WEEK 2 ROMANS 1:16-3:20 THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH 1
1:16-17 - The theme of the letter: The Gospel, the Good News that tells of the righteousness of God, which He freely gives to everyone who has faith (to Jews and Gentiles alike). Paul was not ashamed of this message, for as he explains, it is the instrument God uses in saving sinners (See Galatians 1:6-9). 2
Why would Paul be ashamed of the gospel? 1. The gospel, by telling us that our salvation is free and undeserved is really insulting. 2. The gospel is also really insulting by telling us that we are so wicket that only the death of the Son of God could save us. 3. The gospel, by telling us that trying to be good and spiritual isn t enough, thereby insists that no good person will be saved by their works, but only those who come to God through Jesus. 4. The gospel tells us that following Jesus means to suffer and serve with Him. (Tim Keller, Romans 1-7 For You, Pages 18-19) 3
The two leading doctrines of Romans are stated in 1:16-17: (1) Salvation is by faith alone, not by keeping the law. By faith alone the unrighteous receive perfect righteousness and on the ground of this God-given righteousness, they are justified. (2) The free offer of salvation is to all men without distinction. All who believe the gospel, regardless of their race or any other consideration, are promised salvation. See Habakkuk 2:4. 4
1:18-32 The Gentiles are sinful and are without personal righteousness. 1:18-23 The Gentiles are shown to be justly exposed to God s wrath because they did not honor Him, even though they possessed an adequate knowledge of God through the things created by Him (General Revelation). They are without excuse because they deliberately gave up the knowledge of God and turned to idols. 5
We were created to worship the Creator, so if we reject Him, we will worship something else. We will turn a good thing into a god thing. Since the fundamental truth about God is being suppressed, life cannot be lived in a consistent way. Take morality, for example. If there is no God who has the right to say what is right and wrong, how are we to find moral absolutes? 6
STOLEN FROM CHIP INGRAM ALL FORGIVABLE SINS SYMPTOMS CAUSE ROOT CAUSE 7
1:24-32 Because the Gentiles exchanged the truth about God for a lie and did not see fit to acknowledge Him, God gave them up to all kinds of sin. The main problem of our heart is not so much desire for bad things, but our over-desires for good things, turning them into objects of service and worship. Oscar Wilde: When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers. 8
1:29-30: This is the doctrine of Total Depravity. Paul is not just focusing on our actions, but is focusing on our attitudes as well. Hodge observes, God often punishes one sin by abandoning the sinner to the commission of other sins God does not impel or entice to evil. He ceases to restrain. He says of the sinner, Let him alone. 1:32: The Gentiles do not commit these sins ignorantly; they know God s decree that those who do such things deserve to die. 9
STOLEN FROM CHIP INGRAM ALL FORGIVABLE SINS SYMPTOMS CAUSE ROOT CAUSE 10
2:1-3:8 The Jews are sinful and are without personal righteousness. 2:1-16 God s judgement will be based on the principle of justice and will be the same for all men, Jews and Gentiles alike. 2:1-11 God will judge men according to what they have done, according to their works. 2:1 John Stott: We work ourselves up into a state of self-righteous indignation over the disgraceful behavior of other people, while the very same behavior seems not nearly so serious when it is ours rather than theirs. 11
2:12-16 God will judge men according to the light they have enjoyed according to the law they have lived under. The Gentiles will be judged according to the law written on man s heart the law of nature or conscience. The Jews will be judged by the law written on man s heart and the law of Moses as revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures. 12
The bottom line: Judgement is impartial. What matters is how we relate to God. God s just judgement is fundamental to His declaration about God s Son. Without judgement, salvation has no meaning. We cannot appreciate who Christ is unless we have first acknowledged who we are. 13
2:17-19 Six things the Jews are proud of: 1. Their nationality 2. They have and know the Law 3. God has chosen Israel to be His people 4. Following the Law gave them a sense of pleasing God 5. They mastered the Law they could quote it 6. They could spread the knowledge of the law 1. Problem: They are relying on their nationality and morality. 14
2:17-24 When tested by the written law of Moses, the Jews are shown to be as justly and certainly exposed to condemnation as are the Gentiles. Moralism fails we have the Law, but no one keeps it. 2:25-29 The value of circumcision explained. It is not the outward physical state of man that God judges He looks upon the heart and judges man s inward spiritual condition. It is better to be an unbaptized believer than a baptized unbeliever. 15
