Romans 8:1-17

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (vv. 5-6) There is an obvious question here: “What have we set our minds on?” Or, what does it mean to set our minds on things of the flesh? What are some of these “things of the flesh”? A simple short list might include money, belongings, a bigger house, a nicer car? Or non-tangible things like power, success, recognition? But by contrast, what are some of the “things of the Spirit”? Prayer, Bible study, fellowship, service… I’m drawn back to Joshua 24:15b, But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Slava Bohu!

Romans 7:13-25

Paul’s section today hits home for me. His thoughts that I read today sound a lot like addiction – not necessarily alcohol or drug or sex addictions to which (I trust) most of us cannot really relate, but to other common addictions “out there”, like gambling, pornography, computer games – even everyday behaviors like shopping or eating or watching television.

I’ve been attending Freedom Road, our St. Andrew’s 12-Step program, for a couple of years now. I brew beer, I like beer, and I began to wonder if I might be an alcoholic. Over time the people attending Freedom Road with me have agreed that I am not an alcoholic. But I do have something of an addiction – to food, in general, and to sweets in particular. So my “beer problem” is essentially a food problem. I find that I am almost always “hungry”. Not true!! In fact, I am not truly hungry, but I have more of a food habit, and if I’m not really busy with work or leisure of some sort, I’m regularly looking for something to snack on. So my beer problem is really a special case of a more general food problem.

All of which brings me to today’s reading… The behavior that Paul describes fits my and others’ addiction patterns: I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (v. 15b) I am tempted to eat. Occasionally I resist the temptation, but all too often I just let it fly and have another snack. And Paul’s response is exactly my response some time later: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (v. 24) And we know the answer. Paul gives us the answer: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (v. 25) Then why is it still so hard??!!

Slava Bohu!

Romans 7:1-12

I knew when we started Romans that it would be a difficult book. But these shorter readings have certainly helped my (our?) understanding of some of these confusing passages. Still, however, we have a section today that makes me wonder: What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. (vv. 7-8) It’s not hard to simply read these words and understand what Paul is saying. The only confusion for our simple understanding is between “commandment” and “Law”, and I presume Paul is implying that “commandment” is one of the specific mentions in the Law and that “Law” is the comprehensive listing of all that Moses received from God at Mt. Sinai. At least that’s how I read it.

However, it’s confusing to me. Is Paul saying that sin did not exist before the Law? I recall already asking a similar question, thinking of Sodom and Gomorrah, Judah and Tamar, Joseph’s brothers, the Flood, etc. Paul seems to be saying the he did not covet until he learned through the Law that coveting was wrong. But surely he had consciousness before he knew about the Law, that there was some covetousness that was wrong. Maybe his introduction to and knowledge of the Law amplified what was already there? I think I understand his basic point, that the Law pointed us to sin and our need for a Savior: The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. (v. 10) And it’s not hard for me to read through the Ten Commandments and know that I am a sinner who needs His grace to be saved, especially as Jesus expounded on a few of these Commandments in His famous “You have heard it said…” teaching at the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21, ff.). Still, Paul is confusing…!

Slava Bohu!

Romans 6:15-23

Continuing in chapter 6’s “freedom from sin’s tyranny”… The sentence that hit me most was verse 21: But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? Shame is a horrible thing. We talk about it occasionally at Freedom Road, when we dwell back on our past lives – things we have done, nice people we have hurt, misguided motivations, goals and ambitions that were horribly worldly… What were we thinking??!! Our life in Christ is so much better!!

It helps me to remember that many of the people to whom Paul is writing are Roman citizens – and that their past lives could have been very ugly indeed, with cruel slavery, the brutality of the Coliseum “games”, rampant homosexuality, temple prostitution… Yes, shameful things! Our past lives have different descriptors, but they were nevertheless drawing us further into the world and away from God. Even the good things (e.g., work, ambition, etc.) are less good if they are not drawing us closer to God.

A clarifying point here from my Study Bible… Paul refers to his listeners as “slaves” to impurity and to righteousness. The word “slaves” could well be appropriate in the sense of slaves to impurity, but a better translation of “slaves” to righteousness might be “willing servants”. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. (v. 19b) So where you see the word “slaves” reflecting obedience to God or to righteousness, try substituting “willing servant”.

Slava Bohu!

Romans 6:1-14

My Study Bible just opened my eyes a bit. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 form a unit. Chapter 6 is about the believer’s freedom from sin; chapter 7 is freedom from the Law’s condemnation, and chapter 8 is life in the power of the Holy Spirit. So today the focus is sin and its weakened power on us.

Yesterday I posted that I liked the following verse: …where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. (v. 20b) Now today Paul takes off on that statement as a prelude to his “sin chapter”: Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! (v. 1b-2a) The translation of verse 2 that I like replaces By no means! with “May it never be!” Emphatic!!

Paul still has a lot of triads in his writing – I just don’t point them all out. But here’s one worth noting: We know that our old self (a) was crucified with him in order that (b) the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that (c) we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (v. 6, my own parenthetical letters added) Sin’s power is gone, but only if we claim it and live in Holy Spirit sanctification!

I like Paul’s concept of our “old self”. I’ve heard of people “reinventing” themselves. I did that myself, when I started graduate school at the University of Maryland. I left behind the person most people knew back in Illinois and truly changed some aspects of my personality that I did not like. And it was a good thing. Unfortunately, I fell back into some of the same old traps that I intended to leave behind – and I keep working on those same character faults wherever I go. So while I am not “enslaved to sin”, sin still lurks in the dark and I constantly need God’s grace to continue to resist those temptations. I need to always remind myself that I am dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (v. 11b)

Slava Bohu!

