Romans 1-8-17

Apr 26, 2020 // By:Dave // No Comment

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,

10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.

11 For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;

12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

13 I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

Message:

8 I thank God through Jesus for every one of you. That’s first. People everywhere keep telling me about your lives of faith, and every time I hear them, I thank him.

9 And God, whom I so love to worship and serve by spreading the good news of his Son—the Message!—knows that every time I think of you

10 in my prayers, which is practically all the time, I ask him to clear the way for me to come and see you.

11 The longer this waiting goes on, the deeper the ache. I so want to be there to deliver God’s gift in person and watch you grow stronger right before my eyes!

12 But don’t think I’m not expecting to get something out of this, too! You have as much to give me as I do to you.

13 Please don’t misinterpret my failure to visit you, friends. You have no idea how many times I’ve made plans for Rome. I’ve been determined to get some personal enjoyment out of God’s work among you, as I have in so many other non-Jewish towns and communities. But something has always come up and prevented it.

14 Everyone I meet—it matters little whether they’re mannered or rude, smart or simple—deepens my sense of interdependence and obligation.

15 And that’s why I can’t wait to get to you in Rome, preaching this wonderful good news of God.

16 It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else!

17 God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.”

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

What an accommodation !! “The entire civilized world is talking about the faith of you, Christians in Rome”

And this is to a group of believers in the midst of Rome !! (A place the Roman historians call a “cesspool of civilization”. 

These Christians are thriving in a place worse than wheee we are right now !

9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,

He does not serve Him in the flesh, but by Spirit

serve = 3302  λατρεύω, latreuō, v.  [3301]. to serve, minister (in religious duties)

2 Cor 10:3

Eph 6:12

we are in a spiritual engagement, we are here for spiritual purposes
(why do we insist on using tools and tactics of the flesh)?

How does he serve Him ?   By preaching one Gospel

What is that Gospel ? (Rom 5, 1 Cor 15). 

Rom. 5:6-11 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

1Cor. 15:1-8  Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.

11 For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;

12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

13 I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

Paul has been wanting to visit these Roman christian but has yet to get there (won’t get there until the end of his fourth journey)

notice that he says
1. impart some spiritual gift to you (that they may be established)
2. to be encouraged “with them” by each others faith.
3. “obtain some fruit” among you

fruit =   καρπός, karpos, n.  [root of: 182, 2842, 2844, 2845]. fruit, crop, harvest, produce of vegetation; by extension: deed, activity, produce of a person

14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

what is obligation ?
φειλέτης, opheiletēs, n.  [4053]. debtor, one who owes, is obligated, guilty

Who is he obligated to ?

why then does he say he is obligated to greeks, barbarians, wise, and foolish ?
(did they pay his dept of sin and transgressions)?

Do we have a sense of the life debt we owe to Christ and how He wants us to pay it ?
(Expression of gratitude by paying it forward)

15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

Hab 2:4 quoted

Paslm 119:105

105  gYour word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path.

Rom 4:13-25

13 For ethe promise to Abraham and his offspring fthat he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 gFor if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For hthe law brings wrath, but iwhere there is no law jthere is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, kin order that the promise may rest on grace and lbe guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, mwho is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, n“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, owho gives life to the dead and calls into existence pthe things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, q“So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was ras good as dead (ssince he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered tthe barrenness3 of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that uGod was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But vthe words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us wwho believe in xhim who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 ywho was delivered up for our trespasses and raised zfor our justification.

Do we see that faith, in Pauls eye’s (through scripture) is always expressed as works of faith ?

James 2:14-17 “faith with works is dead

What is the great commission?

In Luke’s rendering of the Great Commission he uses “repentance” as a single requirement in the same sense as believing in Christ (Luke 24:46-47)

(believing = repenting)

saying “I believe in Christ” (to a NT christian) = repenting of thinking in ways that are not aligning with God’s ways

repentance (an action) = saving faith (the writers of the NT used these two interchangeably)

what is repentance ?

Do we conduct our lives (even in our own families) with repentance (God’s Spiritual ways are right, my carnal ways are wrong)

Just as Paul wrote in verse 9 “serve in my spirit” 

λατρεύω πνεμα, 

latreuō pneuma 

ministry empowered/inspired by the Spirit

leading to karpos (fruit)

John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Eph. 5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;  (unfruitful = akarpos)

Eph. 5:12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

Eph. 5:13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

Eph. 5:14 For this reason it says, 

“Awake, sleeper, 

And arise from the dead, 

And Christ will shine on you.”

Eph. 5:15 ¶ Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,

Eph. 5:16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

Eph. 5:17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Do we serve our wives in the Spirit ?

  • know their needs (can’t place someones needs above your own if you dont know them)
  • know their gifts (appreciating their portion as half of yourself)
  • lift them up (not just in prayer, or reading the word to them) but lifting them up by serving them with our headship, creating opportunities for them to grow in Christ, to use and develop their gifts, do we give them room to grow (or do we keep them to ourselves in laziness as some private waitress from God)

Do we honor our husbands in the Spirit?

  • truly submit to their leadership as unto the Lord
    truly honor the man for his gifts or just tolerate the differences

Do we raise our children in the Spirit ?

  • reflect Christ to our children
  • reflect our stations as husband and wife in front of the children
  • teach our children the authority of the Lord as authority over us as well.

There is only one Gospel to Preach (out of obligation to Christ Himself)

there is only one way to serve in my spirit

λατρεύω πνεμα, 

latreuō pneuma 

ministry empowered/inspired by the Spirit

 

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