Romans 9:1-18

 Romans 9:1-18

Paul ends chapter 8, telling us nothing can separate us, as believers, from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Now he will talk about the reality of separation of non-believers from God, and he will use the Jewish people as an example. He begins by expressing his great sadness, even horror, over the fact that many Jewish people were or would be lost. In verse three he says he would willingly be accursed if it would mean the salvation of the Jews. That word accursed means “condemned and marked for destruction”. Paul says, “To hell with me” for their benefit. That sadly is nearly the opposite mindset of many churches and Christians today. More often than not, churches can be counted on to have planned and made their decisions based on what benefits themselves and not the lost they are called to reach. I once had a church lady tell me, in reference to a young couple struggling with drugs and alcohol, “We don’t want people like that in our church.”. In other words, “Let them go to hell.”. Any Christian or church that orders their life around their own interest and benefit rather than those they are called to reach doesn’t really know Christ or the Gospel.

Paul, heartbroken, talks about the rejection by God of Israel, His chosen people. This is one of the most challenging passages in the Bible. It appears that God would, on a whim, make a person unholy and then condemn them for their unholiness. But there is more to it than that. Paul is summarizing long stories and passages, and we need to know the whole story to get the point. The story of Pharaoh will serve nicely. The Scriptures tell us God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but there is more to it than just that. During the plagues on Egypt recorded in Exodus, we see an important change in Pharaoh. We see this phrase repeated, “he (Pharaoh) hardened his heart” (Exodus 8:15, 32). But in Exodus 9:12 we see that “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”. That change is important. If we insist on rejecting God and hardening our hearts against Him, eventually God will assist us in that. If we want to engage in heartlessness towards the lost, God will give us the desires of our heart. But He will also hold us accountable for our sin. The greatest sin is not some act of selfishness or sensuality. The greatest sin is rejecting God’s call to Himself through repentance. In other words, a gross act of immorality is less dangerous than the secret and gross act of resisting the Holy Spirit‘s conviction for seemingly minor acts of sin.

“Lord, keep my heart tender toward You and my will sensitive to Your conviction. AMEN”

Romans 8:18-39

 Romans 8:18-39

If a person had a mind to, they could easily make this grand passage, the study of a lifetime. Some Bible passages stir us very deeply; this is one of them. A detailed study of this passage is certainly worthy of reading, but for this occasion we should focus on three main themes of hope, protection, and victory.

Paul begins by saying that the sufferings of this age cannot compare with the glory that is to come. Before we rush over this too quickly, we need to remember Paul knew suffering in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. Paul describes some of his hardships. From the Jews up to this point, he had recorded 195 lashes with a whip. And had three Roman beatings, not to mention three shipwrecks and a stoning. Paul did not talk about suffering from a detached or academic perspective. When Paul said “sufferings could not compare,” he had a clear point of reference. What could be so wonderful to make such suffering worthwhile? Here we see the hope. Interestingly, rather than point to Heaven to answer the question, Paul points to earth. Paul is indirectly pointing to the lost paradise of Eden. Everything that was lost in Eden will be regained in the culmination of all things. This is another reason to take seriously and study carefully the doctrines of Eden and Paradise. Even nature, in some way, understands and groans for the return of Paradise. Things we consider to be natural disasters and environmental degradation are, in fact, signposts pointing to the coming world. We can confidently hope for a new or remade heaven and earth and our own bodies redeemed.

But in the meantime, we do have to work through a world of hurt and hardship. In our weakness and suffering, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us; we enjoy protection. Sometimes the suffering and sorrow of life is simply beyond words. We can’t describe them to God or men. But these groans, emotions, and expressions of grief are present in our life and are presented to the Father. These wordless expressions  of grief are translated, if you will, by the Holy Spirit. In the best of times, our prayers are often of poor quality, being selfish and only wanting relief from immediate problems. But we know God works all things to the ultimate good. Don’t miss how closely suffering, hardship, prayer, and God working things to our benefit are linked. Sometimes what is to our benefit is not the end of suffering but passing through the pain and to the maturity that is gained.

This brings us to our ultimate victory. If God is working even in our hardship for our well-being, who or what is going to stand against him? God is so committed to our well-being that He sent His Son to rescue us. We can be confident that if God would do this great thing, then certainly He would do the lesser things for us as well. And Jesus, having won the right to be the judge by bearing our sins, will not condemn us. What He did was for love’s sake; how could He judge us harshly? If He went to the cross for us because He loved us, He will use His power as judge to rescue us. With the Spirit pleading for us, the Father giving His Son for us, and the Son rescuing us, we need fear nothing in all of creation. With a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit pulling us in, nothing can possibly separate us from that love.

