Down an Unfamiliar Road

Sam Cawthorn is a thought leader and CEO of Empowering Enterprises and featured in USA Today and The New York Times. He is an expert in not only bouncing back but bouncing forward. His main aim and goal is dedicated to helping corporate and personal to accomplish a turnaround and is the 2009 Young Australian of the Year for Tasmania.

In one of his motivational speeches, Sam made this comment: “The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything, but they make the most of everything.” How many of us have thought at least one time or another that if I had everything I really needed, it would make me a very happy person? This falsehood is based on the erroneous concept that happiness is based on physical comfort.

Years ago I heard that the great automobile inventor Henry Ford was asked what he thought would make most people happy and he said: “Just a little more.” When asked to explain he said that if you went to someone sleeping under a bridge and asked them what they’d like to have in order to be more comfortable, they would reply that if they had a mattress to sleep on it would make them happier. In other words, just a little more. Then when you went back a few weeks later and asked them the same question, they would mention that a roof over their head to keep their mattress dry would help a lot. They’re only asking for just a little more. The next time you went back, you might hear that having some electricity inside could really make things great. Before long it may be indoor plumbing, then a stove for cooking, then a bed to put their mattress on, moving to a better neighborhood, then some air-conditioning, perhaps a car, then a one-car garage, then a two car garage, and so on and so on. Always, just a little more.

But, concluded Ford, they still wouldn’t be happy. Having just a little more until you have everything is not the actual basis for happiness. Happiness comes when you take what you have and make something out of it that makes life better. And we can all begin with ourselves, our attitudes, our emotions, our motivations, our purpose, our goals, and our lives. So instead of always looking in the windows of department stores or catalogs or on Amazon, look around and see what you already have and think of ways you can make the most out of them before you move on to just a little more. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

GOD IS NEVER TOO LATE

While serving as chaplain-on-call one night at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, my beeper woke me up around 2 AM. I called the number, and a nurse, in the Trauma Center, asked me to come quickly; a young man named David had been brought in after a terrible traffic accident, involving the 18-wheeler he was driving, and he wanted to see a chaplain. I rushed through the emergency section and found a young man with doctors huddled around him lying mangled and bloody on the operating room table. When the doctors saw me, they drew back to let me get near him.

With fear and pain showing in his eyes he struggled to tell me how he once went to church and lived a good life as a Christian, but after becoming a truck driver, he drifted away from what he believed and fell into a very sinful lifestyle. He planned to repent one day but kept putting it off. So he believed that God used this accident as a way of getting his attention, and he wanted desperately to make things right with God. I asked him if he saw the impact coming and he nodded “Yes.” So then I asked what his thoughts were at that particular moment. With fear filling his eyes as he replied, “I yelled, ‘O God, save me!’”

I bent over nearer to him so he could hear me, and while holding his hand, I brushed the blood-soaked hair away from his forehead. Then with all the tenderness and compassion God poured into my heart I said to him, “I can tell you now, God heard your prayer.” Then together we prayed for God to forgive him and make things right again. As I stepped back to let the doctors try and save him; with tears streaming down his cheeks he looked up at me and with a peaceful smile on his face whispered, “Thank you Chaplain….” For David, his dilemma was not caused by an accident, but by disobedience. So in his moment of despair, he called out to God for understanding and mercy.

When I woke up the next morning, I hurried over to the Trauma Center to see if they had transferred David to a hospital room. I wanted to go visit him before going off duty. When I asked the nurse about his status, she just shook her head. In hospital language, that meant he didn’t make it. I’m confident that God doesn’t respond to His children in emergency situations out of pity or because of moral pressure, but out of a compassionate, loving, and caring heart. Since God was willing to listen to David’s plea in the trauma center, I’m sure He’ll hear your prayer as well. Just remember, God went to great expense to save you, and He’s not about to lose you without a fight.

As I left the Trauma Center, I thanked God for the privilege of being a messenger to delivering a word of hope and assurance to this young man who was about to meet Him. And when I look back on that incident, for the first time in my ministry I had a new understanding and appreciation for John 3:16. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER EIGHT (Lesson VIII)

Jewish writer David Stern agrees that God had to send His Son to deal with sin because sin became such a plague in God’s creation that nothing less could, or would, overcome it. We can see this demonstrated in the Book of Job. The main purpose of Job’s story is to show that God is the only One who can solve the problem of sin in the universe. That’s why God gave Satan (the Adversary);¹ permission to test Job. It resulted in him losing his possessions, children, and health. Job spends most his time with his friends protesting what happened to him. He didn’t think his punishment was justified based on the moral and righteous life he was living. Many times his friends disagreed. And even when God spoke to him personally it only shut him up for a short while. It was when Job finally perceived that God alone could handle Behemoth,² and Leviathan,³ (symbolic figures for man’s sinful tendencies), that he “repented in dust and ashes,” and his well-being was then restored.

Stern believes that what Paul is saying here is analogous to the same thinking. That’s why God had to send His Son as a sin offering which was required by law. God did exactly that and carried out the punishment against sin in human nature to meet the requirements of the Torah, namely, any sin against a perfect and holy God must be punished by death. The intent was not only to have this fulfilled in Yeshua but also in those who became united with Him in His death and also in His resurrection.⁴ Thus, being joined with Christ requires that we no longer let our lives be run according to the dictates of our old sinful nature. That means, instead of allowing it to do what it wants to do, we live according to the dictates of the Gospel and what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. In fact, we literally no longer exist to please our flesh but live to please our spirit. As Stern sees it, this offers a clear explanation of why the Torah’s threats of condemnation hang no more over the heads of believers.⁵

On this subject of righteousness, as found in the Torah, another Jewish writer states that Yeshua was made subject to the same weaknesses and limitations as mankind in order to redeem them.⁶ He explains that the scapegoat, mentioned in Leviticus 16, chosen at Yom Kippur represented sin itself, as well as the sin offering. That’s why Yeshua was sent by God, as Paul says here, “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” and as the final, permanent Yom Kippur sin offering and scapegoat for the atonement of sin. This means, that the Torah’s requirement that both the death sentence and carrying away of our sins be fulfilled in Yeshua. This then allowed such atonement to be offered to those who believe and are united with Him as justification to God for forgiveness. That’s why the new believer is made more alive, not only physically but also in spirit because through Christ they have fulfilled the requirements of the Torah.⁷ The writer points out that the term “might be fulfilled,” does not mean that believers can follow the Torah so perfectly that they never make a mistake and sin. Rather, it means that they have placed their full trust in God by having faith in His Messiah, which turned them in the direction of wanting to obey His Torah as they strive to advance toward perfection. The writer concludes that just as Yeshua is the embodiment of the Torah when we obey Yeshua, we are obeying the Torah. Yeshua instructed us; “Be ye holy (sanctified), as your Father in heaven is holy.”⁸ This teaching is along the same lines as Paul’s instructions to the church in Roman.⁹

Verse 5: People who live following their sinful nature think only about what they want to do. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about what the Spirit wants them to do.

