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Romans Chapter 9 Gods Unconditional Love

Rev Romans Chapter 9 God's Unconditional Love We discovered, in our last study, that justification by faith, which is the theme of that great epistle of Paul to the Romans, is not just a theory or a philosophy. It is a truth that must be experienced. We also discovered that this experience of justification by faith produces the threefold fruits in our lives. First, justification by faith brings us peace with God. In Romans 5:1, Paul says, “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” We have this peace because our status has changed from condemnation to justification. The moment we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we pass from death to life and that, of course, brings us peace with God, the peace that passes understanding. God does not only forgive us when we accept Christ as our Saviour. Not only does He reconcile us through Christ but we are looked upon by God just as if we have never sinned. God looks at us just as He looks at His Son, Jesus Christ. Remember what God said to His Son at His baptism, recorded in Matthew 3:17, announcing to the world: “Here is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” This is exactly what He says to those who, by faith, have received Christ and are now standing on the platform, under the umbrella, of justification by faith. Secondly, justification by faith brings us the experience of power. Paul tells us in Romans 5:2 that those who have peace through justification by faith also have access to the grace of God. Here the word “grace” means the power of God given to the believers to fulfill God's purpose in each of their lives. It is the power that we use to withstand temptation and to produce, in our lives, God's will so that we, as Christians, may behave as children of God. We believers are standing in grace, not only in terms of our standing before God's law, which is righteousness, but we also have available to us the power of God that is able to transform our lives. This is something the unbeliever does not have. Finally, the third experience, is one that God wants each one of us to have. This is the experience of the love of God. The ultimate goal of the experience of justification by faith, is that the love of God be shed abroad in our hearts through our Lord, Jesus Christ. This third and ultimate fruit of justification by faith is so radical, so revolutionary, so unlike any human experience, that Paul devotes verses 6 to 10 of Romans 5 talking about, explaining and expounding on, the love of God shed abroad in the heart of the believer. This is the love that the world needs to see. It is a love that totally contradicts human love. So Paul wants us, the believers, to understand what kind of love is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. He explains this in verses 6 to 10 in Romans 5 which we will study now. Paul is explaining the love of God, not by comparing but by contrasting it with human love. The two loves—God's love which every believer should experience and human love which we have by nature—are absolutely opposites. In fact, when the New Testament writers described this love of God, they chose a very unique word, a word in the noun form, which was rarely found in the secular Greek. This word was so revolutionary that the enemies of the gospel accused the disciples of turning the world upside down. This word is “agape” for which there is no English equivalent. In fact, our word “love” in the English language with all its noble characteristics which we call love not only does a tremendous injustice to the Greek word “agape” but it totally contradicts it. Paul's concern in this passage is that we believers understand this love of God. There are two reasons for this: (1) When we have the love of God, then, and only then, have we fully understood justification by faith. We can then experience, in the fullest sense, the peace of God. The ground of our justification, the basis of our salvation, is God's love and this is also, therefore, the ground of our peace with God. It is only as we Christians are rooted and grounded in God's love, as Paul explains it in Ephesians 3:17, that we will be settled in the truth of the gospel and we will really understand what peace is. We will be able to stand the pressures of this wicked world because once we have peace with God, nothing else matters. (2) Secondly, Paul wants us to understand the love of God and shed it abroad to our neighbors that the world may know that we are Christians. The greatest demonstration in our lives that we are justified by faith is that our fellow men see in our interaction, between human beings, the love of God. In order for that love to be manifested in our lives, we need to understand this love of God. With this background, notice, in Romans 5:6 to 10, that verses 6, 8, 9 and 10 describe the love of God in contrast to verse 7 which is a description of human love. We will look at the difference so that we may understand the true meaning of God's love. One of the problems Christians, have is that we project human love on to God. When we do this, we distort not only God's character but also the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this passage, there are four words to notice that deal with the love of God in terms of our salvation. Two of these are found in verse 6: “For when we were still without strength.” (NKJV) The Greek here means when we were still helpless, incapable of saving ourselves. “In due time (that is, in the appointed time), Christ died for the ungodly.” The two are “helpless (without strength) and ungodly (while we were unlike God, while we were contrary to God's character).” We are told that while we were in this condition, Jesus died for the ungodly. He died while we were helpless. So, immediately, we discovered that the love of God is unconditional. This is such a radical and revolutionary concept of God's love that Paul wants to show us this love, not by comparing but by contrasting it to human love. In verse 7, Paul says, referring to human love: “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.” (NKJV) Paul says that people do not usually give their lives for a bad man. Human beings have been known to lay down their lives for a good man, for their loved ones or even for their country. But when it comes to God's love, it is the very opposite. It is very likely that verse 7 is describing a Greek myth that was familiar to the people of Paul's day. A story in Greek mythology was told about two young people. The young man was a good citizen but for some reason he was falsely accused by the judge and sentenced to death. His girlfriend knew that he was a good man, innocent and did not deserve to die. So, she went to the judge, told him that the young man did not deserve to die but since the sentence could not be changed by Greek law she was willing to die in his place. The judge accepted this and