Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Letter to the Romans -- Chapter 11

Having established that God alone is capable of working faith in man for the sake of Christ Jesus, Paul continues on: “I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me’? And what was God's answer to him? ‘I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:1-6). Even in the face of the appeal of His prophet Elijah, God refused to reject His chosen people and graciously decided that despite their continued rebellion, disobedience, obstinacy, and rejection that He would reserve for Himself a remnant. As Paul says, this remnant was and is chosen completely by grace, meaning that it is completely apart from any work, doing, willing, effort, seeking, or choosing of Israel.

Paul continues: “What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written: ‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.’ And David says: ‘May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever’” (Romans 11:7-10). Thru Israel God has chosen to illustrate His sovereignty, providence, mercy, and grace. Though Israel fought earnestly to attain righteousness they failed where God’s chosen elect received it apart from any seeking at all. God handed them over to their hardened hearts and thru this illustrates that simply “hearing” the Word of Christ and truly hearing the Word of Christ are far different. One is the effort of impotent man, while the other is the work of God’s Spirit within the hearts of men. “Unless Yahweh builds the house, its builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). Though Israel “heard” the Word, they did not truly hear. In their sinfulness they were blinded and deafened and incapable of responding to the Word in their own seeking and striving.

In the face of this seemingly bleak proclamation Paul continues on, asking the hard question of whether God has completely abandoned His chosen people: “Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!” (Romans 11:11-12). In the wake of telling us that God had given His people over to blind eyes, deaf ears, and hardened hearts, Paul proclaims the will and purposes of God in doing this. God willingly sacrificed His own chosen people in order to be gracious to the entire world by setting them up as an “example” for all to see. By taking His chosen people and holding them up for all to see, God mercifully reached out His gracious arm of salvation to all the nations of the world. In this God has made known the riches of His grace and mercy, declaring that all of the efforts of man are only a hindrance to salvation. In order to teach us that everything we do is fruitless and impotent, God has held up Israel as the example, bearing witness to the futility of their earnest seeking; all of their best efforts only resulted in disobedience, idolatry, and rejection time and time again. God broke them down with His law before the whole world so that we, the Gentiles, might see our utter wickedness and inability before God and not follow the dead-end path of self-righteousness of obstinate Israel. God has held up His chosen people before us to illustrate His perfect law and subsequently has held up His Son, Jesus Christ, to display His gospel (which alone is capable of drawing men to God) throughout all the world. Thru His law He too causes us to stumble and breaks us down of all of our vain seeking and willing, so that He may build us up with His gospel message of Jesus Christ. God has not abandoned Israel permanently however, but He is using His grace towards the Gentiles as a way to rouse them from their hardened hearts and once again build them up in the grace of His Son, the promised Messiah and Anointed One of God. The prophet Jeremiah said it best as he described God’s plan with His chosen people that mirrors our individual paths before God’s harsh law and ever-comforting gospel: “Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 31:28). Thru Israel we are meant to see that God’s law and anger is only against us in order to break us of self (to show us our impotence) and to prepare us for His compassion, mercy, kindness, and grace in Jesus Christ our Lord. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you…Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed” (Isaiah 54:7-8, 10).

After having illustrated the purposes of God thru His people Israel, Paul continues on by telling us that what he has been saying hasn’t been just for His own people but has been in fact been to teach us, the Gentiles. “I am talking to you Gentiles” (Romans 11:13). Even though the topic has been Israel we must understand that the true Israel exists not as a natural blood line, but as those who share in the same faith of Abraham. Thru God’s working in the Old Testament and old covenant nation of Israel He is ultimately speaking to all men. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. If their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you” (Romans 11:13-18). Paul is first and foremost talking to us Gentiles (since he was called as the Apostle to the Gentiles), but he also prays and hopes that thru his preaching to us that his own people (the old covenant nation of Israel) will eventually be aroused to faith. Thru Israel’s rejection of God, God demonstrated His grace and mercy by bringing reconciliation to the whole world thru His Son. In the nation of Israel we see that Israel’s rejection of God caused them to be broken off and in place of them we, the Gentiles, were grafted in. We however must be careful not to boast over the loss of Israel, for it was nothing from us that caused God to graft us in, but it was purely His grace thru Jesus Christ. It is thru the root that the branches get their nourishment and life, and so also we only have life in Jesus Christ, our root and vine. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned” (John 15:5-6). Apart from Christ we can do nothing and it is because of Him and His Word, that He has given us, that we have been grafted onto the root that supports us. “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you” (John 15:3).

Paul continues on: “You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.’ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either” (Romans 11:19-21). In these strong words of admonition Paul is eager to point us away from any boasting and arrogance of self. In the face of these truths our sinful flesh is always eager to grasp at straws and claim that we ourselves are the reason we are now grafted onto the root and are in Christ Jesus. Paul however tells us very plainly that we should be afraid (yes, we need to be wary!) to stand on anything from ourselves because that is what His chosen people did and they were indeed broken off because of it. Unbelief is at its core a failure to rely on God alone and His completed work in Jesus Christ, while true faith never looks to anything from “me” but always and only to the gracious work of God. The most dangerous place that this unbelief rears its ugly head is in the false teaching of “free will.” In the lie of “free will” man is deceived into looking at himself as the reason he is on the vine and root and thereby he is in reality already cut off because of this unbelief and lack of reliance on Christ alone. This is the very thing Paul is warning us to be afraid of. We can only boast in the Lord, which means that we can only stand on what He has done, because we ourselves can do nothing but fall and fail. To say that we are grafted on the root because of our own choice, freedom, or willing is to walk the same road of disaster that Israel plummeted down. If God did not spare His own people in their arrogance and self-righteousness, He certainly will not spare us. We do not stand on our own will, we stand by faith on Jesus Christ and His calling. It is because of God’s promise in the gospel and His washing of us in Baptism for the sake of Jesus Christ that our hearts have been transformed thru the Spirit so that we are now His precious children: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

In response to this Paul points us to the beautiful balance of law and gospel, imploring us to daily consider the sternness of God (His law) and His kindness (His gospel of Jesus Christ) so that we can remain strong in the faith He has given us and stay the course until life everlasting. “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off” (Romans 11:22). If we look to anything of our own we will pit ourselves against the sternness of God, but if we avail ourselves and despair of all ability of our own, clinging solely to what God has given to us in the manger, the cross, and the empty tomb, then we will by grace continue in God’s immeasurable kindness.

