Book of Romans

A survey of the book of Romans.

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction to the Book of Romans

The Epistle of Romans is a treasure of truth that needs to be understood by the Saints of God. This study will endeavor to help you to understand its truths.

Please read the book of Romans at least one time through before considering these notes. This collection of notes is intended to be read as a companion to your reading of the Scriptures. We have endeavored to highlight and give clarity as needed, but these pages will not fully benefit the reader if the actual words of the Scripture are not read and carefully meditated upon.

Authorship of the Epistle to the Romans

Romans' internal evidence supports Paul's authorship

Chapter 1 and verse 1 is written as Paul himself claiming to have written it. Romans' style is the same found in I and II Corinthians and especially Galatians. Paul's style and the style of Romans is intensely "personal." To read Paul's epistles is almost the same as hearing his voice. Paul often wrote like he may have talked.

The stage of development of Christian doctrine which the letter reveals fits naturally to the time of Paul. Paul was at the height of his ministry at about the middle of the first century at which time the common issues which disturbed the churches are the same issues dealt with in Romans.

External evidences support Paul's authorship

Paul was known as the writer of the epistle to the Romans as early as AD 95. Some of the writers who recognized Pauline authorship of Romans were:

  1. NT Writers—Especially Peter (2 Peter 3:15)
  2. Clement of Rome (AD 95)
  3. Ignatius of Antioch (AD 110)
  4. Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna (After AD 110)

Who Did Not Start the Church at Rome

Paul wrote this epistle, but did not start the church at Rome, nor had he ever visited this church up until sometime after writing of this epistle. The Christian church in Rome already existed before the writing of the epistle to the Romans with groups of believers meeting in homes such as that of Priscilla and Aquilla. If we compared Romans 1:8, 1:11, and chapter 16, we can safely conclude there was a Christian church at Rome before Paul or even Peter visited.

There is not much historical record of the founding of the church in Rome, but we can also conclude that Peter did not found the Roman church either. Paul never once names Peter as being in Rome and it would seem logical if Peter was the leader of the church that Paul would have mentioned him in his salutation in Romans 16. Instead, Paul lists 28 people in that salutation among whom listed first were Priscilla and Aquilla. Furthermore, the Book of Acts places Peter not in Rome but in Jerusalem establishing the church there.

The Birth of a Christian Church at Rome

The Roman Empire was in power at the time of the writing of this epistle and Rome was also the capital city of this empire—it was the chief city of the world. It has been said that "all roads led to Rome." This is because it was the Romans who introduced and built a new system of roads stemming from the capital city of Rome itself. Rome was the center of the world and a strategic place out of which gospel could spread.

From the multitudes of Jewish slaves brought to Rome and later freed, multiple (maybe as many as 5) Jewish synagogues cropped up. Eventually, Jewish Christians would travel to Rome as well and cause quite a disturbance within these Jewish synagogues. As Rome was understandably intimidated by the sudden increase of the number of Jews within the city and their increasing tumults, measures were taken to discourage its growth. The earliest measures taken did not include making Judaism illegal, but did forbid unauthorized gatherings.

The historian Cassius Dio reports the following action taken by Claudius against Roman Jews:

"As for the Jews, who had again increased so greatly that by reason of their multitude it would have been hard without raising a tumult to bar them from the city, he did not drive them out, but ordered them, while continuing their traditional mode of life, not to hold meetings."

The restrictions imposed by the government resulted with a Gentile-dominated church. It is this church that received Paul's letter sometime around AD 57-58. Instead of in central synagogues or large meeting places, this church met in small groups around the city of Rome as in the homes of Believers. Though their gathering places were 'decentralized', especially from the letter to the Romans, we can see the Christian church maintained communication and the sense of being 'one body' in Christ.

TIME & PLACE

Most scholars place the time of the writing of this epistle around AD 57-58. In Romans 15:19, Paul lets us know that he is near the culmination of his career and at the end of his third missionary journey. He has preached the Gospel, he says, "from Jerusalem and as far round as Illyricum," and goes on to make the amazing statement that he no longer has any room to work in that vast area. He wishes to go to Spain since Italy itself is already being evangelized, and to visit the Roman church along the way. But he cannot do so at once; he must first go to Jerusalem. The reason for this is both clear and evident. For some time, (2 Corinthians would suggest at least one year), Paul intimates, he has been engaged in taking a collection for the poor in Jerusalem. During the writing of the book of Romans, that collection is virtually (if not quite entirely) complete, and Paul is awaiting an opportunity to deliver the offering to Jerusalem. I and II Corinthians refer to the collection as being in progress (I Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 8-9) and Romans 15:25-28 looks upon it as just completed. Since in I Corinthians 16:3-4, Paul indicated that he plans to end his work on the collection in Corinth and then to depart from that city for Jerusalem, it is natural to suppose that he wrote Romans while at Corinth.

OCCASION

Romans was written as Paul's introduction to the Christians at Rome preceding his visit to them. The Apostle Paul had long been intending to visit the Roman Christians as soon as he accomplished the business he had at hand which was the collection for the poor at Jerusalem (1:13; 15:25, 26, 28). His work in the east was over; he was on the eve of his journey to Jerusalem. He wanted to introduce himself to the Christians at Rome before making his stop there so he wrote this epistle with the intention of sending it on the first favorable opportunity. Phoebe's voyage to Rome afforded Paul such an opportunity (16:1-2).

PURPOSE

Romans is a theological treatise (a systematic treatment) of the meaning of the Gospel. Though the church is predominately Gentile, Judaism was a dominate influence early on. There were many Jews in Rome at the time of the writing of the Epistle to the Romans and even the Jewish Christians were heavily bound to the traditions and heritage of Judaism. The Jews believed because they had Moses's Law and the covenant of circumcision that they were guaranteed eternal life with God. They believed they were superior to the heathen Gentiles and that they did not need to submit to heathen rulers. Paul refutes the doctrines of the Jews which were inconsistent with Scripture.

Cover

ROMANS

The Gospel Explained

romans.jpg

Deliverance Bible Institute Textbook, Second Year

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Paul's Introduction to his Letter

(Romans 1:1-17)

Paul's Salutation (v. 1-7)

An apostle is one who has been SENT FORTH as a messenger or representative of and fully authorized by the sender—a delegate or ambassador. (Acts 9:3-9, 15-22, 28) Paul's calling was not earthly. He was not even a candidate in the vote taken in Acts 1, but Paul's calling and sending forth as an apostle came from Christ. (1:5) Paul emphasizes that he was called to be an Apostle; this calling was by God and not by man.

Paul was a "preacher of the Gospel." He was a separated messenger with a special Message. The Gospel is a mystery (Mark 4:11; I Tim. 3:9,16; Col. 2:2; 4:3; Eph. 1:9) and a Divine revelation. (Acts 9).

Absolute consecration is spoken of in these words. Paul was set apart to preach one message and only one message. Paul did not declare a message that exalted himself nor did he do a work to further his position in the eyes of men. Paul declares that his purpose in life was the Gospel of God, and so should this be our purpose as ministers of the Gospel.

His Message (v. 1-5)

Paul's message is the Gospel. The Gospel does not originate from Paul and is wholly concerned with Jesus Christ: our Lord, seed of David, Son of God, resurrected.

His Readers (v.6-7)

Those connected to Jesus are connected with Him by His calling. The Called that Paul is writing to does not simply mean those invited, but means those invited that have come.

It is unquestionable that the recipients of this epistle were the Roman Christians (v. 7, 15). Scripture seems to point to a predominantly Gentile Roman church as Paul's manner of addressing the church leaves hardly any doubt that he is writing to Gentiles. In chapter one, Paul speaks of his apostleship for obedience of the faith among all the nations (1:5). He refers to the recipients as "other gentiles" and also gives as his reason for being ready to preach the Gospel to them as that he is debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians (1:14), and that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, though to the Jew first, yet to the Greek also (1:16).

When the position and prospects of the Jewish nation are under review and Paul comes to admonition, it is to the Gentile believers that he addresses it (1:13; 11:13; 15:15-16).

The family of God comprises of saints called out of the world by God's grace to be His own people (I Cor. 1:2). Saints are those who are set apart for worship and praise. Another word key to understanding the meaning of "saints" is "sanctified." Saints are directly opposed to sin. Saints are those who allow holiness to become a reality in their lives. True righteousness is a phenomenon of the will. True righteousness always produces outward action and inward results. Every form of sin must be put out of the heart. As moral agents our intellect must disapprove of sin.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ

This is a common greeting of Paul in his epistles. The title "Jesus Christ our Lord" or "Lord Jesus Christ" is used ten times in Romans. Jesus is the personal name as Savior. Matt. 1:21. Christ is "God's anointed one" Lord denotes He is Lord of all things in heaven and earth (Acts 10:36). Jesus Christ our Lord is the Master of every situation!

Paul's Readiness (to Visit, Impart & Preach) (v. 8-15)

Verses 8-15 express Paul's personal feelings for the Roman saints.

Paul is thankful for the faith of the Roman saints and so prays for them (v. 8-9)

The whole world is in reference to the domain of the Roman Empire which often referred to itself as the whole world. It was Augustus who made the decree at the birth of Christ that the whole world should be taxed, which was in reference to the dominions of Rome.

The faith of the saints in Rome was spoken of throughout the entire Empire. These Roman Christians are the "Beloved of God," "Called to be saints," and recipients of the grace and peace "from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." Their testimony bears out that they are separated unto God and represent the King of Glory. What a treasure a good testimony is! Paul stands on the battleground in prayer that their faith and testimony would continue.

He has a great desire to visit the Roman saints and impart spiritual gifts unto them because of his motive to see the church established (v. 10-12)

Rome was strategic, but Paul is led by the Spirit and not statistics. It is probable that Paul realized the strategic value of building up the church in the capital city of the Roman Empire, but Paul was a caliber of minister that would invest as heavily in a city no one ever heard of. He was blessed to hear that there were saints in Rome and desired to visit them to do his part to strengthen the church there. It is logical that a revival in the city of Rome would have impact on the entire Empire, but the truth is, God could choose any place to be the start of a revival that would turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6).

Paul had been hindered from going to Rome (v. 13-15)

He had wanted to and even planned to go, but he had been hindered. Paul would one day go to Rome as a prisoner to stand before the Roman leaders and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The book of Acts tells us that Paul dwelt two years in Rome. It is believed that he was under house arrest during this time of being in Rome. He was beheaded in Rome in AD 67.

Paul had great desire to preach the Gospel in Rome. He uses the word "debtor" in reference to himself to show that he is committed to preach to all men (v. 14). He was a debtor to the sinner to tell him about Christ. "Greeks" is used to refer to the wise Gentiles who have been educated in Greek culture and philosophy. "Barbarians" is used to refer to those outside of the Greek culture, that would not have been educated. Paul is ready to preach to everyone.

Chapter 1

Paul's Theme to his Letter

(Romans 1:16,17) Paul declares his theme in verses 16 and 17 (The Gospel) and these verses serve as a summary of the epistle.

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation

All who believe can be changed by the power of God

The Scripture declares that the Gospel of Christ is to everyone that believes. Some falsely teach that God chooses only certain people to be saved. The Gospel is not for only a selected few, but for whosoever will come and drink of the waters of life. Whosoever believes in Jesus shall have everlasting life (Jn. 3:16). All men have the ability of believing, but all men will not choose to believe in Jesus and accept the provision of redemption through His blood.

Salvation is a work of God

Man can do nothing to save himself. He was born in sin with no human means of hope. Man could not be good enough to satisfy the law of God. He is guilty and condemned to hell. There is no price that man could pay to purchase his Salvation. Salvation is a work of God given by grace and received by faith in Jesus Christ. Many complicate the simplicity of the Gospel and cannot accept that sinful man can be made new and transformed by the power of God as he reaches out in faith to the nail scarred hands of Jesus.

The Gospel reveals the righteousness of God from faith to faith

Righteousness comes from God

Man has no righteousness of his own (Is. 64:6). The righteousness of Christ is put to the account of the sinner. This is what is meant by imputed righteousness. Impute is a KJV word that means to set to the account of. ILLUSTRATION: A man who has no money in the bank needs someone else to put money into his account. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness (James 2:23). Abraham had the righteousness of God put to his account (Rom. 4:3). God views the repentant through the blood of Christ.

Righteousness is received by faith at salvation. There is a difference between imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness. To impart means to put into. God places His righteousness in man at Salvation. There is a change of nature that accompanies the new birth (Phil. 3:9).

The expression from faith to faith is referring to an increase of faith; showing growth from the initial faith of salvation to a greater faith in God that comes with Christian growth. The Scripture tells us that every man is given the measure of faith (Rom. 12:3). All men have the ability to believe, yet all do not exercise their faith to believe in Jesus Christ. The apostles asked the Lord to increase their faith (Lk. 17:5). Faith is increased as it is put into practice. With Christian maturity comes an increase in faith. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith through the Gospel.

The Righteousness of God is progressive in the life of Christians.

The revelation of God's character and nature is not something apart and separate from the Gospel, but is bound up in the Gospel that we as hearers may LIVE. This life and righteousness is not received all at once, but is revealed to us from faith to faith. As we obey and do as we have received, God gives us more and this continual progression in righteousness is the path of life of the JUST. The key to maintaining our experience with God is progression. Paul declares in Hebrews 6:1, "Let us go on."

The just shall live by faith

Paul builds the theme of the epistle on the foundation of Scripture. "As it is written" is in reference to Habakkuk 2:4 from where this statement is quoted.

The just are those who have been justified by God through faith

The just refers to those who have been set in a right relationship with God through the atonement provided by Jesus Christ. Those who are saved are the just or those who have been justified.

The Christian is kept by the power of God

The just remain so by the keeping power of God. In this world of sin, the Christian needs the preserving power of God to keep him on the straightway that leads unto life. Jesus said that no man could pluck the sheep out of His hand (Jn. 10:28). This does not mean that God ever takes away the choice of man. Christians must choose to serve God, to live is an everyday experience (The just shall live) that requires a continual receiving of God's power by faith.

The path of the just leads to full maturity in Christ

Light represents truth which guides the Christian on his journey (Pro. 4:18; Ps. 119:105). The further we walk on the path, the more truth that is received. God reveals more truth as we obey the truth that has already been received. The life of the just is to continue by faith to mature in Christ and receive the fullness of our inheritance as believers.

The Christian lives his life by faith in Christ

Galatians 2:20—I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Chapter 1

All are Guilty and Under Sin

(Romans 1:18-32)

All are guilty and under sin (1:18-32; 2:1-29)

Romans 3:9—... we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

All are guilty

All mankind needs to be justified through Jesus, or the wrath of God will be revealed against it (1:18). Jesus is the only way to salvation and those who do not chose to accept the provision of Christ are condemned (John 3:18).

Gentile guilt (1:19-32)

The conclusion of this chapter continues on describing this people who are guilty and worthy of the wrath of God. They are without excuse.

They knew God (1:19-23)

God has manifested Himself to them (v.19). Creation itself clearly declares the things of God (v.20). Even those who did not receive the Law or have never heard the Gospel have been given a revelation of God through nature therefore they are without excuse. They once knew God but did not glorify Him as God (v.21). Graven images are the result of rejecting truth and not glorifying God. Man has worshipped the creature more than the creator.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Jew is Guilty

(Romans 2:1-29)

Paul continues on explaining that man is under sin by focusing on the guilt of the Jew and by extension the religious (those that know something of God).

Jewish/religious guilt (2:1-29)

Romans chapter two talks about the guilty Jew or the guilty religious person. The Jew refused to obey The Light of Revelation. In this chapter we see the Jew condemning others, just as the Pharisees did. This chapter also talks about the circumcision of the heart, which is most important.

The Principles of God's Judgment (v. 1-16)

God's judgment is true (2:2)

God's judgment is according to truth, unbiased, and absolute. A man may feel self-confident and sure of his own place at the time he judges another, but without a doubt he is without a defense--inexcusable--when the judgment of God comes.

God's judgment is impartial (2:3-11)

Those who have sinned without the Law will perish without it (2:12)

It is not enough to know about the law, but you must DO it. Ignorance of the Law will not save the Gentile. This refers to the Gentiles who had not received the Law of Moses. Even though they did not have Moses's law all men have been given the testimony of creation and have the law of God, revealed by the conscience of man, written on the heart. Paul has already shown that all men are condemned and in need of Salvation.

Those who have sinned in the Law will be judged by the Law. He stands in this place of great self-confidence and self righteousness because he KNOWS the law, but THERE IS NO RIGHTEOUSNESS IN just KNOWING THE LAW. Paul is clearly presenting that just as the Gentile is guilty because he DOES NOT the law and not that because he has not the law, as the Jews do, so also are the Jews not pardoned from their guilt because they have and know the law, but they as well are judged for not DOING the law.

Obedience is a requirement for justification (2:13)

Justification is now only provided by faith in Jesus Christ. Christ is the fulfillment of the law. Under the New Covenant of Grace men can only be justified through Jesus Christ. The sacrifices of the law looked forward to redemption through Christ's blood and justification which is by faith. So today the only way man can obey God is to accept the atonement of Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:24).

The Law of God is written on the hearts of men (2:14-16)

Does verse 12 mean that a Gentile cannot be justified because he has not been given the law that he may obey it as the Jews have? No, absolutely not. The Gentile may do by nature the things contained in the law without ever having it because God has placed in every man a conscience whereas long as men guard it and keep it are a law unto themselves in the proper and true sense of the phrase. This law is written in their HEARTS and their conscience bears witness to it.

Paul is confronting the excuses of man, to answer the question: how can God judge the Gentiles who did not have the Law? God will judge a man based on the truth that has been afforded to him. Gentiles who sin will perish, but the Law of Moses will not be used as a standard of judgment against them. All men still had the law of their conscience and the testimony of creation. The sinner is under condemnation with or without Moses's law.

God created man with a conscience which is a natural sense of right and wrong. God has only one standard of morality. There is not one law for the Jew and another law for the Gentiles.

God will judge the secrets of men (2:16)

THE UNFAITHFUL JEW IS UNDER CONDEMNATION (2:17-25)

The Jews rested in the Law (2:17-18)

The Jews claimed to be exempt from condemnation based on heritage. When Jesus condemned the Jews, they replied: We be Abrahams seed; Jesus responded: if ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.—Jn. 8:33-39 The Jews believed they would receive eternal life on the merit of being a Jew and the covenant of circumcision. The old Rabbinical writings state that no circumcised man will be lost. The Jews had a tradition that Abraham stood at the gates of hell to insure that no circumcised man was ever cast there.

Knowledge of the law cannot save the Jew. The Jew that boasts in the law believes he is a guide for the blind, but is blind himself. That is, he believes he knows the way, and no one else does. He stands in this place of great self-confidence because he KNOWS the law, but THERE IS NO RIGHTEOUSNESS IN KNOWING THE LAW. Paul speaks directly to emphasize his point, "Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?" Paul is clearly presenting that just as the Gentile is guilty because he DOES NOT the law and not that because he has not the law as the Jews do, so also are the Jews not pardoned from their guilt because they have and know the law, but they as well are judged for not DOING the law. Their self-confidence is fool hearty for they are the blind leading the blind.

The Jews believed they were superior to the Gentiles (2:19-25)

The True "Jew" is one that is so INWARDLY (heart, spirit) (2:26-29)

Circumcision was a sign of the cutting away of the flesh. The uncircumcised Gentile who obeyed God's law had more profit than the circumcised Jew who disobeyed it.

Circumcision is of the heart. The issue for justification is not over if a man was born Jew or Gentile, whether he has been circumcised or not, or if he has the law or not, but has his HEART been circumcised? Has the hardness, impenitence, and sin been cut out of his heart? Paul concludes a true Jew is one who has faith inwardly, whose heart has been changed, and not one who merely follows outward ceremonies in the flesh. Every Jew needs to add to his physical circumcision a circumcision of the heart through repentance and a changed life.

We can read Paul's conclusion on this matter in Romans 3:9-19,

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Right Perspective on the Law of God

(Romans 3:1-2)

Justification is by faith without the deeds of the Law. The Law is: an advantage to those who know it (vs. 1-2), absolute in its nature (vs. 3-8), unbending in its authority (vs. 9-19), has a distinct purpose (vs. 20-30), and is not made void, but rather is established by our faith (v. 31).

Introduction

In Chapter 3, we have five principles concerning the Law:

In Chapter 1

Paul introduces himself and his desire to visit the church at Rome and then introduces his subject of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In this Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and the wrath of God is revealed against those who reject the Gospel.

In Chapter 2

Paul establishes that knowledge of the law is not enough to save (Not hearers but doers are justified) and resting or boasting in knowing the law is foolish. All are guilty under the law; those who have the law will be judged by it and those who have not the law will perish without it.

Paul clarifies that justification is not for those who keep the letter of the law, but for those we are a Jew inwardly (2:29). The Law of Circumcision that is essential to justification is a procedure of the heart and spirit.

In Chapter 3

Paul sets the Law in its right perspective. The religious Jew clung to his knowledge of the law of Moses as if it were a charm that justified them before God. They had a warped perspective of what the law is and does. Jesus did not and Paul does not eliminate the law as worthless, but does position it properly in the perspective provided by the revelation of the cross. In Judaism, the law is king, but according to the Gospel there is righteousness and justification without the deeds of the law.

This conviction in the pre-eminence of the law is what fed the Jew's objection to Christ. The Holy Ghost knew the Jews were holding to their superiority and trying to justify their rejection of the Gospel. In Romans 3, we find refutations of the excuses of the Jews to further show they are condemned and in need of Jesus.

What Law?

The word "law" generically means "a principle; a prescription". Though it was to the Jew who was given the Law of God through Moses, both Jews and Gentiles had the law of God in their conscience (whether or not they chose to receive it was their choice).

Throughout Romans, Paul illustrates the weakness of the Law given to Moses and yet at the same time establishes his true value. The Law given to Moses is indeed the will of God, but it is not the entirety of his instruction. The error of the Jew was in that they made those principles with its ceremonies and attached traditions the sum of God's intent toward humanity.

Though we can find the same word "law" used in 52 verses in Romans, Paul is not always discussing the same set of principles or prescriptions.

Moses was used as an oracle of God, but he was not the only nor the last of God's messengers. Ultimately, he was only trailblazer for the Living Word! The law in our conscience or the law given through Moses are both abstractions of the Law of God. God gave his eternal principles to Moses and God desires his will, his law, his prescriptions to be hidden in the heart of every person and realized in their life.

Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

A man can be justified in the eyes of God without the deeds of the law of Moses (thief on the cross). A man is never justified if he is contrary to the mind of God.