the Greeks said, “This is the epitome of genuine love. Here is a woman who is willing to die for a good man.” But, in verse 8, Paul says that while it is possible for human beings to die for a good cause or for loved ones or for a good person even though this is not common, God's love is in complete contrast to this kind of love. Jesus did not die on the cross for somebody who is good. He did not die for good people but God “commended (demonstrated) his own love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (3) First, we were helpless; second we were ungodly and now, in verse 8, Paul tells us that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Can we see the difference? God does not say to you that “If you are good, I will send My Son to die for your sins.” No! While we were yet sinners, while we were helpless, while we were still ungodly, Christ died for us. Paul says that God's love for us is unconditional which is a complete contradiction of human love which is conditional. In Romans 5:9, the next verse, he says, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood (that is, by His death), we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (NKJV) Notice, this text is dealing with believers, those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ and are now standing under the umbrella of justification by faith. Paul says, “If God loves us and He died for us, while we were still ungodly, while we were still helpless, while we were still sinners, why are you Christians, why are you believers, doubting the love of God? Why are you doubting your justification? Don't you realize that, if God loved you when you were a sinner, He loves you even more now that you have accepted Him and have come back to Him and now stand in favor with Him? How much more do you have to be sure that God will save you now that you have accepted justification by faith? Why are you doubting, Christian?” It is a tragedy that there are Christians who doubt their salvation. They are not sure if they will make it to heaven. When we project human love on to God, this is the result. We become unsure about our salvation because human love is conditional. It has to be aroused. It depends on goodness. “You have to be good to me, if I have to be good to you.” Because of this false idea of God's love, we think that we have to be good before God accepts us. This is why we think we have to produce love for each other by incentives, by doing good acts. This is our human problem. But, thank God, He loves us in spite of what we are. He loves us unconditionally. He loves us because He is love, not because we deserve it. Paul says, “Much more” now that we have accepted justification by faith, through His blood, that is, through His sacrifice, we can be sure, it is guaranteed, that our salvation is secure in Christ. Why? Because He who died for us will make sure that He will defend us and vindicate us until He takes us to heaven. This is true as long as we are justified by faith and we are not depending on ourselves. Then, in Romans 5:10, Paul continues, using the fourth word that we should take note of. He has mentioned that we were helpless, ungodly and sinners. Now Paul says in verse 10: “For if when we were enemies (that is, enemies of God, while we were God's enemies, while we were still His enemies) we were reconciled.” Note the verb. Not, “we will be reconciled” but “we were reconciled” to God through the death of His Son. “Much more, having been justified (reconciled), we shall be saved by His life.”(NKJV) God is on our side! He was on our side before we ever turned to Him. While we were enemies, God sent His Son to this world to save this rebellious world. God said to His Son, “I want you to go down and save the world even though they deserve condemnation.” We read in John 3:17, God sent His Son, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Now, having expounded this passage, we will look at the context. Why does Paul explain the love of God? He explains this unique love of God in Romans 5:6 to 10 because this is his explanation of verse 5. We need to keep in our minds what Paul said to us in Romans 5:5: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (NKJV) What does this mean to us? How does it affect us? This should affect us in at least two ways. (1) First, we have a God who loves us unconditionally, a God whose love is unchangeable. Human love differentiates from God's love in at least three ways: (a) Human love is conditional. It is reciprocal “I love you, if you will love me.” In contrast, God's love is unconditional. This is the first difference. (b) Secondly, human love is changeable. Human beings know how to love but their love is not everlasting. This is one reason we have so much divorce. But God's love is unchangeable. “The fact that you love me today is no guarantee that you will love me to-morrow.” This is human love. But God's love never changes. We read in Jeremiah 31:3 the statement God made to the rebellious Israelites: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” In 1 Corinthians 13:8, Paul defines the beautiful word “agape.” He says agape never fails. In John 13:1, we read that, having loved them, He loved them to the very end. (c) Lastly, human love is self-seeking. At the heart of all human love is self. This is our nature, born egocentric. This is the result of the Fall of Adam and Eve. We have sinful natures that do not know how to love others unconditionally. God's love is self-giving. It is the very opposite of human love. God's love is a love that empties itself of self. In Philippians 2:6 to 8, we read about the kinosis, the self-emptying love of God. Jesus, here, was equal with God but He did not hold on to that equality. He emptied Himself and stepped down and down and down until He became obedient even to the death of the cross. On the cross, Christ had two choices. He could choose between Himself or the world. If we read Luke 23:35 to 39, we will discover that the devil came to Christ three times while He hung on the cross, once through the soldiers, once through the priest and once through the thief hanging on the left-hand side of Him. Three times the devil came with a temptation that was so fierce we will never understand it. The temptation was: “Come down from the cross and save Yourself.” We know Jesus could have done that. He could have grasped hold of His divine power, independent of the Father, come down from the cross and saved Himself. But, had He done that, the world would be lost because Christ could not save the world and Himself at the same time. He had to make a choice and the choice was “Shall I save the world and accept the wages of sin, God-abandonment, good-bye to life forever or shall I come down from the cross and let the rebellious world that has crucified Me, die.?” The choice He made is that He would die that we might live. This is the demonstration Paul mentions in Romans 5:8: “While we were still sinners, God demonstrated His