Chapter Eight: Did God Make a Mistake? (Romans 9)
Key theme: The righteousness of God
II.SIN—RIGHTEOUSNESS DEMANDED—1:18–3:20
B.The Jews guilty—2:1–3:8
III.SALVATION—RIGHTEOUSNESS DECLARED—3:21–5:21
B.Justification illustrated in Abraham—4
C.Justification explained in Adam—5
IV.SANCTIFICATION—RIGHTEOUSNESS DEFENDED—chapters 6–8
A.Victory—the flesh—6
B.Liberty—the Law—7
C.Security—the Spirit—8
V.SOVEREIGNTY—RIGHTEOUSNESS DECLINED—chapters 9–11
A.Israel’s past riches—9
B.Israel’s present rejection—10
C.Israel’s future restoration—11
VI.SERVICE—RIGHTEOUSNESS DEMONSTRATED—12:1–15:7
A.In the church body—12
B.In society—13
C.Toward the weaker believer—14:1–15:7
VII.CONCLUSION—15:8–16:27
(Rom. 1:18–3:20)
(Rom. 3:21–4:25)
(Rom. 5)
(Rom. 6)
(Rom. 7)
(Rom. 8)
(Rom. 9)
(Rom. 10)
(Rom. 11)
(Rom. 12–13)
(Rom. 14:1–15:7)
(Rom. 15:8–16:27)
On May 24, 1738, a discouraged missionary went “very unwillingly” to a religious meeting in London. There a miracle took place. “About a quarter before nine,” he wrote in his journal, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
That missionary was John Wesley. The message he heard that evening was the preface to Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans. Just a few months before, John Wesley had written in his journal: “I went to America to convert the Indians; but Oh! who shall convert me?” That evening in Aldersgate Street, his question was answered. And the result was the great Wesleyan Revival that swept England and transformed the nation.
Paul’s Epistle to the Romans is still transforming people’s lives, just the way it transformed Martin Luther and John Wesley. The one Scripture above all others that brought Luther out of mere religion into the joy of salvation by grace, through faith, was : “The just shall live by faith.” The Protestant Reformation and the Wesleyan Revival were both the fruit of this wonderful letter written by Paul from Corinth about the year A.D. 56. The letter was carried to the Christians at Rome by one of the deaconesses of the church at Cenchrea, Sister Phebe ().
Imagine! You and I can read and study the same inspired letter that brought life and power to Luther and Wesley! And the same Holy Spirit who taught them can teach us! You and I can experience revival in our hearts, homes, and churches if the message of this letter grips us as it has gripped men of faith in centuries past.
In the opening verses of the letter, Paul introduces himself to the believers in Rome. Some of them must have known him personally, since he greets them in the final chapter; but many of them he had never met. So, in these first seventeen verses, Paul seeks to link himself to his Roman readers in three ways.
He Presented His Credentials ()
In ancient days, the writer of a letter always opened with his name. But there would be many men named Paul in that day, so the writer had to further identify himself and convince the readers that he had a right to send the letter. What were Paul’s credentials?
He was a servant of Jesus Christ (v. ). The word Paul used for servant would be meaningful to the Romans, because it is the word slave. There were an estimated 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire; and a slave was looked on as a piece of property, not a person. In loving devotion, Paul had enslaved himself to Christ, to be His servant and obey His will.
He was an apostle (v. ). This word means “one who is sent by authority with a commission.” It was applied in that day to the representatives of the emperor or the emissaries of a king. One of the requirements for an apostle was the experience of seeing the risen Christ (). Paul saw Christ when he was on the road to Damascus (), and it was then that Christ called him to be His apostle to the Gentiles. Paul received from Christ divine revelations that he was to share with the churches.
He was a preacher of the Gospel (vv. ). When he was a Jewish rabbi, Paul was separated as a Pharisee to the laws and traditions of the Jews. But when he yielded to Christ, he was separated to the Gospel and its ministry. Gospel means “the Good News.” It is the message that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again, and now is able to save all who trust Him (). It is “the Gospel of God” () because it originates with God; it was not invented by man. It is “the Gospel of Christ” () because it centers in Christ, the Saviour. Paul also calls it “the Gospel of His Son” (), which indicates that Jesus Christ is God! In Romans 16:25–26, Paul called it “my Gospel.” By this he meant the special emphasis he gave in his ministry to the doctrine of the church and the place of the Gentiles in the plan of God.
The Gospel is not a new message; it was promised in the Old Testament, beginning in . The Prophet Isaiah certainly preached the Gospel in passages such as , and chapters 53 and 55. The salvation we enjoy today was promised by the prophets, though they did not fully understand all that they were preaching and writing ().
Jesus Christ is the center of the Gospel message. Paul identified Him as a man, a Jew, and the Son of God. He was born of a virgin (; ) into the family of David, which gave Him the right to David’s throne. He died for the sins of the world, and then was raised from the dead. It is this miraculous event of substitutionary death and victorious resurrection that constitutes the Gospel; and it was this Gospel that Paul preached.
He was a missionary to the Gentiles (vv. ). Missionary is the Latin form of “apostle—one who is sent.” There were probably several assemblies of believers in Rome and not just one church, since in Romans 16 Paul greets a number of “home church” groups (, , ). We do not know for certain how these churches began, but it is likely that believers from Rome who were at Pentecost established the assemblies on their return to Rome (). There were both Jews and Gentiles in these fellowships, because Paul addresses both in this letter. (Jews: ; ; . Gentiles: ; ; .) The churches in Rome were not founded by Peter or any other apostle. If they had been, Paul would not have planned to visit Rome, because his policy was to minister only where no other apostle had gone ().
Note the repetition of the word called: Paul was called to be an apostle; the believers were the called of Jesus Christ; and they were also called saints. (Not “to be” saints; they already were saints! A saint is a set-apart one, and the person who trusts Jesus Christ is set apart and is a saint.) Salvation is not something that we do for God; it is God who calls us in His grace (). When you trust Christ, you are saved by His grace and you experience His peace.
Paul’s special commission was to take the Gospel to the Gentiles (the word nations means Gentiles), and this is why he was planning to go to Rome, the very capital of the empire. He was a preacher of the Gospel, and the Gospel was for all nations. In fact, Paul was anxious to go to Spain with the message of Christ ().
Having presented his credentials, Paul proceeded to forge a second link between himself and the believers in Rome.
We can well understand Paul’s concern for the churches that he founded, but why would he be concerned about the believers at Rome? He was unknown to many of them, yet he wanted to assure them that he was deeply concerned about their welfare. Note the evidences of Paul’s concern.
He was thankful for them (v. ). “The whole world”—meaning the whole Roman Empire—knew of the faith of the Christians at Rome. Travel was relatively common in that day and “all roads led to Rome.” It is no wonder that the testimony of the church spread abroad, and this growing witness made Paul’s ministry easier as he went from place to place, and was able to point to this testimony going out from the heart of the Roman Empire.
He prayed for them (vv. ). They did not know of Paul’s prayer support, but the Lord knew about it and honored it. (I wonder how many of us know the people who are praying for us?) One of the burdens of Paul’s prayer was that God would permit him to visit Rome and minister to the churches there. He would have visited them sooner, but his missionary work had kept him busy (). He was about to leave Corinth for Jerusalem to deliver the special offering received from the Gentile churches for the poor Jewish saints. He hoped he would be able to travel from Jerusalem to Rome, and then on to Spain; and he was hoping for a prosperous journey.
Actually, Paul had a very perilous journey; and he arrived in Rome a prisoner as well as a preacher. In Jerusalem he was arrested in the temple, falsely accused by the Jewish authorities and eventually sent to Rome as the Emperor’s prisoner to be tried before Caesar. When Paul wrote this letter, he had no idea that he would go through imprisonment and even shipwreck before arriving in Rome! At the close of the letter (), he asked the believers in Rome to pray for him as he contemplated this trip; and it is a good thing that they did pray!
He loved them (vv. ). “I long to see you!” This is the pastor’s heart in Paul the great missionary. Some of the saints in Rome were very dear to Paul, such as Priscilla and Aquila (), who risked their lives for him; “the beloved Persis” (); and others who had labored and suffered with Paul. But he also loved the believers that he did not know, and he longed to be able to share some spiritual gift with them. He was looking forward to a time of mutual blessing in the love of Christ.
He was in debt to them (vv. ). As the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul had an obligation to minister in Rome. He would have fulfilled that obligation sooner, but his other labors had hindered him. Sometimes Paul was hindered because of the work of Satan (); but in this case he was hindered because of the work of the Lord. There was so much to do in Asia Minor and Greece that he could not immediately spare time for Rome. But Paul had to pay his debt; he was under orders from the Lord.
The Greeks considered every non-Greek a barbarian. Steeped in centuries of philosophy, the Greeks saw themselves as wise and everyone else as foolish. But Paul felt an obligation to all men, just as we need to feel a burden for the whole world. Paul could not be free from his debt until he had told as many people as possible the Good News of salvation in Christ.
He was eager to visit them (v. ). Two different Greek words are translated “ready” in the King James Version. One means “prepared,” as in . “I am ready … to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” The other one, used in , means “eager, with a ready mind.” Paul was not eager to die, though he was prepared to die. But he was eager to visit Rome that he might minister to the believers there. It was not the eagerness of a sightseer, but the eagerness of a soul-winner.
After reading these five evidences of Paul’s concern for the Christians at Rome, these saints could not but give thanks to God for the Apostle Paul and his burden to come and minister to them. Actually, the Epistle to the Romans in which Paul explained the Gospel he preached, was his letter of introduction that prepared the believers for his visit. No doubt the false teachers had already gotten to Rome and were seeking to poison the Christians against Paul (see ). Some would accuse him of being anti-Law; others would say he was a traitor to the Jewish nation. Still others would twist his teaching about grace and try to prove that he taught loose living. No wonder Paul was eager to get to Rome! He wanted to share with them the fullness of the Gospel of Christ.
But would the Gospel of Christ work in the great city of Rome as it had in other places? Would Paul succeed there, or would he fail? The apostle no doubt felt these objections and raised these questions in his own mind, which is why he forged a third link between himself and his readers.
What a testimony: “I am debtor! I am eager! I am not ashamed!” Why would Paul even be tempted to be ashamed of the Gospel as he contemplated his trip to Rome? For one thing, the Gospel was identified with a poor Jewish carpenter who was crucified. The Romans had no special appreciation for the Jews, and crucifixion was the lowest form of execution given a criminal. Why put your faith in a Jew who was crucified?
Rome was a proud city, and the Gospel came from Jerusalem, the capital city of one of the little nations that Rome had conquered. The Christians in that day were not among the elite of society; they were common people and even slaves. Rome had known many great philosophers and philosophies; why pay any attention to a fable about a Jew who arose from the dead? () Christians looked on each other as brothers and sisters, all one in Christ, which went against the grain of Roman pride and dignity. To think of a little Jewish tentmaker, going to Rome to preach such a message, is almost humorous.
But Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel. He had confidence in his message, and he gave us several reasons that explain why he was not ashamed.
The origin of the Gospel: it is the Gospel of Christ (v. ). Any message that was handed down from Caesar would immediately get the attention of the Romans. But the message of the Gospel is from and about the very Son of God! In his opening sentence, Paul called this message “the Gospel of God” (). How could Paul be ashamed of such a message, when it came from God and centered in His Son, Jesus Christ?
During my years in high school, I was chosen to be an office monitor. The other hall monitors sat at various stations around the building, but I was privileged to sit right outside the door of the main high school office. I was entrusted with important messages that I had to deliver to different teachers and staff members, and on occasion even to other schools. Believe me, it was fun to walk into a classroom and even interrupt a lesson! No teacher ever scolded me, because all of them knew I carried messages from the principal. I never had to be afraid or ashamed, because I knew where my messages came from.
The operation of the Gospel: it is the power of God (v. ). Why be ashamed of power? Power is the one thing that Rome boasted of the most. Greece might have its philosophy, but Rome had its power. The fear of Rome hovered over the empire like a cloud. Were they not the conquerors? Were not the Roman legions stationed all over the known world? But with all of her military power, Rome was still a weak nation. The philosopher Seneca called the city of Rome “a cesspool of iniquity”; and the writer Juvenal called it a “filthy sewer into which the dregs of the empire flood.”
No wonder Paul was not ashamed: he was taking to sinful Rome the one message that had the power to change men’s lives! He had seen the Gospel work in other wicked cities such as Corinth and Ephesus; and he was confident that it would work in Rome. It had transformed his own life, and he knew it could transform the lives of others. There was a third reason why Paul was not ashamed.
The outcome of the Gospel: it is the power of God unto salvation (v. ). That word “salvation” carried tremendous meaning in Paul’s day. Its basic meaning is “deliverance,” and it was applied to personal and national deliverance. The emperor was looked on as a savior, as was the physician who healed you of illness. The Gospel delivers sinners from the penalty and power of sin. “Salvation” is a major theme in this letter; salvation is the great need of the human race (see , ). If men and women are to be saved, it must be through faith in Jesus Christ as proclaimed in the Gospel.
The outreach of the Gospel: “to everyone that believeth” (vv. ). This was not an exclusive message for either the Jew or the Gentile; it was for all men, because all men need to be saved. “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel,” was Christ’s commission (). “To the Jew first” does not suggest that the Jew is better than the Gentile; for there is “no difference” in condemnation or in salvation (; ). The Gospel came “to the Jew first” in the ministry of Jesus Christ () and the Apostles (). How marvelous it is to have a message of power that can be taken to all people!
God does not ask men to behave in order to be saved, but to believe. It is faith in Christ that saves the sinner. Eternal life in Christ is one gift that is suitable for all people, no matter what their need may be or what their station in life.
is the key verse of the letter. In it Paul announces the theme: “the righteousness of God.” The word “righteousness” is used in one way or another over sixty times in this letter (righteous, just, and justified). God’s righteousness is revealed in the Gospel; for in the death of Christ, God revealed His righteousness by punishing sin; and in the resurrection of Christ, He revealed His righteousness by making salvation available to the believing sinner. The problem “How can a holy God ever forgive sinners and still be holy?” is answered in the Gospel. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, God is seen to be “both just and justifier” ().
