Podcast

People cannot know Christ unless men are sent to preach His gospel to them. This must convict us to proclaim the Gospel to the world. Mission cannot exist without striving to convert the people. God says in Torah that He will stir Israel, a foolish nation up to jealousy to those who are not a nation, and in Isaiah, God says that He will be found by those who did not seek Him. They have heard His Gospel, and for those who have not accepted Him, God has forged a new nation out of the Gentiles. We must take care to not fail to take up His mission. The closing theme is Gerard Satamian’s Chansons Sans Paroles Op. 2 Pastorale, from the album Dry Fig Trees. www.magnatune.com

Paul’s desire is for all to be saved, both Jew and Gentile. This would not seem to have been accomplished, since there were many who tried to kill him when he returned to Jerusalem. Paul tells us that the Jews were not reckoned the promised land for their own righteousness, but that this righteousness comes from God. Paul also reminds us that Moses has petitioned for the Hebrews, asking God to have mercy despite their sinful ways. When you combine this with the fact that the prophets tell us that everyone who calls upon the name of God will be saved, it is clear that salvation is being offered to all people, Jew and Gentile alike.

The closing theme is Gerard Satamian’s Chansons Sans Paroles Op. 2 Pastorale, from the album Dry Fig Trees. www.magnatune.com

God has allowed some people throughout history to become vessels of wrath so as to make examples out of them, as He did with Pharaoh. Even in such cases, however, God does not make such a person commit evil: it is still his own choice. It is for this reason that God still finds fault in such people, and why we cannot blame our behavior on our being unable to resist His will. The reason for this is beyond our understanding, but it is something that we can see evidence for from the time of Isaiah.

Paul is troubled by the fact that the Jews have not come to Christ, and he says that if it were possible, he would cut himself off from Christ to save all of them. To the Jews belong sonship of God, still to this date. The covenants and the law belong to them as well. The lineage of Christ by the flesh comes from the Jews.

Paul looks a little more closely at the lineage, and notes that there is more to it than simply birthright, and that some descendants of Abraham are not part of the Jewish people, and thus to parse the promise that way could lead to some troubling implications for the Jews.

The closing theme is Gerard Satamian’s Chansons Sans Paroles Op. 2 Pastorale, from the album Dry Fig Trees. www.magnatune.com

After you have entered into life in Christ, returning to the life of flesh will only result in condemnation. Even though our bodies are dead, our spirits will remain alive, and the body will arise on the last day. We have become heirs to God, provided that we suffer with Him.

Flesh is subject to decay, but this decay shows us that there is something coming, something greater that will show the glory of the undecayed world. Without something to show us what hope will bring, there would be reason to hope.

God has provided for those he has called, and will conform them to the image of His Son, and since we are being provided for by God, we have nothing to worry about, if we allow ourselves to be conformed, and no thing could possibly separate us from the love of God.

The closing theme is Gerard Satamian’s Chansons Sans Paroles Op. 2 Pastorale, from the album Dry Fig Trees. www.magnatune.com

If we are in Christ, then we cannot be subject to condemnation, since Christ’s death had taken on all that we could be condemned for. To say otherwise would mean that Christ’s death was not effective. Jesus took on the likeness of sinful flesh, that is, the appearance of Christ’s flesh was that of the flesh of sinful men. Paul points out that what is in the flesh is opposed to God, and that Christians are now in the spirit, not in the flesh, or else we could not please God. If we do not set our minds on the spirit, but rather, on the flesh, we will reap corruption, not eternal life.

God knows what we are capable of, but He tempers us and tests us so that we may be refined to become what we are.

The closing theme is Gerard Satamian’s Chansons Sans Paroles Op. 2 Pastorale, from the album Dry Fig Trees. www.magnatune.com

Grace is just another name for the Holy Spirit. When we live under grace, our lives are transformed by Him, and we must not be idle, but rather keep embracing Him and bringing grace into our lives.

Paul laments the fact that he is still in the flesh, sold into slavery to sin. As such, Paul still does things that he does not want to do. No good comes from the flesh, but bad things come from the flesh. We are, in a sense, dragged along by sin, and yet we choose to do these things we abhor. As long as we choose not to be commanded by grace, we are in that state. None can rescue us from that state, but Jesus Christ.

Paul ends chapter seven by saying that he’s mentally a slave to Christ, but physically a slave to the law of sin. This cannot be taken to be an excuse to seek anything short of perfection, since Paul tells us that we must reject the ways of the flesh.

The closing theme is Gerard Satamian’s Chansons Sans Paroles Op. 2 Pastorale, from the album Dry Fig Trees. www.magnatune.com

Paul says that Christians can expect to triumph over sin, but that it remains possible that some may still sin, but some may incorrectly interpret this that Christians will never sin, or never be tempted to sin, or conversely, that no one can ever triumph over sin. Paul is joined by I John in this assertion.

Our original sin was completely destroyed in baptism, and we are no longer enslaved to sin, but we are all tempted, even Christ. We are given a spirit of love and discipline to resist this, and we must use that grace to strengthen ourselves.

We are bound by the law in this life, but not after death, as a woman may remarry after the death of her husband. The law was thus written not to save, but rather for sinners to understand why they were subject to death. Our master is no longer the law, but our Lord, Jesus Christ.

When we were under the law, our sinful passions were aroused by the law. The law, as taskmaster, has brought us to Christ, but now that Christ has come, that part of the law has passed away. This does not make the law sin, for without sin, we would not have known what sin is.

The closing theme is Gerard Satamian’s Chansons Sans Paroles Op. 2 Pastorale, from the album Dry Fig Trees. www.magnatune.com

Paul tells us that the Christian ought no longer to be slave to sin, which is a very powerful statement indeed. Since Jesus died one for all and died to sin once for all, we, too are to be like Christ and put to death the sinful parts of ourselves, and not a wasting death, but a final, decisive excision. This does not relieve us of the burden of temptation, but God gives us the grace to reject sin, if we act on it.

We are no longer under the law, but under grace, but we still have the duty to avoid sin, since we become slaves of whatever we obey, whether that be righteousness or sin. We had been free from righteousness, but now that we are slaves of righteousness, we receive the grace of sanctification, and avoid the wages of sin, which is death.

We need God’s gift of faith before we can begin on this journey.

The closing theme is Gerard Satamian’s Chansons Sans Paroles Op. 2 Pastorale, from the album Dry Fig Trees. www.magnatune.com

Chapter 6 of Romans starts a new section in Romans, dealing with the necessity of using our faith to be conformed to the Lord’s will. We must thus strive for holiness, apart from which no man will see God. We must increase in love to establish ourselves unblameable before God and make holiness perfect in the fear of God. Paul thus makes it clear that our souls must grow or else we cannot be doing God’s will.

Some have chosen to selectively quote the first five chapters to mean that works are not necessary to life in Christ, but the rest of the Bible tells us that this is wrong. Works of the law do not justify us, but works of faith are essential. James rails against this belief, telling us that faith is not of any worth if it isn’t evidenced by works. James calls that dead, in fact. Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are made to do good works. We are certainly saved by grace alone, but we are given a faith that works through love.

Some misinterpreted the statement that where sin increased, grace increases all the more that we should sin to increase grace. Paul denies this, since we have died to sin, and sin should be antithetical to our existence. Our sinful selves died with Christ, and we must not go back to that state.

Not only did we die with Christ, but we were buried with Him in our baptism, a sort of miraculous circumcision of the heart, but made without hands. This baptism puts certain obligations on us, as well.

The closing theme is Gerard Satamian’s Chansons Sans Paroles Op. 2 Pastorale, from the album Dry Fig Trees. www.magnatune.com