After this reminder Paul goes on to explain God’s plan to save Israel: “And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins’” (Romans 11:23-27). If Israel is turned back to belief and faith in Christ they will once again be grafted in by God’s work in their hearts. We ourselves were grafted into Christ despite the fact that we were completely helpless sinners and enemies of God, therefore Israel, the very chosen people of God, shall be grafted back in when their hearts are transformed. God has hardened them until the full number of Gentiles has come into His fold, and when the time is right He will once again melt their hearts and save the entire remnant He has chosen. “My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh” (Jeremiah 24:6-7). In the face of this though we must be careful not to despise God’s chosen people or be arrogant towards them. They are indeed our enemies as far as the gospel is concerned (since they currently oppose it and fight against it), but we must continue to love and respect them on account of God’s promise and election which are unchangeable and irrevocable. “As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29).

In summary Paul goes on to once again touch on what he is teaching us thru Israel: “Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all” (Romans 11:30-32). God gave Israel over to their disobedience, self-righteousness, and “free will” which rejected Him time and time again in order that His mercy and grace might be illustrated in Jesus Christ. By showing thru and in Israel that all the efforts and seeking of man is in empty and fruitless vain, God has destroyed all possibility of self-righteousness and has instead chosen to have mercy on us for the sake of His Son. God bound us all over to disobedience so that we would fail hopelessly in all the works of our own hands and then desperately fall onto the work of His hands that was done for us in the manger, cross, and empty tomb.

Here then in his conclusion on the teaching of God’s providence, election, and predestination, Paul proclaims that ultimately all these teachings are the unfathomable mysteries of God that we must simply accept on faith and at His Word in Jesus Christ. God is God for a reason and His ways are above and beyond our ways and our petty attempts to put Him in a box of our own making: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Romans 11:33-36). It is completely and only because of God’s work that we are even in Christ; He is the one who has graciously, mercifully, and compassionately chosen and called us in the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. We dare not boast in or about anything from “me” but we are always bold to boast in and about what God has done for us so undeservedly in Jesus Christ crucified:
“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Letter to the Romans -- Chapter 10

After having firmly declared the providence and sovereignty of God, who alone chooses whom to harden and whom to have mercy upon, Paul continues on to explain how the people of Israel illustrate this truth and how the righteousness by faith plays into it. “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:1-4). Though the Israelites were zealous for God, Paul rightly saw how no amount of zealousness and striving could get them anywhere with Him. They were zealous in vain as they strove to establish their own righteousness, failing to see the righteousness that comes from God alone and apart from anything of man. If we ourselves continue to look to our own actions, decisions, choices, “free-will”, and merits then we too are refusing to submit to God’s righteousness in Christ Jesus. Christ is the end of all self-righteousness and all man-achieved, activated, and instigated righteousness, as all men share in His righteousness thru simple faith which believes that He has already done it all.

Paul continues on to compare and contrast the law and the gospel: “Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: ‘The man who does these things will live by them’” (Romans 10:5). The righteousness that is by the law, by the doing and willing of man, is a righteousness that hinges on the efforts of men. It is any righteousness that is in the hands of man and is determined by him; if man is the agent then it is a righteousness by the law no matter how we try to veil it otherwise. In contrast Paul goes on to explain the righteousness by faith: “But the righteousness that is by faith says: ‘Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’’ (that is, to bring Christ down) ‘or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)” (Romans 10:6-7). Here we see that the righteousness by faith does not look to the individual and try to judge whether they have willed their way to ascend into heaven or to descend into hell. The righteousness that is by faith does not concern itself with what “I have done,” with what “you have done,” or even what choices we have made. The righteousness by faith also does not try to determine who is elected, predestined, and chosen by God, for it sees that this is a fruitless endeavor and question that only drives men away from the manger, cross, and empty tomb of Jesus Christ.

So what does the righteousness by faith say? “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:8-10). The righteousness by faith simply says: “Forget whether you think you have been elected or not. Forget any possibility of being righteous thru your own deeds, actions, choices, merits, decisions, or willing. Simply look to the manger, the cross, and the empty tomb, look to the gospel of Jesus Christ that is being proclaimed to you here and now. The good news that He has already died for your sins and has saved and forgiven you thru His blood on the cross. Cling to this with every fiber of your being. He is your righteousness now. He is your election. He is your predestination. You (specifically you!) have been chosen in Jesus Christ apart from anything from your self and solely because of God’s immeasurable grace and mercy for the sake of His Son.” As we see here the righteousness by faith never points to man and it always relentlessly points to Jesus Christ crucified. If men point you to something in you for your salvation, whether some prayer, decision, choice, willing, or working, close your ears off to them and get back to tunnel-vision for Christ. The righteousness by faith never even points us to our own faith, it points us to the cross. If we think too long about faith it will become our focus and we will lose Christ who alone needs to be our focus. So often in America today men preach faith, faith, faith, and forget that faith is not the point, it is Jesus Christ who is the point. CFW Walther understood very well that we must not lose Christ amidst all our “faith” talk: “A preacher must be able to preach a sermon on faith without ever using the term faith. It is not important that he shout the word faith into the ears of his audience, but it is necessary for him to frame his address so as to arouse in every poor sinner the desire to lay the burden of his sins at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ…You must instruct him to do nothing but listen to the Word of God, and God will give him faith.” Therefore the righteousness by faith doesn’t focus on faith, it focuses on what Jesus Christ has done for us in His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, thereby bringing men (whether they are conscious of it or not) to faith and trust in God’s promise given to us there. “As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:11-13). Yes, God alone chooses whom to have mercy upon and we are nothing but helpless clay in His hands who can do nothing good on our own, however for the sake of His Son, God has destroyed all difference between us so that we all may share in the blessings of Jesus Christ. Thru His Son we all have been bought and forgiven and it takes the Word of this promise to bring men to faith in this work of Christ.