The Gospel reveals a righteousness that is by faith. In the Old Testament, righteousness was by works, but sinners soon discovered they could not obey God’s Law and meet His righteous demands. Here Paul refers to : “The just shall live by his faith.” This verse is quoted three times in the New Testament: ; ; and . Romans explains “the just”; Galatians explains “shall live”; and Hebrews explains “by faith.” There are more than sixty references to faith or unbelief in Romans.
When you study Romans, you walk into a courtroom. First, Paul called Jews and Gentiles to the stand and found both guilty before God. Then he explained God’s marvelous way of salvation—justification by faith. At this point, he answered his accusers and defended God’s salvation. “This plan of salvation will encourage people to sin!” they cry. “It is against the very Law of God!” But Paul refuted them, and in so doing explained how the Christian can experience victory, liberty, and security.
Chapters 9–11 are not a parenthesis or a detour. There were Jewish believers in the Roman assemblies and they would naturally ask, “What about Israel? How does God’s righteousness relate to them in this new age of the church?” In these three chapters, Paul gave a complete history of Israel, past, present, and future.
Then he concluded with the practical outworking of God’s righteousness in the life of the believer. This begins with dedication to God (), continues with ministry in the church (), and then obedience to the government (). He also told Jews and Gentiles, strong and weak, how to live together in harmony and joy. In the closing section (Rom. 15:14–16:27), Paul explained his plans and greeted his friends.
When you sum it all up, the Book of Romans is saying to us—“Be right!” Be right with God, with yourself, and with others! The righteousness of God received by faith makes it possible for us to live right lives. Rome needed this message, and we need it today: Be right!
Romans 1:18–3:20
Hear ye! Hear ye! Court is now in session!” Paul could have used those awesome words at this point in his letter, because is the door that leads us into God’s courtroom. The theme of Romans is the righteousness of God, but Paul had to begin with the unrighteousness of man. Until man knows he is a sinner, he cannot appreciate the gracious salvation God offers in Jesus Christ. Paul followed the basic Bible pattern: first Law and condemnation; then grace and salvation.
In this section, God makes three declarations that together prove that all men are sinners and need Jesus Christ.
The Gentile World Is Guilty! ()
The picture Paul paints here is an ugly one. I confess that there are some neighborhoods that I dislike driving through, and I avoid them if I can. My avoiding them does not change them or eliminate them. God’s description of sinners is not a pretty one, but we cannot avoid it. This section does not teach evolution (that man started low and climbed high), but devolution: he started high and, because of sin, sank lower than the beasts. Four stages mark man’s tragic devolution.
Intelligence (vv. ). Human history began with man knowing God. Human history is not the story of a beast that worshiped idols, and then evolved into a man worshiping one God. Human history is just the opposite: man began knowing God, but turned from the truth and rejected God. God revealed Himself to man through creation, the things that He made. From the world around him, man knew that there was a God who had the wisdom to plan and the power to create. Man realized too that this Creator was eternal … “His eternal power and Godhead” (), since God could not be created if He is the Creator. These facts about God are not hidden in creation; they are “clearly seen” (). “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork” ().
The word translated “hold” in can also be translated “hold down, suppress.” Men knew the truth about God, but they did not allow this truth to work in their lives. They suppressed it in order that they might live their own lives and not be convicted by God’s truth. The result, of course, was refusing the truth (), and then turning the truth into a lie (). Finally, man so abandoned the truth that he became like a beast in his thinking and in his living.
Ignorance (vv. ). Man knew God; this is clear. But man did not want to know God or honor Him as God. Instead of being thankful for all that God had given him, man refused to thank God or give Him the glory He deserves. Man was willing to use God’s gifts, but he was not willing to worship and praise God for His gifts. The result was an empty mind and a darkened heart. Man the worshiper became man the philosopher, but his empty wisdom only revealed his foolishness. Paul summarized all of Greek history in one dramatic statement: “the times of this ignorance” (). is worth reading at this point.
Having held down God’s truth and refusing to acknowledge God’s glory, man was left without a god; and man is so constituted that he must worship something. If he will not worship the true God, he will worship a false god, even if he has to manufacture it himself! This fact about man accounts for his propensity to idolatry. Man exchanged the glory of the true God for substitute gods that he himself made. He exchanged glory for shame, incorruption for corruption, truth for lies.
Note that first on the list of false gods is man. This fulfilled Satan’s purpose when he told Eve, “Ye shall be as God!” (, NASB) “Glory to man in the highest!” Satan encouraged man to say. Instead of man being made in God’s image, man made gods in his own image—and then descended so low as to worship birds, beasts, and bugs!
Indulgence (vv. ). From idolatry to immorality is just one short step. If man is his own god, then he can do whatever he pleases and fulfill his desires without fear of judgment. We reach the climax of man’s battle with God’s truth when man exchanges the truth of God for “the lie” and abandons truth completely. “The lie” is that man is his own god, and he should worship and serve himself and not the Creator. It was “the lie” Satan used in the Garden to lead Eve into sin: “Ye shall be as God!” Satan has always wanted the worship that belongs only to God (; ); and in idolatry, he receives that worship ().
The result of this self-deification was self-indulgence; and here Paul mentions a vile sin that was rampant in that day and has become increasingly prevalent in our own day; homosexuality. This sin is repeatedly condemned in Scripture (; ; ). Paul characterizes it as “vile” and “unnatural,” as well as “against nature.” Not only were the men guilty, but “even the women.”
Because of their sin “God gave them up” (, ) which means that He permitted them to go on in their sins and reap the sad consequences. They received “in their own persons the due penalty of their error” (, NASB). This is the meaning of , “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven” (literal translation). God revealed His wrath, not by sending fire from heaven, but by abandoning sinful men to their lustful ways. But there was one more stage.
Impenitence (vv. ). When man began to feel the tragic consequences of his sins, you would think he would repent and seek God; but just the opposite was true. Because he was abandoned by God, he could only become worse. Man did not even want to retain God in his knowledge! So, “God gave them over” this time to a “depraved mind” (, NASB), which means a mind that cannot form right judgments. They now abandoned themselves to sin. Paul names twenty-four specific sins, all of which are with us today. (For other lists, see ; ; ; and .)
But the worst is yet to come. Men not only committed these sins in open defiance of God, but encouraged others and applauded them when they sinned. How far man fell! He began glorifying God but ended exchanging that glory for idols. He began knowing God but ended refusing to keep the knowledge of God in his mind and heart. He began as the highest of God’s creatures, made in the image of God; but he ended lower than the beasts and insects, because he worshiped them as his gods. The verdict? “They are without excuse!” ()
This portion of Scripture gives ample proof that the heathen are lost. Dan Crawford, British missionary to Africa, said: “The heathen are sinning against a flood of light.” There is a desperate need for us to carry the Gospel to all men, for this is the only way they can be saved.
The Jewish World Is Guilty! (Rom. 2:1–3:8)
Bible scholars do not agree on whom Paul was addressing in . Some think he was dealing with the moral pagan who did not commit the sins named in , but who sought to live a moral life. But it seems to me that Paul was addressing his Jewish readers in this section. To begin with, his discussion of the Law in would have been more meaningful to a Jew than to a Gentile. And in , he openly addressed his reader as “a Jew.” This would be a strange form of address if in the first half of the chapter he were addressing Gentiles.
It would not be an easy task to find the Jews guilty, since disobedience to God was one sin they did not want to confess. The Old Testament prophets were persecuted for indicting Israel for her sins, and Jesus was crucified for the same reason. Paul summoned four witnesses to prove the guilt of the Jewish nation.
The Gentiles (vv. ). Certainly the Jews would applaud Paul’s condemnation of the Gentiles in . In fact, Jewish national and religious pride encouraged them to despise the “Gentile dogs” and have nothing to do with them. Paul used this judgmental attitude to prove the guilt of the Jews; for the very things they condemned in the Gentiles, they themselves were practicing! They thought that they were free from judgment because they were God’s chosen people. But Paul affirmed that God’s election of the Jews made their responsibility and accountability even greater.
God’s judgment is according to truth. He does not have one standard for the Jews and another for the Gentiles. One who reads the list of sins in cannot escape the fact that each person is guilty of at least one of them. There are “sins of the flesh and of the spirit” (); there are “prodigal sons” and “elder brothers” (). In condemning the Gentiles for their sins, the Jews were really condemning themselves. As the old saying puts it, “When you point your finger at somebody else, the other three are pointing at you.”
God’s blessing (vv. ). Instead of giving the Jews special treatment from God, the blessings they received from Him gave them greater responsibility to obey Him and glorify Him. In His goodness, God had given Israel great material and spiritual riches: a wonderful land, a righteous Law, a temple and priesthood, God’s providential care, and many more blessings. God had patiently endured Israel’s many sins and rebellions, and had even sent them His Son to be their Messiah. Even after Israel crucified Christ, God gave the nation nearly forty more years of grace and withheld His judgment. It is not the judgment of God that leads men to repentance, but the goodness of God; but Israel did not repent.
In , Paul was not teaching salvation by character or good deeds. He was explaining another basic principle of God’s judgment: God judges according to deeds, just as He judges according to truth. Paul was dealing here with the consistent actions of a person’s life, the total impact of his character and conduct. For example, David committed some terrible sins; but the total emphasis of his life was obedience to God. Judas confessed his sin and supplied the money for buying a cemetery for strangers; yet the total emphasis of his life was disobedience and unbelief.
True saving faith results in obedience and godly living, even though there may be occasional falls. When God measured the deeds of the Jews, He found them to be as wicked as those of the Gentiles. The fact that the Jews occasionally celebrated a feast or even regularly honored the Sabbath Day did not change the fact that their consistent daily life was one of disobedience to God. God’s blessings did not lead them to repentance.
God’s Law (vv. ). Paul’s statement in , “For there is no respect of persons with God” would shock the Jew, for he considered himself deserving of special treatment because he was chosen by God. But Paul explained that the Jewish Law only made the guilt of Israel that much greater! God did not give the Law to the Gentiles, so they would not be judged by the Law. Actually, the Gentiles had “the work of the Law written in their hearts” (). Wherever you go, you find people with an inner sense of right and wrong; and this inner judge, the Bible calls “conscience.” You find among all cultures a sense of sin, a fear of judgment, and an attempt to atone for sins and appease whatever gods are feared.
The Jew boasted in the Law. He was different from his pagan neighbors who worshiped idols! But Paul made it clear that it was not the possession of the Law that counted, but the practice of the Law. The Jews looked on the Gentiles as blind, in the dark, foolish, immature, and ignorant! But if God found the “deprived” Gentiles guilty, how much more guilty were the “privileged” Jews! God not only judges according to truth (), and according to men’s deeds (); but He also judges “the secrets of men” (). He sees what is in the heart!
The Jewish people had a religion of outward action, not inward attitude. They may have been moral on the outside, but what about the heart? Our Lord’s indictment of the Pharisees in Matthew 23 illustrates the principle perfectly. God not only sees the deeds but He also sees the “thoughts and intents of the heart” (). It is possible for a Jew to be guilty of theft, adultery, and idolatry () even if no one saw him commit these sins outwardly. In the Sermon on the Mount we are told that such sins can be committed in the heart.
Instead of glorifying God among the Gentiles, the Jews were dishonoring God; and Paul quoted to prove his point. The pagan Gentiles had daily contact with the Jews in business and other activities, and they were not fooled by the Jews’ devotion to the Law. The very Law that the Jews claimed to obey only indicted them!
Circumcision (vv. ). This was the great mark of the covenant, and it had its beginning with Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation (Gen. 17). To the Jews, the Gentiles were “uncircumcised dogs.” The tragedy is that the Jews depended on this physical mark instead of the spiritual reality it represented (; ; ). A true Jew is one who has had an inward spiritual experience in the heart, and not merely an outward physical operation. People today make this same mistake with reference to baptism or the Lord’s Supper, or even church membership.
God judges according to “the secrets of the heart” (), so that He is not impressed with mere outward formalities. An obedient Gentile with no circumcision would be more acceptable than a disobedient Jew with circumcision. In fact, a disobedient Jew turns his circumcision into uncircumcision in God’s sight, for God looks at the heart. The Jews praised each other for their obedience to the Law, but the important thing is the “praise of God” and not the praise of men (). When you recall that the name “Jew” comes from “Judah” which means “praise,” this statement takes on new meaning (; ).
Paul’s summation (vv. ). All of Paul’s four witnesses agreed: the Jews were guilty before God. In , Paul summed up the argument and refuted those Jews who tried to debate with him. They raised three questions. (1) “What advantage is it to be a Jew?” Reply: Every advantage, especially possessing the Word of God. (2) “Will Jewish unbelief cancel God’s faithfulness?” Reply: Absolutely not—it establishes it. (3) “If our sin commends His righteousness, how can He judge us?” Reply: We do not do evil that good may come of it. God judges the world righteously.
The third declaration was obvious, for Paul had already proved (charged) both Jews and Gentiles to be guilty before God. Next he declared that all men were sinners, and proved it with several quotations from the Old Testament. Note the repetition of the words “none” and “all,” which in themselves assert the universality of human guilt.
His first quotation was from . This psalm begins with, “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ ” The words “there is” are in italics, meaning they were added by the translators; so you can read the sentence, “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘No, God!’ ” This parallels the description of man’s devolution given in , for it all started with man saying no to God.
These verses indicate that the whole of man’s inner being is controlled by sin: his mind (“none that understandeth”), his heart (“none that seeketh after God”), and his will (“none that doeth good”). Measured by God’s perfect righteousness, no human being is sinless. No sinner seeks after God. Therefore, God must seek the sinner (; ). Man has gone astray, and has become unprofitable both to himself and to God. Our Lord’s parables in Luke 15 illustrate this perfectly.