Do not marvel at the fact that the world loves, pays for, promotes, feels happy about, and takes pleasure in their lust to sin. Aren’t you glad, as a believer, you have been liberated from this bondage? So we shouldn’t be astonished when the world rebukes our righteous stand, disdains God’s house, and refuses to hear the message of salvation. It takes a genuine rebirth of heart, soul, and mind through the power of the blood of Jesus to break that possessive demonic dominion that ruins so many lives.

When a Jewish elder and Pharisee named Nicodemus went in search of Jesus to ask Him about the kingdom of God, there is no evidence that he was an evil or immoral man. In fact, he was highly revered by his fellow Pharisees. But Jesus had to point out to him that every person has to deal with those temporary things that pertain to the body and those eternal things that relate to the spirit..¹⁰ That’s why our Lord went on to tell him that he needed to be reborn, so that he could begin to understand the things that apply to his spiritual nature. If all things that affect our physical desires were taken away, we would become nothing but spiritual robots. But we are given the choice to put one above the other, to choose good over bad, so that we please God by our righteous decision.

Paul echoes this same thought when he told the Corinthians: “People born of dirt are like the man of dirt, and people born from heaven are like the man from heaven; and just as we have borne the image of the man of dirt, so also we will bear the image of the man from heaven.”¹¹ As the spiritual side of the believer grows in strength, it places the human side of man under control and makes it subservient to the spirit. As a result, Paul goes on to tell the Corinthians: “For though we live in this world, we do not do battle in worldly ways (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God for the destruction of strongholds).”¹² To put this another way, the unconverted depend on therapy and counseling to help them overcome their faulty habits and tendencies, while the converted trust prayer and seeking God’s Word to help them cope and overcome. We see this dichotomy when Peter decided to take things into his own hands so he could protect Jesus from any violence. Our Lord told him: “Your thinking is from a human frame of reference, not from God’s perspective!”¹³

Paul was anxious that the Romans understand what taught on how God communicates with us through the Spirit. This is important because the Spirit knows the deepest secrets of God. So if you want to know God, it can only be done through the Holy Spirit, not some object of our imagination. Paul told the Corinthians that was why he did not depend on human wisdom to explain spiritual truths. Paul wrote: “People who do not have God’s Spirit do not accept the things that come from His Spirit. They think these things are foolish. They cannot understand them, because they can only be understood with the Spirit’s help.”¹⁴

Keeping in mind that this letter to the Romans is directed at times to the Jewish members of the congregation, early church scholar Origen surmises that those who were living secular lifestyles, that Paul was opposed to, were the Jews. After all, Paul called them Israel according to the flesh.¹⁵ They know what belongs to the secular laws because they interpret the law according to secular morals. But those Jews who lived saintly lifestyles are the people whom Paul calls spiritually alive Jews, or the true Israel.¹⁶ However, another early church writer, Ambrosiaster, sees it along the lines of those who’ve turned their backs on worldly living and now conduct themselves in accordance with the directives of the Gospel. He notes that Paul says this because those who give in to the temptations that come through fleshly desires know what the things of the flesh lusts for. But those who keep the lusts of the flesh firmly under control do so by promoting the needs of their spirit. Although they have turned away from the immoral lifestyle, they still live in a sin-filled world that’s all around them. But they do not struggle with the temptations of the flesh as sinners do, but on a different level. Ambrosiaster is confident that they do not seek applause from their fellow man, but God’s approval for their dedication to living right. Keeping their spiritual nature alive and well implies that they know what things God’s Spirit expects of them, and so they endeavor to follow His leading.¹⁷

Then we have the preaching of Chrysostom. He does not blindly criticize mankind’s carnal nature. After all, we are human with all our wants and needs. But he does advocate that such desires must be kept in their place and not allowed to roam around on their own seeking whatever satisfaction they can find. When that happens, these sinful tendencies get out of hand. They then begin to battle with the spirit and seek to breakdown even our strongest moral standards. This does not happen just because these bad inclinations are in us, but when they grow out of proportion to everything good inside us, then disorder will follow.¹⁸

Early church scholar Pelagius looks at this from a practical point of view. He points out that mankind is composed of both spirit and flesh. So when a person is absorbed with meeting their physical needs they are called a “carnally-minded” individual. But when they are committed to performing spiritual deeds they are called a “spiritually-minded” person. In Pelagius’ mind, when one of these attributes brings the other under its control, the subordinate attribute loses both its influence and its reputation. For each attribute desires what it favors and best relates to. So we can see why the spiritually-minded believer must maintain control over their carnally-minded tendencies.¹⁹

Reformer Martin Luther learned, after his born-again experience, that there was a new force alive in his body that affected his heart, mind, and emotions. After reading what Paul says here in verse 4, Luther concluded that those who are born-again and become new creatures in Christ, are always aware of their spiritual yearnings, namely, the blessings of the Holy Spirit and of God Himself.²⁰ Luther acknowledges that our spiritual nature came alive in us due to the creative power of the Holy Spirit. As such, our spiritual nature is not interested in the carnal things of this world but only of the spiritual blessings that come from God. That’s why the thing that makes us alive in Christ is the joy of knowing that we are now free to do that which is right and pleasing to our heavenly Father.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER EIGHT (Lesson VII)

Reformed Scottish theologian Robert Haldane has an excellent exegesis on righteousness under the Law of Moses. For him, God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh so that in Him sin might be punished because He wore the same sinful cloak of human flesh we all wear. This allowed for whatever that the law demanded to be fulfilled through Him. That’s why He obeyed the precepts of the Law as well as suffered the penalty that goes with disobedience. Haldane notes that the original Greek word dikaiōma, translated here as righteousness, is rendered as “judgment,”¹ or “justification,”² Also, in the verse being treated here it is properly used as the “Law’s authority.” Haldane, sees the Law’s authority being twofold: That which belongs to it at all times, as opposed that which belongs to it only in the event of a sin. The first case demands obedience to its commandments; the second case enforces subjection to its penalty. Also, in the first case, it corresponds with its proper goal given to all who obey are guaranteed eternal life. The second is what the law demands beyond its original intent, and that means carrying out its penalty in that all who disobey it are cursed. Placing a curse on mankind was not part of the original purpose of the law. But it ended up having the right to demand it, but only in cases of disobedience. And since Jesus never disobeyed the Law, then the Law lost that power over Him. But in order to take that curse off of us, Jesus took the full brunt of it on Himself and suffered death for us.

