tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77485467943396014512024-03-15T11:58:32.453-05:00Moore Perspectivedefending the integrity of the Bible and analysing its contentsamerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.comBlogger638125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-56511902419099509682024-03-13T12:28:00.002-05:002024-03-13T12:28:42.767-05:00The Law: a Harbinger of Death or Holy, Righteous and Good? (Romans 7:7-14)<p><span class="text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFbPljaiwEu8AEpvdqCqbejtRK7lfaUuF57oNC2F4vzprH8Wf8Xl09XjfrtYLJWgEiVDV7czdaVqUag2gZjazUK7YNmw_M-4yW6Tu58f9sAfnn7OotkhHzCuBl3j7l2fwKASvH09biESKERSXlu8o-8Msusznswpca-sLsIcA5qAaX6Y_TWOZRZrTOvYY/s454/Law%20Scroll.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="454" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFbPljaiwEu8AEpvdqCqbejtRK7lfaUuF57oNC2F4vzprH8Wf8Xl09XjfrtYLJWgEiVDV7czdaVqUag2gZjazUK7YNmw_M-4yW6Tu58f9sAfnn7OotkhHzCuBl3j7l2fwKASvH09biESKERSXlu8o-8Msusznswpca-sLsIcA5qAaX6Y_TWOZRZrTOvYY/w400-h303/Law%20Scroll.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“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.’</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.</span> <span class="text">I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.</span> <span class="text">The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.</span> <span class="text">For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me”</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="text"> (Romans 7:7-11, ESV).</span> </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">In these verses Paul resumes the instructional method of question-answer in the first person, “<span class="text">What then shall we say?</span>” (cf. 3:5-9, 27-31; 4:1, 9; 6:1-4, 15), switching from the plural (“we”) to the singular (“I”), with which the chapter began (vv. 1-4). Having forsaken the way of life “in the flesh” by dying to the law in order to serve “in newness of spirit” (vv. 4-6), the rest of the chapter addresses the struggle between “the spirit” wanting to do good and “the flesh” yearning to sin in both the past (vv. 7-13) and the present (vv. 14-25).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The Problem is Sin, Not the Law</span></b><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Lest anyone gets the misguided impression that Paul is anti-law, he offers clarification here. The law, </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">in</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> revealing and enhancing “<span class="text">knowledge of sin</span>” </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">(3:19-20),</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> was a gracious gift to Israel for guidance and protection </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">(2:18; 7:12, 14; 9:4). Seeing that sin and death were realities long before the law made its appearance in history (5:12-14), the human predicament cannot legitimately be blamed on the law. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“But sin seizes the opportunity provided by the law to what humankind’s curiosity as to what the commandment may be forbidding. In this way desire for the forbidden is stirred up and becomes an insatiable force, whose final outworking is death.”<sup>1</sup></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Paul notes in particular the Decalogue’s tenth commandment, <span class="text">“You shall not covet”</span> (Ex. 20:17), probably because the basis of all sin has long been recognized as illicit desire (cf. Jas. 1:15).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">It is “the commandment,” which was meant to regulate righteous living, that became a channel of “death” (cf. v. 5). But the responsibility lies, not with the commandment itself or the One who gave it, but with sin and the human appetite to pursue it. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">When Paul says, “I was once alive apart from the law,” contextually (vv. 1, 7) and thematically (2:12, 18, 20; 3:20) this would be applicable to <i>knowledge</i> of the law. There was a time in his life when he was without this knowledge, i.e., in his infancy and early childhood (cf. </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">1 Cor. 13:11; 14:20</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">).<sup>2</sup> One is not conscience of any sinful inclination until one’s obedience is tested. As his learning capacity developed and he was “instructed from the law” (2:18), “sin came alive” and he “died</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">” spiritually.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">The Law is Good<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:12-14).</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">Even though the Mosaic law was not designed as a means of justifying sinners (3:20), during the centuries it was in force provisions were made for atonement and forgiveness,<sup>3</sup> salvation was attainable,<sup>4</sup> and one could even be counted “blameless.”<sup>5</sup> Faith, love, and mercy were essential components,<sup>6</sup> and it was beneficial to all who submitted to it.<sup>7</sup> Therefore, Paul can readily describe the law as “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">holy and righteous and good</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">” (cf. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">1 Tim. 1:8</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">), as well as “spiritual.” After all, it has emanated from God and is therefore a reflection of his holy, righteous, good character, “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">the embodiment of knowledge and truth</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">” (2:20). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">The problem is “sin” and the weakness of human “flesh,” as the law openly exposes the true nature of sin. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Any apparent negativity toward the law is in response to its misappropriation and abuse (vv. 10-11; 2:17-27; 8:3, 7; 9:31-32).<sup>8</sup></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">:</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Paul the Apostle</i> 99.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> See <span class="text">Deut. 1:39; Isa. 7:16; 8:4; 28:9; Neh. 8:2-3; Ezek. 28:15.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">Lev. 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:13, 16, 18.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">1 Sam. 2:1; 2 Sam. 22:51; 1 Chron. 16:23; Psa. 3:8; 13:5.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">Luke 1:6; Phil. 3:6; cf. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">Acts 22:3; 26:4-5; </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Gal. 1:14. <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">“Israel’s problem in the Old Testament was not with their <i>inability</i> to keep the law; it was with their <i>choosing</i> not to do so” (G. D. Fee and D. Stuart, <i>How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth</i> [4th ed.]: 175, emp. in the text).</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>6</sup> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">Deut. 6:4-9; 10:12-21; Mic. 6:8; Hab. 2:4; Matt. 23:23.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>7</sup> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">Deut. 6:24-25; 10:13; 12:28; cf. Psa. 78:1-7.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>8</sup> Cf. Matt. 5:20-48; 23:1-39; Gal. 2:16, 21; 3:2-5, 10-13; 5:4.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/01/where-there-is-no-law-there-is-no.html" target="_blank">No Law, No Transgression (Rom 4:15)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/03/from-law-to-christ-romans-71-6.html" target="_blank">From Law to Christ (Rom 7:1-6)</a></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: https://firmisrael.org/learn/discovering-jesus-in-the-torah-law-of-moses/</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-30889621792948301002024-03-06T07:45:00.004-06:002024-03-13T12:32:19.879-05:00From Law to Christ (Romans 7:1-6)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDkeQv91jG-3nukN77JF9B3Vp4FOipQk720wGHdv0wlxtumPL0-wGOdhxoZUGwentFFj8qeJneJv0pbMcSUBrHLDsPT5TwHbyNa8mdISSn6AjTSD4qxq39438T2UM5B1LSUrsCaR6rIm3U6CcpKsITwIQ-VVJkRzNr38Z94HnRZlpXKldAl29qDz-Aevg/s366/Law%20Christ.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="366" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDkeQv91jG-3nukN77JF9B3Vp4FOipQk720wGHdv0wlxtumPL0-wGOdhxoZUGwentFFj8qeJneJv0pbMcSUBrHLDsPT5TwHbyNa8mdISSn6AjTSD4qxq39438T2UM5B1LSUrsCaR6rIm3U6CcpKsITwIQ-VVJkRzNr38Z94HnRZlpXKldAl29qDz-Aevg/s320/Law%20Christ.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="text" style="background-color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">“</span><span style="font-family: arial;">Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><span class="text">Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress” (Romans 7:1-3, ESV).</span> </span><p></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Following the rhetorical “do you not know,” the seventh chapter of Romans opens with an address to those “knowing law,” which may be an allusion to the basic legal principle rather than to a specific law,<sup>1</sup> although the Law of Moses appears to be the focus in vv. 4 ff. Paul has been tracing the Christian’s spiritual journey from a sinful past characterized by “death” (cut off from God) to a new life in Christ, illustrating the point with images of slavery and now marriage. Each situation has intrinsic obligations, and transitioning into a different status does not negate binding expectations but implements new ones. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The Marriage Analogy</span></b><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Marriage is a lifelong commitment.<sup>2</sup> The death of a spouse severs the marriage bond and frees the widowed spouse to enter another union with an eligible marriage partner. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">Otherwise, if a woman is joined to another man while her husband is still living, “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">she will be called an adulteress</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">.” </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #262626; font-size: 14pt;">Adultery involves voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her lawful spouse.<sup>3</sup> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">But if the husband is dead, adultery is not committed in a second marriage.<sup>4</sup> The illustration is intended to convey the same truth as the previous example of a freed slave committed to another master, from an old life to a new life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Released from One and Joined to Another </span></b><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Rom. 7:4-6).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The “death” analogy continues from 5:12–7:3, as Paul speaks of dying to “the law” (vv. 4-6) and contrasts “life in the flesh” under the law (v. 5) with serving “in newness of spirit” (v. 6, ASV, KJV). The law itself is holy and intended for good, but fallible human distortion has made it an agent of sin (vv. 7-12). </span><span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Paul and his Christian brethren had “died to the law” (vv. 4, 6), severing reliant ties so completely in Christ that there could be no return. </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The aorist </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ἐθανατώθητε</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> (“you … died”) “is fixed by reference” to 6:3-6. “The aorist refers to the definite time at which in their baptism the old life (and with it all its legal obligations) came to an end.”<sup>5</sup> </span><span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">This “death” is “through the body of Christ,” a probable allusion to his crucified and resurrected body, although perhaps inclusive of his emblematic body, the church.<sup>6</sup></span></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Flesh Vs. Spirit</span></b><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">In the first four verses of this chapter Paul contrasts himself (first person singular) with his reading audience (second person plural), but in vv. 4b-6 both are joined together with seven inclusive first person plurals. The pre-Christian experience is described as “<span class="text">living in the flesh.</span>” The antithesis between “flesh” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">σάρξ</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] and “spirit” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">πνεῦμα</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] (7:5–8:18) has particular application to two mutually exclusive ways of living (cf. 8:4-5). Although there is a sense in which “flesh” and “spirit” can each be corrupted (2 Cor. 7:1; Eph. 2:3), the term “flesh” is typically used to categorize a selfish or worldly disposition estranged from God, while “spirit” generally conveys a spiritual disposition focused on the divine will. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">The problem of “<span class="text">sinful passions, aroused by the law” does not implicate God’s law, rather the weakness of the flesh informed and instructed by the law yet choosing to defy God anyway. People would not even know what “the passions of sins” were without the law (cf. v. 7). Paul continues from the previous chapter the terminology of “members” (cf. 6:12) and bearing “fruit for death</span>” (cf. 6:21-22).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">In contrast to “serving (as slaves)” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">δουλεύειν] “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">the old way of the written code,</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">” lit. the “oldness of [the] letter” [παλαιότητι γράμματος] (cf. 2 Cor. 3:6), we serve as slaves “in newness of spirit” [ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος] (cf. 8:4), which is not necessarily “the new way of the Spirit” (ESV).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> The </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">πνεῦμα</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> (“spirit”) of v. 6 is synonymous with </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> (“inner being”) of v. 22 and νοῦς (“mind” or “will”) of vv. 22-25, whereby one is able to </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">θέλω </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">(“determine,” “wish,” “desire”), a verb used seven times in vv. 15, 16, 18, 19, 20 and 21. The contrast here is between the external “letter” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">γράμμα</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] or written law-code and the internal “spirit” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">πνεῦμα</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">], fulfilling the long-anticipated new-covenant promise (cf. Jer. 31:31-34). </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Conclusion</span></b><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The regulative principle that was supplied by the external law-code of the Jews has been superseded by something much better. Jesus Christ and his new covenant system are now available for all people, irrespective of race, nationality, social status, or gender (cf. Gal. 3:26-27; Heb. 8:6-13). </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b></span><span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">:</span></span><span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> Whether Paul specifically has in mind Roman law (J. B. Lightfoot, <i>Notes</i> 300) or Jewish law (C. K. Barrett, <i>Romans</i> 135; J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Romans</i> 1:359) “is a question impossible to answer” (C. H. Dodd, <i>Romans</i> 100). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Marriage is the lawful union of a husband and wife (1 Cor. 7:2), ordained by God (Matt. 19:4-6) and consummated according to the legal system to which the couple is amenable, as long as it does not conflict with the divine will (Rom. 13:1-5; cf. Acts 5:29). But not all “marriages” are sanctioned by God, even if recognized by civil law (e.g., Mark 6:17-18; 10:11-12).</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> <span style="background-color: white; color: #262626;">The noun </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">μοιχεία</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626;"> (John 8:3), the verb </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">μοιχάω</span><i><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></i><span style="background-color: white;">(Matt. 5:32; 19:9; Mark 10:11-12</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626;">), and the verb </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">μοιχεύω</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626;"> (Matt. 5:27; 19:18; Rom. 2:22) are all related.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> The secondary sense, used figuratively of spiritual adultery, is applied to the relationship between God and his erring people (cf. Jer. 3:6-9; Ezek. 16:32; Hos. 3:1; 4:12; Jas. 4:4), but when used with reference to a man and a woman, it refers to illegitimate sexual intercourse (cf. Lev. 20:10; 18:20; Deut. 22:22; Prov. 6:32; Matt. 5:28; John 8:3; Heb. 13:4).</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">See K. L. Moore, “The Biblical Doctrine of Divorce and Remarriage: Part 2,” <i>Moore Perspective</i> (7 May 2015), <Link>, and Part 3 (14 May 2015), <Link>.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> J. Denney, “Romans” 637-38.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>6</sup> Since this statement immediately follows the marriage analogy, it is not without significance that Paul uses a similar comparison in Eph. 5:22-33. Note also Matt. 9:15; John 3:29; Rev. 21:2-9; 22:17. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/free-from-sin-enslaved-to-righteousness.html" target="_blank">Free from Sin (Rom 6:15-23)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-law-harbinger-of-death-or-holy.html" target="_blank">The Law: Holy, Righteous, Good (Rom 7:7-14)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: https://www.onlinemphdegree.net/public-health-attorney/</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-18119780978891635672024-02-28T16:08:00.003-06:002024-02-28T16:08:57.729-06:00Free from Sin, Enslaved to Righteousness (Romans 6:15-23)<p><span class="text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8LYCbB3K3Pkmi533gfltCbmwobPZOdI2NEF6_2cj0Z2LXI3U_fBDJ4GB14Hu7dZedZW5ey7lUIc7UJApfSQFQzXwWLrsOPPtHqTlavxXaSsvro1opO3DtOIjPTGNPHw6Vb-53zcMTE-wYy8PVIha0M2ar9BDSpsXAyxdUzT8_B2MBcsnj3eRKMe3pszg/s463/Free1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="463" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8LYCbB3K3Pkmi533gfltCbmwobPZOdI2NEF6_2cj0Z2LXI3U_fBDJ4GB14Hu7dZedZW5ey7lUIc7UJApfSQFQzXwWLrsOPPtHqTlavxXaSsvro1opO3DtOIjPTGNPHw6Vb-53zcMTE-wYy8PVIha0M2ar9BDSpsXAyxdUzT8_B2MBcsnj3eRKMe3pszg/w400-h189/Free1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness”</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="text"> (Rom. 6:15-18, ESV).</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Free to Obey</span></b><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">The chapter began with the rhetorical question, “<span class="text">Are we to continue [present tense] in sin,</span>” followed by an emphasis on freedom. Here the question is repeated but slightly altered, “<span class="text">Are we to sin [aorist tense],” followed by an emphasis on servitude. The subtle difference may simply be between the habitual lifestyle of sin and any violation of the “law.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">If the intention of the law was to direct people to live righteously in line with God’s will (cf. 2:17-18; 3:1-2; 7:7, 12, 14), and if “we are not under law,” are we then left with no standard of morality so that sin is reinvigorated? Once again Paul responds, </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">“By no means!” </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Freedom <i>from</i> sin is not freedom <i>to</i> sin, <span class="text">which would otherwise be a total misconception of freedom “under grace” apart from the law. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Although Christians are free from the old Mosaic system as a means of justification, it is entirely untrue that there are no obligations to the divine will under grace. Obedience continues to be inextricably linked to faith as a fundamental requisite within the new-covenant system of grace. In fact, the sixth chapter of Romans appears to be a concerted effort to reaffirm the essential role of “obedience of faith” (1:5; 16:26).<sup>1</sup></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">To “present yourselves … as obedient slaves” is a willful choice of being completely devoted in service. </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">The choice is between “sin” unto [εἰς] “death,” or “obedience” unto [εἰς] “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">righteousness.”</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> Paul is thankful to God that the Romans have chosen the latter, involving the “standard” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">τύπος</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] (cf. 5:14), “pattern” or “model,”<sup>2</sup> of “teaching” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">διδαχή</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">], the body of doctrine mutually accepted and followed by first-century churches of Christ (16:16). This <span class="text">is “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">the doctrine [διδαχή] that you have been taught …</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">” (16:17),</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> the pattern of instruction<span class="text"> “to which you were committed” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">παραδίδωμι</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">], “delivered” (ASV, N/KJV), “handed over” (CSB), “entrusted” (ISV, NASB 2020, NRSV); “has now claimed your allegiance” (NIV). <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">The teaching of Jesus and the apostles, especially in terms of the demands of discipleship, the ethical requirements of the faith, and the principles that must guide believers in their relations one to the other and to the world became in time so definite and fixed that one could go from one area of the church to another and find the same general pattern. The law was a fixed, definite entity with precepts and prohibitions. Grace has its norms also.”<sup>3</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">This obedient faith emanated from the “heart” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">καρδία</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">], the </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">physical, mental, and spiritual core and impetus of action</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">,<sup>4</sup> and was necessary for “having been set free from sin” (cf. v. 22; 8:2) and to “have become slaves of righteousness.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Slaves to a New Master<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">“I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. 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” (Rom. 6:19).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Paul has been using the familiar analogy (“in human terms,” cf. 3:5; Gal. 3:15) of slavery in the Roman world<sup>5</sup> to illustrate the past bondage to sin and current obligation to righteousness. Allusion to “your natural limitations” is lit. “your weakness of the flesh,” which Paul acknowledges for himself in the next chapter. While moral impediments may be suggested, it particularly conveys “the difficulties of apprehension, from defective spiritual experience, which prevent the understanding of its deeper truths.”<sup>6</sup> This is not intellectual ineptness but limitations fostered by corrupt moral character (cf. 8:5-7; 1 Cor. 2:14; 3:1-3). Not only is this “weakness in the capacity to understand,” but “the proneness of self-deception and to forgetting the obligations imposed by grace.”<sup>7</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">In the past the Romans had given themselves over to “impurity” (cf. 1:24) and increasing “lawlessness” (cf. 4:7) but have now changed masters to “righteousness” (cf. 1:17) unto “sanctification.”<sup>8</sup> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">The noun “sanctification,” used in Romans only here and in v. 22 (with its verbal form in 15:16), </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">refers to </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">the process of making or becoming holy, “set apart for God and separated by life and conduct from the unbelieving world …”<sup>9</sup> It is cognate with the adjectival “holy” or “set apart,” as well as “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">holiness” and </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">“saints” (1:7; 8:27; 12:13; 15:25, 26, 31; 16:2, 15).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">While one is sanctified at the time of conversion (1:7), sanctification or holiness is to be maintained by holy living (6:1-2, 4), with complete and ultimate sanctification anticipated in the future (6:22). </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">It is not uncommon for a distinction to be made between “sanctification” as an action or process, and <span style="color: #010f18;">“holiness” as the resulting state, but such a clear distinction between the two is less than certain. <span class="text"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Wages of Sin Vs. Gift of God<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.</span> <span class="text">But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.</span> <span class="text">For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:20-23).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">As former “slaves of sin,” so-called “freedom” was essentially “free in regard to righteousness,” when sin was the master rather than the righteous ways of God. Using agricultural imagery (cf. 1:13; 15:28), </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“fruit” (vv. 21-22) here refers to “the conduct of one’s life in the realm either of salvation or of damnation.”<sup>10</sup> Fortunately the Roman saints are “now ashamed” (cf. 1:16) of their past sinfulness that led only to “death” (cf. 5:12–6:16), something earned and thus deserved as “wages.”<sup>11</sup> Now, having been “set free from sin” (cf. v. 18), they have submitted themselves as “slaves of God” producing a different kind of “fruit,”<sup>12</sup> namely “<span class="text">sanctification,” a new and holy way of life, “and its end, eternal life” (cf. 2:7; 5:21), which is unearned and undeserved as “the free gift of God” (cf. 5:15-16) “in Christ Jesus our Lord.” </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Conclusion</span></b><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">We are accountable for our own decisions and actions, as God allows us freedom to choose. He calls us to exercise our freedom responsibly by rendering ourselves completely to his will. He offers us freedom from ourselves and from the master of sin, so we may wholeheartedly obey him. We are thus free from sin’s control and free to obey God in humble service to his righteousness.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">:</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> C. K. Barrett, <i>Romans</i> 131. “Against those who might object that the abandonment of the law as a code of conduct (cf. 6:14, 15; 7:1-6) leads to license, Paul argues that the gospel itself provides sufficient ethical guidance for Christians. Through the renewal of the mind that the gospel makes possible, Christians can know and do the will of God (12:2) …” (D. J. Moo, <i>Romans</i> 746).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> Acts 7:44; 1 Cor. 10:16, 11; Phil. 3:17; 1 Thess. 1:7; 2 Thess. 3:9; 1 Tim. 4:12; Tit. 2:7; Heb. 8:5; 1 Pet. 5:3. In Gal. 6:16 Paul pronounces a blessing on those who walk according to the </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">κανών </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">(“rule” or “standard”), derived from a Semitic word for stalk or reed that came to be used for “measuring rod,” thus a “standard” or “rule.” The English word “canon” is derived from this word, referring to a list of titles of various works or the collection of documents themselves, in particular the biblical canon.</span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><sup style="font-family: arial;">3</sup><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> E. F. Harrison, “Romans” 73.</span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> See Psa. 9:1; 13:5; 86:12; 111:1; 119:2, 7, 10, 34, 58, 69, 145; 138:1; Prov. 3:1; 4:23; Matt. 12:34-35; 15:18-19; 18:35; <span style="background-color: white;">Eph. 6:6; Philem. 20;<b> </b></span>Heb. 10:22.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> During the first century AD approx. 16-20 percent were reportedly slaves within a population of about 60 million (W. V. Harris, “Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade” MAAR 36:117-40); some estimates are as high as 33-40 percent (K. R. Bradley, <i>Slavery and Society </i>33). </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">See K. L. Moore, “Households and Slavery,” <i>Moore Perspective</i> (24 July 2019), <<a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-sociocultural-context-of-new_24.html" target="_blank">Link</a>>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>6</sup> W. Sanday and H. C. Headlam, <i>Romans</i> 169.