would bring those outside of his covenant with Israel into covenant relationship with him. They would become part of a new, spiritual-not-ethnic, Israel.
Though Hosea 1 and 2, cited in Romans 9:25-29, were about Israelites, they were covenant-breaking Israelites, and therefore no different than Gentiles under God’s wrath. What Paul does here is to expand on God’s promise – not only will law-breaking Israelites be saved; but so also will law-breaking Gentiles, who are really no different from law- breaking Israelites. A new Israel of both Jews and Gentiles would be formed. King David, who ruled the ancient nation of Israel and brought in peace and prosperity, was promised that there would eternally be an heir to his throne (See 2 Samuel 7). Those Jews before Christ who were faithful to God put their trust in this promise. The common theme within this new Israel – composed of both Jews and Gentiles – was that they would have a common King in David’s line, namely, Christ. Gentiles would be included in the covenant promise of God by association with the King.
It may seem here like Paul is stretching these verses in Hosea to mean more than they meant. This is not so. Clearly in Hosea 1, there is a distinction between the Israel of promise (1:10) and the Israel of the curse (1:2-9). Gentiles had always been included in God’s covenant with Israel, and ethnic Jews had always been excluded from God’s covenant ever since the beginning of Israel (Genesis 17:12-14, and remember Romans 4). We’ll see this in further detail in Romans 11; but this whole theme (of Gentiles being included into Israel) began in Romans 1:3-4 – though Christ was born in the flesh world as an heir to David’s throne, he has inaugurated a Kingdom of the Spirit in which he is King over all for the obedience of all the nations for the sake of his glory. Israel has expanded his borders.
Inclusion in the external Old Covenant people of God was by circumcision and the Ceremonial Law (though its blessings were still only granted through faith!) Inclusion in the New Covenant Israel of God is through faith in Christ, who is himself Israel (see Galatians 3:15- 29).
In sum, the way that Paul quotes these verses from Hosea shows that Gentiles are being included as recipients of promises given to Israel by means of election. This is because God has chosen that we be united to Christ, who is the only truly obedient Jew.
30-31 ‘What shall we say, then?’ indicates that Paul is about to draw a conclusion from the reality of God’s electing grace. That conclusion is this: Gentiles, outside of God’s covenant, not pursuing God, who never pursued a righteous status before God, have now received it because God, in grace, chose and called them. This righteous status has been received by faith!
It is vital that you understand this. People are not justified without faith. The result of election is righteousness through faith. The Gospel must be preached for the elect to have faith, and thus, the righteousness of Christ.
However, Israel did not get a righteous status. They did not attain the goal of the Law.
32-33 These verses answer why the nation of Israel did not, as a whole, receive a righteous status before God. They thought the goal of the Law was to attain a righteous status based on righteous works. They failed to see that the goal of the Law was Christ himself and his righteousness counted to everyone who would believe in him.
Sample Discussion Guide:
-Last time, we looked at truths that we need to remember in order to suffer like Christ suffered. What are some of those truths? (You can look back at ch. 8 if you need to!)
-In the midst of pain, though, it can be hard to remember and believe these truths. What are some of the doubts that might pop into someone’s head when they’re suffering?
-To Paul, and to anyone in the first century, it may have looked like God wasn’t being faithful to the nation of Israel. So why would he be faithful to Christians? In Romans 9, Paul answers that God is faithful to his word in having mercy on whomever he wills.
-Let’s pray and take a look at the text. Pray.
-Have someone read vv. 1-5.
-What’s the feel that you get from this passage? Do you have any questions about it?
-Why do you think Paul’s in such agony over the fact that many Israelites are under God’s wrath?
-We should feel a similar agony over people that are outside of Christ. Why do you think we don’t? What can we do to practice compassion on people who don’t have Christ?
-Have someone read vv. 6-13. How do you feel after reading this? Any questions?
-Can someone explain for us the story of Abraham and Sarah? How about the story of Isaac and Rebekah and the birth of their children?
-The main point here is that God’s word doesn’t fail. How do what happened with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah prove that?
-What are some situations in which someone might be tempted to disbelieve or distrust God’s promises?
-What do you think we can do to get our minds and hearts back on track?
-What do these verses teach us about God? How does this affect your view of him or feelings towards him?
-Have someone read vv. 14-18.
-The idea that God chooses people without reference to any good or bad they might do sounds like God is being unjust. In these verses, Paul argues against that.
-Any questions you have about these verses? The reality here is that you may not have all the answers to peoples’ questions. That’s okay. Be honest, teach the text, and say from the text what you know to be true.
-What sort of picture of God is painted by these verses?
-What does it look like God ultimately cares about?