Therefore we must ask with Paul: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:14-15). Here Paul touches on how the universal grace of Jesus Christ, the predestination of the elect, and the fact that not all men are saved, come together in the one truth of the Scriptures. The key that holds all these truths together in Christ Jesus is what is called the “means of grace.” God has chosen to attach His blessings in Christ to His external Word. He has chosen the humble means of His Word and promise as the vehicle to reach us sinful men with the good news. Therefore, how can men believe in Christ if they have not heard the message? How can they share in the death and resurrection of Christ if they have not been baptized into the Trinity? How can anyone be reached with these means of grace if men are not called and sent to preach? With Paul we answer humbly, “Indeed, they cannot.” Though Christ died for all men, if they don’t hear about it they cannot be brought to faith, and therefore God has called us to be His workers and harvesters. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:2-3). God has sent us into the world to bring His Word and His Baptism to the nations so that they may hear and be touched by the Good News in order to be brought to share in its universal blessings! “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you’” (Matthew 28:18-20). It is in these words of Christ that we have been given the command to take His Word and Baptism to all nations in order to make disciples of all nations, creeds, walks, ethnicities, ages, abilities, and backgrounds. This is our duty to bring this message of reconciliation to the world so that thru this message God might bring men to Christ. God is indeed calling us to be His harvesters and thru His Word we also are fed daily by this message of reconciliation that strengthens and sustains us in the promise of God. “Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again…All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 18-21).

Having taught us that the Word of God in all its forms is the means by which God brings us and appropriates to us His grace, Paul continues to discuss the difficult questions that arise when we look at Israel, God’s chosen people. “But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:16-17). Paul once again reiterates that it is only thru the Word of Christ that men are brought to faith; it is not their work, decision, choice, or will, it is the Word itself that creates faith and therefore apart from the Word there can be no faith. All the Israelites however have not accepted the good news of Christ and this begs the immediate question of whether Israel ever heard the Word. “But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: ‘Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world’” (Romans 10:18). Here Paul clearly shows from the Scriptures that the message and Word of Christ has indeed gone into all the earth and has reached the ends of the world. So if the Word has gone forth to them all, then our next logical question is whether they understood the message that came to them: “Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, ‘I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.’ And Isaiah boldly says, ‘I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me’” (Romans 10:19-20). Here Paul even debunks the possibility that Israel misunderstood the message of Jesus Christ. He clearly shows from the Scriptures that Israel in fact did understand the message by contrasting the Gentiles to them. God chose to reveal Himself to those who did not understand and who did not seek, desire, or ask for Him, therefore He revealed Himself to the ignorant Gentiles who did not have the understanding that Israel did.

Paul continues: “But concerning Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people’” (Romans 10:21). Even in the face of hearing the Word and understanding its message Israel was still disobedient and obstinate. It is here that we come to see what Paul is really getting at with this line of questioning: all the efforts, desires, willing, choosing, decisions, hearing, seeking, and even understanding of men cannot create faith within him or bring him in right standing with God. Even though God’s own chosen people had been given the Word, they were powerless to respond to it. Even though God’s own chosen people understood the message proclaimed to them, they were futile in laying hold of it. Even though God had patiently pleaded for them to come to Him and to turn away from their sin, they did nothing but fall into idolatry over and over again. Thru Israel we see that no matter how hard we strive to bring ourselves to faith or to lay hold of God it is impossible for man. With the disciples we desperately ask: “Who then can be saved?” (Luke 18:26), and Christ replies once and for all: “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27). God Himself must be the agent and worker by which we come to faith. God has chosen to reveal Himself to those who did not seek, ask, or desire in order to illustrate this very point that what is impossible for us men, God alone can do.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Letter to the Romans -- Chapter 9

After concluding the first 8 chapters of his letter to the Romans Paul makes a very distinct change and break in his discussion. His general dissertation on the law and gospel in Jesus Christ, as the Scriptures proclaim it, is complete and he moves on to much tougher and more difficult issues. These issues of the providence and sovereignty of God and His predestination and election must be looked at in the light of the law and gospel that was proclaimed by Paul before this. It is only thru Jesus Christ, who suffered, died, and rose again for our sakes, that we can begin to grasp what Paul endeavors to teach us here and to find the comfort that is intended here for the mature in faith. In the end we must always remember to stay focused on the grace that has been given us in the manger, cross, and empty tomb as we delve into these revealed mysteries of God’s will. To understand these hard mysteries to come we must be rooted in Jesus Christ and how God and His will is truly only seen in Him. Without Jesus Christ as the center of election, predestination, and sovereignty we will only create a false god of our reason and rationalizing. Therefore Paul prefaces what he is saying by reassuring us that he is speaking and writing under the inspiration and carrying along of the Holy Spirit: “I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 9:1). What Paul is telling us and teaching is nothing but God’s Word. It is in fact not Paul who is the teacher, but it is the only true teacher of the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Spirit Himself.

Paul begins: “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen” (Romans 9:2-5). In the midst of this lament over some of the people of Israel being lost and having rejected Christ, Paul raises the unspoken question that our sinful nature comes back to time and time again: Why have some men been lost in the face of God’s grace? Has God and His mercy failed? Have His promises failed? Is His Word unfaithful? Paul answers without hesitation these questions raised by our sinful reasoning: “It is not as though God's word had failed” (Romans 9:6). Our reasoning however is still not satisfied, so on we go raising more questions: If God’s Word has not failed, is the reason that some are lost and some are saved because some men have a better will and have made a smarter “decision”? Is each individual man really the one who “controls” his destiny and determines his “fate”? Is God Himself powerless to save those He chooses and desires? Is it possible that God only desires some men to be saved and He chooses some as opposed to others?

In response to and in the face of these hard questions Paul starts his teaching: “Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: ‘At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son’” (Romans 9:6-9). Here Paul once again reiterates what he taught earlier in his letter, that the true people of Israel are Abraham’s descendants by faith, it is thru the promise of God that men are regarded as his offspring and not by natural “man-determined” means. Because it is the promise that determines the true people of Israel we also see that it is therefore the Word of God that makes men the true children of God. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). No choice, will, or desire of man makes us the people of Israel, but God’s will alone as revealed in His Word, in Jesus Christ incarnate, crucified, and risen.

Paul continues: “Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’” (Romans 9:10-13). By pointing to the story of Jacob and Esau, Paul once and for all squashes the possibility that man is in “control” of his destiny. Paul specifically states that before the twins were born and even before they were able to do anything “good or bad” God had determined their paths in life. The key comforting words of Paul here are “not by works but by Him who calls,” because in them we find that God’s election is not one of anger or wrath, but is a gracious call apart from what our wretched works truly deserve. God does this so that His purpose in election might stand in opposition to the sinful will of us depraved men who do nothing but reject and hate Him. “In his heart a man plans his course, but Yahweh determines his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). “Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is Yahweh's purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21). “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16).