In , Paul gave us an X-ray study of the lost sinner, from head to foot. His quotations are as follows: verse —; verse —; verse —; verses —; verse —. These verses need to be read in their contexts for the full impact.
and emphasize human speech—the throat, tongue, lips, and mouth. The connection between words and character is seen in : “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” The sinner is spiritually dead by nature (), therefore only death can come out of his mouth. The condemned mouth can become a converted mouth and acknowledge that “Jesus Christ is Lord” (). “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” ().
In and , Paul pictured the sinner’s feet. Just as his words are deceitful, so his ways are destructive. The Christians’ feet are shod with the Gospel of peace (); but the lost sinner brings death, destruction, and misery wherever he goes. These tragedies may not occur immediately, but they will come inevitably. The lost sinner is on the broad road that leads to destruction (); he needs to repent, trust Jesus Christ, and get on the narrow road that leads to life.
deals with the sinner’s mind: he does not know the way of God’s peace. This is what caused Jesus to weep over Jerusalem (). The sinner does not want to know God’s truth (, , ); he prefers to believe Satan’s lie. God’s way of peace is through Jesus Christ: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” ().
In , which cites , the sinner’s arrogant pride is prescribed: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” The entire psalm should be read to get the full picture. The ignorance mentioned in is caused by the pride of verse ; for it is “the fear of the Lord” that is the beginning of knowledge ().
These quotations from God’s Law, the Old Testament Scriptures, lead to one conclusion: the whole world is guilty before God! There may be those who want to argue, but every mouth is stopped. There is no debate or defense. The whole world is guilty, Jews and Gentiles. The Jews stand condemned by the Law of which they boast, and the Gentiles stand condemned on the basis of creation and conscience.
The word “therefore” in carries the meaning of “because,” and gives the reason why the whole world is guilty. No flesh can obey God’s Law and be justified (declared righteous) in His sight. It is true that “the doers of the Law shall be justified” (), but nobody can do what the Law demands! This inability is one way that men know they are sinners. When they try to obey the Law, they fail miserably and need to cry out for God’s mercy. Neither Jew nor Gentile can obey God’s Law; therefore God must save sinners by some other means. The explanation of that means by which man can be saved occupied Paul for the rest of his letter.
The best way to close this section would be to ask a simple question: Has your mouth ever been stopped? Are you boasting of your own self-righteousness and defending yourself before God? If so, then perhaps you have never been saved by God’s grace. It is only when we stand silent before Him as sinners that He can save us. As long as we defend ourselves and commend ourselves, we cannot be saved by God’s grace. The whole world is guilty before God—and that includes you and me!
Romans 3:21–4:25
Paul’s theme in the second section of his letter was Salvation—Righteousness Declared. He had proved that all men are sinners; next he was to explain how sinners can be saved. The theological term for this salvation is justification by faith. Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous in Christ on the basis of the finished work of Christ on the cross. Each part of this definition is important, so we must consider it carefully.
To begin with, justification is an act, not a process. There are no degrees of justification; each believer has the same right standing before God. Also, justification is something God does, not man. No sinner can justify himself before God. Most important, justification does not mean that God makes us righteous, but that He declares us righteous. Justification is a legal matter. God puts the righteousness of Christ on our record in the place of our own sinfulness. And nobody can change this record.
Do not confuse justification and sanctification. Sanctification is the process whereby God makes the believer more and more like Christ. Sanctification may change from day to day. Justification never changes. When the sinner trusts Christ, God declares him righteous, and that declaration will never be repealed. God looks on us and deals with us as though we had never sinned at all!
But, how can the holy God declare sinners righteous? Is justification merely a “fictional idea” that has no real foundation? In this section of Romans, Paul answered these questions in two ways. First, he explained justification by faith (); then he illustrated justification by faith from the life of Abraham ().
“But now the righteousness of God … has been manifested” (, literal translation). God had revealed His righteousness in many ways before the full revelation of the Gospel: His Law, His judgments against sin, His appeals through the prophets, His blessing on the obedient. But in the Gospel, a new kind of righteousness has been revealed (); and the characteristics of this righteousness are spelled out in this section.
Apart from the Law (v. ). Under the Old Testament Law, righteousness came by man behaving; but under the Gospel, righteousness comes by believing. The Law itself reveals the righteousness of God, because the Law is “holy and just and good” (). Furthermore, the Law bore witness to this Gospel righteousness even though it could not provide it. Beginning at , and continuing through the entire Old Testament, witness is given to salvation by faith in Christ. The Old Testament sacrifices, the prophecies, the types, and the great “Gospel Scriptures” (such as Isa. 53) all bore witness to this truth. The Law could witness to God’s righteousness, but it could not provide it for sinful man. Only Jesus Christ could do that (see ).
Through faith in Christ (v. ). Faith is only as good as its object. All men trust something, if only themselves; but the Christian trusts Christ. Law righteousness is a reward for works. Gospel righteousness is a gift through faith. Many people say, “I trust in God!” But this is not what saves us. It is personal, individual faith in Jesus Christ that saves and justifies the lost sinner. Even the demons from hell believe in God and tremble, yet this does not save them ().
For all men (vv. ). God gave His Law to the Jews, not to the Gentiles; but the Good News of salvation through Christ is offered to all men. All men need to be saved. There is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile when it comes to condemnation. “All have sinned, and are coming short of the glory of God” (, literal translation). God declared all men guilty so that He might offer to all men His free gift of salvation.
By grace (v. ). God has two kinds of attributes: absolute (what He is in Himself), and relative (how He relates to the world and men). One of His absolute attributes is love: “God is love” (). When God relates that love to you and me, it becomes grace and mercy. God in His mercy does not give us what we do deserve, and God in grace gives us what we do not deserve. The Greek word translated “freely” is translated in as “without a cause.” We are justified without a cause! There is no cause in us that would merit the salvation of God! It is all of grace!
At great cost to God (vv. ). Salvation is free, but it is not cheap. Three words express the price God paid for our salvation: propitiation, redemption, and blood. In human terms, “propitiation” means appeasing someone who is angry, usually by a gift. But this is not what it means in the Bible. “Propitiation” means the satisfying of God’s holy Law, the meeting of its just demands, so that God can freely forgive those who come to Christ. The word “blood” tells us what the price was. Jesus had to die on the cross in order to satisfy the Law and justify lost sinners.
The best illustration of this truth is the Jewish Day of Atonement described in Leviticus 16. Two goats were presented at the altar, and one of them was chosen for a sacrifice. The goat was slain and its blood taken into the holy of holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat, that golden cover on the ark of the covenant. This sprinkled blood covered the two tablets of the Law inside the ark. The shed blood met (temporarily) the righteous demands of the holy God.
The priest then put his hands on the head of the other goat and confessed the sins of the people. Then the goat was taken out into the wilderness and set free to symbolize the carrying away of sins. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us” (). In the Old Testament period, the blood of animals could never take away sin; it could only cover it until the time when Jesus would come and purchase a finished salvation. God had “passed over” the sins that were past (, literal translation), knowing that His Son would come and finish the work. Because of His death and resurrection, there would be “redemption”—a purchasing of the sinner and setting him free.
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan was trying to explain “free salvation” to a coal miner, but the man was unable to understand it. “I have to pay for it,” he kept arguing. With a flash of divine insight, Dr. Morgan asked, “How did you get down into the mine this morning?” “Why, it was easy,” the man replied. “I just got on the elevator and went down.”
Then Morgan asked, “Wasn’t that too easy? Didn’t it cost you something?”
The man laughed. “No, it didn’t cost me anything; but it must have cost the company plenty to install that elevator.” Then the man saw the truth: “It doesn’t cost me anything to be saved, but it cost God the life of His Son.”
In perfect justice (vv. ). God must be perfectly consistent with Himself. He cannot break His own Law or violate His own nature. “God is love” (), and “God is light” (). A God of love wants to forgive sinners, but a God of holiness must punish sin and uphold His righteous Law. How can God be both “just and the justifier”? The answer is in Jesus Christ. When Jesus suffered the wrath of God on the cross for the sins of the world, He fully met the demands of God’s Law, and also fully expressed the love of God’s heart. The animal sacrifices in the Old Testament never took away sin; but when Jesus died, He reached all the way back to Adam and took care of those sins. No one (including Satan) could accuse God of being unjust or unfair because of His seeming passing over of sins in the Old Testament time.
To establish the Law (vv. ). Because of his Jewish readers, Paul wanted to say more about the relationship of the Gospel to the Law. The doctrine of justification by faith is not against the Law, because it establishes the Law. God obeyed His own Law in working out the plan of salvation. Jesus in His life and death completely fulfilled the demands of the Law. God does not have two ways of salvation, one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles; for He is one God. He is consistent with His own nature and His own Law. If salvation is through the Law, then men can boast; but the principle of faith makes it impossible for men to boast. The swimmer, when he is saved from drowning, does not brag because he trusted the lifeguard. What else could he do? When a believing sinner is justified by faith, he cannot boast of his faith, but he can boast in a wonderful Saviour.
In Romans 4–8, Paul explained how God’s great plan of salvation was in complete harmony with the Old Testament Scriptures. He began first with the father of the Jewish nation, Abraham.
The Jewish Christians in Rome would immediately have asked, “How does this doctrine of justification by faith relate to our history? Paul, you say that this doctrine is witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets. Well, what about Abraham?”
Paul accepted the challenge and explained how Abraham was saved. Abraham was called “our father,” referring primarily to the Jews’ natural and physical descent from Abraham. But in , Abraham was also called “the father of all them that believe,” meaning, all who have trusted Christ (see ). Paul stated three important facts about Abraham’s salvation that prove that the patriarch’s spiritual experience was like that of believers today.
He was justified by faith, not works (vv. ). Paul called two witnesses to prove that statement: Moses () and David (). In , Paul examined the experience of Abraham as recorded in Genesis 15. Abraham had defeated the kings (Gen. 14) and was wondering if they would return to fight again. God appeared to him and assured him that He was his shield and “exceeding great reward.” But the thing that Abraham wanted most was a son and heir. God had promised him a son, but as yet the promise had not been fulfilled.
It was then that God told him to look at the stars. “So shall thy seed [descendants] be!” God promised; and Abraham believed God’s promise. The Hebrew word translated believed means “to say amen.” God gave a promise, and Abraham responded with “Amen!” It was this faith that was counted for righteousness.
The word counted in is a Greek word that means “to put to one’s account.” It is a banking term. This same word is used eleven times in this chapter, translated “reckoned” (, ) and “imputed” (, , , ), as well as “counted.” When a man works, he earns a salary and this money is put to his account. But Abraham did not work for his salvation; he simply trusted God’s Word. It was Jesus Christ who did the work on the cross, and His righteousness was put on Abraham’s account.
makes a starthng statement: God justifies the ungodly! The Law said, “I will not justify the wicked” (). The Old Testament judge was commanded to “justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked” (). When Solomon dedicated the temple, he asked God to condemn the wicked and justify the righteous! () But God justifies the ungodly—because there are no godly for Him to justify! He put our sins on Christ’s account that He might put Christ’s righteousness on our account.
In , Paul used David as a witness, quoting from one of David’s psalms of confession after his terrible sin with Bathsheba (). David made two amazing statements: (1) God forgives sins and imputes righteousness apart from works; (2) God does not impute our sins. In other words, once we are justified, our record contains Christ’s perfect righteousness and can never again contain our sins. Christians do sin, and these sins need to be forgiven if we are to have fellowship with God (); but these sins are not held against us. God does keep a record of our works, so that He might reward us when Jesus comes; but He is not keeping a record of our sins.
He was justified by grace, not Law (vv. ). As we have seen, the Jews gloried in circumcision and the Law. If a Jew was to become righteous before God, he would have to be circumcised and obey the Law. Paul had already made it clear in that there must be an inward obedience to the Law, and a “circumcision of the heart.” Mere external observances can never save the lost sinner.
But Abraham was declared righteous when he was in the state of uncircumcision. From the Jewish point of view, Abraham was a Gentile. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised (). This was more than fourteen years after the events in Genesis 15. The conclusion is obvious: circumcision had nothing to do with his justification.
Then why was circumcision given? It was a sign and a seal (). As a sign, it was evidence that he belonged to God and believed His promise. As a seal, it was a reminder to him that God had given the promise and would keep it. Believers today are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God (). They have also experienced a spiritual circumcision in the heart (), not just a minor physical operation, but the putting off of the old nature through the death and resurrection of Christ. Circumcision did not add to Abraham’s salvation; it merely attested to it.
But Abraham was also justified before the Law was given, and this fact Paul discusses in . The key word here is “promise.” Abraham was justified by believing God’s promise, not by obeying God’s Law; for God’s Law through Moses had not yet been given. The promise to Abraham was given purely through God’s grace. Abraham did not earn it or merit it. So today, God justifies the ungodly because they believe His gracious promise, not because they obey His Law. The Law was not given to save men, but to show men that they need to be saved ().
The fact that Abraham was justified by grace and not Law proves that salvation is for all men. Abraham is the father of all believers, both Jews and Gentiles (; , ). Instead of the Jew complaining because Abraham was not saved by Law, he ought to rejoice that God’s salvation is available to all men, and that Abraham has a spiritual family (all true believers) as well as a physical family (the nation of Israel). Paul saw this as a fulfillment of : “I have made thee a father of many nations.”
He was justified by Resurrection power, not human effort (vv. ). These verses are an expansion of one phrase in : “who quickeneth the dead.” Paul saw the rejuvenation of Abraham’s body as a picture of resurrection from the dead; and then he related it to the resurrection of Christ.
One reason why God delayed in sending Abraham and Sarah a son was to permit all their natural strength to decline and then disappear. It was unthinkable that a man ninety-nine years old could beget a child in the womb of his wife who was eighty-nine years old! From a reproductive point of view, both of them were dead.