Haldane further contends that the Gospel was not given to take away this authority from the Law. As Paul said earlier, This does not mean that we invalidate the Law when we put our trust in Christ Jesus. We continue to accept the Law as an important teaching tool of right and wrong.³ But it cannot save. Therefore, those who are saved are saved by the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. They are not saved by fulfilling the Law. And although the Law included all types of sins, every demand of the Law was fulfilled in Christ’s sacrifice. By doing so, it completed what was required by the Law in order to declare those who believe in Christ as righteous before God.⁴

Haldane also believes that since Christ knew that all people were sinners, that’s why He completed the requirements of the Law for them in order to spare them the punishment of sin, – namely, eternal separation from God without any hope of salvation. At the same time, it made them eligible for the blessings of the Gospel, which include eternal life. Now, if the Gospel supports the Law, it must accomplish that in accordance with its original purpose. It must also do so in order for the intent of the Law to be carried out, namely, bring people to the knowledge of right and wrong so that they will seek to be saved from its penalty. On these accounts, Christ fully satisfied the law by fulfilling all of its righteous requirements. And by believers being united with Him, this allows for the demands of the law to be fulfilled in them through Christ. This is the basis for their justification before God. For Haldane, if they are one body, or one with Him, as the Apostle Paul has been showing, His fulfillment of the law is their fulfillment of it too. And so, by being in communion with Him they will one day sit with Him in heavenly places with Him.⁵ Also, by the same oneness with Him, His righteousness is all they need⁶.⁷

Charles Spurgeon taught that no one seeks to live by the ethics and virtues of the Law when they know it cannot save them. Rather, they renounce all confidence in their own works and accepting the righteousness given by God through faith in Christ Jesus, they are moved by gratitude to a new level of consecration and purity of obedience. This the Law could never accomplish. He goes on to say that a child will obey better without desire for any reward than a slave will under the threat of punishment or a servant in hopes of receiving a wage. The most potent motive for living a holy life comes from God’s grace. A risen Savior provides power over the sin that we strove against with our own power until we learned that Christ was the Way, and then through Him, we are able to conqueror it.⁸

Frédéric Godet points out that Paul is teaching here the emancipation from the Law that condemned those who sin with a death sentence. He says that what the law condemns in us was condemned in Christ. This then made it possible, that through His Spirit the demands of the law might be satisfied on our behalf. No doubt, while the power of sin is not annihilated within, it must no longer be allowed to control any active part of our being and determine our Christian lifestyle. Godet goes on to say that there remains the second idea: deliverance from the last condemnation, that of spiritual death.⁹

I like the way Charles Ellicott titles this portion: “Law or Love.” In defense of which he first asks, “How are we to be delivered from the bondage of moral evil?” Mankind is under contract to the law, and any transgression on their part condemns them at every step. The Holy Spirit constantly reminds them through their conscience. The question now becomes, how to loosen their feet from the cords that tie them to the burden of sin they gruelingly drag behind them. How can they exchange their helpless state of despair for a new motivation and desire to be free so they can willingly love and obey God in all they do? How can the constant conflict between their conscience and their immoral desires which makes their soul a house divided against itself ever be settled?¹⁰

Ellicott sees such individuals as having been burdened down since birth with their passions brought on by strong inclinations from their carnal nature. They are depraved, having inherited the sin gene in their bloodline passed on from generation to generation. It exposes them to every evil thought, word, and deed, and oppresses them with temptations because they are ignorant, weak, and fallible. By being limited in their power to discover the reason for their inherited sinfulness, which affects the very structure of their bodies and their minds, how can they ever hope to maintain obedience to the moral law? How can they even have any desire to keep it? To do that which I know is right, says Paul, I’m good with that. But how to always do what I know is right, that is my problem.

With all this in mind, Paul cries out: “Who shall deliver me from this dead body?” In other words, as Ellicott sees it, who shall deliver me from this spiritual deadness of the soul, this corruption of the affections, this impotence of the will, this unwillingness to love and obey? That is the need of those in temptation. That is the cry of every heart that ever struggled to lead a clean and noble life. Jews were well acquainted with the Law, and all their religious teachers made sure they grew in their understanding of it. But this is not the main trouble, the problem is how to generate the willingness, the desire to obey the law. For Ellicott, Paul answers that question. The Gospel is the answer. It was while people were still without any moral strength that Christ died for the ungodly. And by doing so, the power of the new life in Christ Jesus delivers us from the old power of sin and death. So if Christ now lives in us, the flesh is under His control when it comes to sin. The believer’s spirit is alive with respect to living right for God in obedience to His will. And to make that happen, Christ created the motive of, “doing it because of love.”¹¹

John Stott also has an interesting approach to understanding the great importance and need for Christian holiness. Holiness is the triumphant goal of Christ’s incarnation and atonement. What God had in mind when He sent His Son was not only for our justification – to be free from the condemnation of the Law but also for our sanctification. Stott sees that holiness consists in fulfilling the just requirements of the Law. This is the final answer to those who feel that once they are saved, they no longer need the law, and those who are adherents of the so-called “new morality.”¹² Since the moral law was never abolished for us, it must be fulfilled in us. Although obedience to the Law is not the ground of our justification, it is the fruit of it which is the very meaning of sanctification. As Stott sees it: Holiness is Christlikeness, and Christlikeness is fulfilling the righteousness of the law. Furthermore, holiness is the work of the Holy Spirit. While Romans chapter 7 insists that we cannot keep the law as long as our flesh is in charge, Romans 8:4 insists that we can and must because of the Holy Spirit that also resides in us.¹³

Douglas Moo offers some important points for exegesis of this verse. He sees the purpose of this work of God in Christ spelled out here in verse 4. Moo feels that the NIV translation is misleading. Instead of reading: “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us,” it should be rendered: “That the righteous requirement of the law was fully met in us.” Moo explains that Paul is not claiming that all the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us. Rather, that the righteous requirement of the law was fulfilled in us. He bases this on the fact that the Greek word dikaiōma (righteousness or doing what’s right) is singular. It may be a different story if Paul is thinking of how the Holy Spirit enables Christians to obey the commandments of the law. But this singular word “righteousness,” along with the passive form of “fulfill or be obeyed,” gives the whole verse a special meaning. It tells us that Christ has fulfilled the entirety of the law’s demand on our behalf, and it is His fulfillment that is offered to God for our justification.¹⁴ In Moo’s mind, Paul’s purpose is to show that we no longer live under the threat of death as part of sin’s punishment. We are by way of Christ living in us fulfilling the demands of the Law. We do this by yielding our lives to the power of the Holy Spirit. As such, we no longer live bound by the dictates of the realm of legalism, but we live freely in the realm of the Spirit. Not free to do as we please, but free to do as God pleases.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER EIGHT (Lesson VI)

Anglican theologian Charles Ellicott poses an important question: “How were we freed?” It is precisely on this point where the Law of Moses shows its impotence in getting rid of sin. It starts with the counteracting influence of sinful tendencies that occupy the human flesh. Thus, it was also for exactly this reason that God intervened by sending His Son in a body of flesh exactly like ours in which these good and bad inclinations reside. This was necessary in order for an offering to be made that served to expiate human sin. This way, sin was dethroned and expunged from the flesh in which Christ was incarnated.¹ Frédéric Godet notes that the flesh, which previously led our sinful tendencies to victory, can now be seen lying helpless in defeat and ready to be evicted.²

Karl Barth expounds on this by asking, “What was it that the law could not do?” He notes, as we will read later on, that it could not promulgate the death sentence on sin. As Paul just wrote, it could not set people free. That is to say, the law could not set human feet upon the rock of Eternity and rid them of the sentence of death which had been pronounced over them. This means that no religion is capable of altering the fact that the behavior of mankind is conduct outside of God’s will. All that religion can do is to expose the complete godlessness of human behavior. Barth takes a scholarly approach by noting that concrete human beings involved it all it desires and wants to do, finds religion an exercise of the flesh. By that Barth means, the pervasiveness of the worldly nature in all humans causes them to desire the crown and applause that comes with human achievement. But unfortunately, a religion built on the exercise of the flesh can neither overcome the worldly spirit in human nature, nor transforms it into something holy no matter how many rites, rituals, sacraments, or ceremonies they are subjected to and participate in.³

Verse 4: So now, that which was right in God’s laws can be obeyed by us, if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us.