After proclaiming this sovereign election of God Paul anticipates the questions that arise in the face of this hard truth. Our sinful reason immediately desires to raise its perverted sense of justice and accuse God of being unjust or “playing favorites” in His choice of election: “What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion’” (Romans 9:14-15). Paul responds by implicitly pointing back to what he taught us in the first few chapters. The key to seeing the election of God for the gracious and merciful call that it is, is our proper understanding of sin. If we do not understand the magnitude of our sin and the harsh demands of the law that stand against us men who are “by nature objects of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3), then we will never see election as a gracious comfort of God. The prerequisite for understanding that God has mercy on whom He will have mercy, is that we see that no man deserves the mercy of God and that we all deserve His punishment and wrath. “Yahweh is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies” (Isaiah 34:2). His election is purely merciful as He has chosen to be compassionate to men who have done nothing but reject and despise Him. “Their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant. Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath” (Psalm 78:37-38).

Paul continues on by proclaiming in very clear language that the election and compassion of God depends not on man’s choosing or works, but solely on God’s mercy. “It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy” (Romans 9:16). It does not matter how much we desire, will, or choose, or even how much we work, strive, or give effort, it will all amount to nothing apart from God’s merciful and gracious choosing. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). If we do not understand our impotence in the midst of our slavery and sinfulness then we will never understand this and we will falsely think that predestination and God’s election are the most “unfair” things in the world. This however is only the reaction of evil and wretched men who somehow think we are “entitled” to God’s favor and “deserve” His blessing. It is for this reason that God has given us His law, which reveals our utter sinfulness for what it is, so that we will finally see the true comfort that is derived and found in God’s choosing and election. Predestination is so comforting because in its promise we never have any reason to doubt our election and choosing by God Himself. Instead of doubt we will daily see that in the manger, cross, and empty tomb of Jesus Christ we (you and me specifically!) have already been called and chosen and that thru God’s grace given there we are surely and most certainly the elect of God on whom He has undeservedly chosen to have mercy. “God has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9-10).

As he continues his teaching on the providence, election, and predestination of God, Paul once again uses an illustration from the Scriptures to hammer home his point: “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (Romans 9:17-18). Here we see that Pharaoh was raised up by God and hardened by God in order to fulfill God’s divine purposes and to proclaim God’s name thru all the earth. In the mystery of God’s providence He can give whoever He desires over to their already sinfully hardened hearts and if He so desires He can also compassionately have mercy on whomever He chooses. Our sinful flesh however absolutely despises the idea that God could harden the heart of Pharaoh and attempts to play the despicable “blame game” with God, accusing Him of unfairness and injustice: “One of you will say to me: ‘Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?’ But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? ‘Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?” (Romans 9:19-21). In the face of these questions Paul reminds us who is God and who is the creature, showing us that we are nothing but clay in the Potter’s hands. It is absolutely ridiculous for us to question the purposes and ways of God since He is the Creator and Master of all things. In our sinful arrogance, that we have lived in since the fall of Adam and Eve, we somehow think that we have the freedom that belongs only to God and believe that we do have or should have some sort of “say” in how things are. We, the powerless clay, in our pride somehow think that God is supposed to follow our will and our ways, as we elevate ourselves to the level of “god” in thinking that we should somehow be “running the show.” “You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He did not make me’? Can the pot say of the potter, ‘He knows nothing’?” (Isaiah 29:16). If God is truly our Creator then it is absolutely absurd that we should question His ways; do the creations of our hands have the right and ability to question us? Does the technology of our hands talk back to us and complain that we do not know what we are doing? So then who are we to question God? “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?...Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?” (Isaiah 45:9, 11). Do we dare quarrel with our Maker and doubt His wisdom to carry out what is best? Even if we wanted to argue with Him, how, in our ignorance, do we even have the knowledge or wisdom to know where to begin? “Though one wished to dispute with him, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand. His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?...If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’…How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him?” (Job 9:3-4, 12, 14). God Himself declares that we are the clay in His hands and are in no position to talk back to Him and question His ways and decisions. “‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?’ declares Yahweh. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel’” (Jeremiah 18:6).

Having great patience and concern, Paul continues on and asks a couple questions of his own towards those of us who would dare question God and His ways: “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:22-24). Paul once again points out that our failure to see sin for what it truly is, has blinded us to the astounding graciousness and mercy of God. Do we, who have rejected and despised God and have turned ourselves into His objects of wrath, dare complain and moan about Him showing compassion to us? By questioning God we are in reality complaining about Him having mercy on us; how absurd! We must see that we deserve His punishment and wrath, and only then will we finally understand that God’s ways are truly merciful and compassionate beyond compare. God has decided to undeservedly turn His enemies (you and me!) into His children thru the grace of the work of Jesus Christ. He has borne our rebellion, hatred, idolatry, unbelief, and doubting so that He can save us from ourselves. And yet in the face of this do we dare question Him and call Him “unfair”? What ungrateful wretches we are. “As he says in Hosea: ‘I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,’ and, ‘It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God’” (Romans 9:25-26). Paul here quotes the prophet Hosea, in order to show that God has chosen those who were not His children and who were not His loved ones, and has graciously turned them into His children and loved ones. “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.’ It is just as Isaiah said previously: ‘Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah’” (Romans 9:27-29). By quoting the prophet Isaiah, Paul speaks of how only the remnant will be saved and how if God had not stepped in Himself then we would have all perished like Sodom and Gomorrah before the fire of His wrath. “He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him” (Isaiah 59:16). Because we were helpless to save ourselves, God Himself stepped in and did it all Himself.

Paul continues: “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it” (Romans 9:30-31). Paul speaks here of the counter-intuitive nature of the gospel and how those who pursued righteousness have not attained it, while those who did not pursue righteousness at all have indeed attained it. But why didn’t those who pursue it attain it? “Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the ‘stumbling stone.’ As it is written: ‘See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame’” (Romans 9:32-33). Paul answers our question of “why?” by pointing to Jesus Christ and the righteousness that comes thru Him; the righteousness that comes not by working, striving, choosing, or earning, but that comes thru simple faith in the fact that God graciously justifies us wicked men who deserve nothing but punishment and eternal damnation. Christ is the stumbling stone upon which all who try to be self-righteous stumble and fall. He breaks all of us of our delusions of “goodness” and shows us that the only way any of us can be saved is thru a total work of grace and mercy on His part. If we arrogantly think that we can attain righteousness for ourselves then we too will continue to stumble over the manger, the cross, and the empty tomb, and we will fail to receive what God has freely given us. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:27-30). Because of God’s unfathomable ways and His great providence we are in Christ Jesus and have been rescued from the wrath of God that stood against us apart from Jesus Christ. We are nothing but clay in the hands of God and because of His great mercy in Jesus Christ we faithfully and thankfully pray: “O Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O Yahweh; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people” (Isaiah 64:8-9).