Romans 7:22—For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

The True Advantage of Having the Law (vs. 1-2)

Having Received the Law First, What Advantage does the Jew Have? (vs. 1-2)

The Advantage IS NOT that they are inherently superior to the Gentiles

Justification by faith is a doctrine of equality of all men which the Jews despised due to their insistence on being superior to the Gentiles. The Jew wanted to flaunt his greatness over the Gentile. Many Jews continued to reject the Gospel and hold to their pre-eminence and exalted position in Jehovah simply because of their lineage to Abraham. Most Jews were appalled by the concept of the Gentiles being equal to them and having the same access to God as them through faith in Jesus.

The Advantage IS they had first received the oracles of God.

"Yes the Jew has an advantage, but it is not what you think!" Oracle literally means utterance and is used here to refer to the Words or utterances of God proclaimed through the prophets and preserved in the Holy Scriptures. The Jews had received the prophecies of the Messiah and therefore had an advantage of increased revelation of Messiah that the Gentiles did not have. The advantage the Jew had was the very thing that condemns him as many still continue to reject Jesus as the Messiah (John 1:11).

The advantage of knowing the law is not that that knowledge justifies us, but is that by hearing of the Word of God to us is opened an opportunity to receive faith in God. We can know better and miss our opportunity to please God.

Application

2 Peter 2:21—For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

Question: Is it an advantage to not know God's will?

Answer: No. It is a blessing to have had the opportunity to know God's will. Peter is expressing the greatness of the degree of condemnation of backslider. Both the heathen and backslider are condemned.

Chapter 3

The Absoluteness of the Law of God

(Romans 3:3-8)

Justification is by faith without the deeds of the Law. The Law is: an advantage to those who know it (vs. 1-2), absolute in its nature (vs. 3-8), unbending in its authority (vs. 9-19), has a distinct purpose (vs. 20-30), and is not made void, but rather is established by our faith. (v. 31).

ILLUSTRATION: Two truck drivers were traveling together hauling a 12' 4" high trailer when they come up on an underpass marked ' Clearance 11' 3" '. The first man asked his partner, "What do you think?" The second checked around for police and seeing none suggested, "Let's give it a try."

The Standard is an Unchanging Christ

We have made a distinction between the specific prescriptions given through Moses and the much more encompassing Mind of God. It is a great error to make the Law of Moses as the entire prescription of God's will. The fullness of God's Will is much larger than the Law given through Moses.

It is in Jesus, we see the fullness of God's will. The Lord Jesus Christ is the standard of God's expectation.

Eph 4:11-16 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

For the purposes of our study we have defined The Law of God as:

God's standard of expectation for his creation.

God's Law is governed by the nature of God. What is in the Law of God is because of Who God is. God is absolute and therefore His Law is absolute--his expectations of the behavior of humanity are absolute. (The majority of the time, Human self-government is anything but absolute.)

2 Samuel 22:31 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him. (Compare with Psalm 101)

If some do not believe, will God break his promise? vs. 3-4

Has God cancelled his covenant with Abraham because some Jews are bad? If some do not believe does it hinder God's plan? Will unbelief cancel God's faithfulness? See II Timothy 2:13

The Jews Cling to their Heritage as Abraham's Children as their Warranty. (v. 3)

Their objection was even though some did not believe; nothing can nullify our special promises we have been given by God through Abraham. They were in effect saying no matter what else we are, we are Abraham's seed and that will get us into heaven.

The answer: Absolutely Not! (v.4)

Will God be unfaithful because man is unfaithful? Absolutely Not!

vs. 4—God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar… 2 Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

It is not because, some Jews were unfaithful that requires faith in Jesus Christ. It is because the fullness of God's plan of redemption has always been in Christ.

Re 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Illustrated from David's Life

…That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. (v.4)

The Psalm of David is quoted which showed God to be righteous even when David was condemned for his sin. According to Psalm 51:4, God is just when He speaks and clear when He judges. This is used here to show that God is right to condemn the Jews because they rejected the Messiah who came from the seed of Abraham according to the promises. These promises they claimed would justify them in fact brought condemnation to the Jew because of their rejection of Jesus Christ.

If our sin commends God's righteousness, how can He judge us?-Vs. 5-7

Let us first understand the meaning of the question.

Commend -To represent as worthy of notice, regard, or kindness; to speak in favor of; to recommend. — Webster The Gk. word carries the meaning of to exhibit (as in a conspicuous manner), or to introduce, to stand with or to come into existence.

We must rely on the context to help us understand the meaning of this question. This is posed as two questions in the text and has been simplified for the purpose of study. The question is literally asking: if our unrighteousness magnifies or brings attention to God's righteousness and mercy; is God unrighteous if He judges us?

This is still awkward for us to understand. Remember God is dealing with the actual objections of the Jews. The objection is the same as the objection of many today. We could ask it this way: If God is so righteous why would He judge me for my sin and send me to hell? (Especially, because we are Abraham's children.)

God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?

The answer is: Certainly not. For if this principle is used then how could God pass judgment on the world? The world here is referring to the Gentiles. The Jews were still trying to excuse themselves from condemnation. It is proper for a righteous God to judge the unrighteous sinner—whether Jew or Gentile.

The truth is, God can judge the world because he is righteous.

Let us do evil that good may come? — Vs. 8

Some abuse the truth of God's mercy and boast that their sinful lives and God's unconditional acceptance, is illustrative of God's great Mercy. Paul was NOT preaching this false doctrine, but was being accused of doing so.

This was an attack on Paul's preaching of justification by faith. The Jews were saying: you tell us God justifies the wicked, so why not continue to be evil so good can come out of it? Paul's description of those who did preach this was: whose damnation is just. Since the accusation was not true Paul did not go into a detailed answer; he only affirms that God's judgment on them is just.

Chapter 3

Unbending Authority of the Law of God

(Romans 3:9-19)

Justification is by faith without the deeds of the Law. The Law is: an advantage to those who know it (vs. 1-2), absolute in its nature (vs. 3-8), unbending in its authority (vs. 9-19), has a distinct purpose (vs. 20-30), and is not made void, but rather is established by our faith. (v. 31).

The whole world is under the sentence of condemnation.

The charge is levied against the sinner. — v. 9

Who is a sinner? We have proven both Jew and Gentile to be under sin as ALL are guilty of breaking the law.

Witnesses are brought before the accused.

The witness of creation — 1:20

The witness of conscience — 2:15

The witness of commandment — 3:19

The indictment is read from the Scriptures. — vs. 10-18

According to the rules of the court the indictment had to be written.

An indictment is a written accusation or formal charge of a crime or misdemeanor, preferred by a grand jury under oath to a court. - Webster

The Great Judge leaves no excuse for humanity and has Paul use the written Word to indict the accused.

Paul used their own sacred text to condemn the Jews.

The Jew boasted that he possessed the Scripture; now God is using that same Word to expose their sin. God is making them accountable to His Word.

Although the Gentile did not have the written word; they still had the same principals contained in the Word written on their heart

The defense of the accused — V. 19

What is the defense of the accused?

The accused has nothing to say; every mouth is stopped. The Day of Judgment will be a day of silence.

The verdict — V.20

GUILTY AS CHARGED!

No flesh is justified by deeds of law.

This law refers to more than Moses Law; there is also reference to moral law and the law of conscience. The Gentile did not posses Moses's Law, but every man has the moral law of God written on his heart and testified to by his conscience.

The death penalty has been levied against the condemned. Rom.6:23

Chapter 3

True Purpose of the Law of God

(Romans 3:20-30)

ROMANS 3: Justification is by faith without the deeds of the Law. The Law is: an advantage to those who know it (vs. 1-2), absolute in its nature (vs. 3-8), unbending in its authority (vs. 9-19), has a distinct purpose (vs. 20-30), and is not made void, but rather is established by our faith. (v. 31).

The Law Has Never Justified Anyone vs. 20

Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

The law is accusatory by nature against all mankind.The true purpose of the law is not to justify, but is to bring the knowledge of sin. Alone, the Law cannot produce salvation or righteousness in the eyes of God. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.

By the Deeds of the Law there shall no Flesh be Justified

How important is the knowledge of sin?

The righteousness of God is manifested to men. — Vs. 21-23

To manifest is to show forth or to declare.

Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

Declared Righteous

The meaning of "justify" is to declare righteous. To be justified is to be placed in a right relationship with God. Paul is telling men how they can be justified or declared righteous — through Jesus Christ.

"Most important, justification does not mean that God makes us righteous, but that He declares us righteous. Justification is a legal matter. God puts the righteousness of Christ on our record in the place of our own sinfulness." - Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible Exposition Commentary

Yet, salvation is not complete in this statement. For, In God's declaration of justification, He by giving us His righteousness has made us righteous.

Romans 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Righteousness refers to moral purity.

It simply means to be right which is the opposite of being wrong. Sin is wrong and God is right. Applied to God it refers to the perfection or holiness of his nature; God is always right. The words righteousness and justify are closely related and are derived from the same Gk. root dika. Justify-dikaio, righteousness-dikaiosune

This righteousness is from God.

This is not earned righteousness or even righteous works. Justification is the righteousness of God put to the account of a man; that is God counting him righteous solely due to the righteousness of Christ. This passage is showing man the source of righteousness which only comes from God.

God's method of Justification — V. 24

Given by the Grace of God

Sinful man does not deserve to be justified. Man deserves to die because of sin. God freely justifies those who receive the provision of Christ by faith. Salvation is a gift of God to those who receive the provision of Christ by faith.

Through the Redemption in Christ Jesus

Redemption means to purchase, to set free by the payment of a ransom. Jesus paid the price for our Salvation in His blood. Man is declared righteous solely on the merit of Jesus Christ.

The demands of the law have been satisfied. — V. 25

God still requires justice.

Justification is not merely God showing pity on the sinner and letting him go free without the penalty being paid. The word propitiation is used in reference to Christ satisfying the demands of the law. Propitiation is a reason for not executing judgment which is deserved. It corresponds to the Hebrew word rendered mercy seat which was the place the blood of atonement was sprinkled to satisfy the judgment of God. This sprinkled blood covered the Tables of the Law contained in the Ark. This is a figure of Him who was to come and shed Divine blood to satisfy the law. The blood of Jesus is the reason that judgment is not executed on the repentant sinner.

PROPITIATION.

Propitiation properly signifies the removal of wrath by the offering of a gift. In the OT it is expressed by the verb kipper (ATONEMENT). The objection to propitiation arises largely from an objection to the whole idea of the wrath of God, which many exponents of this view relegate to the status of an archaism. They feel that modern men cannot hold such an idea. But the men of the OT had no such inhibitions. For them 'God is angry with the wicked every day's (Ps. 7:11, AV). They had no doubt that sin inevitably arouses the strongest reaction from God. He is vigorously opposed to evil in every shape and form while he may be 'slow to anger's. - New Bible Dictionary

Romans 3:25—Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Let us look at the phrase for the remission of sins that are past.

In the Old Testament period, the blood of animals could never take away sin. - Heb. 10:4 The blood of animals, a shadow of the blood of Christ, was only temporary until the time when Jesus would come and offer Himself as the supreme sacrifice for sin. The literal translation of this phrase is: "God had passed over the sins that were past." This He did knowing that Jesus would come and pay the price in full upon the cross. The blood of animals was like a credit until the price could be paid. No man was ever saved by the blood of an animal; all men have only been saved by the blood of Jesus both OT and NT.

A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.- V. 28

Faith is the requirement to receive from God.

Faith and Righteousness - Go hand in hand If you see a man with righteousness, you see a man with faith. . NOTE Faith apart from righteousness is not scriptural. Righteousness - is absolutely essential. Mark 11:22 Righteousness: Ability to think and act like God. There are 2 kinds of Righteousness: 1. Imputed - Act of Grace (God reckons to our account) 2. Imparted - Grace to give or share. 1:17 - "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." Steps: I Cor. 1:30 There are degrees of faith. We are changed from belief to belief, faith to faith, glory to glory."Metron" - Greek - Measure of faith, degree, portion. Measure of Faith: Saving faith. If you have Christ you have faith in your heart

Works of the law cannot secure justification.

Chapter 3

Establishing the Law of God

(Romans 3:31)

Justification is by faith without the deeds of the Law. The Law is: an advantage to those who know it (vs. 1-2), absolute in its nature (vs. 3-8), unbending in its authority (vs. 9-19), has a distinct purpose (vs. 20-30), and is not made void, but rather is established by our faith. (v. 31).

Justification by faith establishes the Law.

Justification by faith is not against the Law of Moses. Salvation by faith in Christ satisfied the Law of God. Jesus completely fulfilled or established the demands of the Law. There is also a reference here to the moral law. Faith does not void the moral law of God.

The ceremonial law has been fulfilled in Christ. We no longer need to offer goats and bulls to God, nor are we commanded to keep the ceremonial law. The moral law of God does not change. Justification by faith does not abolish the moral law of God.

The law of faith does not make the law useless or void, but establishes it. Faith does not remove or destroy the law, but excels the law.

The law brings the knowledge of sin to a man, and that man who has recognized his condition may be justified by faith. Without the law that man would have no knowledge of sin, and therefore would see no need for justification, redemption, or atonement. The law which was once broken is established through faith in the finished work of Christ. For through His righteousness it is SATISFIED.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Justification Explained

(Romans 4:1-17)

Introduction to Romans Chapter 4

Romans Chapter 4 deals directly with faith, grace, and justification and their relationship to the Law of God.

The role of the law in justification is that it brings the knowledge of sin. A person is not justified through the works of the law. For justification takes place in the case of the believer "by grace through faith." By Grace a gift of eternal life is freely offered to the entire world and it is through faith that gift is received. God made the first move in the plan of redemption and for that plan to be effective in me, I must choose to receive that gift through faith. (God's grace is resistible by the nature of the free will given by God to man.) See also Ephesians 2:8 and Romans 4:16. Justification by Faith is Demonstrated in the life of Abraham.

Abraham was justified by Faith and not by Works (v. 1-8)

Romans 4:3—...Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Why is Paul talking about Abraham? Paul is addressing a question of the Jews. The Jews Relate Deeply to Abraham. Abraham is referenced as "our father" in verses 1, 12, and 17. Abraham was our Father as pertaining to flesh, the Father of circumcision, Father of our faith, and Father of nations (This was the promise of God to Him).

The Jews were holding to their relationship to Abraham ("abraham's children according to the flesh") as their guarantee to eternal life. The Jews placed great confidence in Abraham the Father of their nation and it is the Jewish questions, Paul is addressing the questions:

Romans chapter 4 deals with "Abraham's Righteousness." Abraham is an example of justification by grace through faith. Paul uses Abraham's life as recorded in SCRIPTURE to explain the doctrine of righteousness by faith. In both Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, Paul is bringing out the truth that he is not teaching a Gospel that is in competition with the Scriptures (Old Testament), but rather a Gospel that is a continuation of God's Eternal Purpose.

  1. In chapter 3, Paul affirms that faith does not void the Law but rather establishes it.
  2. In chapter 4, the promise given to Abraham was not through the Law (circumcision) but through the righteousness of faith.

Before the Torah was Given, Abraham was counted as righteous (v. 1—4)

Genesis 15:6 &mdash And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Before the Torah was given to Moses and long before Moses was even born, Abraham was justified by faith the same way the Christians are today. God gave Abraham a promise; he believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness (4:4).

God justifies the ungodly (v. 5)

Those who are not born-again are sinners and ungodly. The repentant sinner is declared righteous by God through the blood of Jesus. The ungodly do nothing to earn their salvation. They are justified "by grace alone through faith alone".

NOTE: God requiring faith does not cancel God's grace. A justification conditional by works is in competition with the grace of God which is His goodness extended only for the reason that God is good. The condition to justification is a response of faith. Faith is absolutely required and our justification is still to the glory of God as it He Who has given to us the gift of faith with which we may respond to His grace. Justification is by grace and is conditional: by grace through faith.

David's Testimony (v. 6–8)

Paul brings testimony from David to support the message of justification by faith. David was esteemed by the Jews as their great king. This quotation from the Psalms confirms that men are only justified by faith and not works (Psalms 32:1-2).

David was thanking God that His sin was forgiven and the sin was not put to his account. If sin was not imputed to him and his sin was forgiven this means he was restored to a right relationship with God.

Abraham was justified by Grace and not Circumcision (v. 9–17)

The Jews looked to circumcision and the Law as their source of righteousness. Abraham was justified before he received the covenant of circumcision. He was counted as righteous in chapter 15 and he was 86 in chapter 16 when Ishmael was born. Genesis 17:24 records Abraham was circumcised when he was 99 years old. It is quite clear that he was justified before he was circumcised. This passage is telling the Jews that Abraham was counted as righteous before he received the covenant of circumcision.

Circumcision did not justify Abraham. Circumcision was given as a sign of the promise. It was given as a seal of the righteousness of faith. It is a symbol of the cutting away of the flesh. There is no power of righteousness in a physical action. This is merely a sign of the work of God in much the same way that baptism is a sign of a completed work.

The Law gives knowledge of sin (v. 15). For where there is no law there is no transgression refers to the fact that if there were no law then there would be no law to break. This also must have reference to the moral law as well as Moses Law. Abraham was justified by faith through grace (v. 16). He did not earn justification; it was given to him without merit because of his faith.

Chapter 4

Justification Promised

(Romans 4:18-25)

The Promise to Abraham (vs. 18-22)

Abraham was given the promise of God. God promised Abraham he would have a son. Also, the Messiah would be a son of Abraham. Jesus fulfilled prophecy and was born according to his natural lineage as a descendant of Abraham.

The Promise of Justification (v. 23-24)

The Condition of Justification (v. 24)

A person receives justification from God by faith -- "if we believe…".

The Courage of Faith & the the Divine Action of Justification

Abraham believed the promise of God. Against hope believed in hope. Abraham believed in the promise of God regardless of the circumstances. Sarah was about 90 and Abraham was more than 100 years old. There was no natural way possible for them to have a child. Abraham staggered not at the promise of God (v. 20).

Justification is a Divine activity. Man cannot justify himself any more than Abraham could produce a son. Justification is a work of God bestowed by grace in response to faith.

IF WE BELIEVE ON HIM

Romans 4:24—But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

Conclusion

The following arguments are presented:

  1. Justification/Righteousness is by faith.
  2. Justification/Righteousness is not obtained by works.
  3. Justification/Righteousness is not acquired by circumcision.
  4. You cannot gain Justification/Righteousness through adherence of the law. 4:13-17
  5. Abraham's faith shows us an example that we must follow.
  6. Paul reasoned that Justification/Righteousness by faith is the only way to please God.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Grace Reigns Through Jesus

(Romans 5)

Introduction

A person has access into the grace of God and therefore justification by faith in God's provision. The very opportunity for faith to receive this provision is possible as a result of God's love and grace demonstrated in Christ's atoning death. We were shut out by the law in its judgment on sin, but access to and good a standing in the grace of God, is gained by faith in Jesus Christ. In this chapter Paul is emphasizing the role of our Lord Jesus Christ in the believer's justification and them having favor with God or "grace."

So who get's the credit for salvation? Jesus! It is not merely even a work of faith that pleases God alone, because no such opportunity for faith to work is even possible without Christ. It is based upon the merits of Christ that God provides the opportunity for man to be saved through faith.

What we receive through Jesus (v. 1–5)

The sinner is in bondage and cannot enjoy the fulness of God's intended blessing for him. He is held back because of sin. When a man places his faith in Christ and in His atonement for their sin, that person is provided through Jesus many wonderful treasures that enable him to abound in the Grace of God. Following are some Scriptures on abounding: Proverbs 28:20; Romans 5:20: 15:13; 2 Corinthians 8:7; 9:8; Philippians 1:9; 4:17; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 4:1; 2 Peter 1:5–8. Read Romans 5:1–5.

Through Jesus:

Through Jesus we have the Holy Ghost given unto us (v. 5)

See also 2 Cor. 1:22; Gal. 4:4–7; Ephesians 1:13–14.

Through Jesus we have the love of God shed ABROAD in our hearts (v. 5)

What we receive through God's love (v. 6–10)

Jesus was motivated by love (v. 6)

All of the preceding blessings (justification, peace, access, etc.) are possible because, "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." It is the Blood of Jesus Christ that satisfied the law and His love was the motivation for His action.

It is an uncommon love (v. 7–8)

Man's "love" is self concerned and limited. For those that are religious and do good things you might find some to die and for those that are kind to others and generous, you might have an easier time finding someone to die, but Christ died not for those who appeared to have value and worth, but he died for the offenders, trespassers. He died for sinners.

Christ Died for SINNERS, who are those that have have erred and offended God. God's love was demonstrated to those neither righteous nor good.

Love worked for Reconciliation (v. 9–10)

We were at odds with God. We were:

Jesus was motivated by love, and He saved us from wrath and He has provided justification through His blood.

Reconciliation means "To come to terms; agree." When I'm reconciled to God, He sets the terms and He changes me. Read 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Isaiah 1:18–20.

Reconciliation has to do with man's relationship with God. We have a Received the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:16–21). God changes man thoroughly through reconciliation, and this change is the work of God. The "new things" are created by God, just as in creation God spoke the earth into existence. The the earth has its source in God. Salvation is God reconciling the world unto Himself.

We have been made ambassadors of the office of reconcilliation (Rom. 5:19–20). Man's sin separates him from God, but He has committed to us a great word of reconciliation (Rom. 5:21).

Through Christ's atonement grace reigns (v. 11–21)

We Joy in God Through Jesus, the provider of Atonement (v. 11)

The facts that God is Love and Christ remains righteous is not enough alone to justify man. A price had to be paid for sin and Christ paid that price with His own blood (the atonement). In verse 11 through 18, Paul draws a contrast of the Reign of Sin and the Reign of Grace.

Sin imputed & sin's reign (v. 12–14)

The free gift (v. 15–21)

Conclusion — "By Jesus" (v. 19–21)

Just as sin reigns unto death, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Just as the law has authority over those that break the law, so grace has power and authority over the righteous. Just as the believer has the power and authority to reign in life they shall have the power and authority to reign in eternity. Adam's sin abounded by the abiding condemnation of the law and reigned unto death. God's abounding grace reigns through His abiding righteousness by Jesus Christ our Lord unto life.

Grace is love, as seen in the death of Christ for the ungodly and in the life Christ gives for those whom He has saved through His death. Condemnation is slavery to death through Adam. Justification is reigning in life by Jesus Christ. In Christ all men are made alive.