own unconditional love for us that Jesus laid down His life for us.” (2) The second way the love of God affects us is that it is the kind of love God wants us to shed abroad to our neighbors. The world needs to see the love of God. We have seen this love in the face of Jesus Christ. But Christ is no longer in this world. He is in heaven where nobody can see Him. But His body, the church, is here on this earth. It is God's desire that the world see a demonstration of this unconditional, unchanging, self-emptying love of God through His people, the believers. In Romans 5:6 to 10, Paul simply says what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. If we read Matthew 5:43 to 48, Jesus does exactly what Paul is doing here in Romans 5:6 to 10. Jesus contrasts human love with God's love. He says this divine love is the kind of love that Christians should reflect in their Christian living. In Matthew 5:14 and 16, Jesus said that we believers are the light of the world. In verse 16, He says to let this light shine. Let this love of God in us, which represents Christ, shine that men may see our good works and glorify God in heaven. In Matthew 5:43, Jesus describes the love taught by the Pharisees and the Scribes of His day. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemies. This is typical human love. But, Jesus said, In contrast, I say to you, Love your enemies bless those that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which do spitefully use and persecute you.” (KJV) In other words, the love that we Christians must reflect in our lives is God's love. This is something that we cannot do naturally. Man cannot, even if he uses his own willpower and effort, love his enemies. This is an impossibility. But the love of God is made available to the believer because he has, dwelling in him, the Holy Spirit. This Spirit brings with Him the love of God. In Matthew 5:45, Jesus explained that, when we love your enemies, we are behaving like the children of God so that we may be the sons of our Father in heaven. The Father makes the sun to rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. God's love is unconditional. So must our love be. An example is found in the Exodus, God delivered His people in a miraculous way. As they traveled through that great Sinai Peninsula desert, it was hot in the daytime; it was cold at night . So, in the night time He warmed them as a pillar of fire. In the daytime, He kept them cool by a cloud canopy over them. But what does Hebrews 3 and 4 say about God's evaluation of the Jews of the Exodus? Was He pleased with them? The answer is, “No.” He was not pleased with them, yet He blessed them. Why? Because God's love is unconditional. Jesus said, in Matthew 5: “If you love your neighbor, if you love your friend, you are no different from the tax collector.” Here, the tax collector refers to sinners. Even the atheist loves his own friends. But Jesus said in Matthew 5:48: “Be ye therefore perfect.” In other words, “Let your love be without discrimination. Let it be unconditional like your Father's love towards you that the world may see that you are My disciples.” This is what Jesus said in John 13:34 and 35. He told His disciples that they must love each other as He loved them. Then in John 13:35, Jesus made this statement: “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.” (NAS) This agape love reproduced in the believer, is the greatest demonstration of what true Christianity is. Jesus said, through John in 1 John 4:7 and 12 that this love comes from God and when we love as God loves, it is proof that God is dwelling in us and we in Him. As we conclude this wonderful passage, it is clear, God gives this agape love, not that it may return back to Him. He gives us this agape love, through the Holy Spirit, that it may be shed horizontally to our neighbors so that when the world sees this love, they will know that we are His disciples. There is a pagan philosopher who was the son of a Lutheran pastor. He left the Christian church, became an atheist and this is what he said to the Christian church. “If you Christians expect me to believe in your Redeemer, you will have to look a lot more redeemed.” What a Challenge! Then, there is Ghandi. While he was fighting the aperteid system in South Africa he made this statement: “When you Christians live the life of your Master, when you love each other unconditionally, then all India will bow down to Christianity.” We have peace with God through justification by faith, and we will reflect the love of God as we allow Jesus to live in us and reflect His love through us.

By: David Kayumba
Category: My Blog

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Romans Chapter 8 Fruits of Justification by Faith

In this study, we will turn our attention to Romans 5 which is the most important chapter in the book of Romans. It is full of tremendous significance so to be fair in the study of this chapter, we will have several studies beginning with Romans 5:1-5. In these verses, Paul describes to us the fruits of justification by faith. But to understand Paul's trend of thought, it is important to go back to Romans 3:21 to 31. There Paul defines for us what justification by faith is. We saw in two former studies that it is the righteousness of God obtained for us in the holy history of Jesus Christ and made effective in our lives through faith alone. This message, unfortunately, caused Paul many problems mainly with the Judaizers who unfortunately opposed his message of grace alone. So, in Romans 4, Paul defends the doctrine of justification by faith against the threefold arguments the Jewish Christians were using. They insisted that the works, circumcision and keeping of the law, these three things, were essential for justification. Paul spends the whole of Romans 4 discussing this issue and making it very clear that our works, circumcision (or baptism) and keeping of the law do not contribute in any way towards our salvation. Remember, Paul is not against works. In fact in Ephesians 2:10 and Titus 3:8 and other passages, Paul says that genuine justification by faith actually produces a lot of works. He is not even against circumcision and he is definitely not against the keeping of the law as the fruits of justification by faith. But the moment we require these things, either as a means of salvation or as a contributing factor towards justification, he will strongly oppose this as he did, for example, in Acts 15:2 onwards. Or as in his epistle to the Galatians. Having said this, we will now turn our attention to Romans 5. After defending justification by faith, Paul concludes Romans 4 with the wonderful definition of how faith works. Using Abraham as an example, he explains how it transforms the life of the believer because he accepts God at His word. He takes God at His word and God performs great things in his life. In Romans 5:1 to 3, Paul is discussing the fruits of justification by faith. What fruits do