But Abraham did not walk by sight; he walked by faith. What God promises, He performs. All we need do is believe. Abraham’s initial faith in God as recorded in Genesis 15 did not diminish in the years that followed. In Genesis 17–18, Abraham was “strong in faith.” It was this faith that gave him strength to beget a son in his old age.
The application to salvation is clear: God must wait until the sinner is “dead” and unable to help himself before He can release His saving power. As long as the lost sinner thinks he is strong enough to do anything to please God, he cannot be saved by grace. It was when Abraham admitted that he was “dead” that God’s power went to work in his body. It is when the lost sinner confesses that he is spiritually dead and unable to help himself that God can save him.
The Gospel is “the power of God unto salvation” () because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. and parallel each other. Jesus Christ was “delivered up to die on account of our offenses, and was raised up because of our justification” (, literal translation). This means that the resurrection of Christ is the proof that God accepted His Son’s sacrifice, and that now sinners can be justified without God violating His own Law or contradicting His own nature.
The key, of course, is “if we believe” (). There are over sixty references to faith or unbelief in Romans. God’s saving power is experienced by those who believe in Christ (). His righteousness is given to those who believe (). We are justified by faith (). The object of our faith is Jesus Christ who died for us and rose again.
All of these facts make Abraham’s faith that much more wonderful. He did not have a Bible to read; he had only the simple promise of God. He was almost alone as a believer, surrounded by heathen unbelievers. He could not look back at a long record of faith; in fact, he was helping to write that record. Yet Abraham believed God. People today have a complete Bible to read and study. They have a church fellowship, and can look back at centuries of faith as recorded in church history and the Bible. Yet many refuse to believe!
Dr. Harry Ironside, for eighteen years pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago, told of visiting a Sunday School class while on vacation. The teacher asked, “How were people saved in Old Testament times?”
After a pause, one man replied, “By keeping the Law.”
“That’s right,” said the teacher.
But Dr. Ironside interrupted: “My Bible says that by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified.”
The teacher was a bit embarrassed, so he said, “Well, does somebody else have an idea?”
Another student replied, “They were saved by bringing sacrifices to God.”
“Yes, that’s right!” the teacher said, and tried to go on with the lesson.
But Dr. Ironside interrupted, “My Bible says that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin.”
By this time the unprepared teacher was sure the visitor knew more about the Bible than he did, so he said, “Well, you tell us how people were saved in the Old Testament!”
And Dr. Ironside explained that they were saved by faith—the same way people are saved today! Twenty-one times in Hebrews 11 you find the same words “by faith.”
If you are a Jew, you are a child of Abraham physically; but are you a child of Abraham spiritually? Abraham is the father of all who believe on Jesus Christ and are justified by faith. If you are a Gentile, you can never be a natural descendant of Abraham; but you can be one of his spiritual descendants. Abraham “believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
Romans 5
Since Romans is a book of logic, it is a book of “therefores.” We have the “therefore” of condemnation in , justification in , no condemnation in , and dedication in . In presenting his case, Paul has proved that the whole world is guilty before God, and that no one can be saved by religious deeds, such as keeping the Law. He has explained that God’s way of salvation has always been “by grace, through faith” (), and he has used Abraham as his illustration. If a reader of the letter stopped at this point, he would know that he needed to and could be saved.
But there is much more the sinner needs to know about justification by faith. Can he be sure that it will last? How is it possible for God to save a sinner through the death of Christ on the cross? Romans 5 is Paul’s explanation of the last two words in Romans 4: “our justification.” He explained two basic truths: the blessings of our justification (), and the basis for our justification ().
The Blessings of Our Justification ()
In listing these blessings, Paul accomplished two purposes. First, he told how wonderful it is to be a Christian. Our justification is not simply a guarantee of heaven, as thrilling as that is, but it is also the source of tremendous blessings that we enjoy here and now.
His second purpose was to assure his readers that justification is a lasting thing. His Jewish readers in particular would ask, “Can this spiritual experience last if it does not require obedience to the Law? What about the trials and sufferings of life? What about the coming judgment?” When God declared us righteous in Jesus Christ, He gave to us seven spiritual blessings that assure us that we cannot be lost.
Peace with God (v. ). The unsaved person is at “enmity with God” (; ) because he cannot obey God’s Law or fulfill God’s will. Two verses from Isaiah make the matter clear: “There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked” (); “And the work of righteousness shall be peace” (). Condemnation means that God declares us sinners, which is a declaration of war. Justification means that God declares us righteous, which is a declaration of peace, made possible by Christ’s death on the cross. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (). “Because the Law worketh wrath” (), nobody condemned by the Law can enjoy peace with God. But when you are justified by faith, you are declared righteous, and the Law cannot condemn you or declare war!
Access to God (v. ). The Jew was kept from God’s presence by the veil in the temple; and the Gentile was kept out by a wall in the temple with a warning on it that any Gentile who went beyond would be killed. But when Jesus died, He tore the veil () and broke down the wall (). In Christ, believing Jews and Gentiles have access to God (; ); and they can draw on the inexhaustible riches of the grace of God (; ; ). We stand “in grace” and not “in Law.” Justification has to do with our standing; sanctification has to do with our state. The child of a king can enter his father’s presence no matter how the child looks. The word “access” here means “entrance to the king through the favor of another.”
Glorious hope (v. ). “Peace with God” takes care of the past: He will no longer hold our sins against us. “Access to God” takes care of the present: we can come to Him at any time for the help we need. “Hope of the glory of God” takes care of the future: one day we shall share in His glory! The word “rejoice” can be translated “boast,” not only in , but also in and (“joy”). When we were sinners, there was nothing to boast about (), because we fell short of the glory of God (). But in Christ, we boast in His righteousness and glory! Paul will amplify this in .
Christian character (vv. ). Justification is no escape from the trials of life. “In this world ye shall have tribulation” (). But for the believer, trials work for him and not against him. No amount of suffering can separate us from the Lord (); instead, trials bring us closer to the Lord and make us more like the Lord. Suffering builds Christian character. The word “experience” in means “character that has been proved.” The sequence is: tribulation—patience—proven character—hope. Our English word “tribulation” comes from a Latin word tribulum. In Paul’s day, a tribulum was a heavy piece of timber with spikes in it, used for threshing the grain. The tribulum was drawn over the grain and it separated the wheat from the chaff. As we go through tribulations, and depend on God’s grace, the trials only purify us and help to get rid of the chaff.
God’s love within (vv. ). “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick” (). But as we wait for this hope to be fulfilled, the love of God is “poured out into our hearts” (literal translation). Note how the first three of the “fruit of the Spirit” are experienced: love (), joy (), and peace (). Before we were saved, God proved His love by sending Christ to die for us. Now that we are His children, surely He will love us more. It is the inner experience of this love through the Spirit that sustains us as we go through tribulations.
For many months I visited a young man in a hospital who had almost burned to death. I do not know how many operations and skin grafts he had during those months, or how many specialists visited him. But the thing that sustained him during those difficult months was not the explanations of the doctors but the promises they gave him that he would recover. That was his hope. And the thing that sustained his hope was the love of his family and many friends as they stood by him. The love of God was channeled through them to him. He did recover and today gives glory to God.
Faith (), hope (), and love () all combine to give the believer patience in the trials of life. And patience makes it possible for the believer to grow in character and become a mature child of God ().
Salvation from future wrath (vv. ). Paul argued from the lesser to the greater. If God saved us when we were enemies, surely He will keep on saving us now that we are His children. There is a “wrath to come,” but no true believer will experience it (; ). Paul further argued that if Christ’s death accomplished so much for us, how much more will He do for us in His life as He intercedes for us in heaven! “Saved by His life” refers to : “raised again for [on account of] our justification.” Because He lives, we are eternally saved ().
A will is of no effect until the death of the one who wrote it. Then an executor takes over and sees to it that the will is obeyed and the inheritance distributed. But suppose the executor is unscrupulous and wants to get the inheritance for himself? He may figure out many devious ways to circumvent the law and steal the inheritance.
Jesus Christ wrote us into His will, and He wrote the will with His blood. “This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you” (). He died so that the will would be in force; but then He arose from the dead and returned to heaven that He might enforce the will Himself and distribute the inheritance. Thus, we are “saved by His life.”
Reconciliation with God (v. ). The word atonement means “reconciliation, brought back into fellowship with God.” The term is mentioned also in . In , Paul explained how men declared war on God and, because of this, deserved to be condemned eternally. But God did not declare war on man. Instead, He sent His Son as the Peacemaker () that men might be reconciled to God.
A review of these seven blessings of justification shows how certain our salvation is in Christ. Totally apart from Law, and purely by grace, we have a salvation that takes care of the past, the present, and the future. Christ died for us; Christ lives for us; Christ is coming for us! Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
The Basis of Our Justification ()
How is it possible for God to save sinners in the person of Jesus Christ? We understand that somehow Christ took our place on the cross, but how was such a substitution possible?
Paul answered the question in this section, and these verses are the very heart of the letter. To understand these verses a few general truths about this section need to be understood. First, note the repetition of the little word one. It is used eleven times. The key idea here is our identification with Adam and with Christ. Second, note the repetition of the word reign which is used five times. Paul saw two men—Adam and Christ—each of them reigning over a kingdom. Finally, note that the phrase much more is repeated five times. This means that in Jesus Christ we have gained much more than we ever lost in Adam!
In short, this section is a contrast of Adam and Christ. Adam was given dominion over the old creation, he sinned, and he lost his kingdom. Because of Adam’s sin, all mankind is under condemnation and death. Christ came as the King over a new creation (). By His obedience on the cross, He brought in righteousness and justification. Christ not only undid all the damage that Adam’s sin effected, but He accomplished “much more” by making us the very sons of God. Some of this “much more” Paul has already explained in .
Skeptics sometimes ask, “Was it fair for God to condemn the whole world just because of one man’s disobedience?” The answer, of course, is that it was not only fair; but it was also wise and gracious. To begin with, if God had tested each human being individually, the result would have been the same: disobedience. But even more important, by condemning the human race through one man (Adam), God was then able to save the human race through one Man (Jesus Christ)! Each of us is racially united to Adam, so that his deed affects us. (See for an example of this racial headship.) The fallen angels cannot be saved because they are not a race. They sinned individually and were judged individually. There can be no representative to take their judgment for them and save them. But because you and I were lost in Adam, our racial head, we can be saved in Christ, the Head of the new creation. God’s plan was both gracious and wise.
Our final question must be answered: how do we know that we are racially united to Adam? The answer is in , and the argument runs like this: We know that all men die. But death is the result of disobeying the Law. There was no Law from Adam to Moses, but men still died. A general result demands a general cause. What is that cause? It can be only one thing: the disobedience of Adam. When Adam sinned, he ultimately died. All of his descendants died (Gen. 5), yet the Law had not yet been given. Conclusion: they died because of Adam’s sin. “For that all have sinned” () means “all have sinned in Adam’s sin.” Men do not die because of their own acts of sin; otherwise, babies would not die (). Men die because they are united racially to Adam, and “in Adam all men die” ().
Having understood these general truths about the passage, we may now examine the contrasts that Paul gives between Adam and Christ and between Adam’s sin and Christ’s act of obedience on the cross.
Adam’s offense is contrasted with Christ’s free gift (v. ). Because of Adam’s trespass, many died; because of Christ’s obedience the grace of God abounds to many bringing life. The word “many” (literally “the many”) means the same as “all men” in and . Note the “much more”; for the grace of Christ brings not only physical life, but also spiritual life and abundant life. Christ did conquer death and one day will raise the bodies of all who have died “in Christ.” If He stopped there, He would only reverse the effects of Adam’s sin; but He went on to do “much more.” He gives eternal life abundantly to all who trust Him ().
The effect of Adam’s sin is contrasted with the effect of Christ’s obedience (v. ). Adam’s sin brought judgment and condemnation; but Christ’s work on the cross brings justification. When Adam sinned, he was declared unrighteous and condemned. When a sinner trusts Christ, he is justified—declared righteous in Christ.
The two “reigns” are contrasted (v. ). Because of Adam’s disobedience, death reigned. Read the “book of the generations of Adam” in Genesis 5, and note the solemn repetition of the phrase “and he died.” In , Paul argued that men did not die “from Adam to Moses” for the same reason that Adam died—breaking a revealed law of God—for the Law had not yet been given. “The wages of sin is death” (). Because sin was reigning in men’s lives (), death was also reigning (, ).
But in Jesus Christ we enter a new kingdom: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (). “Therefore being justified by faith” we are declared righteous, we have peace with God, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Note that it is we who reign! “Much more they … shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” In Adam we lost our kingship, but in Jesus Christ we reign as kings. And we reign “much more”! Our spiritual reign is far greater than Adam’s earthly reign, for we share “abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness” ().
The two “one acts” are contrasted (vv. ). Adam did not have to commit a series of sins. In one act God tested Adam, and he failed. It is termed an “offense” and an act of “disobedience.” The word offense means “trespass—crossing over the line.” God told Adam how far he could go, and Adam decided to go beyond the appointed limit. “Of every tree of the Garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die” ().
In contrast to “the trespass of one” is “the righteousness of one,” meaning the righteous work of Christ on the cross. In Paul calls it “the obedience of One” (see ). Christ’s sacrifice on the cross not only made possible “justification,” but also “justification of life” (italics mine). Justification is not merely a legal term that describes our position before God (“just as if I’d never sinned”); but it results in a certain kind of life. “Justification of life” in is parallel to “be made righteous” in . In other words, our justification is the result of a living union with Christ. And this union ought to result in a new kind of life, a righteous life of obedience to God. Our union with Adam made us sinners; our union with Christ enables us to “reign in life.”
Law and grace are contrasted (vv. ). “Then Law crept in” (WMS); or, “Then the Law came in beside” (literal translation). Grace was not an addition to God’s plan; grace was a part of God’s plan from the very beginning. God dealt with Adam and Eve in grace; He dealt with the patriarchs in grace; and He dealt with the nation of Israel in grace. He gave the Law through Moses, not to replace His grace, but to reveal man’s need for grace. Law was temporary, but grace is eternal.