Here we see one of the main pillars of God’s plan for salvation: God’s reconciliation with mankind after Adam and Eve’s betrayal in the Garden of Eden. But first, they had to be shown how impossible that was by simply following the written and verbal rules He gave to Moses. Once they saw that, they realized they could not make things right with Him on their own. With this revelation, they would be more open to accepting a Savior who could rescue them by His power and authority. God wanted to save His creation, not destroy it. And everything He did was based on love. When Paul wrote the Galatians, who were being influenced to add good works to their salvation by grace, he told them what type of righteousness God was looking for.⁴ This could only be achieved through the work of the Spirit in the believer’s life. He tells them: “We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.”⁵

Paul wanted the Colossians to know that in addition to making things right with mankind, God also wanted to redeem them from being carriers of sin’s virus infected by Satan’s venom. He chose a way that would easily identify them as belonging to Him. Paul wrote: “He has made you His friends again. He did this by the death Christ suffered while He was in His body. He did it so that He could present you to Himself as people who are holy, blameless, and without anything that would make you guilty before Him.”⁶ In other words, God did not open the door to His presence and then pushed people through like spoiled brats being removed from conditions that threatened their well-being. Instead, He broke the chains that bound them and pointed to an open door through which they could willingly go and gladly serve Him out of love and gratitude.⁷

Three very gifted early church scholars had much to say on the way God condemns our sin by helping us guard the treasure of His love and walk according to the Spirit. For instance, Ambrosiaster notes that sin was condemned by our Savior in three different ways. In the first place, He condemned sin in that it is something every person should turn away from. Next, Christ destroyed sin on the cross because by its power people were involuntarily being held in bondage and headed for hell because of Adam’s sin. Once that was accomplished, sin dared no longer to hang around someone’s neck who had traded it in for a cross. Finally, God eradicated sin’s dirty fingerprints from the record in the case of those who had received God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Early church scholar Ambrosiaster believes that all sinners should have been condemned for their sin. But God forgave them and condemned their sin in Christ instead. So by following our Savior’s example, we can say that we are finished sinning because we are finished with sin.⁸

During the same period as the three early church scholars mentioned above, the great early church preacher Chrysostom wanted people to know that Paul demonstrates that while we are motivated to remove the filthy rags of sinful deeds, we must also be ready to adorn ourselves with the pure garments of holiness. The One we serve may be willing to give us a crown, but to retain it is our responsibility. Christ made the crown of righteousness possible by fulfilling the demands of the law on our behalf, and by doing so removed the curse we were under as sinners. So let us no not betray so great a gift, but do all we can to guard this great treasure until one day we lay it down at His feet. In Chrysostom’s eyes, Paul demonstrates for us that being baptized to show that God saved us but then afterward failing to display a life worthy of that gift makes our baptism meaningless. For once we vow our total obedience to Christ, we must do everything we can and use every means possible to protect the righteousness Christ gained it for us so that it may continue living in us. He paid to great a price for our justification. So to take something so priceless and treat it as though it were worthless is unconscionable.⁹

This is followed by Augustine who contends that since the wisdom of this world has been expunged and destroyed in the born-again new creation in Christ, the required righteousness of the law is fulfilled when a person walks according to the yearnings of the Spirit, not according to the desires of the flesh. That’s why Christ correctly said we should not think that He came to do away with the Law of Moses or the writings of the early prophets. He did not come to invalidate them but to make them complete.¹⁰ Therefore, the love of God has come into our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us.¹¹ God has made our souls pure by obeying the truth revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.¹² When we only fear living right in God’s eyes instead of real love for Him, then what Christ did to fulfill the Law is not fulfilled in us.¹³

Reformer John Calvin takes on the prevailing theology of the church in his day by pointing out that some preach that those renewed in the Spirit of Christ have fulfilled the law on their own. This conjecture is totally alien to what Paul taught. That’s because, as faithful believers travel through this world they never become so proficient that justification through the law is completed by what they do. This must also be applied to receiving forgiveness. When the obedience of Christ is accepted by God for us in place of our own, then, and only then, is the Law satisfied. That becomes the basis for our being counted as righteous, provided we continue to live in the Spirit and not in the flesh. In other words, Christians must live like believers, not like sinners. Calvin sees Paul joining three things together: believers will always have imperfections, will have to deal with them on a daily basis, but the mercy of God is available to pardon and forgive any shortcomings. They can then be renewed in their spirit by the Holy Spirit to carry on their mission.

That’s because those who walk after the Spirit do not pretend that they have wholly rid themselves of all the passions and lusts of the flesh, nor do they claim that they have been sanctified unto perfection. Rather, that they diligently seek, with the Spirit’s help, to subdue and crucify the flesh so that their love for God reigns supreme in their lives. Their greatest desire is to be a child of God that is easily recognized in a world of sinners. Their reverence for God is such that they will do anything to take away from the flesh its sovereignty over their spirit. They know that not all their sinful tendencies have been conquered, but they have firmer control over them. In other words, the Christian life for a believer is not a stroll down the highway of holiness free from all worries and cares of life. It is a daily battle through an obstacle course to overcome those forces against their making it to the end.¹⁴ So with these forces within them, it requires that their spiritual nurture maintain law and order against the tendencies of their sinful nature to keep them away from temptation.¹⁵

At this point, John Bengel points out in the previous verse that while the Law was powerless to carry out the needed solution for sin, God had the right to declare a person righteous if they fulfilled the demands of every Law. As we know, no person from the moment the Law was given until the arrival of the Messiah had ever been able to accomplish this feat. So now, by living in Him, we are able to satisfy the demands of the Law. However, there was a real polar shift in the direction of how this is done. Before, it was attempted in the flesh to meet all the demands of the Law to the letter through good works. But now, because of Christ, the demands are met through the spirit of the Law in obedience to Christ. In other words, by doing what Christ instructs us to do, as believers we are fulfilling the law through Christ. As Bengel sees it, the One who had never been a sinner and Who always acted right, could not be prosecuted by the law or make any claims against Him. So if that same One now lives in us, by walking to the cross and then walking out of the tomb, His victory is carried over into our hearts because He did it on our behalf.¹⁶

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER EIGHT (Lesson V)

German Lutheran Bible scholar John Bengel points out that once again Paul is addressing the weakness of the law. While it could define sin by detailing the error made, it could not offer forgiveness so that the sinner might be justified and made right with God. Only God can condemn and sentence a sinner to punishment for their sins because the sins involved are against Him. Yet the price had to be paid in order for God to pardon and redeem the sinner. As Bengel put it, “…condemn the sin while saving the sinner.” So He sent His Son to take our sins upon Himself which allowed God to carry out the punishment of death on His Son as a sacrifice and then raise Him back to life again. That way, sinners must no longer pay that penalty, just believe in Christ’s death on their behalf, and God will then remove that condemnation so they can then live out their lives on earth to His glory. Bengel is convinced that what the law was powerless to do, God had authority to do. So whatever God does, it supersedes what the Law did and what people’s sinful tendencies’ did in response to the Law. That’s because sin was laid on the shoulders of the Son of God and He was able to carry it to its place of defeat.¹