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>7</sup> H. Balz and G. Schneider, eds., EDNT 1:170; R. Mohrlang, <i>Romans</i> 106. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>8</sup> Cf. 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:3, 4, 7; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim. 2:15; outside of Paul only Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:2. <span class="text">Compare 1 Pet. 4:1-5.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>9</sup> R. C. Kelcy, <i>Thessalonians </i>83.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>10</sup> H. Balz and G. Schneider, eds., EDNT 2:252.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>11</sup> Cf. Luke 3:14; 1 Cor. 9:7; 2 Cor. 11:8. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>12</sup> See also Gal. 3:22-23; Eph. 5:9; Phil. 1:11; Heb. 12:11; Jas. 3:17-18.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/baptism-in-likeness-of-christs-death.html" target="_blank">Baptism: Death, Burial, Resurrection (Rom 6:1-4)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/united-with-christ-dead-to-sin-alive-to.html" target="_blank">United with Christ (Rom 6:5-14)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span class="text" style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/broken-chains.html</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-7735573009171814522024-02-21T07:32:00.002-06:002024-02-28T16:10:43.459-06:00United with Christ: Dead to Sin, Alive to God<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5VKpiME6EjRM8wbThr1PP10cwfhfX3j7NTt9iGvoLxe-gN-l3JEF4ykmqJXSd1lW3ohBBbj67xAv0FsDqVFT7ItRnk-qtStJGhMOK5akCwAIstqLdAQI2fQKJJiYdSs9kCkq0Hxt346FkCd6ZnGNFPipo6DrSVQ7qTeo-pAdlTB23p86RNENkUlCkkg/s227/Baptism1b.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="147" data-original-width="227" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5VKpiME6EjRM8wbThr1PP10cwfhfX3j7NTt9iGvoLxe-gN-l3JEF4ykmqJXSd1lW3ohBBbj67xAv0FsDqVFT7ItRnk-qtStJGhMOK5akCwAIstqLdAQI2fQKJJiYdSs9kCkq0Hxt346FkCd6ZnGNFPipo6DrSVQ7qTeo-pAdlTB23p86RNENkUlCkkg/w400-h259/Baptism1b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.</span> <span class="text">For one who has died has been set free from sin.</span> <span class="text">Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.</span> <span class="text">For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God”</span></span><span face="-webkit-standard" style="font-size: medium;"></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="text"> (Rom. 6:5-10, ESV).</span> <o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">To be baptized “into Christ” (v. 3) is to be “united with” him (v. 5a), both in “death” (vv. 5b-8a) and in “life” (vv. 8b-10), from having been “enslaved to sin” to being “set free from sin” (vv. 6-7). The slave-free and death-life analogies continue through the rest of the chapter. In baptism, reenacting the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we obey the gospel (vv. 16-17), the aim of the apostolic mission (1:1, 5, 9, 15-16; 10:15-16; 15:16-20; 16:26). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">Jesus died and arose from the dead “once for all,” tasting death for everyone and destroying the devil’s power.<sup>1</sup> Accordingly, </span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Jesus Christ is “our Lord” as he is “declared to be the Son of God … by his resurrection from the dead” (1:4). We thus share </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">in the hope of his “resurrection” (5:2, 10) as we look to </span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">the future, “we will also live with him.” At the same time, we are “alive to God in Christ Jesus” presently as we “walk in newness of life” (v. 4). “The bodily resurrection lies ahead, but there has already taken place a ‘spiritual’ resurrection (cf. Col. 2:12; Eph. 2:6) that introduces the believer into a new life …”<sup>2</sup> This is “eternal life” (vv. 22-23), not just with respect to longevity but in quality both now and in the future (cf. 2:7; 5:21).</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Dead to Sin, Alive to God<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.</span> <span class="text">Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Rom. 6:11-13).</span> <span class="text"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“So … also” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">οὕτως καί</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">], “drawing an inference from what precedes” (BAGD 597) and serving as “the hinge of the paragraph,”<sup>3</sup> Paul charges: “you … must consider”</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">—present (continuous) imperative</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">—“yourselves,” like Christ, “to be”</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">—present (continuous)</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">—“dead” (detached, separate), “indeed”—emphatic affirmation—“to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Note the personal responsibility and effort in the process of sanctification: “Let not …. Do not present …. but present yourselves …” <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The reality of being united with Christ is not of our own doing (v. 5) but we make it operative by willing cooperation, an intentional</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">endeavor to conform in obedient faith to the way of life the Lord expects. For the redeemed and sanctified ones submitting to “Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 23), sin must no longer “reign” as lord and master. Paul uses imagery seemingly borrowed from the customary practice of a free person selling himself into slavery because of debt or other extreme circumstances, surrendering “his right of self-determination” and owing “full allegiance to his master.”<sup>4</sup> Paul himself has chosen to be “a slave of Christ Jesus” (1:1).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The general “you” (v. 11) is more specifically described as “your mortal body” (v. 12), alluding to life in the material world, narrowed further to “your members” (v. 13), with which we engage in the affairs of the world (cf. 7:5, 23). The verb “present” (vv. 13, 16, 19) is translated from </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">παριστάνω, which carries the sense of “giving oneself in service to,”<sup>5</sup></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> so not necessarily “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">to present yourself to a master, but to dedicate yourself entirely in obedience to him.<span class="text">”<sup>6</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">This servitude is a deliberate choice we have control over and to which we are held accountable (cf. 12:1-2). The word “instruments” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ὅπλα</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] refers generally to “implements” (cf. 13:12) and more particularly to “tools” or “weapons” (cf. John 18:3; 2 Cor. 6:7; 10:4). We have the choice of willingly offering ourselves as “weapons” for “unrighteousness”<sup>7</sup> or as “tools” for “righteousness” (vv. 13-20),<sup>8</sup> recalling OT prophecies about beating destructive weapons of war into productive farming instruments (Isa. 2:4; Mic. 4:3), or vice versa (Joel 3:10). <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Free from Sin’s Dominion<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). The dominion of sin has been defeated. Most relevant to those of Jewish heritage and those influenced by them, “law” is reintroduced into the discussion (cf. 2:12-27; 3:19-21, 28-31; 4:13-16; 5:13, 20) because it required strict obedience and enabled sin to increase (5:20a), whereas grace offers forgiveness and provides “the will and the power to obey; hence grace breaks the mastery of sin as law could not.”<sup>9</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">While we are “not under law” (i.e., the Law of Moses), we <i>are</i> “under grace,” a subtle reminder that the grace of God is not a license to sin (vv. 1-2) but affords motivation and discipline to live a righteous life free from the mastery of sin.<sup>10</sup> Through the “law” sin reinforces its grasp on those under it (5:20-21; 7:1–8:3), but sin loses its grip when divine grace replaces the old law. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">Heb. 2:9-15; 7:27; 9:12, 26; 10:10.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> <span class="text">D. J. Moo, <i>Romans</i> 386.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> <span class="text">D. J. Moo, <i>Romans</i> 354.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> F. S. Malan, “Bound to Do Right” 127.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> <span class="text">D. J. Moo, <i>Romans</i> 384. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>6</sup> F. S. Malan, “Bound to Do Right” 127.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>7</sup> <span class="text">See also Rom. 1:18, 29; 2:8; 3:5; 9:14</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>8</sup> <span class="text">See also Rom. 1:17; 3:5, 21-26; 4:3-13, 22; 5:17, 21; 8:10; 9:30-31; 10:3-10; 14:17.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>9</sup> <span class="text">F. F. Bruce, <i>Romans</i> 132; cf. </span>E. F. Harrison, “Romans” <span class="text">72.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>10</sup> Cf. <span class="text">1 Cor. 15:9-10, 56-58; Tit. 2:11-12.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/01/where-there-is-no-law-there-is-no.html" target="_blank">No Law, No Transgression (Rom 4:15)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/baptism-in-likeness-of-christs-death.html" target="_blank">Baptism: Death, Burial, Resurrection (Rom 6:1-4)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/free-from-sin-enslaved-to-righteousness.html" target="_blank">Free from Son (Rom 6:15-23)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span class="text" style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: https://www.newlifebham.org/-water-baptism</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-23022539607843336582024-02-14T08:13:00.002-06:002024-02-21T07:34:53.889-06:00Baptism in the Likeness of Christ’s Death, Burial and Resurrection<p><span class="chapternum" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg37RoQ9V3y_5AQhyh1P7NAanxGwYs_0LIDaFfNcnSFMcFtUFDW4vptLOsLllrsRFUhxOFYmr6d95-sz1_kYUPGbHwrBsYd5kUw-Ofl0uOD8WuQ7sUSOn0YFtk5sT0bpxlSRzcp9mkIb7-ERkNP1RQTe2VeJX0r5xdbiP7m4naIj2BNsQwFlCVPG3n6KF4/s456/Baptism%201c.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="456" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg37RoQ9V3y_5AQhyh1P7NAanxGwYs_0LIDaFfNcnSFMcFtUFDW4vptLOsLllrsRFUhxOFYmr6d95-sz1_kYUPGbHwrBsYd5kUw-Ofl0uOD8WuQ7sUSOn0YFtk5sT0bpxlSRzcp9mkIb7-ERkNP1RQTe2VeJX0r5xdbiP7m4naIj2BNsQwFlCVPG3n6KF4/w400-h256/Baptism%201c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text" style="background-color: white;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"><span class="text">By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?</span> <span class="text">We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:1-4, ESV).</span> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></span><p></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Having established the facts that “we have been justified by faith … <span class="text">we have also obtained access by faith into this grace</span>” (5:1-2), and “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">where sin increased, grace abounded all the more</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">” (5:20), Paul must now avert potential misconceptions and indifference toward obedience, morality, and the ever-present dangers of sin (cf. 3:5-8). The thought of forgiven sinners continuing to sin evokes the definitive, “By no means!” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">μὴ γένοιτο</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">].<sup>1</sup> As to the true nature and purpose of God’s grace, it “was never supposed to be a tool to let people wallow in sin. Grace was extended so people would leave sin (2:4), not increase their participation in it.”<sup>2</sup></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Died To Sin</span></b><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Carrying on the previous chapter’s theme of “sin” and “death” vs. “grace” and “life,” this section begins with the rhetorical use of “we” that immediately includes the reading audience. Against the spiritual “death” incurred by sin (5:12-21), Paul reminds the sanctified ones in Rome (1:7) that “repentance” (2:4) must accompany their obedient response to the gospel, so instead of living [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ἐπιμένω</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] in—having “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">cordial relations with” and “persisting in” (cf. 11:22, 23)—sin, </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“we … <span class="text">died to sin.</span>” This is achievable because Christ himself “died to sin” (v. 10) and we “died with Christ” (v. 8) and have been raised from the waters of baptism to “walk in newness of life” (v. 4). </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">True believers will demonstrate their faith by attempting to live in a way that is pleasing to him at all times. Those who allow sin to continue to dominate their lives reveal their lack of true devotion to Christ, and this inevitably raises questions about the reality of their claims to believe in him. To accept Christ as Savior is to accept Christ as Lord, and if that is to mean anything, it must mean everything.<sup>3</sup></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Baptized Into Christ Jesus<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Do you not know” is a rhetorical way of reaffirming what the readers already know.<sup>4</sup> In fact, Paul uses a form of the word “know” in vv. 3, 6, 9. What he is saying is common knowledge among Christians. </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The eighteen first person plurals in vv. 2-9 are applicable to “<span class="text">all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus.</span>”<sup>5</sup> The verb</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">βαπτίζω</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> means to submerge (in water),<sup>6 </sup>and the English word </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size: 14pt;">“baptize</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">” is simply an</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size: 14pt;"> anglicised</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> form of the Greek. In obedience to the gospel, Paul himself had been baptized,<sup>7</sup> which he also taught others to do, and wherever he and his coworkers evangelized, receptive hearers were baptized.<sup>8</sup> Here Paul takes for granted that the sanctified ones in Rome have all been obedient to this divine directive as well.<sup>9</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">To be “in Christ” is to be integrated into the only spiritual realm wherein God’s gracious blessings are available, incl. “redemption” (3:24), “alive to God” (6:11), “eternal life” (6:23), “no condemnation” (8:1), “free … from the law of sin and death” (8:2), “the love of God” (8:39), “the truth” (9:1), and Christian unity (12:5). How, then, do we enter Christ to access these and all other spiritual blessings?<sup>10</sup> Paul answers, with respect to penitent believers, “<span class="text">all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus …” (cf. also Gal. 3:26-27). Elsewhere he writes, “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">we were all baptized into one body …</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">” (1 Cor. 12:13); thus, to be “in Christ” is to be incorporated into his</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">emblematic body – the church, the community of the saved.<sup>11</sup> The title “Christ” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">Χριστός</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">] recognizes Jesus as the long-anticipated Messiah who has inaugurated the messianic kingdom,<sup>12</sup> in which baptized believers participate both in the present age and in the age to come (cf. vv. 5-7; 14:17; 16:25-27; Eph. 1:15-23). </span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Baptized Into Christ’s Death<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Being justified before God is made possible by Jesus’s atoning “blood” (3:25; 5:9),<sup>13</sup> which he shed in his death (5:6-10), the spiritual benefits of which are accessed when we are “baptized into his death.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">”<sup>14</sup> The act of baptism is for those having “died to sin,” who are “buried” (in water) and “raised,” corresponding to Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (the central theme of the gospel message), making forgiveness of sins and spiritual life available.<sup>15</sup> This is how the saints in Rome “became obedient from the heart … freed from sin” (vv. 17-18; cf. 10:16). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Walk In Newness of Life<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">As forgiven sinners, the relationship between God and penitent baptized believers is dramatically transformed through reconciliation when divine grace, “<span class="text">in which we stand,” is appropriated </span>(5:2). But instead of remaining stationary, we <span class="text">“walk in newness of life.</span>” The verbal “walk” <span class="text">[</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">περιπατέω</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] portrays a persistent manner of life (cf. 8:1, 4; 13:13; 14:15), and the</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> noun “newness” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">καινότης</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] (cf. 7:6), synonymous with the adj. “new” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">καινός</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">],<sup>16</sup> “denotes the fullness of the reality of salvation which Christ has given to Christians in comparison with the worthlessness of their former condition” (TDNT 3:451). “Repentance is a characteristic of the whole life, not the action of a single moment.”<sup>17</sup></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Conclusion</span></b><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">From the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he has been writing to penitent baptized believers sanctified in Christ. Whatever he says before, within, and after chap. 6 must be interpreted accordingly. To claim “justification by faith <i>alone,</i>” from chaps. 3, 4, 5, 10, or anywhere else in the letter to the exclusion of gospel obedience, is therefore to misunderstand and misappropriate Paul’s entire message. We are justified, saved, reconciled to God, and sanctified in Christ by divine grace through faith, involving an obedient faith-response to the gospel. In fact, the saving message of the gospel that Paul proclaimed stands on the foundational truth of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1-4), which penitent believers obey by dying to sin, being buried in the waters of baptism, then raised to faithfully walk in newness of life.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">:</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> “Certainly not!” (NKJV), “Far from it!” (NASB 2020), “May it never be!” (NASB 1995), “Absolutely not!” (CSB), “Not at all!” (NIV), “Of course not!” (NLT), “By no means!” (NRSV), “God forbid” (ASV, KJV). See also 3:4, 6, 31; 6:15; 7:7; 1 Cor. 6:15; Gal. 3:21.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> Brad Price, <i>Romans</i> 120; cf. C. K. Barrett, <i>Romans</i> 131. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> Roger Mohrlang, <i>Romans</i> 25.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> Rom. 6:3, 16; 7:1; 11:2; (cf. 10:19); 1 Cor. 3:16; 5:6; 6:2-19; 9:13, 24; 2 Cor. 13:5; comparable to the more straightforward “you know” (1 Cor. 12:2; 16:15; 2 Cor. 8:9; Gal. 4:13; Eph. 5:5; Phil. 2:22; 1 Thess. 1:5; 2:2, 5, 11; 3:4; 4:2; 2 Thess. 2:6; 2 Tim. 1:15, 18), and opposite of “I want you to know” (<span class="text">1 Cor. 11:2; </span>Col. 2:1).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> The correlative pronoun </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ὅσος, “as many as” (LSV, NET, NKJV), is equivalent to “all” (CSB, ESV, ISV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, WEB). </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>6</sup> Matt. 3:6, 11, 13, 16; Mark 1:5, 8-10; Luke 3:16; John 1:26, 31, 33; 3:5, 23; Acts 8:36-39; 10:47; 11:16; Eph. 5:26; Heb. 10:22; 1 Pet. 3:20-21; 1 John 5:6, 8. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>7</sup> Note “we were buried” [<span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">συνετάφημεν</span>], “we” [<span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">ἡμεῖς</span>] (v. 4); cf. Acts 9:6, 18b; 22:10, 16; 1 Cor. 12:13. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>8</sup> Acts 16:14-15, 29-34; 18:8; 19:1-5; 1 Cor. 1:14, 16; 12:13; 15:1-4; Gal. 3:26-27; Eph. 4:5; 5:26; Col. 2:12; Tit. 3:5.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>9</sup> “From this and other references to baptism in Paul’s writings, it is plain that he did not regard baptism as an ‘optional extra’ in the Christian life. He took it for granted that the Roman Christians, who were not his converts, had been as certainly baptized as his own converts were” (F. F. Bruce, <i>Romans</i> 129).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>10</sup> Eph. 1:3; cf. also 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:7, 11; Col. 1:14; 2:10; 2 Tim. 2:10; et al.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>11</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">Cf. Rom. 1:6-7; 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 1:2; 12:12-27; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:16; 3:6; 4:4, 12, 16; 5:23, 30; Col. 1:18, 24. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>12</sup> See K. L. Moore, “The Kingdom of God (Part 3),” <i>Moore Perspective</i> (25 Jan. 2014), <<a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-kingdom-of-god-part-3-of-3.html" target="_blank">Link</a></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>13</sup> Cf. Matt. 26:28; Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Col. 1:20; Heb. 9:12-28; 10:19, 29; 13:12, 20; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; 5:6-8; Rev. 1:5; 5:9; 7:14; 12:11.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>14</sup> Systematically evaluated, sins are removed by Christ’s blood (Rev. 1:5) at baptism (Acts 22:16); Christ’s blood cleanses the conscience (Heb. 9:14) at baptism (1 Pet. 3:21); Christ’s blood saves (Rom. 5:9) at baptism (Mark 16:15-16); Christ’s blood was shed at his death (John 19:33-35), we are baptized into his death (Rom. 6:3-4).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>15</sup> Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:37-38; 8:36-39; 22:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Eph. 2:4-6; 4:5; Col. 2:12; 1 Pet. 3:20-21.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>16</sup> Cf. 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:15; 4:24. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>17</sup> Sinclair Ferguson, <i>The Grace of Repentance</i> 10. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/united-with-christ-dead-to-sin-alive-to.html" target="_blank">United with Christ (Rom 6:5-14)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2016/02/wheres-church-in-gospel-plan-of.html " target="_blank">The Church in the Gospel Plan</a></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-must-i-do-to-be-saved-well-it.html" target="_blank">What Must I Do To Be Saved?</a></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/faith-and-works-romans-chapter-2-versus.html" target="_blank">Faith and Works: Romans</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2017/04/an-abbreviated-gospel-is-false-gospel.html" target="_blank">Abbreviated Gospel</a></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-baptism-700654</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-39348749707250573062024-02-08T13:49:00.006-06:002024-02-14T08:18:30.347-06:00The Broad Reach of Justification (Romans 5:12-21): Part 2<p><span class="text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZymOMKO87ojhf0BCZ7pT7ecmzlxW_GxT8-WVGZGK2mESrA36ipTU7JGgtlLxYSN_w4zqtDH_oUT7MZDwzSCqiLc-hDeD8f-KOnQRPgY1ImsOfmS7vA_MPQ98c-TGBAkbR2FGv-SpGdKkYxECOpuhRK_u7xmMZQvk9RuonGBVUALPzLxlKCwNKOTJqw-U/s457/Justification%204b.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZymOMKO87ojhf0BCZ7pT7ecmzlxW_GxT8-WVGZGK2mESrA36ipTU7JGgtlLxYSN_w4zqtDH_oUT7MZDwzSCqiLc-hDeD8f-KOnQRPgY1ImsOfmS7vA_MPQ98c-TGBAkbR2FGv-SpGdKkYxECOpuhRK_u7xmMZQvk9RuonGBVUALPzLxlKCwNKOTJqw-U/s16000/Justification%204b.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.</span> <span class="text">For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ”</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="text"> (Rom. 5:15-17, ESV).</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Death in Adam Vs. Life in Christ<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">What Jesus accomplished in his death does not merely correspond to the predicament instigated by Adam but far exceeds it, </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">“much more” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">πολλῷ μᾶλλον</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">] (cf. vv. 9, 10, 15, 17), so “if Adam’s fall had the effect of producing the ruin of many, the grace of God is much more efficacious in benefitting many, since admittedly Christ is much more powerful to save than Adam was to ruin.”<sup>1</sup> </span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Reference to the “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">free gift” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">χάρισμα</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">]<sup>2</sup> or “act of grace,”<sup>3</sup> and the “free gift” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">δωρεά</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">]<sup>4</sup> in “grace” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">χάρις</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">],<sup>5</sup> are reminders of what has already been affirmed: justification is a </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">“</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">free gift” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">δωρεάν</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">] by God’s “grace” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">χάρις</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">] (3:24). Further, “eternal life” (cf. 2:7; 5:21) is the “free gift” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">χάρισμα</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">] (“act of grace”) of God in contrast to “death” as something earned, i.e., the “wages” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ὀψώνια</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">] of sin (6:23; cf. 4:4-5). Association with our physical progenitor “Adam” (Heb. </span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #202122; font-size: 14pt;">adám</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">, meaning “mankind”) renders us susceptible to sin and death, i.e., “condemnation” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">κατάκριμα</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">] (cf. v. 18), whereas our association with our spiritual forerunner Christ grants us redemption and life, i.e., “no condemnation” (8:1). “Our destiny is determined, if you will, by the community of which we are most essentially a part—'in Adam' or 'in Christ.'”<sup>6</sup><span class="text"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Disobedience and Sin Vs. Obedience and Righteousness<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:18-19, ESV).</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">Following the explanatory digression of vv. 12b-17, Paul </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">resumes the opening thought of v. 12a: </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">“just as” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ὥσπερ</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">] </span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">so then” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ἄρα οὖν</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">],<sup>7</sup> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">as one trespass led to condemnation [κατάκριμα] for all men …” This defines “death through sin” as spiritual in nature, “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">because,” like Adam, “all sinned.”</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;"> By contrast, “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">” The “many” (vv. 15, 19), expressing a large but indefinite number, is the “all” (v. 18) in each category, whether disobedient like Adam resulting in “condemnation,” or obedient like Christ resulting in “justification and life.” No one becomes a sinner unconditionally due to Adam’s sin, and no one is made righteous unconditionally as a result of the Lord’s death.