But as the Law made man’s sins increase, God’s grace abounded even more. God’s grace was more than adequate to deal with man’s sins. Even though sin and death still reign in this world, God’s grace is also reigning through the righteousness of Christ. The Christian’s body is subject to death and his old nature tempts him to sin; but in Jesus Christ, he can “reign in life” because he is a part of the gracious kingdom of Christ.
An Old Testament story helps us understand the conflict between these two “reigns” in the world today. God rejected Saul as the king of Israel, and anointed David. Those who trusted David eventually shared his kingdom of peace and joy. Those who trusted Saul ended in shame and defeat.
Like David, Jesus Christ is God’s anointed King. Like Saul, Satan is still free to work in this world and seek to win men’s allegiance. Sin and death are reigning in the “old creation” over which Adam was the head, but grace and righteousness are reigning in “the new creation” over which Christ is the Head. And as we yield to Him, we “reign in life.”
In , Adam is called “the figure of Him that was to come.” Adam was a type, or picture, of Jesus Christ. Adam came from the earth, but Jesus is the Lord from heaven (). Adam was tested in a Garden, surrounded by beauty and love; Jesus was tempted in a wilderness, and He died on a cruel cross surrounded by hatred and ugliness. Adam was a thief, and was cast out of Paradise; but Jesus Christ turned to a thief and said, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise” (). The Old Testament is “the book of the generations of Adam” () and it ends with “a curse” (). The New Testament is “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ” () and it ends with “no more curse” ().
You cannot help being “in Adam,” for this came by your first birth over which you had no control. But you can help staying “in Adam,” for you can experience a second birth—a new birth from above—that will put you “in Christ.” This is why Jesus said, “Ye must be born again” ().
Romans 6
During a court session, an attorney will often rise to his feet and say, “Your Honor, I object!” Some of the Roman Christians must have felt like objecting as they heard Paul’s letter being read, and Paul seemed to anticipate their thinking. In Romans 6–8 Paul defended his doctrine of justification by faith. He anticipated three objections: (1) “If God’s grace abounds when we sin, then let’s continue sinning so we might experience more grace” (); (2) “If we are no longer under the Law, then we are free to live as we please” (Rom. 6:15–7:6); and (3) “You have made God’s Law sinful” ().
These objections prove that the readers did not understand either Law or grace. They were going to extremes: legalism on the one hand and license on the other. So as Paul defended justification he also explained sanctification. He told how we can live lives of victory (Rom. 6), liberty (Rom. 7), and security (Rom. 8). He explained our relationship to the flesh, the Law, and the Holy Spirit. In Romans 6, Paul gave three instructions for attaining victory over sin.
The repetition of the word “know” in , , and indicates that Paul wanted us to understand a basic doctrine. Christian living depends on Christian learning; duty is always founded on doctrine. If Satan can keep a Christian ignorant, he can keep him impotent.
The basic truth Paul was teaching is the believer’s identification with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. Just as we are identified with Adam in sin and condemnation, so we are now identified with Christ in righteousness and justification. At , Paul made a transition from discussing “sins” to discussing “sin”—from the actions to the principle, from the fruit to the root. Jesus Christ not only died for our sins, but He also died unto sin, and we died with Him. Perhaps a chart will explain the contrasts better.
Romans 3:21–5:21
Romans 6–8
Substitution: He died for me
Identification: I died with Him
He died for my sins
He died unto sin
He paid sin’s penalty
He broke sin’s power
Justification: righteousness
Sanctification: righteousness
imputed (put to my account)
imparted (made a part of my life)
Saved by His death
Saved by His life
In other words, justification by faith is not simply a legal matter between me and God; it is a living relationship. It is “a justification which brings life” (, literal translation). I am in Christ and identified with Him. Therefore, whatever happened to Christ has happened to me. When He died, I died. When He arose, I arose in Him. I am now seated with Him in the heavenlies! (see ; ) Because of this living union with Christ, the believer has a totally new relationship to sin.
He is dead to sin (vv. ). Paul’s illustration is baptism. The Greek word has two basic meanings: (1) a literal meaning—to dip or immerse; and (2) a figurative meaning—to be identified with. An example of the latter would be : “And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” The nation of Israel was identified with Moses as their leader when they crossed the Red Sea.
It appears that Paul had both the literal and the figurative in mind in this paragraph, for he used the readers’ experience of water baptism to remind them of their identification with Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. To be “baptized into Jesus Christ” () is the same as “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (). There is a difference between water baptism and the baptism of the Spirit (). When a sinner trusts Christ, he is immediately born into the family of God and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. A good illustration of this is the household of Cornelius when they heard Peter preach (). When these people believed on Christ, they immediately received the Holy Spirit. After that, they were baptized. Peter’s words, “Whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins” gave to them the promise that they needed. They believed—and they were saved!
Historians agree that the mode of baptism in the early church was immersion. The believer was “buried” in the water and brought up again as a picture of death, burial, and resurrection. Baptism by immersion (which is the illustration Paul is using in Rom. 6) pictures the believer’s identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. It is an outward symbol of an inward experience. Paul is not saying that their immersion in water put them “into Jesus Christ,” for that was accomplished by the Spirit when they believed. Their immersion was a picture of what the Spirit did: the Holy Spirit identified them with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
This means that the believer has a new relationship to sin. He is “dead to sin.” “I am crucified with Christ” (). If a drunk dies, he can no longer be tempted by alcohol because his body is dead to all physical senses. He cannot see the alcohol, smell it, taste it, or desire it. In Jesus Christ we have died to sin so that we no longer want to “continue in sin.” But we are not only dead to sin; we are also alive in Christ. We have been raised from the dead and now walk in the power of His resurrection. We walk in “newness of life” because we share His life. “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live” ().
This tremendous spiritual truth is illustrated in the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11). When Jesus arrived at Bethany, Lazarus had been in the tomb four days; so there was no question about his death. By the power of His word (“Lazarus, come forth!”) Jesus raised His friend from the dead. But when Lazarus appeared at the door of the tomb, he was wrapped in graveclothes. So Jesus commanded, “Loose him, and let him go!” He had been raised to walk “in newness of life.” In John 12, Lazarus was seated with Christ at the table, in fellowship with Him. Dead—raised from the dead—set free to walk in newness of life—seated with Christ: all of these facts illustrate the spiritual truths of our identification with Christ as given in .
Too many Christians are “betweeners”: they live between Egypt and Canaan, saved but never satisfied; or they live between Good Friday and Easter, believing in the Cross but not entering into the power and glory of the Resurrection. indicates that our union with Christ assures our future resurrection should we die. But teaches that we share His resurrection power today. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above … For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (, , NIV).
It is clear, then, that the believer cannot deliberately live in sin since he has a new relationship to sin because of his identification with Christ. The believer has died to the old life; he has been raised to enjoy a new life. The believer does not want to go back into sin any more than Lazarus wanted to go back into the tomb dressed again in his graveclothes! Then Paul introduced a second fact:
He should not serve sin (vv. ). Sin is a terrible master, and it finds a willing servant in the human body. The body is not sinful; the body is neutral. It can be controlled either by sin or by God. But man’s fallen nature, which is not changed at conversion, gives sin a beachhead from which it can attack and then control. Paul expressed the problem: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” ().
A tremendous fact is introduced here: the old man (the old ego, self) was crucified with Christ so that the body need not be controlled by sin. The word “destroyed” in does not mean annihilated; it means “rendered inactive, made of no effect.” The same Greek word is translated “loosed” in . If a woman’s husband dies, she is “loosed” from the law of her husband and is free to marry again. There is a change in relationship. The law is still there, but it has no authority over the woman because her husband is dead.
Sin wants to be our master. It finds a foothold in the old nature, and through the old nature seeks to control the members of the body. But in Jesus Christ, we died to sin; and the old nature was crucified so that the old life is rendered inoperative. Paul was not describing an experience; he was stating a fact. The practical experience was to come later. It is a fact of history that Jesus Christ died on the cross. It is also a fact of history that the believer died with Him; and “he that is dead is freed from sin” (). Not “free to sin” as Paul’s accusers falsely stated; but “freed from sin.”
Sin and death have no dominion over Christ. We are “in Christ”; therefore, sin and death have no dominion over us. Jesus Christ not only died “for sin,” but He also died “unto sin.” That is, He not only paid the penalty for sin, but He broke the power of sin. This idea of dominion takes us back to where Paul dealt with the “reigns” of sin, death, and grace. Through Christ we “reign in life” () so that sin no longer controls our lives.
The big question now is, “I believe the facts of history; but how do I make this work in daily experience?” This leads to Paul’s second instruction.
In some parts of the United States, “to reckon” means “to think” or “to guess.” “I reckon” is also the equivalent of “I suppose.” But none of these popular meanings can apply to this verse. The word reckon is a translation of a Greek word that is used forty-one times in the New Testament—nineteen times in Romans alone. It appears in Romans 4 where it is translated as “count, reckon, impute.” It means “to take into account, to calculate, to estimate.” The word impute—“to put to one’s account”—is perhaps the best translation.
To reckon means “to put to one’s account.” It simply means to believe that what God says in His Word is really true in your life.
Paul didn’t tell his readers to feel as if they were dead to sin, or even to understand it fully, but to act on God’s Word and claim it for themselves. Reckoning is a matter of faith that issues in action. It is like endorsing a check: if we really believe that the money is in the checking account, we will sign our name and collect the money. Reckoning is not claiming a promise, but acting on a fact. God does not command us to become dead to sin. He tells us that we are dead to sin and alive unto God, and then commands us to act on it. Even if we do not act on it, the facts are still true.
Paul’s first instruction (“know”) centered in the mind, and this second instruction (“reckon”) focuses on the heart. His third instruction touches the will.
The word yield is found five times in this section (, , and ), and means “to place at one’s disposal, to present, to offer as a sacrifice.” According to , the believer’s body should be presented to the Lord as “a living sacrifice” for His glory. The Old Testament sacrifices were dead sacrifices. The Lord may ask some of us to die for Him, but He asks all of us to live for Him.
How we are to yield (vv. ). This is an act of the will based on the knowledge we have of what Christ has done for us. It is an intelligent act—not the impulsive decision of the moment based on some emotional stirring. It is important to notice the tenses of the verbs in these verses. A literal translation is: “Do not constantly allow sin to reign in your mortal body so that you are constantly obeying its lusts. Neither constantly yield your members of your body as weapons [or tools] of unrighteousness to sin; but once and for all yield yourselves to God.” That once-and-for-all surrender is described in .
There must be in the believer’s life that final and complete surrender of the body to Jesus Christ. This does not mean there will be no further steps of surrender, because there will be. The longer we walk with Christ, the deeper the fellowship must become. But there can be no subsequent steps without that first step. The tense of the verb in corresponds with that in —a once-and-for-all yielding to the Lord. To be sure, we daily surrender afresh to Him; but even that is based on a final and complete surrender.
Why does the Lord want your body? To begin with, the believer’s body is God’s temple, and He wants to use it for His glory (; ). But Paul wrote that the body is also God’s tool and God’s weapon (). God wants to use the members of the body as tools for building His kingdom and weapons for fighting His enemies.
The Bible tells of people who permitted God to take and use their bodies for the fulfilling of His purposes. God used the rod in Moses’ hand and conquered Egypt. He used the sling in David’s hand to defeat the Philistines. He used the mouths and tongues of the prophets. Paul’s dedicated feet carried him from city to city as he proclaimed the Gospel. The Apostle John’s eyes saw visions of the future, his ears heard God’s message, and his fingers wrote it all down in a book that we can read.
But you can also read in the Bible accounts of the members of the body being used for sinful purposes. David’s eyes looked on his neighbor’s wife; his mind plotted a wicked scheme; his hand signed a cowardly order for the woman’s husband to be killed. As you read Psalm 51, you see that his whole body was affected by sin: his eyes (), mind (), ears (), heart (), and lips and mouth (). No wonder he prayed for a thorough cleansing! ()
Why we are to yield (vv. ). Three words summarize the reasons for our yielding: favor (), freedom (), and fruit ().
Favor (vv. ). It is because of God’s grace that we yield ourselves to Him. Paul has proved that we are not saved by the Law and that we do not live under the Law. The fact that we are saved by grace does not give us an excuse to sin; but it does give us a reason to obey. Sin and Law go together. “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the Law” (). Since we are not under Law, but under grace, sin is robbed of its strength.
Freedom (vv. ). The illustration of the master and servant is obvious. Whatever you yield to becomes your master. Before you were saved, you were the slave of sin. Now that you belong to Christ, you are freed from that old slavery and made the servant of Christ. suggests that the Christian ought to be as enthusiastic in yielding to the Lord as he was in yielding to sin. A friend once said to me, “I want to be as good a saint as I was a sinner!” I knew what he meant because in his unconverted days he was almost “the chief of sinners.”
The unsaved person is free—free from righteousness (). But his bondage to sin only leads him deeper into slavery so that it becomes harder and harder to do what is right. The Prodigal Son is an example of this (). When he was at home, he decided he wanted his freedom, so he left home to find himself and enjoy himself. But his rebellion only led him deeper into slavery. He was the slave of wrong desires, then the slave of wrong deeds; and finally he became a literal slave when he took care of the pigs. He wanted to find himself, but he lost himself! What he thought was freedom turned out to be the worst kind of slavery. It was only when he returned home and yielded to his father that he found true freedom.
Fruit (vv. ). If you serve a master, you can expect to receive wages. Sin pays wages—death! God also pays wages—holiness and everlasting life. In the old life, we produced fruit that made us ashamed. In the new life in Christ, we produce fruit that glorifies God and brings joy to our lives. We usually apply to the lost, and certainly it does apply; but it also has a warning for the saved. (After all, it was written to Christians.) “There is a sin unto death” (). “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep” (, NASB). Samson, for example, would not yield himself to God, but preferred to yield to the lusts of the flesh, and the result was death (Judg. 16). If the believer refuses to surrender his body to the Lord, but uses its members for sinful purposes, then he is in danger of being disciplined by the Father, and this could mean death. (See , and note the end of v. in particular.)