Paul draws a powerful contrast of the reign of sin and the reign of grace:

Contrasts in Romans Chapter Five
Sin Righteousness
Death Life
Law Grace
Enemies Reconciled
Disobedience Obedience
Judgement Justification
Condemnation: Condemned men are slaves to death by Adam. Justification of Life: Justified men will reign in life by Christ.
Wrath Peace
Sinners Saved
Sin's Reign Grace Abounding

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Grace Reigns in Servants of Righteousness

(Romans 6)

In chapter six, Paul clearly establishes the relationship that the believer has with sin and the conclusion that sin no longer has dominion over the believer and that the believer should not continue in sin. Paul answers the question "Shall we sin?" by asking and answering two similar but different questions:

Paul proves by that there is no good reason to sin. There is no scenario where sinning is appropriate or beneficial.

Grace abounds when we walk in the newness of Christ's life (v. 1–14)

Paul teaches that to live in sin if we are dead to sin is impossible. You are either dead to sin or you are alive to sin. When the rescue team checks for vitals, the victim's heart is either pumping blood or his heart has stopped. If we are crucified in Christ, God does not raise again that old carnal man, but God raises us up in newness of life.

The sinner's relationship to sin (v. 1–6)

Paul describes the believers relationship to sin as being "dead" to it.

When are we really saved from sin or dead to it?

Salvation is a complete remedy for the human (body, soul, and spirit). God's plan of salvation does not stop at justification (remedying the believer's relationship to the law), but continues on in sanctification (restoring man's walk with God), which climaxes in perfection (salvation completed). Salvation in the Bible is a word that includes all the redemptive acts and processes of God: predestination, justification, redemption, regeneration, grace, propitiation, imputation, impartation, forgiveness, sanctification, glorification, and perfection. Read Romans 8:29–30.

The New Testament describes Salvation in three tenses: present, past, and future:

Past Present Future
Have been saved: finished in the past Are being saved: ongoing process Shall be saved: to be completed in the future
Saved from Sin's Penalty & Guilt: Justified, Forgiven Saved from Sin's Power: Progressively -> Sanctified, Cleansed Saved from Sin's Presence: Glorified, Perfected
Soul, Body, Spirit Life, Conversation, Conduct Completed, Accomplished, Finished
2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:5; Eph. 2:8–9; Luke 7:50; John 5:24; 6:47 1 Cor. 1:18 ("being saved"); Phil. 2:12; 2 Cor. 2:15; 1 Cor. 15:2; Eph. 2:5,8; Rom. 6:14; Gal. 2:19,20; 2 Cor. 3:18 Rom. 5:9; 8:23,24; 13:11; Matt. 10:22 (24:13; Mark 13:13); John 10:9; Rom. 10:13; 1 Cor. 3:15, 5:5; Eph. 1:13,14; 1 Thess. 5:8; Heb. 10:36; 1 Tim. 2:4; 1 Pet. 1:5, 4:18; 1 John 3:2,3; Matt. 25:46; Mark 10:30; Tit. 1:2,3

We can find a concise illustration of this in 2 Corinthians 1:10:

2 Corinthians 1:10—Who delivered us [PAST] from so great a death, and doth deliver [PRESENT]: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us [FUTURE];

How do we become dead to sin?

We are: baptized into Christ's death, crucified with Christ, and dead to sin (v. 1–6).

The matter of this death

The believer is "dead to sin" (Rom. 6:2, 11, 7:4, 7:6; Gal. 2:19; Col. 2:20, 3:3).

The meaning of this death

What does it mean to be dead to sin? Or what is the result of being dead to sin? Paul presents to us the picture of death and draws the parallel between Christ's death and resurrection and the spiritual death and resurrection of the believer. Let us consider this parallels of spiritual and physical death:

|We are identified with Christ through His death|| |He died a natural death|We die a spiritual death| |He died FOR the sins of the whole world|We die TO sin| |He died by way of expiation, suffering, satisfying the Holiness of God|We die by way of mortification of the carnal nature, killing the flesh, crucifying the self-life.|

Dead men do not react

Some people say "I am dead to sin," but when difficult times come their flesh cries out. If we are dead then we shouldn't feel anything in regards to the temptation of sin, and we shouldn't react hotly to pressure situations. Dead men don't react and they don't have any feeling.

Dead men do not feed their flesh

A dead man has no need for meat or vegetables. These are sources of sustenance, and a dead man has no life to sustain. The living man eats with the purpose of maintaining life. If we are crucifying the flesh, why would we at the same time fight to keep him alive? Starve that old nature to death, and feed the spirit man.

Dead men do not have life

A man may live a full life filled with drunkenness and all kinds of selfishness and sin, but when he dies, his spirit leaves his body and that body no longer contains life. There rests the same hands that raised the bottle, the same feet that ran quickly to mischief, but now being dead and the spirit gone it is emptied of all evidence of life—good or bad.

Dead men are gone

This death is an end to the believers former relationship to sin. The "old man" is not raised again, but a "new man" is raised in his place. Remember, the main question in this section is, "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" To understand the language of "death" and "life" that Paul uses, we have to consider what a "binding relationship" is. In our permissive age, it's difficult to conclude that a death must take place for there to be an end to the relationship. Whatever we choose to do with our minds and bodies, there are spiritual laws that govern regardless of our outlook. Two "binding relationships" in the Scripture are:

  1. Husband and wife (Rom. 7:2; 1 Cor. 7:39)
  2. The sinner and the law (Rom. 7:4)

This death is an end of the believer's relationship to sin (the old man). Before we were crucified with Christ we were servants (slaves) to sin (Prov. 13:15) and we were dead in sin (Eph. 2:1).

The believer's relationship to sin (v. 6)

We are not the same (Gal. 6:14). We are:

Should we continue in sin? (v. 5, 7–14)

Because we died to sin, we are free from sin (v. 7). Because we died with Christ, we shall live with Him!

Death has no more dominion over Christ (v. 9–10)

We are dead to sin, but alive to God. Death was vanquished and defeated by Christ.

The believer must exercise self-control (v. 11–14)

Take Authority Over Your Mind in the name of Jesus. Verse 12 says "let not sin...." There is a power in God (His grace) that enables man to become dead to sin and live right. The believer must exercise his faith diligently in God's provision that the believer is no longer under the dominion of sin. "Self-control" is required of saints in order to remain under grace and out from under the curse of the law. Notice the words of action demanded of the saints in these verses: "reckon ye also yourselves...," "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body...," and "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God...." We overcome sin by the word of God—by doing what He says. Yielding yourselves to God means that you find the root cause of your sin and remove it from your life.

Being Under Grace is not a license to sin (v. 15–23)

The Story of Grace (v. 15)

The saint is set free from his old master when he is crucified with Christ, but he finds a new master. Lordship of the believer's life belongs to Christ. We are free from sin, but this also means we are bound to righteousness. Sin is the slave trap of Satan, but righteousness is the service of Christ. If ye sin ye are the servants of Satan, and not the servants of God. You cannot serve sin and also be a servant to God.

God's grace is manifested in providing atonement, a covering for sin (the blood of Jesus) (Ephesians 1:7). Grace reigns through righteousness (Romans 5:21). God's grace doesn't help us serve sin, but it enables us to serve God. God's servants are to be sanctified—separated from sin and separated unto God. The grace of God is the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life (Luke 2:40; John 1:14; 1:17; Acts 4:33).

We are either servants to sin or to God (v. 16)

The Christian life is voluntary, but having voluntarily yielded ourselves to God, we are his servants and therefore obligated at servants are to their master.

You were servants to sin, but now are servants of righteousness (v. 17–19)

"Old habits die hard". Having changed our object of servitude from sin and self to God, we must be vigilant in our effort to serve our Master faithfully. We are instructed to do some things:

What fruit had ye? What is the value of your service? It is the wage you earn. The Christian ought to be ashamed of his old life and service to sin because sin makes a mockery of every man (Eph. 5:12).

Contrasting the results of sin and the results of righteousness (v. 20–23)

Servants of Sin Servants of Righteousness
Free from righteousness Free from sin
Fruit to be ashamed of Fruit that Glorifies God, Holiness
death Everlasting life
Wages of sin is death Gift of God is eternal life through: Jesus Christ our LORD.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Introduction to Chapter 7

(Romans 7)

The law with his prescription of condemnation has dominion over the man living in his sin. Righteousness in life is impossible through the works of the law as the sinner is bound to his sin. This chapter deals with carnality and the sinners relationship (so long as he lives) to sin and death. This chapter also emphasizes that the law of God is holy. There are three sections in this chapter:

  1. Sin has died and we are free to marry another (v. 1–6). In the first section, God shows how those that were placed by Him under the law were released from that relation by sharing in the death of Christ; so that, joined to a risen Christ, they bear fruit; and released from law, they are glad and willing to serve Him. The Apostle Paul reminds his Jewish brethren that the power of the law is terminated, and uses the illustration of a wife who has been freed by the death of her husband to marry another. The main thought is death dissolves legal obligation and that on the death of her husband a wife is legally free to contract another marriage.

  2. The law is holy, just, and good (v. 7–13). Paul explains that sin's dominion is not that the fault of the Law of God. The law is good, but sin took advantage of him.

  3. Paul's captivity to the law of sin (v. 14–25). In the final section, we have Paul testifying of his struggle under the law as an Israelite, before he experienced the great truth that in Christ he was dead to the law and to sin.

Chapter 7

Married to Another

(Romans 7:1-6) Sin has died and we are free to marry another.

Meaning of the illustration

The sinner is in a binding relationship to his sin, just as a wife is bound to her husband. As long as they both live, the husband and wife are bound to each other under God.

Paul announces a death! It is the death of self. As the wife would be free from the law of her husband by death, so the sinner is freed from the law of sin through sharing in Christ's death. This death is the crucifixion of the old man with Christ (Acts 13:38–39; Rom. 3:25; 5:21; 6:6; 7:4; II Cor. 5:15; Gal. 1:4; 2:20; 5:24; 6:14; Eph. 4:22; 5:2; Col. 2:11; 3:5, 9; Tit. 2:14; Heb. 9:15; 1 Pet. 1:21; 4:2; 1 John 2:2; 4:10). Raised then in resurrection, we share in Christ's life that we might be married to another. In this second marriage, we are united with Christ.

The power of the law is terminated

As long as a person is living in sin they are under the law. The sinner has no choice but to be under the law, and the only way of escape is if he dies to his sinfulness. The law dominates the sinner. The person that lives in sin is under the law. Death dissolves the legal obligation of the marriage. The sinner can be free from the power of sin and the penalty of the broken law (7:4; 6:14).

Paul repeats the words "know ye not" three times when talking about this subject:

  1. "Know ye not" The old life is baptized into His death (6:3).
  2. "Know ye not" The old service is broken off, destroyed through Christ (6:16).
  3. "Know ye not" The old union is impossible with the new union with Christ (7:1).

The service of the union with Jesus Christ

From this union with Christ will come our service to Christ (v. 6).

The fruitfulness of this union

Our union with sin produced death (7:5; 1:32; 6:21; 7:5; Gal.5:19–21), but union with Christ enables us to bring forth fruit of righteousness unto holiness (1:13; 5:3–5; 6:22; John 15:2,4,5,8,16; I Cor. 1:6; Gal. 5:22–23; Eph. 5:9; Php. 1:11; 4:17; Col. 1:6, 10; Tit. 3:14; Heb. 12:11; 13:15; James 3:18; 5:7; II Pet. 1:3–9).

Chapter 7

The Law is Good

(Romans 7:7-13)

In Romans 7:7–13, Paul establishes the goodness of God's Law and the wickedness of sin. Paul is writing to the Jew, those who understand the law (v. 1), and he properly frames the purpose and nature of the law. Service to the letter of the law cannot make one righteous, but in its exactness it awakens the sinner to his need of Christ.

Question: Is the law sin? (v. 7a)

Why Would Paul Ask this question? Paul had written in verse 6 that the law was something he was delivered from. This would seem to infer that the law is "bad."

Short answer: No, the law has a good gurpose (v. 7b)

The main theme of chapter seven is the believer's relation to the law. The believer is united with Christ, who is "the new husband." When we are born we are bound to the law like as a marriage. To be free from the law, because the law will never die or change we must die. We become dead to the law by the body of Christ, which allows us to marry Jesus, who is raised from the dead.

Serving the old letter of the law did not make Paul righteous, but rather it exposed his unrighteousness. The law was not the cause of his sin, but it was like a schoolmaster and it taught him what sin was. By society's standards, Paul was not guilty unless he followed through on his lust, but the law communicated God's standards which by result exposed the depravity of his heart.

His law is his will. It recommends what is just, and right, and good and forbids what is improper, unjust, and injurious.
—Adam Clarke

The law reveals the fact of sin (Col. 3:5; I Thess. 4:5). What would be the results of a world without law? The law is representative of order, security, stability, faithfulness, uniformity, equality. Absence of the law produces chaos, with its attendant evils. If the laws of nature were to stop what would be the results? The End of the world.

Sin brought death (v. 8)

Paul personifies sin and in so doing abstracts sin from the person. The sword of the spirit is cutting a discerning division so that we might see we can be free from sin. If sin is characterized as an enemy waiting to pounce and take advantage of someone, then that someone can given the right situation, deny that sin. The murderer is within the sinner. But, if sin is merely the automatic reactions of nature, how can righteous judgment be made?

What was the opportunity that sin took advantage of? The law defines the sinner as dead in his sins. Being dead, the rebellion of sin takes advantage to work more death.

For without the law sin was dead

The law is like a plumb-line: It shows where and what we are in the sight of God. It is intended to awaken the sinner to his need for Christ. The law then becomes the conductor to Christ in order that we may be justified by faith.

The law reveals the power of sin (v. 9)

Under the law, a man becomes condemned to death because of sin. Romans 7:5 describes the state of a Jew as in the flesh serving sin which considered as being under law. It reveals that he is cursed (Deut. 27:26; 28:15; Ps. 119:21; Jer. 11:3; Gal. 3:10).

The law was meant for life, but it brought death (v. 10)

The end result for Paul was that he who vigorously followed the law and served it tenaciously, was dead in sin! All his religion was a work in unrighteousness--in light of the cross, all the commands of God were a sentence of death.

The law reveals the deceitfulness of sin (v. 11)

Sin takes advantage of us and deceives us. The law of God is known in different ways: the ceremonial laws, the social laws, natural laws, moral laws, and health laws. The Jews believed you had to keep all of those laws to become holy. By the time of Paul's ministry, the rabbis had summed up all of the Old Testament law into 613 commandments. It is impossible to keep them all, especially since they had strained at the laws beyond the intention of God.

The law reveals the effect of sin. The effect of all sin is a spiritual death. The outcome of dying physically with unrepented sin is eternal separation from God. Through the inability to fulfill the law the sinner becomes condemned to death under the law. A commandment cannot give life, but it can convict you of sin through the sentence of death and cause you to repent and seek eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The law itself is holy, righteous, and good (v. 12)

The law reveals the sinfulness of sin (v. 12–13)

The Law is Holy, Just and good, so as the standard, the plumb-line, the commandment shows us where and what we are in the sight of God; sin is shown for what it is "exceeding sinful". Far off from the mark that God has set for us in Christ. Its purpose is to convict the sinner of sin and only through Christ find repentance. It condemns, convicts, constrains, and conducts an awakened sinner to Christ (3:19, 23; 7:8–11; 8:3; Gal.3:19–24). Sin can hide in society of men comparing one with another or else judging merely by the dictates of there own heart, but in the light of perfect holiness, sin becomes "exceedingly sinful."

Chapter 7

Captivity to the Law of Sin

(Romans 7:14-25)

In Romans 7:14-25, Paul brings us to the root of the struggle; the cause of our constant defeat by sin is our own flesh, the "body of this death" (v. 24).

Every believer is privileged, enabled and obligated to live a holy life. For those resting in the law for justification and sanctification, it is necessary to convince them of their error. The law is insufficient for for these but grace through Jesus Christ is sufficient. A believing Jew is discharged from his obligations to the ceremonial rituals of the law, and is at liberty to come under the gospel of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior (v. 1-4).

The "I's" in this section

A key to the meaning of this section is found in the repetition of Paul referring to himself ("I", "me", "my"). At least, 48 times in this chapter, Paul exposes his own weakness without a single mention of the Holy Ghost. NOTE: In chapter 7 the Law is mentioned more than 20 times and in Chapter 8 the Holy Spirit is mentioned more than 20 times.

Diplomacy

This voice taken in this section is in part a case of Paul using diplomacy. Instead of giving his religious and zealous readers cause to be defensive, Paul reaches out to his brethren and is self-critical and testifies of his experience under the law:

The inability of the flesh

The emphasis on self profoundly exhibits the inability of the flesh. Paul in his shared experience under the law testifies what "I" am struggling to do, and utterly failing to do in my own strength.

We see three confessions in this section of the Chapter:

The First Confession: "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." (v. 14)

The 2 words in the Greek for carnal. One implies that which is purely material, and the other implies that which is ethical. The first suggests man's nature as weak, and the second suggests man's character as sinful.

The Second Confession: "In my flesh dwelleth no good thing." (v. 18-20)

Here we see Paul describing a struggle. In him so far as his person was carnal, there dwelt no good thing because of the influence of sin.

The Third Confession: "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me." (v. 21-25)

He is ever conscious of moral contraction and conflict within. He has a desire to do good and yet an evil is always present.

PARALLEL:

On the one hand the inward man is delighted in God's law. On the other hand he saw a different law in his members warring against the law of his mind and bringing him into a spiritual bondage. NOTE: The "inward man" is not the same as "the new man", nor is the mind ever used of the renewed nature. It is the immaterial part of man.

There are four laws mentioned in verses 21-22

  1. Law of God (moral law - written or unwritten)
  2. Law of sin (reigns since fall of man)
  3. Law of the mind (moral sense of man)
  4. Law of members (leads individual to falling under law of sin)

Conclusion of chapter seven

Verse 24 is a cry of agony and conflict:

"O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

The body of this death—what a fearful description of the body! It is unredeemed, unchanged, and under the law of sin in all its members. To dwell undelivered in such a body is to find it a "body of death."

Is this section an accurate description of the born-again believer's relationship to sin?

Romans 3:9—What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

Romans 6:14—For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Can I Overcome Evil? Yes! A Remedy has been provided for indwelling sin (Eph. 6:13; 2 Peter 2:20; 1 John 2:13; Col 3:1-3). Our mind does not have to be captive to sin (Romans 12:2). Verse 25 says, "I thank God, (for deliverance) through Jesus Christ our Lord." In summary, Paul discovered:

  1. That sin dwelt in him, even though he delighted in God's law.
  2. That his will was powerless against it.
  3. That the sinful self was not his real self (which is the image of God).
  4. That there is a difference through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Introduction to Romans 8

(Romans 8) The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

Introduction to Romans chapter eight

Outline

Summary

Romans chapter eight deals with the influence of the "Law of the Spirit of Life" over the Believer. The end result of salvation through Jesus Christ will redeem a life which was once condemned by God unto a life glorified by God. God's intentions for the Christian is to glorify them with Christ. The Holy Ghost is active in the Believer's life producing God ordained results. Those in Christ are no longer condemned, but are in a path and process of the Glory of God.

Christ in us and us in Christ

What does it mean to be in Christ?

To be in Christ is to be grafted into the true vine. His life flows into us and what it is His is ours. God the Father views those in His Son as He views the only begotten–heirs of God. In Christ, we do not struggle against the flesh and sin alone, and have not received alone the remission of sin, but have received Christ Himself. The Believer is in Christ and Christ is in them (11:16-18).

Chapter 8

No Longer Condemned

(Romans 8:1-9) Those in Christ are no longer condemned.

They walk in liberty with no condemnation (v. 1)

The deliverance Paul cried for in 7:24 is announced in 8:1. The quality of life before regeneration of the religious has some gruesome parallels, but the new man in Christ experiences great liberty. No longer condemned to die as the man bound to the corpse, for there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Sin brought bondage, but the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has worked great liberty! Our position in Christ includes freedom from condemnation.

They walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit

The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us through following Christ by the leading of the Holy Ghost. There are two ways to walk the path of life: 1) following after the flesh 2) following after the Spirit of God. My will may not always be contrary to God's will, but to prioritize the flesh over the Spirit of God is the very recipe for failure. The carnal mind or the mind that is governed by that which is carnal is the very definition of rebellion against God (v. 7). To walk after the flesh is to not trust Christ as Savior and not follow him as Lord of all. Walking after the flesh is a lifestyle centered on myself. To walk after the Spirit, is to walk where He leads. This will require self-denial and involves a process of maturity. In Galatians 5:16-26, The "fruit of the Spirit" are constrasted with the "works of the flesh."

They walk according to a new law (v. 2-3)

There are three laws mentioned here

  1. The law of sin and death. It is like the law of gravity always pulling you down. It opposes that which is good and godly. It brings you into bondage and condemnation. Bondage to sin makes you a servant to Satan. Serving the law of sin brings death. (7:22-23)
  2. The law of God (given Through Moses). It is Righteous, good and Holy. It opposes sin and the works of the flesh. It brings you to conviction and decision. The law being weak cannot save but does point to Christ.
  3. The law of the Spirit of life. This law is greater than the law of sin and death. It is the life of Jesus imparted to the believer by faith. Liberty is man's born again state—free to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Serving the Lord brings more abundant life. Every Believer must manifest the Life of Jesus more and more.

The nature of the "law of the Spirit of life"

It provides justification where the old law only condemned. It works liberty where the old law only worked bondage. This law works righteousness in the believer, but the old law could only identify unrighteousness. This life is subject to the law of God, whereas the flesh is not and cannot be for it is an enemy of God.

The fulfilling of the "law of the Spirit of life" (v. 4)

It is fulfilled in the one that walks not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. If the Spirit of God dwell in you then His life is fulfilled in you. You no longer try to serve God in the flesh, but you have the Spirit of Christ to inspire and insure life. This life is not your own, but is Christ's life (Gal. 2:20). This life is not debtor to the flesh, but to God to serve Him and obey Him (v. 12). This life is fulfilled in mortifying carnal deeds of the flesh (v. 13).

They walk with a new mind (v. 5-6)

Those in Christ do things differently—both actions and thoughts. They walk following after the Spirit of God. Walking after the Spirit also includes minding the things of the Spirit. The Spirit of God will lead us to life, but the flesh will lead to death and self-destruction.

Ye are in the Spirit, if the Spirit is in You (v. 9)

Chapter 8

The Spirit of Adoption

(Romans 8:10-16) Those in Christ have received the spirit of adoption.

Having received the spirit of adoption, I have received a new work (v. 10–13)

We can see the importance works of righteousness in verses 10 through 13.