<sup>8</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Adam’s sin brings us death and condemnation by God; Christ’s righteousness brings us life and a warm welcome by God. Adam’s wrongdoing puts us under the judgment of God; Christ’s sacrifice brings us into the grace of God. Adam’s disobedience dooms us; Christ’s obedience saves us. And the good news is that the freeing power of the latter is greater than the enslaving power of the former…”<sup>9</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Sin Increasing Vs. Grace Abounding<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20-21, ESV).</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">While the whole world is “held accountable to God,” the introduction of the Law of Moses essentially redefined “sin” (5:12-13) as “guilty transgression,” </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">revealing and enhancing “<span class="text">knowledge of sin</span>” </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">(3:19-20)<sup>10</sup> and thereby increasing the “trespass.” Before the law, ignorance of sin prevailed. This is certainly not a criticism of divine law, which was intended as a gracious gift to guide and protect Israel (2:18; 7:12, 14; 9:4), still serving </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">“to make people aware of their desperate need for forgiveness and the saving grace of Christ apart from their observance of the law.”<sup>11</sup></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">With sin increasing, “grace abounded all the more” (cf. 5:2, 15). And the dominating influence of sin “in death” (cf. 5:14, 17a), something over which we have control (6:12), has been surpassed by the reign of grace “through righteousness” (cf. 5:17b). The ultimate result is “eternal life” (cf. 2:27; 6:22-23), provided only “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">through Jesus Christ our Lord,</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">” concluding the fifth chapter of Romans with a key concept stated at the beginning, middle, and end (5:1, 11, 21; cf. also 7:25).<o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> J. Calvin, <i>Romans</i> 114-15, as quoted in F. F. Bruce, <i>Romans</i> 124. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">Qualified in 1:11 with the adj. “spiritual” [</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">πνευματικός]</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">. </span><span class="text">The “gifts” in 11:29 had been committed to Israel (</span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #3d3d3d; padding: 0in;">cf. 3:2; 9:4-5</span><span class="text">); the “gifts” in 12:6 are inclusive of but not limited to the miraculous.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> C. K. Barrett, <i>Romans</i> 113.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> In Paul (5:15, 17; 2 Cor. 9:15; Eph. 3:7; 4:7). Elsewhere particularly ascribed to God (John 4:10; Acts 8:20) and the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 10:45; 11:17), and descriptive of heavenly-generated salvation (Heb. 6:4).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> Paul uses <span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">χάρις</span> twenty-six times in Romans, six in this chapter and five in chapter 11.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>6</sup> R. Mohrlang, <i>Romans</i> 96. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>7</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">ASV, CSB, NASB,</span> BSB, BLB, ERV, GNT, LSV, MSB; “Therefore” (ESV, N/KJV, NRSV), “Consequently” (ISV, NIV, NET), “In conclusion” (NAB). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>8</sup> R. C. Deaver, <i>Romans</i> 175. <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">“When humankind declared its independence from God, it abandoned the only power which can overcome the sin which uses the weakness of the flesh, the only power which can overcome death…. guilt only enters into the reckoning with the individual’s own transgression. Human beings are not held responsible for the state into which they were born” (J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Paul the Apostle</i> 97).<b> </b></span>See K. L. Moore, “Are Humans Totally Depraved from Birth?” <i>Moore Perspective</i> (1 July 2015), <<a href="http://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2015/07/are-humans-totally-depraved-from-birth.html" target="_blank">Link</a>>; and “Unconditional Election,” <i>Moore Perspective</i> (8 Jul 2015), <<a href="http://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2015/07/does-romans-9-teach-calvinistic.html" target="_blank">Link</a>>. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>9</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">R. Mohrlang, <i>Romans</i> 96. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>10</sup> See also Gal. 3:19, 22; 1 Tim. 1:9-10. It has been suggested that the adv. “where” [<span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">οὗ</span>] in this passage is in reference to Israel (C. E. B. Cranfield, <i>Romans</i> 1:293).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>11</sup> R. Mohrlang, <i>Romans</i> 21; cf. G. W. Hansen,<i> Galatians</i> 101.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-broad-reach-of-justification-romans.html" target="_blank">Broad Reach of Justification (Part 1)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/baptism-in-likeness-of-christs-death.html" target="_blank">Baptism: Death, Burial, Resurrection (Rom 6:1-4)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Image credit<b>: </b>https://junialeigh.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/increasing-your-spiritual-thirst/</span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-5696549101520254232024-02-01T06:51:00.001-06:002024-02-08T13:51:24.814-06:00The Broad Reach of Justification (Romans 5:12-21): Part 1<style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="text" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="text" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="text" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="text" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="text" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="text" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="text" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="text" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times; text-align: left;"><span class="text" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC05-fVppT21dIWjseKNAF9HNtEOHaJLgqSD9T2GT7Nx7UHe8DthVajYEwAtpLONroBaeBnbHToJANKjmDmkS7vtk-Gyks05LI4OyqBH9FYz40OP6kJKf41QVctHqfFdMtz1h9xmbf4fS__i0eOz6b-k5G5vAne2C5bub6YwrXlBi5Rx_p0N8-Psus3vE/s454/Justification%205.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="243" data-original-width="454" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC05-fVppT21dIWjseKNAF9HNtEOHaJLgqSD9T2GT7Nx7UHe8DthVajYEwAtpLONroBaeBnbHToJANKjmDmkS7vtk-Gyks05LI4OyqBH9FYz40OP6kJKf41QVctHqfFdMtz1h9xmbf4fS__i0eOz6b-k5G5vAne2C5bub6YwrXlBi5Rx_p0N8-Psus3vE/w447-h239/Justification%205.jpg" width="447" /></a></div>“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” (Rom. 5:12-14, ESV).</span></span></div></span></span></div></span></span></div></span></span></div></span></span></div></span></span></div></span></span></div></span></span></div></span></span></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Paul uses an antithetical parallel to bring this section of the letter to a close with the universal perspective with which the discussion began (1:16-32). “Paul encapsulates all human history under the two archetypal figures (note the double ‘all’ of 5.18) – Adam and Christ – as embodying, in effect, the only two alternatives which the gospel opens to humankind.”<sup>1</sup> For a comparable analogy, see 1 Cor. 15:21-22, 45-49.<o:p></o:p></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Sin Entered the World<o:p></o:p></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">“Therefore” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">διὰ τοῦτο</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">], “on account of this,” continuing and expounding upon the fact that “we have </span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">now received reconciliation” (v. 11), </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">that which occasioned this great need is recounted. Sin and death entering the world through Adam, with consequent estrangement from God, necessitated Christ’s death that atones for sin and provides the way for life and reconciliation. </span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Three descriptive terms are used interchangeably: (a) “sin” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">ἁμαρτία</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] (vv. 12-21), that which is contrary to the holiness of God; (b) “transgression” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">παράβασις</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] (v. 14), disobedience to a revealed command; and (c) the comparable “trespass” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">παράπτωμα</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] (vv. 15-20), generally a sinful act.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Paul begins the thought with, “just as [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">ὥσπερ</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] </span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin …</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">” But he does not continue the thought until v. 18, with the connecting particles “so then” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">ἄρα οὖν</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] (ASV, CSB, NASB). In between is an extended parenthetical digression starting with, “and so” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">καὶ οὕτως</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] (vv. 12b-17). <o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Death Through Sin<o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Human “sin [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">ἁμαρτία</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] came into the world” when Adam violated an explicit commandment of God: “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">” (Gen. 2:17); enjoined even before Eve was created (Gen. 2:15-17; 3:1-6).<sup>2</sup> Since </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Adam did not literally die the very day he violated this command (Gen. 3:6–5:5), the phrase “in the day” applies to eating the forbidden fruit and thus breaking God’s law. The promise “you shall surely die” simply states a fact about the future without specifying the time.<sup>3</sup> Nevertheless, the text introduces “death” as a figure of speech with spiritual ramifications that becomes clearer as divine revelation unfolds. <o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Biblically defined, physical death, which naturally occurs when separated from the tree (source) of life (Gen. 3:22-24), is effected when the human spirit is detached from the physical body.<sup>4</sup> Spiritual death—the consequence of sin (Rom. 6:23)—is severance from God (the supreme source of life).<sup>5</sup> While Adam did not physically expire the moment he ate the forbidden fruit (although the countdown had begun), he did consequently break his intimate relationship with God, thus fulfilling the words of Gen. 2:17. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The concept of dying, in the context of Romans 5, is not merely <i>physical</i> death (to which even the innocent are subject) but <i>spiritual</i> death (alienated from God in need of reconciliation) as the ultimate effect of sin (cf. 1:32; 5:12; 6:16, 21, 23; 7:5; 8:6).<sup>6</sup></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"> There is a fundamental difference between physical death, to which all mortals are amenable,<sup>7</sup> and spiritual death, which is the consequence of personal sin (2:6-9; 3:23). This distinction between physical death and spiritual death is crucial to understanding the otherwise perplexing words of Paul in this passage (and of Jesus in John 11:25-26). We all die physically because of Adam’s sin, but each accountable person is responsible for the sins he or she commits (Rom. 2:6; 14:12)—leading to spiritual death—and is therefore in need of the spiritual life (reconciliation) only Jesus can provide (5:9-11).<o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Comparable to “perish” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">ἀπόλλυμι</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] (2:12), the “death” which “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">spread to all men because all sinned</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">”<sup>8</sup> has already been identified as God’s wrath and judgment against sinners in need of redemption (3:5-23),<sup>9</sup> “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">” (3:23). Note the parallel between “death” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">θάνατος</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] (5:12) and “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">condemnation” [κατάκριμα] (v. 18a), contrasted with “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">justification” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">δικαίωσις</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] of “life</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">” [ζωή] (v. 18b). </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The spiritual nature of this so-called “death” is implied by its spiritual consequence and the remedying response of Jesus’s death, allowing “no condemnation” (8:1). In fact, reconciliation resulting from sin’s forgiveness implies a prior separation because of sin. <o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Sin Prior to the Law<o:p></o:p></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The aorist tense of “sinned” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">ἥμαρτον</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] indicates a time prior to Christ’s redemptive work (the groundwork laid in the first three chapters of Romans), while “sin indeed was in the world before the law was given .… death reigned from Adam to Moses …” (cf. 1:18-32). </span><span class="wordunicode1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">There was an extended period, including the time of Abraham (</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">4:1-22</span><span class="wordunicode1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">), without a specially revealed and recorded law-code from God comparable to the Law of Moses. But even</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"> “apart from the law” (3:21, 28), sin has been present in the world since the days of Adam. There has never been a time without law toward God (cf. 1 Cor. 9:21)</span><span class="wordunicode1"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">.<sup>10</sup> Three dispensations of biblical history are noted here: (a) from Adam to Moses—a period fraught by ignorance apart from direct revelation; (b) from Moses to Christ—a period of instruction fraught by defiance and rebellion; and (c) from Christ to the present—a period of redemption.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">It is “sin” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">ἁμαρτία</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">]</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"> that is not “counted” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">ἐλλογέω</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] or “imputed” (ASV, N/KJV) “where there is no law</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">” (cf. 2:12; 3:19-20; 4:15). Instead, the conscious and deliberate breach of a known law is more specifically understood as “transgression” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">παράβασις</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">] (v. 14; cf. 2:23; 4:15),<sup>11</sup> of which Adam was guilty (long before the Mosaic system) through willful disobedience. “In other words, ‘transgression’ is ‘sin counted’…. deliberate breach of divine command.”<sup>12</sup> In this sense, therefore, sin is counted or imputed according to the divine law to which a person is amenable, whether the pre-Mosaic “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">work of the law … written on their hearts</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">” (2:14-15) and supplemented by direct revelation (4:3-22; 5:12-19), or the pre-Christian Law of Moses (2:12-13, 18; 3:19), or presently the gospel of Christ (1:16-17; 2:16). This counters, incidentally, any false rumors or accusations about Paul allegedly promoting sin by dismissing the legalistic works of the Jewish Law (3:1-8; 6:1; cf. Gal. 5:1-23).<o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">The Reign of Death<o:p></o:p></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Due to rampant iniquity, spiritual “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">death reigned</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">” until the time of Moses, when the Law was issued “because of transgressions” as a temporary measure until the coming of Christ (Gal. 3:16, 19). The Lord Jesus is “the one who was to come,” the spiritual antitype of Adam. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #011022; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">All along the descendants of Adam have been guilty of sin, </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">even though their “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">sinning was not like the transgression of Adam.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #011022; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">” Humanity has not broken the particular law Adam was amenable to, nor is mankind punished for transgressing an explicit command of the Mosaic Law. Nonetheless, all are without excuse for respectively breaching the applicable revelation of the divine will (1:20; 2:1, 12; 3:9-23).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Paul the Apostle</i> 94.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> <span class="text">It was beyond the scope of Paul’s argument and illustration to explain the Genesis 3 story in detail, and Eve was certainly not without culpability (cf. 1 Tim. 2:14). But Adam was the designated leader of his family and, as such, was held accountable (Gen. 2:18, 23-24; 3:6, 16; Eph. 5:22-33; 1 Tim. 2:13).</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> Note that <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">“death was not part of the original divine intention in creation. ‘Death,’ which initially had no place within the world, ‘entered the world.’ …. death is not simply the natural consequence of the created state. It is the consequence of sin…. Paul asserts a continuum of life ending in death which stretches from Adam to the present” (J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Paul the Apostle</i> 95).</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">James 2:26; cf. Eccl. 12:7; John 19:30; Acts 7:59.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">Ex. 32:33; Isa. 59:1-2; Ezek. 14:7; Hab. 1:12-13; Eph. 2:1, 5; 4:18; 1 John 1:5-6.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"> <sup>6</sup> See also Rom. 5:17, 21; 7:10, 13; 8:2; 2 Cor. 2:16; Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 2:13; Jas. 1:15; 5:20; 1 John 3:14; Rev. 20:14; 21:8. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">It is “evident that Paul was operating with a double conception of death. In this case it is the distinction between the death of humanity as an <i>outcome</i> of Adam’s first transgression and death as a consequence or even <i>penalty</i> for one’s own individual transgressions. Presumably … distinction between natural death and spiritual death” (J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Paul the Apostle</i> 96).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>7</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">1 Cor. 15:21-22; Heb. 9:27; Jas. 2:26.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>8</sup> On the Calvinistic doctrine of Total Hereditary Depravity (“original” or “inherited” sin), see K. L. Moore, “Are Humans Totally Depraved from Birth?” <i>Moore Perspective</i> (1 July 2015), <<a href="http://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2015/07/are-humans-totally-depraved-from-birth.html" target="_blank">Link</a>>. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>9</sup> This is the “second death” of Rev. 20:14; 21:8; cf. 2 Tim. 1:10. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>10</sup> “Sin” is defined as “lawlessness” [<span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">ἀνομία</span>] (4:7; 6:19; cf. 1 John 3:4), not the complete absence of any kind of law but living without compliance to law’s standard. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>11</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">Note also </span><span class="text">“trespass” [</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">παράπτωμα</span><span class="text">] (vv. 15-20).</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;"> <sup>12</sup> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Paul the Apostle</i> 96.<o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-broad-reach-of-justification-romans_8.html" target="_blank">Broad Reach of Justification (Part 2)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/01/justification-peace-with-god-grace-hope.html" target="_blank">Justification, Peace, Hope (Rom 5:1-2)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h4><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Image credit<b>: </b>https://emmanuelwr.org/tslr-sermon/the-fifth-sunday-of-easter-may-7-2023/</span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-85011804737604502972024-01-24T06:48:00.006-06:002024-02-14T08:19:43.925-06:00The Undeniable and Undeserved Love of God<p><span class="text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUQWFe6g6xHA6_B2yFPmXHezMijaLDTNqkPD1315ONXY6u_8xdxY1_Tnvq7mE3vt5vR9wc5eTjBgweCUIIxUL5pJSITP9rHSabjF8ipR86Y7YU5SpZSsgb992GpkD4o7UtfwH0dXHmY_WBMMKvTRCkH7fLSVxZ2LZ2M0fOm5TUspVCrhlQKQlI9abs4To/s266/Love%20of%20God.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="137" data-original-width="266" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUQWFe6g6xHA6_B2yFPmXHezMijaLDTNqkPD1315ONXY6u_8xdxY1_Tnvq7mE3vt5vR9wc5eTjBgweCUIIxUL5pJSITP9rHSabjF8ipR86Y7YU5SpZSsgb992GpkD4o7UtfwH0dXHmY_WBMMKvTRCkH7fLSVxZ2LZ2M0fOm5TUspVCrhlQKQlI9abs4To/w400-h206/Love%20of%20God.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath [of God].</span> <span class="text">For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.</span> <span class="text">More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation”</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="text"> (Rom. 5:6-11, ESV).</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Our Woeful Predicament<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Paul summarizes his opening indictment of the human condition (1:18-32), depicted here as “weak,” the opposite of a strong Abraham-like faith (4:19) and characteristic of the deficiency of misguided law observance (8:3). The adj. “ungodly” describes the irreligious state apart from God and apart from his gracious justification (4:5). The ones contrasted with “righteous” and “good” persons are “sinners” (cf. v. 19; 3:7; 7:13),<sup>1</sup> guilty of “sin” (cf. v. 12) and subject to divine “wrath” (cf. 1:18; 2:5, 8; 3:5; 4:15; 9:22; 12:19); and “enemies” (cf. 11:28; 12:20), the opposite of those having “peace with God” (5:1).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Proof of God’s Love<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Despite the woeful predicament of mankind, what God has done through Christ is</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;"> “much more” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">πολλῷ μᾶλλον</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">], a major point of emphasis in this chapter (vv. 9, 10, 15, 17). </span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The love of God (vv. 5, 8) “for [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">εἰς–‘unto’</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] us” is undeterred, and not just “his love” (ESV) but </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀγάπην, emphatically “the <i>of himself</i> love” or “h</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">is <i>own</i> love,” initiated within his very nature rather than from external prompting.<span class="text"> God “shows” or “demonstrates” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">συνίστησιν</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] (the first word of the sentence for emphasis!) his own love in that “Christ died for </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">[ὑπέρ–‘on behalf of’]</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> us,”<sup>2</sup> accomplished “at the right time” (cf. 3:26; Gal. 4:4).<sup>3</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">The law [of Moses] had operated for centuries and had served to expose the weakness and inability of man to measure up to the divine standard of righteousness. No further testing was needed. It <i>was</i> the right time…. It was for ‘sinners’ Christ died, for men who were neither ‘righteous’ nor ‘good.’ The contrast is between the tremendous worth of the life laid down and the unworthiness of those who stand to benefit from it. Back of the death of Christ for sinners is the love of God …<sup>4 </sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Justified, Saved, Reconciled<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">To be “justified” by God is to be “reconciled” to God, which is to be “saved” from the wrath of God, accomplished because of the love of God shown through the atoning death of the Son of God: “Christ died …</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">Christ died … by his blood … by him … by the death … by his life …</span> <span class="text">through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom …”</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">To “be reconciled” and to receive “reconciliation” (cf. 11:15) is, according to Paul, a state of affairs “brought about by God alone” (BAGD 414), albeit with conditions to be met by willing recipients (cf. 2 Cor. 5:18-20).</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">We therefore “rejoice”—presently and continuously—because God’s gift of reconciliation through Christ “is ground enough for ceaseless exultation.”<sup>5</sup></span></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h3><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> From the verbal </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ἁμαρτάνω (to “sin” or “miss the mark”), vv. 12, 14, 16; 2:12; 3:23; 6:15; and the noun ἁμαρτία (“sin” or “sinful deed”), vv. 12, 13, 20, 21; 3:9, 20; 4:7, 8; 6:1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23; 7:5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20, 23, 25; 8:2, 3, 10; 11:27; 14:23. Note the heavy concentration (thirty-one explicit references!) in chaps. 6–7.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> To die ὑπέρ is to die “on behalf of,” vv. 6, 7, 8; 8:32, 34; 14:15; 1 Cor. 11:24; 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:14-15, 21; Gal. 1:4; 2:20; 3:13; Eph. 5:2, 25; 1 Thess. 5:10; 1 Tim. 2:6; Tit. 2:14; cf. Mark 14:24; Luke 22:19-20; John 6:51; 10:11, 15; 11:50-52; 15:13; 18:14; 1 Cor. 1:13; Heb. 2:9; 6:20; 10:12; 1 Pet. 2:21; 3:18; 1 John 3:16.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> Cf. also <span class="text">2 Cor. 6:2; Eph. 1:10; 1 Tim 2:6; Tit. 1:3.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> E. F. Harrison, “Romans,” in <i>The Expositor’s Bible Commentary</i>. Vol 10. Eds. Frank E. Gaebelein and J. D. Douglas (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976): 58-59.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> <span class="text">C. E. B. Cranfield, </span></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1c263d; font-size: 14pt;">A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1c263d; font-size: 14pt;">. ICC. 2 vols (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1980):</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> 1:268-69. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/01/we-rejoice-in-our-sufferings.html" target="_blank">Rejoice in Sufferings (Rom 5:3-5)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-broad-reach-of-justification-romans.html" target="_blank">Broad Reach of Justification (Rom 5:12-21): Part 1</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/baptism-in-likeness-of-christs-death.html" target="_blank">Baptism (Rom 6:1-4)</a> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>Related articles</b>: Tracy Watts, <a href="https://wattsupwithkids.com/2024/01/25/what-we-can-learn-from-daniels-prayer/?fbclid=IwAR3Or87yqplgvXXpEZDxv65WOu8ZxLszd5CJcBO82qJrzegzzKngeu9dY_o" target="_blank">Daniel's Prayer</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span class="text" style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/how-to-understand-and-internalize-gods-deep-love-for-us.html</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-50786237186015118502024-01-17T08:16:00.004-06:002024-02-21T08:17:26.032-06:00Where there is No Law there is No Transgression (Romans 4:15b)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3an1w2RI259lKH_DUw2cfUXMho8nxTCskG6keeWPQdjQ0sFqzBHCN-27MWZ_f9D1T1FL565wa11DyJOHzUj6HmKuw2t3gG-OCPJom4XQ26g1auPjS6pvFUOfgOImivnvY3WLYb52oF2GGnhS8meXKubiGkazdlaA0Q0Oltyo2_32ipwCWGuDRbAQCLZw/s248/Law%20Sin.