Romans 5:12-20

…for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. (v. 13) This is an intriguing statement. The Law is not given in Scripture until Exodus 20, yet there is plenty of “sin” in Genesis, for example, Sodom and Gomorrah; Judah and Tamar; Joseph’s brothers; etc. But those “sins” are not counted (“imputed” in the NASB). I’m not sure what verse 13 means. That there was wrongdoing, but God would not hold them accountable…? Strange!

One man, Adam	One Man, Jesus
Sin	Grace
Condemnation	Forgiveness, Righteousness
Death	Life, Justification
Judgment	Eternal Life

…where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. (v. 20b) I can’t say that this is one of my favorite verses, but it is a compelling statement. Paul has said the same thing in similar fashion (but less eloquently) in verse 16b: For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. As mankind increased, sin naturally increased. But that grace offered by Jesus is offered to all people for all time. So increased sin and many trespasses cannot equal the infinite goodness, the infinite redemption from Jesus’ sacrifice and His shed blood. Infinite goodness is greater than finite wrongdoings.

Slava Bohu!

Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. (vv. 1-2, NASB) It’s easy to miss two key words that Paul has written here – “our introduction”. Thus far we have received only an “introduction” to what lies ahead. We now live this “introduction” in our current lives of grace, but we look forward to a better life after we leave this one: …we exult in hope of the glory of God.

The ESV says verses 1 and 2 differently: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The ESV says we have “obtained access” – essentially not a lot different from obtaining “our introduction”. But I like the sense of the NASB, that our current life is only an introduction to the glory of God that we will see fully when we leave this earth. An “introduction” says that there is more to come! To me, it’s more mysterious, inviting…!

Suffering, endurance, character, hope. (vv. 3-4, ESV) Tribulation, perseverance, character, hope (vv. 3-4, NASB) Different words but the same recognition that we will have difficulties in this life and that these troubles are not unknown to the Holy Spirit. So our reaction needs to be forward looking. God knows of our difficulties and He could turn things around for us. But He is letting us go through these trying times. So we need not despair; turn to Him and let God be God!!

Slava Bohu!

Romans 4:13-25

It is hard to follow Paul’s argument, but I will try to highlight some items:

1. Abraham believed (had faith) and he was reckoned by God as righteous.
2. Abraham did not have the Law. That came hundreds of years later with Moses.
3. Abraham was circumcised, but 13 or more years after he was reckoned by God as righteous.
4. Abraham is the father of “many nations”, not just the Jews only but the Gentiles also.
5. The Jews have the Law and circumcision; the Gentiles have neither.
6. Obeying the Law (our works?) cannot make us righteous; the Law only shows us how sinful we are.
7. Lacking both that Law and circumcision, Gentiles can also be reckoned as righteous by faith – as was their father of “many nations”, Abraham.

All of that to highlight and possibly clarify verse 16: That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all His offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all…

Slava Bohu!

Romans 4:1-12

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (v.3) Paul makes a strong case that Abraham was found righteous by faith (Genesis 15:6, quoted above) while he was still uncircumcised. In the next chapter, Genesis 16:16 puts Abraham at age 86 when Ishmael was born; he was 99 years old when he was circumcised (Genesis 17:10-11). Paul is arguing that Abraham did nothing (works) to earn God’s granting righteousness to him, only that he believed.

It is worth repeating the last two verses in today’s reading: He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised … who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. (vv. 11-12, only slightly edited) Circumcision (at age 99) was a sign of the faith (and righteousness) that Abraham already had in his 80s. So Paul is making the case for Abraham’s being the father of both the Jews (the circumcised) and the Gentiles (the uncircumcised).

Yes, this gets confusing. It is so helpful to read these epistles in short spurts and to tie Paul’s words in today’s reading back to Genesis.

Slava Bohu!

Romans 3:21-31

An aside: …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (v. 23). I currently use this verse citation as a password for one of my computer apps. The application requires passwords to contain an upper-case letter, a lower-case letter, a number and a special character. Using Bible verses supports these requirements well!!

Righteousness. If you were to ask me, off the top of my head, I would have a hard time defining “righteousness”, as to exactly what it means to be “righteous”. Frankly, the closest that I can come to understanding righteousness is not by definition, but by contrast. I can best understand what it means to be righteous by contrast with what it means to be “self-righteous”. Unfortunately, I know all too well what self-righteousness is, in that I see it all too often in myself. I see my self-righteousness in one sense as my deserving of honor for who I am or what I have done. I also see it in another sense as my being blameless – as in “It wasn’t my fault!” or “I am correct, not the other person.”

While we see self-righteousness in ourselves as a major fault, in fact those two concepts that I laid out – deserving of honor and blameless – truly do apply to God. “Deserving of honor” is not hard to understand – God is to be honored, above all else in our lives. Blameless, however, needs more context. Truly, God is blameless. We cannot blame Him for anything, especially in the sense that blame carries a negative connotation and God is all goodness, completely lacking evil. But blameless applied to God also suggests His holiness, again a complete lack of evil within His character – infinitely holy!

So, righteousness defined: deserving of honor, blameless. Done.

Slava Bohu!