From Adam Clarke’s perspective, had there been a way for mankind to be perfect through their own efforts by obeying the Law’s dictates, the Law would have been applauded and rewarded. However, since the carnal nature and rebellious character of mankind prevailed and transgressions were not stopped, the Law was rendered weak and too inefficient to undo the condemnation that followed and bring the sinner into a state of pardon and acceptance with God. That’s why by God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh did that which the law could not do. It purchased pardon for the sinner and brought every believer into favor with God. In Calvin’s mind, this was carried out by the incarnation of Christ. Just as Paul told the Colossians: “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.”² And Paul also wrote the Philippians: “He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”³ But while His human body was like ours, it was not subject to our sinful tendencies. Then, as a Sacrifice for Sin, He was able to condemned sin to its rightful end. That is, He condemned sin to be eradicated like a disease, and, thereby, sentencing it to suffer all the death and destruction it brought to the human race.⁴

Robert Haldane makes the point that this verse confirms and stands connected with what Paul has said before. That both this and the following verse are illustrations of that great truth, that to the believer in Christ there is now no condemnation. Haldane states that there are three principal considerations to ponder here: namely, the misery of our natural condition; the mercy of God in the incarnation of His Son; and the meaning of sending Him into the world to purchase our redemption. With these three factors becoming effective, the Apostle removes any difficulties that might present themselves from the supposition that, on account of some imperfection in the law, it could not bring about justification. In answer to this, it is shown here that the imperfection is not in the law, but in us.

Haldane also notes that the law could justify those who fulfilled it, as it is said, “The man that does them shall live.”⁵ However, the corruption and frailty of human nature make this impossible because they must all be obeyed to the letter. Some might object to this thinking. Since the law makes every transgressor subject to death, how then could the freedom from its curse by the death of Jesus Christ that Paul preached be tolerated? However, the Apostle proves that the punishment the Law demanded was inflicted upon Christ. Therefore, Paul’s first proposition that there is no more condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus is established.⁶ That’s because in the following verse it is added that the law, which we were required to fulfill has by Him been fulfilled in us.⁷ As Haldane sees it, some people fear the judgment of God, but for Christians, it inspires them with increased confidence. That’s because God is a just and fair Judge. He will not over-charge or demand more than what is right. So believers do not panic even when mistakes are made, for God will not penalize a believer for what Christ has already paid the price. John made that clear when he said: “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”⁸ And the reason? “Because the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.⁹”¹⁰

Then scholar Charles Hodge’s points out that Paul is trying to say that with sin’s death sentence being removed, the defeated devil is like a toothless lion.¹¹ The law could condemn those who sin, but what it could not do was to free them either from its guilt or power. Neither can it justify nor sanctify. That’s why Hodge believes: it is, for this reason, Paul states in verse 3 that because of the impotence of the law, God needed to send His Son. He points out that the Apostle has taught in the earlier chapters this insufficiency of the law. But this was not due to any imperfection of the law itself. It is holy, just, and good. It requires nothing more than what is right. If people would, or even could, comply with its righteous demands, the law would pronounce them as being righteous. Therefore, because in the Law we have the plan of truth and wisdom.¹² Such perfect exhibition of what God wills for His children would be sufficient for them to maintain and advance in holiness. However, since they are already bound by sin under its guilt and power, the law is entirely incapable arranging for their justification and sanctification.¹³ In Hodge’s mind, this is why the flesh in its weakness made the law ineffective. Yet even after being chosen, redeemed, and born-again, some of the Jewish believers in Rome were intent on keeping up this futile practice of living under the covenant as regulated by the Law of Moses instead of under the Covenant of Grace given by Christ Jesus.

Theologian Albert Barnes notes that by the sacrifice of Christ, God clearly demonstrated His loathing of sin by securing its final overthrow. The Apostle is not speaking here of the sanctifying influence of this sacrifice but of its justifying power. On this basis, Barnes sees God passing a judicial sentence on sin in the person of Christ. It was needed because the Law could not order justification on its own, thereby canceling the sentence of death on all who sin. This means now that all who believe in Him cannot be condemned and punished. They are represented by Him who already paid the price. Since God now requires justification through Christ, Paul does not allow any obedience to the Law as a substitute. Barnes believes that the Apostle has a more immediate design in view of the sacrifice of our Lord. The demand of the Law was to satisfy any injury it suffered and any honor it lost due to being neglected or completely dismissed as unnecessary. As Barnes sees it, the sacrifice of Christ answered every claim. And with believers now united with Him, His work of righteousness, demanded by the Law, has been fulfilled by His being in the believer. So we can see in this passage a beautiful explanation of justification.¹⁴

While preaching on the subject of the soul after conversion, preacher Octavius Winslow wants to convince his listeners that no truth shines brighter and with more luster in God’s Word than that of our salvation. From first to last, it is of God, and by God. One thing that makes it convincing is that the work of the glorious Trinity is operating together in unity to provide this salvation. Each person of the Godhead occupies a distinct and particular office. Yet they work seamlessly with one common goal, each having mutual respect for the other’s contribution. The Father is involved as the one who brought His elect and His Son together so they could be one, even as He and the Son are one.¹⁵ The Son was given, and graciously accepted, authority as the Father’s emissary to represent Him to those who need rescuing from sin. So when the exact time came, He appeared on earth in human form.¹⁶ He fulfilled His mission by carrying the sins of the world to the cross.¹⁷ The Holy Spirit is given the ministry of convicting sinners of their sin, opening the heart and mind to have faith, and then leading the repentant sinner to the cross where the atoning blood of the Lamb of God washes their sins away.¹⁸ They are in such perfect unity that they need not consult one another before they act. How marvelous is our salvation when we realize that the Godhead is involved.¹⁹

And Charles Spurgeon agrees that while God’s law is good, just, and holy, he admits with Paul that it proved too weak to do the job of salvation. Not so much in itself, because it was the best law, but when mankind tried to respond positively to the Law, their innate sinful tendencies caused things to go seriously wrong. It was this weakness of the flesh that made it impossible for anyone to keep the Law to perfection. Trying to live right with God required so much effort, that it was impossible to keep track of everything one needed to do. With such imperfections in mankind, the Law was powerless to make anyone holy. All it could do was say, “Here’s the way it should be done and you will be condemned to death if you don’t do it this way.” But what made things even worse, was that the Law provided no power to enable mankind to do what it commanded. It is like saying to a lame man, “Get up and walk,” or to a blind man, “Open your eyes and look,” but doing nothing to enable them either to walk or see. That’s why when the Law could not do what God desired it to do; He sent His only Son to accomplish what the Law found was impossible to do for sinners.²⁰

Then Frédéric Godet points out that the lack of power in the Law to accomplish this work of justification did not come from any intrinsic imperfection, but from the fact that mankind’s sinful nature resisted it by reason of the weakness in their flesh. The law did have the power in writing to condemn sin because it had been engraved on stone. Yet it could not be actually carried out in human life because it had no authority to forgive. And yet, it was necessary that man’s sinful tendencies be destroyed in order to restore holiness.²¹ Think of it this way, the Speed Limit sign may tell you what the law wants, and when you pass that limit, you violate the law. But that sign cannot run after you, stop you, and give you a ticket. Nor can it prosecute you if you fail to pay that ticket. So while the sign had the authority to inform you, that’s all it could do. The same with the Law of Moses. Now we know why God sent His Son like a new Sheriff in town. But He came not only to arrest (convict),²² but to forgive and remove that ticket from our record.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER EIGHT (Lesson IV)

Verse 3: The law was without power because it was made ineffective by our sinful nature. But God did what the law could not do: He sent His own Son to earth, clothed with the same human form as everyone else who used it to sin. God sent Him to be an offering to pay for that sin. So God sacrificed a human life to destroy Sin.

