Category Archives: Romans

We Rejoice…

Posted on by
Romans 5:1-11

The reference of rejoicing in vv. 2c and 3a are specifically rooted in what is yet to be completed. I think that we can take v. 11a similarly but that it also serves to leverage the thinking that the whole of our rejoicing is based on the future. The passage is predominantly eschatological until Paul begins to support the surety of our hope in v. 5aff.

By the time that we come to v. 11a the reader can discern the multiple dimensions of his rejoicing. Indeed, the rejoicing is in the glory that the believer will experience in the future (cf. 8:23-24), but it is also in the fact that God’s love has been poured into our hearts and that God demonstrates his love for us.

The reality of vv. 5-8 provides the indispensable support for the believer to rejoice in the salvation that is yet to come. It is this foundational support alone that allows the Apostle to say “hope that will not put us to shame” and “more than that…”

The “Houtos Kai Humeis” of Romans 6:11

Posted on by

Have you ever seen the connection between Romans 6:11 to 6:10? The death that Jesus died, he died to sin, once for all. This is contrasted to the life that he lives– he lives to God. It is interesting that “he lives to God” is not qualified like the adverb translated “once for all” does for “he died to sin.” It looks like this:

  • he died to sin, once for all
  • he lives to God, _____


It doesn’t need an adverb. The verb for “die” is aorist. The verb for “live” is present. How much do apples cost in Japan? The adverb for “lives” is sort of implied. The finality of Jesus’ death to sin is emphasized. The eternality of Jesus’ life to God is emphasized. This death that he died to sin is done. He won’t die again. “it is finished.” No more.

“It is finished was his cry, now in heaven exalted high, hallelujah, what a Savior!”

This life he lives to God, though. It is now and tomorrow and forever. It is not a life that he lived. It is one that he lives.

And then the Apostle says, “houtos kai humeis… ” — “in this way you also…” Remember our union (v. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8).

The Whole of Life in the Sphere of Miracle

Posted on by

Commenting on Romans 5:5-8, Kasemann writes:

As the Spirit determines Christian life as a whole, not just its extraordinary manifestations, so conversely it sets the whole of life in the sphere of miracle. “Being in the Spirit” becomes the proclamation of “being in Christ” both as the crucified and as the resurrected one. The event of justification is saved from the threat of historicization and the love of God from that of a mystical theory of the removal of the remaining distance between God and mankind, or Christ and the church, with the help of the motif of union between the two. The new creature stands, not on our morality, but on “God for us and with us.”

Ernst Kasemann, Commentary on Romans, 136

Including You… That’s Right, You… I’m Talking About You

Posted on by

Here’s one for identity.

Verse 6 of Romans 1 is staggering. Paul begins, “through him.” That is, through the one for whose name’s sake Paul had received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations (v. 5). That is, Jesus Christ our Lord, the one who was declared the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead (v. 4). That is, the one who was begotten out of the seed of King David according to the flesh (v. 3). That is, the Son of God who was promised beforehand by God through his prophets in the Holy Scripture (v. 2). That is, the one to whom Paul belongs as a bondservant (v. 1).

It is through this one, Jesus Christ–through him, the Romans are told that they exist as part of those from the nations who respond to the gospel in the obedience of faith. The deep and amazing Christological identity that Paul describes in vv. 1-4 comes to mission by verse 5. The Roman Christians, through Christ, are the product of such mission. Again, the mission that flows directly from the reality of Jesus.

Paul says: A. This is Jesus, B. Jesus gave me a mission, C. through Jesus you exist as the result of this mission.

Now the point that I want to feel is that the en hois este kai humeis kletoi Iesou Christou, the “including you who are called to belong Jesus Christ,” doesn’t apply only to the Romans. That is a sentence for the model reader. Paul wrote that as much for us who embrace the gospel as he did for the First Century Romans who received this letter on papyri (or whatever it was originally written on).

It occurred to me that my identity is the same. I am part of those from among the nations who through Jesus Christ exists as the product of the mission that he gave the Apostle Paul. I trace my hearing the gospel back to that “grace and apostleship” that Paul received from Jesus. Put that one on your resumé. Isn’t it amazing? Paul’s words are for us. I believe the gospel right now, this very moment, because Jesus is who he is and because he gave Paul a mission.

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. What else do we say? What else can we do but shut our mouths and bow our heads and pray hard to feel what this means! Grace. Grace. Grace.

Expecting Jesus to Return: The Basis For It As A Superior Motivation, Part One

Posted on by

I consider it to be a superior motivation for the Christian to live as though he or she will see the return of Jesus Christ than to expect that he or she will die. The basis for this motivation is twofold. The first is that it appears that the Apostle Paul expected to be among those alive when Jesus returns (1 Thess. 4:15); 2) the return of Jesus is a more definite reality than that we will all die.