-Given that God is not required to give mercy to anyone, how does this make you feel about his mercy if you have received it?
-Have someone read vv. 19-29.
-Paul just argued that election is based on God’s will for God’s glory. Our natural response to that will be to say that God’s unfair in judging people for their sin. Look at v. 19. That’s exactly what Paul’s debate opponent says.
-What kind of picture of God do these verses paint?
-How does this portrayal of God make you feel about the fact that God has had mercy on you if you have believed in Christ?
-How does Paul answer the objection that God is unjust here?
-What does Paul teach about God here? About you?
-Have someone read vv. 30-33.
-Look at v. 30. ‘What shall we say, then’ is Paul’s way of concluding this section. What is the result of God’s choosing in these verses?
-What is the relationship between election and justification, according to these verses? See also Romans 8:30. One becomes a recipient of God’s promises by being chosen by him. God calls and gives the gift of faith (Philippians 1:29) to each person he has chosen. To each of these, he then credits Christ’s righteousness. In sum, God’s choosing/election leads to God’s call, God’s call leads to faith, faith receives the righteousness of Christ as a gift, and on the basis of that righteousness God justifies the elect.
-How would you summarize what you’ve learned about God and about people in this chapter?
-Given those things, how does having received the righteousness of Christ through faith make you feel?
-How does it change how you worship? How does it change how you pray?
-Let’s worship God in prayer. Pray as a group.
Gospel in a Sentence: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”(Romans 10:9).
Big Picture: God is faithful to his word in having mercy on whomever he wills.
Goal: That we honor God for being true to his word in having mercy on whom he wills.
Key Ideas
1) Paul desired fellow-Jews to be saved, since God had set them apart with his word.
2) People are recipients of God’s promise by election, not ethnicity.
3) God is righteous in electing people from every nation for his glory.
4) The result of God’s electing grace is justification through faith for people in every nation.
Key Terms
Nothing new this week.
Key Observations
This section will prove emotionally and intellectually challenging for many people. It challenges the very core of what people normally believe about their rights before God, and it even challenges how highly we think of the nature of mankind – and of God.
It’s worth remembering why this passage is here. Paul has just finished, in Romans 8:18-39, telling us that we should trust that God is working out everything for our good, and will bring us into his kingdom without fail. Inevitably, one will doubt God’s promises; and one may be brought to doubt his promises if he looks at the history of Israel – and the fact that many Jews are not saved.
This section is written to support our faith in God, teaching us that salvation is not by ethnicity, but by the electing grace of God. God has always been true to his word, and his word does not fail, but does exactly what he desires it to do. Therefore, we can trust it, and we should glorify him for glorifying himself in having mercy on whom he wills.
I must admit at the outset here, that I am taking a ‘Calvinistic’ or ‘monergistic’ reading of this text. It’s impossible to go through this text and get at the heart of it without ‘taking sides.’ If you would like a more in depth look at the monergistic interpretation of these verses, check Doug Moo’s commentary on Romans (creatively titled “Romans”). If you would like to read a scholarly reading of the text from an Arminian/synergistic point of view, check out Grant Osborne’s “Romans.” I would encourage you at the outset to avoid exploring the interpretations of these texts through internet sources, most of which are unscholarly, unreliable, and full of straw men and emotionalism.
9:1-3 Paul seems to break his flow of thought here to say something personal. He goes to great lengths in v. 1 to let us know that he’s telling the truth. In v. 2 he tells us about the massive pain he’s experiencing. In v. 3, he tells us why his pain is so great – those closest to him, the Jewish people, are by in large under the curse of God, and Paul wishes he could substitute himself for them. We’re not supposed to ask, as a result of this statement, if we would go to hell in the place of others. Paul wants us to know here how much he loves the Jewish people, because of what he’s about to say about God’s plan for them, which includes the hardening and perishing of a great number of them.
4-5 Paul here explains further reasons for his pain over the exclusion of so many Jews from the grace of God; namely, that they were recipients of the Old Testament Scriptures, Old Testament worship, and the Messiah himself in person, and were set apart by God to receive his promises if they would keep his covenant.
6 In contrast with the blessings Israel received, however, Paul asserts that God’s word has not failed. The reason? Not all Israel is Israel. In other words, not all of the ethnic Jews belong to the Israel who was to receive God’s covenant blessings. We’ve already seen this concept in 4:9-17.
7 Not all ethnic Jews are Abraham’s children, that is, receiving the blessings of God’s covenant with Abraham. To support this point, Paul refers back to Genesis 21:12. Though Abraham had other physical offspring, God would only establish his covenant with Isaac. In like manner, inheriting Abraham’s blessings is not by physical descent. For the full story, see Genesis 16-17.