justification by faith bring to the believer? We will discover that they are threefold. It is important that we understand, not only the threefold fruits of justification by faith, but also its sequence. We must keep to the sequence as Paul expresses it in Romans 5:1 to 5. (1) The first fruit, of course, is the immediate fruit. (2) The second fruit is continuous. (3) The third fruit is final. This is the order we must follow and if we try to reach the last fruit without experiencing the first fruit, we are wasting our time. Now, what are these three fruits? They are found in Romans 5:1 to 3. This is how Paul defines the first fruit in verse 1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (KJV) The second fruit is verse 2: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” KJV The third fruit is the arriving at the glory of God which is described in the second part of verse 2. We will take them one by one. (1) First, we will look at the first fruit, the immediate fruit. It is peace with God. (2) The second fruit is standing under grace. (3) The third ultimate fruit is arriving at the glory of God. Having an overall view of the fruits of the doctrine of justification by faith, we will look at each one of them in some detail. Remember, at the foundation of all these three fruits is justification by faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God so these fruits, whether it is peace with God, whether it is standing in grace or whether it is arriving at the glory of God, all these are the fruits of justification by faith. They are experienced only by faith in the righteousness of God obtained for mankind in Jesus Christ. “Therefore,” Paul says, “being justified by faith, we have peace.” But Paul does not stop here. He doesn't say that justification by faith brings you peace because there are many areas in which we have no peace. We may not have peace with our enemies. We may not have peace in our country. But here, Paul is dealing with a specific peace. He is not dealing with peace on the horizontal level. He is dealing with peace on the vertical level. He is saying, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” If we have peace with God, then nothing else matters. If we have peace with God, we are able to face all the pressures of life. Now, we will look at what this means. The first phrase Paul uses is “having been justified” or “being justified.” He uses what we call in Greek, the historical past tense. Justification becomes an historical reality the moment you believe. Remember the text John 5:24 in a previous study where Jesus said that the moment you believe in His Father who sent Him, you have already passed from death to life, from condemnation to justification. So, the phrase “being justified” is something that takes place the moment we believe subjectively. Yes, it is true that Jesus obtained justification for all men by His doing and dying. But the moment we believe, this justification becomes effective; it becomes ours. But, when Paul talks about peace with God, he does not use the past tense. He does not even use the future tense. He uses the present, continuous tense. In other words, the moment we step under that umbrella of justification by faith, we continually have peace with God irrespective of our experience or our performance which is often up and down. Paul tells us, the whole human race was under the wrath of God. In Adam, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:22, all die. We stand under the death sentence of God apart from grace, apart from Jesus Christ. In fact, the wrath of God abides on each one of us. In Ephesians 2:3, Paul tells us that we are by nature the children of wrath but the moment we believe, the moment we accept Christ, we have peace with God. But before that, as Paul brings out in Romans 2:8 and 9, we are full of indignation and wrath. We are full of tribulation and anguish. This world is full of people who are full of anguish. In fact, medical science tells us that ninety percent of our disease, our illness, our ailments is the result of guilt and anguish. This world does not know what peace is. This is why, when we discover the gospel and accept it by faith, we have the peace that passes understanding. Our experience may be up and down but our relationship with God is peace. We can come to Him every time with a clear conscience through the blood of Jesus Christ. It is a tragedy when we meet Christians who have accepted the gospel and still have no peace. There are too many of us who are trying to reach the ultimate goal of the gospel of justification by faith, that is, the arrival of the glory of God, in order to have peace. No, peace is the prerequisite of arriving at the glory of God. We do not arrive at the glory of God just by performance. We arrive at the glory of God when we are in the right relationship with God. We cannot have that right relationship unless we have understood justification by faith. It is not only our acts that God is looking at. He is looking at our motivation. Anyone who lives the Christian life, anyone who serves God, either out of fear of punishment or desire for reward, must know that such religion is worth nothing because that is no different than any other pagan religion. This is where Christianity and other religions differ. In Christianity, all our good works, all our right performance, is the fruits of salvation. In paganism, in every other religion, our good works are the means of salvation. This is the difference even though, on the surface, the good works may resemble each other. The motivation is different. The cause and effect is different because, in Christianity, we are saved by grace. The good works are the fruits. In every other religion, the good works are the means of salvation. This needs repeating because unfortunately, many Christians have fallen into the trap of Galatianism—that we are saved partly by grace and partly by what we do. No, we are saved by grace alone and the immediate fruit of justification by faith is peace with God. But notice, Paul does not say simply “peace with God” but he also adds in Romans 5:1, it is “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This means that we receive this peace on the basis of the performance of Jesus Christ, on the basis of His redemption which He obtained for us, on the basis of His doing and dying. It is not we, but Christ who brings peace into our hearts! That is what He came for—”Peace I leave with you,” He said to His disciples, “not as the world gives us (the world cannot give us this vertical peace with God; only Jesus Christ can), give I unto you.” In view of this, we must never look at our performance to bring us that peace. And we must never allow anybody to rob us of that peace. The only person who can rob us of that peace, generally, is ourselves because as long as we are under the umbrella of justification by faith, we have peace. As long as we are walking by faith, we have peace. But there is another possibility, as Hebrews 4:10 and other passages in the Bible bring out. In fact, Jesus Himself brings this out in Matthew 10:22. Only those whose faith endures unto the end will be ultimately justified in terms of going to heaven. But remember, as long as we are believers, as long as we are justified by faith, we have peace with God. If we, by our own choice, decide to remove ourselves from under that position, if we by our own choice, say good-bye to faith, then we are saying good-bye to peace. So, remember, that peace with God is only for those who are justified by faith. As long as our faith remains, our justification remains, our peace remains. Now, having said this, we will consider the second point.