Sabbath afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study:Rom. 15:20–27, Acts 28:17–31,Phil. 1:12, Rom. 1:7, Ephesians 1, Rom. 15:14.
Memory Text:“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ foryou all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world”(Romans 1:8, NKJV).
It is important for a student of the book of Romans to understand thebook’s historical background. Context is always crucial when seekingto understand the Word of God. We need to know and understand theissues that were being addressed. Paul was writing to a specific groupof Christians at a specific time and for a specific reason; knowing thatreason as much as possible will benefit us greatly in our study.
Thus, let’s go back in time. Let’s transport ourselves back to first-century Rome, become members of the congregation there, and then,as first-century church members, let us listen to Paul and the words thatthe Holy Spirit gave him to deliver to the believers in Rome.
And yet however localized the immediate issues that Paul wasaddressing, the principles behind them—in this case the questionhow is a person saved?—are universal. Yes, Paul was speaking to a specificgroup of people; and yes, he had a specific issue in mind when he wrotethe letter. But as we know, many centuries later in a totally differenttime and context, the words he wrote were as relevant to Martin Lutheras they were to Paul when he first wrote them. And they are relevantto us as well today.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 7.
Romans 16:1, 2 indicates that Paul probably wrote Romans in theGreek city of Cenchreae, which was near Corinth. Paul’s mention ofPhoebe, a resident of greater Corinth, establishes that place as the likelybackground for the letter to the Romans.
One of the purposes of establishing the city of origin of the NewTestament epistle is to ascertain the date of writing. Because Paul trav-eled a lot, knowing his location at a particular time gives us a clue tothe date.
Paul established the church at Corinth on his second missionary journey,a.d. 49–52 (see Acts 18:1–18). On his third journey, a.d. 53–58, he visited Greece again(Acts 20:2, 3) and received an offering for the saints in Jerusalem near the end of his journey(Rom. 15:25, 26). Therefore the Epistle to the Romans probably was written in the earlymonths of a.d. 58.
What other important churches did Paul visit on his third missionaryjourney? Acts 18:23.
Visiting the Galatian churches, Paul discovered that during hisabsence false teachers had convinced the members to submit to circumcision and to keep to other precepts of the law of Moses. Fearing thathis opponents might reach Rome before he arrived, Paul wrote a letter(Romans) to forestall the same tragedy from happening in Rome. It isbelieved that the Epistle to the Galatians also was written from Corinthduring Paul’s three months there on his third missionary journey, perhaps shortly after his arrival.
“In his epistle to the Romans, Paul set forth the great principles of thegospel. He stated his position on the questions which were agitating theJewish and the Gentile churches, and showed that the hopes and promises which had once belonged especially to the Jews were now offeredto the Gentiles also.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 373.
As we said, it is important in the study of any book of the Bibleto know why it was written; that is, what situation it was addressing. Hence, it is important for our understanding of the Epistle to theRomans to know which questions were agitating the Jewish and Gentilechurches. Next week’s lesson will address these questions.
<i>What kinds of issues are agitating your church at present? Arethe threats more from without or from within? What role are youplaying in these debates? How often have you stopped to questionyour role, your position, and your attitudes in whatever strugglesyou’re facing? Why is this kind of self-examination so important?</i>
There’s no question that the personal touch is the best way to communicate in most cases. We can phone, e-mail, text, and even Skype,but face to face, flesh to flesh, is the best way to communicate. That’swhy Paul announced in his letter to the Romans that he intended to seethem in person. He wanted them to know that he was coming, and why.
Read Romans 15:20–27. What reasons does Paul give for not havingvisited Rome earlier? What made him decide to come when he did?How central was mission to him in his reasoning? What can welearn about mission and witnessing from Paul’s words here? Whatinteresting—and important—point does Paul make in Romans15:27 about Jews and Gentiles?
The great missionary to the Gentiles constantly felt impelled to takethe gospel to new areas, leaving others to labor in places where thegospel had been established. In the days when Christianity was youngand the laborers few, it would have been a waste of valuable missionarypower for Paul to work in already-entered areas. He said, “So have Istrived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I shouldbuild upon another man’s foundation,” so that “they that have not heardshall understand” (Rom. 15:20, 21).
It was not Paul’s purpose to settle down in Rome. It was his aimto evangelize Spain. He hoped to get the support of the Christians inRome for this venture.
What important principle can we take away regarding the whole question of mission from the fact that Paul sought help from an established church in order to evangelize a new area?
Read again Romans 15:20–27. Notice how much Paul’s greatdesire was to minister and to serve. What motivates you and youractions? How much of a heart of service do you have?
“Now when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but Paul was permitted to dwellby himself with the soldier who guarded him” (Acts 28:16, NKJV).What does this text tell us about how Paul finally got to Rome?What lesson can we draw from this about the unexpected andunwanted things that so often come our way?
Yes, Paul eventually got to Rome, even if it was as a prisoner. Howoften our plans don’t come out as we anticipated and hoped for, eventhe ones formulated with the best of intentions.
Paul reached Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journeywith his offering for the poor, which he had collected from the congregations of Europe and Asia Minor. But unexpected events awaited him.He was arrested and chained. After being held prisoner for two yearsin Caesarea, he appealed to Caesar. Some three years after his arrest,he arrived in Rome, probably not in the manner that he had intended towhen he first wrote years before to the Roman church about his intention to visit the church there.