For so long Paul sought freedom through the Law from the death sentence brought on by sin – meaning loss of all hope for salvation in this world and the world-to-come, – but it eluded him. Only after his revelation on the road to Damascus, he was able to comprehend this new way. This is what he told the people of Antioch in Pisidia: “Brothers and sisters, understand what we are telling you. You can have forgiveness of your sins through this Jesus. The Law of Moses could not free you from your sins. But you can be made right with God if you believe in Jesus.”¹ And when the Judaizers came to the churches throughout Galatia trying to convince them to keep the Law as a safety-net to grace, Paul wrote them: “The law was never God’s way of giving new life to people. If it were, then we could be made right with God by following the law… the only way for people to get what God promised would be through faith in Jesus Christ. It is given to those who believe in Him.”²

The writer of Hebrews drew the same conclusion. He wrote: “The old rules are now ended because they were weak and worthless. The Law of Moses could not make anything perfect. But now a better hope has been given to us. And with that hope, we can come near to God.”³ When we read the first ten verses of Chapter 10 in the Book of Hebrews, the writer lays this out clearly. He concludes by saying: “With one sacrifice Christ made His people perfect forever. They are the ones who are being made holy.”⁴ This holiness, of which Paul speaks here, means that like vessels lying damaged on the trash heap of broken laws, we were rescued by Christ in order to be cleansed, healed, and dedicated as vessels for God’s use only.

This was not man’s plan because he would have been forced to devise it by using the Law. But the Law could only condemn, not correct; the Law I could only expose the dirty heart, not make it clean and white as snow.⁵ The plan Paul was talking about was designed by God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It offered not only grace but liberty and reconciliation with the Father. Paul explained this to the Galatians: “When the appointed time came, God sent His Son… God did this so that He could buy the freedom of those who were under the law. God’s purpose was to make us His children.”⁶ For the Apostle John, this was, without doubt, the greatest expression of God’s love.⁷

But it came at a high price. The pure and spotless Lamb of God, who committed no sin, was made a sinner by taking our sins on Himself. This required Him to suffer death on the cross. Even the Jewish leaders called Jesus a sinner.⁸ As a result, He died between two criminals.⁹ Paul says, this was necessary so that He could identify with those who were sinners.¹⁰ He even told the Galatians: “The law says we are under a curse for not always obeying it. But Christ took away that curse. He changed places with us and put Himself under that curse.”¹¹ The Apostle Peter saw it similarly: “Christ carried our sins in His body on the cross. He did this so that we would stop living for sin and live for what is right. By His wounds, you were made whole.”¹²

Early church scholar Tertullian wrote to a critic and explained to him that since the Father sent His Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh,”¹³ it cannot be claimed that the flesh in which He appeared was illusory. It was necessary for Christ to come in the likeness of sinful flesh so that He could redeem those living in sinful flesh. It could not be done by some celestial lookalike or with an imitation covering. It must be actual human flesh and bone, even though it was free of sinful tendencies.¹⁴

Then Church historian Eusebius opposed Origen’s idea that the Law of Moses was divided into two parts, one to deal with the sinful tendencies of the flesh, and the other to deal with mankind’s spirituality. In Eusebius’ view, God did what the Law could not do, so there is no reason to go back to the Law looking for answers. It is on this same basis that Christians reject having to follow Jewish customs on the grounds that they add nothing to what Christ did for us, and nor will it help us to better express our faith in Him¹⁵.¹⁶

Then Pelagius gives us his analogy of what Paul is saying and points out that, as he sees it, the Law of God was strong, but the spirit of man was weak.¹⁷ In declaring that God sent His only Son, Pelagius counters Bishop Photinus,¹⁸ who denied the Son’s existence before the incarnation. The truth is, the Son became flesh just like the rest of humanity. That allowed Him to be condemned to death in the flesh like all others. But He was victorious over that condemnation of death through His resurrection. In other words, Christ was not a Spirit trying to die for physical beings. As Pelagius sees it, Christ overcame death for us because He was like us. He then compares this to the Jewish system and points out that sacrificial birds and animals, which the Jews offered under the law, were offered in the name of sin, although they had no sin in themselves. In the same way, the Lamb of God which was offered for our sins, took the name of sin, even though they could find no fault in Him. Therefore, Christ was able to conquer sin by never sinning Himself. He arrived at the cross sinless, and was buried in the tomb sinless, and rose from the grave sinless. He did this while in the flesh in order to carry out the death sentence on sin, that sin had placed upon mankind. In reality, it was our Lord’s will that was on trial¹⁹.²⁰

Then Bishop Theodoret confirms that Christ was incarnated in what we know as sinful flesh. It was on purpose that He took on human nature. However, He did not assume human sinfulness. Even though He had the same human nature we have, He was not of the same character and same mind as we sinful human beings. Theodoret goes on to point out that since the Law was unable to accomplish its purpose due to the weakness of those to whom it was given, the only begotten Son of God broke the power of sin. He did so by taking on human flesh and then doing everything that was right according to the Law, never once giving in to the temptations of sin in any way²¹.²² Another early church scholar, named Caesarius, adds that by taking upon Himself corrupted human flesh while remaining without sin, Christ fulfilled all the righteousness required by God while condemning sin in the body. This He proved by His temptations in the desert, all of which pertained to the flesh – hunger, pride, and greed. It was a reminder of the commandments and the power of the Word²³.²⁴

The great Reformer Martin Luther had a lot to say on this verse. First, he challenges those who speculate that by our own natural powers we can awaken in us acts of love for God so that by our will we love God above all things. It is quite clear, that to do so requires following every letter of the Law with complete perfection. But Paul says here that the Law is incapable of doing such a thing since it is impossible to fulfill the Law because of the weakness of the flesh. In fact, even trying to do what is good is a bad thing because human reason seeks its own benefit, not that of God’s. So as far as Luther is concerned, if faith does not enlighten a person and love does not make them free, then they are incapable of willing into existence anything that is good on their own.²⁵

Fellow Reformer, John Calvin, agrees with Luther. Calvin notes that Paul clearly declares that our sins were paid for by the death of Christ. It had to be this way because it was impossible for the law to confer righteousness upon us. This revealed one thing to mankind: The more that is required by the law than what we can perform, the more we will need to look for an alternative way to remedy this dilemma. Why should human endurance by challenged and measured by the precepts of the law? God is not interested in demanding of mankind more than they are capable of giving. God knew what His creation was competent of, and that’s all He requires. It was mankind’s sinful tendencies that let them down, just as it did Adam and Eve.²⁶ In other words, Christ Himself could not have fulfill God’s demands any other way than through the Law. That’s why He said He had not come to destroy the Law.²⁷