(2) Remember, the immediate fruit is peace with God. The second fruit, which is a continuous fruit, is standing in grace. The word “grace” has more than one meaning. In fact, it has two primary meanings in the new testament. The primary one is God's loving disposition toward sinful man by which he, through Jesus Christ, redeemed us and gave us hope. Paul defines this, for example, in Ephesians 1:7 or in Ephesians 2:8 and 9. “By grace are we saved through faith; it is not by works lest any man should boast. It is a gift of God.” In Ephesians 1:7, Paul talks of it as the “exceeding riches of His grace.” But, the New Testament also uses the word “grace” to refer to the power of God made available to those who are standing under the umbrella of justification by faith. We will look at some examples of this in Paul's writings to understand the second use of the word “grace.” This is how he uses it in Romans 5:1 (second half). The first example is 1 Corinthians 15:9 where Paul says: “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet (worthy) to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (KJV) Paul felt that he had no right to be an apostle. He felt he did not deserve to be an apostle since he was one of the greatest persecutors of the Christian church before his conversion. But he adds in verse 10: “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” Then he adds: “And His grace which was bestowed (toward) upon me was not in vain; but I labored (worked) more abundantly than they all.” By the phrase “they all” he meant the other disciples because in verse 9 he says, “I am the least of the apostles.” (KJV) So, on the one hand in verse 9, he says “I am the least of the apostles, on the other he says in verse 10: “I have worked more than all the apostles put together.” This does sound as though he is bragging but in the last part of verse 10, he corrects any misunderstanding of that statement. He says, “But, I want you to know it is “not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (KJV) All the works that he had done which were more than the apostles, was not him but the grace of God which was in him. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus said, “Let your light so shine that before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father.” The construction of this statement is very interesting. The word “light” is in the singular; the word “you” is in the plural. We Christians are many but one light and that light is Jesus Christ. (2) A second example of the word “grace” by Paul, referring to the power of God, is found in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul here tells us that there was a problem in his life. It came from Satan but was allowed by God in order to keep him humble. He does not tell us what the problem was. There are scholars who speculate. Some say that it was an eye problem. Some say that he had a cleft lip, but Paul tells us only that it was from Satan, allowed by God for a purpose. Paul says: “And lest (unless) I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, that was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted.” (KJV) Paul was a human being. God had given him some tremendous revelations and God was aware that, as a human being, he would be a victim of pride. He would become a boaster. So, God, to keep him humble, allowed Satan to buffet him with a thorn in the flesh. In verses 8 and 9, we discover that Paul prayed three times concerning this problem. He asked that it be taken from him. He said, “Lord, if You could remove this thorn in the flesh, I will do greater works for you.” But the answer was “no.” God's answer to Paul was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (NKJV) Notice, God defined His grace as His strength. “My grace is sufficient for you,” is synonymous with “My strength.” Paul responded: “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities (that is, in my weakness, in my inability) that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” The grace of God is the strength of God, the power of Christ. The Christian who is standing under this umbrella of grace not only has peace with God but has power available to him through the indwelling spirit that he may fulfill God's purpose. There are many other passages such as Ephesians 3:7 and 1 Timothy 1:14 where the same thing is said. Grace is the power of God made available to believers that God's purpose in our lives may be realized. It is in this sense Paul is using the word “grace” in Romans 5. The moment we believe and come under the umbrella of justification by faith, the immediate fruit is peace with God. But that is not all! Justification does not stop there! It goes on and gives us a power from God through the indwelling spirit so that we are now standing in grace. We have access to the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. (3) This brings us to the third fruit. Because of this grace, because the power of God is available to believers, we have a hope, the ultimate fruit of the doctrine of justification by faith. The ultimate fruit is arriving in the hope of the glory of God. This is in the last part of verse 2. What does Paul mean by the phrase “Glory of God”? Does he mean some bright light around us? The answer is, “no.” In studying the New Testament, we find that the glory of God is His self-sacrificing love. In John 1:14, we are told that “the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory),... full of grace and truth.” (NKJV) God's glory is His self-sacrificing love which was revealed on the cross when Jesus was willing to pay the full price for our sins that we may be set free. This is the glory of God. It is the unconditional, the self-emptying love of God that was first revealed in Jesus Christ and now must be manifested in the believer. A very interesting statement is found in Colossians 1:27 where Paul is telling the believers that he wants them to experience the Glory of God. Speaking to the Gentiles, he makes this statement: “Christ in you, the hope of glory:” (NKJV) In 2 Corinthians 3:17, Paul explains how this glory is experienced: “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” This is liberty from the selfish flesh that we were born with, liberty from the slavery