8-9 Verse 8 interprets verse 7. Children of the ‘flesh’ – or children in the way of thinking in the old world (by physical descent) are not necessarily considered true offspring. It is the children of promise that are. In other words, God chooses people to receive his promises just as he did with Isaac before he was born in Genesis 18:10, 14.
10 ‘And’ indicates that Paul’s going to give another piece of evidence for what he’s teaching. He begins the argument by saying that Rebekah conceived children by one man, which is significant, because that one man was a child of promise. One would naturally think that all his children would be as well. For the background of Isaac and Rebecca, see Genesis 24. For the narrative about their children, see Genesis 25:19-26.
11-12 However, because God desired to uphold his purpose of election, not based on any goodness or badness of the children but based on God’s ability to call whom he desires, he told Rebekah that the younger child, Jacob, would receive God’s covenant blessings. (Genesis 25:23).
13 Paul cites Malachi 1:2-3 to support his point. The reference here is to the fact that God chose Israel (Jacob’s descendants) before they’d done anything good or bad and rejected Edom (Esau’s descendants) in the same fashion. Now, both Israel and Edom were in rebellion against God. However, God gives promises to rebellious Israel for their repentance and salvation; yet, grants no such opportunity to the Edomites. This ‘state of affairs’ was determined by God before Jacob and Esau were born.
God Hates?
It can be really easy to get hung up on the idea that God hated Esau. We must avoid three errors in thinking about the hatred of God:
Error 1: that God’s hatred is like human hatred. It is not. When God hates a person, it is based not on passionate response, but on his righteous judgment for his glory. Though Esau had not yet done anything good or bad, he was himself already considered guilty (Rom. 5:12-14) and incapable of pleasing God (Rom. 8:7-8).
Error 2: that God’s hatred is so unlike human hatred that it’s not hatred. It is hatred. God uses this word here for a reason. Our emotional responses were created by God to ‘image’ (Gen. 1:26-28) his own affections. God does not merely hate sin, he hates sinners, that is, everyone who has not trusted in Christ (e.g. Psa. 5:5). For each person who has trusted Christ, Christ himself has absorbed all of the hatred of the Father towards everyone who would trust Christ in his crucifixion.
Error 3: that God’s hatred excludes God’s love. This is not something a human mind could conceive: but God both hates and loves the wicked. Remember Romans 2:4 – God, in patience and kindness, gives the wicked time to repent. God’s love is holy love and his hatred is holy hatred. He is unlike us. It would be wise of us to see these truths and cry out, with Paul, “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom. 11:33)
People are probably going to get hung up on this in your study. Here are some things you can do to get the discussion back on track:
1) Verse 13 is given to support a claim that Paul’s already made. What is that claim, made in vv. 10-12?
2) It may be a good idea to have your group refer to Malachi 1 to see what it says for themselves. It must be noted, though, that this choice of God was made without reference to any ‘goodness’ or badness that Jacob or Esau might produce.
2) You could just explain those three errors and move on.
14 What will a person’s natural response to the teaching of election be? This is unjust! Is it? Paul curses the idea.
15 This verse is very difficult. As a matter of fact, John Piper’s The Justification of God is a thesis just based on the word ‘for’ at the beginning of this verse.
‘For’ indicates that Paul is about to give us the reason that it’s not unjust for God to elect some to salvation and exclude some from salvation without reference to their ‘goodness’ or badness. To show that God is indeed acting righteously/justly, he cites Exodus 33:19. What does this have to do with God being just, though? In brief, in Exodus 33:18, Moses asks God to show him his glory. God says his ‘name,’ which is synonymous with his character or glory (Exodus 33:19). So God revealed his glory to Moses in his ‘name’, which is, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
In other words, Paul is arguing that righteousness is determined by what gives glory to God. Because it glorifies God to elect some to salvation and leave the rest in their sin, it is righteous for him to do so. This excludes the idea that God is unjust in electing some to salvation and passing over the rest. Therefore, God is just in choosing some to salvation and some for death.
Or to put it yet another way:
1) It glorifies God to elect some to salvation and to leave others in their sins.
2) Righteousness/justice is determined by what glorifies God.
Conclusion: the activity of God in election is righteous.
This may seem unfair. Paul will address the objection that election is unfair beginning in verse 19.
16 ‘So then’ indicates that Paul gives a preliminary conclusion to his argument here. That conclusion – election is not based on human desire or work, but on the God of mercy alone.