Monday, October 23, 2006

Letter to the Romans -- Chapter 8

In response to the sober reality of the sinful nature that hangs around our necks and continues to make us fall into the trap of our flesh, Paul brings in the comfort of the gospel: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2). Despite the flesh that wages war against us there is no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. His blood overcomes all obstacles and breaks down all barriers and bars that enslave; no sin is too great and no sinner is too lost for the blood of the Lamb of God. “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19). By Christ Jesus and His work in the crucifixion and resurrection we are set free from the law of sin and death that used to hold power over us. “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4). Where nothing else could help us and save us God sent His Son to be a sin offering on our behalf. In the cross, God condemned and punished all sin in sinful man so that the just requirements and demands of the law would be upheld. Because by grace we share in the cross of Christ we too have met the full demands of the law, being that we have, thru Christ Jesus, endured the punishment, judgment, condemnation, fulfillment, and perfect obligation of the law. Jesus Christ’s righteousness, work, merit, obedience, and fulfillment have become ours by the atoning, propitiatory act and substitution of Jesus Christ crucified and risen.

After reassuring us with the life-giving gospel promise Paul continues on and elaborates on the comparison between those who live “according to the sinful nature” and those who live “according to the Spirit”: “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so” (Romans 8:5-7). In our minds we see the fruit of what we live according to; if we live according to sin then our minds are set on what our flesh and sinful nature desire as we look to fulfill its cravings and urges; but if we live according to the Spirit our minds will be set and focused on what God’s Spirit desires for us as we look to uphold God’s will and purpose for our life. Though the sinful mind may “feel” more alive to us it is only an illusion that brings certain death and therefore we must avoid it at all costs. On the other hand the mind controlled by the Spirit is the bringer of true life and peace that surpasses all human reason and understanding. Paul even goes so far as to state that the sinful mind and nature that we are born with is completely incapable of submitting to God’s law and will and that it is ragingly hostile to God (meaning that it is His enemy that wars against everything He desires and wills). With striking clarity and strength Paul nails this assertion home: “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). This means that man, when he is in the slavery of his sinful state (the state we enter this world in), is incapable of pleasing God in any way. This means that even the best “intentions” and “charitable” acts of the sinful man are complete rubbish and dung before God. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed this about the deeds and acts that seem “righteous” to us in this life: “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). To hammer home this point in the most powerful way we should know that the literal Hebrew translation not only means “filthy rags” but in fact means “menstrual rags”; as one translator put it: “very badly soiled, filthy, smelly cloths soiled from a woman’s menstrual discharges.” The extreme language is needed here in order to illustrate how God truly sees even the “good deeds” that we try to offer Him, and also that as men who are slaves to our sinful nature we cannot please God in the least bit on our own.

Thankfully however Paul continues: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Romans 8:9-10). If the Spirit of Christ lives in us then we can count ourselves as being no longer controlled by the sinful nature and therefore no longer abominable to Him. By way of Christ Jesus our bodies are dead and crucified and our spirit is brought to life because of His righteousness. “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:11). Not only has our sinful flesh been crucified in the cross, but because of the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead we too are guaranteed new life to our mortal bodies in the life to come.

After assuring us that in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation for the flesh Paul once again in pastoral wisdom gives us a final warning about living in sin: “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:12-14). Because of what Jesus Christ did for us (literally everything!) we now have an obligation to fight against the desires of the sinful nature and to put them to death by the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we live by the Spirit of Christ and focus solely on His work for us in His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection then we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Paul’s warning about living in the sinful nature however must not go unheard. To the church at Galatia he made the same admonition: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:16-21). Even though we now live by the power of the gospel of God’s grace there is a continued need for our flesh to be mortified by the law as Paul illustrates here in this passage. We need to continually hear the real and harsh warnings that if we live according to the sinful nature then we will not inherit the kingdom of God, in order that we do not fall into complacence. These are not just “scare tactics” (and let us pray we do not “blow them off” as such!) but they are in fact the strong reality of God’s Word against our sin. To take the reality of our sin lightly is to take the reality of Jesus Christ crucified lightly. We are indeed very real sinners, in very real need of saving from the judgment and wrath of God.

However, let us not fear and despair, but let us trust and cling to the mercy and grace of God who justifies the wicked in Jesus Christ, for He has made us His children and heirs thru the work of His Son: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:15-17). He has given us His Spirit so that we may shed the old deeds, passions, and desires of the flesh and in turn produce the fruit of His labors: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-25). By the grace of Jesus Christ we can now call God our “Father” and be 100% assured and confident that we are His children thru the cross and empty tomb. We therefore do not live in fear of sinning, but are bold and firm in our lives because we know that in Christ Jesus we have One who has walked the path before us and on our behalf so that we may die to our former lives of sin and live new lives devoted solely to God and His will. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

After admonishing us with his warning from God’s law not to give in to the sinful flesh, Paul continues on in the last half of chapter 8 with one of the most beautiful gospel discourses in all of the Scriptures. By pointing us to the work and grace of God in Christ Jesus Paul strengthens our hope and faith as we walk thru the trials and tribulations of this life. “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Here Paul tells us that no matter what horrible and painful sufferings we face in this life, they are nothing at all in comparison to the glory and joy to come. He is essentially saying, “Take the greatest, most glorious and joyful moment you have ever had in this life and multiply it by a thousand, and even then you are still nowhere near the glory and joy to come for those in Christ Jesus.” The sufferings that we face in this life are a mere blip in the big picture of our life in Christ and we need to remain focused on this hope.

Paul continues: “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21). God allowed His creation to be subjected to frustration so that thru His plan of salvation He would liberate the creation from the bondage and decay that it found in its slavery to sin. So too, God allows us as His creatures to be subjected to frustration in this life so that thru the hope of Christ we will find true liberation and freedom. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:22-25). Here Paul touches on an important truth for Christians: our discipleship to Christ is about faith and hope. Faith and hope are things that look to the future, to things yet to be revealed. At no point in this life will we “arrive” or be made “perfect” in Christ. We cling with eager faith and hope to what God has promised to come, and therefore we wait patiently for His fulfillment and His timing. The failure of many in the Christian world is that they preach a false gospel that is not about hope and faith, but is about the “here and now” and about “instant gratification.” They only worry about “what can Christianity do for me today?” when in fact the real gospel is always about these three in harmony: the past (what Christ has already done in the incarnation, cross, and resurrection), the present (our living today by faith, hope, and love), and the future (the patient waiting for the complete fulfillment to come of God’s promises and our completed redemption in Christ Jesus).