Because of Christ's work, I have life (v. 10)

Because of sin, your body is subject to death, but because of righteousness your spirit is subject to life!

Because of the work of the Holy Ghost, I am alive (v. 11)

The Holy Ghost raised Jesus from the dead. The mortal body that is subject to death is made alive by the Holy Ghost.

  1. The Spirit gives life by freeing the believer from sin and death.
  2. The Spirit gives life by doing what the law could not do.
  3. The Spirit gives life by condemning sin in the flesh.
  4. The Spirit gives life by Christ providing righteousness for us.

Because I am alive, I work (v. 12–13)

Having received the spirit of adoption, I have been received into a new family (v. 14–16)

Are we all God's children? All people are God's creation, but only those born again are God's children (John 1:12–13; Gal. 3:26; Col. 1:16).

The Spirit gives guidance (v. 14)

The Spirit gives adoption (v. 15)

The Spirit gives witness (v. 16)

Chapter 8

The Promises of Adoption

(Romans 17-25) What hope does this Spirit of Adoption bring us?

Patiently wait for the adoption

The believer has great things to look forward to in God. God has done great things in and for the believer and there is yet a redemption that we patiently wait for in hope or faith! What does the believer have to look forward to?

Heirs of God (v. 17a)

The believer receives the privileges and inheritance of a son because he shares a relationship with the Father.

Suffering unto Glorification (v. 17b-18)

Trials prove the true character of the Christian. And although the suffering is not glorious, Paul brings our attention to glory that will follow. The Christian has hope in suffering, for if we suffer, we shall also reign. Christ is our example of suffering (1 Pet. 2:21; Heb. 2:10; 5:8-9; 1 Pet. 4:1; James 5:10).

The creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God (v. 19-22)

God has a vast plan and Hope lies ahead for Creation. In bondage because sin is in the world, but there will be a deliverance!

Chapter 8

Glorification

(Romans 8:26–30) Saints will be 'glorified' through the ministry of the Holy Ghost

The Holy Spirit helps our weaknesses (v. 26)

The Holy Spirit is our divine helper.

Jesus is our intercessor (v. 27)

Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 2:1; 1 Timothy 2:5

God's purpose wins (v. 28)

God providentially cares for his people (the called). These "called" are not just invited, but they are appointed. Here "the called" are marked by the electing grace of God. As God is sovereign, if God has a purpose, it will come to pass. To be conformed to the image of His Son is God's major purpose in the life of the Christian (v. 29).

Have God as their advocate (v. 31–39)

The end of the chapter deals with the Christian's hope, which is "If God be for us who can be against us." It also deals with the idea that we are more than conquerors and that all things work together for good. The sufferings we go through are to teach us our motives.

The power of God's love (v. 35–39)

Conclusion

The two fold secret of Christian living is described by two phrases in verse 1 and verse 10: "in Christ Jesus" and "if Christ be in you." The Christian's will is to live in Christ an life pleasing to God. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, empowering us to live such a life.

Romans Chapters 9-11 Introduction

(Romans 9-11)

The Theme

Remember the Structure of Romans?

Romans 9 Begins a the second of three major divisions to the Book of Romans. Chapter 8 concluded Division 1 which is primarily Doctrinal and Chapter 9 begins with Division 2 which is largely Dispensational.

In general, A dispensation is a way of ordering things—an administration, a system, or a management. In theology, a dispensation is the Divine administration of a period of time. A dispensation is in effect the mode and methods of how God chooses to deal with humanity ( or a part of it) for a period of time.

The Theme of this second Division is Dispensational in regards to Israel specifically and how God has dealt and will deal with Israel. The Theme is God's Sovereignty in His dealing with Israel. The Sovereignty and Righteousness of God is harmonized in these verses with His dealings with Israel specifically and all of mankind in general.

The Structure

  1. The Sorrow of the Apostle at Israel's Rejection (9:1-5)
  2. The Rejection of Israel and God's Sovereignty (9:6-29)
  3. The Rejection of Israel and Human Responsibility (9:30-10:21)
  4. The Rejection of Israel and God's Purpose for their Future (11:1-32)
  5. The Apostle's Words of Praise of God (11:33-36)

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sorrow at Israel's Rejection

(Romans 9:1-5)

Romans chapter nine talks about Paul's sorrow for the Jews. We find out that not all of Abraham's seed were the children of promise (9:7-8).

The Sincerity of his feeling (1)

Paul's Sorrow for the Lost was Sincere and Divinely Inspired.

The Intensity of his feeling (2-3a)

Paul carried the burden! His Sorrow was intense.

Paul has experienced great heaviness in sorrowing over Israel's condition as a whole. Paul comes to the place that he would even be willing to be accursed from Christ that his brethren might be found in Christ. This is a selfless declaration, but the proposition is not even possible. The sinner's light in their darkness is the justified, sanctified, holy life of Believers that walk consistently in Christ and their own salvation is in Christ alone. Paul's proclamation is reminiscent of Moses in Exodus 32:32-33.

The Basis of his feeling (3b-5)

Paul has great sorrow for unbelieving Israel. Their unbelief is especially disheartening as they remained in their unbelief despite their great spiritual heritage. Paul talks about eight parts of the Jews' spiritual heritage. To the Jew Pertains:

  1. ADOPTION - God had chosen Israel over Ishmael
  2. GLORY - Shekinah presence of God
  3. COVENANTS - Promises of God made to Israel
  4. LAW - Law given at Sinai
  5. SERVICE - Authorized worship as ordained by God
  6. PROMISES - Promise of God are (yea and amen) to them that believe. The Jew had the promises of God, they even trusted in the law but they overlooked Christ.
  7. FATHERS - Relationship to the Father (Fathers of the flesh)
  8. MESSIAH OF ISRAEL

Christ is a rock of stumbling to the Jew (Gal. 5:6; John 14:15; 1 Peter 2:7-8).

The Righteousness of his Feeling

Paul makes it clear that his intense and sincere desire is all Israel be saved (Romans 9:1-5; 11:26; 10:1). God desires that all sinners be saved (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; Ezekiel 18:23; Matthew 23:37). Paul is righteous in his desire and not contrary to mind and will of God.

Chapter 9

Rejection of Israel and God's Sovereignty

(Romans 9:6-29)

The True Israel is According to the Promise (v. 6-10)

The majority of Israel has missed the point. Christ is the fulfillment of the law, but Israel stumbles over him as if a stone and hold to their laws and religion. They think they are the children of God because they are the children of Abraham and Isaac and that they are the ones to whom the law was revealed.

The fact that the Jews as a nation rejected the Messiah (Christ) raises the question "Did the Word of God fail?" "Did God fail to carry out His promises?" How does Paul answer these questions? In these next verses Paul is confident that Israel's rejection of the gospel is not unanimous and not permanent—God is able to graft back in again!

The real Israel is the elect, not a natural seed. We see the plan of God as it unfolds. Not everyone that is born a part of the nationality of Israel are a part of Spiritual Israel. The children of the Israel are only children of the flesh, but the children of the promise are the children of God. (John 3:6 "born of the Spirit"). The New Testament Church is referred to as "the Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16) because of their faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ—not because of their family lineage (10:1-4).

Election or Predestination is Not of Works of Him that Calleth (v. 11-13)

Election is mentioned in verse eleven. Election or predestination is not an unrighteous act for God may justify whom He may and condemn whom he desires. All the good works of men cannot make them children of the promise, but that condition is dependent upon God showing mercy.

It is important to understand from Scripture how predestination or election works. Predestination and election is based upon God's foreknowledge. He knows the end from the beginning He knows who will receive and who will reject before they are even born (8:29). Some are given 100 years and others only a few. It is man's responsibility to respond in the time of mercy for turning to God cannot happen just on a man's whim, but he must be drawn by the Father (John 6:44).

God is Righteous in Mercy and Hardening (v. 14-18)

How is God's sovereignty expressed? God is a sovereign God so therefore he is also a just God.

Clay in the Potters Hand (vs. 19-24)

God is Just (v. 19)

God is Sovereign (and Man is Responsible) (v. 20)

God is Purposeful (v. 21)

God is Right

Note well the word afore. For the whole process of our salvation is viewed from that blessed future day when we shall enter, through divine mercy, into that glory which God afore appointed us. 24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (2 Timothy 2:20-21; 1 Peter 5:8; Matthew 25:1-10; Galatians 5:4)

The Calling of God's People, v. 25-29

In verse 25 Paul, takes from the prophet Hosea (2:23) a passage that is specifically spoken to Israel, but has not found a fulfillment in Israel but rather is seen fulfilled in the Gentiles receiving the Gospel. The sentences in the latter part of this verse are very abrupt, but exceedingly expressive; leaving out those words supplied by the translators: I will say to NOT MY PEOPLE, THOU MY PEOPLE; and they shall say, MY GOD (1 Peter 2:9-10).

In verse 26, we see the Gentile people. God's infinite grace takes up those who were once called "dogs" (Matthew 15:26) and gives them a heavenly calling "Called to be children of the living God."

In verse 27 the apostle quotes another prophet, Isaiah, concerning a remnant (Isa. 10:22).

The ways of God are not our ways. He waits long - He forbears - He is silent: then suddenly puts into execution an eternally formed purpose.

Verse 29 is a quote from Isaiah 1:9 shows that if God had not intervened by his grace, they would have all become as Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

Chapter 9

Stumbling and Overcoming

(Romans 9:30-10:21)

Stumbling and Overcoming: The Conclusion of Chapter 9 (9:30-33)

Righteousness Through Faith (9:30)

The Gentiles, not following after righteousness (righteousness by the Law), attain to it by faith. Faith is contrasted in the text in this way: Seeking righteousness by the keeping of the Law versus seeking righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.

No Righteousness Through the Law (9:31)

Israel followed after the law of righteousness, but could not attain it (They could not keep the law). Israel, following after the Law stumbled at the way.

Must Seek Righteousness By Faith (9:32)

Israel did not seek it by faith.

A Stumblingstone is Laid (9:33)

They stumbled over the rock of offense. They stumbled over Jesus. NOTE: The only way to have Christ in your life is to believe on Him. Otherwise he is a "rock of offense." He offended the leaders of Israel by exposing sin.

What is the message of the Gospel that is open to all? "And whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." God's mercy is illustrated by His dealings with both Jew and Gentile. Humility and awe are the proper attitudes for both Jew and Gentile who experience the mercy and kindness of God. Whether a man is a Jew or a Gentile, his salvation depends upon more or less than what he thinks and does with Jesus. Submission to God's way of righteousness by personal acknowledgement of Jesus as the risen Lord, brings a man into "Right standing with God."

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Gentile Responsibility in Regards to the Jew

Salvation for the Jews (10:1-21)

THEY ARE NOT SAVED (10:1)

The Gospel is for the Jew (Rom. 1:16; 2:9-10). The Majority of the Jews rejected the Gospel (Acts 2:22). The first persecution of Christians organised by the Roman government took place under the emperor Nero in 64 AD after the Great Fire of Rome. So the first, perseuction of Christians was largely from the Jews (Acts 9:1-2).

The Jews' zeal (10:2)

The Pharisees: Minute Prescriptions added to the Law (Acts 23:6; 26:5; Php. 3:5-6). Paul does not ignore their efforts. He witnesses to their "zeal of God."

The Jews' ignorance (10:3-11)

They had a zeal of God, but were missing important truth: The Righteousness of God which is by faith. The Object of this faith is Jesus Christ the only begotton Son of God Who is the End of the Law Through Faith. This faith comes by the Word of God and does not require ascending to Heaven or Hell first, but is already nigh.

The Jews' path to God (10:12-15)

The Jew's Rejection of the Gospel (10:16-21)

Read Isaiah 65:1-10. God sends a preacher -> a preacher preaches -> an audience hears -> the hearer believes -> the believer calls on the name of the Lord -> the Lord saves him. Where is the DISCONNECT? "They have not obeyed or heeded the Gospel."

The Hearers refused to believe. WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY IN GOD's PLAN OF REDEMPTION. God is using the Gentiles to provoke the Jew to Jealousy (10:19).

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

God's Purpose in Rejecting Israel

Outline of Romans' Chapters 9-11

  1. The Sorrow of the Apostle at Israel's Rejection (9:1-5)
  2. The Rejection of Israel and God's Sovereignty (9:6-29)
  3. The Rejection of Israel and Human Responsibility (9:30-10:21)
  4. The Rejection of Israel and God's Purpose for their Future (11:1-32)
  5. The Apostle's Words of Praise of God (11:33-36)

Israel's Rejection is not Universal (11:1-10)

The Rejection is of the UNBELIEVING Jew (Acts 14:2; Rev. 21:8).

The Blinding is Purposeful and Does not Have to be Permanent (11:11-21)

God's Will is to Have Mercy Upon All (11:22-32)

"By rejecting the gospel, and by their indignation at its being preached to the Gentiles, the Jews were become enemies to God."
—Matthew Henry

God's Mercy (Ps 13:5; 89:2; James 5:11).

The apostle's words of praise of God (11:33-36)

A solemn adoring of the wisdom, goodness, and justice of God.
—Matthew Henry

Romans 11:33-36 — O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A Living Sacrifice

Introduction to Chapter 12

Romans chapters 12-16 complete the final section of this book. This section is particularly practical in its instruction. We see the righteousness of God applied to the daily life of the believer.

Romans chapter twelve deals with the Christian's duties, which ultimately leads to a surrendered life. The church is compared to the human body. There should be unity among the body, if there is no unity, the body will not function properly. This chapter also deals with the different duties of the church. This chapter ends with the Christian spirit. We are not to overcome but not with evil but we are to overcome with good.

The living sacrifice (v. 1-2)

Special words and phrases in verses 1-2

Often times words lose their value with us with overuse. Let us look more closely at the vocabulary of the first two verses of this chapter that we may gain a deeper understanding of it:

God's perfect will

This is Paul's great plea for personal consecration to God. Paul teaches that each believer should desire the perfect will of God. Instructions are given for the believer to follow.

The sacrifice

Verse 1 says tells us to "present your bodies," this means that we need to give not only the soul to God, but the body as well. It is a free will offering, and it will cost you something. It is a living sacrifice. We must present ourselves ALIVE to God!

What are the "mercies of God" to which Paul refers?

  1. Justification - including pardon, removal from sins, trespasses never to be remembered, a right standing in Christ - being made the righteousness of God in Him.
  2. Identification - taken out of Adam by death with Christ - dead to sin and the law - we now become identified with Christ.
  3. Under Grace - Fruit unto God - unto sanctification, made possible.
  4. The Spirit Indwelling - the spirit witnesses of son-ship and heir-ship.
  5. Help in Infirmity - and in any present sufferings, on our way to share Christ's glory.
  6. Divine Election - our final conformity to the image of Christ - God's settled purpose.
  7. Coming Glory - beyond any comparison with sufferings.
  8. No Separation Possible - God loves us in Christ.
  9. Confidence in God's Faithfulness - confirmed by His revealed plans for Israel.

Reasonable Service

God has given so much to His people. He has given grace, He has dealt to every man the measure of faith, He has made one body in Christ, and He has given gifts of prophecy, ministry, and teaching.

God's people are responsible to act accordingly. We have to think soberly, give with simplicity, rule with diligence, show mercy with cheerfulness, love be without dissimulation, abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good, be kindly affectioned, show brotherly love, prefer one another, be not slothful in business, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, continue in prayer, distribute to the necessity of saints, give hospitably, bless them which persecute you, rejoice with them that do rejoice, weep with them that weep, and be of the same mind one toward another.

Being not conformed to the world

The believer and his lifestyle is to be remarkably different than the world. The world uses the principles of God to become successful for their own gain. We are to use the principles of God to become successful not for us but for Him and His kingdom. Why do I want to be a successful Christian? Success is learning how to lead others to Christ. We are to pattern our lives after Christ.

Be transformed

The work of the Holy Ghost first begins in the understanding, and is carried on to the will, affections, and conversation, till there is a change of the whole man into the likeness of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. Thus, to be godly, is to give up ourselves to God.
—Matthew Henry's Commentary

Renewed in the mind

The renewing of the mind happens through the Word of God (Psalm 119:9, 105). It is a Work of the Holy Spirit. The entire mind must come under the spirits control (Ephesians 5:17-20—17). The renewed mind is the mind of Christ. It is not just a different mind or another mind, but the work of God in us produces the mind of Christ (Php. 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:14-16; Luke 19:10; 2 Tim. 1:7; John 8:50).

The Christian's attitude toward other Christians (v. 3-8)

We are one body in Christ, with varying gifts. Everyone members one of another. What is the one possessing a gift supposed to do with it? The various gifts are bestowed by the Spirit. The working of the gifts are for prophecy, ministering, teaching, exhorting, etc. The possession of a gift is of no use unless it is put to use. It is the whole-hearted exercise of the gifts, when it is given, that is urged by the apostles. Gifts are a directly given of the Spirit. Faith is necessary to receive and use these gifts.

Commands to the believer (v. 9-21)

Love truly (v. 9a)

Dissimulation means "concealment of one's thoughts, feelings, or character; pretense." Love unfeigned is evidenced by kindness (2 Cor. 6:6).

Love good and abhor evil (v. 9b)

Psalm 34:14—Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

"Evil" is that which is hurtful, degenerate in nature, of the devil, malicious, or bad. We need to run away from evil and run toward good. This is not a fearfulness of evil as in superstition, but is a sanctification or separation of our conduct and thought life from those things that are contrary to the holiness of God. How can we "abhor" and "depart" from evil? (Psalm 37:27; Isaiah 1:16)

Conclusion to Romans 12

Being a Christian involves every area of a persons life. Mind and body are yielded to God in moral surrender as a spiritual offering. By his attitude and actions toward other Christians he is to demonstrate the fact that he is a fellow-member with them in the body of Christ. In his relationship with the sinner, he is to act in love and leave to God the avenging of evil.

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Christian Submission

Overview of chapter 13

Romans chapter thirteen talks about our duty to the state and the law, the duties of citizenship and general submission to authority. In the submission of the Believer we see that love is the fulfilling of the law and that we need to make no provision for the flesh (v. 14).

If we are to receive of the promise of Psalm 47:3 then we are going to have to learn to be in submission our selves—to God and to His delegated authorities. Let us explore "Christian submission" (submission to rulers as ordained of God) in Romans chapter thirteen.

Psalm 47:3 — He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.

The bounds of our submission (v. 1)

Chapter 12 emphasizes our need to surrender our bodies as living sacrifices, and chapter 13 teaches on the importance of submission to authority.

The second part of verse 2 tells us that all power comes from God. All power belongs unto God (Ps. 62:10–11; 29:10; Matt. 19:26). An earthly power has to receive its influence from the sovereign God (Col. 1:16–17; Dan. 2:21). We are bound by God to be in submission to authority. This mandate comes from God.

The temptation of our submission (v. 2)

Since all power belongs unto God, when we submit ourselves to men, we are really submitting ourselves to God. To oppose God is to oppose ourselves. We do not hurt God when we disobey as so much as we hurt ourselves.

The reason for our submission (v. 3–5)

We submit to avoid wrath (v. 3–4)

Rebellion has a great price. Damnation is what Paul presents as rebellion's cost. There is no terror for the subject for rulers are ordained by God as a terror to good works but to the evil. Avoid the wrath of their sword (Rom. 12:18; Heb. 12:2).

We submit because of our consciences (v. 5)

God ordains authority for the purpose of defending good and disciplining evil. Authorities are designed for our own good and protection. Without leadership only disorder and chaos can arise.

We should be in submission not just to avoid punishment, but also to preserve our own clear conscience. For the Christian, God commands us to be in submission.

How do we submit? (v. 6–10)

We submit by paying taxes (v. 6–7)

Matthew 22:21—They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

The principle consistent in Scripture is that so long as "Caesar" is not requiring what is God's than we are to remain in submission. As much as it is possible, we are to live peaceably. Perhaps 4 or 5 years before Paul writes this epistle to the Romans, there was a decree put out by Roman government that made it illegal for Jews (and by extension, Christians) to remain in the City of Rome. The justification for this decree stemmed from popular gossip that Jews were troublemakers. Paul does not address the "civil rights" of the Jews and Christians in this chapter, but emphasizes instead, their own responsibility.

In verses 6 and 7 we see examples of submission to civil authority:

  1. Tribute to whom tribute is due
  2. Custom to whom custom
  3. Fear to whom fear
  4. Honor to whom honor

We submit by obeying the law of love (v. 8–10)

Love fulfills the law. Being subject to love is to fulfill the law. In John 14:15 Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." The believer is in a "new creation", and is to walk by that infinitely higher "rule of life" (Gal. 6:15–16) and not by law. In loving he has fulfilled the lower law.

The urgency of our submission (v. 11–12)

The Lord promises to return, but when He comes will He find faith in the earth? (Luke 18:8)

The quality of our submission (v. 13–14)

Our walk

Every student, Christian must have a purpose, or vision, else we will fail. This is something that Christ will give us.

Are we doing our work or God's work?

This is not our work, but his work. Our work is do the will of Him that called us. It is to do his work (John 4:34). If we are called, than we have a purpose to be reveled to our lives. This revelation of God's purpose for our life is received through prayer.

As ministers you are required to bring others to the knowledge of Christ; So that they seek the word of God for themselves. (The woman at the well, she believed because of what the word said)

Our opportunity

Opportunity is found right where you are. When are obedient and willing to the will of God, we become tools in the Master's hands.

Conclusion to chapter 13

The commands of this chapter apply to us today as well as to Paul's day. The Christian should behave in every situation in accordance with who God is and what God does. The Christian's perspective is oriented to God's view of the world and God's purpose in the world.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Christian Differences and Liberty

Introduction to Chapter 14

Romans chapter fourteen talks about how you should treat a weak brother. We need to help those that are weak in their faith. We see the need to be charitable. We need to live for God, and all that we do needs to be unto God. We should not judge one another, for one day every man will give an account of his own life.

How should we treat Christians with differences of opinion? (v. 1)

There are differences in the health of our faith and there are also differences of opinion (weak and strong). There is clear instruction given in Scripture:

But There is also a lot of opinion of interpretation and application that fill in-between the lines. Christians divide over things such as:

Receive him that is weak in the faith, but not so that you can argue with him

Most often our opinions are inspired by Scripture, but we tend to fill the gray (unclear) areas of Scripture with our opinions. The differences of opinion should not be cause for division or an excuse for quarreling.

Is it even reasonable to expect that everybody should be just like me?