LIVE BY FAITH 3:1-8 Jewish objections anticipated and refuted in a Question and Answer format What advantage is there in being Jewish? Answer: Much in every way. In the first place, the Jews had the word of God. God promised to be the God of the Jews. Wouldn t he be unfaithful by punishing them? Answer: God remains faithful regardless of what the Jews bring upon themselves by their own unfaithfulness. God would be unjust to punish the Jews for their wickedness since it commends His justice. Answer: If this principle were true, God could not punish anyone, Jew or Gentile. It would lead to the absurd conclusion that it is right to do evil that good may come. 16
3:9-18 Summary: All men, Jews and Gentiles alike are under the power of sin and have failed to keep God s law; consequently, there is not one righteous person. How Sin affects sinners: 3:10 Our legal standing 3:11 Our minds 3:12 Our wills 3:13-14 Our tongues 3:15-17 Our relationships to each other 3:18 Our relationships to God 17
3:19-20 Since all men are sinful and have failed to keep God s law, no one will be justified on the ground of his own works. The law is not given to us so that in observing it we can be declared righteous because we are all sinful. Through the law we become conscious of sins. 18
PRACTICAL LESSONS FROM ROMANS 1:16-3:20 1:16,17 -- to everyone who exercises faith from faith to faith shall live by faith. Again and again Paul mentions faith, looking away from oneself for salvation, and looking to God to receive it as a gift. From Dr. Herman Bavinck s work on the Doctrine of God, I quote the following: My leaning does not help me now; neither does my Dogmatics; faith alone saves me. These remarkable words, uttered by one of the greatest Reformed theologians, should not be misinterpreted. They were uttered on his death-bed and did not imply that this humble child of God retracted anything that he had written, or that he was trying to express regrets. The statement simply means that a system of doctrine, however necessary and valuable, is of no avail in and by itself. It must be translated into Christian living. There must be genuine faith in the Triune God as manifested in Jesus Christ. Now, Dr. Bavinck was, indeed, a man of faith, a faith which in his case was working through love. New Testament Commentary, Romans, William 19 Hendriksen, Page 83-84
PRACTICAL LESSONS FROM ROMANS 1:16-3:20 1:21-32 -- For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him they exchanged the glory of God for an image Therefore God gave them over to sexual immorality to passions that bring dishonor They not only practice such (wicked) things but also approve of those who practice them. Notice that sin begets sin. Apart from God s grace the sinner descends lower and lower on the ladder of evil. The lesson: Avoid the first downward step. By God s grace and power, keep clinging to God and to his will for our lives, as revealed in Scripture. - New Testament Commentary, Romans, William Hendriksen, Page 84 20
PRACTICAL LESSONS FROM ROMANS 1:16-3:20 1:21-32 -- God often punishes sin by abandoning the sinner to the commission of others. Paul repeats this idea three times in verses 24, 26, 28. This judicial abandonment is consistent with the holiness of God and the free agency of man. God does not impel or entice to evil. He ceases to restrain. He says of the sinner, Let him alone. Men should remember that their security from open and gross sins is not in themselves, but in God; and they should regard as the worst of punishments, his withdrawing from them his Holy Spirit. - Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Charles Hodge, Page 45 21
PRACTICAL LESSONS FROM ROMANS 1:16-3:20 2:1,2 - The advantages of membership in the external Church, and of a participation of its ordinances, are very numerous and great. The great advantage of the Christian over the heathen world, and of the members of a visible ecclesiastical body over others not so situated, is the greater amount of divine truth presented to their understandings and hearts. - Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Charles Hodge, Page 75 22
PRACTICAL LESSONS FROM ROMANS 1:16-3:20 2:13 -- It is the doers of the law who will be pronounced righteous. Good works have never saved anybody. Yet without them no one has a right to claim that he is a Christian. The believer does the works of the law out of gratitude for salvation received as God s free gift. - New Testament Commentary, Romans, William Hendriksen, Page 114 23
PRACTICAL LESSONS FROM ROMANS 1:16-3:20 3:20 The office of the law is neither to justify nor to sanctify. It convinces and condemns. All efforts to secure the favor of God, therefore, by legal obedience must be vain. - Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Charles Hodge, Page 87 24