What does Acts 28:17–31 tell us about Paul’s time in Rome? Moreimportant, what lesson can we learn from this passage?
“Not by Paul’s sermons, but by his bonds, was the attention of thecourt attracted to Christianity. It was as a captive that he broke from somany souls the bonds that held them in the slavery of sin. Nor was thisall. He declared: ‘Many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confidentby my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.’Philippians 1:14.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 464.
How many times have you experienced unexpected twists in yourlife that, in the end, turned out for good? (See Phil. 1:12.) How can, and should, you gain faith from those experiences to trustGod for the things where no good seems to have arisen?
Here is Paul’s salutation to the church in Rome: “To all that be in Rome,beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from Godour Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7). What principlesof truth, of theology, and of faith can we take away from these words?
Beloved of God. While it is true that God loves the world, in a special sense God loves those who have chosen Him, those who haveresponded to His love.
We see this in the human sphere. We love in a special way thosewho love us; with them there is a mutual exchange of affection. Lovedemands response. When the response is not forthcoming, love is limited in its fullest expression.
Called to be saints. In some translations the phrase “to be” is initalics, which means that the translators have supplied the words. Butthese two words can be left out, and the meaning will still be intact.When they are omitted, we get the expression “called saints”; that is,“designated saints.”
“Saints” is the translation of the Greek hagioi, which literally means“holy ones.” Holy means “dedicated.” A saint is one who has been “setapart” by God. He or she still may have a long way to go in sanctification, but the fact that this person has chosen Christ as the Lord is whatdesignates him or her as a saint, in the Bible’s meaning of the term.
Paul says that they were “called to be saints.” Does this mean that somepeople are not called? How do Ephesians 1:4, Hebrews 2:9, and2 Peter 3:9 help us to understand what Paul means?
The great news of the gospel is that Christ’s death was universal;it was for all human beings. All have been called to be saved in Him,“called to be saints” even before the foundation of the world. God’soriginal intention was for all humanity to find salvation in Jesus. Thefinal fire of hell was meant only for the devil and his angels(Matt. 25:41). That some folk don’t avail themselves of that which was offereddoesn’t take away from the wonder of the gift any more than someonewho goes on a hunger strike in a marketplace takes away from the wonderful bounties found there.
Even before the foundation of the world, God called you to havesalvation in Him. Why should you not allow anything, anythingat all, to hold you back from heeding that call?
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, thatyour faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Rom. 1:8).
It is not known how the congregation in Rome was established. Thetradition that Peter or Paul founded the church is without historicalfoundation. Perhaps laypersons established it, converts on the Day ofPentecost in Jerusalem (Acts 2) who then visited or moved to Rome.Or perhaps at some later period converts moving to Rome witnessed totheir faith in that world capital.
It is surprising that in just a few decades from Pentecost a congregation that apparently had received no apostolic visit should be so widelyknown. “Notwithstanding the opposition, twenty years after the crucifixion of Christ there was a live, earnest church in Rome. This churchwas strong and zealous, and the Lord worked for it.”—Ellen G. WhiteComments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1067.
“Faith” here probably includes the broader sense of faithfulness; thatis, faithfulness to the new way of life they had discovered in Christ.
Read Romans 15:14. How does Paul describe the church at Rome?
Here are three items that Paul selects as worthy of note in the RomanChristians’ experience:
1. “Full of goodness.” Would people say this of us in their own experiences? As they associate with us, is it the abundance of goodness inus that attracts their attention?
2. “Filled with all knowledge.” The Bible repeatedly emphasizes theimportance of enlightenment, information, and knowledge. Christiansare urged to study the Bible and to become well-informed as to itsteachings. “The words, ‘A new heart also will I give you,’ mean, ‘A newmind will I give you.’ A change of heart is always attended by a clearconviction of Christian duty, an understanding of truth.”—Ellen G.White, My Life Today, p. 24.
3. “Able . . . to admonish one another.” No one can thrive spiritually ifisolated from fellow believers. We need to be able to encourage othersand, at the same time, be encouraged by others.What about your local church? What kind of reputation doesit have? Or, even more important, does it even have one at all?What does your answer tell you about your local church? Moreimportant, if need be, how can you help improve the situation?
Further Thought:Read Ellen G. White, “The Mysteries of the Bible,”p. 706, in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5; “Salvation to the Jews,” pp. 372–374, in The Acts of the Apostles. Read also The SDA Bible Dictionary,p. 922; and The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, pp. 467, 468.
“The salvation of humankind does not result from a divine afterthought or improvisation made necessary because of an unexpectedturn of events after sin arose. Rather, it issues from a divine plan forman’s redemption formulated before the founding of this world (1 Cor.2:7; Eph. 1:3, 14; 2 Thess. 2:13, 14) and rooted in God’s everlastinglove for humanity(Jer. 31:3).
“This plan encompasses eternity past, the historical present, andeternity future. It includes such realities and blessings as election andpredestination to be God’s holy people and bear likeness to Christ,redemption and forgiveness, the unity of all things in Christ, sealingwith the Holy Spirit, reception of the eternal inheritance, and glorification (Eph. 1:3–14).Central to the plan is the suffering and deathof Jesus, which was not an accident of history nor the product ofmerely human decision, but was rooted in God’s redemptive purpose(Acts 4:27, 28).Jesus was in truth ‘the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ (Rev. 13:8, KJV).”—The Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology(Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald® PublishingAssociation, 2000), pp. 275, 276.