Because we live in the present awaiting the redemption to come Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit has been given to us for the very purpose of helping us in our weakness of this life: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will” (Romans 8:26-27). Because we still remain in our bodies of death as we wait patiently for their redemption, we live this life on no power or ability of our own, but we live solely on the promise of Christ and the work of the Spirit on our behalf. Where we continue to be impotent the Spirit intercedes on our behalf for the sake of Christ Jesus; where we are ignorant for what to pray for, the Spirit steps in to “pinch-hit.” This we accept not on experience or thru our senses, but as always it is thru simple faith that trusts the promise and the hidden work of the Spirit on our behalf.

Paul continues on by pointing to God’s continuing work in our life: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30). Here in these few words we have one of the greatest and most comforting gospel promises given in Christ Jesus. Here we are explicitly told that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose and election. The sinful nature in us will doubtingly look at this as a “conditional promise” from God because it says “for those who love Him” (thinking that we must attain this love before He will work for us). This however is not a condition but is actually a result of God already working for our good. Because God has already worked for our good, we love Him, and our love for Him is a result of His love for us thru the incarnation, cross, and empty tomb of Jesus Christ. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins…so we know and rely on the love God has for us…we love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:10, 16, 19). Because the secret of our predestination and election lie in Jesus Christ, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are those for whom God is working; He loved us by way of His Son and therefore we are guaranteed that He is working all things for our ultimate good. Thru the cross and resurrection we are transformed into men who love God, and thereby in Christ all the promises of God are ours and we are completely reconciled to God our Father thru His blood. This comforting promise of God working all things for our good and being with us at all times is spoken of and dwelled upon in the beautiful words of the psalmist: “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast…You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:8-10, 13-16). Thru this awesome promise of God to dwell with us from the heights to the depths, and to watch over us all the days of our lives, we too can learn to be content as Paul was: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12-13). God’s promises in Christ Jesus truly are the only source of real peace, contentment, and fulfillment in this life.

In the face of this overwhelming and incomparable gospel promise Paul actually challenges us to doubt, he openly dares us to find a “loophole” as he continues his bold proclamation of God’s goodness to us in Christ Jesus: “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?” (Romans 8:31-34). So what can we say in response to this promise of God to work all things to our good in Christ Jesus? What is our excuse to doubt and not believe God? If God is for us in Jesus Christ how can we have any fears and any misgivings about today or the future? Who in this life and world can oppose us if God is indeed for us and on our side? If He has given His only Son over to death for us do we really think He will not carry thru in fulfilling His promises in His Son? If we have been chosen who can stand against us and overcome us? If we have been justified who can bring any charge against us? Paul gives the one answer that is truly the only answer to all important questions, and which brings all these truths and promises together in harmony: “Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). Forget all our silly worries, stresses, anxieties, and misgivings; we have Christ Jesus as our intercessor, mediator, and savior! None of our doubts and questioning have any real foundation because in Jesus Christ we have been given and promised all good things from God above!

With this the final question of doubt creeps up within us and we wonder, “This is all well and good, but what is it that can separate us from Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ and Son of God? If His love is the reason we are in good standing with God, then what should we be afraid of that can separate us from His love given to us in the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection? “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered’” (Romans 8:35-36). Paul even beats our most valiant doubting to the punch by including a quote from the Scriptures that testifies that we do in fact face death and suffering all day long in this life. So we too must ask, is this sin and suffering and the trials and tribulations of this life capable of pulling us apart from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord? Is death strong enough? Is life strong enough? Can the troubles of today do it? Can the unknown burdens of tomorrow? Can Satan, our evil enemy, do it? Can anything at all? Paul’s answer is clear and succinct: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). The love of Jesus Christ for us in the manger, the cross, and the empty tomb is greater than all these things and thru His love we are not just conquerors but we are in fact “more than conquerors.” Praise be to God that thru the work of Jesus Christ His grace and mercy is without compare and without fail and without separation in our life! “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Letter to the Romans -- Chapter 7

In order to better illustrate how thru the cross we are dead to the law, Paul uses an example for those who are familiar with the law: “Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man” (Romans 7:1-3). In the same way that a marriage vow is binding under the law until death, so also our sin is bound to us until death. When we have died however we are finally released from the hold of sin that is seen under the law and thereby become free men. Therefore because we have shared in the death of Christ in Baptism we are free from the bondage of sin and the law which once kept us from living freely in the righteousness that comes from God. “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:4-6). Because being bound to the law only brings death to us, we must die to the law so that we may be released from its hold over us and then in turn serve God in the Spirit who now guides us in Christ Jesus. As Paul says we now belong to another, namely Jesus Christ, because He has bought us and brought us to be His own in the cross. “He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). Before when we were slaves in sin we ignorantly thought we were “free” when in reality we were children and slaves of sin and Satan. There was no freedom, we lived in a state that was totally controlled by our sinful nature. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:1-2). “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work” (1 John 3:8). Now in Christ Jesus however we belong to another as Jesus Christ Himself has paid the full price and bought us out of the sinful enslavement we were living under. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20). “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men” (1 Corinthians 7:23). We now live as men who are not slaves to a written code of legalism, but we are free men who live bound to Jesus Christ and the will of God that is made clear in Him. We have died to the dead moralism of the law, and now we live in the spirit of the law, which makes known to us the living and active will of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The clever minds of our sinful nature once again rise in opposition to these profound proclamations of Paul’s, and begin to question whether the law itself is sin and the “real” problem in this situation. If the law is what we need to die to, then the problem must be the law, right? Wrong. “What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet.’ But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire” (Romans 7:7-8). Once again Paul squashes the sinful reason of man which desires to excuse us and allow us to continue in our sinning. The fact that we did nothing but sin under the law does not make the law itself sin, but in reality it makes you and I convicted and condemned sinners. Without the law to show us where and how we sin we would never be aware that we are sinners in the very depths of our dark, diseased, and depraved hearts. Without the law we would never see the enmity that our hearts have towards our gracious God. But when God gives us the law to follow and keep perfectly, the truth of our depravity comes forth as our hearts fight tooth and nail against every demand put upon them. “Apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death” (Romans 7:8-11). It is not as though sin does not exist apart from the law, but it is simply that sin lies dormant and quiet apart from the law. Without the law there is nothing for sin to break or rebel against, and so it goes unnoticed and untouched. However once the law comes to us our sin springs to action showing that it cannot help but break every command it is given. Paul also explicitly tells us that sin deceives us in regard to the commandment. This is illustrated best in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were faced with the temptation of the serpent. Sin sneakily deceived Adam and Eve into believing that the commandment itself was the problem and that if they followed their own will and self that they would find new “life” and new “knowledge” that God had been hiding from them; this is the great and horrible lie of sin. It is also important to notice how Paul states that the commandment was intended to bring life. The commands of God are intended to bring because thru them we learn how to live for the will of God and as His creature. But because we are depraved, rebellious men the law only causes our wickedness to shine forth as we reject God’s will for our own will.

