Actually this is sketchy lesson study notes…Please read the passage carefully from different translations and ask the Lord to show you His nuggets for you. The theme of Romans is the righteousness of God, but Paul began with the Unrighteousness of man. Until man knows he is a sinner, he cannot appreciate the gracious salvation God offers in Jesus Christ. First Law and condemnation; then grace and salvation.
The Gentile World is Guilty 1:18-32 This portion of Scripture gives ample proof that the heathen are lost. That is motivation for evangelism. There is a desperate need for us to carry the Gospel to all men, for this is the only way they can be saved.
It is not evolution that has taken place – where man began low and climbed high, but devolution…man started high and because of sin, sank lower than the beast… 1. Intelligence…man began in knowing God….turned from the Truth and rejected God. God revealed Himself to man through creation, the things that He made. Looking at the world around him, man knew that there was a God who had the wisdom to plan and the power to create…”clearly seen” v. 20 so man is without excuse. Men knew the truth but did not allow the truth to work in their lives. Refused the truth and turning the truth into a lie. 2. Ignorance…Man knew God; this is clear, but man did not want to know God or honor Him as God. Instead of man the worshiper man became the philosopher. If man will not worship the true God he will worship a false god, even if he has to manufacture it himself. “Ye shall be as God…made idols in his own image and then went so low as to worship birds, beasts, and bugs. 3. Indulgence From idolatry to immorality is just one short step. When man becomes his own god, then he can do whatever he pleases and fulfill his desires without fear of judgment. Self deification became self indulgence. “God gave them up…permitted them to go on in their sins and reap the sad consequences. 4. Impenitence – became more so…did not want to return to the Lord…”God gave them over to a depraved mind v. 28…a mind that cannot form right judgments. Man began as the highest of God’s creatures, made in His image, but he ended lower than the beasts and insects …the verdict: “They are without excuse.
The Jewish World is Guilty 2:1 – 3:8 The blessings the Jews received gave them greater responsibility to obey and glorify Him. In 2:6-11 Paul is not teaching salvation by character or good deeds. He is explaining another basic principle of God’s judgment; God judges according to deeds, just as He judges according to truth. Paul was dealing here with the consistent actions of a operson’s life, the total impact of his character and conduct. David – committed terrible sins, but the total emphasis of his life was obedience to God. Judas confessed his sin and suppled the money for buying a cemetery for strangers, yet the total emphasis of his life was disobedience and unbelief.
True saving faith results in obedience and Godly living…even tho we may have occasional falls. When God measured the deeds of the Jews, He found them to be a wicked as those of the Gentiles. Their consistent daily life was one of disobedience to God. Paul makes it clear in 2:12-24 that it was not the possession of the Law that counted, but the Practice of the Law. God judges according to truth, accord to deeds, but He also judges “the secrets of men”…what is in the heart!
The Jews took God’s blessings upon them for granted…they depended on the physical mark of circumcision rather than the spiritual reality it represented. A true Jew is one who has had an inward spiritual experience in the heart and not merely an outward physical operation. An obedient Gentile with no circumcision would be more acceptable than a disobedient Jew with circumcision.
The Whole World is Guilty 3:9-20 The word therefore in verse 3:20 carries the meaning of because and gives the reason why the whole world is guilty.
No flesh can obey God’s Law and be justified in His sight. “the doers of the law shall be justified”, but NOBODY CAN DO WHAT THE LAW DEMANDS! This inability is one way that men know they are sinners. When they try to obey the Law, they fail and must cry out to God for His mercy.
Then Paul addresses SALVATION…the theological term for salvation is JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous in Christ on the basis of the finished work of Christ on the cross. Justification is an ACT, not a process. There are no degree es of justification; each believer has the same right standing before God. Justification is something GOD DOES not man. No sinner can justify himself before God. Most important justification does not mean that God MAKES us righteous, but that He DECLARES us righteous. Justification is a legal matter God puts the righteousness of Christ on our record in the place of our own sinfulness. And nobody can change this record.
In the O.T., righteousness came by man BEHAVING, but under the Gospel, righteousness comes by BELIEVING. The Law reveals the righteousness of God because the Law is holy and just and good. The Law could witness to God’s righteousness, but it could not provide it for sinful man…ONLY Jesus Christ could do that Gal. 2:21 Faith is only as good as its Object. It is not “I trust in God” … it is personal, individual faith in Jesus Christ that saves and justifies the lost sinner. Good news of Jesus Christ is offered to ALL men. Salvation is free, but it is not cheap. (Example – coal miner and the elevator).
God must be perfectly consistent with Himself. He cannot break His own Law or violate His own nature. He is love and He is light. A God of love wants to forgive sinners, but a God of holiness must punish sin and uphold His righteous Law. How can God be both…JESUS CHRIST! When He suffered the wrath of God on the cross for the sins of the world, He fully met the demands of God’s Law and also fully expressed the love of God’s heart. The animal sacrifices in the O.T. never took away sin; but when Jesus died, He reached all the way back to Adam and took care of those sins. No one – including Satan – could accuse God of being unjust or unfair because of His seeming passing over of sins in the O.T. times.
No comments:
Post a Comment