These three instructions need to be heeded each day that we live. KNOW that you have been crucified with Christ and are dead to sin. RECKON this fact to be true in your own life. YIELD your body to the Lord to be used for His glory.
Now that you KNOW these truths, RECKON them to be true in your life, and then YIELD yourself to God.
Romans 7
Something in human nature makes us want to go to extremes, a weakness from which Christians are not wholly free. “Since we are saved by grace,” some argue, “we are free to live as we please,” which is the extreme of license.
“But we cannot ignore God’s Law,” others argue. “We are saved by grace, to be sure; but we must live under Law if we are to please God.” This is the extreme expression of legalism.
Paul answered the first group in Romans 6; the second group he answered in Romans 7. The word law is used twenty-three times in this chapter. In Romans 6, Paul told us how to stop doing bad things; in Romans 7 he told how not to do good things. “You were not justified by keeping the Law,” he argued, “and you cannot be sanctified by keeping the Law.”
Every growing Christian understands the experience of Romans 6 and 7. Once we learn how to “know, reckon, and yield,” we start getting victory over the habits of the flesh, and we feel we are becoming more spiritual. We set high standards and ideals for ourselves and for a while seem to attain them. Then everything collapses! We start to see deeper into our own hearts and we discover sins that we did not know were there. God’s holy Law takes on a new power, and we wonder if we can ever do anything good! Without realizing it, we have moved into “legalism” and have learned the truth about sin, the Law, and ourselves.
What really is “legalism”? It is the belief that I can become holy and please God by obeying laws. It is measuring spirituality by a list of do’s and don’ts. The weakness of legalism is that it sees sins (plural) but not sin (the root of the trouble). It judges by the outward and not the inward. Furthermore, the legalist fails to understand the real purpose of God’s Law and the relationship between Law and grace.
In my pastoral experience, I have counseled many people who have suffered severe emotional and spiritual damage because they have tried to live holy lives on the basis of a high standard. I have seen the consequences of these attempts: either the person becomes a pretender, or he suffers a complete collapse and abandons his desires for godly living. I have seen too that many legalists are extremely hard on other people—critical, unloving, unforgiving. Paul wanted to spare his readers this difficult and dangerous experience. In Romans 7, he discussed three topics, which, if understood and applied, will deliver us from legalism.
These verses actually continue the discussion that Paul began in , answering the question, “Shall we sin because we are not under the Law, but under grace?” He used the illustration of a master and servant to explain how the Christian should yield himself to God. In this passage he used the illustration of a husband and wife to show that the believer has a new relationship to the Law because of his union with Jesus Christ.
The illustration is a simple one, but it has a profound application. When a man and woman marry, they are united for life. Marriage is a physical union (“They two shall be one flesh” ) and can only be broken by a physical cause. One such cause is death. (; indicate that unfaithfulness also breaks the marriage bond, but Paul does not bring this up. He is not discussing marriage and divorce; he is using marriage to illustrate a point.)
As long as they live, the husband and wife are under the authority of the law of marriage. If the woman leaves the man and marries another man, she commits adultery. But if the husband dies, she is free to remarry because she is no longer a wife. It is death that has broken the marriage relationship and set her free.
Paul’s application in clinches the argument. He states two marvelous facts that explain the believer’s relationship to the Law.
We died to the Law (vv. ). It appears that Paul has confused his illustration, but he has not. When we were unsaved (“in the flesh,” ), we were under the authority of God’s Law. We were condemned by that Law. When we trusted Christ and were united to Him, we died to the Law just as we died to the flesh (). The Law did not die; we died.
But in Paul’s illustration from marriage, it was the husband who died and the wife who married again. If you and I are represented by the wife, and the Law is represented by the husband, then the application does not follow the illustration. If the wife died in the illustration, the only way she could marry again would be to come back from the dead. But that is exactly what Paul wants to teach! When we trusted Christ, we died to the Law; but in Christ, we arose from the dead and now are “married” (united) to Christ to live a new kind of life!
The Law did not die, because God’s Law still rules over men. We died to the Law, and it no longer has dominion over us. But we are not “lawless”; we are united to Christ, sharing His life, and thus walking “in newness of life.” climaxes the argument: “That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” In the old life of sin, we brought forth fruit “unto death,” but in the new life of grace, we “bring forth fruit unto God.” To be “dead to the Law” does not mean that we lead lawless lives. It simply means that the motivation and dynamic of our lives does not come from the Law: it comes from God’s grace through our union with Christ.
We are delivered from Law (v. ). This is the logical conclusion: the Law cannot exercise authority over a dead person. The Authorized Version reads as though the Law died; but Paul wrote, “We having died to that wherein we were held.” Death means deliverance (note ). But we were delivered that we might serve. The Christian life is not one of independence and rebellion. We died to the Law that we might be “married to Christ.” We were delivered from the Law that we might serve Christ. This truth refutes the false accusation that Paul taught lawlessness.
What is different about Christian service as opposed to our old life of sin? To begin with, the Holy Spirit of God energizes us as we seek to obey and serve the Lord. (The word spirit ought to be capitalized in —“newness of Spirit.”) Under Law, no enablement was given. God’s commandments were written on stones and read to the people. But under grace, God’s Word is written in our hearts (). We “walk in newness of life” () and serve “in newness of Spirit.” The believer, then, is no longer under the authority of the Law.
Paul’s objectors were ready! “What good is the Law if we don’t need it anymore? Why, a teaching such as yours turns the Law into sin!” In answering that objection, Paul explained the ministries of the Law, ministries that function even today.
The Law reveals sin (v. ). “By the Law is the knowledge of sin” (). “Where no Law is, there is no transgression” (). The Law is a mirror that reveals the inner man and shows us how dirty we are (). Note that Paul did not use murder, stealing, or adultery in his discussion; he uses coveting. This is the last of the Ten Commandments, and it differs from the other nine in that it is an inward attitude, not an outward action. Covetousness leads to the breaking of the other commandments! It is an insidious sin that most people never recognize in their own lives, but God’s Law reveals it.
The rich ruler in is a good example of the use of the Law to reveal sin and show a man his need for a Saviour. The young man was very moral outwardly, but he had never faced the sins within. Jesus did not tell him about the Law because the Law would save him; He told him about the Law because the young man did not realize his own sinfulness. True, he had never committed adultery, robbed anyone, given false witness, or dishonored his parents; but what about covetousness? When Jesus told him to sell his goods and give to the poor, the man went away in great sorrow. The commandment, “Thou shalt not covet,” had revealed to him what a sinner he really was! Instead of admitting his sin, he rejected Christ and went away unconverted.
The Law arouses sin (vv. ). Since Paul was a devout Pharisee, seeking to obey the Law before his conversion, it is easier to understand these verses. (Read and Gal. 1 for other autobiographical data on Paul’s relationship to the Law in his unconverted days.) Keep in mind too that “the strength of sin is the Law” (). Since we have a sinful nature, the Law is bound to arouse that nature the way a magnet draws steel.
Something in human nature wants to rebel whenever a law is given. I was standing in Lincoln Park in Chicago, looking at the newly painted benches; and I noticed a sign on each bench: “Do Not Touch.” As I watched, I saw numbers of people deliberately reach out and touch the wet paint! Why? Because the sign told them not to! Instruct a child not to go near the water, and that is the very thing he will do! Why? “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” ().
Believers who try to live by rules and regulations discover that their legalistic system only arouses more sin and creates more problems. The churches in Galatia were very legalistic, and they experienced all kinds of trouble. “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another” (). Their legalism did not make them more spiritual; it made them more sinful! Why? Because the Law arouses sin in our nature.
The Law kills (vv. ). “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law” (). But the Law cannot give life: it can only show the sinner that he is guilty and condemned. This explains why legalistic Christians and churches do not grow and bear spiritual fruit. They are living by Law, and the Law always kills. Few things are more dead than an orthodox church that is proud of its “high standards” and tries to live up to them in its own energy. Often the members of such a church start to judge and condemn one another, and the sad result is a church fight and then a church split that leaves members—or former members—angry and bitter.
As the new Christian grows, he comes into contact with various philosophies of the Christian life. He can read books, attend seminars, listen to tapes, and get a great deal of information. If he is not careful, he will start following a human leader and accept his teachings as Law. This practice is a very subtle form of legalism, and it kills spiritual growth. No human teacher can take the place of Christ; no book can take the place of the Bible. Men can give us information, but only the Spirit can give us illumination and help us understand spiritual truths. The Spirit enlightens us and enables us; no human leader can do that.
The Law shows the sinfulness of sin (vv. ). Unsaved people know that there is such a thing as sin; but they do not realize the sinfulness of sin. Many Christians do not realize the true nature of sin. We excuse our sins with words like “mistakes” or “weaknesses”; but God condemns our sins and tries to get us to see that they are “exceedingly sinful.” Until we realize how wicked sin really is, we will never want to oppose it and live in victory.
Paul’s argument here is tremendous: (1) the Law is not sinful—it is holy, just, and good; (2) but the Law reveals sin, arouses sin, and then uses sin to slay us; if something as good as the Law accomplishes these results, then something is radically wrong somewhere; (3) conclusion: see how sinful sin is when it can use something good like the Law to produce such tragic results. Sin is indeed “exceedingly sinful.” The problem is not with the Law; the problem is with my sinful nature. This prepares the way for the third topic in this chapter.
Having explained what the Law is supposed to do, Paul now explains what the Law cannot do.
The Law cannot change you (v. ). The character of the Law is described in four words: holy, just, good, and spiritual. That the Law is holy and just, nobody can deny, because it came from the holy God who is perfectly just in all that He says and does. The Law is good. It reveals God’s holiness to us and helps us to see our need for a Saviour.
What does it mean that the Law is “spiritual”? It means that the Law deals with the inner man, the spiritual part of man, as well as with the outer actions. In the original giving of the Law in Exodus, the emphasis was on the outward actions. But when Moses restated the Law in Deuteronomy, he emphasized the inner quality of the Law as it relates to man’s heart. This spiritual emphasis is stated clearly in . The repetition of the word “love” in Deuteronomy also shows that the deeper interpretation of the Law relates to the inner man (; ; ; ; , , ).
Our nature is carnal (fleshly); but the Law’s nature is spiritual. This explains why the old nature responds as it does to the Law. It has well been said, “The old nature knows no Law, the new nature needs no Law.” The Law cannot transform the old nature; it can only reveal how sinful that old nature is. The believer who tries to live under Law will only activate the old nature; he will not eradicate it.
The Law cannot enable you to do good (vv. ). Three times in this passage Paul stated that sin dwells in us (, , ). He was referring, of course, to the old nature. It is also true that the Holy Spirit dwells in us; and in Romans 8, Paul explained how the Spirit of God enables us to live in victory, something the Law cannot help us do.
The many pronouns in this section indicate that the writer is having a problem with self. This is not to say that the Christian is a split personality, because he is not. Salvation makes a man whole. But it does indicate that the believer’s mind, will, and body can be controlled either by the old nature or the new nature, either by the flesh or the Spirit. The statements here indicate that the believer has two serious problems: (1) he cannot do the good he wants to do, and (2) he does the evil that he does not want to do.
Does this mean that Paul could not stop himself from breaking God’s Law, that he was a liar and thief and murderer? Of course not! Paul was saying that of himself he could not obey God’s Law; and that even when he did, evil was still present with him. No matter what he did, his deeds were tainted by sin. Even after he had done his best, he had to admit that he was “an unprofitable servant” (). “So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (, NIV). This, of course, is a different problem from that in Romans 6. The problem there was, “How can I stop doing bad things?” while the problem here is, “How can I ever do anything good?”
The legalist says, “Obey the Law and you will do good and live a good life.” But the Law only reveals and arouses sin, showing how sinful it is! It is impossible for me to obey the Law because I have a sinful nature that rebels against the Law. Even if I think I have done good, I know that evil is present. The Law is good, but by nature, I am bad! So, the legalist is wrong: the Law cannot enable us to do good.
The Law cannot set you free (vv. ). The believer has an old nature that wants to keep him in bondage; “I will get free from these old sins!” the Christian says to himself. “I determine here and now that I will not do this any longer.” What happens? He exerts all his willpower and energy, and for a time succeeds; but then when he least expects it, he falls again. Why? Because he tried to overcome his old nature with Law, and the Law cannot deliver us from the old nature. When you move under the Law, you are only making the old nature stronger; because “the strength of sin is the Law” (). Instead of being a dynamo that gives us power to overcome, the Law is a magnet that draws out of us all kinds of sin and corruption. The inward man may delight in the Law of God (), but the old nature delights in breaking the Law of God. No wonder the believer under Law becomes tired and discouraged, and eventually gives up! He is a captive, and his condition is “wretched.” (The Greek word indicates a person who is exhausted after a battle.) What could be more wretched than exerting all your energy to try to live a good life, only to discover that the best you do is still not good enough!
Is there any deliverance? Of course! “I thank God that there is Someone who shall deliver me—Jesus Christ our Lord!” Because the believer is united to Christ, he is dead to the Law and no longer under its authority. But he is alive to God and able to draw on the power of the Holy Spirit. The explanation of this victory is given in Romans 8.
The final sentence in the chapter does not teach that the believer lives a divided life: sinning with his flesh but serving God with his mind. This would mean that his body was being used in two different ways at the same time, and this is impossible. The believer realizes that there is a struggle within him between the flesh and the Spirit (), but he knows that one or the other must be in control.