But Calvin does not leave it there. He sees Paul revealing the method used by our heavenly Father in restoring righteousness to mankind through His Son. By condemning sin in the very flesh of Christ, our Lord wrote a new covenant that was able to abolished the authority of sin which held us bound as prisoners before God. This then freed us from its demands because Christ met all those demands so that we could have righteousness through Him. Once our sins are blotted out and we are absolved because Christ paid the price, God can then counts us as justified. Calvin notes that Paul first declares that Christ was sent to remind us that there is no righteousness in us. That’s why any righteousness we seek must be found in Him.²⁸ Therefore, anyone who depends upon their own merits to gain this justified status, do so in vain. They can only be justified by the grace of the Forgiver. It all comes from that atonement which Christ accomplished in His own flesh.²⁹ To put this another way, Calvin is saying that there are some who believe that if they act like Christ, that alone will be enough to justify them before God. But this is an illusion. We all must be punished for our sins. God in His mercy allowed His Son to suffer that punishment for us. So it is Christ living in us that causes us to live and act righteously.

The Gospel According to Thomas is an early Christian non-canonical Gospel that is full of sayings many scholars believe provides insight into the Christian oral traditions around 50 AD before the Gospel of Matthew and others were made available. We don’t read it much, if at all because it was never made part of the New Testament. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of other scrolls known as the Nag Hammadi library.

In this Gospel of Thomas, we read this saying of our Lord: “If you bring forth what is within you, what is within you will save you. If you don’t bring forth what is within you, what is within you will destroy you.” The word “save” here does not mean salvation, but to preserve, keep you going, and keep you from faltering and quitting. These are what we call today: unspoken thoughts or communication. They may include an idea that could become a remedy or thought that might encourage someone or words of wisdom to give guidance.

But the most critical communication that must be delivered is that which is vital to our relationship with God and others. While serving as a Hospice Chaplain, one of the most oft-repeated regrets I heard from friends of the deceased and especially family members was, “I wish I would have told my Mom before she died how much I love her.” Or another, “I wish I would have asked Dad for forgiveness before he passed away. Now I’ll never have peace over what I’ve done.” And while serving as a Pastor, I heard some members say after a neighbor or relative died: “The Lord kept telling me to call them or go visit them and share with them what He put in my heart, but I kept putting it off. And now I’ll never be able to deliver the message He gave me.”

When someone withholds vital communication intended for you, they fail to pass on the needed information they promised to deliver to you. It may be something that clears up a misunderstanding that caused a problem or a breakdown in the relationship. When you find out, it’s as though they intentionally kept this knowledge from you to protect themselves. So when you realize what happened, you feel abused and violated.

Undelivered communications can become the source of so much agony, grief, and despair in the heart and mind of a person who didn’t take the time or make an effort to say what needed to be said for whatever reason. Don’t let it become an emotional cancer in your life. Let whatever you’re doing wait for later, but call that friend, visit your relative, share with the neighbor what is in your heart and on your mind. After all, even while you were a miserable sinner God knew He loved you. But He didn’t keep it to Himself. He sent His only Son to tell you. Aren’t you glad He did! – Dr. Robert R Seyda

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF THIS WAS YOU

I was granted the opportunity to serve in the U. S. Military during the Vietnam war. Some of my friends were sent into battle, and when they came back, if they came back, they were either scarred emotionally or physically. So when I read this story some years ago, it touched me deeply. Let it speak to you, and I’m sure you will learn a lesson from it. If you heard it before, read it again to honor those who gave their all for our country and flag.

A soldier was finally returning home after having fought in Vietnam. As soon as he landed in San Francisco, he called his parents. They were excited to hear his voice and especially thrilled when he told them he was coming home. They were so happy to be able to see him again and have a good time talking things over. But before he hung up, he said to them: “Mom and Dad, I have a favor to ask. I’d like to bring a friend with me.” They were only too glad to approve and said, “Yes, we’d love to meet him.”

There was a pause on the telephone, and then the son said: “Thanks, Mom and Dad, but there’s something I think you should know. He was hurt pretty bad in the fighting. He stepped on a landmine, and it blew off his right arm and right leg. He has nowhere else to go, so I’ve invited him to come and live with us. Is that Okay?” Then there was another pause on the phone, and finally, the father said to him, “I’m sorry to hear that about your friend, son. Once you get here, maybe we can find somewhere else for him to live.”

Again there was a pause in the conversation, and with deep emotion, the son said, “But dad, it would be hard for him to take care of himself having only one arm and leg. That’s why I want him to live with us.” The father’s voice was a little sterner this time as he told his son, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”

At that point, the phone went dead. Since the parents didn’t know exactly where he was calling from, they couldn’t call back. So they waited a few minutes for him to call again, thinking they had somehow been disconnected. The minutes turned into hours, and the hours turned into days, but the call still didn’t come. That was, until about a week later. The phone rang, and thinking it was her son, the mother picked up the phone with joy. But it wasn’t her son, it was San Francisco police department. They were sorry to tell her that her son had died after falling off a building. The police believed it was a suicide.

The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized his face right away. But to their horror, they discovered something they didn’t know. Their son had only one arm and one leg. The father and mother looked at each other in disbelief. Their son had not been talking about a friend, he was talking about himself. They then realized that he was testing them to see if they would accept his friend, then he had no worries that they would accept him.

Why is it some people find it easy to love those who bring them joy and they end up receiving more than they give? But when it comes to dealing with those who may be an inconvenience or cause them to feel uncomfortable, they have little time or interest. They’d rather not cope with others who are not as healthy, active, and smart as they are.

Thankfully, there is someone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with unconditional love, someone who welcomed us into His family with open arms. Someone who took us in regardless of how messed up, wounded, or distressed we were. And the name of that someone is Jesus.

So tonight, before you climb into bed, ask God will give you the strength you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different than we are. When you do that, you may be a miracle waiting to happen for someone. Another person who has no one else to love them the same way God loves you.

Think of it this way, God is living in you so you should treat others the same way God treated you. Yes, when we see some people and the terrible condition they are in it may make us cry. But how we react to them as an active listener, having a shoulder they can cry on, ready to give them encouragement instead of always giving advice, and willing to give some time to those who may not have much time left, will get the angels in heaven talking about you and put a big smile on God’s face. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER EIGHT (Lesson III)

Scottish theologian Robert Haldane offers his take on how we can be assured that there remains no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. As he sees it, every believer should assimilate all the comfort this verse provides for true believers. This will allow them to say with Paul, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Yet, many will question and say that this would be nice if true, but what assurance do they have of ever being freed from certain condemnation? Also, how can we know for sure that Christ is living in us when the flesh is so strong and our spirit so weak? We all know that we are still prone to acts of disobedience, and exhibit many defects. Haldane warns, that if anyone is satisfied to remain in sin and surrender to their carnal desires, and has no desire to turn from their permissive ways, they will be given no assurance that they are, in fact, free from the sentence of condemnation. No believer should live like that. However, if they groan because they get no joy out of sinning, and cry out with the Apostle, “O wretched person that I am,” then God will deliver them, and they can have that blessed assurance of salvation.