17 ‘For’ indicates that Paul is giving further ground for his argument for God’s justice. God’s word, recorded in Exodus 9:16, said to Pharaoh that God raised him up for a reason – to display his power and glory in him to the whole earth. We see this theme again – God acts righteously because righteousness is defined by what glorifies him. For the whole narrative of Israel’s redemption out of Egypt, see Exodus 3- 12:42
Several things are interesting here. First, Pharaoh was a Gentile. Paul is widening his argument here from merely talking about Jews. Second, if God had a purpose in raising Pharaoh up, there was not a real possibility of anything else happening except what God had purposed to happen. He would certainly be glorified by Pharaoh’s rebellious actions.
18 Paul draws the same conclusion again (‘so then’) from this passage that he drew from the last. Mercy is based on God’s choice, not a person’s. It may be that people get hung up on the language of ‘hardening’ here. God had purposed to harden Pharaoh’s heart before any of what happened in Exodus 4 and following. However, we must remember that God hardened an already hard heart. Remember that without the regenerating activity of the Holy Spirit, no one is able to please God. One is either of the flesh or of the Spirit (Romans 8:1-17). And so, since Pharaoh was already of the flesh, God hardened Pharaoh further then he had been before, much like his general wrath against humanity in Romans 1:18-32.
19 Normally, people will respond to this teaching by stating that God can’t then judge us for being sinners if he’s determined everything beforehand. This, indeed, is the argument of Paul’s imaginary debate opponent in verse 19.
20-21 Paul’s first line of argument against this idea is to strip us of our perceived rights. We, like Job (Job 38:1-3), have no right to challenge God, our Creator, who owns us. He is the only one with ‘rights’ in this whole scenario. See Isaiah 29:16 and 45:9 for the Old Testament citation in these verses.
22 Though Paul states what is to follow as a question, he means for it to be taken as the reality. He wouldn’t respond to an objector’s objection with a mere possibility of the way things are! Furthermore, he supports the truths of vv. 22-24 with Scripture, in vv. 25-29.
Briefly, God has glorified himself by demonstrating his wrath and power in enduring people that he created for the purpose of receiving wrath.
Many sloppy internet sources will try to claim that this verse says that the people in question prepared themselves for destruction. However, this claim is both grammatically and contextually invalid. God prepared them for destruction for his glory.
23 God prepared objects of wrath for destruction with a purpose (‘in order to’): to make known the riches of his glory for the objects he created to receive mercy and glory.
24 Paul firms up the idea here that he is not just talking about Jews anymore – but all who are called, and therefore justified, just as their spiritual father Abraham was. Israel is not Israel by ethnicity, but by election.
25-29 ‘As’ at the beginning of this section indicates that Paul is arguing for election/calling being applied to Jews and Gentiles alike. To do so, he cites Hosea 2:23, Hosea 1:10, and Isaiah 1:9; and he alludes to Isaiah 10:22-23. In sum, these verses teach us that God had purposed a remnant of Israel to be saved, not the whole of Israel. He also promised that he would bring those outside of his covenant with Israel into covenant relationship with him. They would become part of a new, spiritual-not-ethnic, Israel.
Though Hosea 1 and 2, cited in Romans 9:25-29, were about Israelites, they were covenant-breaking Israelites, and therefore no different than Gentiles under God’s wrath. What Paul does here is to expand on God’s promise – not only will law-breaking Israelites be saved; but so also will law-breaking Gentiles, who are really no different from law- breaking Israelites. A new Israel of both Jews and Gentiles would be formed. King David, who ruled the ancient nation of Israel and brought in peace and prosperity, was promised that there would eternally be an heir to his throne (See 2 Samuel 7). Those Jews before Christ who were faithful to God put their trust in this promise. The common theme within this new Israel – composed of both Jews and Gentiles – was that they would have a common King in David’s line, namely, Christ. Gentiles would be included in the covenant promise of God by association with the King.
It may seem here like Paul is stretching these verses in Hosea to mean more than they meant. This is not so. Clearly in Hosea 1, there is a distinction between the Israel of promise (1:10) and the Israel of the curse (1:2-9). Gentiles had always been included in God’s covenant with Israel, and ethnic Jews had always been excluded from God’s covenant ever since the beginning of Israel (Genesis 17:12-14, and remember Romans 4). We’ll see this in further detail in Romans 11; but this whole theme (of Gentiles being included into Israel) began in Romans 1:3-4 – though Christ was born in the flesh world as an heir to David’s throne, he has inaugurated a Kingdom of the Spirit in which he is King over all for the obedience of all the nations for the sake of his glory. Israel has expanded his borders.
Inclusion in the external Old Covenant people of God was by circumcision and the Ceremonial Law (though its blessings were still only granted through faith!) Inclusion in the New Covenant Israel of God is through faith in Christ, who is himself Israel (see Galatians 3:15- 29).