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="225" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3an1w2RI259lKH_DUw2cfUXMho8nxTCskG6keeWPQdjQ0sFqzBHCN-27MWZ_f9D1T1FL565wa11DyJOHzUj6HmKuw2t3gG-OCPJom4XQ26g1auPjS6pvFUOfgOImivnvY3WLYb52oF2GGnhS8meXKubiGkazdlaA0Q0Oltyo2_32ipwCWGuDRbAQCLZw/w363-h400/Law%20Sin.jpg" width="363" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text" style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">“</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 15pt;">For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. </span><span class="text" style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression” (Rom. 4:13-15, ESV).</span></span></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Some have concluded from the above text that if there is no law against a practice, then the practice is divinely sanctioned (e.g., infant baptism, mechanical instruments in Christian worship, et al.). However, careful attention to Paul’s argument in the context in which it was given provides a clearer understanding of what is affirmed and what is not affirmed. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">The Law Brings Wrath<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;">The “law” that Paul has consistently been referencing in his letter to the Romans is the old Jewish Mosaic legal system, which Christians are not amenable to (Rom. 3:19; 6:14-15) and therefore cannot transgress. “For </span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">the law brings wrath</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;">” (cf. 1:18; 2:5-12; 5:9), because when the Mosaic law was in force and was violated, it could not extend grace or forgiveness or provide justification. So what does Paul mean when he observes, “</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">where there is no law there is no transgression</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;">”? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;">The term “transgression” [<i>par</i></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">á</span></i><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;">basis</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;">] (cf. 2:23; 5:14) means “overstepping” (BAGD 611), implying a set standard already in place that can be contravened. There cannot be “transgression” in the technical sense without “law.” Nevertheless, there can certainly be sinful (ungodly, unrighteous) attitudes and behaviors contrary to the divine will and subject to God’s wrath (cf. 1:18-32; 2:12; 3:9, 20, 23; etc.). </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Comparable expressions include “sin” [<i>hamartía</i>] (cf. 3:9) and its verbal form </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 15pt;">(cf. 2:12b), “lawless” [<i>an</i></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">ómōs</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 15pt;">] </span><span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">(cf. 2:12a),</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 15pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">and “trespass” [<i>paráptōma</i>] (4:25; 5:15, 16, 17, 18, 20; 11:11-12).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Conclusion</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">:</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">What does “law” mean if it does not refer to either a positive affirmation or a negative condemnation of a practice? Paul is merely informing the Christians in Rome that they cannot be guilty of transgressing the old Jewish law because Christians are not amenable to it. But since all have sinned (Rom. 3:23), it follows that Rom. 4:15b is a simple concession that everyone is amenable to divine law (cf. 1 Cor. 9:21; note also John 15:22-24).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2015/06/proof-that-instrumental-music-in.html" target="_blank">Instruments in Worship</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/12/abraham-believed-god-and-it-was-counted.html" target="_blank">Abraham Believed God (Rom 4:3)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 15pt;">: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_law#/media/File:Made-up-medical-law-symbol-rod-plus-scales.svg</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-23350016302348141412024-01-10T11:48:00.008-06:002024-01-15T06:45:46.267-06:00We Rejoice in Our Sufferings<p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI58uWhPtxJGu4snjhndXkyyXXzBBm-MhYvKLa7RXbuXP41-zl1wZkPxtJj9XI2cc9G9YXmC30uFqw5oaw1tVmXOK6kgqRb8ZjxHfJnppLthn79TyIoVJyid87n7HJrjAXignjcK12FalC2mCjwHQ378NCaiCCUD02XPLBEB7i5ePJyP0E4qqCSC3ti1A/s443/Rejoice%20in%20Suffering.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="443" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI58uWhPtxJGu4snjhndXkyyXXzBBm-MhYvKLa7RXbuXP41-zl1wZkPxtJj9XI2cc9G9YXmC30uFqw5oaw1tVmXOK6kgqRb8ZjxHfJnppLthn79TyIoVJyid87n7HJrjAXignjcK12FalC2mCjwHQ378NCaiCCUD02XPLBEB7i5ePJyP0E4qqCSC3ti1A/w400-h361/Rejoice%20in%20Suffering.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us”</span></span><span face="-webkit-standard"></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="text"> (Romans 5:3-5, ESV).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><p></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Christian Suffering<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">While “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2), there is another reason for rejoicing. </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Allusion here to “our sufferings” is a prelude to the upcoming discussion affirming, “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">” (8:18 ff.). This offers awareness and reassurance, while countering potential objections about the real-life challenges experienced by those who are justified by God through Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Benefits of Suffering<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Parallel to James 1:2-3, 12, Paul says that we “rejoice” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">καυχάομαι</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] in our “sufferings” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">θλίψεις</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">], because, unlike the Law of Moses “producing” or “bringing about” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">κατεργάζομαι</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] <span class="text"></span>wrath (4:15), these “tribulations” (ASV, NASB, N/KJV) or “afflictions” (CSB, LSB) bring about <span class="text">“endurance</span>” [ὑπομονὴ], “steadfastness” (ASV), “perseverance” (NASB, NIV, NKJV), conveying the sense of “fortitude” (Weymouth).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">This in turn produces “approvedness” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">δοκιμή</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] (ASV), “a spiritual state which has shown itself proof under trial,” thus “character,”<sup>1</sup> i.e., “proven character” (CSB, NAB, NASB, WEB). This, then, leads to “hope” (cf. v. 2), facilitating the joy that is confirmed rather than shaken by afflictions and hardships. <span class="text">“For persecution only generates fortitude, or resolute endurance under trials: and then fortitude leads on to the approved courage of the veteran; and that in turn strengthens the hope out of which it originally sprang.”<sup>2</sup> </span>Awareness of what lies ahead offers the anticipatory assurance of hope founded upon the undeniable proof of “God’s love,” clearly demonstrated in all that he has done through Christ (vv. 1-11). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">The Gift of the Holy Spirit<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">While the term </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">πνεῦμα</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> (“spirit”) has been employed multiple times already in the letter (1:4, 9; 2:29), this is the first explicit reference to “the Holy Spirit.” Unlike the apostle’s initial experience with uninformed disciples in Ephesus (Acts 19:1-2), here he assumes preexisting knowledge among the Romans of God’s Spirit,<sup>3</sup> through whom “God’s love has been poured into our hearts” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">καρδίαι</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] and “has been given to us.” Since Paul earlier expressed his desire to travel to Rome “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">” (1:11), a non-miraculous manifestation of the divine Spirit seems to be in view here. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The apostle knows that the Roman Christians have obeyed from the “heart” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">καρδία</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] the “standard of teaching” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">τύπον διδαχῆς</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] they were delivered, freed from sin as penitent baptized believers (6:4, 17-18). </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Note also the instrumentality of the Spirit-inspired “word” (10:8) and intercession in prayer (8:26-27).<span class="text"> Paul’s understanding of the gospel message is the same as his apostolic colleagues,<sup>4</sup> </span>involving an obedient faith-response that includes belief, repentance, confession, and baptism, resulting in forgiveness of sins and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.<sup>5</sup> Thereafter God’s Spirit indwells the redeemed in Christ as a “seal” of divine ownership and “guarantee” of God’s inheritance.<sup>6</sup><span class="text"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">It is only from a Christian perspective that one can rejoice in the midst of suffering. While there is no joy in the suffering itself, we value the benefits gained therefrom. Without the imperfections of this world and the inevitable trials we face, there can be no development of much-needed qualities like endurance,</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">proven character, and confident hope. Nor would we fully appreciate the love of God and his gift of the Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> J. Denney, “Romans” 624. Cf. ESV, ISV, NET, NIV, NKJV, NRSV; “strength of character” (NLT), “experience” (KJV, LSV).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> W. <span class="text">Sanday and A. C. Headlam, <i>Romans </i>118.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> Cf. also Rom. 9:1; 14:17; 15:13, 16.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> 1 Cor. 15:11; Gal. 1:7-9; 3:26-27.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> Acts 2:37-38; 5:32; 22:16.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>6</sup> Cf. 1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14; 3:16; 4:30; <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">1 John 3:24; 4:13</span>. See K. L. Moore, “God’s Indwelling Spirit,” <i>Moore Perspective</i> (26 August 2015), <<a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2015/08/gods-indwelling-spirit.html" target="_blank">Link</a>>. <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Nonetheless, God cannot recognize as his those who continue to practice iniquity (2 Tim. 2:16-21). Since it is possible to forfeit salvation by falling back into a sinful life (cf. 2 Pet. 2:20-22), it must therefore be possible to lose salvation’s guarantee. </span><span class="text">Whatever the Holy Spirit does or does not do, personal accountability, decision-making, and self-control are not eliminated (cf. Rom. 7:18; 12:3).</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="http://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/01/justification-peace-with-god-grace-hope.html" target="_blank">Justification (Rom 5:1-2)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span class="text" style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/praying-silhouette</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-35790681551385763142024-01-03T09:20:00.012-06:002024-02-14T08:25:09.268-06:00Justification = Peace with God, Grace, Hope, Rejoicing, and Glory<p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="chapternum"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK5fchHXT7OqkrNjvbsxjG1R4Glm5JDHIK-AppJOu_HIWX15wir3d3aq2-38cIBbV1l2syBobCP32uYDql5_PEWo50JgmKtt6cMtViq3mzXVV_PlgRORTy3xEZqJ8IzV494FXWenXr0Ugfxo4rtxClu0zwhzEjSQZi0VOhVTbX31xzmEZBr6qn7bRVcGM/s454/Rejoice%20in%20hope.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="454" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK5fchHXT7OqkrNjvbsxjG1R4Glm5JDHIK-AppJOu_HIWX15wir3d3aq2-38cIBbV1l2syBobCP32uYDql5_PEWo50JgmKtt6cMtViq3mzXVV_PlgRORTy3xEZqJ8IzV494FXWenXr0Ugfxo4rtxClu0zwhzEjSQZi0VOhVTbX31xzmEZBr6qn7bRVcGM/w400-h229/Rejoice%20in%20hope.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span class="chapternum"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“T</span></span><span face="-webkit-standard"></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">herefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">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” (Romans 5:1-2, ESV).</span> <o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Justified by God<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Therefore” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">οὖν</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">], flowing from the last two verses of the previous chapter, this conjunction signals what is to be concluded from all that Paul has been saying about being “justified by faith” (1:16–4:25). The aorist tense of “justified” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">δικαιωθέντες</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] “is not a once-for-all act of God. It is rather the initial acceptance by God into restored relationship. But thereafter the relationship could not be sustained without God continuing to exercise his justifying righteousness with a view to the final act of judgment and acquittal.”<sup>1</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Peace with God<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">As justified believers we now enjoy incredible blessings. The first two listed here (“peace” and “grace”) comprise the opening greeting of every Pauline letter and recur near the end of almost all of them. The idea of “peace [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">εἰρήνη</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">]<sup>2</sup> with God” means his wrath has been appeased (cf. 1:18; 3:25) to enable reconciliation. This is “an objective state of peace, not simply a feeling of peacefulness…. enmity is exchanged for peaceful relations.”<sup>3</sup> As such, peace with God is not the absence of external turmoil (v. 3) but is synonymous with justification, salvation, and reconciliation (vv. 9-10). It is “our duty to enjoy to the full the new state of peace with Him which we owe to our Lord Jesus Messiah.”<sup>4</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Grace of God<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">There is also “grace” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">χάρις</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">].<sup>5</sup> Of the 154 occurrences of </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">χάρις</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> in the NT, almost two-thirds are in Paul’s writings, with the heaviest concentration in Romans. The expression essentially conveys God’s “undeserved favor,” a primary motivator in the apostle’s own life and ministry.<sup>6 </sup>“The theology of Paul was neither born nor sustained by or as a purely cerebral exercise. It was his own experience of grace which lay at its heart.”<sup>7</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Hope in God<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Next is “hope” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ἐλπίς</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] (cf. vv. 4-5),<sup>8</sup> introduced at 4:18-21 and inextricably linked to faith. This is not a frail expression of uncertainty but an unshakable confidence in God, an earnest expectation of something sure. There seems to be somewhat of a tension in Paul (and other NT writers) between now and not yet. Our justification grants us immediate procurement of “peace” and “grace,” while “hope” looks to the future (cf. 8:24-25). “Clearly no scope is even envisaged for a wholly ‘realized’ understanding of the process of salvation …. its wholeness belonging to the not yet.”<sup>9</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">At the same time, because of this confident hope, Paul not only speaks of salvation in terms of the future<sup>10</sup> but also of the past,<sup>11</sup> present,<sup>12</sup> and both simultaneously,<sup>13</sup> albeit contingent upon ongoing faithfulness.<sup>14</sup> This is something in which we “rejoice” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">καυχάομαι</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] (cf. vv. 3, 11; contrast 2:17, 23). Although on our own merits we fall short of God’s <span class="text">“glory” [</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">δόξα</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] (3:23), “we rejoice in hope” of the glorious future with him in view of his grace and peace (cf. </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">1:23; 3:7; 4:20; 6:4; 11:36; 15:7; 16:27).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Our Faith Response<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">All this is possible “<span class="text">through our Lord Jesus Christ</span>” (cf. v. 11). Over half of this chapter’s first eleven verses highlight the Lord’s propitiatory/expiatory work, with particular emphasis on his sacrificial death (1, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11; cf. 3:25; 4:25). The occasion of having “<span class="text">obtained access by faith into this grace</span>” is clarified further in the next chapter in regard to the faith-response of baptism “into his death” (6:3-4). A penitent believer’s relation to God drastically changes when sins are forgiven by Christ’s blood at baptism,<sup>15</sup> which Paul himself had experienced,<sup>16 </sup>appropriating the “<span class="text">grace in which we stand.</span>” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The verbal </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ἵστημι</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> (to “stand”), a complementary metaphor of “walk,”<sup>17</sup> is applied to the firm steadfastness of “this grace,” as well as faith (11:20; 2 Cor. 1:24), gospel obedience (1 Cor. 15:1), and confidence in God’s will (Col. 4:12; cf. 2 Tim. 2:19).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">All that God has accomplished through our Lord Jesus Christ is accessible by faith, trusting in him to do what he promised when we believe and do what he says. As a result we have peace with God, access to grace, rejoicing in hope of our future glory.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnote</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">s:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Paul the Apostle</i> 386. Cf. also D. J. Moo, <i>Romans</i> 298-99. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> Cf. Rom. 1:7; 2:10; 3:17; 8:6; 14:17, 19; 15:13, 33; 16:20.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> S. E. Porter, “Peace, Reconciliation,” in DPL 695.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> W. <span class="text">Sanday and A. C. Headlam, <i>Romans </i>118.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> Cf. Rom. 1:5, 7; 3:24; 4:4, 16; 5:15, 17, 20, 21; 6:1, 14, 15, 17; 7:25; 11:5, 6; 12:3, 6; 15:15; 16:20, 24. <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">Every letter in the Pauline corpus concludes with a </span><span style="color: #010f18;">“</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">grace</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">” benediction in which </span>the divine source of grace is the Lord Jesus, while the peace benedictions attribute the divine source of peace to God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>6</sup> 1 Cor. 15:10; cf. 1 Cor. 9:16-23; Gal. 1:15-16; Eph. 2:7; 3:8; 1 Tim. 1:14; Tit. 2:11-14.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>7</sup> J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Paul</i> <i>the Apostle</i> 179. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">“Every line of this passage breathes St. Paul's personal experience, and his intense hold upon the objective facts which are the grounds of a Christian's confidence” (W. <span class="text">Sanday and A. C. Headlam, <i>Romans </i>119).</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>8</sup> Cf. Rom. 4:18; 8:20, 24; 12:12; 15:4, 13.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>9</sup> J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Paul the Apostle</i> 471. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>10</sup> Rom. 5:9-10; 9:27; 10:9, 13; 11:26; 1 Cor. 3:15; 5:5.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>11</sup> Rom. 8:24; Tit. 3:5.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>12</sup> Rom. 10:10; 1 Cor. 1:18; 15:2; 2 Cor. 2:15; 2 Thess. 2:13.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>13</sup> Eph. 2:5, 8; 2 Tim. 1:9.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>14</sup> 1 Cor. 5:1-5, 11; 8:11; 9:27; 15:1-2; 2 Cor. 2:15; 6:1; Gal. 1:6-9; 5:4; 1 Thess. 3:5; 1 Tim. 1:19; 4:1; cf. Matt. 18:12; 26:31; 24:13, 42, 44-51; John 6:66, 70-71; Heb. 2:1-3; 3:12-14; 4:1, 11; 6:4-8, 11; 10:23, 26-38; 12:1-7, 15, 25; Jas. 5:19-20; 1 Pet. 2:25; 2 Pet. 2:1-3, 18-21; Rev. 2–3. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>15</sup> Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; John 3:3-5; Acts 2:37-41, 47; 8:12, 35-39; 10:33, 47-48; 16:14-15, 29-34; 18:8; 19:1-5; Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 1:14, 16; 12:13; Gal. 3:26-27; Eph. 4:5; 5:26; Col. 2:12; Tit. 3:5; Heb. 10:22; 1 Pet. 3:20-21; 1 John 5:6-8.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>16</sup> Acts 9:18b; 22:16; cf. 1 Cor. 12:13. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>17</sup> Rom. 4:12; 6:4; 8:1, 4; 13:13.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/01/we-rejoice-in-our-sufferings.html" target="_blank">Rejoice in Sufferings (Rom 5:3-5)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-broad-reach-of-justification-romans.html" target="_blank">Broad Reach of Justification (Rom 5:12-21): Part 1</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/baptism-in-likeness-of-christs-death.html" target="_blank">Baptism: Death, Burial, Resurrection (Rom 6:1-4)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: https://bobsawvelle.com/rejoice-in-the-lord-always/</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-91688162696945406912023-12-27T07:57:00.004-06:002024-02-14T08:27:43.626-06:00Righteousness, Circumcision, and Abraham’s Faith <p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7zmxxZKTQOBDflyFtNUtzKPVlYtvDiPxkR3-vtH0ZEQuYj5mkZZG9T68pgh7oApqNResn98FJ16bq-NdaXUQbQQWEc9aPZ4BAH3SOwwcXJk1VjafaJoUOgFUHYbwxgub_wElOhlHJdVvGkv5LY4X6jGw_jRz7QrkqUt6uabb8g-0ALu1s91uwDNZ_ak8/s419/Abraham.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="419" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7zmxxZKTQOBDflyFtNUtzKPVlYtvDiPxkR3-vtH0ZEQuYj5mkZZG9T68pgh7oApqNResn98FJ16bq-NdaXUQbQQWEc9aPZ4BAH3SOwwcXJk1VjafaJoUOgFUHYbwxgub_wElOhlHJdVvGkv5LY4X6jGw_jRz7QrkqUt6uabb8g-0ALu1s91uwDNZ_ak8/w400-h228/Abraham.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">“Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <span class="text">How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.</span> <span class="text">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,</span> <span class="text">and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised” (Romans 4:9-12, ESV)</span></span><span face="-webkit-standard"></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><span class="text">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span><p></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">All people (whether Jew or Gentile) are justified according to the same kind of faith-response to the Lord, not reliance on ritualistic ordinances of the old law but on God’s righteous work in Christ, trusting him to do what he promised to do when we step out in faith and do what he directs us to do. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Circumcision, as a highly valued “work of the law” among Jews and Judaizers at the time Paul composed Romans, was being promoted as a requisite of divine favor and blessings excluding so many ethnically diverse disciples and causing unnecessary division (cf. Rom. 2:25-29; 3:1, 30; 15:8).<sup>1</sup> Circumcision is thus highlighted here to distinguish between what had become a meritorious work of the flesh, on one hand, and the kind of faith that enabled Abraham to be justified, on the other. “Circumcision and the Law were separate in time and in origin. But from the moment of the institution of the Law they were co-extensive in their operation: for those under the Law were under Circumcision.”<sup>2</sup></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">God pronounced Abraham righteous (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:6) prior to his circumcision (Gen. 17:10-11, 24), so Abraham has become “the father of all” (both Jew and Gentile) responding to the Lord with the same kind of faith. <span class="text">The phrase rendered in English, “all who believe” (ESV), with two pronouns and a verb, is actually <i>p</i></span><i>á<span class="text">nt</span>ō<span class="text">n t</span>ō<span class="text">n</span></i><span class="text"> <i>pisteu</i></span></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ó</span></i><span class="text"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">nt</span></i></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">ō<span class="text">n </span></span></i><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">(an adjective and articular participle) that should be translated, “all the believing [ones].” </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Paul is not telling non-Christians to get saved by merely believing without repentance and baptism; he is writing to penitent baptized believers whose faith-response has already included repentance and baptism (6:1-18). “Faith in Christ and baptism were, indeed, not so much two distinct experiences as parts of one whole. Faith in Christ was an essential element in baptism …”<sup>3</sup></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">To “walk” [<i>stoicho</i></span></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">ûsin</span></i><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 15pt;">– presently and continuously</span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">]<sup>4</sup> “in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had” is not reliance on Jewish rituals (like circumcision) but living a life of obedient faith.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Endnotes</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>1</sup> Cf. Acts 15:1-5; Gal. 2:12; 5:1-6; 6:12-13, 15; Tit. 1:10.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>2</sup> J. B. Lightfoot, <i>Notes on Epistles of St Paul</i> 280.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>3</sup> F. F. Bruce, <i>Romans</i> 129.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>4</sup> Cf. Gal. 5:25; 6:16; Phil. 3:16; compare <i>peripatéō</i> in Rom. 6:4; 8:1, 4; 13:13; 14:15.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2013/03/questions-about-baptism-part-4.html" target="_blank">Questions About Baptism</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/12/abraham-believed-god-and-it-was-counted.html" target="_blank">Abraham Believed God (Rom. 4:3)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/01/justification-peace-with-god-grace-hope.html" target="_blank">Justification, Peace, Hope (Rom 5:1-2)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/baptism-in-likeness-of-christs-death.html" target="_blank">Baptism: Death, Burial, Resurrection (Rom 6:1-4)</a> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="top-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">: </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">https://gladtidingsmagazine.org/father-of-the-faithful/</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-47403190570328925282023-12-20T09:27:00.005-06:002024-02-14T08:28:30.492-06:00“Abraham believed God, and It was counted to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3)<h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEoA7s9LQCPBK5wkpRCwuQVUl7-tXjwg8c02Why0Qa9MND-CuG6EpiOPi0YeZqK3ft1BYFTgW3KCKLQsqUciYfeFQAU74SuNuEbL_oH996gZlJuQ9w7YIM5Me01-kPLwH2_Hyjo628GoEHHPUwtDTDN_YZXB333AgpSvKKLCHynUnrbgpr-cO6PUtfpe8/s378/Abraham5.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="208" data-original-width="378" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEoA7s9LQCPBK5wkpRCwuQVUl7-tXjwg8c02Why0Qa9MND-CuG6EpiOPi0YeZqK3ft1BYFTgW3KCKLQsqUciYfeFQAU74SuNuEbL_oH996gZlJuQ9w7YIM5Me01-kPLwH2_Hyjo628GoEHHPUwtDTDN_YZXB333AgpSvKKLCHynUnrbgpr-cO6PUtfpe8/w400-h220/Abraham5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>“What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"> <span class="text">For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.</span> <span class="text">For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.'</span> <span class="text">Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.</span> <span class="text">And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:1-5, ESV).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">The Faith of Abraham</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;">Among the first-century Roman Christians, prior knowledge of Abraham is presupposed.