Discussion Questions:
1 In class, talk about the meaning of the Protestant Reformation.Think about this question especially: How different would our worldbe today without it?
2 Dwell more on the idea that we were called to have salvation,even before the foundation of the world (see also Titus 1:1, 2; 2 Tim. 1:8, 9).Why should we find this so encouraging? What does this tellus about God’s love for all humans? Why, then, is it so tragic whenpeople turn their backs on what has been so graciously offered tothem?
3 Dwell on the question at the end of Thursday’s study. Howcould your class help to improve your church’s reputation, if needbe?
Sabbath AfternoonRead for This Week’s Study: Heb. 8:6, Matt. 19:17, Rev.12:17, Leviticus 23, Acts 15:1–29, Gal. 1:1–12.
Memory Text: “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truthcame by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
The early church was composed mostly of Jews who never for amoment thought that by accepting the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, theywere somehow turning away from the faith of their fathers or thecovenant promises that God had made to His people. As it turns out, theywere right. The issue for the early Jewish believers was whether or notJews had to become Christians in order to accept Jesus. The other issuefor many of them was whether Gentiles had to become Jews before theycould accept Christ.
Only later, in the Jerusalem Council, was there a firm answer. Theymade the decision not to trouble the Gentiles with a host of regulationsand laws. That is, Gentiles didn’t need to become Jews first in order toaccept Jesus.
Despite the decision, however, some teachers continued to plague thechurches by insisting that Gentile converts to the faith were required tokeep these rules and laws, including circumcision (not exactly a procedurethat would make joining Christianity particularly appealing for an adult).That is, they thought that these Gentiles, in order to be partakers of thecovenant promises, had to abide by many of the rules and regulations thatwere deemed a requisite for partakers of the commonwealth of Israel.
What were the issues, and how were they to be resolved?
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 14
Read Hebrews 8:6. What is the message here? How do we understandwhat these “better promises” are?
Perhaps the greatest difference between the religion of the OldTestament and that of the New is the fact that the New Testament erawas introduced by the coming of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Hewas sent by God to be the Savior. People could not ignore Him andexpect to be saved. Only through the atonement He provided could theirsins be forgiven. Only by the imputation of His perfect life could theystand before God without condemnation. In other words, salvation wasthrough the righteousness of Jesus—and nothing else.
Old Testament saints looked forward to the blessings of the Messianicage and the promise of salvation. In New Testament times the peoplewere confronted with the question, Would they accept Jesus of Nazarethwhom God had sent as the Messiah, their Savior? If they believed inHim—that is, if they accepted Him for who He truly was and committedthemselves to Him—they would be saved through the righteousnessthat He offered them freely.
Meanwhile, the moral requirements remain unchanged in the NewTestament, because these were founded in the character of God and ofChrist. Obedience to God’s moral law is just as much a part of the NewCovenant as it is of the Old Testament.
Read Matthew 19:17; Revelation 12:17; 14:12; and James 2:10, 11. Whatdo these texts tell us about the moral law in the New Testament?
At the same time, the entire body of ritual and ceremonial laws that weredistinctly Israelite—and were distinctly tied to the Old Covenant, which allpointed to Jesus and to His death and ministry as High Priest—were discontinued,and a new order was introduced, one based on “better promises.”Helping both Jew and Gentile to understand what was involved in thistransition from Judaism to Christianity was one of Paul’s principal aims inthe book of Romans. It would take time to make the transition. Many Jewswho had accepted Jesus were still not ready for the great changes that werecoming.
What are some of your favorite Bible promises? How often doyou claim them? What choices are you making that can stand inthe way of having these promises fulfilled in your life?
As time allows, skim through the book of Leviticus. (See, forinstance, Leviticus 12, 16, and 23.) What thoughts come to your mindas you read all these rules and regulations and rituals? Why wouldmany of these be all but impossible to follow in New Testament times?
It is convenient for us to classify Old Testament laws into variouscategories: (1) moral law, (2) ceremonial law, (3) civil law, (4) statutesand judgments, and (5) health laws.
This classification is in part artificial. In actuality some of these categoriesare interrelated, and there is considerable overlap. The ancientsdid not see them as separate and distinct.
The moral law is summed up by the Ten Commandments (Exod.20:1–17). This law sums up the moral requirements of humanity. Theseten precepts are amplified and applied in various statutes and judgmentsthroughout the first five books of the Bible. These amplificationsshow what it meant to keep the law of God in various situations. Notunrelated are the civil laws. These, too, are based on the moral law.These define a citizen’s relationship to civil authorities and to fellowcitizens. They name the penalties for various infractions.
The ceremonial law regulated the sanctuary ritual, describing thevarious offerings and the individual citizen’s responsibilities. The feastdays are specified and their observance defined.
The health laws overlap the other laws. The various laws relatingto uncleanness define ceremonial uncleanness, and yet they also gobeyond this to include hygienic and health principles. Laws regardingclean and unclean meats are based on physical considerations.
While the Jew probably largely thought of all of these laws as a package,having all come from God, he or she must have made certain distinctionsmentally. The Ten Commandments had been spoken by Goddirectly to the people. This would set them apart as especially important.The other laws had been relayed through Moses. The sanctuaryritual could be kept only while a sanctuary was in operation.
The civil laws, at least in large part, could no longer be imposedafter the Jews lost their independence and came under the civil controlof another nation. Many of the ceremonial precepts could no longer beobserved after the temple was destroyed. Also, after the Messiah came,many of the types had met their antitypes and no longer had validity.