By “the mind” Paul meant “the inward man” () as opposed to “the flesh” (). He amplified this thought in . The old nature cannot do anything good. Everything the Bible says about the old nature is negative: “no good thing” (); “the flesh profiteth nothing” (); “no confidence in the flesh” (). If we depend on the energy of the flesh, we cannot serve God, please God, or do any good thing. But if we yield to the Holy Spirit, then we have the power needed to obey His will. The flesh will never serve the Law of God because the flesh is at war with God. But the Spirit can only obey the Law of God! Therefore, the secret of doing good is to yield to the Holy Spirit.
Paul hinted at this in the early verses of this chapter when he wrote, “That we should bring forth fruit unto God” (). Just as we are dead to the old nature, so we are dead to the Law. But we are united to Christ and alive in Christ, and therefore can bring forth fruit unto God. It is our union with Christ that enables us to serve God acceptably. “For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (). That solved Paul’s problem in : “For to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”
The old nature knows no law and the new nature needs no law. Legalism makes a believer wretched because it grieves the new nature and aggravates the old nature! The legalist becomes a Pharisee whose outward actions are acceptable, but whose inward attitudes are despicable. No wonder Jesus called them “whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (). How wretched can you get!
The best is yet to come! Romans 8 explains the work of the Holy Spirit in overcoming the bad and producing the good.
Romans 8
On January 6, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed Congress on the state of the war in Europe. Much of what he said that day has been forgotten. But at the close of his address, he said that he looked forward “to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.” He named them: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. These words are still remembered, even though their ideals have not yet been realized everywhere in the world.
Romans 8 is the Christian’s “Declaration of Freedom,” for in it Paul declares the four spiritual freedoms we enjoy because of our union with Jesus Christ. A study of this chapter shows the emphasis on the Holy Spirit, who is mentioned nineteen times. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” ().
Freedom from Judgment-No Condemnation ()
shows the “therefore” of condemnation; but gives the “therefore” of no condemnation—a tremendous truth and the conclusion of a marvelous argument. (The words “who walk not … etc.” do not belong here according to the best manuscripts. There are no conditions for us to meet.) The basis for this wonderful assurance is the phrase “in Christ Jesus.” In Adam, we were condemned. In Christ, there is no condemnation!
The verse does not say “no mistakes” or “no failures,” or even “no sins.” Christians do fail and make mistakes, and they do sin. Abraham lied about his wife; David committed adultery; Peter tried to kill a man with his sword. To be sure, they suffered consequences because of their sins, but they did not suffer condemnation.
The Law condemns; but the believer has a new relationship to the Law, and therefore he cannot be condemned. Paul made three statements about the believer and the Law, and together they add up to: no condemnation.
The Law cannot claim you (v. ). You have been made free from the law of sin and death. You now have life in the Spirit. You have moved into a whole new sphere of life in Christ. “The law of sin and death” is what Paul described in . “The law of the Spirit of life” is described in Romans 8. The Law no longer has any jurisdiction over you: you are dead to the Law () and free from the Law ().
The Law cannot condemn you (v. ). Why? Because Christ has already suffered that condemnation for you on the cross. The Law could not save; it can only condemn. But God sent His Son to save us and do what the Law could not do. Jesus did not come as an angel; He came as a man. He did not come “in sinful flesh,” for that would have made Him a sinner. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, as a man. He bore our sins in His body on the cross.
The “law of double jeopardy” states that a man cannot be tried twice for the same crime. Since Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sins, and since you are “in Christ,” God will not condemn you.
The Law cannot control you (v. ). The believer lives a righteous life, not in the power of the Law, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Law does not have the power to produce holiness; it can only reveal and condemn sin. But the indwelling Holy Spirit enables you to walk in obedience to God’s will. The righteousness that God demands in His Law is fulfilled in you through the Spirit’s power. In the Holy Spirit, you have life and liberty () and “the pursuit of happiness” ().
The legalist tries to obey God in his own strength and fails to measure up to the righteousness that God demands. The Spirit-led Christian, as he yields to the Lord, experiences the sanctifying work of the Spirit in his life. “For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (). It is this fact that leads to the second freedom we enjoy as Christians.
Freedom from Defeat-No Obligation ()
“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh” (). There is no obligation to the old nature. The believer can live in victory. In this section, Paul described life on three different levels; and he encouraged his readers to live on the highest level.
“You have not the Spirit” (vv. ). Paul is not describing two kinds of Christians, one carnal and one spiritual. He is contrasting the saved and the unsaved. There are four contrasts.
In the flesh—in the Spirit (v. ). The unsaved person does not have the Spirit of God () and lives in the flesh and for the flesh. His mind is centered on the things that satisfy the flesh. But the Christian has the Spirit of God within and lives in an entirely new and different sphere. His mind is fixed on the things of the Spirit. This does not mean that the unsaved person never does anything good, or that the believer never does anything bad. It means that the bent of their lives is different. One lives for the flesh, the other lives for the Spirit.
Death—life (v. ). The unsaved person is alive physically, but dead spiritually. The inner man is dead toward God and does not respond to the things of the Spirit. He may be moral, and even religious; but he lacks spiritual life. He needs “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” ().
War with God—peace with God (vv. ). In our study of Romans 7, we have seen that the old nature rebels against God and will not submit to God’s Law. Those who have trusted Christ enjoy “peace with God” (), while the unsaved are at war with God. “ ‘There is no peace,’ saith the Lord, ‘unto the wicked’ ” ().
Pleasing self—pleasing God (v. ). To be “in the flesh” means to be lost, outside Christ. The unsaved person lives to please himself and rarely if ever thinks about pleasing God. The root of sin is selfishness—“I will” and not “Thy will.”
To be unsaved and not have the Spirit is the lowest level of life. But a person need not stay on that level. By faith in Christ he can move to the second level.
“You have the Spirit” (vv. ). “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you” (). The evidence of conversion is the presence of the Holy Spirit within, witnessing that you are a child of God (). Your body becomes the very temple of the Holy Spirit (). Even though the body is destined to die because of sin (unless, of course, the Lord returns), the Spirit gives life to that body today so that we may serve God. If we should die, the body will one day be raised from the dead, because the Holy Spirit has sealed each believer ().
What a difference it makes in your body when the Holy Spirit lives within. You experience new life, and even your physical faculties take on a new dimension of experience. When evangelist D.L. Moody described his conversion experience, he said: “I was in a new world. The next morning the sun shone brighter and the birds sang sweeter … the old elms waved their branches for joy, and all nature was at peace.” Life in Christ is abundant life.
But there is a third level of experience for which the other two are preparation.
“The Spirit has you!” (vv. ) It is not enough for us to have the Spirit; the Spirit must have us! Only then can He share with us the abundant, victorious life that can be ours in Christ. We have no obligation to the flesh, because the flesh has only brought trouble into our lives. We do have an obligation to the Holy Spirit, for it is the Spirit who convicted us, revealed Christ to us, and imparted eternal life to us when we trusted Christ. Because He is “the Spirit of Life,” He can empower us to obey Christ, and He can enable us to be more like Christ.
But He is also the Spirit of death. He can enable us to “put to death” (mortify) the sinful deeds of the body. As we yield the members of our body to the Spirit (), He applies to us and in us the death and resurrection of Christ. He puts to death the things of the flesh, and He reproduces the things of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is also “the Spirit of adoption” (). The word adoption in the New Testament means “being placed as an adult son.” We come into God’s family by birth. But the instant we are born into the family, God adopts us and gives us the position of an adult son. A baby cannot walk, speak, make decisions, or draw on the family wealth. But the believer can do all of these the instant he is born again.
He can walk and be “led of the Spirit” (). The verb here means “willingly led.” We yield to the Spirit, and He guides us by His Word day by day. We are not under bondage to Law and afraid to act. We have the liberty of the Spirit and are free to follow Christ. The believer can also speak: “We cry, Abba, Father” (). Would it not be amazing if a newborn baby looked up and greeted his father! First, the Spirit says, “Abba, Father” to us (), and then we say it to God. (“Abba” means “papa”—a term of endearment.)
A baby cannot sign checks, but the child of God by faith can draw on his spiritual wealth because he is an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ (). The Spirit teaches us from the Word, and then we receive God’s wealth by faith. What a thrilling thing it is to have “the Spirit of adoption” at work in our lives!
There is no need for the believer to be defeated. He can yield his body to the Spirit and by faith overcome the old nature. The Spirit of life will empower him. The Spirit of death will enable him to overcome the flesh. And the Spirit of adoption will enrich him and lead him into the will of God.
Freedom from Discouragement-No Frustration ()
Paul in this section dealt with the very real problem of suffering and pain. Perhaps the best way to understand this section is to note the three “groans” that are discussed.
Creation groans (vv. ). When God finished His Creation, it was a good Creation (); but today it is a groaning Creation. There is suffering and death; there is pain, all of which is, of course, the result of Adam’s sin. It is not the fault of creation. Note the words that Paul used to describe the plight of creation: suffering (), vanity (), bondage (), decay (), and pain (). However, this groaning is not a useless thing: Paul compared it to a woman in travail. There is pain, but the pain will end when the child is delivered. One day creation will be delivered, and the groaning creation will become a glorious creation! The believer does not focus on today’s sufferings; he looks forward to tomorrow’s glory (; ). Today’s groaning bondage will be exchanged for tomorrow’s glorious liberty!
We believers groan (vv. ). The reason we groan is because we have experienced “the firstfruits of the Spirit,” a foretaste of the glory to come. Just as the nation of Israel tasted the firstfruits of Canaan when the spies returned (), so we Christians have tasted of the blessings of heaven through the ministry of the Spirit. This makes us want to see the Lord, receive a new body, and live with Him and serve Him forever. We are waiting for “the adoption,” which is the redemption of the body when Christ returns (). This is the thrilling climax to “the adoption” that took place at conversion when “the Spirit of adoption” gave us an adult standing in God’s family. When Christ returns, we shall enter into our full inheritance.
Meanwhile, we wait and hope. “For we are saved by that hope” (, literal translation). What hope? “That blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (). The best is yet to come! The believer does not get frustrated as he sees and experiences suffering and pain in this world. He knows that the temporary suffering will one day give way to eternal glory.
The Holy Spirit groans (vv. ). God is concerned about the trials of His people. When He was ministering on earth, Jesus groaned when He saw what sin was doing to mankind (; , ). Today the Holy Spirit groans with us and feels the burdens of our weaknesses and suffering. But the Spirit does more than groan. He prays for us in His groaning so that we might be led into the will of God. We do not always know God’s will. We do not always know how to pray, but the Spirit intercedes so that we might live in the will of God in spite of suffering. The Spirit “shares the burden.”
The believer never need faint in times of suffering and trial because he knows that God is at work in the world (), and that He has a perfect plan (). God has two purposes in that plan: our good and His glory. Ultimately, He will make us like Jesus Christ! Best of all, God’s plan is going to succeed! It started in eternity past when He chose us in Christ (). He predetermined that one day we would be like His Son. Predestination applies only to saved people. Nowhere are we taught that God predestines people to be eternally condemned. If they are condemned, it is because of their refusal to trust Christ (). Those whom He chose, He called (see ); when they responded to His call, He justified them, and He also glorified them. This means that the believer has already been glorified in Christ (); the revelation of this glory awaits the coming of the Lord ().
How can we Christians ever be discouraged and frustrated when we already share the glory of God? Our suffering today only guarantees that much more glory when Jesus Christ returns!
Freedom from Fear-No Separation ()
There is no condemnation because we share the righteousness of God and the Law cannot condemn us. There is no obligation because we have the Spirit of God who enables us to overcome the flesh and live for God. There is no frustration because we share the glory of God, the blessed hope of Christ’s return. There is no separation because we experience the love of God: “What shall separate us from the love of Christ?” ()
The emphasis in this final section is on the security of the believer. We do not need to fear the past, present, or future because we are secure in the love of Christ. Paul presented five arguments to prove that there could be no separation between the believer and the Lord.
God is for us (v. ). The Father is for us and proved it by giving His Son (). The Son is for us () and so is the Spirit (). God is making all things work for us (). In His person and His providence, God is for us. Sometimes, like Jacob, we lament, “All these things are against me” (), when actually everything is working for us. The conclusion is obvious: “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
The believer needs to enter into each new day realizing that God is for him. There is no need to fear, for his loving Father desires only the best for His children, even if they must go through trials to receive His best. “ ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope’ ” (, NASB).
Christ died for us (v. ). The argument here is from the lesser to the greater. If when we were sinners, God gave us His best, now that we are God’s children, will He not give us all that we need? Jesus used this same argument when He tried to convince people that it was foolish to worry and fear. God cares for the birds and sheep, and even for the lilies; surely He will care for you! God is dealing with His own on the basis of Calvary grace, not on the basis of Law. God freely gives all things to His own!
God has justified us (v. ). This means that He has declared us righteous in Christ. Satan would like to accuse us (; ), but we stand righteous in Jesus Christ. We are God’s elect—chosen in Christ and accepted in Christ. God will certainly not accuse us since it is He who has justified us. For Him to accuse us would mean that His salvation was a failure and we are still in our sins.
Understanding the meaning of justification brings peace to our hearts. When God declares the believing sinner righteous in Christ, that declaration never changes. Our Christian experience changes from day to day, but justification never changes. We may accuse ourselves, and men may accuse us; but God will never take us to court and accuse us. Jesus has already paid the penalty and we are secure in Him.
Christ intercedes for us (v. ). A dual intercession keeps the believer secure in Christ: the Spirit intercedes () and the Son of God intercedes (). The same Saviour who died for us is now interceding for us in heaven. As our High Priest, He can give us the grace we need to overcome temptation and defeat the enemy (). As our Advocate, He can forgive our sins and restore our fellowship with God (1 John 1:9–2:2). Intercession means that Jesus Christ represents us before the throne of God and we do not have to represent ourselves.
Paul hinted at this ministry of intercession in . We are not only saved by His death, but we are also saved by His life. “Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (, NIV). Peter sinned against the Lord, but he was forgiven and restored to fellowship because of Jesus Christ. “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has asked permission to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed especially for you that your own faith may not utterly fail” (, WMS). He is interceding for each of us, a ministry that assures us that we are secure.