<sup>1</sup> Despite his pagan ancestry, Abraham was called and justified by God (Gen. 11:27–12:4; Josh. 24:1-3), something the Gentile Christians could appreciate. As the ancestral father of the Israelite people, he would have been highly esteemed by ethnic Jews. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;">Dialogically engaged with a hypothetical Jewish discussion partner (cf. 2:17), Paul alludes to Abraham as “<span class="text">our forefather according to the flesh.</span>” The term “flesh” [<i>sárx</i>] is descriptively linked to physical Israel and the rite of circumcision (2:28) and accompanying “works of the law” (3:20), later applied to human weakness involving sinful living (6:19; 8:4-13). Contextually, therefore, the “works” [<i>é</i></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;">rga</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;">] that are separate from and unrelated to justification are not just any active deeds (cf. 2:6-7) but meritorious works stemming from the Law of Moses, requisites of old-covenant Judaism, as per the foregoing discussion (3:19-20, 27-28).<sup>2</sup> It is this particular category of “works” that Paul consistently contrasts with “faith” (3:27; 9:32; cf. Gal. 2:16; 3:2-5). </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">The Works of Abraham</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Actively <i>doing</i> something is not discounted here (cf. 2:10). Rather, the issue concerns one who “works” [<i>erg</i></span></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">ázomai</span></i>] so he can “boast” [<i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 15pt;">ka</span></i><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">ú</span></i><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 15pt;">ch</span></i><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">ē<span style="color: #001320;">ma</span></span></i>] (cf. 3:27) and<span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> earn “wages” [<i>misth</i></span></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">ō</span></i><span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">s</span></i></span><span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">] regarded as something he is “due” [<i>ophe</i></span></span><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">íl</span></i><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">ēma</span></i>]. But this is not how Abraham (or anyone else) was justified. According to “the Scripture,” quoting Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (also vv. 9, 22; Gal. 3:6). <o:p></o:p> </span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;">Abraham’s response to God was more than a mere passive, intellectual concession, as the English word “believe” might suggest. U<span class="text">p to this point in his sojourn, not only did Abraham mentally assent to God’s word but he trusted in God enough to do what God enjoined every step of the way: “By faith Abraham obeyed …” (Heb. 11:8, 17). And he continued to walk in obedient faith for the rest of his life. Paul goes on to describe </span>Abraham as the father of those “<span style="color: #001320;">who also <i>walk</i> in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had …</span>” (Rom. 4:12), in line with how the Romans already understood active “faith” [<i>pístis</i>] (1:5, 8, 12).<span class="text"> </span>Paul never interpreted “faith” as simply a mental assent to a doctrinal truth without any active response, nor did he view the requirements of God as “works” that humans have devised to save themselves, esp. the works (deeds, actions) of humble obedience (Phil. 2:12).<span class="text"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span> </span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;">Genesis 15:6 is also quoted by the Lord’s half-brother (Jas. 2:23) to counteract a dead “faith” void of obedient “works,” concluding, “<span style="color: #001320;">You see that a person is justified by works </span>[<i>é<span style="color: #001320;">rga</span></i>]<b> </b><span style="color: #001320;">and not by faith alone</span>” (v. 24). Paul and James, writing to different audiences grappling with different issues, are complementary rather than contradictory. The “works” highlighted by Paul relate to the ritualistic observances of the Mosaic Law, while the “works” in James pertain to non-meritorious demonstrations of faith, legitimizing the shared use of the same OT text. While “faith” [<i>pístis</i>] is our fundamental response to God (Rom. 3:27-31; 5:1-2), both James and Paul clearly show that saving faith is an <i>active</i>, <i>obedient</i>, <i>working</i> faith (1 Thess. 1:3; Jas. 2:14-16), i.e., “faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6). <o:p></o:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">The Righteousness of Abraham<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><br /></span></b></p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">For Paul, genuine “righteousness” (cf. v. 6) is appropriated through the avenue of faith and is almost always contrasted with what can be described as law-oriented works righteousness (4:11-14; 9:30-32; 10:4-10). At the same time, righteousness “obligates the redeemed one to serve God faithfully” (BAGD 197). In an ethical sense, it characterizes the life of faithful obedience that is expected of all baptized believers (6:13, 18, 19, 20).<sup>3<span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"></span></sup></span><o:p></o:p> <p class="chapter-1" style="font-size: medium; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="chapter-1" style="font-size: medium; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></h3>Paul wants his readers to know that we are justified by the same kind of faith by which Abraham was justified – a working, active, obedient faith as opposed to a Mosaic-law-oriented-meritorious-works-righteousness apart from the gospel of Christ. Saving faith is not void of obedience any more than saving obedience is void of faith. To conclude otherwise is to ignore the groundwork laid in the first three chapters of Romans. <o:p></o:p> </span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p> </span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"><br /></span></b></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Endnotes</span></b>:</span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p> <sup>1</sup> <span class="text">On the example of Abraham in the NT, see </span>Acts 3:25; 7:2-17; 13:26; Rom. 4:1-25; 9:6-8; 11:1;<span class="text"> Gal. 3:6-7;</span> 2 Cor. 11:22; Heb. 6:13-15; 11:8-19; Jas. 2:20-24.</span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p> <sup>2</sup> A number of passages employ <i>érgon</i> (“work”) without <i>n</i><i>ómou</i> (“of law”) but have the same meaning (BAGD 308); e.g., Rom. 4:2, 6; 9:12; 11:6; and Eph. 2:9.</span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p> <sup>3</sup> The converse – unrighteousness – is the result of disobedience (Rom. 1:28; 2:8; 3:3-5; 10:21), for which the antidote is God’s righteousness manifested in Christ and the saving power of the gospel (Rom. 1:16-17; 3:21-26).<o:p></o:p> </span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"><br /></span></b></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Related Posts</span></b>: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/faith-and-works-romans-chapter-2-versus.html" target="_blank">Faith and Works</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/bookends-of-romans-defining-faith.html" target="_blank">Bookends of Romans</a>, <a href="http://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/12/righteousness-circumcision-and-abrahams.html" target="_blank">Righteousness, Circumcision, Abraham's Faith (Rom 4:9-12)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2017/04/an-abbreviated-gospel-is-false-gospel.html" target="_blank">Abbreviated Gospel</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/baptism-in-likeness-of-christs-death.html" target="_blank">Baptism (Rom 6:1-4)</a><o:p></o:p> </span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; font-weight: normal;"><b><br /></b></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; margin: 0in;"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">: https://www.scottlapierre.org/similarities-between-isaac-and-jesus-sacrifice/ <o:p></o:p></span></p></h3><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-71766098702083384272023-12-13T16:06:00.004-06:002023-12-14T11:17:59.158-06:00God passed over former sins? (Romans 3:25)<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgircHi2VEGEahe1r0bZ2HM_blIykvh_JqctQy7oOsNCH9GaO9v_abaxg08hV0_Zyy7N4jw7iSd2eGRmEbibP2iJwfiAZamblX6J4zsLFfNaYE_lmL-M_KGIq7zlmZXVucEF4IeusGkUH293n_UZHSRsTSK2dZWnjR9sXpGBQCdMTk3-5QXsDo1-JhRJi4/s260/Blind%20Eye.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="211" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgircHi2VEGEahe1r0bZ2HM_blIykvh_JqctQy7oOsNCH9GaO9v_abaxg08hV0_Zyy7N4jw7iSd2eGRmEbibP2iJwfiAZamblX6J4zsLFfNaYE_lmL-M_KGIq7zlmZXVucEF4IeusGkUH293n_UZHSRsTSK2dZWnjR9sXpGBQCdMTk3-5QXsDo1-JhRJi4/s1600/Blind%20Eye.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">According to Romans 3:25, God’s righteousness is demonstrated <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">in his “forbearance” or “merciful restraint,” </span><span style="color: #001320;">“through the forbearance of the sins previously committed.”<sup>1</sup> Does this mean God </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">“</span><span style="color: #001320;">waited patiently to deal with sins committed in the past</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">” (ISV), or he “</span><span style="color: #001320;">let the sins previously committed go unpunished</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">” (NASB 2020, NIV, NLT), or he “passed over” former sins (ASV, CSB, ERV, ESV, NASB 1995, NET, NKJV, N/RSV, WEB, YLT), or does this involve “remission”/ “forgiveness” (Douay-Rheims, NAB, KJV)</span></span><span face="-webkit-standard" style="font-size: medium;"></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">? <o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">While God’s <i>holiness</i> demands punishment for sin, his <i>forbearance</i> has withheld the full extent of his <i>wrath</i> (cf. Acts 14:16; 17:30) until his <i>justice</i> could be satisfied in the sacrificial death of his Son, enabling sins (past, present, future) to be forgiven (cf. Gal. 4:4-5; Heb. 9:15, 26).<sup>2</sup> Continuing the “covering” sense (cf. 4:7)</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> of the mercy seat analogy (see <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/12/is-jesus-our-propitiation-or-expiation.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>), this is not ignoring sin but providing a means of redemption without compromising or violating the holy and just nature of God. The point is “God’s ‘consistency’ in always acting in accordance with his own character.”</span><sup style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial;">3</sup><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> Divine forbearance affords not only the opportunity but the incentive to repent (2:4). </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">Paul continues in v. 26, resuming the “but now” of v. 21, noting that God’s righteousness apart from the Law, consistent with his just character and justifying activity, is demonstrated “</span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">at the present time</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">”<sup>4</sup> toward the one, not necessarily “</span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">who has faith in Jesus</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">” (ESV), but the one “out of” [<i>ek</i>] the “faith of Jesus” [<i>p</i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">í</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">ste</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ō</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">s I</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ē</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">so</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">û</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">], i.e., characterized by and benefitting from Jesus’s faith(fulness). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">Unless noted otherwise, scripture quotations are the author’s own translation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> Foreshadowing the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, persons were saved under the old Jewish Law by God’s grace through faith (Rom. 4:3-16; cf. 3:25; 9:31-32), and “the only faith that counts for anything is a faith that responds to whatever God says (Rom. 10:17)” (Gary Workman, “The Nature of the Gospel,” in <i>The Book of Romans</i> 85).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> Douglas J. </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Moo,</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <i>The Epistle to the Romans</i>. NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996) 240. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> On the</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> timing of God’s justifying work through Christ, see esp. Rom. 5:6; Gal. 4:4; also <span class="text">2 Cor. 6:2; Eph. 1:10; 1 Tim. 2:6; Tit. 1:3.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/all-have-sinned-and-fall-short-of-gods.html" target="_blank">All Have Sinned (Rom. 3:23)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/12/is-jesus-our-propitiation-or-expiation.html" target="_blank">Jesus Our Propriation/ Expiation</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: https://www.shutterstock.com/search/turn-blind-eye</span></span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-55647346821666465772023-12-06T21:49:00.006-06:002023-12-06T21:54:52.194-06:00Is Jesus Our Propitiation or Expiation?<p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwD1a3ivDTuSrojL17Q_DHwID1ttEKI3U40Iei_FNU2huPn4W4pTNQBz0bs-jKPP5CxVG_75ViyjD4pjdTrJWeixU_Wmrojc7JC-surtAWqJDsGohCU6H1oYnI_yU1mza6lHiD2wXAc3n1vwNVHpZjkNQ0Pn8-K95-LZQ1Lb10pm-37dDmD4AUsWbJ12U/s174/Cross.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="117" data-original-width="174" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwD1a3ivDTuSrojL17Q_DHwID1ttEKI3U40Iei_FNU2huPn4W4pTNQBz0bs-jKPP5CxVG_75ViyjD4pjdTrJWeixU_Wmrojc7JC-surtAWqJDsGohCU6H1oYnI_yU1mza6lHiD2wXAc3n1vwNVHpZjkNQ0Pn8-K95-LZQ1Lb10pm-37dDmD4AUsWbJ12U/w400-h269/Cross.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Romans 3:24-25 speaks of “the redemption in Christ Jesus whom God purposed as a <i>hilast</i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ē</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">rion </span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">through faith in his blood …” (author's own translation).</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">Jesus was “purposed” or “manifested”<sup>1</sup> by God as a <i>hilast</i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ē</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">rion</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">,</span><span class="text"><sup><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">2</span></sup></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> a term that conveys either “expiation” (RSV) in the sense of “atonement” (ISV, NIV, NRSV), or “propitiation” (ASV, ESV, NASB, N/KJV) in the sense of “appeasement” of divine wrath. In the LXX the word was used for the “mercy seat,” from the Heb. </span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">kapp</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ō</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">reth</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;"> (“propitiatory”), </span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">the lid of the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 25:17-22; et al.) </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">where Israel’s atonement was appropriated each year (Lev. 16:15-16). On either end of the gold-plated lid were two cherubim, with the presence of God in the form of the <i>Shekinah</i> in between. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">When Jesus had accomplished his mission on earth by way of death, burial, and resurrection, on either end of where his body had been laid were two angels (John 20:12). “Indeed, Christ has become the meeting place of God and man where the mercy of God is available because of the sacrifice of the Son.”<sup>3</sup> While appeasing the “wrath of God” (cf. 1:18; 2:5-8) and allowing “peace with God” (1:7; 5:1), Jesus is our metaphorical “mercy seat” </span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">(CSB, NET, YLT)</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;"> in the sense of “atoning sacrifice” (BSB, MSB, WEB). Does he then serve as an “expiation” (atonement) for sin, or a “propitiation” (appeasement) of divine wrath? Yes he does! <span class="text"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">What God has accomplished in Christ is<b> </b>“</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">through faith in his blood</span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">,</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">” a metonymy for his “death” (5:6-10).<sup>4</sup> This is at the heart of the gospel message calling for an obedient faith-response where redemption is actuated (6:3-7).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The idea of planning or proposing is the more common usage of this verb (cf. Douay-Rheims, JUB), although the idea of displaying may fit the context better (cf. ASV, CEB, CSB, ERV, ESV, NASB, NET, NIV, N/KJV, NLT, N/RSV). Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are the author's own translation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> The only other occurrence in the NT of this noun is <span class="text">Heb. 9:5. The verbal form [<i>hil</i></span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">á</span></i><span class="text"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">skomai</span></i></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] is found only in Luke 18:13; Heb. 2:17.</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Everett F. Harrison, “Romans,” in <i>The Expositor’s Bible Commentary</i>. Vol 10. Eds. Frank E. Gaebelein and J. D. Douglas (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976) </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">43.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> Cf. <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">Matt. 26:28; Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Col. 1:20; Heb. 9:11-15; 10:17-19; 13:12, 20-21; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 1:5; 5:9; 7:14; 12:11.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/all-have-sinned-and-fall-short-of-gods.html" target="_blank">All Have Sinned and Fall Short of God's Glory</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">https://raisingjesus.com/blog/211-what-did-the-cross-of-christ-look-like</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-64527610400883260322023-11-29T18:23:00.003-06:002024-01-25T12:24:10.803-06:00All Have Sinned and Fall Short of God’s Glory<p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6kmA5YMdaRC4DKRgKAQBxGH3V_9yWS3T3TbxqBrVid3VmQYVyrnRNyRjl5dBfTaWAheW45skBvc7408YIXXknwpVD4x2-mYYHZDYMtQLRAMfdRZ-rzBAG-nf73m6zsJj_TwKSUYYHAQV_uv5yoC_PrD-CPrQoPtEY5nM_ESyFvva8KF8sPiBW2_7qQc0/s379/Redemption.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="379" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6kmA5YMdaRC4DKRgKAQBxGH3V_9yWS3T3TbxqBrVid3VmQYVyrnRNyRjl5dBfTaWAheW45skBvc7408YIXXknwpVD4x2-mYYHZDYMtQLRAMfdRZ-rzBAG-nf73m6zsJj_TwKSUYYHAQV_uv5yoC_PrD-CPrQoPtEY5nM_ESyFvva8KF8sPiBW2_7qQc0/w400-h301/Redemption.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">“For all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).<sup>1</sup></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Contextually the “all” here is </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">not a universal evaluation and indictment of each individual person, regardless of age, mental capacity, and culpability. Otherwise, Jesus himself would be implicated.<sup>2 </sup>The overarching theme of Romans is that Jews and Gentiles alike stand before God on the same footing. Irrespective of genealogical descent, the obedient receive divine favor and the disobedient face divine wrath (2:6-16); there is no partiality with God (2:11). All are guilty (3:10-12, 23; 5:12), whether Jew or Gentile (3:9, 19), not just one ethnic group to the exclusion of the other. <span class="text"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">All “have sinned”<sup>3</sup> in the past and “fall short”<sup>4</sup> in the present “of God’s glory.” While “glory” [</span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">d</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ó</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">xa</span></i><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] has various shades of meaning in scripture,<sup>5</sup> here it seems applicable to “the divine presence and the privilege man originally had of direct communion with God…. God’s glory is the majesty of his holy person. To be cut off from this fellowship is <i>the</i> great loss occasioned by sin.”<sup>6</sup></span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">Nevertheless, the heavenly plan of justification “is intended to restore something of the glory of God to our lives so that we ‘can see and reflect the glory of the Lord’ (2 Cor 3:18)—and one day come to share his glory fully, in all its splendor (5:2).”<sup>7</sup></span></span><span class="text"><i><span><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Just as all have sinned, all are “justified freely by his grace.” </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">God’s grace is freely offered as a gift, but it is of no value unless and until it is received by way of an obedient faith-response to the gospel.<sup>8 </sup>“What God has given the world in Christ, infinitely great and absolutely free as it is, is literally nothing unless it is taken.”<sup>9</sup><span class="text"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The term “redemption” was originally used of “buying back” a slave or paying a ransom for a captive to attain release from bondage; then fig. in the NT for “release” from sin (BAGD 96). Spiritual redemption is “in Christ Jesus,” </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14pt;">a prepositional phrase prolific in Paul’s writings. Penitent believers, having been baptized “into Christ” (6:3) are thus “in Christ” (6:11), inextricable from being in Christ’s emblematic body – the church (12:3-8).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are the author’s own translation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> <span style="color: #1a1a1a;">2 Cor. 5:21a; Heb. 4:15; 9:28; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 3:5</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> To “miss the mark” of God’s standard (cf. 2:12; 5:12-16; 6:15). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> The verbal <i>huster</i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">éō</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">essentially means “lacking” (Matt. 19:20; Mark 10:21; Luke 15:14; 22:35; John 2:3; 1 Cor. 1:7; 8:8; 12:24; 2 Cor. 11:5, 9; 12:11; Phil. 4:12; Heb. 4:1; 11:37; 12:15).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> In John 17:5 Jesus prayed to regain his former </span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">d</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ó</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">xa</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">, then said that the </span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">d</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ó</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">xa</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> the Father had given him was also given to the apostles (v. 22). All faithful disciples will share in this </span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">d</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ó</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 14pt;">xa</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> (Rom. 2:7, 10; 8:18, 21; 9:23; 1 Cor. 2:7; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:17; Eph. 1:18; 3:13; Phil. 3:21; Col. 1:27; 3:4; 1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Thess. 2:14; 2 Tim. 2:10; Heb. 2:10; 1 Pet. 1:7; 5:1, 4, 10); note also the angels (Luke 9:26) and departed saints (Luke 9:31). Various nuances are apparent in Matt. 6:29; Luke 2:32; 4:6; 12:27; 14:10; 7:18; Rom. 9:4; 1 Cor. 11:7, 15; 15:40-43; 2 Cor. 3:7-11; Phil. 3:19; 1 Thess. 2:20; Heb. 2:7; 1 Pet. 1:24.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>6</sup> Everett F. Harrison, “Romans,” in <i>The Expositor’s Bible Commentary</i>. Vol 10. Eds. Frank E. Gaebelein and J. D. Douglas (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976) 41.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>7</sup> Roger Mohrlang, <i>Romans</i> in R. </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Mohrlang and G. L. Borchert, <i>Romans Galatians</i> CBC 14. Ed. P. W. Comfort (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2007) </span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">68, 70</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>8</sup> Cf. 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Cor. 6:1; 11:4; 1 Thess. 1:6; 2:13; Jas. 1:21.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>9</sup> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">James Denney, “St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans,” in <i>The Expositor’s Greek Testament</i>. Vol. 2. Ed. W. Robertson Nicoll (London; New York: Hodder and Stoughton, 1897) </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">611-12.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/12/is-jesus-our-propitiation-or-expiation.html" target="_blank">Rom. 3:24-25, Propitiation or Expiation?</a> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><b style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Related articles</b><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">: Tracy Watts, </span><a href="https://wattsupwithkids.com/2024/01/25/what-we-can-learn-from-daniels-prayer/?fbclid=IwAR3Or87yqplgvXXpEZDxv65WOu8ZxLszd5CJcBO82qJrzegzzKngeu9dY_o" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;" target="_blank">Daniel's Prayer</a></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">https://hebrews12endurance.com/redemption-in-the-bible/</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-72003897351766560782023-11-22T11:41:00.007-06:002024-02-14T08:29:24.135-06:00Faith and Works: Romans Chapter 2 Versus Chapters 3–4?<p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-PJY9WbOZx3MwnzAIMZi0dx_cf6wWjvn6MqL34FnEzWkO5CnM8OCafmJNHo0dvzsoJKI2yq6VgL83FAIuwmeHPffTiHJ1Q38OTj1uZegLfSZR4JdxBzxArMzpD3YwNN4bB3b0ZVndpPzr-QsmEgVpz0X__8pCYfkHOKX0CgDvBGKbTbe5XU9YtDPQ9k/s235/Faith%20Works.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="155" data-original-width="235" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-PJY9WbOZx3MwnzAIMZi0dx_cf6wWjvn6MqL34FnEzWkO5CnM8OCafmJNHo0dvzsoJKI2yq6VgL83FAIuwmeHPffTiHJ1Q38OTj1uZegLfSZR4JdxBzxArMzpD3YwNN4bB3b0ZVndpPzr-QsmEgVpz0X__8pCYfkHOKX0CgDvBGKbTbe5XU9YtDPQ9k/w400-h264/Faith%20Works.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">There are only two prospective outcomes of God’s righteous judgment: either (a) “glory,” “honor,” “immortality,” and “peace,” summed up as “life eternal” (Romans 2:7);<sup>1</sup> or (b) “wrath and fury, tribulation and distress” (vv. 8-9). The standard of judgment is the same for everyone, according to the “works” or “deeds” [<i>é</i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">rga</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">] of each person (v. 6), without inequity, injustice, or favoritism.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;"> “</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;">For there is no partiality with God</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">” (v. 11). </span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The term </span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">é</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">rga </span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">is the plural form of</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">é</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">rgon</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> (vv. 6, 7, 15), referring to an “act” or “action,” a “work” or “deed,” “what one undertakes to do” or “something done,” applicable to human conduct whether good or bad.<sup>2</sup> The second chapter of Romans highlights active obedience in the justification process (vv. 6-8, 10, 13, 14), which seems at variance with the chapters that follow regarding justification by faith apart from works (e.g., 3:20, 28; 4:2-5).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">In a linguistic sense, interpreters throughout the history of the interpretation of Paul have resolved the problem of Romans 2 by taking the rest of the letter, understood in the traditional sense of a negation of justification through the doing of good works, as the main text which determines the meaning of the entire letter. Romans 2—or the parts that do not fit that meaning—is then read in a way that is consistent with the rest of the letter. In that way, before the process of interpretation begins, the reading of Romans is predetermined in such a way that one part of the letter determines how another is to be read. In reality this predetermination of how chapter 2 is to be read also determines the meaning of the rest of the letter. By leaving out of consideration the possible influence of chapter 2 on the meaning of Romans, the traditional understanding is reinforced. Our understanding of the letter would be different if chapter 2 were allowed to co-determine its meaning…. the tension between Romans 2 and the rest of Romans should be considered, not as a problem to be avoided, but as a promising starting point for deepening our understanding of the letter …<sup>3</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Alleviating Misconceptions<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">If justification is “by faith <i>alone</i>,” as commonly inferred from chaps. 