What is a weak brother in this context? (v. 2–4)

The weakness Paul mentions here carries the very ideas of disease and impotence. Those weak in faith are likened to a lame man needing a crutch, a blind needing a guide, or a paralyzed man needing help with every necessity of daily life. Disease ultimately will snuff out life if it is not cured. This weakness of faith is as a sickness that must be understood and handled with grace, but also must be administered healing. Weakness must not be left alone, but must be strengthened (James 5:16).

Weakness in eating

In I Corinthians chapter 8 Paul had to deal with this same issue with the Corinthian church. This may sound trivial and kind of a non-religious dispute to the modern Christian, but The Layman's Bible Commentary gives insight into this controversy:

It was a different kind of religious question in the Roman Empire. The fact is in a Roman market you could hardly find a steak or a roast or any kind of meat that had not come from some animal slaughtered in a heathen temple. The animal would be killed as a sacrifice; then the priests (who, numerous though they were, could not possibly eat all the animals the people offered) would sell the meat through retail outlets. This being the major source of meats on the market, the Christian shopper was faced with a problem: in buying and eating this meat, am I or am I not helping out the heathen worship?

Servants — Who are you to judge another man's servant?

Judgment — Every man must give account to God and not to another.

Days

The spirit of the law does not ask "did you remember the day?", but it asks "did you do it as unto the Lord?" They worshiped on certain days, they fasted and feasted on certain days, and they were putting unbiblical emphasis on days instead of on the Christ.

We are brethren and not judges (v. 5–12)

Verse six clearly states that both sides of the argument know the Lord. Remember that we are brothers and sisters approaching holy and eternal matters.

What we are supposed to be doing for others:

Do not put a stumbling block in my brother's way, (v. 13–17)

We are told to pursue after peace in our differences (v. 18–20)

The blessing of Liberty (v. 22–23)

It is Much more blessed to have liberty before God which we do not use on account of our brother's weaknesses, than to insist on liberty, though it is distinctly given.

Galatians 5:1 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

1 Corinthians 10:23 ¶ All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

Consider this Chapter One "Bite" at a Time

Receive him that is weak in faith in tenderness and not engage him in arguements to his hurt concerning disputable matters.

Application of the Doctrine of Christian Liberty

Where else can we apply these principles taught in this chapter? We certainly can apply them directly to decisions regarding eating meat and drinking things once offered to idols, but does the application end there? Can we find principles here that we could apply universally, i.e, in the case of questions regarding music and entertainment and the Christian?

Verses 6,7, & 8 can be applied to things that CAN be done unto the Lord” and (v.14,16) are not particularly clear elsewhere in Scripture.

a. Christian Liberty Includes Things that can be "Done Unto the Lord"

It is just assumed in verses 6,7, 8 that the Believer would know how and could do such things "unto the Lord". The list, however exhaustive, of parallel questions we can associate with these verses cannot include things that could not be accomplished as unto the Lord.

It may be an obvious point, but it is so important that it bears pointing out. Our Christian Liberty does not allow for activities that God has specifically forbidden.

b. The Principles of Christian Liberty Rule in Matters of Conscience

Verses 14 and 16 are specifically dealing with matters of conscience. These are questions that may not be entirely clear from Scripture. There are many things that Christians wrestle with that are not explicitly dealt with in Scripture. We may not find a specific "thou shall not ...." or "thou shalt..." in regards to your current question, but we are not left without guidance in these matters.

These matters of conscience are things God forgot to mention, but they are occasions to apply the principles of Scripture. If the will of God (the Holy Bible) is not explicit in a matter, then it is proper to dig a little dipper and seek to understand the "Spirit of the Law".

Consider this, although O.T. ceremonial laws are not regiven in the N.T. as universal Christian obligations, in the case of some of these matters we are not commanded to forsake them either. If a discipline, a rule of living, a ceremony, etc. truly strengthens our brother's faith and brings his heart closer to God, it is counter productive to focus our efforts on "freeing" him from this thing. It is entirely Biblically and logically consistent to conclude that your brother could be "free in doing" something that you are "free in not doing". I could be causing my brother to sin, if I encourage him to violate his own conscience.

In matters of conscience (no clearly apparent rule given), we must consider the question at hand in light of 1) what the Bible does say and 2) with a godly fear knowing we will give an account one day to God for such things.

The Gospel is Bigger and More Important than Our Disagreements

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Laboring for Unity

Introduction to Chapter 15

Believers are to receive one another, as Christ received the Gentiles—to God's glory. The first section of this chapter describes Christian relationships, with Christ as the perfect example of them. Paul's personal message to the Romans begins in Verse 14. Paul's ministry was to both those who were within (the Jews, those to whom were given the oracles of God) and to those who were without (the Gentiles). The work of unity in the body of Christ is the work of God.

We are to labor in receiving another with Christ as our example (vs. 1–12)

There are some differences (historical background)

There are many cultural and religious differences between the Jews and gentiles and with the opening of the Gospel to the gentiles there were alot of hurdles to overcome. Paul admonishes the church adamantly, that we are to labor to receive the gentiles as God has already received them. The high standard and rule by which our conduct is measured is "as Christ also received us to the glory of God" (v. 7).

Being predominately Jewish, the early churches would feel "very Jewish" (a mixture of culture and conviction). There was an early expulsion from Rome of all Jews and it is only natural the cultural shift that took place in the Roman churches. Eventually, Jews began to return back to the city of Rome finding things different than when they had left. In order to not become divided, the early church had to labor together in overcoming their cultural differences by learning what things were "most needful" (Acts 15:28; Ephesians 4:3, 13).

There are universal principles

Christians are called to unselfish living (v. 1–2)

Romans chapter fifteen talks about living an unselfish life. Those that are strong are to help the weak. We are to not live to please ourselves but to please God, to put others before us. This chapter ends with Paul's missionary journeys.

The fifteenth chapter of Romans has a strong feeling of conclusion. As is Paul's style in this book, he repeats concepts already presented but more directly and personally. He prescribes the following instructions to his readers:

Christ is the Christian's example for living (v. 3)

Why should the Christian be concerned with others instead of himself? We should use Christ as our example, "For even Christ pleased not himself, His concern was for others demonstrated by his love, His teaching, and His healing."

The Word of God is the Christian's source of encouragement for living (v. 4)

We can be comforted in time of need by reading the Scriptures. We can also look forward in Hope.

Unity in the body of Christ is the goal of Christians (v. 5–6)

We should be united in one mind and spirit glorifying God who is our goal in life.

Christ is the standard by which Christians will be judged (v. 7)

God keeps His word and He is merciful (v. 8–12)

We are to labor in reaching those who are without (v. 13–21)

You are my brethren and filled with many good things (v. 13–14)

What was Paul's Opinion concerning the Christians at Rome?

Although Paul had never been in Rome, he was aware and encouraged by their faith (1:8).

...Nevertheless (v. 15–21)

There are a lot of encouraging things Paul can say and has said (Romans 1:8), but we all have something to learn.

Paul wrote boldly (v. 15)

At the risk of sounding unappreciative of their example and faith, Paul as a faithful minister of the Gospel challenges the church boldly with necessary things.

Paul had a call and responsibility (v. 16a)

What does Paul refer to himself as? A minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. Preaching the Word in the power of the Spirit. With signs and wonders as the result. Paul's identity is wrapped up in His call. Paul Prioritizes his call and must delay personal desires and goals. It is not that he does not have a burden for his brethren, but that he has a call that takes precedent.

Paul had a goal (the offering up of the gentiles) (v. 16b)

Paul had an audience (God has given them to me) (v. 17–21)

As boldly as Paul is speaking, he is careful not to speak but of that which Christ has wrought by him:

We are to labor in reaching those who are within (v. 22–33)

It is not for lack of love, but for a great cause I have been hindered (v. 22–24)

The phrase "these many times" shows how continually Roman Christians were on his mind and his desire. The phrase "a longing to come" shows that he had a tremendous desire to visit these people.

Paul's itinerary (v. 25–28)

Paul restates again his desire and intention to visit the church at Rome and his itinerary. He must first go to Spain and collect an offering for the saints at Jerusalem. He would then bring the offering to Jerusalem, after which he intends to visit Roman. How are the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia concerned for the poor among the Christians at Jerusalem? They contributed to the poor. Paul himself together with other brethren took this offering back to Jerusalem, to deliver in person What spiritual principal is Paul teaching the Romans by relating this news? It was an act of love on the part of the Gentile Saints. It was a fulfilling of our Lord's words in John 13:17, 35.

Conclusion

The Unity of the Trinity

In Verse 30 we once again see the trinity:

The benediction (v. 33)

"The God of peace be with you all," shows how the apostle's heart was fully at peace and fully in God's will! It also shows his overflowing love for the saints (twice in this chapter Paul prays for the church at Rome. See verses 13 and 33). The motive and power behind Christian unity is Christ's example of love and service and sacrifice. To have such harmony among Christians, we need to pray as Paul did for the Lord's enabling. Paul's sense of commission did not make him independent of his fellow Christians.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Paul's Conclusion to his Letter

(Romans 16)

Introduction

The controversy of this passage

It is interesting to note that there is somewhat a controversy over Romans 15:14–16:27. The question is "Where did Romans originally end? Was 15:13 originally the last verse of Romans?" Many old manuscripts do not contain this passage (15:14–16:27), and at the same time most do in one way or another. Some have it placed at the end of chapter fourteen and others both at the end of chapter fourteen and at the end of the book. This bears no influence of compromising the text's integrity, but can be logically explained. Someone copying the letter and desiring to disperse it among many different churches could have left off the parts personal to the church at Rome.

The Personality of This Passage: Personal

Romans chapter sixteen shows us the personal side of Paul as he sends greetings to Believers who live in Rome. He speaks as one does to friends and not only as a leader or pastor. This sixteenth chapter is often neglected by many. It is by far the most extensive, intimate, and particular of all the words of greeting in Paul's letters (Second to it is Colossians 4). No one can afford to miss this wonderful outpouring of the heart of our apostle toward the saints whom he so loved, which means all the church of God.

The spirit of this chapter is exceptional particularly when you consider that Paul did not found the church at Rome and had not even visited it yet (Similar to his letter to Colossae)! Despite that, Paul mentions by name 26 people in that church. Each name listed in Paul's closing remarks undoubtedly has a story of courage, love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Other Than by their names, Paul identifies these people as:

Phebe's commendation (v. 1–2)

[NOTE: Several of the quotes in the section are taken from "Alexander MacLaren's Expositions of Holy Scripture". Alexander MacClaren (February 11, 1826 - May 5, 1910) was a Scotsman and minister of the Gospel for almost 65 years who labored tirelessly in preaching and writing concerning the Scripture. MacClaren's Expositions of Holy Scripture is a collection of over 1,500 expository sermons.]

Paul recommends a sister (a sister not in the flesh but in the Lord)

Cenchrea was a small harbor in Corinth

But if we take into account the hideous immoralities of Corinth, we shall deem it probable that the port, with its shifting maritime population, was, like most seaports, a soil in which goodness was hard put to it to grow, and a church had much against which to struggle. To be a Christian at Cenchrea can have been no light task.
—MacClaren

Phebe was one of the many good women who helped Paul in the work of the Gospel.

Her name is a purely idolatrous one, and stamps her as a Greek, and by birth probably a worshiper of Apollo.
—MacClaren

To Phebe is intrusted this letter who would personally deliver it to the church at Rome

Here are Paul the Jew, Phoebe the Greek, and the Roman readers of the epistle, all fused together by the power of the divine love that melted their hearts, and the common faith that unified their lives. The list of names in this chapter, comprising as it does men and women of many nationalities, and some slaves as well as freemen.
—MacClaren

Galatians 3:28—There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

To the world in which Paul lived it was a strange, new thought that women could share with man in his loftiest emotions. Historically the emancipation of one half of the human race is the direct result of the Christian principle that all are one in Christ Jesus.
—MacClaren

Greetings and salutations (v. 3–15)

Paul Salutes 16 groups of people at Rome:

  1. Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ (and the House Church of Priscilla and Aquila). Priscilla and Aquila were tent makers as was Paul. Traditionally this missionary couple is included in the list of 70 disciples appointed by Jesus in Luke 10. They are mentioned six times in four different books of the New Testament. They are always named as a couple and never individually. Of those six references, Aquila's name is mentioned first three times and Priscilla's name is mentioned first on three occasions. Priscilla is not Aquilla's property but rather his partner both in ministry and marriage. Priscilla and Aquila were last mentioned in Scripture as being in Ephesus (Acts 18:18–19). Priscilla and Aquila had been among the Jews expelled from Rome by the Roman Emperor Claudius in the year 49. They ended up in Corinth. Paul lived with Priscilla and Aquila for approximately 18 months. Then the couple started out to accompany Paul when he proceeded to Syria, but stopped at Ephesus. As they are mentioned in Romans 16, Sometime before 56 or 57, they had returned to Rome. The gentile church felt thankful for Priscilla and Aquila because they risked their own necks for them ("laid down their own necks").
  2. Epaenetus, my well-beloved, the first fruits unto Christ of Achaia.
  3. Mary, who bestowed much labor on us.
  4. Adronicus and Junia my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, of the apostles. They were in Christ before Paul. Of the twenty-six to whom Paul sends special greetings, at least six are women, indicating the position and importance of women among the Christian group at Rome. The controversy over this short verse is the questions "Is the person named Junia (feminine name) or Junias (masculine name)?" and "Is the phrase following the names best translated 'outstanding among the apostles' or 'well-known to the apostles'?"
  5. Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.
  6. Urbane, our helper in Christ.
  7. Stachys, my beloved.
  8. Apelles approved in Christ.
  9. Those in Aristobulus's household.
  10. Herodian, my kinsman.
  11. Those of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord.
  12. Tryphena and Tryphosa, labor in the Lord.
  13. Persis, beloved, which labored much in the Lord.
  14. Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
  15. Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them.
  16. Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them.

A holy kiss (v. 16)

One final warning (v. 17–20)

Paul follows with some pastoral guidance and instruction. He says "mark" them. This word mark meeans to "take aim, take heed." The same word is used in Philippians 3:17.

Closing (v. 21–27)

Paul ends with a HALLELUJAH!

Chapter 16

Census of Believers Mentioned in Romans 16

(Romans 16) General listing:

  1. Phoebe

female - deacon - probably a business woman - has social position, independence - was a great help to Paul and others - is entrusted to take the letter from Paul to Rome - from Corinth.

  1. Priscilla and Aquilla

Prisca (Priscilla) - female - wife of Aquila - was involved with Paul in ministry and with husband in teaching ministry - church meets in her home - of six times the two are mentioned, Priscilla is mentioned 3 times first. Acts 18:2,18,26; Romans 16:3, 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19

Acts 18:1-3— After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; 2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. 3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

Acts 18:18—And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.

Acts 18:26 — And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

Romans 16:3— Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:

1 Corinthians 16:19—19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

2 Timothy 4:19 — 19 Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.

Aquila - male - husband of Prisca - they were originally from Rome - (Acts 18) then driven out by the Emperor Claudius (52 A.D.) and traveled to Corinth where they made tents with Paul. Then they went to Ephesus then Corinth then Rome.

  1. Epaenetus - male - Paul’s first Asian convert

Achaia -- Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia

Romans 15:26 — For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem

Paul ministered in Achaia in Acts 18; Paul mentions Achai in Acts 19:21 (Macedonia and Achaia, (writes Romans from Corinth) then Jerusalem, then Rome) and their offering for the saints at Jerusalem.

"First Fruits of Achaia" (compare Romans 16:5 and 1 Corinthians 16:15)

(Acts 18, Paul's 3rd Missionary Journey)

1 Corinthians 16:15 — I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)

"Macedonia and Achaia"

It was then one of the two provinces (Macedonia being the other) into which Rome divided Greece when it fell under their dominion.

  1. Mary - female - hard worker
  2. Andronicus - Greek - may have been part of Greek Jewish community in Jerusalem (Acts 6) - was an early convert to Christianity - was imprisoned with Paul - was a missionary
  3. Junias - female - probably the wife of Andronicus - see above.
  4. Ampliatus - male - beloved in the Lord
  5. Urbanus - male - a fellow worker in Christ
  6. Stachys - male - beloved
  7. Apelles - male - approved in Christ - someone who matured
  8. Aristobulus
  1. Herodian - male - probably a slave or a freedman of the Herod family - Jewish.
  2. Narcissus - male - not greeted - but his household is greeted.
  3. Tryphaena - female - twin sister of Tryphosa? Name means “dainty” - a worker
  4. Tryphosa - female - twin sister of Tryphaena? Name means “delicate” - a worker
  5. Persis - female - meaning “Persian woman” - a typical Greek slave name - she is beloved and a hard worker.
  6. Rufus

male - son of Simon the Cyrene who carried the cross of Jesus and later trusted in Him as his savior. Was the brother of Alexander (Mark 15:21). An outstanding Christian.

Mark 15:21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. Romans 16:13 Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

  1. Rufus’ mother - female - unnamed - was like a mother to Paul
  2. Asyncritus - male - Greek
  3. Phlegon - male - Greek
  4. Hermes - male - Greek
  5. Patrobas - male - Greek
  6. Hermas - male - Greek Numbers 20 to 24 may have lived together with a number of other brethren. They were probably freed slaves.
  7. Philologus - male - “lover of the word” - is probably the husband of Julia and so they are coupled together.
  8. Julia - female - common slave name particularly in the imperial household.
  9. Nereus - male - possibly the chamberlain of Flavia Domitila (Cranfield)
  10. Nereus’ sister - female - unnamed. It has been suggested that Nereus and his sister were children of Philologus and Julia. Romans 16 - Those Listed There… Page 2
  11. Olympas - male - and an unknown number of saints with them.
  12. Timothy - male
  13. Lucius - male
  14. Jason - male - possibly the same Jason who hosted Paul on his visit to Thessalonica (Acts 17:5,6,7,9)
  15. Sosipater - male - a fellow Jew along with Paul
  16. Tertius - male - wrote the letter as Paul dictated - was privileged to be able to add his own “two cents worth” - probably a former slave. Note the Latin: Primas, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus - as slave names (who bothered naming slaves). The brother of Quartus
  17. Gaius - male - in whose house the gathered to write this letter.
  18. Erastus - male - treasurer of Corinth - there is a Latin inscription on a marble paving block in Corinth which reads “Erastus, commissioner for public works, laid this pavement at his own expense.”
  19. Quartus - male - brother of Tertius - see above.

In addition to the named/unnamed above there are 6 groups mentioned:

  1. The church in Priscilla and Aquila’s home
  2. The household of Aristobulus
  3. The household of Narcissus
  4. The brethren with the 5 Greek guys
  5. The saints with Philologus and company
  6. The whole church in Corinth

Counts of those mentioned:

Review and Conclusion

Review and Conclusion

Applications from the Book of Romans

Applications from the Book of Romans

  1. Today, make definite your commitment to the One who alone is able to give you the gift of salvation and eternal life, Jesus Christ.
  2. Acknowledge your need of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
  3. Believe that his death was for your sake and in your place.
  4. Commit yourself to Him and invite Him to enter and rule your life.
  5. Begin to live out this commitment by recognizing in thought, word, and deed that Jesus is in charge of your life.
  6. Ask God to give you by His Holy Spirit the inner conviction and assurance that you now have a right standing with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.
  7. Share your experience with others, and enter into fellowship with those who also have this relationship to your Lord.
Review and Conclusion

Assignment: Memorize Romans 1:18-20

Memorize Romans 1:18,19,20

A helpful tip while memorizing Romans 1:18,19,20 is to include the verse in prayer. When you pray, include elements of the verse. Pray that God will help you understand and apply the verse to your life. Making God's word a part of you and not just a string of words and sentences to quote is the real goal.

[Romans 1:18,19,20]
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them;
for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead;
so that they are without excuse:

Review and Conclusion

Handout: Etymology of Jew

History of God's Holy Bible and the so-called Jews

The Etymology of the Word "Jew"

In his classic Facts are Facts, Jewish historian, researcher and scholar Benjamin Freedman writes:

Jesus is referred as a so-called "Jew" for the first time in the New Testament in the 18th century. Jesus is first referred to as a so-called "Jew" in the revised 18th century editions in the English language of the 14th century first translations of the New Testament into English. The history of the origin of the word "Jew" in the English language leaves no doubt that the 18th century "Jew" is the 18th century contracted and corrupted English word for the 4th century Latin "Iudaeus" found in St. Jerome's Vulgate Edition. Of that there is no longer doubt.

The available original manuscripts from the 4th century to the 18th century accurately trace the origin and give the complete history of the word "Jew" in the English language. In these manuscripts are to be found all the many earlier English equivalents extending through the 14 centuries from the 4th to the 18th century. From the Latin "Iudaeus" to the English "Jew" these English forms included successively: "Gyu," "Giu," "Iu," "Iuu," "Iuw," "Ieuu," "Ieuy," "Iwe," "Iow," "Iewe," "Ieue," "Iue," "Ive," "Iew," and then finally the 18th century, "Jew." The many earlier English equivalents for "Jews" through the 14 centuries are "Giwis," "Giws," "Gyues," "Gywes," "Giwes," "Geus," "Iuys," "Iows," "Iouis," "Iews," and then also finally in the 18th century, "Jews."

With the rapidly expanding use in England in the 18th century for the first time in history of the greatly improved printing presses, unlimited quantities of the New Testament were printed. These revised 18th century editions of the earlier 14th century first translations into the English language were then widely distributed throughout England and the English speaking world among families who had never possessed a copy of the New Testament in any language. In these 18th century editions with revisions the word "Jew" appeared for the first time in any English translations. The word "Jew" as it was used in the 18th century editions has since continued in use in all the editions of the New Testament in the English language. The use of the word "Jew" was thus stabilized. . .

The best known 18th century editions of the New Testament in English are the Rheims (Douai) Edition and the King James Authorized Edition. The Rheims (Douai) translation of the New Testament into English was first printed in 1582 but the word "Jew" did not appear in it.

The King James Authorized translation of the New Testament into English was begun in 1604 and first published in 1611. The word "Jew" did not appear in it either. The word "Jew" appeared in both these well known editions in their 18th century revised versions for the first times.

Countless copies of the revised 18th century editions of the Rheims (Douai) and the King James translations of the New Testament into English were distributed to the clergy and the laity throughout the English speaking world. They did not know the history of the origin of the English word "Jew" nor did they care. They accepted the English word "Jew" as the only and as the accepted form of the Latin "Iudaeus" and the Greek "Ioudaios." How could they be expected to have known otherwise? The answer is they could not and they did not. It was a new English word to them.