Paul continues: “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful” (Romans 7:12-13). Here Paul once again touches on the need for the law to increase sin in us and to truly bring out our utter sinfulness. Our temptation is to think that the law is bad because thru the law we ourselves are shown to be bad and are brought to death, but in reality it is because the law is so good and so holy that it in fact brings out our utter wickedness. It is only in juxtaposition to true good that we are shown to have no good in us whatsoever. There is a phrase that says, “Without the sour, the sweet ain’t as sweet.” Here this phrase means that without the law to sit side by side with our sin we will never realize our utter sourness and then the subsequent sweetness of the grace of Christ’s gospel will go completely ignored, abused, and despised. Without the sour truth of the law the gospel is not sweet news to our ears; without the sourness of our revealed sin, grace is not a cherished and welcome sweet relief. This true role of the law, to bring out our sourness in order to glorify the sweetness of the gospel, is hidden apart from Christ and it is only in Jesus Christ incarnate, crucified, and risen, that both the law and the gospel are seen in their proper roles. “Their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:14-17). Let us pray therefore that we recognize the glory of the ministry that condemns men (the law) so that thru this condemnation we will have our eyes daily opened to the surpassing glory of the ministry of reconciliation and righteousness (the gospel of the cross of Christ Jesus our Lord) and that by His grace we will continue to cling to it with renewed fervor and passion.
“If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!” (2 Corinthians 3:9).

After having implored us to not give in to sin any longer, because we have died to sin in Christ, Paul continues on and touches on the reality of the battle that ensues within the Christian for the rest of his life. Though we have died to sin in Christ Jesus and are no longer the spiritual slaves of sin we still have our sinful self of death hanging around our necks while we are in this life. This flesh (which is unspiritual) wages war against our new spiritual selves who exist alone thru faith in Christ Jesus. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin” (Romans 7:14). Here Paul starts out by pronouncing that we ourselves are unspiritual. All the “me” and “self” that constitutes our sinful nature and flesh are completely unspiritual and are nothing but helpless slaves to sin. The regeneration that exists only in Christ Jesus is from the outside of us (it is “alien” to “me”), it is the work of the Spirit of God that comes to us thru the external Word of God: “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:12-14). We ourselves cannot understand the things from God; the Spirit of God is required to teach us the spiritual truths of Christ Jesus. Our “self” is completely blind to what God has freely given us and therefore it requires God’s work thru His Spirit to open our eyes to the truths of the cross.

Paul continues: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). As sinful human beings who have received the Spirit of God we will live a life on this earth of constant conflict and battle within ourselves. The Spirit of God gives us a new will in Christ Jesus that brazenly conflicts with the will and desires of our flesh. If we look closely at our lives we will find with Paul that despite all of our best efforts that the sinful flesh still manifests itself in our lives, causing us to slip up and do things that we now hate to do based on the desires of the Spirit of God living within us. Here in these words of Paul to the Romans we also find that, as Christians who have died to sin, we should no longer desire to sin or offer ourselves consciously to our fleshly desires. We need to be clear however that Paul is not offering us an excuse to continue in sin by telling us of this struggle. He is not saying “Go ahead and sin and then just claim it is the sinful nature living in you.” No, not at all! The true disciple of Christ fights tooth and nail against the sin living inside of him and will stop at nothing to quell the flesh from ruling him on a daily basis. Certainly we will slip up, but it is never without a fight and it is never a conscious consenting decision. “And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good” (Romans 7:16). Because we now hate falling into the sinful slop of our flesh we agree that God’s law is good and that it is the proper way that we are called to live for God and His will in Jesus Christ.

This new desire to willingly and happily uphold God’s law shows both the world and ourselves that we have the Spirit of God working within us. “As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me” (Romans 7:17). As Christians we must begin to separate all that was once “me” from our new lives in the Spirit. We need to see that the flesh that still sins is not “me” any longer because we have died to sin and have shared in the crucifixion of Christ. That prideful and selfish flesh that continues to sin is no longer who we are or who we identify ourselves as, but we now have a new identity which loses all the “self” and “me” focus: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). Life is no longer about “me” and our identity is now completely wrapped up in something bigger, better, and outside of “me” and “self,” it is wrapped up in Jesus Christ. As Paul says so plainly and eloquently: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” This is what it means to have our “self” and “ego” crucified with Christ: we no longer see ourselves independent or individually from God, but our entire lives (our purpose, life, meaning, etc.) are now completely about God as He has revealed Himself in Christ Jesus our Lord. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18-19). Seeing that everything good about us is the result of Christ Jesus and His work alone we can say with Paul that “nothing good” lives in us, that is in our old “self” and in the “me” that still plagues our flesh. Our flesh still drags us down in carrying out some of the evil we hate (the gossip, the slander, the anger, the hatred, the lusting, the coveting, the laziness, the overindulgence, etc.) and so it is a constant battle for the Spirit of God within us that desires total devotion and focus on Jesus Christ. The “me” and “self” of who I once was has no good in it whatsoever; everything that is good, productive, clean, and pure is Jesus Christ Himself who lives in us thru His Word and promise.

Paul continues on and once again reiterates the essential fact that the continued failings we no longer desire are only a result of the sinful and evil nature living in our earthly bodies of death. “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:20). So what does this all mean? What is the big picture summary and perspective that we need to garner from all this? “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members” (Romans 7:21-23). As Christians we are simultaneously saint and sinner. There is a constant war waging inside of us between our sinful nature (the sinner and selfish “me” who needs to die) and the new creation of faith that clings to Christ Jesus alone with complete and undivided devotion (the saint who has been saved by grace alone). While we strive to follow the Spirit and happily desire to uphold the law and will of God, our sinful nature is busy creating evil right along side of the fruit of faith that Christ bears within us. Our entire “self” and “me” is nothing but sinful evil, yet we have been crucified with Christ and therefore our true identity is no longer “self-centered” but it is only “Jesus Christ-centered.” However, because the sinful nature still clings to us until we are removed from this life, it is imperative that we not become complacent but that we instead actively and daily put to death our earthly nature: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:5-10).