3–4, what are we to make of chap. 2? Is this apparent discrepancy irreconcilable? The problem is not what Paul actually says but the way in which “faith” has been misconceived as merely an internal belief devoid of external acts [</span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">é</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">rga</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] of obedience. However, the original audience to whom Paul’s letter is addressed understood “faith” [<span class="chapternum"><i>p</i></span><i>ístis</i></span><span class="maintitle"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">]</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> as “obedience of faith” [<i>hupakoēn <span class="chapternum">p</span>ísteōs</i></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1c263d; font-size: 14pt;">]</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> (1:5; 16:26; cf. 1:8; 2:6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14; 6:3-17; 10:16; 15:18; 16:19). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The humble “works” of obedience in chap. 2 are not the same as the judaized meritorious “works of the law” [<i>érgōn nómou</i>] (3:20, 28) discussed later.<sup>4</sup> Context and linguistic qualifiers determine whether the term “works” [</span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">é</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">rga</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] and comparable expressions are meant in a positive or negative sense, so “there is no real antithesis between Faith and Works in themselves. Works are the evidence of Faith, and Faith has its necessary outcome in Works.”<sup>5</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">For those on the positive side of God’s righteous judgment, Paul clearly does not discount personal responsibility and effort as implied in Romans chap. 2 by the requisites of “seeking,” “endurance,” “of good work,” and “doing good” (vv. 7-10). Salvation involves divine-human participation for “those who do not regard their good works as an end in themselves, but see them as marks not of human achievement but of hope in God. Their trust is not in their good works, but in God, the only source of glory, honour, and incorruption.”<sup>6</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">For those on the negative side, the motivating disposition is “self-seeking” characterized by the ones who “do not obey [<i>apeith</i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">éō</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] the truth, but obey [<i>pe</i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">í</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">th</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ō</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] unrighteousness” and everyone “who does [<i>katerg</i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">á</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">zomai</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] evil” (vv. 8-9). Condemnation is the inevitable consequence of human defiance, sinful effort, and rejection of God’s merciful grace. Whether good or bad, God “will give to each one according to his works” (v. 6).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><span class="wordunicode1" face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="chapternum"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b></span><span class="chapternum"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="chapternum"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup><b> </b></span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Eternal life is indicative of both longevity and quality of existence (cf. John 10:10; 1 Tim. 4:8). Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are the author’s own translation.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> Note Rom. 9:11; cf. Matt. 16:27; 1 Cor. 3:13-15; 2 Cor. 11:15; 2 Tim. 4:14; Tit. 1:16.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Hendrikus Boers, <i>The Justification of the Gentiles</i> (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994) 8-10.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>4</sup> A number of passages employ <i>érgōn</i> (“works”) without <i>nómou</i> (“of law”) but have the same meaning (BAGD 308), e.g., Rom. 4:2, 6; 9:12; 11:6; Eph. 2:9.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>5</sup> <span class="text">William Sanday and Arthur C. Headlam, <i>A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Epistle to the Romans</i>. ICC. 5th ed. (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1908) 57.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>6</sup> </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">C. K. Barrett, <i>The Epistle to the</i> <i>Romans</i> BNTC (London: Adam & Charles Black, 1984) 46-47.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/bookends-of-romans-defining-faith.html" target="_blank">Bookends of Romans: Defining Faith</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/12/abraham-believed-god-and-it-was-counted.html" target="_blank">Abraham Believed God (Rom 4:3)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2017/04/an-abbreviated-gospel-is-false-gospel.html" target="_blank">Abbreviated Gospel</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/baptism-in-likeness-of-christs-death.html" target="_blank">Baptism (Rom 6:1-4)</a> </span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>Related articles</b>: Donnie DeBord, <a href="https://apologeticspress.org/when-are-we-saved/?fbclid=IwAR006FNw4fAWcr6kwHf6djZd8gb2Sl1Np79PKZm1fHx4gTglk7LNezE0ohI" target="_blank">When Are We Saved?</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">https://heartfixxer.wordpress.com/2016/05/05/press-on/</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-55029856606387880882023-11-16T05:30:00.007-06:002024-02-14T08:30:04.529-06:00Bookends of Romans: Defining “Faith” Biblically <p style="text-align: left;"><span class="chapternum" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZJLJE0iVNd8HzUNexR1sTpqvi7siJLF4_r2qZPlwSF-Yc4HEjzfwP4nL7LdPpV9VmZF7Sa4GxiEljNJgnbS0PK3I2Y8gWnwYeAf4e-QGyV1qjOeTx91Ol4GRnhz_3cMAP93TNjF4sT-uR1YCt0wBssLvVaIG_zraRSqZPUv7IDSmitWJj6VXUWpc7PI/s389/Bookends%201.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="254" data-original-width="389" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZJLJE0iVNd8HzUNexR1sTpqvi7siJLF4_r2qZPlwSF-Yc4HEjzfwP4nL7LdPpV9VmZF7Sa4GxiEljNJgnbS0PK3I2Y8gWnwYeAf4e-QGyV1qjOeTx91Ol4GRnhz_3cMAP93TNjF4sT-uR1YCt0wBssLvVaIG_zraRSqZPUv7IDSmitWJj6VXUWpc7PI/w400-h261/Bookends%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="maintitle" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="chapternum"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Paul’s letter to the Romans has much to say about faith. The underlying Greek noun <i>p</i></span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ístis<span class="chapternum"> </span></span></i><span class="maintitle"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">and verbal <i>piste</i></span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">úō</span></i><span class="maintitle"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;"> are found throughout the book for a combined total of sixty-one times.<sup>1</sup> Comprising nearly two thirds of these occurrences, the noun-form first emerges in 1:5 and its final usage is in 16:26, serving as bookends of the document</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">. The bracketing texts read, in view of the apostolic mission: “</span></span><span class="text" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">through whom we received grace and apostleship unto <b>obedience of faith</b> </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;">[<i>hupakoēn <span class="chapternum">p</span>ísteōs</i>] <span class="text">among all the nations<b> </b>for his name</span></span><span class="maintitle" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">” (1:5); “</span></span><span class="text" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">but now having been made manifest through the prophetic scriptures and according to the commandment of the eternal God unto <b>obedience of faith </b></span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;">[<i>hupakoēn <span class="chapternum">p</span>ísteōs</i>] <span class="text">made known unto all the nations</span></span><span class="maintitle" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">” (16:26).<sup>2</sup></span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></span><p></p><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="maintitle"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">In the letter’s opening-thanksgiving, Paul writes, “</span></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your <b>faith</b> [</span></span><span class="chapternum"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">p</span></i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ístis</span></i><span class="maintitle"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">]</span></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> is being proclaimed in all the world</span></span><span class="maintitle"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">” (1:8). Near the close of the letter the observation is made, “</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">For your <b>obedience</b> [</span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">hupakoē</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">] has reached (the attention) of all, therefore I rejoice over you<span class="maintitle">” (16:19a).<sup>3</sup> From beginning to end, faith clearly does not stand alone apart from obedience. Whenever Paul speaks of faith (e.g., 1:16-17; 3:22), it is not void of obedience. Whenever he speaks of obedience (e.g., 2:6; 6:17), it is not void of faith. The faith that appropriates justification, as explained in Romans, is always an obedient faith. </span><span class="chapternum"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="chapternum"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">Additional Bookends<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="chapternum"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Romans is further bracketed between other parallel concepts that help to enhance the letter’s thrust. Paul is a self-described “slave” </span></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">[<i>do</i></span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">û</span></i><span class="text"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">los</span></i></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] of Christ (1:1a), later warning about troublemakers who “do not serve (as slaves)” [<i>doule</i></span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">úō</span></i><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] our Lord Christ (16:18). “Paul … a called apostle, having been set apart for the gospel [</span></span><span class="text"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">euagg</span></i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #212529; font-size: 14pt;">é</span></i><span class="text"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">lion</span></i></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] of God” (1:1); “to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel [<i>euagg</i></span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #212529; font-size: 14pt;">é</span></i><span class="text"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">lion</span></i></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] and the preaching of Jesus Christ” (16:25a). The gospel message was “promised beforehand through his prophets [<i>proph</i></span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ē<span class="text">tai</span></span></i><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] in the holy scriptures [</span></span><span class="text"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">grapha</span></i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">í</span></i><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">], concerning his Son” (1:1b-3a); “according to the revelation of the mystery having been kept secret for times of the ages</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span class="text">but now having been made manifest through the prophetic [<i>proph</i></span><i>ē<span class="text">tik</span>ō<span class="text">n</span></i><span class="text">] scriptures [<i>grapha</i></span><i>í</i>]<span class="text">” (16:25b-26a). Among the nations “you also are called [</span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">kl</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ēto</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">í</span></i><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] of Jesus Christ” (1:6); “</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">all the called-out-ones [<i>ekkl</i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ē</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">s</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">í</span></i><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">ai</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">] of Christ greet you</span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">” (16:16b). “Grace [</span></span><span class="text"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ch</span></i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">á<span class="text">ris</span></span></i><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] to you and peace [<i>eir</i></span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ē<span class="text">n</span>ē</span></i><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ” (1:7b); “</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">the God of peace </span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">[<i>eir</i></span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ē<span class="text">n</span>ē</span></i><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">]</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;"> …. the grace </span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">[<i>ch</i></span></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">á<span class="text">ris</span></span></i><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">] </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you</span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">” (16:20).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Conclusion</span></b></span><span class="chapternum"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p></div><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">If we begin our examination of Romans in chapter 3 or 4 or 10, we miss what has been established from the letter’s beginning and are therefore subject to misunderstanding and perhaps misconstruing what the inspired message conveys. Genuine faith is not merely an internal conviction without any observable action. Faith without obedience is disingenuous and lifeless. Obedience without faith is empty ritualism. The faith that saves is the faith that obeys. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">:</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>1</sup> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">The noun </span><span class="chapternum"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">p</span></i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">ístis<span class="chapternum"> </span></span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">occurs at 1:5, 8, 12, 17; 3:3, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31; 4:5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20; 5:1, 2; 9:30, 32; 10:6, 8, 17; 11:20; 12:3, 6; 14:1, 22, 23; 16:26. </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">A form of the verb </span><span class="maintitle"><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">piste</span></i></span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">úō</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;"> is used in 1:16; 3:2, 22; 4:3, 5, 11, 17, 18, 24; 6:8; 9:33; 10:4, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16; 13:11; 14:2; 15:13.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>2</sup> Unless noted otherwise, scripture quotations are the author’s own translation.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> <sup>3</sup> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Half of Paul’s uses of the noun <i>hupakoē</i> (“obedience”) </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;">and verbal </span><i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">hupakoúō</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #001320; font-size: 14pt;"> (“obey”) </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">are found in Romans. </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The gospel preached on the Day of Pentecost and heard by “visitors from Rome” prompted a faith-response that included belief, repentance, baptism, and ongoing faithfulness (Acts 2:10-42), the same message Paul preached (1 Cor. 15:11; Gal. 1:7-9; 3:26-27).</span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Related Posts</span></b></span><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/faith-and-works-romans-chapter-2-versus.html" target="_blank">Romans: Faith and Works</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2017/04/an-abbreviated-gospel-is-false-gospel.html" target="_blank">Abbreviated Gospel</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2024/02/baptism-in-likeness-of-christs-death.html" target="_blank">Baptism (Rom 6:1-4)</a> </span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>Related articles</b>: Paul Merideth, <a href="https://christianlightpreach.com/2024/01/16/its-tough-to-obey/?fbclid=IwAR0hykSdDAFx53Wf6UjXZXp8CqahV8cWrsmjlHsHsmYlo0ZIYH3LXBHdwM0" target="_blank">It's Tough to Obey</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></span></p><span class="text" style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">: https://www.amazon.com.au/Bookends-Decorative-Supplies-Stoppers-Decoration/dp/B0C5T7CM26</span></span>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-80666069228787799152023-11-08T10:06:00.003-06:002023-11-16T05:31:52.665-06:00Synopsis and Summary of Romans<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9tXOVLsPOtUkF_E8TS_evsViR5xo5inQ0xvE6o6fccCNOz9nE5vepEhKBye2F2Xl0COQhVfTDs6v8o7tlBsDzOLyG-vQjU4wwJu2DVLm87OFqbbi74hXTQ84IMzCqGe5bvVUMyb3Qna-Wh4Qg3gST7sLb5268J0RVsrxbdgyw1iTfxCuYQ6Ql1PUSjvY/s456/Romans3.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="456" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9tXOVLsPOtUkF_E8TS_evsViR5xo5inQ0xvE6o6fccCNOz9nE5vepEhKBye2F2Xl0COQhVfTDs6v8o7tlBsDzOLyG-vQjU4wwJu2DVLm87OFqbbi74hXTQ84IMzCqGe5bvVUMyb3Qna-Wh4Qg3gST7sLb5268J0RVsrxbdgyw1iTfxCuYQ6Ql1PUSjvY/w400-h208/Romans3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Simplified Twofold Synopsis<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Chaps. 1–11: Both Jews and Gentiles have sinned, stand before God on equal terms, and are justified together in the same way.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Chaps. 12–16: Practical directives for how Christians ought to live and relate to one another and to the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Summary</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">1:1-7. Opening Greeting. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">1:8-15. Thanksgiving and care for the Romans.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">1:16-17. Thesis statement: centrality of the gospel. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">1:18-32. The need for the gospel: depravity of mankind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">2:1-16. God’s impartial judgment, superseding hypocritical human judging, for all sinners regardless of ethnicity. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">2:17-29. Message to the prideful Jew who relies on the old Law and condemns those who do not. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">3:1-8. Advantages and failings of unbelieving Jews, and God’s righteous judgment. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">3:9-31. All are guilty of sin, whether Jews or non-Jews, and both are justified by God’s grace and righteousness through a faith-response in Christ and his atoning sacrifice. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">4:1-25. The example of Abraham: all (Jews and Gentiles) are justified with the same kind of faith that does not rely on meritorious works of the Law (incl. circumcision) but on God’s righteous work in Christ, trusting him to do what he promised to do when we step out in faith and do what he says. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">5:1-21. Benefits of our faith-response in Christ: grace, hope, love, justification, salvation, reconciliation, righteousness, and everlasting life. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">6:1-23. A reminder that saving faith involves obedience, inclusive of repentance, baptism, and continued faithfulness, righteousness, and sanctification, not under the Law of Moses but under God’s grace. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">7:1–8:39. We are no longer bound to the Law, to sin, and to death but liberated and made alive in Christ, along with the indwelling Spirit, even in this world of sufferings. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">9:1-5. Paul’s deep sorrow for his Jewish kinsmen, who, despite all their advantages, have rejected Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">9:6-33. God is justified in saving all alike, whether Jewish or non-Jewish, and is justified in condemning all who resist his plan in favor of their own ill-conceived ways. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">10:1-21. Salvation is not merited by observing the Jewish Law but is available to all (both Jew and Gentile) who submit to God’s plan through the Lord Jesus in compliance with the gospel’s directives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">11:1-36. God does not reject all Israel, only those who reject his way through Christ; believing Gentiles and believing Jews are grafted into the same “olive tree,” saved the same way as a result of their obedience. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">12:1-21. Christians’ response to God: active service in the one body, with love, zeal, hope, endurance, prayer, hospitality, blessing, unity, peace, and goodness. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">13:1-7. Submit to governing authorities. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">13:8-10. Love. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">13:11-14. Live according to the way of Christ; avoid the worldly ways of darkness. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">14:1–15:13. Be considerate and accepting of one another at different stages of faith; live in harmony. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">15:14-33. Paul’s apostolic ministry, plans to visit Rome on his way to Spain, upcoming journey to Jerusalem, and prayer requests. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">16:1-2. Commendation of Phoebe. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">16:3-16. Greetings to brothers and sisters in Rome. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">16:17-20. Warning about divisive brethren.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">16:21-23. Greetings from Paul’s associates in Corinth. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">16:24-27. Concluding prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/outline-of-romans.html" target="_blank">Outline of Romans</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/bookends-of-romans-defining-faith.html" target="_blank">Defining Faith Biblically</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">: https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/prayer/an-easy-and-powerful-31-day-plan-to-pray-through-romans.html<o:p></o:p></span></p>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-24445478954471611542023-11-01T14:13:00.006-05:002024-01-04T10:36:41.099-06:00Outline of Romans<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div> <span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">I. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH (chaps. 1-4)</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> A. Mankind in Sin and Under God’s Wrath (chap. 1).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Introduction (1:1-17).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. The Human Plight in a Pagan World (1:18-32).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> B. Gentiles and Jews in Sin Under God’s Wrath (chap. 2).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Consistency of Judgment (2:1-16).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. Guilt of the Jew (2:17-29).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> C. How God Makes People Righteous (chap. 3).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. God’s Judgment Defended (3:1-8).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. Summary: All Have Sinned (3:9-31).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> D. The Example of Abraham: One Made Righteous by Faith (chap. 4).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. The Case of Abraham (4:1-5).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. The Case of David (4:6-8).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 3. The Promise to Abraham (4:9-17).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 4. The Faith of Abraham (4:18-25).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">II. CHRISTIAN LIVING (chaps. 5–8).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> A. Free from Wrath (chap. 5).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. The Benefits of Justification (5:1-11).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. The Broad Reach of Justification (5:12-21).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> B. Free from Sin (chap. 6).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Baptism in the Likeness of Christ’s Death, Burial and Resurrection (6:1-14).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. Enslaved to Righteousness (6:15-23).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> C. Free from the Law (chap. 7).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Deliverance from the Law (7:1-6).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. The Relationship Between Law and Sin (7:7-25).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> D. Free from Death (chap. 8).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Deliverance from the Law of Sin and Death (8:1-11).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. Ministries of the Spirit (8:12-27).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 3. The Secure Life of the Redeemed (8:28-39).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">III. PLACE OF ISRAEL IN SALVATION HISTORY (chaps. 9–11).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> A. God Chooses to Save Believers (chap. 9).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Israel’s Rejection of Christ (9:1-5).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. Israel’s Rejection and God’s Purpose (9:6-12).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 3. Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice (9:13-29).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 4. Israel’s Present Condition (9:30-33).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> B. Israel’s Condemnation is Her Own Fault (chap. 10).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Israel Needs the Gospel (10:1-13).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. Israel Rejects the Gospel (10:14-21).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> C. Israel’s Rejection Does Not Have to be Final (chap. 11).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Israel’s Rejection Not Total (11:1-10).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. Israel’s Rejection Doesn't Have to Be Final (11:11-36).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">IV. CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIPS (chaps. 12–16).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> A. Christian Duties in General (chap. 12).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Living Sacrifices (12:1-2).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. Spiritual Service in the Body (12:3-8).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 3. Christian Conduct (12:9-21).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> B. Duty to Government (chap. 13).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Submission to Civil Authorities (13:1-7).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. The Obligation of Love (13:8-10).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 3. The Power of Hope (13:11-14).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> C. The Strong and the Weak (chaps. 14–15).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Refrain from Unrighteous Judging (14:1-13a).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. Refrain from Offending (14:13b-23).