When one studies Latin he is taught that the letter "I" in Latin when used as the first letter in a word is pronounced like the letter "Y" in English when it is the first letter in the words like "yes," "youth" and "yacht." The "I" in "Iudaeus" is pronounced like the "Y" in "yes," "youth," and "yacht" in English. In all the 4th century to 18th century forms for the 18th century "Jew" the letter "I" was pronounced like the English "Y" in "yes," "youth," and "yacht." The same is true of the "Gi" or the "Gy" where it was used in the place of the letter "I."

The present pronunciation of the word "Jew" in modern English is a development of recent times. In the English language today the "J" in Jew" is pronounced like the "J" in the English "justice," "jolly," and "jump." This is the case only since the 18th century. Prior to the 18th century the "J" in "Jew" was pronounced exactly like the "Y" in the English "yes," "youth," and "yacht." Until the 18th century and perhaps even later than the 18th century the word "Jew" in English was pronounced like the English "you" or "hew," and the word "Jews" like "youse" or "hews." The present pronunciation of "Jew" in English is a new pronunciation acquired after the 18th century.

The German language still retains the Latin original pronunciation. The German "Jude" is the German equivalent of the English "Jew." The "J" in the German "Jude" is pronounced exactly like the English "Y" in "yes," "youth," and "yacht." The German "J" is the equivalent of the Latin "I" and both are pronounced exactly like the English "Y" in "yes," "youth," and "yacht." The German "Jude" is virtually the first syllable of the Latin "Iudaeus" and is pronounced exactly like it. The German "Jude" is the German contraction and corruption of the Latin "Iudaeus" just as the English "Jew" is the contraction and corruption of the Latin "Iudaeus." The German "J" is always pronounced like the English "Y" in "yes," "youth," and "yacht" when it is the first letter of a word. The pronunciation of the "J" in German "Jude" is not an exception to the pronunciation of the "J" in German. . .

The translation into English of the Gospel by John, XIX.19, from the Greek in which it was originally written reads "Do not inscribe 'the monarch of the Judeans' but that He Himself said 'I am monarch.'" In the original Greek manuscript the Greek "basileus" appears for "monarch" in the English and the Greek "Ioudaios" appears for "Judeans" in the English. "Ioudaia" in Greek is "Judea" in English. "Ioudaios" in Greek is "Judeans" in English. There is no reason for any confusion.

If the generally accepted understanding today of the English "Jew" and "Judean" conveyed the identical implications, inferences and innuendoes as both rightly should, it would make no difference which of these two words was used when referring to Jesus in the New Testament or elsewhere. But the implications, inferences, and innuendoes today conveyed by these two words are as different as black is from white. The word "Jew" today is never regarded as a synonym for "Judean" nor is "Judean" regarded as a synonym for "Jew."

When the word "Jew" was first introduced into the English language in the 18th century its one and only implication, inference and innuendo was "Judean." However during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries a well-organized and well-financed international "pressure group" created a so-called "secondary meaning" for the word "Jew" among the English speaking peoples of the world. This so-called "secondary meaning" for the word "Jew" bears no relation whatsoever to the 18th century original connotation of the word "Jew." It is a misrepresentation. . .

There is not a person in the whole English-speaking world today who regards a "Jew" as a "Judean" in the literal sense of the Word. That was the correct and only meaning of the word in the 18th century . . . (Facts Are Facts, by Benjamin H. Freedman, p. 15-21).

The meaning of the word "Jew" in our Bible is not the same as the colloquial idiom.

In the Bible the word "Jew" means a resident of the land of Judaea regardless of their tribe, race or religion just as an Australian or Englishman may in fact be a Chinese, Negro or an Eskimo, or perhaps a member of the tribe of Judah (Judahite). According to the Greek Lexicon in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:

Jew: Greek word #2453 Ioudaios (ee-oo-dah'-yos); from #2448 (in the sense of #2455 as a country); Judaean, i.e. belonging to Jehudah ["Judah" in Hebrew language of Old Testament]: KJV Jew (-ess), of Judaea.

Greek word #2448 Iouda (ee-oo-dah'); of Hebrew origin [Hebrew word #3063 or perhaps #3194]; Judah (i.e. Jehudah or Juttah), a part of (or place in) Palestine: KJV Judah.

Greek word #2455 Ioudas (ee-oo-das'); of Hebrew origin [Hebrew #3063]; Judas (i.e. Jehudah), the name of ten Israelites; also of the posterity of one of them and its region: KJV Juda (-h, -s); Jude.

Genesis 49:10 prophesied, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be."

Judah was the largest and the most influential of the twelve tribes with the governing right. Jacob prophesied it would maintain its pre-eminence until Shiloh, or Messiah, came. He would then take headship and receive the allegiance of true spiritual Israel as Isaiah 9:6-7 foretold. Matthew 1 and Luke 3 trace Jesus' human lineage to David, Judah, Jacob and Abraham. Jesus took the sceptre from Judah and we who receive Him as Messiah give Him our allegiance.

In the days of His flesh few of the citizens of Judea were Judahites. Some belonged to one of the other tribes of Israel, and many were descendants of Esau (Edomites) who had assimilated and become co-religionists with the Judahites and remnants of the other tribes in the hybrid religion of Pharisaism developed during the captivity in Babylon. This is the religion of the Talmud is called Judaism today; it was condemned by Jesus since it is the antithesis of the Mosaic Law and the prophets and makes the Word of God of no effect (Matthew 15:1-9).

John 7:1, "After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill Him."

According to Strong's Greek Lexicon, the English word "Jewry" in this verse was translated from the Greek word #2449 Ioudaia {ee-oo-dah'-yah} feminine for the land of Judea. Modern translations no longer use the word "Jewry" but the correct translation, "Judea," as in the New American Standard Bible: "And after these things Jesus was walking in Galilee; for He was unwilling to walk in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill Him." The New International Version uses the same word. However, these translations continue to improperly use the word "Jews" in the same verse. A consistent translation would read: ". . . He was unwilling to walk in Judea, because the Judeans were seeking to kill Him."

Today most people think of Jews as the people of Israel, but that is not correct. An Israelite was one who had descended from Jacob. In Jesus' time individual Jews may or may not have descended from Jacob, but they all recognized Pharisaism and not the Law of Moses. A Jew is properly a Judean.

The point is that one who is called a "Jew" in the Bible is not necessarily a chosen man of God, a follower of Moses and the prophets, a member of the tribe of Judah, an Israelite, or even a Semite, but one who is a resident of Judea. A Judean. But a well-organized and well-financed international "pressure group" created a so-called "secondary meaning" for the new word "Jew" which is not the understanding intended by the Scripture of truth. Those who call themselves Jews today falsely imply they are somehow descendants of the tribes of Israel and chosen of God. Yet few of them are Jews as they are not "Judeans," or residents of Judea.

So if modern day so-called Jews are not the Jews of the Bible, who are they? When asked, "Who is Israel? - Who is a Jew?" the Israeli Government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) unhesitatingly answered:

"The term Israelite is purely Biblical. An Israeli is a citizen of Israel, regardless of religion. A Jew is a person anywhere in the world born to a Jewish mother, or converted to Judaism, who is thus identified as a member of the Jewish people and religion" (Information Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem; February, 1998).

The Jewish Almanac concurs: "Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a "Jew." Or to call a contemporary Jew [an] "Israelite," or a "Hebrew." The first Hebrews were not have been Jews at all, and contemporary Palestinians, by their own definition of the term "Palestinian," have to include Jews among their own people" (The Jewish Almanac, October, 1980, page 3, Bantam Books, Inc).

The Online Etymology Dictionary describes the etymology of the word 'jew,' but perhaps because its editor is not a Bible student it exhibits an ignorance of the meaning of the original Greek word Ioudaios derived from the Aramaic jehudhai which did not refer to members of the tribe of Judah but to Judeans, the residents of the Babylonian province of Judea. The spelling of our present-day English word Jew is a transliteration of an abbreviation or slang word coined by their Babylonian conquerors for Judeans without reference to the race or religion of the captives. The editor has inadvertently discriminated the Semitic tribesmen of the sons of Israel from the diverse mass of races and religions then resident in Judea by applying the incorrect colloquial idiom, not having recognized the true and Biblical meaning of the original words.

The Introduction of the Word "Jew" into God's Holy Bible

In 1604, James VI, King of Scotland from his youth, became King James I of England, the first ruler of Britain and Ireland. Because of the growing animosity of James toward the Puritans, a leading Puritan spokesman, Dr. John Reynolds, proposed that a new English Bible be issued in honour of the new King. King James saw an opportunity to bring about a unity with the church service in Presbyterian Scotland and Episcopal England. Completed and published in 1611, the new Bible became known as the "Authorized Version" because its making was authorized by King James. It became the "Official Bible of England" and the only Bible of the English church. There have been many revisions of the King James Bible, 1615, 1629, 1638, 1762 and 1769.

The most important changes occurred in the eighteenth century. In 1762 Dr. Thomas Paris published an extensive revision at Cambridge. In 1769 Dr. Benjamin Blayney, after about four years of work, brought out another at Oxford. The latter work included much modernization of spelling, punctuation, and expression. These changes were due to printing errors and spelling changes in many words. This update represents the exact words in the 1611 Bible first edition, only the spelling is changed. This 1769 update is the basis of the King James Bible of our time and use; the Apocrypha was officially removed in 1885.

Any so-called "1611" King James Version you buy today at the local Christian Bookstore is absolutely NOT the 1611. . . it is the 1769 revision, even though it admits that nowhere, and may even deceivingly say "1611" in the frontpiece to promote sales . . . it is just not true. The spellings have been revised and some words changed in almost every printing done since 1769, and fourteen entire books plus extra prefatory features have been removed from almost every printing done since 1885!

If you really love the King James Version the way to own a true, unaltered, unedited, unabridged, original 1611 version as authorized by King James, is to spend US$125,000 to US$400,000 and purchase a genuine original, US$250 for an exact photographic facsimile edition, or US$1,995 for The Deluxe Full-Size Limited Edition 1611 King James Bible Facsimile.

The early editions of the Authorized Version contained the Apocrypha, not because the translators believed - they listed seven reasons why the apocryphal books were to be categorically rejected as part of the Inspired canon - but because the king asked that it be included. So, instead of scattering the Apocryphal books all through the Old Testament as in the Rheims-Douai and other Roman Catholic Bibles, they placed all of the Apocryphal books by themselves between the Testaments.

There is not now nor was there ever an equivalent letter "j" in the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Nor is there any Hebrew letter that carries even an approximate sound of the consonant letter "j." Neither is there a letter 'j' in the Greek alphabet. As regards proof of the letter 'J' not being in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek alphabets, James Strong's Exhaustive Concordance has the Hebrew and Greek alphabet preceding each respective dictionary therein. Also, there are various grammars, etc., which show the alphabet of these languages, and there is no letter equivalent to "J" in either Hebrew or Greek even today. "J," the tenth letter and seventh consonant in the English alphabet, is the latest addition to English script and has been inserted in the alphabet after "I," from which it was developed. Petrus Ramus (1515-1572) is credited as the first to distinguish I and J as representing separate sounds. Not until the middle of the 17th century did the use of "j" as an initial become universal in English books.

Jerome translated the Bible into Latin in the fourth century. John 19:19 refers to the inscription Pilate posted over Jesus' cross. In our modern English Bibles we read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," translated from the Greek "Ieous Nazoraios Basilius Ioudaios" but the Latin Vulgate reads, "Iesus Nazerenus Rex Iudaeorum." This is usually abbreviated INRI as on all statues and imagery because there was no J.

Contrary to what most people believe Shakespeare never saw the word "Jew" nor did he ever use the word "Jew" in any of his works, the common general belief to the contrary notwithstanding. In his "Merchant of Venice," V, III, I, 61, first published in about 1600, Shakespeare wrote as follows "what is the reason? I am a Iewe; hath not a Iewe eyes?"

In Samuel Johnson's English Dictionary of 1755 and 1756 words beginning with "I" and the new letter "J" are interspersed. There is no listing for the word "Jew" in either his 1755 or 1756 editions although "To Judaize" is defined as "To conform to the manner of the Jews" in both.

The corrected re-issue of the 1933 edition of The Oxford English Dictionary lists the first published usage of the word "Jew" in:

Sheridan's 1775 play, "The Rivals," Act II, Scene I, "She shall have a skin like a mummy, and the beard of a Jew."

1653 Greaves' "Seraglio," 150. "In the King's Seraglio, the sultanas are permitted to employ divers Jewes-women about their ordinary occasions". And,

1700 Bishop Patrick's Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:37, "Better we cannot express the most cut-throat dealing, than thus, you use me like a Jew".

The earliest version of the New Testament in English from the Latin Vulgate Edition is the Wiclif, or Wickliff Edition published in 1380. In the Wiclif Edition Jesus is there mentioned as One of the "iewes." That was the 14th century English version of the Latin "Iudaeus" and was pronounced "hew-weeze," in the plural, and "iewe" pronounced "hew-wee" in the singular.

The 1841 English Hexapla contains six English translations of the New Testament arranged side by side for easy comparison and reference. The six English translations are: The Wycliffe version of 1380 (the first English Scripture, hand-copied prior to Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in 1455), The Tyndale version of 1534-1536 (the first English printed Scripture), and Cranmer's Great Bible of 1539 (the first Authorized English Bible). Continuing across each right-hand page is: The Geneva "1557" translation actually completed in 1560, (the English Bible of the Protestant Reformation), The Rheims 1582 (the first Roman Catholic English version), and the 1611 King James First Edition.

In the 1380 Wiclif Edition in English the Gospel by John XIX.19, reads "ihesus of Nazareth kyng of the iewes." Prior to the 14th century the English language adopted the Anglo-Saxon "kyng" together with many other Anglo-Saxon words in place of the Latin "rex" and the Greek "basileus." The Anglo-Saxon also meant "tribal leader."

In the Tyndale Edition of the New Testament in English published in 1525 Jesus was likewise described as One of the "Iewes."

In the Coverdale Edition published in 1535 Jesus was also described as One of the "Iewes." Also in the Coverdale Edition the Gospel by John, XIX.19, reads "Iesus of Nazareth, kynge of the Iewes."

In the Cranmer Edition published in 1539 Jesus was again described as One of the "Iewes."

In the Geneva Edition published in 1540-1557 Jesus was also described as One of the "Iewes."

In the Rheims Edition published in 1582 Jesus was described as One of the "Ievves."

In the King James Edition published in 1611, also known as the Authorized Version, Jesus was described again as one of the "Iewes." The forms of the Latin "Iudaeus" were used which were current at the time these translations were made.

The word "Jew" does not appear in any of these Bibles. Jesus is referred to as a so-called "Jew" (which He was not) for the first time in the New Testament in the 18th century editions in the English language of the 14th century first translations of the New Testament into English. The first Bibles in which the word "Jew" first appears are:

1729 Daniel Mace New Testament is the first Scripture to contain the word "Jew", here in Romans 2:13 - 3:21.

1750 Douai newly revised and corrected by Richard Challoner according to the Clementin edition of the Scriptures, The Holy Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate, first published by the English College at Doway, Anno 1609.

1752 Douai newly revised and corrected by Richard Challoner according to the Clementin edition of The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Translated out of the Latin Vulgate, first published by the English College of Rhemes, Anno 1582

1755 Wesley, New Testament with Explanatory Notes by John Wesley

1769 Benjamin Blayney modernised the spelling, punctuation, and expression of the 1611 edition of the Authorised or King James Bible.

1770 Worsley New Testament or New Covenant of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ translated from the Greek with notes by John Worsley.

The fascinating story of how we got the Bible in its present form actually starts thousands of years ago, as briefly outlined in this Timeline of Bible Translation History. As a background study, we recommend that you first review the discussion of the Pre-Reformation History of the Bible from 1400BC to AD1400, which covers the transmission of the Scripture through the original languages of Hebrew and Greek, and the 1,000 years of the Dark & Middle Ages when the Word was imprisoned in Latin. The starting point in this discussion of Bible history, however, is the advent of the Scripture in the English language with the "Morning Star of the Reformation," John Wycliffe.

What is a Jew?

Speaking to His elect Church Jesus said, "I know your affliction and your poverty, but you have heavenly riches, and I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan . . . Take note, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, but are impostors who lie, to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you" (Revelation 2:9; 3:9).

Speaking to the so-called Jews who were of the sect of the Pharisees (or Judaism) Jesus said, "You serpents, offspring of vipers, how can you escape being sentenced to hell fire? Therefore take notice, I will send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify; and some of whom you will flog in your synagogues, and persecute from town to town, that upon you may come all the righteous blood that has been shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I assure you, all these things shall come upon this race" (Matthew 23:33-36).

Jesus identified these so-called Jews as the descendants of Cain.

Speaking to Cain God said, "What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries to Me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened her mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand" (Genesis 4:10-11).

Speaking to Christ's end-time Bride regarding the Words of Jesus, the prophet William Branham said, "Here is a verse that will bear considerable thought, not only because it is most peculiar in its contents, but also it is virtually repeated in an age that is over a thousand years later. . . To begin with, the word, Jews, does not describe the religion of the Jewish people. It refers only to the people of Judah and has the same precise meaning if I were to say I am Irish born. These people were saying that they were actually Jews, real Jews by birth. They were liars. They were not Jews by birth and they weren't Jews by religion."

(The word Jew was coined by Nebuchadnezzar's troops as an abbreviation of the word "Judean." A Jew or Judean is one who is a resident of Judea regardless of his religion, race, or nationality. Every resident of Palestine is a "Jew" whereas the so-called Jews living abroad are not Jews at all, neither by residence, nor by birth, nor by religion. This is confirmed by the Bible in the Old and New Testaments, Jewish historians such as Josephus, Professor of Medieval Jewish History at Tel Aviv University, A. N. Poliak in his book Khazaria (1944, 1951); American historian Professor Dunlop of Columbia University in his article on the Khazars in the Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971); Noam Chomsky in his book, Fateful Triangle, Arthur Koestler in his masterpiece, The Thirteenth Tribe ; Professor Heinrich H. Graetz in his History of the Jews, p. 141 (1891-98); Soviet archaeologist M. I. Artamonov in Istoria Khazar, Benjamin Freedman in Facts are Facts, Chief Rabbi of the United States, the late Steven S. Wise, the Message of William Branham the Prophet of Malachi 4:5-6 and Revelation 10:7, every Jewish and all Gentile encyclopaedias affirm that barely any so-called Jew is an Israelite let alone Semitic. Note also that Judaism is Pharisaism based on the Talmud, which is the antithesis of pre-exilic Yahweh Torah or Yahwism, the Law and the Prophets, and accursed of God in Matthew 15:1-9, and Moses in Deuteronomy 5:22; 12:32).

"If all this is true, what were they? They were a deceived people who were already part of the church. They belonged to the false vine."

(Brother Branham is explaining how the Roman Catholic church, which organized at the Hegelian dialectic of the First Nicea Council in AD325, had its beginnings as the First Church of Rome founded in AD36 by the apostles Junias and Andronicus (Romans 16:7). This church apostatised when the elders, who had emigrated from Judea to escape the persecution of the Jews (Acts 8:1), were subsequently expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius along with all Judeans (Acts 18:2). It was thirteen years before the Judeans could return, and when the Christian elders returned they found the First Church of Rome would not repent).

"They were not of the true church, but of the false church because God said "they were the synagogue of Satan." Now the word for synagogue is not the same word we use for church. In the Bible, church means, "the called out ones," or the "summoned ones." The Psalmist said of these elect people, "Blessed is the man whom THOU CHOOSEST, and CAUSEST to approach unto Thee, that he may dwell in Thy courts" (Psalms 65:4). But the meaning of synagogue is "assembly or gathering." This can be good or bad, but in this case it is bad, for these are they whose assembling is not of God but of their own selves. Isaiah said of them, "Behold, they shall surely gather together, but NOT BY ME: whosoever shall gather together against Thee shall fall for Thy sake" (Isaiah 54:15). And since these were surely against the true vine, God will one day deal with them in destruction."

"Now why do we have a people mixed in the framework of the church and calling themselves Jews? The reason is this: Since they were liars they could make any claim they wished. They could say what they wanted as though it were a fact and then stick to it. And in this case they could be lying with a very powerful thought in mind. Was it not so that the early church was almost if not entirely composed of Jews, making them the original members of His body? The twelve apostles were Jews, and the later apostles were either Jews or proselytes. Thus for men to swear they were Jews would give them a pre-eminence and a claim to originality. Tell a lie. Stick to it. Never mind fact or history. Just say it and keep saying it to the people, and soon the people will receive it."

"Now did you catch something there? Isn't that the same spirit right in the church today? Isn't there a group that claims that they are the original and true church and that salvation is found only in her? Don't they claim that they have the keys of the kingdom which they received from Peter? Don't they claim that Peter was their first pope, and that he resided in Rome when there is ABSOLUTELY NO HISTORICAL FACT FOR IT? And even her most educated and knowing adherents believe her lies. Satan's synagogue! And if Satan be her father, and he the father of lies, then it is not strange that those in his synagogue are liars also."

"Consider the thought of blasphemy. These of Satan's synagogue were not blaspheming God in this instance (though that goes without saying) but they were blaspheming the true Church. Certainly. As Cain persecuted and killed Abel because he (Cain) was of that wicked one, and as the dead formal Judaic followers (Jesus said they were of their father, the devil) tried to destroy the Christians in the first few years of the first age, now this same group (the false vine) is even more strongly attempting to destroy the true believer in the second age. That antichrist spirit is growing."

"The group that inched its way ever so slowly into the church by its DEEDS (Nicolaitanism) no longer fears exposure but is openly organized in a group of its own assembling and is coming against the true Church in undisguised hostility."

"Now when I say this was an organized antichrist church I am giving you the truth from authenticated history. The first church founded in Rome (we will trace its history in the Pergamean Age) had already turned the truth of God into a lie by introducing a pagan religion with Christian names and meaning. By the second age it was so pagan (though claiming to be the true church) that Polycarp came about 1,500 miles at a very old age to plead with them to turn back. They would not do it. They had a solid hierarchy and a solid organization, and a complete departure from the Word. This then, is Satan's synagogue, full of blasphemy, in which were already the seeds of the doctrine of Nicolaitanism, and which would shortly be the actual seat or power of Satanic religion. And this is exactly right for Revelation 2:9b does NOT say these people are OF Satan's synagogue but it says they ARE SATAN'S SYNAGOGUE" (An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 119:4 - 121:3).

Revelation 3:9, "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you."

