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Post by Admin on Jun 30, 2020 21:22:19 GMT -6
Study Begins: June 30, 2020
Discussion Begins: July 05, 2020
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6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. |
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elacey
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Post by elacey on Jul 2, 2020 8:50:48 GMT -6
Being justified through faith means that God grades us on a technical curve which accounts for...
Our DNA makeup
Our early childhood
Our brain wiring and chemistry
Our flaws
Our current circumstances
We can reject the human legalistic idea of perfection and just hold on to our faith which ultimately gives us hope.
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elacey
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Post by elacey on Jul 2, 2020 18:46:28 GMT -6
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4 NIV bible.com/bible/111/rom.5.3-4.NIV-- Now to be clear I'm not saying that we accept or justify mentally our sin... our imperfections... Our sinful thoughts, behaviors under diress, our bad habits. Through our own sinful nature we suffer for various reasons. What is faith? Faith is knowing deeply inside that... God is in control. (He Reigns) God loves us unconditionally (Grace) The Holy Spirit works to sanctify us. This sanctification is a process... 1. We suffer 2. We hand control to Jesus 3. The Holy Spirit guards our heart & mind 4. We persevere 5. This builds our character Building of character is a reconstruction project which may involve some internal demolition to remove weak or faulty parts of the foundation. After redevotion to the word, I've allowed the Holy Spirit to change me. I've accepted that the root cause of my sinful behavior is alcohol. I'm not a healthy person with alcohol in my life. I've admitted finally to myself that I am an alcoholic. My commitment to sobriety began June 18. I'm still detoxing and every day has been a challenge... Not a prefect process... However with the help of God (study, fellowship, holy spirit,) I have been able to persevere and I can feel how this is freeing me from guilt and moving me out of suffering which is almost always caused by me. The devil no longer has his favorite tool (spirits) which do nothing but allow the dark spirits to indwell and deaden my spiritual senses. This process is restoring my integrity and my character. My faith in Jesus, in the grace of God and in the sanctification process gives me Hope. Ultimately this brings Peace to my heart. I've found myself doubling down on my faith and allowing Jesus the opportunity to fight my spiritual battle against Satan and Sin and temptation for me. The peace of God in our heart, and the assurance of our Salvation is such a wonderful gift. Praise God for watching over me all these years.  |
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JB
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Post by JB on Jul 6, 2020 4:59:03 GMT -6
Contextual Summary
Paul has been addressing so many profound and intertwined issues, and in such exquisite detail, that I feel a summary review is in order so that we are more prone to stay within his arguments rather than stray off.
So here's my contextual summary. After I post this I'll post my regular study of our current text.
- God promised Abraham that he'd have heirs, and that he and his heirs would inherit the world.
- This seemed impossible, since Sarah was well past child bearing age.
- Neither Abraham nor Sarah could contribute anything to the promise of offspring being fulfilled. If it was going to happen, God would have to do it miraculously.
- Despite the apparent impossibility, Abraham believed God.
- Because Abraham believed God with an "against-all-odds faith" and there was nothing he could personally contribute, God credited righteousness to him and fulfilled the promise through him.
- God makes us righteous the same way - against all odds (because of our sin) and with nothing we can personally contribute towards that righteousness.
- Just as our sins don't affect our salvation, neither do our works. If we were justified by our works, we would be contributing to our salvation. But none of our works are good enough justify us.
- If our good works justified us, or if our sins prevented us from salvation, salvation would be a legal system and would result in our doom.
- Fortunately, God justifies us apart from works.
- He justifies us only by our trust/faith in His promise to justify us.
- When we trust God to save us even when our sins make it seem impossible - because we can't be good enough - He will save us.
- He will also make us heirs of His promise to Abraham - to inherit the world.
Six critical principles emerge:- Law makes faith worthless. If you can do it yourself, there's no reason for faith. (4:14)
- Law makes the Promise worthless. There's no reason to look forward to a promise from God if you can fulfill the promise yourself. (4:14)
- Where there is no law, there is no sin. This is like saying in our government "where there is no law there is no crime" (4:15). You can pick your nose without guilt, but if the government creates an anti-nose-picking law, you will be a criminal if you pick yours.
- We are free from law, thus in God's vision we are also free from sin. How can there be sin without a law to convict us? (4:15). This does not mean that a Christian is incapable of committing sinful acts. This is about guilt, not action.
- Just as works didn't cause us to be saved, works won't sustain our salvation.
- Just as sin didn't prevent us from being saved, sin won't cause us to stop being saved.
We are charity cases. Our role is simply to have faith - to accept God's charity. That may make prideful Americans uncomfortable, but it also can and should bring us great relief, peace, and joy. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Paul begins Chapter 5 with that radical grace in mind. He will now drill down into the seemingly simple statement that he began with in Romans 1:16-17, that " The gospel... is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "'The righteous will live by faith.'" We naturally get uncomfortable with such a radical grace, and we want to talk about what obedience looks like without law to condemn us. Fortunately, that's where Paul leads us next. Remember that he opened this letter by saying in that " Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith." (1:15). Faith most definitely produces obedience, just not from fear of conviction by the law. There is a better way. |
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John R
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Post by John R on Jul 6, 2020 13:11:13 GMT -6
This is so lost on the modern Christian! God was at war with mankind! For our sin God had condemned all of us to an eternity in HELL! But now and only through the Lord Jesus Christ and our faith in his shed blood on the cross and resurrection from the grave are we able to fall on our knees and thank the Father for His mercy and grant us peace with Him.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
JB/Eric...I apologize for the lateness of my response. I will get the rest of my study out this evening.
Blessings!