Read Acts 15:1. What issue was causing dissension? Why would somepeople believe that this wasn’t just for the Jewish nation? See Gen.17:10.
While the apostles united with the ministers and lay members atAntioch in an earnest effort to win many souls to Christ, certain Jewishbelievers from Judaea “of the sect of the Pharisees” succeeded inintroducing a question that soon led to widespread controversy in thechurch and brought consternation to the believing Gentiles. With greatconfidence these teachers asserted that in order to be saved, one mustbe circumcised and must keep the entire ceremonial law. The Jews,after all, always had prided themselves on their divinely appointedservices, and many of those who had been converted to the faith ofChrist still felt that since God had once clearly outlined the Hebrewmanner of worship, it was improbable that He would ever authorize achange in any of its specifications. They insisted that the Jewish lawsand ceremonies should be incorporated into the rites of the Christianreligion. They were slow to discern that all the sacrificial offerings hadbut prefigured the death of the Son of God, in which type met antitype,and after which the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic dispensationwere no longer binding.
Read Acts 15:2–12. How was this dispute to be settled?
“While looking to God for direct guidance, he [Paul] was ever readyto recognize the authority vested in the body of believers united inchurch fellowship. He felt the need of counsel, and when matters ofimportance arose, he was glad to lay these before the church and tounite with his brethren in seeking God for wisdom to make right decisions.”—EllenG. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 200.
It’s interesting that Paul—who often talked about his prophetic callingand how Jesus had called him and gave him his mission—was sowilling to work with the larger church body. That is, whatever his calling,he realized that he was part of the church as a whole and that heneeded to work with it as much as possible.
<i>What is your attitude toward church leadership? How cooperativeare you? Why is cooperation so important? How could wefunction if everyone was doing only what he or she wanted to do,independent of the larger body?</i>
Read Acts 15:5–29. What decision did the council come to, and whatwas its reasoning?
The decision was against the contentions of the Judaizers. These folkinsisted that the Gentile converts be circumcised and keep the entireceremonial law and that “the Jewish laws and ceremonies should beincorporated into the rites of the Christian religion.”—Ellen G. White,The Acts of the Apostles, p. 189.
It’s interesting to note in Acts 15:10 the way in which Peter depictedthese old laws as a “yoke” that they were unable to bear. Would theLord, who instituted those laws, make them a yoke on His people?That hardly seems so. Instead, over the years some of the leaders had,through their oral traditions, turned many of the laws from the blessingsthey were meant to be into burdens. The council sought to spareGentiles from these burdens.
Notice, too, that there was no mention or question of the Gentiles notneeding to obey the Ten Commandments. After all, could we imaginethe council telling them not to eat blood but that it was acceptable toignore the commandments against adultery or murder and the like?
What rules were placed on the Gentile believers (Acts 15:20, 29), andwhy these specific rules?
Although Jewish believers weren’t to impose their rules and tradition onGentiles, the council wanted to make sure that the Gentiles didn’t do thingsthat would have been deemed offensive to the Jews who were united withthem in Jesus. The apostles and elders, therefore, agreed to instruct theGentiles by letter to abstain from meats offered to idols, from fornication,from things strangled, and from blood. Some say that, because Sabbathkeeping wasn’t specifically mentioned, it must not have been meant for theGentiles (of course, the commandments against lying and murder weren’tspecifically mentioned either, so that argument means nothing).
<i>Could we, in some ways, be laying on people burdens that are notnecessary but are more from tradition than divine command? Ifso, how? Bring your thoughts to class on Sabbath.</i>
However clear the council, there were those who sought to go theirown way and who continued to advocate that the Gentiles keep Jewishtraditions and laws. For Paul this became a very serious matter; that is,it wasn’t trifling over the fine points of faith. It had become a denial ofthe gospel of Christ itself.
Read Galatians 1:1–12. How serious does Paul see the issue he is confrontingin Galatia? What should that tell us about the importanceof this question?
As stated before, it was the Galatian situation that in large degreeprompted the content of the letter to Rome. In the Epistle to theRomans, Paul further develops the theme of the Galatian epistle. SomeJewish believers were contending that the law God had given themthrough Moses was important and should be observed by Gentile converts.Paul was trying to show its true place and function. He didn’twant these people to gain a foothold in Rome as they had done in Galatia.
It is an oversimplification to ask whether Paul is speaking of ceremonialor moral laws in Galatians and Romans. Historically, the argumentwas whether or not Gentile converts should be required to be circumcisedand keep the law of Moses. The Jerusalem Council already hadruled on this question, but some refused to follow its decision.
Some read in Paul’s letters to the Galatians and the Romans evidencethat the moral law—the Ten Commandments (or, in truth, only thefourth commandment)—is no longer binding on Christians. Yet, theyare missing the point of the letters, and missing the historical contextand issues that Paul was addressing. Paul, as we’ll see, stressed thatsalvation was by faith alone and not by the keeping of the law, eventhe moral law. Yet that isn’t the same thing as saying that the moral lawshouldn’t be kept. Obedience to the Ten Commandments was never anissue; those who make it an issue are reading back into texts a contemporaryissue, one that Paul wasn’t dealing with.