In sum, the way that Paul quotes these verses from Hosea shows that Gentiles are being included as recipients of promises given to Israel by means of election. This is because God has chosen that we be united to Christ, who is the only truly obedient Jew.
30-31 ‘What shall we say, then?’ indicates that Paul is about to draw a conclusion from the reality of God’s electing grace. That conclusion is this: Gentiles, outside of God’s covenant, not pursuing God, who never pursued a righteous status before God, have now received it because God, in grace, chose and called them. This righteous status has been received by faith!
It is vital that you understand this. People are not justified without faith. The result of election is righteousness through faith. The Gospel must be preached for the elect to have faith, and thus, the righteousness of Christ.
However, Israel did not get a righteous status. They did not attain the goal of the Law.
32-33 These verses answer why the nation of Israel did not, as a whole, receive a righteous status before God. They thought the goal of the Law was to attain a righteous status based on righteous works. They failed to see that the goal of the Law was Christ himself and his righteousness counted to everyone who would believe in him.
Sample Discussion Guide:
-Last time, we looked at truths that we need to remember in order to suffer like Christ suffered. What are some of those truths? (You can look back at ch. 8 if you need to!)
-In the midst of pain, though, it can be hard to remember and believe these truths. What are some of the doubts that might pop into someone’s head when they’re suffering?
-To Paul, and to anyone in the first century, it may have looked like God wasn’t being faithful to the nation of Israel. So why would he be faithful to Christians? In Romans 9, Paul answers that God is faithful to his word in having mercy on whomever he wills.
-Let’s pray and take a look at the text. Pray.
-Have someone read vv. 1-5.
-What’s the feel that you get from this passage? Do you have any questions about it?
-Why do you think Paul’s in such agony over the fact that many Israelites are under God’s wrath?
-We should feel a similar agony over people that are outside of Christ. Why do you think we don’t? What can we do to practice compassion on people who don’t have Christ?
-Have someone read vv. 6-13. How do you feel after reading this? Any questions?
-Can someone explain for us the story of Abraham and Sarah? How about the story of Isaac and Rebekah and the birth of their children?
-The main point here is that God’s word doesn’t fail. How do what happened with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah prove that?
-What are some situations in which someone might be tempted to disbelieve or distrust God’s promises?
-What do you think we can do to get our minds and hearts back on track?
-What do these verses teach us about God? How does this affect your view of him or feelings towards him?
-Have someone read vv. 14-18.
-The idea that God chooses people without reference to any good or bad they might do sounds like God is being unjust. In these verses, Paul argues against that.
-Any questions you have about these verses? The reality here is that you may not have all the answers to peoples’ questions. That’s okay. Be honest, teach the text, and say from the text what you know to be true.
-What sort of picture of God is painted by these verses?
-What does it look like God ultimately cares about?
-Given that God is not required to give mercy to anyone, how does this make you feel about his mercy if you have received it?
-Have someone read vv. 19-29.
-Paul just argued that election is based on God’s will for God’s glory. Our natural response to that will be to say that God’s unfair in judging people for their sin. Look at v. 19. That’s exactly what Paul’s debate opponent says.
-What kind of picture of God do these verses paint?
-How does this portrayal of God make you feel about the fact that God has had mercy on you if you have believed in Christ?
-How does Paul answer the objection that God is unjust here?
-What does Paul teach about God here? About you?
-Have someone read vv. 30-33.
-Look at v. 30. ‘What shall we say, then’ is Paul’s way of concluding this section. What is the result of God’s choosing in these verses?
-What is the relationship between election and justification, according to these verses? See also Romans 8:30. One becomes a recipient of God’s promises by being chosen by him. God calls and gives the gift of faith (Philippians 1:29) to each person he has chosen. To each of these, he then credits Christ’s righteousness. In sum, God’s choosing/election leads to God’s call, God’s call leads to faith, faith receives the righteousness of Christ as a gift, and on the basis of that righteousness God justifies the elect.
-How would you summarize what you’ve learned about God and about people in this chapter?
-Given those things, how does having received the righteousness of Christ through faith make you feel?
-How does it change how you worship? How does it change how you pray?
-Let’s worship God in prayer. Pray as a group.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Romans 8 Bible Study II
Present Suffering and Future Glory – Romans 8:18-39
Gospel in a Sentence: Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom be the glory forever. Amen. (In reference to Galatians 1:4-5)
Big Picture: The Gospel empowers us to suffer like Jesus.
Goal: That we trust the promises of God while suffering.
Key Ideas
1) The creation and the Spirit groan with us as we wait for the moment of complete freedom from the presence and effects of sin.
2) The Spirit prays for the good will of God to happen for us.
3) We can be sure that God has worked all things, including our suffering, for our good, since his works in saving us span from loving us in eternity past to loving us in eternity future in Christ.