Christ loves us (vv. ). In Paul proved that God cannot fail us, but is it possible that we can fail Him? Suppose some great trial or temptation comes, and we fail? Then what? Paul deals with that problem in this final section and explains that nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ.
To begin with, God does not shelter us from the difficulties of life because we need them for our spiritual growth (). In God assures us that the difficulties of life are working for us and not against us. God permits trials to come that we might use them for our good and His glory. We endure trials for His sake (), and since we do, do you think that He will desert us? Of course not! Instead, He is closer to us when we go through the difficulties of life.
Furthermore, He gives us the power to conquer (). We are “more than conquerors,” literally, “we are superconquerors” through Jesus Christ! He gives us victory and more victory! We need not fear life or death, things present or things to come, because Jesus Christ loves us and gives us the victory. This is not a promise with conditions attached: “If you do this, God will do that.” This security in Christ is an established fact, and we claim it for ourselves because we are in Christ. Nothing can separate you from His love! Believe it—and rejoice in it!
A review of this wonderful chapter shows that the Christian is completely victorious. We are free from judgment because Christ died for us and we have His righteousness. We are free from defeat because Christ lives in us by His Spirit and we share His life. We are free from discouragement because Christ is coming for us and we shall share His glory. We are free from fear because Christ intercedes for us and we cannot be separated from His love.
No condemnation! No obligation! No frustration! No separation!
If God be for us, who can be against us!
Romans 9
It seems strange that Paul would interrupt his discussion of salvation and devote a long section of three chapters to the nation of Israel. Why didn’t he move from the doctrinal teaching of Romans 8 to the practical duties given in Romans 12–15? A careful study of Romans 9–11 reveals that this section is not an interruption at all; it is a necessary part of Paul’s argument for justification by faith.
To begin with, Paul was considered a traitor to the Jewish nation. He ministered to Gentiles and he taught freedom from the Law of Moses. He had preached in many synagogues and caused trouble, and no doubt many of the Jewish believers in Rome had heard of his questionable reputation. In these chapters, Paul showed his love for Israel and his desire for their welfare. This is the personal reason for this discussion.
But there was a doctrinal reason. Paul had argued in Romans 8 that the believer is secure in Jesus Christ and that God’s election would stand (). But someone might ask, “What about the Jews? They were chosen by God, and yet now you tell us they are set aside and God is building His church. Did God fail to keep His promises to Israel?” In other words, the very character of God was at stake. If God was not faithful to the Jews, how do we know He will be faithful to the church?
The emphasis in Romans 9 is on Israel’s past election, in Romans 10 on Israel’s present rejection, and in Romans 11 on Israel’s future restoration. Israel is the only nation in the world with a complete history—past, present, and future. In Romans 9, Paul defended the character of God by showing that Israel’s past history actually magnified the attributes of God. He specifically named four attributes of God: His faithfulness (), righteousness (), justice (), and grace (). You will note that these divisions correspond with Paul’s three questions: “Is there unrighteousness with God?” () “Why doth He find fault?” () and “What shall we say then?” ()
It is remarkable how Paul moved from the joy of Romans 8 into the sorrow and burden of Romans 9. When he looked at Christ, he rejoiced; but when he looked at the lost people of Israel, he wept. Like Moses (), he was willing to be cursed and separated from Christ if it would mean the salvation of Israel. What a man this Paul was! He was willing to stay out of heaven for the sake of the saved (), and willing to go to hell for the sake of the lost.
His theme was God’s election of Israel; and the first thing he dealt with was the blessing of their election (). Israel was adopted by God as His own people (). He gave them His glory in the tabernacle and the temple (; ). The glory Moses beheld on Mount Sinai came to dwell with Israel (). God gave Israel His covenants, the first to Abraham, and then additional covenants to Moses and to David. He also gave them His Law to govern their political, social, and religious life, and to guarantee His blessing if they obeyed. He gave them “the service of God,” referring to the ministry in the tabernacle and the temple. He gave them the promises and the patriarchs (“the fathers” in ). The purpose of all of this blessing was that Jesus Christ, through Israel, might come into the world. (Note that affirms that Jesus Christ is God.) All of these blessings were given freely to Israel and to no other nation.
But in spite of these blessings, Israel failed. When the Messiah appeared, Israel rejected Him and crucified Him. No one knew this better than Paul, because in his early days he had persecuted the church. Does Israel’s failure mean that God’s Word has failed? (The Greek word translated “taken none effect” pictures a ship going off its course.) The answer is, “No! God is faithful no matter what men may do with His Word.” Here Paul explains the basis for Israel’s election.
It was not of natural descent (vv. ). As we saw in , there is a difference between the natural seed of Abraham and the spiritual children of Abraham. Abraham actually had two sons, Ishmael (by Hagar) and Isaac (by Sarah). Since Ishmael was the firstborn, he should have been chosen, but it was Isaac that God chose. Isaac and Rebecca had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. As the firstborn, Esau should have been chosen, but it was Jacob that God chose. And Esau and Jacob had the same father and mother, unlike Ishmael and Isaac who had the same father but different mothers. God did not base His election on the physical. Therefore, if the nation of Israel—Abraham’s physical descendants—has rejected God’s Word, this does not nullify God’s elective purposes at all.
It is not of human merit (vv. ). God chose Jacob before the babies were born. The two boys had done neither good nor evil, so God’s choice was not based on their character or conduct. is a reference to and refers to nations (Israel and Edom) and not individual sinners. God does not hate sinners. makes it clear that He loves sinners. The statement here has to do with national election, not individual. Since God’s election of Israel does not depend on human merit, their disobedience cannot nullify the elective purposes of God. God is faithful even though His people are unfaithful.
The fact that God chose one and not the other seems to indicate that He is unrighteous. “Is there unrighteousness with God?” Paul asked; and then he replied, “God forbid!” It is unthinkable that the holy God should ever commit an unrighteous act. Election is always totally a matter of grace. If God acted only on the basis of righteousness, nobody would ever be saved. Paul quoted to show that God’s mercy and compassion are extended according to God’s will and not man’s will. All of us deserve condemnation—not mercy. The reference in Exodus 33 deals with Israel’s idolatry while Moses was on the mount receiving the Law. The whole nation deserved to be destroyed, yet God killed only 3,000 people—not because they were more wicked or less godly, but purely because of His grace and mercy.
Paul then quoted , using Pharaoh as an illustration. Moses was a Jew, Pharaoh was a Gentile; yet both were sinners. In fact, both were murderers! Both saw God’s wonders. Yet Moses was saved and Pharaoh was lost. God raised up Pharaoh that He might reveal His glory and power; and He had mercy on Moses that He might use him to deliver the people of Israel. Pharaoh was a ruler, and Moses was a slave; yet it was Moses who experienced the mercy and compassion of God—because God willed it that way. God is sovereign in His work and acts according to His own will and purposes. So it was not a matter of righteousness but of the sovereign will of God.
God is holy and must punish sin; but God is loving and desires to save sinners. If everybody is saved, it would deny His holiness; but if everybody is lost, it would deny His love. The solution to the problem is God’s sovereign election.
A seminary professor once said to me, “Try to explain election, and you may lose your mind; but explain it away and you will lose your soul!”
God chose Israel and condemned Egypt, because this was His sovereign purpose. Nobody can condemn God for the way He extends His mercy, because God is righteous.
Before leaving this section, we need to discuss the “hardening” of Pharaoh (). This hardening process is referred to at least fifteen times in Exodus 7–14. Sometimes we are told that Pharaoh hardened his heart (, , ), and other times that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (; , , ). By declaring His Word and revealing His power, God gave Pharaoh opportunity to repent; but instead, Pharaoh resisted God and hardened his heart. The fault lay not with God but Pharaoh. The same sunlight that melts the ice also hardens the clay. God was not unrighteous in His dealings with Pharaoh because He gave him many opportunities to repent and believe.
But this fact of God’s sovereign will only seems to create a new problem. “If God is sovereign, then who can resist Him? And if one does resist Him, what right does He have to judge?” It is the age-old question of the justice of God as He works in human history.
I recall sharing in a street meeting in Chicago and passing out tracts at the corner of Madison and Kedzie. Most of the people graciously accepted the tracts, but one man took the tract and with a snarl crumpled it up and threw it in the gutter. The name of the tract was “Four Things God Wants You to Know.”
“There are a few things I would like God to know!” the man said. “Why is there so much sorrow and tragedy in this world? Why do the innocent suffer while the rich go free? Bah! Don’t tell me there’s a God! If there is, then God is the biggest sinner that ever lived!” And he turned away with a sneer and was lost in the crowd.
We know that God by nature is perfectly just. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” () It is unthinkable that God would will an unjust purpose or perform an unjust act. But at times it seems that He does just that. He had mercy on Moses but condemned Pharaoh. Is this just? He elected Israel and rejected the other nations. Is this just? Paul gives three answers to this charge.
Who are we to argue with God? (vv. ) This is a logical argument. God is the Potter and we are the clay. God is wiser than we are and we are foolish to question His will or to resist it. (The reference here is to .) To be sure, the clay has no life and is passive in the potter’s hand. We have feelings, intellect, and willpower, and we can resist Him if we choose. (See Jer. 18 where this thought is developed.) But it is God who determines whether a man will be a Moses or a Pharaoh. Neither Moses, nor Pharaoh, nor anyone else, could choose his parents, his genetic structure, or his time and place of birth. We have to believe that these matters are in the hands of God.
However, this does not excuse us from responsibility. Pharaoh had great opportunities to learn about the true God and trust Him, and yet he chose to rebel. Paul did not develop this aspect of truth because his theme was divine sovereignty, not human responsibility. The one does not deny the other, even though our finite minds may not fully grasp them both.
God has His purposes (vv. ). We must never think that God enjoyed watching a tyrant like Pharaoh. He endured it. God said to Moses, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people … and have heard their cry … for I know their sorrows” (). The fact that God was long-suffering indicates that He gave Pharaoh opportunities to be saved (see ). The word “fitted” in does not suggest that God made Pharaoh a “vessel of wrath.” The verb is in what the Greek grammarians call the middle voice, making it a reflexive action verb. So, it should read: “fitted himself for destruction.” God prepares men for glory (), but sinners prepare themselves for judgment. In Moses and Israel God revealed the riches of His mercy; in Pharaoh and Egypt He revealed His power and wrath. Since neither deserved any mercy, God cannot be charged with injustice.
Ultimately, of course, God’s purpose was to form His church from both Jews and Gentiles (). Believers today are, by God’s grace, “vessels of mercy” which He is preparing for glory, a truth that reminds us of .
All of this was prophesied (vv. ). First Paul quoted , a statement declaring that God would turn from the Jews and call the Gentiles. Then he cited to prove that this new people being called would be God’s people and “children of the living God.” He then quoted to show that only a remnant of Israel would be saved, while the greater part of the nation would suffer judgment. probably refers to God’s work of judgment during the Tribulation, when the nation of Israel will be persecuted and judged, and only a small remnant left to enter into the kingdom when Jesus Christ returns to earth. But the application for today is clear: only a remnant of Jews is believing; and they, together with the Gentiles, are the “called of God” (). The final quotation from emphasized the grace of God in sparing the believing remnant.
Now, what does all of this prove? That God was not unjust in saving some and judging others, because He was only fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies given centuries ago. He would be unjust if He did not keep His own Word. But even more than that, these prophecies show that God’s election has made possible the salvation of the Gentiles. This is the grace of God. At the Exodus, God rejected the Gentiles and chose the Jews, so that, through the Jews, He might save the Gentiles. The nation of Israel rejected His will, but this did not defeat His purposes. A remnant of Jews does believe and God’s Word has been fulfilled.
So far, Paul had defended the character of God by showing His faithfulness, His righteousness, and His justice. Israel’s rejection had not canceled God’s election; it had only proved that He was true to His character and His purposes.
Paul moved next from divine sovereignty to human responsibility. Note that Paul did not say “elect” and “nonelect,” but rather emphasized faith. Here is a paradox: the Jews sought for righteousness but did not find it, while the Gentiles, who were not searching for it, found it! The reason? Israel tried to be saved by works and not by faith. They rejected “grace righteousness” and tried to please God with “Law righteousness.” The Jews thought that the Gentiles had to come up to Israel’s level to be saved; when actually the Jews had to go down to the level of the Gentiles to be saved. “For there is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (). Instead of permitting their religious privileges () to lead them to Christ, they used these privileges as a substitute for Christ.
But see the grace of God: Israel’s rejection means the Gentiles’ salvation! Paul’s final quotation was from . It referred to Christ, God’s Stone of salvation (see ). God gave Christ to be a Foundation Stone, but Israel rejected Him and He became a stumbling stone. Instead of “rising” on this Stone, Israel fell (); but, as we shall see, their fall made possible the salvation of the Gentiles by the grace of God.
We need to decide what kind of righteousness we are seeking, whether we are depending on good works and character, or trusting Christ alone for salvation. God does not save people on the basis of birth or behavior. He saves them “by grace, through faith” (). It is not a question of whether or not we are among God’s elect. That is a mystery known only to God. He offers us His salvation by faith. The offer is made to “whosoever will” (). After we have trusted Christ, then we have the witness and evidence that we are among His elect (; ). But first we must trust Him and receive by faith His righteousness which alone can guarantee heaven.
No one will deny that there are many mysteries connected with divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Nowhere does God ask us to choose between these two truths, because they both come from God and are a part of God’s plan. They do not compete; they cooperate. The fact that we cannot fully understand how they work together does not deny the fact that they do. When a man asked Charles Spurgeon how he reconciled divine sovereignty and human responsibility, Spurgeon replied: “I never try to reconcile friends!”
But the main thrust of this chapter is clear: Israel’s rejection of Christ does not deny the faithfulness of God. Romans 9 does not negate Romans 8. God is still faithful, righteous, just, and gracious, and He can be depended on to accomplish His purposes and keep His promises.