But Haldane believes we have more to learn on this subject. No Christian is every totally free from temptation and unrighteous thoughts. Paul made that clear in the preceding chapters. Nevertheless, a person should resist and fight against these desires and turn to God in repentance. They can do so by praying earnestly because of being convicted of such sins and begin meditating on God’s Word. By doing so, their heartfelt desire to be holy and to grow in grace is proof of their regeneration. Because, if their sinful tendencies are under the control of the renewed spirit within, they would not be tempted by these inclinations as often. Whoever strongly resists the desires of the flesh, with the help of the Spirit of God, will, in the end, obtain victory. The Holy Spirit in us is greater in goodness and power than all the forces against us, – Satan, the world, and the flesh. All this should inspire the believer with enough courage to fight the good fight of faith, to follow the directions of the blessed Holy Spirit, and be open to the spiritual instructions the Spirit delivers to their soul and conscience¹.²

Albert Barnes sees what Paul says here as another way of saying: While the law is not abolished, the influence that it once had over our sinful nature, producing a vicious cycle of sin, confession, and eventual death, has been broken by the Holy Spirit, setting us free to serve God willingly. In Barnes’ mind, Paul is not claiming that he is perfect. This would go against his whole train of thought and reasoning in this passage and others. As God designed it, the power of the Gospel was to produce knowledge of this freedom, and proclaim that it can be obtained by faith. That is something the Law could never deliver. In his former condition, Paul struggled under an old plan that consisted of a bitter and annoying bondage to his sinful tendencies.³ But now he lives under the influence of a new plan proclaiming the freedom it so competently produces.⁴

Charles Hodge notices that since Paul is writing to the Jewish leaders in the church in Rome, he contrasts the Law of Sin and Death with the Law of the Spirit of life. This is why Paul was able to start this narrative by saying that they need no longer to live under condemnation, namely, the death penalty. Hodge concludes that for a better understanding we should connect this verse with the preceding one so that together they read: “There is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit – this power that now is mine through Christ Jesus – has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death.” Now, having been freed from the curse of the law, and no longer required to fulfill all its demands, we live as free and willing servants of God. We no longer see living for God as a legal obligation. We have been pardoned by God’s grace through Jesus Christ for whose sake we now live and in whom we have our being. Furthermore, having been made partakers of the Spirit of God, we are transformed more and more into Christ’s image. These are the ones God has pledged to preserve unto eternal life.⁵

I like the way Charles Spurgeon expresses it: “Sin and death cannot govern me – cannot condemn me – and cannot destroy me.” That’s because we now live under another law called the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. I prefer the word “principle” instead of “Law.” This new principle has ushered us into another kingdom, under a new Ruler who took us under His personal care. That’s because the death sentence has been vacated and it can never be imposed on us again. That would be double jeopardy, something God’s new principle does not allow. Not only am I not a bond-slave to the old slave master called sin, I am now his enemy. I am free from any claim he may have over my life. I fight against him, struggling like a free man against the one who seeks to drag me back into captivity. And even if there are times my flesh makes me feel like sin still holds sway over me, my spirit cries out, “You are free! And whom the Son sets free is free indeed!”⁶

Dr Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister, and professor of theology, in a remarkable sermon on this subject makes this point in his powerful message: Once we are released from the spirit of bondage, with which love cannot dwell in harmony, and are admitted into the fold of God’s children through faith Christ Jesus, the spirit of our adoption into the family of God is announced. It is like anointing oil poured upon our heads. That’s when our heart is brought under the mastery of one great and predominant affection, our unconditional love for God and His Word. We celebrate our deliverance from the tyranny of its former fleshly desires, knowing that this is the only way in which deliverance is possible. We celebrate this in baptism, and we begin to walk by faith revealed to us from heaven. It is our faith in the truth that it is only through Christ a sinner can be justified in the sight of God. This becomes a weapon that provides a defense and the necessary power to resist all attempts by our sinful tendencies to regain control.⁷

Douglas Moo gives us the important insight on what Paul means here by “law.” He notes that in verse 2 Paul explains why we need no longer worry about condemnation: “Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Moo points out that there are two other places where Paul opposes one law (nomos) Romans 3:27, to another law Romans 7:22–23. He also makes mention that in each case scholars are divided over whether Paul is comparing one function of the Mosaic law to another function of that same law. Or, whether one or both occurrences of the word “law” might refer to something in addition to the Mosaic law (e.g., a principle or authority).⁸ In other words, Paul was not indicting the Law of Moses per se by calling it the law of sin and death, but rather using the term “law” much the same way we use it in the “law of gravity.”

Jewish scholar David Stern gives his point of view on the Torah (Law of the Spirit) and torah (Law of Sin and Death.) But first, we must ask: “What are there two Laws?” Stern feels that some have given this wrong reply: “Yeshua gave a good Torah of the Spirit which produces life, in contrast with the bad Mosaic Law (torah) that produces only sin and death.” Why is this wrong? He says that such an interpretation not only contradicts Paul’s arguments in Romans Chapters 3 and 7 but is implicitly antisemitic.⁹ Now comes what he feels is the right answer: “The Torah of the Spirit is the Mosaic Law properly apprehended by the power of the Holy Spirit in believers.” Elsewhere, when Paul refers to “The Torah’s true meaning, which the Messiah upholds,” it is often rendered, “the law of Christ.”¹⁰ For Stern, the second “torah” (with a small “t”) is “sin’s torah.”¹¹ In other words, not a God-given Torah at all but an anti-God Torah. To be more specific, “It is the Mosaic Law improperly understood and perverted by our old, sinful nature into a legalistic system of earning God’s approval by our own works.”¹² What this suggests for us Gentiles is that there is but one Torah, the one given to Moses. When that Torah is misinterpreted it becomes salvation by works, which reduces it to a “torah,” but when rightly interpreted, it becomes the Torah of salvation by faith. Even though Moses taught it this way, Christ came to teach it the better way and called it the Gospel.

The author of the Messianic Bible also has quite a bit to say about the Jewish understanding of what Paul says here concerning the Law of the Spirit and the Law of Sin and Death. He believes that both can be tied to the original Torah. First, he tells us that God’s Torah given through Moses when properly understood, and rightly applied, should not be called the “law of sin and death.” For him, God’s Torah of the Spirit, is the same Torah given through Moses but it points to the Messiah. So who points us to true Torah?¹³ None other than Yeshua. He is both the giver of Torah and the embodiment of Torah. John tells us that Yeshua was, “The Word made flesh.”¹⁴

This same Messianic writer goes on to point out that God never changes. That’s why God directed Moses to teach “salvation by faith,” that is, being “born-again.” This reveals the connectivity of the Torah to Yeshua.¹⁵ God says that the Torah He has given is both a blessing and a curse.¹⁶ A blessing to those who follow it in faith,¹⁷ and a curse to those who do not.¹⁸ Thus, “Circumcision of the heart”¹⁹ is equivalent to “being born-again.”²⁰ Although being spoken of as an event, the command to circumcise the heart can also be taken in the present tense as well. The writer concludes that this is why Yeshua reprimanded Nicodemus in John, Chapter 3. Nicodemus should have known this, as a “teacher of Israel.” God says He wants us to love Him with all our heart, our soul, and our mind.²¹