of sin. Then he adds in verse 18: “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, (the glory of Jesus Christ) are being transformed (changed) into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (NKJV) Jesus Christ does not only give us peace; He gives us the Holy Spirit to transform our lives that we may reflect the character of God. Jesus said in John 13:35: “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples when you reflect My love for each other.” But, in order for the Holy Spirit to do this, we have to go through a process. That process is described in Romans 5:3 and 4: “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, (brings that) hope.” NAS When the Holy Spirit works in us, it goes against the grain of our selfish flesh. The love of God has no self in it. In 1 Corinthians 13:5 the special unconditional love of God is described: Agape “seeketh not her own.” (KJV) And when the Holy Spirit produces this unselfish love in us, the flesh which is selfish suffers. But besides that, we also suffer through persecution, through rejection, through opposition. But we hold on and so this suffering produces perseverance. Jesus said in Matthew 10:22 that the person's faith that endures unto the end will be saved. This is what the word remnant means -those who hold on to God who are justified by faith even though their fellowmen have apostatized, even though they face persecution, they hold on. But the ultimate goal of justification by faith is that we may reflect the glory of God. We read in Romans 5:5: “And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” NAS What a wonderful gospel this is! In a nutshell, first, God takes the initiative. He comes to us, sinners, and enemies, and He says, “I have reconciled you to Myself by the death of My Son.” He comes to us with the unconditional good news of salvation through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then He says to us, “Please accept this.” So, we respond by faith. (1) God comes to us with the gospel. (2) We respond by faith which brings us peace, hope and assurance. (3) The Holy Spirit is sent to dwell in our hearts and with the Holy Spirit comes His supreme gift, the love of God. God gives us this gift of love, this Agape love, not that it may return back to Him. It comes to us vertically from God through the Holy Spirit that it may go out horizontally to our neighbors. When our neighbors see us reflect this love of Christ, this unconditional love of God, they will then be convinced that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. This is the ultimate goal of this gospel. First, it is to give us peace and assurance, secondly, it is to give us power and ultimately to reproduce in every Christian the power of the gospel, the love of God.

By: David Kayumba
Category: My Blog

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Romans Chapter 7 Justification by Faith Alone

Rev Romans Chapter 7 Justification by Faith Alone The greatest joy anyone can have is the joy of knowing the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we studied in our last two studies when we covered Romans 3:21 to 31. There, we saw, first of all, that the apostle defines the word “gospel” by the term “the righteousness of God.” We should never forget this because Paul means that the gospel is a righteousness that is all of God's doing. He planned it, and He fulfilled it in Jesus Christ. Secondly, this righteousness, Paul says, is made effective in the life of every human being through faith alone. We cannot earn it by our good works. We cannot buy it with money. It is ours only by faith alone. It doesn't matter whether we are rich or poor, educated or uneducated, good sinners or bad sinners, the righteousness of God which qualifies us for heaven is by faith alone. This is why it is called justification by faith; Luther made this great discovery which delivered him from the bondage of legalism (Romans 3:22). In Romans 3:24, Paul explains to us that this righteousness which justifies us is bestowed upon us freely and graciously. We do not deserve it. In fact, we deserve the very opposite but it is a gift to us at no cost. But it is something that cost God a tremendous price, the death of His Son. Finally, in Romans 3:31, Paul shows us that, God, who justifies us, is right; He is legal; He is lawful in doing it in spite of the fact that we are sinners and that this justification is the only way of being saved. The righteousness of God is not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles. It does not matter who we are because it is the life and death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that legally qualifies us for heaven. Hence, justification, Paul concludes in Romans 3:31, establishes the law. Therefore, there is no boasting. It is entirely God's gift to sinful man. In this study, of Romans 4, we will cover the main points. In Romans 4, Paul is defending justification by faith against the threefold opposition that he faced throughout his ministry. This opposition came from the Judaizers, Jewish Christians who followed and dogged his footsteps wherever he went and who opposed his message of salvation by grace alone. We will sum up this threefold opposition and then we will look at it in some detail. (1) The first point is found in Romans 4:1 to 8. It is the opposition concerning works. The Jewish Christians were demanding and insisting that our works are essential for our justification. They meant that God requires us to do good works in order to be saved. Justification, they said, is not by faith alone but by faith plus good works. Paul is meeting this objection by saying that we are justified without works. Justification comes to us only by faith in Jesus Christ. (2) The second point is circumcision. This was something that was very important to the Jews. Today, we do not have circumcision but we do have baptism which Paul, in Colossians 2, equates with circumcision. The Jews were insisting we cannot be saved unless we are circumcised. In fact, in Acts 15, Luke explains to us the history of the Christian church. There he describes the first Jerusalem Council. The fundamental issue in this Council was the demand of the Judaizers that the Gentile believers had to be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul is dealing with this problem in Romans 4:9 to 12. (3) Finally, in Romans 4:13 to 17, Paul is dealing with a third element which is the keeping of the law. The Jewish Christians were saying, “Yes, Jesus does save us but it is not enough for us to believe: we must also keep the law besides good works and circumcision.” They were saying that works are essential for justification and that circumcision is a requirement for salvation. They were insisting that the keeping of the law is necessary to be saved. To all three of these points Paul is saying, “No.” We understand clearly that Paul is not against good works. In fact, he emphasizes this. He is not against circumcision