Brother Branham continues: "The natural types the Spiritual. This verse deals with the Jews who have always called themselves the children of God to the exclusion of everyone else. They sought their righteousness after the Law and failed miserably, for by the Law can no flesh be justified. By the Law can no man be made holy. Holiness is of the Lord. I Corinthians 1:30, "But of HIM are you in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." II Corinthians 5:21b, "That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." It was Christ or perish, and they perished for they refused Him."

"In the Sardis Church Age Martin Luther restored the revelation that justification is by faith and not works, but the Lutherans organized and joined with the state and again we see the synagogue of Satan manifested in denominationalism. As the Jews took refuge in the synagogue form of worship, so in the Philadelphian Age men were taking refuge in the church. It is not joining a church that counts. The life is not in the church. The life is in Christ. "This is the record that God has given us eternal Life and this Life is in His Son. He that has the Son has Life, and he who has not the Son has not Life." Man is made holy by the Spirit. It is the Spirit of Holiness that raised Jesus from the dead that in-dwells us and makes us holy with His holiness."

Brother Branham went on to explain, "This problem of the false Jew or false believers was already in existence in the second age. These who falsely called themselves Jews appeared right after the first outpouring of the first age, and now they appear again in the second age after the reformation. This is hardly an accident. Indeed, it is not an accident. It is a principle of Satan. That principle is to organize and claim originality and therefore be entitled to special rights and privileges. Let me show you. Back there in the Smyrnaean Age these people lied and said they were actually Jews (or believers) when they definitely were not. They were of the synagogue of Satan. They were Satan's organized crowd, for it was in that age we saw the start of men in the ministry taking an unwarranted leadership over their ministering brethren. (Bishops set up in districts, over elders). The next thing we saw was that in the third age there was definitely a place called "Satan's seat." That age gave us church and state marriage. With the power of the state behind her the church was literally physically invincible."

"But God broke that hold in spite of the power of the state and the reformation brought great light. But what happened? The Lutherans organized and joined with the state and again we see the synagogue of Satan manifested in this sixth age. Now of course this synagogue group wouldn't say they are of Satan. No sir. They say they are of God. But they lie. For he that is a true Jew (that is what they claimed to be) is one who is a Jew inwardly - in the Spirit. (He who is born of the Spirit that was in Jesus Christ, the King of Judah, is a Judahite - not a Jew or Judean, for the Life is in the blood and we are the blood of Christ by the baptism with the Holy Spirit - Ed). So then if they are false Jews it means that they are as Jude 19 says, "having NOT the Spirit." Children of God are born of the Spirit. These have not the Spirit and therefore they are NOT children of God no matter how fervently they protest and to what lengths they go to try to prove that they are. They are DEAD. They are children of organization, and the true fruits are missing. They are built upon their own creeds, dogmas and doctrines and the truth is not in them for they have taken their own counsels above the Word of God."

"Let me show you what I have been trying to teach all along about the two vines which come from two different spirits. Take the example of Jesus and Judas this time. Jesus was the Son of God. Judas was the son of perdition. God entered into Jesus. Satan entered into Judas. Jesus had a full Holy Ghost ministry for "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: Who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38). It says "For he (Judas) was numbered with us, and had obtained PART of this ministry" (Acts 1:17). Matthew 10:1, "And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease."

"That spirit that was in Judas went right along through the ministry of Jesus. Then they both came to the cross. Jesus was hanged upon the cross, gladly giving His Life for sinners and commended His Spirit to God. His Spirit went to God and then was poured out into the church at Pentecost. Judas hanged himself and his spirit went back to Satan, but after Pentecost that same spirit that was in Judas came back to the false vine that grows right along with the true vine. But notice, Judas' spirit never got to Pentecost. It never went up to receive the Holy Spirit. It could not. But what did that Judas spirit go for? It went for the bag of gold. How it loved money. It still loves money. If it goes about in the Name of Jesus doing mighty things and holding great meetings, it still makes more of money and buildings, and education and everything with a material concept. Just watch that spirit that is upon them and don't be fooled. Judas went about as one of the twelve and he did miracles, too. But he did NOT have the Spirit of God as his own. He did have a ministry. He never got to Pentecost as he was not true seed. He was not a true child of God. No sir. And it is that way right now in the synagogue of Satan. Don't be fooled. You won't be fooled if you are of the very elect. Jesus said you wouldn't be fooled."

"Yes, these folks say they are Christians but they aren't."

"I will make them come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." I Corinthians 6:2, "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" Not only will there be twelve apostles on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel but the saints, also, will judge the world. That is when these who claim to belong to God and claim that God loves them will find out exactly who is the child of God and who is loved of the Son. Yes, that day is coming when it will be made manifest. These who are now ruling the world in a measure, and who during the last age will build an image to the beast whereby they will actually rule the world, will one day be humbled when Jesus comes with His saints to judge the world in righteousness. That is exactly what we saw in Matthew 25 when "All" the ones who missed the first resurrection will stand before the Judge and His Bride" (ibid 310:2 - 313:2).

So-called Jews

Genesis 27:39-41, "Isaac, Esau's father said to him, Your dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; you will sustain yourself by your sword, and you shall serve your brother; but you will finally take the dominion and break his yoke from your neck. And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing which his father bestowed on him: and Esau said to himself, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob."

Esau/Edom, the so-called Jew, has been killing Jacob/Israel from that day to this. His had took dominion over the Israelites after John Hyrcanus defeated and forcibly assimilated Edom into the kingdom of Judah 100 years before the birth of Christ. Hence Jesus would not live in Judea "for fear of the [Edomite] Jews" who will rule Israel unto the consummation of life on earth (Daniel 9:27; Luke 21:24; Revelation 11:1-2, 8).

The Bible is not a Jewish Book. Let us consider the claim that our Christian Bible and our religion came from the Jews, meaning Jews by religion. It is certain the New Testament did not from them, for the Jewish religion is condemned throughout the New Testament. But did we get the Old Testament from them? No! In the first place, no Jew by religion existed before the return from the Babylonian captivity, shortly after 536BC. Their great historian Josephus writes, "So the Jews prepared the work. Jew is the name they are called by from the day that they came up from Babylon." The only books of the Old Testament that were written after the return from Babylon are Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah (all of them historical, rather than doctrinal), Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. In none of these do the Jews receive anything but rebuke for their wickedness, and their apostasy from the religion of the Old Testament. Rabbi Stephen F. Wise, Chief Rabbi of the United States said, "The return from Babylon and the introduction of the Babylonian Talmud mark the end of Hebrewism and the beginning of Judaism."

The Old Testament text in our Bibles appears not merely to have been corrupted, but to have been purposely corrupted, as an attack upon the Christian Faith! Perhaps one of the most significant problems with the KJV lies in the manuscripts from which it was translated. The Old Testament (mentioned here for the sake of completeness) was translated from the Masoretic Text, a thoroughly corrupted and Talmudic Jewish- produced and inspired text of the Hebrew Testament. The fact that the Masoretic Text was used for the Old Testament of the KJV also has a clear impact upon the New Testament, for the translators of both Testaments had direct and indirect contact with leading Hebraists of the day for purposes of textual and etymological consultation, and it must be understood that all of these leading Hebraists were Talmudic Jews. The counterfeit Masoretic text was created between AD500 and AD1030 and first published in 1427.

Jesus Christ was not a Jew. Had Jesus been a Judean it is very likely He would have been an Edomite, not a kinsman to Adam, and thereby disqualified from being the Holy One of Israel, the last Adam, who was born to redeem the first (Leviticus 25; Ruth). Were Jesus a so-called Jew He would not have been Messiah whom the Lord prophesied would dwell in Galilee of the Gentiles (Isaiah 9:1-7). Jesus did not live in Judea and dared not walk in Jewry (i.e. Judea), "for fear of the Jews" who sought to kill Him.

"Five things did Canaan charge his sons: love one another, love robbery, love lewdness, hate your masters, and do not speak the truth" (Talmud, Peshachim 113b). As we read in Genesis, the Jews have sworn to slay the Israelites, and are "the people against whom God has indignation forever" (Genesis 9:25; 27:39-41; Isaiah 34:1-9; Malachi 1:1-4).

The prophet Paul knew exactly who he was, and that the word "Jew" indicated his place of residence, and not that he was of Judah or any of the other Tribes of Israel. Acts 22:3, "I am verily a man who is a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as you all are this day." Philippians 3:4-5, "If any other man thinks that he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee".

Almost no Jew is a Hebrew and Israelite by descent, or even a Semite. According to the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, Jewish rabbis and historians, every Jewish and all Gentile encyclopaedias, the mass of so-called or self-styled Jews may be traced to their vicarious father, Lucifer, through the original sin in the garden of Eden, which was adultery between Eve and the Devil-incarnate Serpent, a handsome upright man-like beast before God changed every bone in his body and placed him on his belly (Genesis 3; Matthew 23:33-36; John 8:23-47).

The so-called Jews also teach this doctrine of the original sin, found in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but they teach we Goyim or non-Jews are "human cattle," animals God created in human form in order to serve the Jews, but this is contrary to God's unchanging Word (Midrasch Talpioth; Yebamoth 98a; Schene Luchoth Haberith, p. 250b). The original sin and the fall of man is explained in the following teachings:

The Original Sin 1/3; The Original Sin 2/3; The Original Sin 3/3, and But the Woman being deceived, was in the Transgression.

This explains why Jesus agreed with the Pharisees that they were Abraham's seed, but qualified his statement: "You are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his natural proclivity: for he is a liar, and the father of it." These Edomite Jews were descendants of Abraham and Isaac through Esau but they were not the descendants Jacob and therefore not in the covenants God made with Abraham and with Moses. Esau married three wives. His Hittite and Canaanite wives being Serpent seed and not in Adam's race, their offspring likewise are not in the Book of Life and accursed of God (Genesis 26:34-35). The have no kinsman Redeemer for Jesus Messiah is the last Adam, He was not the last Cain. And although Esau's children by his Ishmaelite wife are in Adam's race, they are not in the covenants God made with Israel.

Esau is Edom that is assimilated with Jewry. The Bible, all Jewish encyclopaedias and historic records state "Edom is in modern Jewry" (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1925 edition, Vol. 5, p. 41). "Some anthropologists are inclined to associate the racial origins of the Jews, not with the Semites, whose language they adopted, but with the Armenians and Hittites of Mesopotamia, whose broad skulls and curved noses they appear to have inherited" (The Jewish Encyclopedia, (1905), Vol. X, p 284).

At no time was there ever a Jew nation, nor was there ever a "Jew" race. Not a single Jew stood before Mount Sinai when God delivered the Law to Israel, and God never made any covenant with the Jews. Jesus agreed with the carnal minded Pharisees that they were Abraham's descendants but when they declared they had never been captives of Egypt, Babylon or Israel's Canaanite neighbours, they betrayed themselves as Edomite Jews captive of sin, and not Israelites (John 8:33-34). It is therefore correct to identify Jews, by and large, as an "ethnic" (i.e. heathen non-Israelite, non-Christian) people, as the self-styled peak representative body of Australian Jewry have had written into law, and to trace their origin to the original sin in the garden of Eden, which spawned Cain, whose lineage continues on this side of the Flood in the descendants of Canaan.

God commissioned Moses to deliver the people of Israel to the Promised Land saying, "When the Lord God brings you into the land whither you go to possess, and has cast out the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you; you shall smite and utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them" (Deuteronomy 7:1-3; 12:2; 20:16-17).

The Hebrew word translated "utterly destroy" is 'cherem.' Both the people and the land of Canaan were 'cherem,' meaning FORCIBLY dedicated to God as withdrawn from His service and worship wherein He was not glorified, and by the hands of another, devoted to Him for destruction whereby He will be glorified. The equivalent Greek word is "anathema." In the case of the Canaanites who were natural Serpent's seed, cherem is the consecration to God of His enemies (Hebrew "hated ones" - Isaiah 34:1-8; Malachi 1:2-3; Romans 9:13), and their belongings by means of fire and sword.

God commissioned Joshua, "Be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the Law, which Moses My servant commanded you: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wheresoever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and have good success" (Joshua 1:7-8).

This man of God was deceived by these accursed people when he made a covenant with them without first consulting the Lord (Joshua 9). Ezra, Nehemiah, Obadiah, Malachi and the other prophets describe how the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob intermarried through "multiculturalism." Later, in AD740, the nation of Khazaria was converted overnight and inducted into Jewry by Talmudic Jews from Babylon.

Every Jewish historian of note, and all encyclopaedias, Jewish and otherwise, agree that only a tiny remnant of so-called Jews is Semitic. None of these possess the faith of Abraham and few worship according to Yahweh Torah instituted by Moses. The few who are not atheistic or agnostic mostly follow Talmudic Judaism which is Pharisaism and anathema to Moses and the prophets.

According to Jewish historian Josephus, the Israelitish high priest John Hyrcanus "subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews".

This account of the Idumeans admitting circumcision, and the entire Jewish law, from this time, or from the days of Hyrcanus, is confirmed by their entire history afterward. See Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect. 1; B. XV. ch. 7. sect. 9. Of the War, B. II. ch. 3. sect. 1; B. IV. ch. 4. sect. 5. This, in the opinion of Josephus, made them proselytes of justice, or entire Jews, as here and elsewhere, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect. 1. However, Antigonus, the enemy of Herod, though Herod were derived from such a proselyte of justice for several generations, will allow him to be no more than a half Jew, B. XV. ch. 15. sect. 2. But still, take out of Dean Prideaux, at the year AD129, the words of Ammouius, a grammarian, which fully confirm this account of the Idumeans in Josephus: "The Jews," says he, "are such by nature, and from the beginning, whilst the Idumeans were not Jews from the beginning, but Phoenicians and Syrians; but being afterward subdued by the Jews, and compelled to be circumcised, and to unite into one nation, and be subject to the same laws, they were called Jews." Dio also says, as the Dean there quotes him, from Book XXXVI. p. 37, "That country is called Judea, and the people Jews; and this name is given also to as many others as embrace their religion, though of other nations." But then upon what foundation so good a governor as Hyrcanus took upon him to compel those Idumeans either to become Jews, or to leave the country, deserves great consideration. I suppose it was because they had long ago been driven out of the land of Edom, and had seized on and possessed the tribe of Simeon, and all the southern parts of the tribe of Judah, which was the peculiar inheritance of the worshippers of the true God without idolatry, as the reader may learn from Reland, Palestine, Part I. p. 154, 305; and from Prideaux, at the years 140 and 165" (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, 9:1).

In AD64 Rome's Jewish emperor Nero wantonly and mercilessly persecuted the Christians, and condemned Paul to a martyr's death. In AD135 Bar Cochba led a revolt against Rome in which about a million non-Jews were sadistically slaughtered (Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Westcott, Introduction to Study of the Gospels, p. 132, ed. Boston, 1862). Six thousand years of history is replete with wars, famines, massacres and economic conspiracies engineered by a "hidden hand" always working under a different name and in another occupation so that he does not appear as a protagonist although by intrigue and finances he steers both sides of the conflict to achieve a pre-planned outcome of his own design (Genesis 4:14), for God has placed "enmity" between the Seed of the Serpent and the seed of the first and last Adam. The enmity is extant and his slaughter of Adam's race, particularly professing Christians and Hebrews who are Israelites, will continue unto the consummation of all life on earth (Genesis 3:15; 27:39-41; Matthew 23:32-36; Revelation 18:24).

The wily Khazar, king Bulan, whose kingdom was sandwiched between the Muslim Caliphate and Byzantine Rome, emulated the Gibeonite strategy for political advantage when his Asian court became Talmudic Jews overnight in complete ignorance of the tenets of that religion, followed by his non-Semitic hordes of Mongolian descent. One of many who have traced the history of this "Kingdom of the Jews," was Jewish historian Arthur Koestler in his classic, The Thirteenth Tribe . In his "History of Jews in the United States," Rabbi Levinger admits 82% of American Jews are of Asiatic descent: non-Semitic, anti-Semitic (Genesis 27:41) self-styled or so-called Jews.

At the peak of their power the Khazars controlled or exacted tribute from some thirty different nations and tribes inhabiting the vast territories between the Caucasus, the Aral Sea, the Ural Mountains, the town of Kiev and the Ukrainian steppes. The people under Khazar suzerainty included the Bulgars, Burtas, Ghuzz, Magyars (Hungarians), the Gothic and Greek colonies of the Crimea, Slavonic tribes in the north-western woodlands. Beyond these extended dominions, Khazar armies also raided Georgia and Armenia and penetrated into the Arab Caliphate as far as Mosul in Iraq. The Russians defeated Khazaria between the 10th and 11th centuries and inherited most of their lands. The Khazars continued their warfare against Russia for the ensuing thousand years until their invasion from the East side of New York brought them victory in 1917. Financed by their tribesmen in Britain and the United States, they enslaved, raped and pillaged the Russian nation as earlier they mercilessly extorted tribute from countries neighbouring Khazaria. The assassination of Stalin brought about the demise of their power over Russia.

Today the Khazars control the United States of America and extract tribute as they did from their neighbours in the first Millennium AD. Munya Mardoch, Director of the Israeli Institute for the Development of Weaponry, said in 1994, "The moral and political meaning of nuclear weapons is that states which renounce their use are acquiescing to the status of Vassal states. All those states which feel satisfied with possessing conventional weapons alone are fated to become vassal states." Thus Israel is able to hold the threat of using her nuclear arms against her neighbours to extract non-repayable loans and grants from the United States.

After the extinction of their kingdom, the Khazars dispersed. They established themselves in Venice and Genoa and from the Venetian and Genoese oligarchies they began marrying into the Royal houses of Europe. Khazar and Sephardim Jews (who were often Canaanites) dispersed throughout Europe and continued their predatory pursuits as infamous usurers and tax-gatherers until after long sufferance by their host nations they were expelled to wander to some other place.

William the Conqueror was financed by Jews expelled from Spain, and having secured the benevolent neutrality of the Holy Roman emperor Henry IV and with solemn approval by Pope Alexander II, he invaded England in 1066 (Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol # 23, p. 609). There is no evidence of Jews residing in England before the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror brought the Jews into England with him from Rouen, Normandy, 2,600 of them followed after his invasion. At first treated with special favor and allowed to amass considerable wealth, they collected books and built themselves palatial residences; two or three of them are mentioned as physicians, and several monks are said to have been converted to Judaism. "They brought to England their own form of commerce and a system of rules to facilitate and govern it . . ." (Foootnote 11: H.C. Richardson, The English Jewry Under Angevin Kings (1960) p. 94). They established the Exchequer and subsequently converted into a class of "royal usurers" so abhorrent to the English that in 1290 Edward I expelled them all, over 16,000 Jews, principally owing to the problem of usury. (See the trilogy of historian Sir Arthur Bryant, and JCR-UK - Jewish Communities of the U.K.).

In 1647 the English traitor Oliver Cromwell, whose revolution was financed by Manasseh Ben Israel and Moses Carvajal of Amsterdam, allowed Jews to return to England, though the order of banishment was not rescinded by Parliament. History proves that the objective of the International Jewish money lenders was to obtain control of England's economy and government.

It was to Antonio Fernandez Carvajal, a Portuguese Marrano (secret Jew) who outwardly passed as a Spanish Catholic merchant, that Cromwell gave the assurance of the right of Jews to remain in England. Under the date February 4, 1657, Burton, in his diary, states: "The Jews, those able and general intelligencers whose intercourse with the Continent Cromwell had before turned to profitable account, he now conciliated by a seasonable benefaction to their principal agent [Carvajal] resident in England." His trading connections enabled him to give Cromwell and his secretary, Thurloe, important information as to the plans both of Charles Stuart in Holland and of the Spaniards in the New World (see L. Wolf, "Cromwell's Secret Intelligencers"). Spying activity is continued today by millions of sayanim, the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Defense League, etc. According to the archives of the Board of Deputies of British Jews established in 1760, the earliest minutes were written in Portuguese reflecting the influence of the Portuguese Jews on Trade.

Following the British Israel hoax devised by the Cabbalist Astronomer to Queen Elizabeth I, John Dee (1527 - 1608), and trading on the Messianic illusions of the Puritans, in 1650 Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel of Amsterdam published Hope of Israel, in which he advocated the return of Jews to England as a preliminary to the appearance of the Messiah. The Messiah could not appear till Jews existed in all the lands of the earth. According to Antonio de Montesinos, the Ten Tribes had been discovered in the North-American Indians, and England was the only country from which Jews were excluded. If England admitted them, the Messianic age might be expected.The next invasion financed by Amsterdam Jews, headed by Solomon Medina, placed William of Orange on the throne of England in 1689 and made it possible for the conspirators to set up the Bank of England, and institute the National Debt, securing for the usurers a first charge on the taxes of England for interest on their loans, and the right to print money was transferred from the Crown to this private "Bank of England." The same pattern was followed in the establishment of the Jew's Federal Reserve non-bank in the United States and other central banks tied in with the City of London's Bank of International Settlements.

Under another name and in a different occupation the International Jews have controlled Britain from that day to this (Genesis 4:14). The so-called British Empire was in reality ever the Empire of the City of London. Australia, the United States and other former colonies remain subservient to the City, spilling the blood of their citizens and borrowing at usury to finance Judaeo-Communist takeovers and fight the City's wars of conquest in pursuit of world hegemony. Jewish author Cecil Roth's House of Nasi compares the underground funnelings of Jewry after their expulsion from Spain and Portugal, with the network set up under Hitler a little later. jew.htm Changing LINKS

e-mail: ags@biblebelievers.org.au

Review and Conclusion

Handout: The Tragic History of the Jews

The Tragic History of the Jews

Looking at the rather tragic history of the Jewish people, one is not inclined to think there has been any advantage in being a Jew. In spite of the reality that they are such a noble strain of humanity and chosen by God, their history has been a saga of slavery, hardship, warfare, persecution, slander, captivity, dispersion, and humiliation. They were menial slaves in Egypt for some 400 years, and after God miraculously delivered them, they wandered in a barren wilderness for forty years, until an entire generation died out. When they eventually entered the land God had promised them, they had to fight to gain every square foot of it and continue to fight to protect what they gained. After several hundred years, civil war divided the nation. The northern kingdom eventually was almost decimated by Assyria, with the remnant being taken captive to that country. Later, the southern kingdom was conquered and exiled in Babylon for seventy years, after which some were allowed to return to Palestine.