Key Terms
Present time – This age, corrupted by sin and suffering, prior to the return of Jesus to the world.
Glory – The worth of a thing. Its value. God is the possessor of all glory (Revelation 4:11). When Christ returns, he will return in all his glory. When we as Christians see his glory, we will reflect it perfectly. We will be conformed to his image in character, our bodies will be freed from the effects of sin, and we will show him off to all creation forever (1 John 3:2).
Futility – Uselessness.
Hope – Joyful expectation, or the object that is happily expected.
Firstfruits – It’s an agricultural term. If you plant a crop throughout a whole field in the same way, and some of it begins to grow, you can be pretty sure the rest of it will grow. The first plants to grow were called ‘the firstfruits.’ The firstfruits guarantee that the rest of the harvest will come in. As such, it’s a promise of what is to come in fullness.
Redemption - This term has two historical roots. One is in Israel’s rescue out of slavery in Egypt. The Old Testament says that God redeemed his people from Egypt. The other root is in the slave trade in the Roman empire. An exchange, or payment, could be made as a redemption for the slave, thus freeing him. The commonality in these two situations is that an exchange is made for the freedom of a slave. Christ is the redemption for every believer by virtue of his life being exchanged for ours. We get the rewards that he earned by obeying God; he got the wrath we deserve because of our sin. Though the redemption price has been paid, we are still waiting for the reality of the freedom from this world that it purchased.
To Intercede – To make requests on someone else’s behalf for their benefit.
Called – In some sense, every person who has heard the Gospel has been ‘called.’ However, that’s not usually how the Bible uses the term. Typically, ‘calling’ is seen as that act of God through which he miraculously draws someone to himself in faith. We see this in this passage since all those called will be glorified.
To Foreknow – To know, in the Biblical sense, means to establish a relationship with someone, not merely to know things about them. For instance, Adam knew Eve (Genesis 4:1); God knew, or revealed himself, to Moses (Deuteronomy 34:10); God knew Jeremiah, meaning that he chose him for the sake of prophetic service (Jeremiah 1:5); God knew, or established covenant, with Israel (Hosea 13:5); Jesus never knew, or entered into relationship with, those who disobey him (Matthew 7:23); Jesus knew no sin, meaning he never had any connection to it (2 Corinthians 5:21). For God to foreknow people means for him to establish a relationship with them before they exist; or in other words, to choose them. (See also Romans 11:2; 1 Peter 1:20; and Acts 26:5.)
To Predestine – To determine the destiny of something beforehand.
Firstborn – The literal meaning is in reference to one who is born first. In the ancient world, though, that was not the emphasis of the term. It really was in reference to the one who had authority, and who would be the primary heir. Jesus is the firstborn over all creation – not in the sense that he was ever created, but in the sense that he is the immediate heir of God the Father and has authority over all things.
To Glorify – To ascribe glory to a thing, or to cause something to be glorious. See ‘glory.’
The Elect – Those who are chosen by somebody else. Here, those whom God has chosen for salvation.
Key Observations
8:18 ‘For’ indicates that Paul is linking the ideas of suffering and glory in v. 17 with suffering and glory in v. 18. The question is ‘how’? Paul has just stated in v. 17 that those who are indwelt by the Spirit will deal with suffering as Christ did, looking forward to glory. To give force to this statement, he tells us that the greatness of future glory completely overshadows the reality of current suffering. What we look forward to will make our current pain seem insignificantly small. Paul is saying that he’s giving us reason to suffer well, starting with the reality of the greatness of future glory when Christ is revealed.
19 To give evidence for this coming future glory, we’re told that the creation is waiting for us to be revealed in glory, perfectly reflecting the glory of God. (Hence, ‘sons’ again, not children.)
20-21 ‘For’ here indicates that we’re about to be told why the creation is waiting for our glory to be revealed: it’s been subjected to uselessness and decay by God. God did this because he knew (that is, hoped with certainty) that he’d free creation from its bondage when he revealed his children in glory. This subjection to uselessness and promise of hope is probably in reference to Genesis 3 – mankind fell into sin, and God cursed the earth; yet, he promised that one would come who would destroy the devil and his works.
22 ‘For’ indicates that this verse is evidence for the preceding statement. That is, we know that creation is groaning, in excruciating labor pains, moving towards a goal. That is evidence of the looking forward of creation to its coming freedom in our glory.
23 ‘And’ in this verse tells us that there is another reason to believe in this coming goal of all of history; that is, our future glory and the freedom of creation. And that is that we are also groaning and longing for a particular goal. What’s that goal? Paul describes it in two ways, namely, our adoption as sons and the redemption of our bodies. Both of these mean the same thing – our future glorification with Christ and the removal of all that’s wrong with us and the world from us. Aren’t we already adopted and redeemed, though? Sure; but the results of those things are still future. We do not yet look like ‘sons’ and we are not yet truly free of this world. But we certainly will be.