either for he circumcised Timothy. And he definitely is not against the keeping of the law for in Romans 13, he brings up the law as a standard of Christian living. Then, what is Paul against? He is against all three of these things when we use them as a means, as a method of salvation. Remember, here, Paul is not discussing works as the fruit of justification. Here, he is not discussing law-keeping as a standard of Christian living. He is discussing works, circumcision and law-keeping as a contributing factor to our salvation. Paul makes it very clear that we are not justified by faith PLUS works. Yes, we are justified by faith THAT works but never by “plus” works. Remember, the context in which we are discussing Romans 4, is the context of justification and not sanctification. Paul will lay the foundation to sanctification in Romans 6, 7 and 8. He will expound on it in Romans 12, 13, 14 and 15. Since Paul is dealing primarily with the Jewish believers, he uses Abraham as the model of justification by faith because to the Jews, Abraham was more than just a father. He was the example; he was the prototype; he was the one on which they based their religion. So, Paul is taking Abraham as the model just as the Jews did, and he is asking the question in Romans 4:1: “What shall we say then concerning Abraham our father according to the flesh?” The New American Standard Version puts it this way: “What shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?” Let us look at the word “flesh” because that word can be confusing. In our English usage, the word, “flesh” means the soft part of the human body. But Paul is not referring here to Abraham's “flesh” in the English usage sense. To explain what Paul means by the word “flesh,” we will turn to Phillipians 3:3. We Christians are the ones who rejoice in Jesus Christ. We are the ones who are truly circumcised, not in the flesh but in the Spirit. We are the ones who are rejoicing in Christ and have no confidence in the flesh. In verses 4 to 6, Paul explains to the Phillipian believers what he means by the word “flesh” “although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.” (NASV) Obviously, by the word “flesh,” Paul means anything that is true of us. It can be our birth, our lineage, our inheritance, our performance, anything which is true of us by which we are either depending wholly or partially for our right standing before God. The word “flesh” means here, anything that we have attained to either by birth or by performance which we are depending on for our justification. Paul was depending on those things for his justification as a Jew, as a Pharisee. But, if we read Phillipians 3:7 onwards, Paul says that all these things which were a benefit to him according to Judaism, when he discovered Christ, he realized that they were of no value. He gave them up. In fact, he counted them as dung, as rubbish, that he might win Christ, that he might have His righteousness which is by faith and not by the works of the law. So the word “flesh” here refers to anything that is true of us that we are depending on, either wholly or partially, for our right standing before God. Paul is asking the question in Romans 4, “How about Abraham? What did his works or his circumcision, or even his law-keeping contribute towards his salvation?” In Romans 4:1 to 8, Paul is dealing with works. We must be very careful. Paul is not against works as the fruits of salvation. In fact, Abraham had done many good and wonderful works, but the question is, “Did these works contribute towards his justification?” Romans 4:2 says: “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? What are the facts according to the Word of God? Then he quotes Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned (counted) to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:4: “Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due.” For example if a man at the end of the month goes to his employer to collect his salary and he gives him his check saying, “This is a gift,” how will he respond? He will say, “No, this is not a gift. I earned it.” This is what Paul means in Verse 4. Verse 5: “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.” (NASV) Righteousness is by faith, not by works. It is not a wage but it is a gift. Then, in verses 6 to 8, Paul adds another name that was very special to the Jews. “David also speaks about the blessings that we receive whom God reckons righteous apart from works.” Then he quotes Psalms 32: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” Then he adds, “verse 9: “Is this blessing then upon the circumcised, or upon the uncircumcised also (meaning Jews or Gentiles)? For we say, “faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness?” (NASV) Just as Abraham is justified by faith, so are we. In verses 9 and 10 he goes on to circumcision: “Is this blessing upon the circumcised or upon the uncircumcised for we see that Abraham was justified by faith. He was reckoned righteous and not by circumcision because he was justified by faith before he was circumcised.” But now there is a problem that Paul is aware of. If Abraham was justified before he was circumcised then the question is, “Why did God give circumcision?” The answer , Paul says, is he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised that righteousness might be reckoned to them. Abraham is the prototype of all those who believe in Jesus Christ. Then why circumcision? It was a sign; it was a seal. To understand this, let us go quickly through the history of Abraham. God came to Abraham when he was 75 years old (Genesis 12:4) and said to him, “Leave your country and your people and go to the land I will give you and I will make of you a great nation.” Abraham believed God even though he had not a single son yet. That faith was reckoned to him for righteousness. But then, eight years went by and no son came. So Abraham's faith began to dwindle. God came to him (Genesis 15) and said, “Why are you doubtful? Why are you fearful?” Abraham said, “Because you have not kept Your promise. It takes nine months for human beings to produce a child. How long does it take You, God? It is eight years now.” Then God took him out, showed him the stars and said, “Abraham, this is how many children you will have. Do you believe Me?” Genesis 15 has the statement that Paul loves to quote: Abraham believed God and “He accounted it to him for righteousness.” (NKJV) (verse 6) Abraham's doubts were removed at that moment. Then two more years went by and Sara came to Abraham. This was ten years after the promise was made to Abraham. Sara said to Abraham, “Yes, God promised a child but I do not think He is capable of giving a child to me. It is ten years now. Why don't you go to Hagar, my slave maid, use her as a surrogate mother and produce a child and help God to keep His promise?” Abraham thought this was a wonderful idea and produced Ishmael. Paul deals with this issue in Galatians 4 to condemn