<i>How do you respond to those who claim the Sabbath is no longerbinding upon Christians? How can you show the truth of the Sabbathin a way that does not compromise the integrity of the gospel?</i>
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Jew and Gentile,” pp. 188–192,194–197; “Apostasy in Galatia,” pp. 383–388, in The Acts of theApostles; “The Law Given to Israel,” pp. 310–312; “The Law and theCovenants,” pp. 370–373, in Patriarchs and Prophets; “The ChosenPeople,” pp. 27–30, in The Desire of Ages.
No doubt, our church faces times of controversy and dissension. Butthis is nothing new. Satan has always been at war with the church. Evenin the earliest days of Christianity, dissension and controversy arose inthe ranks of the believers. And there was one controversy that, if notresolved, could have destroyed the church in its infancy.
“Through the influence of false teachers who had arisen among thebelievers in Jerusalem, division, heresy, and sensualism were rapidlygaining ground among the believers in Galatia. These false teacherswere mingling Jewish traditions with the truths of the gospel. Ignoringthe decision of the general council at Jerusalem, they urged upon theGentile converts the observance of the ceremonial law.”—Ellen G.White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 383.
Discussion Questions:
1 In class, go over your answer to Wednesday’s final question.In what ways might your local church or you in your own home,or maybe even you with yourself, be laying burdens on others (oron yourself) that are not necessary? How can we recognize if wereally are doing these things? Or might we be in danger of goingtoo far the other way? That is, how can we recognize if we havebecome too lax in our lifestyles and standards to the point whereour lives don’t reflect the high calling that we have in Christ?
2 What are some of the arguments that people use to claim thatthe Ten Commandments are no longer binding on Christianstoday? How do we answer those claims? Why, on the face ofit, are those arguments so wrong, and why in many cases dothose who make them not really live as if they believe the TenCommandments are no longer binding?
3 Read again Galatians 1:1–12. Notice how uncompromising, howdogmatic, and how fervent Paul was regarding his understandingof the gospel. What should that tell us about how we must standabsolutely unwaveringly on certain beliefs, especially in a day andage of pluralism and relativism? How does this show that certainteachings cannot be compromised in any way?
4 In class, talk about the issues that brought about the ProtestantReformation. What basic differences have not been resolved?
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Rom. 1:16, 17, 22–32; 2:1–10,17–24; 3:1, 2, 10–18, 23.
Memory Text: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”(Romans 3:23).
Early on in the book of Romans, Paul seeks to establish a crucialtruth, one central to the gospel—the sad state of the human condition.This truth exists because, from the Fall onward, we haveall been contaminated by sin. It’s wired in our genes as is the color ofour eyes.
Martin Luther, in his commentary on Romans, wrote the following:“The expression ‘all are under sin’ must be taken in a spiritual sense;that is to say, not as men appear in their own eyes or in those of others,but as they stand before God. They are all under sin, those who aremanifest transgressors in the eyes of men, as well as those who appearrighteous in their own sight and before others. Those who performoutwardly good works do them from fear of punishment or love ofgain and glory, or otherwise from pleasure in a certain object, but notfrom a willing and ready mind. In this way man exercises himself continuallyin good works outwardly, but inwardly he is totally immersedin sinful desires and evil lusts, which are opposed to good works.”—Commentary on Romans, p. 69.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 21.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvationto every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to theGreek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faithfor faith; as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shalllive’” (Rom. 1:16, 17, RSV). What does Romans 1:16, 17 say to you?How have you experienced the promises and hope found in them?
Several key words occur in this passage:
1. Gospel. This word is the translation of a Greek word that meansliterally “good message” or “good news.” Standing alone, the word mayrefer to any good message; but modified as it is in this passage by thephrase “of Christ,” it means “the good news about the Messiah” (Christis the transliteration of the Greek word that means “Messiah”). Thegood news is that the Messiah has come, and people can be saved bybelieving in Him. It is in Jesus and in His perfect righteousness—andnot in ourselves, or even in God’s law—that one can find salvation.
2. Righteousness. This word refers to the quality of being “right” withGod. A specialized meaning of this word is developed in the book ofRomans, which we shall bring out as our study of the book proceeds.It should be pointed out that in Romans 1:17 the word is qualified bythe phrase “of God.” It is righteousness that comes from God, a righteousnessthat God Himself has provided. As we’ll see, this is the onlyrighteousness good enough to bring us the promise of eternal life.
3. Faith. In Greek the words that are translated as believe and faith(KJV) in this passage are the verb and noun forms of the same word:pisteuo (believe) and pistis (belief or faith). The meaning of faith asrelated to salvation will unfold as we progress in the study of Romans.
Do you ever struggle with assurance? Do you have times when youtruly question whether or not you are saved or even if you can besaved? What brings these fears? On what are they based? Might theybe grounded in reality? That is, could you be living a lifestyle thatdenies your profession of faith? If so, what choices must you make inorder to have the promises and assurances that are for you in Jesus?
Read Romans 3:23. Why is this message so easy for us as Christians tobelieve today? At the same time, what could cause some people toquestion the truthfulness of this text?
Amazingly enough, some people actually challenge the idea ofhuman sinfulness, arguing that people are basically good. The problem,however, stems from a lack of understanding of what true goodnessis. People can compare themselves to someone else and feel goodabout themselves. After all, we can always find someone worse thanourselves to compare ourselves with. But that hardly makes us good.When we contrast ourselves to God, and to the holiness and righteousnessof God, none of us would come away with anything other than anoverwhelming sense of self-loathing and disgust.