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 3. Unity of the Strong and Weak (15:1-13).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 4. Paul’s Work: Past, Present, Future (15:14-33).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> D. Closing (chap. 16).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 1. Phoebe Commended (16:1-2).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 2. Greetings to the Roman Saints (16:3-16).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 3. Avoid Those Causing Division (16:17-20).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 4. Greetings from Christian Friends (16:21-23).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> 5. Benediction (16:24-27).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">--Kevin L. Moore<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/10/summary-of-romans.html" target="_blank">Synopsis and Summary of Romans</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><br /></p>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-75229257841692748162023-10-25T07:04:00.003-05:002023-11-08T10:08:20.057-06:00Introducing the Letter to the Romans (Part 2 of 2)<p><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLYCHOmA1cua_cFswKJ7KwDgnDLUYv8lJKYfk4u0d_K49rdDpv6dMXBVTrdvsMzW2SVdBWsfXEbPLPqTjOlychDOu6Qcyj6sgJhSEHVRm4bewIA5JjZva3zB0YKsnU8u4dq46nbPDTPVP3qtog_VrSpN692n1aJeyHTOdFWxuCpHRUNoYa-H5YlEzy1as/s458/Romans2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="458" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLYCHOmA1cua_cFswKJ7KwDgnDLUYv8lJKYfk4u0d_K49rdDpv6dMXBVTrdvsMzW2SVdBWsfXEbPLPqTjOlychDOu6Qcyj6sgJhSEHVRm4bewIA5JjZva3zB0YKsnU8u4dq46nbPDTPVP3qtog_VrSpN692n1aJeyHTOdFWxuCpHRUNoYa-H5YlEzy1as/w400-h175/Romans2.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; line-height: 23px;">Audience</span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">The church was potentially started in Rome by Jews and proselytes who had been converted to Christianity in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost or not long thereafter (cf. Acts 2:10–8:4).<sup>1</sup> Archaeological evidence and other historical data confirm the presence of small Greek-speaking Jewish synagogues in Rome, the probable centers of the earliest churches.<sup>2</sup> Some try to establish a definitive case for a Pentecost-day or Jerusalem connection, seeing that Rom. 12:6 speaks of at least one supernatural gift (prophecy) given to “us” (members of the body), presumably by the hands of Jerusalem apostles (cf. Acts 8:14-23). However, Paul’s statement could be intended generally or even prospectively since he hoped to visit Rome that he “may impart to you some spiritual gift …” (1:11), written nearly three decades after the events of Acts 2.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Seutonius reported that around 49 Claudius “expelled from Rome the Jews who were constantly stirring up a tumult under the leadership of Chrestus” (<i>Life of Claudius</i> 25.2).<sup>3</sup>If the Latin name Chrestus is a distorted version of the Greek <span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">Χριστός</span> (“Christ”), Seutonius may have been alluding to heated debates between Jews and Jewish Christians, who would have mutually been affected by this edict, including Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2). As a result of the expulsion of Jewish Christians, the Lord’s church at Rome would have consisted of and been led by Gentile believers for a time (note Claudius died in 54). When the Jews were allowed to return to Rome, the typical socioethnic barriers that characterized most of Greco-Roman society at the time may have caused the reception of the Jewish Christians by their Gentile brethren to have been less than cordial. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">About eight years after Claudius’ edict, Aquila and Priscilla were back in Rome (Rom. 16:3), and the long list of names in Rom. 16 of those already known by Paul may suggest that he encountered at least some of them as exiles during his travels. When Paul arrived in Rome in the spring of 60 (six years after Claudius’ death), the Jewish leaders were familiar with the Christian movement but apparently had not had recent encounters with it (Acts 28:21-22).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">The letter to the Romans is not addressed to the “church” [<span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">ἐκκλησία</span>] at Rome, but to the “saints” or “sanctified ones” [<span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">ἅγιοι</span>] in Rome.<sup>4</sup> Greetings are then sent to what appears to be three or more separate house churches (cf. Rom. 16:5, 14, 15).<sup>5</sup> The audience to which Romans is addressed would have been comprised of both Gentile and Jewish believers.<sup>6</sup> Note the apparent focus on Gentile readers (1:5-6, 13; 11:13-24; 15:14-21), and the apparent focus on Jewish readers (2:17; 6:14-15; 7:4; 16:3, 7, 11).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Forty-five Christians who had been to Rome or lived in Rome are explicitly named in the NT: </span><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Paul (Acts 28:14-31; 2 Tim. 1:17)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Peter (1 Pet. 5:13a)<sup>7</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Silvanus (1 Pet. 5:12)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Tychicus (Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:12)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Onesimus (Col. 4:9; Philem. 10)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Aristarchus (Col. 4:10a; Philem. 24)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">John Mark (Col. 4:10b; Philem. 24; 1 Pet. 5:13b)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Jesus Justus (Col. 4:11)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Epaphras (Col. 4:12; Philem. 23)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Luke (Col. 4:14a; Philem. 24; 2 Tim. 4:11)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Demas (Col. 4:14b; Philem. 24)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Timothy (Phil. 1:1; 2:19; Col. 1:1; Philem. 1; 2 Tim. 4:9, 13, 21)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25; 2 Tim. 4:18)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Eubulus (2 Tim. 4:21)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Pudens, Linus, Claudia (2 Tim. 4:21)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Phoebe (Rom. 16:1)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:2; Rom. 16:3)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Epaenetus (Rom. 16:5)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Mary (Rom. 16:6)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Andronicus and Junia/s (Rom. 16:7)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Ampliatus (Rom. 16:8)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Urbanus and Stachys (Rom. 16:9)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Apelles and Aristobulus’ family (Rom. 16:10)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Herodion and Narcissus’ family (Rom. 16:11)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Tryphaena and Tryphosa, Persis (Rom. 16:12)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Rufus and his mother (Rom. 16:13), and Alexander (Mark 15:21)<sup>8</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas (Rom. 16:14)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his siter, Olympas (Rom. 16:15)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Purpose<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">The purpose of Romans is one of the most heavily debated questions about the letter. One purpose may relate to Paul’s own circumstances and needs: he plans to travel to Spain and he wants to secure the support of the Roman Christians (15:24-29). Another purpose may relate to the circumstances of the Christian community at Rome: the division between non-Jewish and Jewish or non-traditionalist and traditionalist believers (14:1–15:13). It has also been suggested that Romans may be a summary of Paul’s convictions that developed through recent confrontations with Judaizers in Galatia and Corinth, or a rehearsal of the speech he was planning to make in Jerusalem. But if this were his main purpose, it is hard to explain why the document was particularly directed to Rome. More likely, just as he had to defend his apostleship and teaching in other places due to false accusations and suspicions, he would need to set the record straight before journeying to Rome. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">It may be better to speak of Paul’s several purposes in Romans…. The past battles in Galatia and Corinth, the coming crisis in Jerusalem, the need to secure a missionary base for the work in Spain, the importance of unifying the divided Christian community in Rome around the gospel – these circumstances led Paul to write a letter in which he carefully set forth his understanding of the gospel, particularly as it related to the salvation-historical question of Jew and Gentile, law and gospel, continuity and discontinuity between the old and the new.<sup>9</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Despite its appearance as a theological treatise, Romans is a dialogue between Paul and a specific reading audience in a particular setting dealing with real circumstances. It is addressed to a community of Christians Paul had not founded and is written near the end of the major phase of his missionary career during a relatively peaceful time conducive to careful reflection. It explains and defends his mature understanding of the message he preached and intended to continue preaching across the Roman Empire from Jerusalem to Spain. “In short, Romans is still far removed from a dogmatic or systematic treatise on theology, but it nevertheless is the most sustained and reflective statement of Paul’s own theology by Paul himself.”<sup>10</sup></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">:</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span><sup>1</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">“It may be significant that these Roman visitors are the only contingent from the continent of Europe to receive express mention among the pilgrims” (F. F. Bruce,</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span><i style="font-size: 15pt;">Romans</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">15).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span><sup>2</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">R. Jewett,</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span><i style="font-size: 15pt;">Romans</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">10.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>3</sup> The dating of this edict is primarily based on the testimony of the 5th-century writer Paulus Orosius (<i>Hist. Adv. Pag.</i> 7.6.15-16), and even though there is a degree of uncertainty as to the exactness of this date, it is consistent with other chronological data.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>4</sup> The description is: “among whom you also are called of Jesus Christ, all the ones beloved of God in Rome, called sanctified [ones] …” (author’s own translation). As noted in the previous post, the omission of <span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">ἐν Ῥώμῃ</span> (“in Rome”) at 1:7 and 15 has scant manuscript support.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>5</sup> L. M. White suggests five to eight house churches in Rome at the time (<i>From Jesus to Christianity</i> 211). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>6</sup> After introducing the section of chaps. 9–11 with allusions to physical Israel (9:1-5), Paul plainly states: “for not all those of Israel are [truly] Israel” (9:6b), and “the children of the flesh, these are not children of God, but the children of the promise are considered a posterity” (9:8; cf. 10:12). This follows the previous affirmations that Abraham is the father of all the Roman believers, both Jewish and Gentile (4:12, 16). Paul seems to be addressing the problem of unwarranted pride on the part of both those with Jewish and those with non-Jewish ancestry (2:1; 3:27; 11:18). He is writing as an evangelist to those who have already been</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-NZ" style="font-size: 15pt;"> evangelized</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>7</sup> Peter sends greetings from “she who is in Babylon, chosen together with you,” presumably a metaphoric allusion to the collective members of the church (KJV),<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"></span>consistent with other occurrences of the word <span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">ἐκλεκτός</span> (“chosen”) in 1 Peter (1:1-2; 2:9). In late Judaism “Rome began to take on the name and many of the characteristics of Babylon as a world-power hostile to God …” (BAGD 129), and the book of Revelation indicates that first-century Christians understood “Babylon” as a symbolic reference to Rome (cf. 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2, 10, 21). Mark had been summoned to Rome by Paul (2 Tim. 4:11) and was with Peter at the time of writing (1 Pet. 5:13).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>8</sup> Why would Mark mention Rufus and Alexander by name unless they were known to his reading audience? On the Roman provenance of Mark’s Gospel, see K. L. Moore, <i>A Critical Introduction to the NT</i> 67, 70-71. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>9</sup> D. A. Carson and D. J. Moo, <i>An Introduction to the NT</i> 407; see also D. J. Moo, <i>Romans</i> 16-22.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>10</sup> J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Paul the Apostle</i> 25.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/10/introducing-letter-to-romans-part-1-of-2.html" target="_blank">Introducing Romans (Part 1)</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/outline-of-romans.html" target="_blank">Outline of Romans</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/10/summary-of-romans.html" target="_blank">Synopsis and Summary of Romans</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; line-height: 23px;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; line-height: 23px;">: https://www.placefortruth.org/blog/benefits-of-memorizing-the-book-of-romans</span></span><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-32281117421934412892023-10-18T20:55:00.004-05:002023-11-01T14:19:48.216-05:00Introducing the Letter to the Romans (Part 1 of 2)<p><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiipuRtLj8D1hNyUzNUZVrczhXu6KCAT7BWAVpREEDwtYEq6i3xjjPucuW_gd6eVUbEPPeTTxJa8SqgIJ0nuKUPELnfxb45PJfV-o51iUDB0T0-J9GbS3JzKt1gVf0CvtnWB843eMntapGzjK1zdexTSJXHTKcf-nc0J0thLtmXARcu_G0tyv8MBfH4URg/s453/Romans%201.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="453" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiipuRtLj8D1hNyUzNUZVrczhXu6KCAT7BWAVpREEDwtYEq6i3xjjPucuW_gd6eVUbEPPeTTxJa8SqgIJ0nuKUPELnfxb45PJfV-o51iUDB0T0-J9GbS3JzKt1gVf0CvtnWB843eMntapGzjK1zdexTSJXHTKcf-nc0J0thLtmXARcu_G0tyv8MBfH4URg/w400-h183/Romans%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; line-height: 23px;">Distinctive Features</span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">1. Romans is the longest of Paul’s extant letters.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">2. Romans is one of the few Pauline letters beginning with Paul’s name alone in the opening address. The others are Ephesians and the Pastorals.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">3. Romans is the only letter wherein Paul’s amanuensis is explicitly identified: Tertius (16:22).<sup>1</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">4. Romans is one of only two Pauline letters (the other being Colossians) that was written to a Christian community which Paul had no part in establishing (cf. Rom. 1:10, 13; 15:22.).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">5. There are more scripture citations in Romans than in the rest of Paul’s writings: about sixty-eight quotations, mostly from the LXX, and even more allusions and verbal parallels.<sup>2</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 15pt;">6. There are more explicit references to “God” [</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #001320; font-size: 15pt;">θεός</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 15pt;">] (over 150) in Romans than in any other Pauline document.<sup>3</sup></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">7. Romans shares a literary affinity with Galatians and appears to be a further development of the themes introduced in that letter, while there are also themes in the Corinthian correspondence that recur in Romans.<sup>4</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">8. The most extensive opening address and prelude to Paul’s standard opening greeting is Rom. 1:1-7, <span style="color: #1c263d;">probably because he had never been to Rome nor participated in planting the church there and needed to introduce himself and the gospel he preached.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Authorship<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Labeled “the Gospel according to Paul,”<sup>5</sup> there is no serious dispute over Paul’s authorship of Romans. In fact, it is considered even by the most liberal NT scholars “the preeminent Pauline document” among his “principal” letters. Other than secretarial assistance (16:22), there does not appear to have been any compositional collaboration in the writing of this letter.<sup>6</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Provenance and Date <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">At the end of Paul’s third missionary tour, before heading back east with the collection for the poor saints of Judea, he spent the three winter months of 56-57 in Corinth (Acts 20:2-3; cf. 1 Cor. 4:18-19; 16:2-7). It was during this time the letter to the Romans was penned.<sup>7</sup> Achaia’s contribution had been completed (Rom. 15:26; cf. 2 Cor. 8:10-11; 9:2, 5), Paul was staying with Gaius and mentions Erastus (Rom. 16:23; cf. 1 Cor. 1:14; 2 Tim. 4:20), he commends Phoebe from Corinth’s SE seaport, Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1; cf. Acts 18:18), and present with him were <span style="color: #1c263d;">Timothy and Sopater (Rom. 16:23), who accompanied him on his way to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4)</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Textual Issues<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Manuscript evidence suggests that a fourteen-chapter form of Romans existed in the early church.<sup>8</sup> However, this does not mean that chapters 15 and 16 were not original and were therefore added sometime later. The heretic Marcion (ca. 85-160) cut out the last two chapters in his abbreviated NT canon, allowing for the production of defective manuscripts thereafter. The best textual evidence leads to the confident conclusion that the original text of Romans consisted of all sixteen chapters.<sup>9</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">The doxology (16:25-27) is missing from some manuscripts and occurs at different places in others. The uncertainty of the placement of this passage is probably related to the defective manuscripts noted above. There is no substantial reason to doubt that 16:25-27 was Paul’s own conclusion to the letter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">The Western text omits the grace benediction in 16:20 and has an almost identical formula in v. 24, although the earliest and what many regard as the best witnesses omit v. 24 (cf. ASV, ESV). The omission of <span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">ἐν Ῥώμῃ</span> (“in Rome”) at 1:7 and 15 also has scant manuscript support.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>1</sup> “The reason in this case may have been that this scribe had a particular relationship with the addressees and recorded his name as a greeting. In other cases, this was not necessary. To mention a secretary by name was not customary unless there existed some legal matter which demanded such procedure” (A. Roon, <i>Authenticity</i> 92). Consider also 1 Pet. 5:12, another specific reference to a secretarial assistant at the conclusion of a letter. It is interesting that Tertius is named at the end of a letter that has no co-sender, whereas all of Paul’s apparent allusions to secretarial assistance (1 Cor. 16:21; Gal. 6:11; Col. 4:18; 2 Thess. 3:17; Philem. 19) appear in letters with other persons mentioned with him at the beginning (perhaps indicating a greater compositional role of the co-senders). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>2</sup> See <span style="background-color: white;">E. E. Ellis, <i>Paul’s Use of the OT</i> 150-85; </span>C. G. Kruse, “Paul’s Use of Scripture in Romans,” in <i>Paul and Scripture</i> 10:77-92. “The Roman congregation was at home in the Old Testament Scriptures from the synagogue and from Christian worship. They were instructed in the traditions of their faith by Jewish-Christian missionaries” (P. Stuhlmacher, “Apostle Paul’s View of Righteousness” 83).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>3</sup> Textual variation notwithstanding, of the approx. 548 occurrences of <span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">θεός</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="color: #010f18; font-size: 15pt;"> in the entire Pauline corpus, the word “God” appears in Romans 158 times in the NASB, compared to 102 in 1 Corinthians and 75 in 2 Corinthians. Paul wrote these letters in environments that were heavily polytheistic. This does not count the numerous other grammatical allusions to God, such as personal pronouns, participial constructions, various titles, and divine passive verbs. Of all the divine designations used by the apostle, the greatest number and variety are in Romans (see W. Y. Au, <i>Paul’s Designations of God in Romans </i>17-248).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>4</sup> J. B. Lightfoot, <i>Epistles of Paul: Galatians</i> 45-49; F. F. Bruce, <i>Romans</i> 30.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>5</sup> F. F. Bruce, <i>Romans</i> 23; Q. McGhee, V. Johnson, et al., <i>Romans and Galatians: The Gospel According to Paul</i> 1-316; B. Utley, <i>The Gospel According to Paul: Romans</i>1-300.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>6</sup> “Romans is too carefully worded and its arguments too sophisticated to cause us to think that Paul had anything but a very direct involvement in shaping both the content and expression of the epistle” (Scott W. Hahn, <i>Romans</i> xvi).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>7</sup> Alternative proposals include 47 (C. H. Buck and G. Taylor, <i>Saint Paul</i> 170-71), 51/52 or 54/55 (G. Luedemann, <i>Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles</i> 263), 52-54 (J. R. Richards, “Romans and 1 Corinthians” 14-30), 55 from Thessalonica (A. Suhl, <i>Paulus and seine Briefe</i> 264-82), early 57 (F. F. Bruce, <i>Romans</i> 13-14), 58 (H. C. G. Moule, <i>Romans</i> 1), and 59 (C. H. Dodd, <i>Romans</i> xxvi); thus, most scholars understand that some leeway should be allowed (see D. J. Moo, <i>Romans</i> 3).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>8</sup> This is speaking accommodatively, since chapter divisions were not in place until Stephen Langton (ca. 1150-1228) and the printed Bible of John Wycliffe in 1382.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>9</sup> See J. A. Fitzmyer, <i>Romans</i> 55-65; D. A. Carson and D. J. Moo, <i>An Introduction to the NT</i> 400-401; D. Guthrie, <i>NT Introduction</i> 421-22; R. Jewett, <i>Romans</i> 7.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/09/studying-romans-and-galatians.html" target="_blank">Studying Romans & Galatians Part 1</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/09/studying-romans-and-galatians_20.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/10/introducing-letter-to-romans-part-2-of-2.html" target="_blank">Introducing Romans Part 2</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/11/outline-of-romans.html" target="_blank">Outline of Romans</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; line-height: 23px;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; line-height: 23px;">: https://cerebralfaith.net/what-is-romans-9-really-abou/</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: medium;"></span></p>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-12696553218165141302023-10-11T06:23:00.004-05:002023-10-11T06:23:34.467-05:00Introducing the Letter to the Galatians (Part 3 of 3)<p><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_XOUaM88X7HB_bvOMhBtfdrzOzwqrPTEdTvqPHUqHvGvvOyPi3GqNOSAWFUMccN55csffm_jESTIhd5sh1sqFDEM2R9T83nV9J32maOujXHoZpdxAbTkLegdxdzgSY6lwrZe7R4oo9uQYJ9TTk0U_vZTotIq9_FxMeZY8_A9A0iGf78BG3sr26uoWUY/s431/Galatians%20Greek.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="431" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_XOUaM88X7HB_bvOMhBtfdrzOzwqrPTEdTvqPHUqHvGvvOyPi3GqNOSAWFUMccN55csffm_jESTIhd5sh1sqFDEM2R9T83nV9J32maOujXHoZpdxAbTkLegdxdzgSY6lwrZe7R4oo9uQYJ9TTk0U_vZTotIq9_FxMeZY8_A9A0iGf78BG3sr26uoWUY/w400-h254/Galatians%20Greek.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt; line-height: 23px;">Date and Provenance</span></b><p></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Different scholars have placed Galatians as both the earliest and the latest of Paul’s extant writings, and nearly every position in between.<sup>1</sup> In 4:13 Paul states, “I proclaimed good news to you formerly.” If <i>tó próteron</i> is used here in the sense of “the first time” (ESV, N/ASV, NIV, N/KJV, N/RSV),<sup>2</sup> this would imply a second visit (or more) before this letter was written. Therefore, the absolute earliest date of composition would be around 50 (Acts 14:21; 16:1-5) but probably sometime later, as the Thessalonian letters (ca. 50-51) appear to be the earliest extant Pauline writings.<sup>3</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">It is commonly argued that Galatians must have been written prior to the Jerusalem council of Acts 15, “since Paul would have undoubtedly used the decision of the council as a major argument for his defence in the letter” (A. S. Kulikovsky, “The Historical Context of Paul’s Letters” 2; cf. D. Guthrie, <i>NT Introduction</i> 460; G. L. Borchert, <i>Galatians</i> 249). However, despite the fact that no one can say for sure what the apostle <i>would have</i> done in any circumstance, this reasoning does not necessarily follow in that Paul went to great lengths to assure his readers that the message he preached came directly from the Lord rather than resulting from a collaboration with other men (1:11–2:10). An appeal to the decision of the Jerusalem council would potentially weaken this emphasis. Furthermore, Paul had already communicated the apostolic decree to these Christians (Acts 16:4), so by the time Galatians was written another approach was apparently needed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Paul was amazed that the Galatians were “so soon” or “so quickly” turning away to a different gospel (Gal. 1:6). But does this mean (a) shortly after their conversion, (b) shortly after Paul’s last visit, or (c) quickly after the opportunity afforded itself? Since “so soon” is a relative expression, the most that can be said here is that the approximate date suggested below is consistent with the available information.<sup>4</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Does the Jerusalem visit of Gal. 2:1 correspond to Acts 11:30 (ca. 43-44) or to Acts 15:2 (early 50)? The weight of evidence seems to argue in favor of Acts 15:2. Note the common theme of “circumcision” in Gal. 2:3 and Acts 15:2 (cp. also Gal. 2:11-14 and Acts 15:30-40).<sup>5</sup> The message of Galatians (incl. chap. 2) is clearly targeting the false teachings of Judaizers, yet there is no hint of this controversy prior to Acts 15. The interim visit (Acts 11) is not mentioned in Galatians for understandable reasons.<sup>6</sup> It was not pertinent to Paul’s argument, i.e., the Gentile controversy had been deferred for the time being (Acts 11:18, 29). The visit was relatively brief and inconsequential to Paul’s apostolic role and preaching. He and Barnabas had dealt with the elders rather than the apostles (Acts 11:30). It was a tumultuous period for the Jerusalem Christians, i.e., famine, persecution, martyrdom of James, imprisonment of Peter. This visit was neither conducive to nor necessary for addressing internal church conflict, as was required later. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">During the Gal. 2:1 visit the leadership at Jerusalem saw that the Lord had effectively worked in Paul toward the Gentiles (vv. 2-9), which is rather curious if the first missionary tour (Acts 13–14) had not yet occurred. If Gal. 2:1 = Acts 11:30, why would the Jerusalem leaders desire Barnabas and Paul to remember the poor (Gal. 2:10) when this was the very reason they were in Jerusalem at this time? Further, it is difficult to fit Titus into the Acts 11:30 visit, since “Barnabas and Saul” are the only designated delegates, whereas in Acts 15:2 “certain others” accompanied them to Jerusalem (easily inclusive of Titus).<sup>7</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Galatians shares a literary affinity with Romans and the Corinthian correspondence,<sup>8</sup>indicative of a comparable timeframe. Galatians seems to be the earliest of these (thus prior to spring 56) because Paul’s directives concerning the collection for the poor in Jerusalem show a logical sequence, beginning with his agreement to organize it (Gal. 2:10), followed by more specific instructions and comments (1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 8–9; Rom. 15:25-28).<sup>9</sup> Almost all NT scholars agree that Galatians is the earlier expression of the material more thoroughly developed in Romans (with similar parallels to 2 Corinthians). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Paul’s second trip through southern Galatia was early in 50 (Acts 16:1-6), and his third visit was early in 53, after which he had an extended stay in Ephesus until late spring or early summer 56 (Acts 18:23; 19:1; 20:31; cf. 1 Cor. 16:8).<sup>10</sup> It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that Galatians was written from Ephesus around 53-54. If this is correct, those potentially included among “all the brothers with [Paul]” (Gal. 1:2) are Timothy and Erastus (Acts 19:22; 1 Cor. 4:17), Gaius and Aristarchus (Acts 19:29), Tychicus and Trophimus (Acts 20:4; 21:29), and Sosthenes (1 Cor. 1:1).<sup>11</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Occasion and Purpose <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Instigators (Judaizers) had infiltrated the churches of Galatia (1:7; 5:10, 12; 6:17).<sup>12</sup> Paul equates them with “false brothers” (2:4), having perverted the gospel of Christ (1:7). They were causing trouble among the believers (1:7; 5:10, 12; 6:17), had misled them (3:1), were zealous for them (4:17), and were hindering them from legitimately obeying the truth (5:7; cf. 1:6-9). They were binding works of the Jewish Law, leading to bondage (2:16, 21; 3:2, 5, 10; 6:13), particularly circumcision (5:1-6, 11; 6:12, 15), the observance of special [Jewish holy] days (4:9-11), and presumably also food/separation laws (2:12-13).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">The impact on the Galatians involved having turned away from Christ to a different gospel (1:6). Their focus had changed from spiritual to physical (3:3). They now desired to be under the old Jewish Law (4:21; 5:4) and were no longer obeying the truth (5:7; cf. 3:1 TR). This was causing strife (5:15, 26), whether within local churches or inter-congregationally or both.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Paul’s response: (a) We are not justified by works of the Law (2:16; 3:2, 5, 10; 6:13);<sup>13</sup>(b) we have liberty in Christ (2:4; 5:1, 13-15 [albeit qualified]), i.e., freedom from the bondage of the Jewish Law; (c) Christians are <i>spiritual</i> children of Abraham (3:7-9, 14, 29; 4:26-31; 6:16), not merely physical Jews; note the repeated contrast between spiritual and physical (3:2-5, 14; 4:6-7, 23-31; 5:5, 13, 16-25; 6:1, 8, 12-15). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Believers were actually being persecuted by Jewish adherents of the Law (4:29; 5:11; 6:12, 17), thus a primary motivation of the Judaizers was not necessarily to obey God but to avoid persecution! Judaizers might claim to represent and to have the authority of the Jerusalem church (cf. 2:12; Acts 15:1-5), but Paul’s authority and teaching come directly from the Lord (1:1, 11-12, 15-17). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>1</sup> G. S. Duncan considers this a question of first-rate importance “for the exegesis of the Epistle, for our answer to it will determine our view of the circumstances in which the apostle was placed when he wrote this great letter, of the stage he had reached in his thinking and missionary activity, and of the development of that opposition which pursued him throughout all his ministry” (<i>Galatians</i> xxi-xxii).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>2</sup> While this meaning is favored in BAGD, the observation is made that from a lexical point of view “it is not poss[ible] to establish the thesis that Paul wished to differentiate betw[een] a later visit and an earlier one” (722).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>3</sup> Based on K. L. Moore’s <i>A Critical Introduction to the NT</i> (pp. 37-48), whereas an even earlier date (ca. 48-49) is often proposed by those who follow a different chronology (see, e.g., M. C. Tenney, <i>NT Survey</i> [Rev.] 270-71). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>4</sup> The present tense of <i>metatithesthe</i> indicates that the “shifting” or “turning away” was currently taking place at the time of writing, favoring the period shortly after Paul’s last visit; and the present tense of <i>parassontes</i> suggests that the “troubling” was also current and ongoing, favoring a time soon after the opportunity afforded itself (cf. 2 Thess. 2:2; 1 Tim. 5:22).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>5</sup> J. B. Lightfoot points out the striking coincidences of geography, time, participants, subject of dispute, character of the conference, and results (<i>Epistles of St. Paul: Galatians</i> 123-28). For arguments against equating Gal. 2 with Acts 15, see G. S. Duncan, <i>Galatians</i> xxii-xxvi. For responses to these arguments, see J. M. Boice, <i>Galatians</i> 10:418-20.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>6</sup> To contend that “the visit in Galatians 2:1 was only Paul’s second visit” (G. L. Borchert, <i>Galatians</i> 250) is to read too much into the apostle’s statement. The text simply says: “then after fourteen years …” This does not necessarily exclude another prior visit, particularly if it were unrelated to the issue at hand. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>7</sup> That Paul went there “according to a revelation” and then had a private meeting with certain leaders (Gal. 2:1-2) is not at variance with the Acts 15 meeting. Paul did not specify the means through which the revelation was received, and the Antioch church that sent him and Barnabas had prophets among its leadership (Acts 13:1; 15:2-3). Moreover, the time spent in Jerusalem could easily have included both private and public discussions (cf. Acts 15:4, 6).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>8</sup> See esp. J. B. Lightfoot, <i>Epistles of St Paul:</i> <i>Galatians</i> 40-56; C. Kruse, <i>Second Corinthians</i> 45-48; H. Boers, <i>Justification of the Gentiles</i> 241-303; F. O. Francis and J. P. Sampley, <i>Pauline Parallels</i> 5-32. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>9</sup> Another interesting factor is the opening address of Galatians, which describes the churches geographically (“of Galatia”), similar to the earlier Thessalonian letters (1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>10</sup> At the time of writing Paul could say, “for I bear the marks of Jesus in my body” (Gal. 6:17). This would be indicative of his sufferings to date: (a) persecutions (incl. stoning) during his initial visit to southern Galatia: at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra (2 Tim. 3:11; cf. Acts 13:45–14:22); (b) beating and imprisonment at Philippi (Acts 16:23-37); (c) further maltreatment in Macedonia and Achaia (Acts 17:5-14; 18:12-18); and (d) continued affliction during his three-years’ ministry at Ephesus (Acts 19:23–20:19; 1 Cor. 4:9-13; 15:32; cf. Gal. 5:11).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>11</sup> R. Riesner dismisses this (provenance and date) conclusion because, he argues, Paul wanted to be present with the Galatian brethren (Gal. 4:20) and the conventional view dating Galatians during Paul’s Ephesian ministry “cannot persuasively explain why Paul did not undertake the visit” (<i>Paul’s Early Period</i> 394-95, cf. 290-91). However, something kept Paul in Ephesus for three years (Acts 20:31; 1 Cor. 16:9)—he could not be everywhere at once—and there were other pressing matters that demanded his attention (1 Cor. 4:18-21; 15:32; 16:5-9; cf. Rom. 15:22). Moreover, he may not have wanted to personally visit the “senseless Galatians” while he was so upset with them (cf. 2 Cor. 1:27; 2:1). For alternative dates (both earlier and later), see B. Reicke, <i>Re-examining Paul’s Letters</i> 13-15; M. C. Tenney, <i>NT Survey</i> (Rev.) 267-73; G. S. Duncan, <i>Galatians</i> xxi-xxxii. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>12</sup> Scholars debate as to whether the Judaizers in Galatia were ethnic Jews or Gentile proselytes. Based on Gal. 5:12, B. D. Ehrman proposes the latter, commenting, “Paul hopes that when they perform the operation of circumcision on themselves, the knife slips” (<i>The NT: Historical Introduction</i> [4th ed.] 341; cf. L. M. White, <i>From Jesus to Christianity</i> 199-201). J. D. G. Dunn points out that the repeated use of the present tense in Galatians (1:6; 4:9-10, 21; 5:2-4; 6:12) “indicates an on-going crisis, with increasing numbers succumbing to the new teaching” (<i>Theology of Galatians</i> 9 n. 11).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>13</sup> The Law was temporary and we are no longer under it (3:10-25; 4:5; 5:18); physical circumcision is no longer binding (5:6; 6:15); the Law = bondage (2:4; 3:23; 4:2-11, 24-25; 5:1); the Law was added (to Abraham’s promise) because of transgressions (3:19), not because Israel was/is superior, and those under the Law still need to be redeemed (4:5).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/09/introducing-letter-to-galatians-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introducing Galatians Part 1</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/10/introducing-letter-to-galatians-part-2.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">: https://www.letthebirdfly.com/2017/06/20/galatians-31-6/</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-56179486702939636062023-10-04T07:00:00.002-05:002023-10-13T19:22:19.940-05:00Introducing the Letter to the Galatians (Part 2 of 3)<style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWWIHDsvHfO3_cv818tkHNKiMsTOVKX_pPmfIU6WfsbJzcTG7xawEorl3BIhRTLKeEiVJuBQWgP0danL06aZsajh7bNm-l--Bu_jzOw25pF7SWrLMf-BegoLtAAcCZDW2vOrOJu92Uyo4XAn2rKcsFlLShKxWg9PR3i1GwQ3yfW0a2d4QewJxeT85rBkA/s249/Galatia2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="249" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWWIHDsvHfO3_cv818tkHNKiMsTOVKX_pPmfIU6WfsbJzcTG7xawEorl3BIhRTLKeEiVJuBQWgP0danL06aZsajh7bNm-l--Bu_jzOw25pF7SWrLMf-BegoLtAAcCZDW2vOrOJu92Uyo4XAn2rKcsFlLShKxWg9PR3i1GwQ3yfW0a2d4QewJxeT85rBkA/w400-h350/Galatia2.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; line-height: 23px;">Audience and Destination</span></b><span face="-webkit-standard"></span><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"> </span></b></span><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">The letter is addressed to “the congregations of Galatia” (1:2), and the readers are referred to as “Galatians” (3:1).<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> </span>For the most part they were former idolaters (4:8) who had been converted and baptized into Christ (3:27).<sup>1</sup> The problem is, there are two possibilities as to the specific identification of Galatia (modern-day Central Turkey): (a) the comparatively limited geographical territory of North Galatia (in the heart of Asia Minor), bounded by Pontus and Bithynia on the north, by Phrygia on the southwest, and by Cappadocia on the east;<sup>2</sup> or (b) the more extensive Roman province of Galatia (established in 25 BC), comprising the above territory in addition to the regions of Pisidia, Lycaonia, and parts of Phrygia and Cappadocia, including the cities of Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium. Scholarship is divided as to which Galatia is in view here, whether it has an ethnographical or a political meaning in the NT. Until the 19th century the North Galatian theory was prominent; since then the South Galatian option has become more popular, at least among conservative scholars.<sup>3</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">The North Galatian View<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">Acts 16:6 and 18:23 are interpreted as references to the geographic region of Galatia.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">“O senseless Galatians” (3:1) is regarded as sounding more like ethnic identity than provincial.<sup>4</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">In Acts geographic names are used for regions in the southern part of the province: Antioch of Pisidia (13:14); Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia (14:6).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">The South Galatian View<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">Acts 16:6 and 18:23 are interpreted as references to “Phrygian-Galatia,” part of the legal province of Galatia.<sup>5</sup> Note that Luke uses <i>both</i> geographical (e.g., Pisidia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Mysia) <i>and</i> provincial (e.g., Asia, Bithynia, Macedonia, Achaia) descriptions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">There is no conclusive record that Paul ever went to the North Galatian territory, but his work in South Galatia is well documented (cf. Acts 13:13–14:24; 16:1-6).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">It is unlikely that Paul would have traveled to the less-accessible region to the north to recover from an illness (Gal. 4:13); it is much more likely that the southern province is in view here.<sup>6</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">“Galatians” is the only term that was broad enough to encompass the inhabitants of Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium.<sup>7</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">The churches of Galatia shared in the contribution for the poor (1 Cor. 16:1), and when the collection was delivered, at least two representatives from South Galatia accompanied Paul (Acts 20:4) but none from the northern territory. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">A preference for the names of provinces is evident in Paul’s letters (1 Thess. 1:7; 4:10; 1 Cor. 16:15, 19; 2 Cor. 1:8; 8:1; 9:2, 4, 9; 11:10; Rom. 15:26; 16:15).<sup>8</sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15pt;">Southern Galatia was the home of Lois, Eunice, Timothy, Gaius of Derbe, and Crescens (Acts 16:1; 20:4; 2 Tim. 1:5; 4:10).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Additional Considerations<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">Timothy was a native of southern Galatia (Acts 16:1-2), and note also the Barnabas connection (Gal. 2:1, 9, 13; Acts 13–14). Paul and Barnabas parted ways after evangelizing the southern province. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">Those who argue for the North Galatia destination are hard pressed to explain why the apostle would so drastically deviate from his obvious strategy of planting churches in the major cities of the Roman Empire, and why he would have taken a detour of about 300 miles (480 km) to enter ethnic Galatia (Acts 16:6). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">If the Galatians letter was intended for the northern territory, why is there no mention in Paul’s writings of the churches established in the southern province?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">In 1 Peter 1:1 Galatia is included among other Roman provinces and therefore appears to be used by Peter in its political sense. Paul had apparently written to at least some of the recipients of Peter’s letters (2 Pet. 3:15), and Peter’s addressees were in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1 Pet. 1:1; 2 Pet. 3:1). Initially Paul was not permitted to go into either Asia or Bithynia (Acts 16:6-7), but he did preach throughout southern Galatia, and later his work did significantly impact Asia (Acts 19:10). Paul’s writings to which Peter alludes potentially include Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, and the letters to Philemon, Timothy, and the Laodiceans (cf. Col. 4:16).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">What difference does it make?</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">It affects (a) the dating of the letter, (b) the chronology of Paul’s ministry and writings, (c) our understanding of Paul’s missionary strategy, and (d) the coordination of the Jerusalem visits mentioned in Acts and Galatians, with further implications concerning historical accuracy.<sup>9</sup> While this question may be of historical and biographical interest, it significantly affects neither the value of the letter nor its interpretation.<sup>10</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>1</sup> Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are the author's own translation. The majority of the Galatian addressees were not ethnic Jews (cf. 2:2-5; 4:8; 5:2; 6:12), so the opening phrase of 2:15, “we by nature Jews,” is obviously not addressed to them. It is only natural to understand this as a continuation of the argument of v. 14, and the emphatic “we” with which the sentence begins indicates that this is still part of Paul’s reply to Cephas. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>2</sup> This area was inhabited by Celtic tribes (Gauls) of Tectosages, Tolistobogii, and Trocmi, which had migrated from Macedonia and Thessaly in the 3rd century BC and were called Gallograecians (as distinct from the West-European Celts). The Galatian people of Paul’s day were a mixed race of Phrygians, Gauls, and Greeks, with a significant presence of Romans and Jews. For an informative history and description of these people, see J. B. Lightfoot, <i>Epistles of St Paul: Galatians</i> 1-17; also J. Murphy-O’Connor, <i>Paul: A Critical Life</i> 185-91.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>3</sup> The earlier North Galatian view may have been prominent because historically, near the end of the 3rd century AD, “the southern area was detached, and the province was reduced to the northern sector” (D. A. Carson and D. J. Moo,<i> An Introduction to the NT</i> 458). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>4</sup> Josephus calls the ethnic Gauls “Galatians” (<i>Ant.</i> 1.6.1; 15.7.3; cf. <i>Wars</i> Pref. 2; 1.33.9; 2.16; <i>Against Apion</i> 1), although the Gauls in the North did not have a monopoly on foolishness. Remember the superstitious and fickle Lystrans in the South (Acts 14:11-19). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>5</sup> In Acts 16:6, according to what appears to be the better textual witness (P<sup>74</sup> a A B C<sup>2</sup> D E, etc.), the record states that Paul and his companions went through “the Phrygian and Galatian region.” While some manuscripts (cf. the Textus Receptus) have an article [<i>tēn</i>] preceding <i>Galatikēn</i>, which would distinguish between two geographic territories, this reading seems to have weaker attestation (see B. M. Metzger, <i>Textual Commentary</i> [2nd ed.] 390). In Acts 16:6 <i>Phrugian</i> is probably used as a geographical adjective (BAGD 889; cf. Luke 3:1), i.e., the Phrygian territory incorporated in the province of Galatia. Nevertheless, the wording of Acts 18:23 is slightly different, suggestive of two separate geographic localities. R. Riesner comments: “Here Luke might be referring in addition to (Lycanonic and Phrygian) Galatia to Phrygia that belongs to the province of Asia” (<i>Paul’s Early Period</i> 285-86).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>6</sup> This argument interprets <i>dia</i> (in the expression <i>di’ astheneian tēs sarkos</i>) causally (“because of,” N/ASV, N/RSV, NKJV, NIV, ESV), i.e., the infirmity (“weakness of the flesh”) was the cause or occasion of Paul’s preaching in Galatia. However, if <i>dia</i> merely describes the infirmity as an accompanying circumstance, the argument may lose some of its force, but not totally. Paul’s infirmity at the time could readily be connected to the maltreatment he endured in southern Galatia (Acts 13:50; 14:19; 2 Tim. 3:11). Perhaps the original intention was to travel to the province of Asia (cf. Acts 16:6), but Paul’s physical condition forced the missionaries to alter their course. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>7 </sup>“But how could the apostle have addressed Lycaonians, Phrygians, Pisidians, Greek speakers, and Roman colonists together other than with reference to their common province?” (R. Riesner, <i>Paul’s Early Period</i> 287). A modern-day equivalent would be the term “British” to collectively describe the Welsh, the Scots, and the English (D. A. Carson and D. J. Moo, <i>An Introduction to the NT</i> 460). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>8</sup> In 1 Corinthians 16, when Paul speaks of the provinces of Macedonia (v. 5), Achaia (v. 15), and Asia (v. 19), would not Galatia (v. 1) in the very same context also be in reference to a province? The description “Asia” is always used in the NT, incl. the writings of Luke and Paul, to denote the Roman province. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>9</sup> One of the main questions is whether Gal. 2:1 = Acts 11:30 or 15:2. The Jerusalem visits in Galatians are 1:18 (three years after Paul’s conversion) and 2:1 (fourteen years later with Barnabas and Titus). The Jerusalem visits in Acts are 9:26 (when Barnabas vouches for him), 11:30 (delivering the benevolent gift with Barnabas), 15:2 (with Barnabas at the Jerusalem council), 18:22? (although no specific mention is made of Jerusalem here), and 21:17 (when he was arrested). Besides the two visits mentioned in Galatians, the only other trip to Jerusalem that Paul himself records is the last one which occasioned his arrest (Rom. 15:25-28; 1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 1:16).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>10</sup> See J. D. G. Dunn, <i>Theology of Galatians</i> 6-7. Nevertheless, D. B. Wallace maintains that the historical value of Acts is at stake, “as well as how to evaluate the theological development in the mind of Paul between the writing of Galatians and Romans” (“Galatians: Introduction, Argument, and Outline,” <Web>).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/09/introducing-letter-to-galatians-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introducing Galatians Part 1</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/10/introducing-letter-to-galatians-part-3.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">: https://www.planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/html/nt/galatians/galatians.htm</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7748546794339601451.post-8721340428888686512023-09-28T12:28:00.005-05:002023-10-13T19:22:40.111-05:00Introducing the Letter to the Galatians (Part 1 of 3)<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmX68Azii95FsvEQ6cbCaUs30uFHDEM2KWWVvJoTEKFx1wMUwHHzh1gwUjkdtzpBCgIA8mpPOFLxMvcRm09GoRcn15b2fc_swhbesx8dcXiqgRui_Pn_2B5kTLqgJHUY5HUVkxVXvpkEZ11afiK_33ZYWVlLR6U-NOgBMBibYTHby0iQWZ4ZaQuobY8ec/s457/Galatians%201.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="457" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmX68Azii95FsvEQ6cbCaUs30uFHDEM2KWWVvJoTEKFx1wMUwHHzh1gwUjkdtzpBCgIA8mpPOFLxMvcRm09GoRcn15b2fc_swhbesx8dcXiqgRui_Pn_2B5kTLqgJHUY5HUVkxVXvpkEZ11afiK_33ZYWVlLR6U-NOgBMBibYTHby0iQWZ4ZaQuobY8ec/w400-h264/Galatians%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; line-height: 23px;">Distinctive Features</span></b><span face="-webkit-standard" style="font-size: medium;"></span><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">1. Unlike the other Pauline letters, Galatians is addressed to multiple congregations [<span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις</span>] in a broad geographical region.<span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">2. Unlike the other Pauline congregational letters, these churches are designated provincially (“of Galatia”) without spiritual modifiers like those employed elsewhere.<sup>1 </sup>This may be due to the present condition of these readers, having departed from the truth of the gospel (1:6 ff.; 3:1; 4:9-11, 20; 5:4).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">3. Unlike most other Pauline congregational letters, there is no introductory thanksgiving in Galatians.<sup>2</sup> The apostle’s frustration at the time with these “senseless Galatians” (3:1) is probably why.<span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">4. Galatians is among the eight Pauline letters that mention one or more co-senders<sup>3 </sup>but the only one wherein the names are not recorded. In 1:2 the apostle includes with himself “all the brothers with me,” which is most likely a reference to his immediate colleagues as suggested by the fact that in the other letters co-senders are coworkers and by the comparable expression in Phil. 4:21-22, “the brothers with me,” in contrast to “every saint.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">5. The most extensive supplement to Paul’s standard opening greeting is found in Galatians, to which he has added a long description of Christ’s work, its purpose, and its divine sanction: “… who gave himself for our sins, so that he might deliver us out of the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom [be] the glory forever and ever. Amen” (1:4-5). This “at once thrusts the purpose of the letter to the fore: the issue between Paul and the Galatians is the significance of Christ” (H. N. Ridderbos, <i>Galatia</i> 43).<span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Authorship<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">There is no significant dispute over authorship, as the author explicitly identifies himself as Paul (1:1; 5:2) and most NT scholars count Galatians among the principal Pauline letters. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">That secretarial assistance was used is indicated by the author calling special attention to the fact that he is signing off with his own distinctive handwriting (6:11).<sup>4</sup> The verb <span style="background-color: white; color: #001320;">ἔγραψα</span> (lit. “I wrote”) appears to be an epistolary aorist, alluding to the subscription that Paul is presently writing (cf. Rom. 15:15; 1 Cor. 5:11; 9:15; Philem. 19, 21). The reference to “large letters” calls attention to his distinctive writing style, but the reason is subject to conjecture, whether it was due to poor eyesight (cf. L. A. Jervis, <i>Galatians</i>117), poor penmanship (A. Deissmann, <i>Light </i>166), or his desire to particularly emphasize the material at the end of the letter (D. J. Moo, R. P. Martin, and J. L. Wu, <i>Romans Galatians</i> 130).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">Allusion to “the brothers” in 1:2 could be suggestive of multiple secretaries, as multiple copies of the letter would have been needed for the plurality of Galatian churches (cf. Acts 15:22-23). But Gal. 6:11 seems more indicative of a single manuscript that would have been circulated. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">These “brothers” were the apostle’s immediate colleagues with whom he no doubt discussed the contents of the letter and perhaps solicited their collaboration in its composition (cf. 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1). Paul was careful to designate the co-senders as “all” the brothers with him, likely to emphasize that he was not alone in what he was advocating and had the solid support of each of his colleagues. It is hard to imagine that those who traveled with Paul as partners in his apostolic work exercised no influence on him whatsoever, even in the writing of his letters. It is much more conceivable that the stimulation was reciprocal and these ministerial colleagues mutually formed a linguistic and theological environment.<sup>5</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;">--<i>Kevin L. Moore</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoFooter" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">Endnotes</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>1</sup> Unless noted otherwise, scripture quotations are the author's own translation. In the other Pauline congregational letters the addressees are described as per the following: “beloved of God, called saints” (Rom. 1:7); “of God … sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints” (1 Cor. 1:1); “of God … with all the saints” (2 Cor. 1:1); “to the saints … and faithful in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 1:1); “to all the saints in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:1); “saints and faithful brothers in Christ” (Col. 1:2); “in God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:1); “in God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:1). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>2</sup> There is no introductory thanksgiving in 1 Timothy or in Titus either, but Galatians is the only Pauline letter addressed to a Christian community that does not begin by thanking God for them or expressing a blessing. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>3</sup> Cf. 1 Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Gal. 1:2; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1; Philem. 1. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>4</sup> Not all scholars, however, concede that this is indicative of scribal aid (cf. G. S. Duncan, <i>Galatians</i> 188-89; R. N. Longenecker, “Ancient Amanuenses” 291). </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> <sup>5</sup> See J. A. Loubser, “Media Criticism and the Myth of Paul” 1-16. Divine inspiration cannot be limited to just one person at a time but necessarily operated through anyone and everyone involved in the production of inspired scripture (2 Tim. 3:16).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Related Posts</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">: <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/09/studying-romans-and-galatians.html" target="_blank">Studying Romans & Galatians: Part 1</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/09/studying-romans-and-galatians_20.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/10/introducing-letter-to-galatians-part-2.html" target="_blank">Introducing Galatians Part 2</a>, <a href="https://kmooreperspective.blogspot.com/2023/10/introducing-letter-to-galatians-part-3.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b style="font-size: 11pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">Image credit</span></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt;">: https://thisisthebridge.church/blog/2021/01/13/faith-repentance-and-gospel-in-galatians</span> </span></p>amerikiwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03392673888503758721noreply@blogger.com0