As we fight this battle against sin we become more and more aware of the true magnitude and filth of our selfish and “me-centered” nature and therefore in desperate need we fall to our faces and we declare with Paul: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). This declaration is one of brokenness and contrition as we repentantly see that we are truly helpless to wage this war against sin on our own. We in our “self” are nothing but helpless and wretched men who are impotent in all things that really matter. We are truly wretched in our “self” beyond compare and stand in desperate need of rescuing. In immeasurable hope however, we have come to know that the ultimate war has already been won in the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and so we therefore respond to our despair and brokenness in bold faith: “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). Jesus Christ is the answer and solution; He is our way, our truth, and our life. Therefore the battle that continues on within us bears witness to the new life of Jesus Christ. In Him we are reborn slaves to God’s law, while in our “self” and flesh we are nothing but condemned and dead slaves to sin. “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin” (Romans 7:25).

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Letter to the Romans -- Chapter 6

Paul starts off chapter 6 by raising a question sure to come up in light of his bold “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” statement from chapter 5: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” (Romans 6:1). When faced with the fact that grace increases as sin increases, our sinful nature is eager to offer up the rationalized idea that in order to increase God’s grace we should go on sinning. Paul’s response however, is quick and strong and it also asks a question of all of us who would dare let our flesh go this dangerous route: “By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2). Paul asserts that as followers of Christ that we have died to sin and that it no longer has its hold over us, so how can we dare think of living in it any longer? But deep inside we continue to question: how do we know for sure we have died to sin when it so often doesn’t seem that way in our daily lives?

Being the great pastor that he is, Paul points us to the promise of God: “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4). Instead of appealing for us to look subjectively at our own “experience,” our own outward lives, or imploring us to look “deep inside of yourself,” Paul wisely points us to the objective Word and promise of God that lies outside of us and our hands. “Yahweh
is faithful to all his promises” (Psalm 145:13). He tells us that in our Baptism God has united us in the death of Jesus Christ, and that we died to sin there so that we might be raised to live a new life of faith in Christ Jesus. In our Baptism we are united with Jesus Christ; it becomes you and me who are nailed to the cross, who die there under the wrath of God, who are buried, and who are raised to new life. “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27). We are clothed with Christ thru Baptism, and we receive this by the faith that the Spirit works within us. This clothing with Christ assures us of our adoption as children of God thru the promise of God. If we are not clothed with Christ then we stand before God naked; naked and exposed for the filthy sinners that we are. In our Baptism God ceases to see the sinner that we once were; in our stead He now sees the condemned and judged sinner who was crucified and then raised to new life. When God looks at us He now sees Jesus Christ, for we have been united and clothed with Him in our Baptism. “We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). Under the mantle and clothing of Jesus Christ we are clean, pure, and holy before the sight of God Almighty. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:25-27). Where feelings, emotions, and daily happenings are never constant and are always ready to fail, we are implored to cling to the constant promise of God in Baptism that stands above all these fickle things of the world. “As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting Yahweh’s love is with those who fear him” (Psalm 103:15-17). Everything with man changes and all his “latest and greatest” teachings will pass away, but Jesus Christ, on the other hand, never changes and His grace and promises remain sure and constant throughout the ages. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace” (Hebrews 13:8-9).

Paul then continues on in his letter and begins to really tackle the ever pertinent subject of the relationship between the newly created Christian and sin: “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:5-7). Because we died with Jesus Christ in our Baptism and have been clothed with His righteousness we have been set free from sin and the slavery that once held us. In Baptism we share in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and therefore who we once were in our sin have truly died. In this death we are freed from the hold that sin once had over our life. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:8-11). Because Christ’s death and resurrection was a one time, once and for all event we too need to count our own death to sin and our resurrection to life for God in Christ as a one time occurrence in our Baptism. The life we once lived was one that was mastered by our selfishness and sin, but now in Jesus Christ we are dead to that old life and now live our entire life “to God.” This completed work of Jesus Christ does not give us reason for complacence or sitting on our laurels, but instead this motivates us to live everyday of our lives as baptized children of God in Christ Jesus who are dead to sin and alive to righteousness. Because of Jesus Christ’s victory in our life we daily put to death the sin of our everyday life. “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (Romans 6:12-14). If we truly believe that we have died with Christ and been set free in Him how can we continue to offer our bodies to sin and to the selfish desires of our flesh? Are we abusing grace and making ourselves a self-created license to sin? This is a tough question that requires from us a daily examination. Paul implores us to offer our entire bodies to God’s will because of the work of Jesus Christ.

Once again however, our flesh grasps at straws and tries to convince us that since we are not under the law, we must be “free to do what we want” since we are under grace. Once again Paul steps in to squash any of these floundering thoughts of our sinful reason: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:15-18). In order to understand real freedom we must destroy any previous notions of “freedom” that we once held. Freedom is not being able to “do whatever we want,” but real freedom is being free to be the creature of our Creator, loving and serving Him while being free of our self and our fleshly desires. In reality our freedom lies in slavery to righteousness. If we obey our sinful flesh and offer ourselves as slaves to its will then sin is our master, but if we offer our bodies and selves to righteousness and obedience in Christ then we show that God is our true master. If we dare continue offering ourselves to sin then we are living a lie, an empty life that sees God’s grace and yet turns away from it in obstinate rebellion. If we truly believe that we are God’s in Jesus Christ then let us turn away from our selfishness and towards simple obedience in Jesus Christ.

Paul however clearly recognizes that we are still weak human beings who are still in this fallen flesh even though we have indeed been clothed with Jesus Christ in Baptism: “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves” (Romans 6:19). In light of this natural weakness he continues his exhortation and admonition: “Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:19-23). We have been set free in Jesus Christ so let us put aside our self-centered living. The consequence of sin is death so we need to run away from the wickedness that has plagued us in our past. In Jesus Christ we have true freedom: slavery to the love and will of God. Thru the promise of God in Christ Jesus we have died to sin and are now free to live lives of obedience to righteousness, leaving behind the life we once lived where we offered our selves and bodies as slaves to our sinful desires. God’s gift is the freedom that comes only thru the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He has raised us up to new life, so let us stand firm in His grace in Jesus Christ. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).