“Thank You Lord, thank You. AMEN”

Romans 8:12 A Bonus Devotion

  Romans 8:12

Adoption in Romans 8 is a word that has lost most of its meaning to us in the wealthy west. What percentage of our population is adopted? With our modern social safety net the prospects for a child without a parent is not as bleak as a child in the ancient world. Today due in large part to the distant past influence of Christianity a child who has no family might become a ward of the state or in the care of a foster family. This can be difficult for a child but it can also be a great benefit and kindness to the child. But in ancient Rome the options were fewer. Essentially there were two options: adoption or slavery. For some slavery was a life of meaningful work if they held some highly valuable skill. But for the majority life would be wretched beyond words, becoming farm or domestic slaves, gladiators or sex slaves. It was a sad service not a habitat for a son.  A slave had no personal life. He had no personality, he did not own his body, he had no ancestors, no name, no mind, and no gods of his own. Adoption was not uncommon in Rome. It ensured a single succession of the Empire. Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero were just a few examples of Emperors who came to power by means of adoption.  But for a Christian it is more than the political power and prestige that is granted. We have also the endearment of calling God Abba

“Lord, help me never forget the great privilege of calling you ABBA, AMEN”

Romans 8:1-17

 Romans 8:1-17

In this chapter Paul offers one of the great phrases of all the Bible. “We cry out, ‘Abba, Father…”. This is such a beautiful and deeply endowed phrase to unpack it we would have to notice what Paul says before the phrase itself. He tells us in verse one that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Up to this point, much of the book of Romans has been about the power of sin and our helplessness against it. In fact, we have no choice, before we are Christians, except to sin. Paul uses the word flesh to describe that pre-Christian life. The word flesh is used three ways, and it is only by noticing the context that we get the meaning. One use is for the literal flesh, the tissue of the body. A second way refers to perspective, as when he says, “Abraham was our ancestor according to the flesh.”. The third way he used the word was to describe the sinful nature of man, the growing appetite to engage in evil. We often associate flash with sex, but it can be any desire for selfish experience, such as gluttony or fits of rage. See Galatians 5:19-21 for a more complete list. In contrast to “flesh,” Paul uses the word “spirit.”. The Jewish understanding of spirit carried two implications: first, it was the person who went beyond death and life; second, it carried the idea of power. For example, the Holy Spirit is a person, but also His presence is the power for the Christian life.

So what do flesh and spirit have to do with Abba Father? Paul says that we have the Spirit of adoption because of who Christ is and what He did. We are adopted, and that is a much more powerful and meaningful theme than we may know. We often think of being adopted into the family of God as a symbolic, sweet, and warm metaphor. Not so! In Roman culture, adoption was a legal, serious, binding, and life-altering event. Under Roman custom, a son was never emancipated from his dad. If you were 85 years old and your dad was 105, he still legally had absolute authority over you and all that was yours. That authority extended to the point that a father could have his son put to death. Adoption meant moving from one absolute authority to another. That has powerful implications for how a son lived under his adopted father. Roman adoption was a two-step process, all of which was witnessed by seven witnesses. In the first step, the biological father would sell his son to the adoptive father. Often he would be sold back to the biological father, sold again, purchased back, and sold a third and final time. This was a way of making sure that the biological father was in full agreement with the adoption. In the second step, the adoptive father and the son, who was at this point nothing but a slave, would go to a magistrate where the boy would be legally adopted. The adoption was so complete that it is like a new life begins. Any debt, crime, or obligation the boy had was removed, and it no longer applied to him. He is the heir of his adoptive father’s estate, title, and privilege. If the adoptive father had biological children, the adoptive son did not lose any of his rights to them or hold a lesser position than they did. In the eyes of the Romans, the adoptive son was legally your son, a begotten son. The emperor Claudius adopted Nero as his son and heir. There was no biological relationship between Claudius’ daughter Claudia and Nero; nevertheless, when Claudius wanted the two of them to marry, it required special permission from the Senate because they were legally brother and sister.

There are some implications for us. We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. That means we are entitled to the privileges of Jesus in regards to being a son. We really like the sound of that. We have access to the Father just as Jesus does. But it also means that we are under the absolute authority of God. The call to holy living and personal holiness is not optional and is not just for a special elite kind of Christian. With the wonderful privilege of sonship comes the obligation of holiness.

“Lord, help me to live the holy life You expect of Your son. AMEN”

Romans 7:14-21

 Romans 7:14-21

No one who has ever seriously attempted to live righteously will doubt the power of sin. In this passage, one of the key questions about the struggle with sin is whether this is a Christian or non-Christian who has a struggle. Paul speaks in the present tense, which may indicate that it is a Christian’s struggle. But he uses language such as “sold into the bondage of sin” that is not descriptive of the Christian life. A detailed explanation of this question will have to wait for another time, but for the moment let us assume that both the Christian and non-Christian struggle. There is a principle that we do need to apply to ourselves: we are powerless to overcome sin by ourselves.

When a person becomes a Christian, they do not instantaneously change all the habits and patterns of life in that moment. Their status and standing before God are changed, but their habits are still theirs. Becoming a Christian will not change the behavioral habits that make up our moral character. Before Christ, sin was on the inside, working its way out to every aspect of our being. Fight as we might, we were not successful in overcoming sin. But in the moment we became a Christian, sin was removed from the inside and is now on the outside, trying to find its way back in. When sin was evicted, it left behind its habits from relationship patterns and emotions. From the outside, sin will try to use these as a way back into our lives.