legalism. Abraham brought Ishmael to God and said, “God, You promised a son and I helped you to fulfill the promise. You plus me.” God said nothing to Abraham. Then He waited for another 13 to 14 years; He waited until Abraham and Sara were exhausted and their resources had come to an end for now Sara had passed the age of childbearing. God came to Abraham and said, “Do you still believe in spite of medical science telling you, Impossible, that I can give you a son?” Abraham said, “Yes.” God said, “I will seal that faith. I want no more doubt.” That faith was sealed by the covenant of circumcision. In Deuteronomy and Jeremiah 4, we are told that circumcision is the removal of unbelief. This is why Moses said to the rebellious Jews, “Circumcise your heart and not your flesh.” Circumcision is the removal of unbelief. It is the sign, the seal of righteousness by faith. At 117 years of age, 17 to 20 years after Abraham had Isaac, God tested that faith (Hebrews 11:17 to 19). God said to Abraham, “Take this child and kill him.” God was testing the faith of Abraham. He passed the test because his faith had already been sealed. Circumcision did not justify Abraham; it only sealed something that he already had. In Romans 4:13, Paul discusses the third problem: “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified.” (NASV) God gave Abraham the promise of salvation by faith long before He gave the law, in fact, 430 years later the law was given. In verse 14, Paul continues, saying that righteousness through the law and righteousness through faith are two opposite systems. We cannot marry them. We cannot synthesize these two systems. They are opposites. They contradict each other. In Romans 4:15, Paul adds: “For the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there violation.” (NASV) When God gave the law and the Jews tried to use the law as a method of salvation, they could no longer be saved by faith because the law does not save us by faith. It saves us by performance, by perfect obedience. For this reason, Paul adds in verse 16 that it might be by faith, that it might be guaranteed to us not only to Abraham but the promise was made also to his descendants that he, Abraham, might be the father of all who believe. Abraham was the prototype, not of those who were the blood descendants of him, but those who had the faith of Abraham. Irrespective of whether we are a Jew or Gentile, if we do not have the faith of Abraham, we are not really his children. Paul brings this out clearly both in Romans 9, 10 and 11 and in Galatians. If we have the faith of Abraham, then we are part of spiritual Israel. Now, we will go to the concluding verses which are very important. After defending justification by faith against the threefold opposition to the Judaizers, that is, works, circumcision and the keeping of the law, Paul, in Romans 4:17, and right up to the end of the chapter explains to his readers how faith works. This is an extremely important passage for each one of us. It is important that we understand what Paul is saying in these verses because here he tells us how justification by faith works. How does faith work in our lives? How did it work in Abraham's life? Read what Paul says in Romans 4:18: “Who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” (NKJV) Abraham is the father of all who have faith like him. Then we read in verses 19 and 20: “Not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (that is, unable to produce children through Sara) and the deadness of Sara's womb. He did not waver (or doubt) at the promise of God (that is, after he was circumcised) through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.” Verse 21: “And being fully convinced that what He had promised, He was also able to perform.” (NKJV) Faith is taking God at His word, irrespective of what our feelings tell us, of our human rationale, or what the scientific method tells us. Faith is saying “Yes” to God in spite of our environment, in spite of everything else that says, “No.” We cannot use the scientific method when it comes to salvation by faith. The scientific method does not accept anything that is outside of human experience. It rejects everything that is not able to be demonstrated. Therefore, the scientific method rejects miracles. It rejects all supernatural acts. But Paul tells us that Abraham believed God in spite of the fact that doctors told him that it was impossible for Sara to have children at that time. Against hope, he believed. Romans 4:22 says: “And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (NKJV) It was not written for his sake alone but also for us. This is the way we must live. Salvation by faith is totally depending on God, totally accepting what God says, irrespective of everything else. This is how faith works! God tells us he created this world in six days. This makes no sense to our rationale. It is a complete contradiction to the scientific method and so the scientists say, “Give us scientific evidence that God created the world in six days. Give us scientific evidence that God did not depend on pre-existing matter to create this world.” We cannot give any scientific proof but God says it in His Word. We believe that Genesis 1 and 2 is history, not a fable. What God says is true. God says to us, “I have justified you in Christ. I have obtained a righteousness that fully qualifies you for heaven, now and in the judgment.” We may not feel it. We may not experience it but that is not how faith works. Faith is taking God at His word. The history of Abraham has been recorded for our benefit. Verse 23 says: “Now not for his sake only was it written, that it was reckoned to him (verse 24) but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (NASV) The scientists do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Do we believe, that Jesus actually rose from the dead or do we think that the disciples invented this to cover an embarrassment as some liberal theologians teach? No! God declared that He raised His Son from the dead. This was the greatest proof that God gave that Jesus Christ is God's power over sin because the ultimate power of sin is to put us into the grave. When Jesus conquered death, the death that our sins produced in Him, He conquered it in His resurrection. He proved that His power is greater than sin. Paul ends Romans 4 with these words: “He (Jesus) who was delivered up because of our transgressions.” He was delivered up to the wages of sin on the cross but was resurrected. There is only one way we can be justified before God. It is by faith in Jesus Christ. Our works, important as they may be in witnessing Christ, our law-keeping, important as it may be as the evidence, the fruits of salvation by faith, do not contribute one iota towards our salvation. Justification is by faith alone and nothing else. Let us stand on this platform, of the Reformation.

By: David Kayumba
Category: My Blog

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