Romans 3:23 also talks about “the glory of God.” The phrase hasbeen variously interpreted. Perhaps the simplest interpretation is togive the phrase the meaning it has in 1 Corinthians 11:7, “He [man]is the image and glory of God” (RSV). In Greek the word for “glory”may be considered as loosely equivalent to the word for “image.” Sinhas marred the image of God in humans. Sinful humans fall far shortof reflecting the image or glory of God.
Read Romans 3:10–18. Has anything changed today? Which of thosedepictions best describes you or what you would be like were it notfor Christ in your life?
As bad as we are, our situation is not hopeless. The first step is thatwe acknowledge our utter sinfulness and also our helplessness in andof ourselves to do anything about it. It is the work of the Holy Spirit tobring about such conviction. If the sinner does not resist Him, the Spiritwill lead the sinner to tear away the mask of self-defense, pretense, andself-justification and to cast himself or herself upon Christ, pleadingHis mercy: “ ‘ “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” ’ ” (Luke 18:13,NASB).
When was the last time you took a good, hard, cold look at yourself,your motives, your deeds, and your feelings? This can be avery distressing experience, can’t it? What’s your only hope?
At the turn of the twentieth century, people lived with the idea thathumanity was improving, that morality would increase, and that scienceand technology would help usher in a utopia. Human beings, itwas believed, were essentially on the path toward perfection. Throughthe right kind of education and moral training, it was thought thathumans could greatly improve themselves and their societies. All thiswas supposed to start happening, en masse, as we entered into the bravenew world of the twentieth century.
Unfortunately, things didn’t quite turn out that way, did they? Thetwentieth century was one of the most violent and barbaric in all history,thanks—ironically enough—in great part to the advances of science,which made it much more possible for people to kill others ona scale that the most depraved madmen of the past could only dreamabout.
What was the problem?
Read Romans 1:22–32. In what ways do we see the things that werewritten in the first century being manifested today in the twentyfirstcentury?
We might need faith to believe a lot of things in Christianity: amongthem, the resurrection of the dead, the Second Coming, and a newheaven and a new earth. But who needs faith to believe in the fallenstate of humanity? Today, each of us is living the consequences of thatfallen state.
Focus specifically on Romans 1:22, 23. How do we see this principlebeing manifested now? By rejecting God, what have twenty-first centuryhumans come to worship and idolize instead? And in so doing,how have they become fools? Bring your answer to class on Sabbath.
In Romans 1, Paul was dealing specifically with the sins of theGentiles, the pagans, those who had lost sight of God a long time agoand, thus, had fallen into the most degrading of practices.But he wasn’t going to let his own people, his own countrymen, offthe hook either. Despite all the advantages that they had been given(Rom. 3:1, 2), they, too, were sinners, condemned by God’s law, and inneed of the saving grace of Christ. In that sense—in the sense of beingsinners, of having violated God’s law, and of needing divine grace forsalvation—Jews and Gentiles are the same.
Read Romans 2:1–3, 17–24. What is Paul warning against here? Whatmessage should all of us, Jew or Gentile, take from this warning?
“After the Apostle has shown that all heathen are sinners, he now,in a special and most emphatic way, shows that also the Jews livein sin, above all because they obey the Law only outwardly, that is,according to the letter and not according to the spirit.”—Martin Luther,Commentary on Romans, p. 61.
Often it’s so easy to see and point out the sins of others. How often,though, are we guilty of the same kinds of things—or even worse? Theproblem is that we tend to turn a blind eye on ourselves, or we makeourselves feel better by looking at just how bad others are in contrastto ourselves.
Paul would have none of that. He warned his countrymen not to bequick to judge the Gentiles, for they, the Jews—even as the chosenpeople—were sinners. In some cases they were even more guilty thanthe pagans they were so quick to condemn, because as Jews they hadbeen given more light than the Gentiles.
Paul’s point in all this is that none of us are righteous, none of usmeet the divine standard, and none of us are innately good or inherentlyholy. Jew or Gentile, male or female, rich or poor, and God-fearing orGod-rejecting, we all are condemned. And were it not for the grace ofGod as revealed in the gospel, there would be no hope for any of us.
How often do you, even if only in your own mind, condemn othersfor things that you yourself are guilty of? By taking heed to whatPaul has written here, how can you change?
“Despisest thou the riches of [H]is goodness and forbearance andlongsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth theeto repentance?” (Rom. 2:4). What message is here for us in regardto the whole question of repentance?
We should notice that God’s goodness leads, not forces, sinners torepentance. God uses no coercion. He is infinitely patient and seeksto draw all people by His love. A forced repentance would destroy thewhole purpose of repentance, would it not? If God forced repentance,then would not everyone be saved, for why would He force some torepent and not others? Repentance must be an act of the free will,responding to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Yes, repentanceis a gift from God, but we have to be ready and open to receiveit—a choice that we alone can make for ourselves.
What comes to those who resist God’s love, refuse to repent, and remainin disobedience? Rom. 2:5–10.
In Romans 2:5–10, and frequently throughout the book of Romans,Paul emphasizes the place of good works. Justification by faith withoutthe deeds of the law must never be construed to mean that goodworks have no place in the Christian life. For instance, in Romans2:7, salvation is described as coming to those who seek for it “bypatient continuance in well doing.” Although human effort can’tbring salvation, it is part of the whole experience of salvation. It’shard to see how anyone can read the Bible and come away with theidea that works and deeds don’t matter at all. True repentance, thekind that comes willingly from the heart, always will be followed bya determination to overcome and put away the things that we need torepent over.