“For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.” (1Thessalonians 4:15 ESV)

It is significant that Paul considers himself to be among those “who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord.” The urgency of his ministry was not the prospect of his death but the reality that he would see Jesus.

The language of Philippians 3 suggests that death for Paul was part of the “by any means possible” desire that he had to know Christ in the perfected state (Phil. 3:10-12). It was merely another possibility (Phil. 1:20). The resurrection of Christ has utterly transformed the threat of death for the redeemed. His victory has taken the greatest enemy of humanity and has turned it into the handmaid that fetches for the believer a superior reality of which nothing greater can be imagined (Rom 8:35-39; Phil. 1:23).

My proposal is that the believer should live in the expectation of hearing the trumpet of God and witnessing the return of Jesus Christ to raise the dead and consummate his kingdom (1 Thess. 4:15-18; 1 Cor 15:24-28; Rom 13:11-12). The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints affirms that everyone who is redeemed by Jesus Christ will endure faithfully to the end. The “end” that is referred to is not their individual death but the consummated reality of Christ’s kingdom. The believer should expect to faithfully endure to that end, and if perhaps they are to fall asleep then they will be raised (1 Thess. 4:13; 1 Cor. 15:20-23).

If we die, we will be raised. But let us go about our days looking beyond the grave. Let our sights be set on that day when Jesus comes to finish this thing. If we happen to be among those who have ‘fallen asleep’ before he comes then we will be among those who are raised, and so be it, that is awesome. But let us look for his return and press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Grace is a Master and How That Trumps Our Stupid Folk Religion

Posted on by

“I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”
(Psalms 50:9-12)

Folk religion is an interesting phenomenon. It is something like the syncretism of superstition and legitimate religious doctrine. It is not Scripture-oriented. It is saturated with the practical. It is the scribbles of life removed from the realm of true truth. It develops over time, like a fungus. It contaminates our perception of reality. Here is one incentive for the person reformata semper reformanda.

What does a person really think about God if they believe that their attempt to do good things really accrues his favor? Is God so needy that the only way he is capable of giving us good is when we have paid our dues? Is the triune God who is sovereign over everything like a pool membership?

“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” (Romans 11:35)

God does not want your stupid bull or goat or month of perfect attendance or successful week on your Bible-reading plan. He wants you. How have we forgotten that? We have been breathing in too much of the wrong air. Where are we hearing this stuff that we need to feed God? Who is promising people out there the favor of God if only they would do _____. Or give _____. Or act _____. Or stop _____?

God will have none of it. He says so.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24)

God will stop your doing and giving and acting and stopping. If you will be justified, you will be justified by his grace as a gift. There are no options here. It is grace as a gift or it is suffering under His righteous wrath forever. It is threatening, isn’t it? To know that it is all of grace requires a submission that is not expected if you are allowed to pay your subscription. Grace is a master like that. It is a purely Christian concept.

The Inscrutable Grace of Our Capacity to Know Anything Right and True About God

Posted on by

It is miraculous that man can know anything right and true about God. It is a deep, inscrutable grace that there be any flicker of apprehension in the heart of man that there is an Ultimate Reality and that that Ultimate Reality is outside of man himself. It is a wonder that God put even the capacity of such flickering in man. Although the sense is flawed and tainted, God has imprinted humanity with the truth that He is there and that He is to be known and worshiped.

Paul tells us that the knowledge of God is plain and that the evidences of His Being are clearly understood in the things made by Him that are all around us (Rom 1:19-20). The conscience of man bears witness to some inner law that has been engraved into his person (2:15).

But in our falleness, we have turned the slightest apprehension into a god of our own choosing. We have all turned from the true God to that which is not God (Rom 1:21-23). This is the story of humanity and it is our story…

Resurrection Observation: It Really Matters

Posted on by

Paul takes us the centrality of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 with a special focus on its implication for believers. He also gives an in-depth look in Romans 6 of how the resurrection affects the nuts and bolts of the believer’s everyday experience. 1 Cortinthians 15 and Romans 6 are important passages about the resurrection and their role in the believer’s life.

1 Corinthians 15 is the more broad, bold effect– “if Jesus is not raised then this whole thing is worthless and we are morons.”

Romans 6 is the more detailed, day-to-day effect– “live in the newness of life because Jesus is raised and you were raised with Him.”

So What Would Ours Look Like?

Posted on by

The baptismal formula for early Christians in the Roman empire was ‘Jesus is Lord’ (Rom 10:9-10; 1 Cor12:3) (Treier, 58). There was nothing simple about that confession. It was bold and real, and for those on the outside it must have seemed risky crazy.

Then what would be the equivalent ‘baptismal formula’ for a 21st century Christian in America?