Another thing here worth noting is that we have the ‘firstfruits of the Spirit.’ But wait, don’t we have all the Spirit? Actually, the Spirit is God, not a substance. You don’t really possess any measure of God. He’s a Spirit; he’s not located in any one location. What does this mean, then? It’s talking about what the Spirit is doing now. The Spirit has begun to apply the works of Christ to us. He’s birthed us again, he’s given us faith, he’s joined us to Christ in whom we have redemption and righteousness, he’s working in us to make us more like Christ, and he absolutely guarantees that he will finish what he started. The firstfruits – what we have now – absolutely guarantees the rest of what he will do – resurrection from the dead in glory.
24-25 ‘For’ indicates that Paul is here giving us a reason why we should remember our future glory in the midst of our sufferings; that is, that our future glory is part of the Gospel in which we were saved by faith. And if we hope for this – that is, if we expect it with certainty, we can wait patiently even while suffering for this coming glory.
26-27 ‘Likewise’ connects the actions in the preceding verses – we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groaning for the fulfillment of the rest of his promises – with the Spirit himself praying for us when we don’t know how to pray. Part of our weakness is our ignorance of what we should pray for. But the Spirit is God himself. He prays the very secret will of God the Father, and the Father and the Spirit are in complete agreement. And he prays for us!
28 So far we’ve been told to suffer well we must remember our future glory’s magnitude. Creation’s groaning points to this great reality. Our groaning points to this reality. The Spirit who has set us apart also prays for God’s will on our behalf, and so we can suffer knowing that God reigns over all things. V. 28 continues this thought. Note first, though, that this is only true about those who are called, who are also those who love God. For such people, all things that happen happen by God’s sovereign direction for their good, on the path towards future glory. We should recall the argument of Romans 5:1-5 as we recall the ‘good’ – our growth in hope until we get the glory we have hoped in.
29 To give support for this promise (‘for’), Paul appeals to all that God has done to save us. He foreknew certain people (see the discussion in ‘key terms.’) Each of those people, he predestined to be made like Jesus in character. He did this for a reason: so that his image, his glory, would be multiplied over a whole family of people from every nation – over which Jesus would reign as the firstborn.
Predstination, Election, the Sovereignty of God, Human Responsibility, Free Will, and How to Handle Those Things in Your Bible Study
People love to talk about predestination. Perhaps that phrase would be better stated this way: people love to argue about predestination. It is a philosophically and emotionally charged issue, and thus, discussing it or even thinking about it often results in struggling for many people, perhaps including yourself.
This topic is a controversial issue and has been for centuries. For the last few centuries, two labels have been associated with it – Arminianism and Calvinism. It’s more helpful to think about it, though, with these two corresponding labels – synergism and monergism.
Synergism is the idea that there is more than one cause in our regeneration – both God’s will and man’s will in cooperation with each other to produce regeneration. Monergism is the belief that God’s will is the effecting cause of our regeneration, and in grace, changes our sinful wills so that we do repent.
What I want to do for you here is give you guidelines through which to think about the issue as it relates to this study (and the next), and give some suggested guidelines of how to steer the conversation back on track if it derails.
First, here are some guidelines through which to think about the issue.
1) The Bible talks about predestination and election.
2) One’s belief about predestination does not affect their eternal destiny.
3) Predstination, however, is still in the Bible, and God holds us responsible for knowing and believing what’s in the Bible.
4) One’s belief about predestination will affect how they pray, worship, and evangelize unbelievers. It is important.
5) The fallen human will, in Scripture, is never spoken of in a neutral, let alone a positive, light. And it is certainly never spoken of as being ‘free.’ ‘Free will’ is a philosophical concept that has multiple possible definitions, not a Biblical term.
6) Often, these discussions revolve around philosophical inference, rather than what the Bible actually says. Thinking about this issue must involve an open Bible and a submissive attitude.
7) We must ask the question of a verse, ‘what does this verse teach?’ Sometimes we ask questions of verses that the verses were not written to answer. For instance, often in these discussions, people will refer to verses like John 3:16. John 3:16, while containing wonderful truths, does not say anything about predestination, and so, isn’t relevant to the question.
8) We must avoid straw men! Comments like ‘Arminians don’t believe in original sin’ and ‘Calvinists don’t do evangelism’ are false, silly, and unhelpful.