How often are you in an attitude of repentance? Is it sincere, ordo you tend just to brush off your faults, shortcomings, and sins?If the latter, how can you change? Why must you change?
Further Thought: “Thus the biblical terminology shows that sin is not a calamity fallen upon the human unawares, but the result of an activeattitude and choice on the part of the human. Further, sin is not the absenceof good, but it is ‘falling short’ of God’s expectations. It is an evil coursethat the human has deliberately chosen. It is not a weakness for whichhumans cannot be held responsible, for the human in the attitude or act ofsin deliberately chooses a way of rebellion against God, in transgressionagainst His law, and fails to hear God’s Word. Sin attempts to pass beyondthe limitations God has set. In short, sin is rebellion against God.”—TheHandbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology (Hagerstown, Md.: Reviewand Herald® Publishing Association, 2000), p. 239.
“A terrible picture of the condition of the world has been presented beforeme. Immorality abounds everywhere. Licentiousness is the special sin of thisage. Never did vice lift its deformed head with such boldness as now. Thepeople seem to be benumbed, and the lovers of virtue and true goodness arenearly discouraged by its boldness, strength, and prevalence. The iniquitywhich abounds is not merely confined to the unbeliever and the scoffer.Would that this were the case, but it is not. Many men and women who professthe religion of Christ are guilty. Even some who profess to be looking forHis appearing are no more prepared for that event than Satan himself. Theyare not cleansing themselves from all pollution. They have so long servedtheir lust that it is natural for their thoughts to be impure and their imaginationscorrupt.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 346.
Discussion Questions:
1 What answer do you give to those who, despite all that hashappened, insist that humanity is improving? What arguments dothey give, and how do you respond to them?
2 Look at the quote from Ellen G. White above. If you see yourselfin it, what is the answer? Why is it important not to give up in despairbut to keep claiming God’s promises—first, of forgiveness; second, ofcleansing? Who is the one who wants you to say once and for all, “It’sno use. I’m too corrupt. I can never be saved, so I might as well giveup”? Do you listen to him or to Jesus, who will say to us, “Neither doI condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:11)?
3 Why is it so important for us as Christians to understand basichuman sinfulness and depravity? What can happen when we losesight of that sad but true reality? What errors can a false understandingof our true condition lead us into?
4 Think about the untold numbers of Protestants who chose todie rather than give up the faith. How strong are we in the faith?Strong enough to die for it?
Read for This Week’s Study: Rom. 3:19–28.
Memory Text: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified byfaith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28).
In this lesson we come to the basic theme of Romans: justificationby faith—the great truth that, more than any other truth, broughtabout the Protestant Reformation. And, despite all the claims to thecontrary, Rome has no more changed regarding this belief now than itdid in 1520, when Pope Leo issued a papal bull condemning Lutherand his teachings. Luther burned a copy of the bull because if therewere one teaching that could never be compromised, justification byfaith was and is it.
The phrase itself is a figure based on law. The transgressor of the lawcomes before a judge and is condemned to death for his transgressions.But a substitute appears and takes the transgressor’s crimes upon himself,thus clearing the criminal. By accepting the substitute, the criminalnow stands before the judge, not only cleared of his guilt but alsoregarded as never having committed the crimes for which he was firstbrought into court. And that’s because the substitute—who has a perfectrecord—offers the pardoned criminal his own perfect law keeping.
In the plan of salvation, each of us is the criminal. The Substitute,Jesus, has a perfect record, and He stands in the court in our stead—Hisrighteousness accepted in place of our unrighteousness. Hence, we arejustified before God, not because of our works but because of Jesus,whose righteousness becomes ours when we accept it “by faith.” Talkabout good news! In fact, the news can’t get any better than that.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 28.
Read Romans 3:19, 20. What is Paul saying here about the law, aboutwhat it does, and about what it does not or cannot do? Why is thispoint so important for all Christians to understand?
Paul is using the term law in its broad sense, as the Jew in his dayunderstood it. By the term torah (the Hebrew word for “law”), a Jew,even today, thinks particularly of God’s instruction in the first five booksof Moses but also more generally in the entire Old Testament. The morallaw—plus the amplification of this in the statutes and judgments, as wellas the ceremonial precepts—was a part of this instruction. Because ofthis we may think of the law here as the system of Judaism.
To be under the law means to be under its jurisdiction. The law,however, reveals a person’s shortcomings and guilt before God. Thelaw cannot remove that guilt; what it can do is lead the sinner to seeka remedy for it.
As we apply the book of Romans in our day, when Jewish law is nolonger a factor, we think of law particularly in terms of the moral law.This law can’t save us any more than the system of Judaism could savethe Jews. To save a sinner is not the moral law’s function. Its functionis to reveal God’s character and to show people wherein they fall shortof reflecting that character.
Whichever law it is—moral, ceremonial, civil, or all combined—thekeeping of any or all in and of itself will not make a person just in God’ssight. In fact, the law never was intended to do that. On the contrary, thelaw was to point out our shortcomings and lead us to Christ.
The law can no more save us than the symptoms of a disease can curethe disease. The symptoms don’t cure; they point out the need for thecure. That’s how the law functions.
How successful have your efforts in law-keeping been? Whatshould that answer tell you about the futility of trying to be savedby keeping the law?
“Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,being witnessed by the law and the prophets” (Rom. 3:21). How arewe to understand what this text means?
