The apostle refers to Isaiah to show that God would "lay in Zion a stumbling-stone." Hence the very fact of being renewed makes one sensible of a far more intense misery than ever, while there is no power until the soul looks right outside self to Him who is dead and risen, who has anticipated the difficulty, and alone gives the full answer to all wants. That is the first necessity for the sinner with God. But we have had it fully in Romans 3:1-31. There is the vindication of God in His ways with the Old Testament believers. Now the man who lives dominated by his body appetites is living like an animal, because animals are body-controlled beings. And that beautiful, sparkling, darling little gal wouldn't have to lie there listless and crying and thrashing in the bed. Taxes; Taxes may be applicable at checkout. He begins with the great epoch of the dispensations of God (that is, the ages since the flood). He was God over all blessed for ever, as well as their Messiah. Sin was in the world between Adam and Moses, when the law was not. It will be observed therefore, that in this connection the apostle shows the place both of conscience and of the law, that God in judging will take into full consideration the circumstances and condition of every soul of man. It is the experience of life for the Christian that all things do work together for good. How rich, how broad, how expansive is God's love for you tonight. FOR CREATION WAS CONDEMNED. Then he answers his own question, "Thanks be unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord, is my deliverance." Now man today, humanism and all is saying just the opposite. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly: According to Louw and Nida, the word "vanity" (mataio/thti) means "pertaining to being useless on the basis of being futile and lacking in content" (Vol. worshipping of many gods; together with their divers lusts and Paul has just been speaking of the glory of adoption into the family of God; and then he comes back to the troubled state of this present world. the creation was subjected [by God] to futility [emphaticdevoid of good results], . conceits they had of themselves, of their wisdom, knowledge, It is not a matter of choice. In the second part of the passage Paul speaks of the effect of the work of Jesus on us. That always amazes me, but it shouldn't surprise me because He knows everything. Thus, the true God being lost, all was lost, and man's downward career becomes the most painful and humiliating object, unless it be, indeed, that which we have to feel where men, without renewal of heart, espouse in pride of mind the truth with nothing but unrighteousness. The gospel means His glad tidings for man. Proud member
The Christian is involved in the human situation. Not to be an unembodied creature, but to be clothed upon or to move into that body which God has in heaven.Now interesting, Paul is likening this body to a tent. The righteousness of God flows from His mercy, of course; but its character and basis is righteousness. Now Paul was as competent a judge of this point as ever any mere man was. And I have been born again by the Spirit of God. might be truly said to be made subject thereunto, being under the This is a state of mind, and not the necessary or immediate fruit of Romans 3:1-31, but is based on the truth of Romans 4:1-25 as well as 3. Gingrich and Danker (p. 858) say slavery of decay. Only one thing can help mankind: Jesus and His word! Because (or, that; i.e. The master plan of God called for the exercise of the latter option. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! (a) He uses it quite literally. He does not see only the world; he looks beyond it to God. and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Thy Strong Word Exodus 37 . Then you really aren't a part of God or His kingdom. Therefore it is here for the first time that we find salvation spoken of in the grand results that are now brought before us in Romans 5:1-11. In Jesus' name. particularly their gross idolatry, their polytheism, or It is quite clear, especially from the last instance, that Paul is not using flesh simply in the sense of the body, as we say flesh and blood. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized unto his death?" No longer does the question exist of requiring an expiation. This is what made the gospel to be so sweet and precious, and, what is more, absolutely necessary, if he would escape certain and eternal ruin. To those that were under it, to be sure. No angel, no principality, no power, nothing that has ever been before or shall ever come, things present, things to come, height, depth, any other created being will be able to separate you from God's love in Christ, because God's love for you is constant. What He does is to pierce and penetrate the man's conscience. "Cursed is the ground because of you," God said to Adam after his sin ( Genesis 3:17). That final adoption will be the redemption of their bodies. God said to Jeremiah, "I will make a new covenant with the people, no longer written on the tables of stone, but I will write my law in the fleshly tablets of their hearts." But it is amazing how sometimes these sure deals can fall out of escrow, and oh, what disappointment. With one tremendous leap of thought Paul has seen Christ, not as the Judge but as the lover of the souls of men. And when we look back upon our Christian experience, all we can say is, "I did not do this; I could never have done this; God did everything." Hereupon he enters upon the direct proofs, and first cites Hosea as a witness. Here we pass out of the introduction of the epistle. Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. Observe again, it is not victory here; for that would give place to human pride. But the fourth is different. "Righteousness" never means mercy, not even the "righteousness of God." He has already glorified me as far as He is concerned and, who is going to lay anything to my charge? He was the promised Messiah, born King of the Jews. And this leads the apostle into the moral history of man the proof both of his inexcusable guilt, and of his extreme need of redemption. It is not here believing on Jesus, but on God who has proved what He is to us in raisin, from among the dead Him who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification (verses 13-25). It was as if they did not want to share God with anyone and had grudged man his share in him. If he will submit his life to the control of the spirit.Paul had felt the condemnation of the law. It is like Enoch who walked with God and God took him. It is not a question of His mercy merely; for this weakens the truth immensely, and perverts its character wholly. 8:12-17 So then, brothers, a duty is laid upon us--and that duty is not to our own sinful human nature, to live according to the principles of that same nature; for, if you live according to the principles of sinful human nature, you are on the way to death; but if by the spirit you kill the deeds of the body, you will live. It became simply a question whether, in fact, God did call Gentiles, or whether He had revealed such intentions. He is going to complete that work in me. We know that God intermingles all things for good for those who love him, for those who are called according to his purpose. And he gives his reason: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith." You know the amazing thing to me is that God can interpret that as intercession according to His will. It is the thing which troubles a renewed conscientious soul above all, because of his surprise at finding the deep evil of the flesh and its mind after having proved the great grace of God in the gift of Christ. Many times the evil that he wouldn't do he was doing. He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all ( Romans 8:32 ). At the moment creation is in bondage to decay. 17.) Hence therefore, the apostle, with divine wisdom, opens this to us before the blessed relief and deliverance which the gospel reveals to us. Satan is condemning, but why should I worry about that? Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. This designs the vanity and emptiness of the minds of the Gentiles, who were without God and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, without the law and Gospel, and grace of God; also the vain conceits they had of themselves, of their wisdom, knowledge, learning, and eloquence; likewise their vain philosophy, particularly their gross idolatry, their polytheism, or worshipping of many gods; together with their divers lusts and vices, to which they were addicted, to such a degree, that they might be truly said to be made subject thereunto, being under the government of these things, slaves unto them, and in such subjection, as that they could not deliver themselves from it; though it is said. It was not merely, that he had better light. "You only have I known of all the families of the earth," said God to Amos ( Amos 3:2). The rest of the epistle takes up the practical consequences of the great doctrine of God's righteousness, which had been now shown to be supported by, and in no wise inconsistent with, His promises to Israel. I reckon that this suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed. but because of Him who subjected it -- Perhaps a reference even back to Gods action of driving Adam out of the garden and away from the tree of life and thereby bringing "aging" and "death" to all mankind. If one may so say, He thus holds the man, instead of letting the man presume that he is holding fast the truth. Verse 21 may be correlated with the references previously given (Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 22:1-21 and Acts 3:1-26). Him who subjected it in hope is a reference to God, who alone had the authority and power to subject the creation to vanity, and also the option of totally destroying man because of sin, or subjecting him in hope of his redemption. They believed that they had been angry when God created man. Now, unfortunately, there are those radical groups that take a verse like this and a phrase "manifestation of the sons of God" and they use it to build a whole pernicious doctrine. God was not satisfied alone. Zechariah 4:10. For those whom he knew long ago he long ago designed to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers. To cement the alliance Nero wished to marry her. (a) He died. No apostle had ever yet visited Rome. Because of the Fall God subjected the whole creation to "futility" or "frustration." Neither life nor death can separate us from Christ. As He has given us through the blood of Jesus full remission, as we shall be saved by this life, as He has made us know even now nothing short of present conscious deliverance from every whit of evil that belongs to our very nature, as we have the Spirit the earnest of the glory to which we are destined, as we are the vessels of gracious sorrow in the midst of that from which we are not yet delivered but shall be, so now we have the certainty that, whatever betide, God is for us, and that nothing shall separate us from His love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. "I am not ashamed," etc. Week after week I would promise God that I was going to do better next week. Because I will be led by the Spirit of God. . We groan within ourselves, which denotes the strength and secrecy of these desires; not making a loud noise, as the hypocrites howling upon the bed for corn and wine, but with silent groans, which pierce heaven soonest of all. . To whom, then, did the law address itself? What shall we say then to these things? When the Bible speaks of God knowing a man, it means that he has a purpose and a plan and a task for that man. But now it is "the wrath of God from heaven;" and consequently it is in view of eternal things, and not of those that touch present life on the earth. In the fourth verse this could not be absent; in the first verse it ought not to be present. Even if other sons were afterwards born, it did not affect his rights. It is only when we understand how serious and complicated a step Roman adoption was that we really under stand the depth of meaning in this passage. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. And they watch that monitor, because if there is any life at all then the brain will start searching for oxygen, and you will see a little bit of movement. The words Paul uses of God are the very words God used of Abraham when Abraham proved his utter loyalty by being willing to sacrifice his son Isaac at God's command. He foreknew me, and then predestined that I should be conformed to the image of his Son, that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren. And it is not predicated upon you but upon His own nature of love. not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the So if a man is controlled by his body appetites, if a man is living predominately after the flesh, then he has what is termed here the mind of the flesh. His only concern is feeding himself, and of procreation, and so forth and he looks a little bit like me. God, however, subjected mankind to this futility "in hope" from the beginning. Finally he brings in Isaiah, showing that, far from retaining their blessing as an unbroken people, a remnant alone would be saved. Let's turn to the eighth chapter of Romans. of it. There we find Christian knowledge as to the matter introduced; but still it is the knowledge of one who is not in this state pronouncing on one who is. Paul has the very same thought. The notion that this passage (Romans 8:19-23) is a reference to all creation lower than the level of humanity "yearning in hope" is contrary to reason. (14-24) This sovereignty is in God's dealing both with Jews and Gentiles. There is no good reason for such an assumption, but much against it. It is not God seeking, or man bringing righteousness. (i) Sarx ( G4561) literally means flesh. Will usually post within 20 business days of receiving cleared payment. Was it not sure and evident that Israel could not take the promise on the ground of mere connection after the flesh? If that be so who can possibly condemn men? Now the Rabbis--and Paul had once been a Rabbi--believed that they were grudgingly hostile to men. He has declared me innocent of all charges. January 15, 2023. The adoption ceremony was carried out in the presence of seven witnesses. Using Gods solution and only His solution results in liberty and glory if we are the children of God.. For the law which comes from the Spirit and leads to life has in Christ Jesus set me free from the law which begets sin and leads to death. We have reason to pity the poor creatures that for our sin have become subject to vanity. Romans 8:18 is a well-known scripture written by Paul. It is as if Paul said: "You think of Jesus as the Judge who is there to condemn; and well he might for he has won the right. Even as God pronounced the sentence upon Adam and all mankind, He gave humanity hope and the first prophecy of the coming Messiah in His rebuke of Satan: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15 NKJV). (i) There is the life which is dominated by sinful human nature; whose focus and centre is self; whose only law is its own desires; which takes what it likes where it likes. People often do. This concern that God has for his people involves everything. 37a Acts 1-14* 37b Acts 15-28* John Nolland George R. Beasley-Murray Stephen J. Walton Stephen J. Walton 38a Romans 1-8 James D. G. Dunn 38b Romans 9-16 39 1 Corinthians* James D. G. Dunn Andrew D. Clarke 40 2 Corinthians, rev. Not that any part of the truth has escaped: it is the fatal brand of that "great house" that even the most elementary truth suffers the deepest injury; but as to this truth, it seems unknown altogether. (ii) It followed that he became heir to his new father's estate. The believer, whosoever he might be, should not be ashamed. If I don't know how to pray and I want to pray according to the will of God and here is my friend John over here and I don't know really how to pray for his situation. Mark 2:14 calls Matthew the son of Alphaeus. (i) We can take them as two statements, followed by two questions which give the inferences to be made from these statements. "We are saved by hope." "And earth, and all the trees, and the innumerable flocks of, sheep shall give their true fruit to mankind, of wine and of, sweet honey and of white milk and corn, which to men is the most. Glory! He really means human nature in all its weakness and he means human in its vulnerability to sin. Now here God is speaking of things concerning me that are not yet fulfilled. This would not have been just. Not so Paul. But if a man does not love and trust God, he may well resent what happens to him and may well fight against God's will. subjected -- The word subject to means placed in such a state; subjected to it by the appointment of another, as a soldier has his rank and place assigned him in an army. 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