9) You really are a synergist or a monergist. There is no middle ground (with the exception of just not knowing). Either there is some moral good left in our wills with which sinners participate in causing their regeneration, or there is not and regeneration is all the result of God’s free grace, and results in repentance.
10) Romans 8 is not about election.
11) However, this passage does talk about election as a supporting argument for God’s working all things together for our good, in light of the Holy Spirit’s prayers for us.
12) It’s okay not to know what’s true about this issue. God is growing each and every one of us in different areas of obedience, including the obedience of our minds to his word. We’re all ‘in process.’
13) It is not okay to ignore the Bible, however. We must go to God’s word in prayer with a submissive and repentant heart, so that we may see Christ and worship him as he truly is.
Predestination probably will, and to some extent should, be discussed in your Bible study. It should not, however, control the whole discussion. Here are some tips for keeping the study on track.
1) Ask “What does the Bible say?” or “Where does the Bible say that?” In a kind manner, don’t let people run off with their own thoughts and speculations. Keep returning to the Scriptures.
2) Ask “Why does God talk about predestination in this section? How is it related to the whole section?”
3) If it seems necessary and appropriate, introduce the fact that there are two views of predestination within Christianity and to define them. After doing so, it would probably be helpful to ask the previous question.
4) Feel free to say that the issue can be discussed later, but that the group should return to the point of the passage.
5) Make sure you return to looking at the ‘Key Terms’ section, especially in reference to the word ‘foreknow.’ Make sure you can define these terms.
If you’d like to understand the two views better (Calvinism and Arminianism, better called Monergism and Synergism), I’m at your disposal for questions or discussion.
30 This is continuing support about everything working for our good. Everyone who was predestined by God for the glory of Christ was also called, justified, and glorified. It’s a little odd that ‘glorified’ is past tense. There are two ways of understanding this. It could be that Paul is seeing it as so certain that he speaks of it as past, or, and as I think more likely, Paul sees our regeneration (having a new nature) as the beginning of our future glory.
31 ‘What then’ indicates that Paul is about to draw conclusions from all the promises of God in the previous section. God himself is for us, and no one can successfully be against us. They’ll fail.
32 God gave up his own Son to death for us; therefore, he will give us all things pertaining to salvation. All things in and after life are to our good. How do we know? Christ was murdered for us by his Father’s merciful design.
33 God declares us righteous. No one will bring a charge of guilt against us.
34 No one will condemn; God has declared us righteous by condemning Christ. That condemnation being completed, he has risen from the dead, he who died in our places, and now prays for us to the Father from a position of rule over all things.
35-36 Can anything, even the persecutions spoken of in the Old Testament, separate the Christian from Christ’s love? The implied answer is ‘no one!’ He has justified us by his blood spilled in love, and his blood was not spilled in vain – he will bring us home.
37 As we suffer trusting in Christ’s promises, in prayer, by Christ’s power granted through the Holy Spirit, we conquer the world and all with which it can assault us.
38-39 Why are we more than conquerors despite the world’s attacks? Because nothing – not death, not demons, not the very fabric of the universe – is able to remove us from God’s love. It is God’s love. No created thing can change it. It is granted in Christ Jesus, whose death saved us perfectly. God’s purposes will not be thwarted, but rather, all that hell can do in throwing all its terror against us is fulfill the will of God for our good, purchased for us by Christ Jesus himself.
Sample Discussion Guide:
-What do you think are some of the worst ways that people have suffered?
-Why do you think suffering exists?
-How do you cope with it when you experience hard things in life?
-Tonight we’ll be looking at the continuation of something we saw last time – that part of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives is to cause us to endure suffering in life in a way that reflects how Christ suffered, looking forward to a future of glory with him. Have the group begin with prayer.
-Have the group read vv. 18-25.
-How are we encouraged in this section to suffer well?
-What are some ways we see creation in bondage? How does creation’s futility relate to our suffering?
-What are we waiting for? What’s particularly exciting about that to you? How do these things relate to suffering?
-Have the group read vv. 26-30.
-What are some things that this passage says that God has done or is doing currently?
-What’s the relationship between our salvation and our suffering?
-Sometimes it’s hard to believe v. 28 when we’re going through pain. What are some of the truths in this paragraph that we need to fight to remember that support the fact that all things are for our good by God’s design?
-Have them read vv. 31-39.
-‘What then shall we say to these things?’ in v. 31 indicates that Paul is wrapping up this section about suffering well with Christ. Which of Paul’s statements in this section connects with you the most?
-What are some of the things that may cause us harm in this section?
-What does this section say about our salvation?
-Suffering will happen, should happen, and does happen by God’s design (v. 17, 28). How do you think this passage would instruct us to deal with it?
-Have the group pray – perhaps splitting into pairs to share pain/prayer requests.
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