John
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JB
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Post by JB on Jul 6, 2020 13:43:05 GMT -6
Romans 5:1-4 [RADICAL GRACE BRINGS US PEACE, HOPE, AND JOY AS WE STAND INNOCENT BEFORE GOD THE JUDGE] 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Paul calls out three ways this radical grace affects us: - We have peace with God (v.1).
Consider the magnitude of this! We can walk through the garden with God without feeling the need to hide (Gen 3:8-10) because we are no longer naked. We are clothed with Christ (Gal 3:27, Rom 13:14)! - We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (v.2)
How great it is to know that, when we face the impending end of our earthly lives, we do not have to accept the statements from doctors and our worldly companions that "there is no hope left for you" (meaning that you are going to die and it will be all over). We have hope beyond the grave, and death becomes merely a comma in the life of a Christian rather than a period. To the world, "hope" means wishful thinking (e.g., "I hope I get the job"). But to Christians it means confidence. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Heb 11:1). - We rejoice in our sufferings (v.3)
It's easy to miss the fact that that our future hope has present benefits. If our lives are of minimal value, the sufferings we encounter in them are also of minimal value, and we need not lose our peace because of them. I would go so far as to say that when we become nervous and fearful of things we face in this life, we've lost our focus on eternity to the degree that we are nervous or fearful.
Earthly suffering merely reminds us of how corrupt the world is, which reminds us how badly it needs saved, which in turn causes us to bask in our salvation and have peace.
Notice also in verse 2 that "we "stand" in this grace. Paul chose a legal Greek term for "stand" - histemi. It refers to standing before a judge or a jury. We can stand before the judge and be found completely blameless!
How does this radical-grace salvation relate to us rejoicing in sufferings? Verses 3 and 4 indicate that rejoicing in suffering makes us more like Him and increases our hope!
5:5-8 [GOD POURED HIS LOVE INTO OUR HEARTS IN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND SAVED US WHILE WE WERE STILL GUILTY] 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
V.5, Can you picture this? God opening up your vacant heart and pouring His love into it in the form of the Holy Spirit - a part of Himself? Read that again, but slowly this time. And then worship Him.
We were devoid of anything that was good. To remedy that, God poured part of Himself into us.
V.6, He did this "at just the right time" - not when we were righteous but when we were ungodly. The word "ungodly" in Greek (asebes) means "without reverence for God," acting diametrically opposed to His ways.
Even those who were pretty good people when they were saved (as Paul was, and as I wasn't) were living diametrically opposed to God because they were confident in their own goodness.
The "right time" for Him to save us was while we were "powerless" (v.6) "ungodly" (v.6) "sinners" (v.8), God's "enemies" (v.10).
But because of God's love for His enemies, Christ died "on behalf of" us (v.8).
God's magnanimous love required that He do something to give us the things we lacked - power, godliness, sinlessness - and make us God's friends rather than His enemies.
5:9-11 [SO NOW, AS WE REALIZE OUR SIN, WE DON'T HAVE TO WORRY WHETHER WE'LL BE SAVED!] 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
V.9, If salvation wrtr dependent upon our own works we would definitely have cause for concern. We would always have to worry that we will fail! But we will be saved from God's wrath because we were justified by His blood. No cause for concern, then, because He won't fail!
V.10-11, Our confidence here in these verses is the effect of our peace and joy mentioned in vv.1-4.
Since we were reconciled to God through Christ's death while we were still His enemies, we can be certain He will also complete the project by saving us through His life!
What an unshakable confidence I should always have that I'm in the Father's love and care, forever protected as long as I will remain. Why would I ever leave? More importantly, why am I so inconsistent in my prayer, faith, praise and faithfulness?
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John R
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Post by John R on Jul 6, 2020 17:57:45 GMT -6
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John R
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Post by John R on Jul 6, 2020 18:09:07 GMT -6
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:6)
Praise God that He did! Thank you Jesus. I weep to think God loved me that much! Before I met Him, I was truly dead in my sin. I cared only about my own pleasure, no one else matter really to me but me. Even my own children fell below my "me first," lifestyle. Jesus still died for me, Disgusting me! Words cannot describe how wonderful a gift He gave to me.
Praise Him!
Praise Him!
Praise Him!
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John R
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Post by John R on Jul 6, 2020 18:15:24 GMT -6
"10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
As long as I live, I will never understand why me?
I cannot fathom this kind of love. How can I show Him how much it means. I do not have enough days left. Thank you Jesus! You saved my soul, "...you snatching (me) out of the fire" (Jude 23).
Blessings and Praises!
John
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JB
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Post by JB on Jul 6, 2020 19:42:01 GMT -6
Being justified through faith means that God grades us on a technical curve which accounts for... Our DNA makeup Our early childhood Our brain wiring and chemistry Our flaws Our current circumstances We can reject the human legalistic idea of perfection and just hold on to our faith which ultimately gives us hope. |
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JB
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Post by JB on Jul 6, 2020 19:59:09 GMT -6
I've found myself doubling down on my faith and allowing Jesus the opportunity to fight my spiritual battle against Satan and Sin and temptation for me. The peace of God in our heart, and the assurance of our Salvation is such a wonderful gift. Praise God for watching over me all these years. Satan challenges us to a dual regarding sin. He will always win that fight if we accept his challenge. We simply can't win that fight.
Spiritual transformation is the only hope against sin. That transformation begins now, but is never complete until we are like Him - when "by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" (Philippians 3:21)
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JB
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Post by JB on Jul 6, 2020 20:11:49 GMT -6
The NASB translates this "and hope doe not disappoint." After comparing those two translation with the Greek text, I believe the intention of the wording here is something like "If we continue to hope, we will not be disappointed. God will come through."
In other words, our hopeful faith will not prove to be be futile. |
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