Not long after they rebuilt their homeland, they were conquered by Greece, and the despotic Antiochus Epiphanes revelled in desecrating their Temple, corrupting their sacrifices, and slaughtering their priests. Under Roman rule they fared no better. Tens of thousands of Jewish rebels were publicly crucified, and under Herod the Great scores of male Jewish babies were slaughtered because of his insane jealousy of the Christ child. In the year A.D. 70, the Roman general Titus Vespasian carried out Caesar's order to utterly destroy Jerusalem, its Temple, and most of its citizens. According to Josephus, over a million Jews of all ages were mercilessly butchered, and some 100,000 of those who survived were sold into slavery or sent to Rome to die in the gladiator games. Two years previously, Gentiles in Caesarea had killed 20,000 Jews and sold many more into slavery. During that same period of time, the inhabitants of Damascus cut the throats of 10,000 Jews in a single day.

In A.D. 115 the Jews of Cyrene, Egypt, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia rebelled against Rome. When they failed, Emperor Hadrian destroyed 985 towns in Palestine and killed at least 600,000 Jewish men. Thousands more perished from starvation and disease. So many Jews were sold into slavery that the price of an able-bodied male slave dropped to that of a horse. In the year 380 Emperor Theodosius I formulated a legal code that declared Jews to be an inferior race of human beings—a demonic idea that strongly permeated most of Europe for over a thousand years and that even persists in many parts of the world in our own day.

For some two centuries the Jews were oppressed by the Byzantine branch of the divided Roman empire. Emperor Heroclitus banished them from Jerusalem in 628 and later tried to exterminate them. Leo the Assyrian gave them the choice of converting to Christianity or being banished from the realm. When the first crusade was launched in 1096 to recapture the Holy Land from the Ottoman Turks, the crusaders slaughtered countless thousands of Jews on their way to Palestine, brutally trampling many to death under their horses' hooves. That carnage, of course, was committed in the name of Christianity.

In 1254 King Louis IX banished all Jews from France. When many later returned to that country, Philip the Fair expelled 100,000 of them again in 1306. In 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain even as Columbus began his first voyage across the Atlantic, and four years later they were expelled from Portugal as well. Soon most of western Europe was closed to them except for a few areas in northern Italy, Germany, and Poland. Although the French Revolution emancipated many Jews, vicious anti-Semitism continued to dominate most of Europe and parts of Russia. Thousands of Jews were massacred in the Ukraine in 1818. In 1894, because of growing anti-Semitism in the French army a Jewish officer named Dreyfus was falsely accused of treason, and that charge was used as an excuse to purge the military of all Jews of high rank.

When a number of influential Jews began to dream of re-establishing a homeland in Palestine, the Zionist movement was born, its first congress being convened in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. By 1914, some 90,000 Jews had settled in Palestine. In the unparalleled Nazi holocaust of the early 1940s at least 6,000,000 Jews were exterminated, this time for racial rather than religious reasons.

Although in our society anti-Semitism is seldom expressed so openly, Jews in many parts of the world still suffer for no other reason than their Jewishness. From the purely historical perspective, therefore, Jews have been among the most continuously and harshly disadvantaged people of all time.

Not only have Jews historically had little social or political security, but in Romans 2:17-20 Paul declares that, although they are God's specially chosen and blessed people, Jews do not even have guaranteed spiritual security—either by physical lineage or religious heritage. Being born a descendant of Abraham, knowing God's law and being circumcised did not assure them a place in heaven. In fact, rather than protecting Jews from God's judgment, those blessings made them all the more accountable for obedience to the Lord.

After having demolished the false securities on which most Jews relied, Paul anticipated the strong objections his Jewish readers would make. The truths he sets forth in the book of Romans he had taught many times before in many places, and he knew what the most common objections in Rome would be.

The apostle did not teach that Jewish heritage and the Mosaic law ceremonies were not important. Because they were God-given, they had tremendous importance. But they were not in Paul's day, and had never been, the means of satisfying the divine standard of righteousness. They offered Jews great spiritual advantages, but they did not provide spiritual security.After his conversion, Paul continued to worship in the Temple when he was in Jerusalem and faithfully practiced the moral teachings of the Mosaic law. He personally circumcised Timothy who was Jewish on his mother's side, as a concession to the Jews in the region of Galatia (Acts 16:1-3). He even continued to follow many of the ceremonial customs and the rabbinical patterns in order not to give undue offense to legalistic Jews, as noted in Acts 21:24-26.

But the essence of his preaching was that none of those outward acts have any saving benefit and that a person can become right with God only through trust in His Son Jesus Christ.

Review and Conclusion

Handout: Romans Road

—The Romans Road to Knowing Who Jesus Is—

  1. A Master with Servants

1:1 "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ…"

"…Jesus Christ our Lord…"

1:3; 5:21; 6:11,23; 7:25

"…the Lord Jesus…" 1:7; 10:9; 14:14

"…Jesus our Lord…"4:24; 8:39

"…Our Lord Jesus Christ…"

5:1,11; 15:6; 16:18,20,24

13:4 "…The Lord Jesus Christ…"

15:30 "…the Lord Jesus Christ's sake…"

  1. Christ

"…Jesus Christ…"

1:1,3,6,7,8; 2:16; 3:22; 5:1,11,15,17, 21; 6:3,11,23; 7:25; 13:14; 15:6,8,16,17,30; 16:18,20,24,25,27

"…Christ Jesus…"

3:24; 8:1,2,39; 15:5; 16:3


  1. Son of God

1:3 "…His ["God" v.1] Son Jesus…"

1:4 "And [Jesus v.3] declared to be the Son of God…"

1:9 "…His Son…"

5:10 "…His Son…"

8:3 "…His own Son…"

8:29 "…His Son…"

8:32 "…His own Son…"

15:6 "God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."


  1. Jesus became Flesh

1:3 "Jesus…was…made of the seed of David according to the flesh;"

8:3 "Son in the likeness of sinful flesh…"


  1. The One the Gospel is About

1:1,3 "…gospel…concerning…Jesus…"

1:9 "…the gospel of His Son [Jesus v.1,3]…"

1:15 "…the gospel…"

1:16 "…the gospel of Christ…"

15:19 "…gospel of Christ."

  1. One with Power

1:4 "…declared…the Son of God with power…"

1:16 "…the gospel of Christ…is the power of God unto salvation…"

1:20 "…His eternal power…"

13:1 "…there is no power but of God…"


  1. Resurrected One

1:4 "[Jesus v.3]…declared to be the Son of God… by the resurrection from the dead:"

6:5 "In the likeness of His resurrection:"


  1. Provider of Grace

1:5 "By whom [Jesus v.3] we have received grace…"

1:7 "Grace…from God …and…Jesus…"

5:15 "much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by…Jesus…"

5:17 "receive abundance of grace and g. of r. shall reign in life by…Jesus Christ."

5:21 "so might grace reign through r. unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

15:15 "grace that is given to me of God…"

16:20 "grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…"

16:24"grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…"


  1. Provider of Peace

1:7 "…peace from God…and…Jesus…"

5:1 "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:"

10:15 "gospel of peace…" [see 1st note on "The One the Gospel is About"]

The One Who Calls Men

1:1 "Paul…called to be an apostle…"

1:5 "By whom [Jesus v.3] we have received…apostleship…"

1:6 "Are ye also the called of Jesus…"

1:7 "…called to be saints…"

8:28 "…the called…"

8:30 "…He also called…"

9:24 "…whom He hath called…"

9:25 "…I will call them My people…"

9:26 "called the children of…God"

11:29 "…calling of God…"

  1. Works in Unity with God the Father

1:7 "[2 things] from God…and….Jesus…"

1:8 "I thank my God through Jesus…"

1:16 "…the gospel of Christ …is the power of God unto salvation…"

1:17 "[in the gospel of Christ v. 16] is the righteousness of God revealed…."

2:16 "God shall judge…by Jesus…"

3:22 "Righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus…"

3:24 "…by His [God v. 23] grace through the redemption that is in Jesus:"

3:25 A)"[Jesus] "God hath set"…[for the purpose] "to declare His r. for the remission of sins" B) "…through the forbearance of God."

3:26 "[God is] the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

3:30 "God…shall justify…by faith [in Jesus v. 26].

5:11 "we…joy in God through …Jesus…"

10:9 "confess with thy mouth…Jesus and …believe…God hath raised Him…"

15:5 "God…grant you…according to… Jesus." [or, "after the example of".]

15:30 "[for Christ's sake] strive together with me in your prayers to God…"

16:20 "God…shall bruise Satan… The grace of our Lord Jesus…be with you."

16:27 "To God…be glory through Jesus Christ for ever…"


  1. The One in Whom is Redemption

3:24 "…the redemption…in Christ Jesus:"

3:25 "["Jesus" v.24] a propitiation…His blood…for the remission of sins…past."


  1. The Object of Faith

1:5 "[Jesus gave] grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith, …for His name."

1:17 "[in the gospel of Christ v. 16] is the r. of God revealed from faith to faith…"

3:22 "…by faith of Jesus…"

3:25 "through faith in His [Jesus] blood…"

3:26 "…of him which believeth in Jesus."

3:27 "…the law of faith."

3:28 " a man is justified by faith…"

3:30 Circumcision and Uncircumcision are both justified by faith [in Jesus v.26].

4:5 "…believeth on Him that justifieth…" [see "Works in Unity…" 3:30]


  1. The One Who Fulfilled the Law

3:31 "through faith [in Jesus v.26]…we establish the law."

6:14,15 "…sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."

7:12 "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good."

8:3 "For what the law could not do, God sending his own Son…condemned sin."

8:4 "…r. of law might be fulfilled in us…"

9:31,32 "Israel…hath not attained to the law of r. bc sought it not by faith…"

10:4 "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." End=goal, conclusion

13:8 "For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."

13:10 "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

Review and Conclusion

Handout: Etymology of Sin

"INIQUITY"

WORDS OF SIN


05771. Nwe `avon, aw-vone'

or oavown (2 Kings 7:9; Psalm 51:5 (7)) {aw-vone'}; from 5753; perversity, i.e. (moral) evil:--fault, iniquity, mischeif, punishment (of iniquity), sin.

See Hebrew 07 ('abad (Aramaic))

See Hebrew 05753 (`ava


USED: (213 verses)

Gen 4:13; 15:16; 19:15; 44:16; Ex 20:5; 28:38, 43; 34:7, 9; Lev. 5:1, 17; 7:18; 10:17; 16:21, 22; 17:16; 18:25; 19:8; 20:17, 19; 22:16; 26:39, 40, 41, 43; Num. 5:15; 5:31; 14:18; 14:19; 14:34; 15:31; 18:1; 18:23; 30:15; Deut. 5:9; 19:15; Jos 22:17; 22:20; 1Sa 3:13; 3:14; 20:1; 20:8; 25:24; 28:10; 2Sa 3:8; 14:9; 14:32; 19:19; 22:24; 24:10; 1Ki 17:18; 2Ki 7:9; 1Ch 21:8; Ezr 9:6; 9:7; 9:13; Ne 4:5; 9:2; Job 7:21; 10:6; 10:14; 11:6; 13:23; 13:26; 14:17; 15:5; 19:29; 20:27; 22:5; 31:11; 31:28; 31:33; 33:9; Ps 18:23; 25:11; 31:10; 32:2; 32:5; 36:2; 38:4; 38:18; 39:11; 40:12; 49:5; 51:2; 51:5; 51:9; 59:4; 65:3; 69:27; 78:38; 79:8; 85:2; 89:32; 90:8; 103:3; 103:10; 106:43; 107:17; 109:14; 130:3; Pr 5:22; 16:6; Isa 1:4 5:18 6:7 13:11 14:21 22:14 27:9 33:24 40:2 43:24 50:1 53:5 53:6 53:11 57:17 59:2 59:3 59:12 64:6 64:7 64:9 65:7 Jer 2:22 3:13 5:25 11:10 13:22 14:7 14:10 14:20 16:10 16:17 16:18 18:23 25:12 30:14 30:15 31:34 32:18 33:8 36:3 36:31 50:20 51:6 La 2:14; 4:6; 4:13; 4:22; 5:7; Eze 3:18 3:19 4:4 4:5 4:6 4:17 7:13 7:16 7:19 9:9 14:3 14:4 14:7 14:10 16:49 18:17 18:18 18:19 18:20 18:30 21:23 21:24 21:25 21:29 24:23 28:18 29:16 32:27 33:6 33:8 33:9 35:5 36:31 36:33 39:23 43:10 44:10. 44:12 Da 9:13; 9:16; 9:24; Ho 4:8; 5:5; 7:1; 8:13; 9:7; 12:8; 13:12; 14:1; 14:2; Mic 7:18; 7:19; Zec 3:4; 3:9; Mal 2:6;


TRANSLATED: punishment; iniquity; iniquities; fault; mischief;


0205. Nwa 'aven, aw-ven'

from an unused root perhaps meaning properly, to pant (hence, to exert oneself, usually in vain; to come to naught); strictly nothingness; also trouble. vanity, wickedness; specifically an idol:--affliction, evil, false, idol, iniquity, mischief, mourners(-ing), naught, sorrow, unjust, unrighteous, vain ,vanity, wicked(-ness). Compare 369.

See Hebrew 0369


05766. lwe `evel, eh'-vel

or lavel {aw'-vel}; and (feminine) lavlah {av-law'}; or owlah {o-law'}; or .olah {o-law'}; from 5765; (moral) evil:--iniquity, perverseness, unjust(-ly), unrighteousness(-ly); wicked(-ness).

See Hebrew 05765 (`aval)


05753. hwe `avah, aw-vaw'

a primitive root; to crook, literally or figuratively (as follows):--do amiss, bow down, make crooked, commit iniquity, pervert, (do) perverse(-ly), trouble, X turn, do wickedly,


07562. evr resha`, reh'-shah

from 7561; a wrong (especially moral):--iniquity, wicked(-ness).

See Hebrew 07561 (rasha`)


01942. hwh havvah, hav-vaw'

from 1933 (in the sense of eagerly coveting and rushing upon; by implication, of falling); desire; also ruin:--calamity, iniquity, mischief, mischievous (thing), naughtiness, naughty, noisome, perverse thing, substance, very wickedness.

See Hebrew 01933 (hava')


05999. lme `amal, aw-mawl'

from 5998; toil, i.e. wearing effort; hence, worry, wheth. of body or mind:--grievance(-vousness), iniquity, labour, mischief, miserable(-sery), pain(-ful), perverseness, sorrow, toil, travail, trouble, wearisome, wickedness.

See Hebrew 05998 (`amal)


06664. qdu tsedeq, tseh'-dek

from 6663; the right (natural, moral or legal); also (abstractly) equity or (figuratively) prosperity:--X even, (X that which is altogether) just(-ice), ((un-))right(-eous) (cause, -ly, - ness).

See Hebrew 06663 (tsadaq)


02555. omx chamac, khaw-mawce'

from 2554; violence; by implication, wrong; by meton. unjust gain:--cruel(-ty), damage, false, injustice, X oppressor, unrighteous, violence (against, done), violent (dealing), wrong.

See Hebrew 02554


05767. lwe `avval, av-vawl'

intensive from 5765; evil (morally):--unjust, unrighteous, wicked.

See Hebrew 05765 (`aval)


6588. evp pesha`, peh'-shah

from 6586; a revolt (national, moral or religious):--rebellion, sin, transgression, trespass.

See Hebrew 06586 (pasha`)


817. Mva 'asham, aw-shawm'

from 816; guilt; by implication, a fault; also a sin-offering:--guiltiness, (offering for) sin, trespass (offering).

See Hebrew 0816 ('asham)


4604. lem ma`al, mah'-al

from 4603; treachery, i.e. sin:--falsehood, grievously, sore, transgression, trespass, X very.

See Hebrew 04603 (ma`al)


819. hmva 'ashmah, ash-maw'

feminine of 817; guiltiness, a fault, the presentation of a sin-offering:--offend, sin, (cause of) trespass(-ing, offering).

See Hebrew 0817 ('asham)


2398. ajx chata', khaw-taw'

a primitive root; properly, to miss; hence (figuratively and generally) to sin; by inference, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, (causatively) lead astray, condemn:--bear the blame, cleanse, commit (sin), by fault, harm he hath done, loss, miss, (make) offend(-er), offer for sin, purge, purify (self), make reconciliation, (cause, make) sin(-ful, -ness), trespass.


5674. rbe `abar, aw-bar'

a primitive root; to cross over; used very widely of any transition (literal or figurative; transitive, intransitive, intensive, causative); specifically, to cover (in copulation):--alienate, alter, X at all, beyond, bring (over, through), carry over, (over-)come (on, over), conduct (over), convey over, current, deliver, do away, enter, escape, fail, gender, get over, (make) go (away, beyond, by, forth, his way, in, on, over, through), have away (more), lay, meddle, overrun, make partition, (cause to, give, make to, over) pass(-age, along, away, beyond, by, -enger, on, out, over, through), (cause to, make) + proclaim(-amation), perish, provoke to anger, put away, rage, + raiser of taxes, remove, send over, set apart, + shave, cause to (make) sound, X speedily, X sweet smelling, take (away), (make to) transgress(-or), translate, turn away, (way-)faring man, be wrath.


0898. dgb bagad, baw-gad'

a primitive root; to cover (with a garment); figuratively, to act covertly; by implication, to pillage:--deal deceitfully (treacherously, unfaithfully), offend, transgress(-or), (depart), treacherous (dealer, -ly, man), unfaithful(-ly, man), X very.


06586. evp pasha`, paw-shah'

a primitive root (identical with 6585 through the idea of expansion); to break away (from just authority), i.e. trespass, apostatize, quarrel:--offend, rebel, revolt, transgress(-ion, -or).

See Hebrew 06585 (pasa`)



3900. paraptwma paraptoma, par-ap'-to-mah

from 3895; a side-slip (lapse or deviation), i.e. (unintentional) error or (willful) transgression:--fall, fault, offence, sin, trespass.

See Greek 3895 (parapipto)


USED: (20 verses)

Mt 6:14, 15; 18:35; Mr 11:25, 26; Ro 4:25; 5:15, 16, 17, 18, 20; 11:11, 12; 2Co 5:19; Ga 6:1; Eph 1:7; 2:1,5; Col 2:13 Jas 5:16


TRANSLATED: trespasses; offence; offences; fall; fault; faults; sins;



845. parabainw parabaino, par-ab-ah'-ee-no

from 3844 and the base of 939; to go contrary to, i.e. violate a command:--(by) transgress(-ion).

See Greek 3844 (para)

See Greek 939 (basis)


847. parabasiv parabasis, par-ab'-as-is

from 3845; violation:--breaking, transgression.

See Greek 3845 (parabaino)


264. amartanw hamartano, ham-ar-tan'-o

perhaps from 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 3313; properly, to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), i.e. (figuratively) to err, especially (morally) to sin:--for your faults, offend, sin, trespass.

See Greek 1 (a)

See Greek 3313 (meros)


458. anomia anomia, an-om-ee'-ah

from 459; illegality, i.e. violation of law or (genitive case) wickedness:--iniquity, X transgress(-ion of) the law, unrighteousness.

See Greek 459 (anomos)


93. adikia adikia, ad-ee-kee'-ah

from 94; (legal) injustice (properly, the quality, by implication, the act); morally, wrongfulness (of character, life or act):--iniquity, unjust, unrighteousness, wrong.

See Greek 94 (adikos)


3892. paranomia paranomia, par-an-om-ee'-ah

from the same as 3891; transgression: iniquity.

See Greek 3891 (paranomeo)


5302. usterew hustereo, hoos-ter-eh'-o

from 5306; to be later, i.e. (by implication) to be inferior; generally, to fall short (be deficient):--come behind (short), be destitute, fail, lack, suffer need, (be in) want, be the worse.

See Greek 5306 (husteros)


94. adikov adikos, ad'-ee-kos

from 1 (as a negative particle) and 1349; unjust; by extension wicked; by implication, treacherous; specially, heathen:--unjust, unrighteous.

See Greek 1 (a)

See Greek 1349 (dike)


3848. parabathv parabates, par-ab-at'-ace

from 3845; a violator:--breaker, transgress(-or).

See Greek 3845 (parabaino)

Review and Conclusion

Assignment: Study Question on Revival

Consider the Question: What are some of the Building Blocks of Revival?

Paul knows a genuine Gospel is the seed for a move of God.

  1. Gather some verses related to this question.




2. Respond in your own words to the question: What are the building blocks of revival?

Review and Conclusion

Test: Romans 1:16,17

Complete Romans 1:16,17 from Memory & Respond

  1. [Romans 1:16,17]
    For I am not _______________________ of the ______________ _____ _________________:
    for it is the __________________ of God unto _______________________
    to every one that ____________________________________;
    to the _________________________ first,
    and also to the Greek.
    17 For therein is the ___________________________ of God __________________________
    from __________________ to ___________________:
    as it is written,
    The just shall live by _______________________.

  2. What Scripture was Paul possibly quoting in Romans 1:17?

Review and Conclusion

Test: Final Examination with Answers

Final Examination for Romans

Circle the correct answer.

Who does Paul use as an example of justification by faith? (Chapter 6)

  1. Moses
  2. Joshua
  3. Noah
  4. Abraham

What is the main theme of Roman's chapter seven? (Chapter 9)

  1. The sinner's relationship to sin
  2. The believer's relation to the law
  3. The true advantage of having the law
  4. Justification by faith

What does Romans chapter nine talk about? (Chapter 12)

  1. Paul's salutation
  2. Paul's captivity to the law of sin
  3. Paul's salvation experience
  4. Paul's sorrow for the Jews

What Roman government leader lead the first persecution of the Christians in AD 64? (Chapter 14)

  1. Paul
  2. Nero
  3. Titus
  4. Philip

Who did Paul say was "the first fruits unto Christ of Achaia?" (Chapter 20)

  1. Amplias
  2. Epaenetus
  3. Apelles
  4. Asyncritus

Fill in the blanks.

Romans was written from Corinth around 57-58 AD. (Chapter 1)

Although the Gentile did not have the written word; they still had the same principals contained in the Word written on their heart. (Chapter 4)

Those in Christ has received the spirit of adoption. (Chapter 10)

Romans chapter twelve deals with the Christian's duties, which ultimately leads to a surrendered life. (Sura ya 16)

God ordains authority for the purpose of defending good and disciplining evil. (Chapter 17)

Answer True or False.

There is righteousness in knowing the law. (Chapter 3)

False (3.3.3.1)

The Law has never justified anyone. (Chapter 5)

True (5.1)

The sinner is in bondage and cannot enjoy the fulness of God's intended blessing for him. (Chapter 7)

True (7.2)

God's plan of salvation stops at justification. (Chapter 8)

False (8.1.1.1)

Priscilla and Aquila were cooks. (Chapter 20)

False (20.3)