The Christian who comes to this new life from a former life of hurt, abuse, hate, and dysfunction will have habits and ways of dealing with life that are sinful. The struggle they will have as a Christian is that when they face the same old hurts and pain, they will, by habit, tend to react in the old sinful ways. What they want to do, live holy, they don’t do, and what they don’t want to do, practice sin, they fall back into. Before Christ, “powerless before sin” is the only way to describe their circumstances.

But here’s the difference: before Christ, they were guilty and fighting the battle alone. As Christians, they are forgiven, and the Holy Spirit fights along side them. The new believer will struggle and will at times act rather badly, but they are capable of making real progress. They are forgiven, and they have the opportunity with God’s help to overcome the habits of sin. They can, indeed must, start living up to what they have been made. In this case, direction and progress are more important than position.

“Lord, make me full dependent on You and fiercely resistant to sin. AMEN 

Romans 7:1-13

 Romans 7:1-13

At the end of Romans 6, Paul describes the slavery to sin that can potentially wrap us up. Here he talks about how that relationship ended. This is one of Paul’s deepest thinking passages as he looks for ways to explain the relationship between sin, law, and our life in Christ. First, he uses the covenant of marriage as an example. So long as a woman is married, she cannot legitimately have another man. But if her husband dies, she is no longer bound by that marriage covenant. She is, in a word, set free because the husband she was bound to has died. The application here is twofold. First, when we are baptized, our relationship with both sin and the law dies. We were once married to them but are no longer because of the death we experience in our baptism. Second, we are now free to marry another, that is, Christ.

Before someone would try to equate law and sin as the same thing, Paul clearly defends law as being good, holy, and righteous. Law is not the problem. In a perfect universe, the law would be clearly seen as the wonderful and beautiful thing that it is. But ours is not a perfect universe. Sin has corrupted us and the way we understand the law. While the prohibitions of the law protect us, our defiant nature sees the law as something to be broken so we can gain an advantage. Perhaps this illustration will help. Playing a board game with a toddler, the rules are meaningless. But as a child learns to play the game, they learn the rules. Before long they will learn to cheat. The rules give order to the game. But the child wanting to win will see every rule as something to be broken in order to gain an advantage. The rules or law are not the problem, but we see in them where we can try to get ahead by cheating.

When we think that cheating, breaking the law, will give us an advantage, we are always deceived. First, we are deceived in how much satisfaction we will achieve. Sin makes grandiose promises but never delivers. Second, we are deceived and how good our justification for our sin is. The reason, excuse, or lie we tell ourselves as we try to legitimize our sin may seem solid to us, but from a proper perspective, it is clearly flimsy. Finally, we are deceived and how we can secretly sin. We think there will be no consequences. Not at all! We are often caught. But even if not, God knows, and our conscience knows. This will compel us to either repent or move toward greater darkness and become more evil and monstrous.

“Lord, help me to grasp Your intended purpose for the Law.  AMEN”

Romans 6:15-23

 Romans 6:15-23

We all live as slaves to something. We can see the slavery of sin clearly in a desperate drug addict or alcoholic. I once talked with a police officer who described the underbelly of street life in a major city. He described the most desperate of prostitutes by their street term “crack whores,” who would exchange sex for a five-dollar rock of crack cocaine. We can easily see their slavery to their sin. But not all slavery to sin is so obvious. For some, the devil will be subtler in his seduction to slavery. One of the key things to understand about sin is that it is always progressive in nature, taking more and more control over our lives once we begin down that path. The particular thrill or attraction of each sin is unique, but they have this in common: they always move to a deeper level of darkness and control. 

The one who gets away with a bad temper will eventually move into the realm of rage and intimidation. The one who gets ahead by innuendo will sooner or later become a skillful gossip. When one begins by viewing “artful pornography,” they will progress to hardcore pornography. The slavery of sin is never static! That is one of the reasons why every sin is a big deal. When we first open the door to sin, we don’t know where it will end up. The devil may tell us, “It is only a little thing; it is no big deal; it is not a gross sin.”. He lies. First, anything, any sin that sent Christ to the cross is a big deal. Second, our culture may think it is a small thing, but God‘s opinion is the one that matters. Third, that sin may be the one to which we are especially likely to become addicted. 

A Christian may dabble with certain sins and not become enslaved and be deceived into thinking dabbling is not a problem. She finds pornography gross and drunkenness not worth the hangover. But she is thrilled with a little office gossip; she finds hearing exciting, knowing delightful, and telling exquisite. She may be almost prudish about sex and a perfect teetotaler but the most horrific source of misery by means of gossip. When we sample sin, we will sooner or later find a poison that suits us. Not every slave to sin is the drunk in the gutter or the prostitute in the filthy brothel. The slave may be the person in the mirror of a fine upscale store, admiring the reflection, and so addicted to their appearance that they imagine if they had one more outfit of clothing, they would be happy. We crave that which is our master.

“Lord, bring Your conviction on me that I will never be hard hearted about sin.  AMEN”