This new righteousness is contrasted with the righteousness of thelaw, which was the righteousness with which the Jew was familiar.The new righteousness is called “the righteousness of God”—that is, arighteousness that comes from God, a righteousness that God provides,and the only one that He accepts as true righteousness.
This is, of course, the righteousness that Jesus wrought out in His lifewhile here in human flesh—a righteousness that He offers to all whowill accept it by faith, who will claim it for themselves, not becausethey deserve it but because they need it.
“Righteousness is obedience to the law. The law demands righteousness,and this the sinner owes to the law; but he is incapable ofrendering it. The only way in which he can attain to righteousnessis through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ,and the Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner’s account.Christ’s righteousness is accepted in place of man’s failure, and Godreceives, pardons, justifies, the repentant, believing soul, treats himas though he were righteous, and loves him as He loves His Son.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 367. How can youlearn to accept this wonderful truth for yourself? See also Rom. 3:22.
The faith of Jesus Christ is here, doubtless, faith in Jesus Christ. Asit operates in the Christian life, faith is much more than intellectualassent; it is more than just an acknowledgment of certain facts aboutChrist’s life and His death. Instead, true faith in Jesus Christ is acceptingHim as Savior, Substitute, Surety, and Lord. It is choosing His wayof life. It is trusting Him and seeking by faith to live according to Hiscommandments.
Keeping in mind what we have studied so far about the law andwhat the law cannot do, read Romans 3:24. What is Paul sayinghere? What does it mean that redemption is in Jesus?
What is this idea of “justifying,” as found in the text? The Greek worddikaioo, translated “justify,” may mean “make righteous,” “declare righteous,”or “consider righteous.” The word is built on the same root asdikaiosune, “righteousness,” and the word dikaioma, “righteous requirement.”Hence, there is a close connection between “justification” and“righteousness,” a connection that doesn’t always come through in varioustranslations. We are justified when we are “declared righteous” by God.
Before this justification a person is unrighteous and thus unacceptableto God; after justification he or she is regarded as righteous andthus acceptable to Him.
And this happens only through God’s grace. Grace means favor. Whena sinner turns to God for salvation, it is an act of grace to consider ordeclare that person to be righteous. It is unmerited favor, and the believeris justified without any merit of his or her own, without any claim to presentto God in his or her own behalf except his or her utter helplessness.The person is justified through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus—the redemption that Jesus offers as the sinner’s substitute and surety.
Justification is presented in Romans as a punctiliar act; that is, it happensat a point in time. One moment the sinner is outside, unrighteous,and unaccepted; the next moment, following justification, the person isinside, accepted, and righteous.
The person who is in Christ looks upon justification as a past act, onethat took place when he or she surrendered himself or herself fully toChrist. “Being justified” (Rom. 5:1) is, literally, “having been justified.”
Of course, if the justified sinner should fall away and then return toChrist, justification would occur again. Also, if reconversion is considereda daily experience, there is a sense in which justification might beconsidered a repeating experience.
With the good news of salvation being so good, what holds peopleback from accepting it? In your own life, what kinds of things causeyou to hold back from all that the Lord promises and offers you?
In Romans 3:25, Paul expounds further on the great news of salvation.He uses a fancy word—propitiation. The Greek word for it,hilasterion, occurs in the New Testament only here and in Hebrews9:5, where it is translated as “mercy seat.” As used in Romans 3:25 todescribe the offer of justification and redemption through Christ, propitiationseems to represent the fulfillment of all that was typified bythe mercy seat in the Old Testament sanctuary. What this means, then,is that by His sacrificial death, Jesus has been set forth as the means ofsalvation and is represented as the One providing the propitiation. Inshort, it means that God did what was needed to save us.
The text also talks about the “remission of sins.” It is our sins thatmake us unacceptable to God. We can do nothing of ourselves to cancelour sins. But in the plan of redemption, God has provided a way forthese sins to be remitted through faith in Christ’s blood.
The word for “remission” is the Greek paresis, literally meaning“passing over” or “passing by.” The “passing over” is in no sense anignoring of sins. God can pass over the sins of the past because Christhas paid the penalty for all people’s sins by His death. Anyone, therefore,who has “faith in His blood” can have his or her sins remitted, forChrist has already died for him or her (1 Cor. 15:3).
Read Romans 3:26, 27. What point is Paul making here?
The good news that Paul was eager to share with all who would listenwas that there was available to humanity “His [that is, God’s] righteousness,”and that it comes to us, not by works, not by our merit, but byfaith in Jesus and what He has done for us.
Because of the Cross of Calvary, God can declare sinners righteousand still be considered just and fair in the eyes of the universe. Satancan point no accusing finger at God, for Heaven has made the supremesacrifice. Satan had accused God of asking of the human race morethan He was willing to give. The Cross refutes this claim.
Satan, likely, expected God to destroy the world after it sinned;instead, God sent Jesus to save it. What does that tell us about thecharacter of God? How should our knowledge of His characterimpact how we live? What will you do differently in the next 24hours directly as a result of knowing what God is like?
“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith withoutthe deeds of the law” (Rom. 3:28). Does this mean that if the lawdoesn’t save us we are not required to obey it? Explain your answer.
In the historical context, Paul was speaking in Romans 3:28 of lawin its broad sense of the system of Judaism. No matter how conscientiouslya Jew tried to live under this system, that person could not bejustified if he or she failed to accept Jesus as the Messiah.
Romans 3:28 is Paul’s conclusion to his claim that the law of faithexcludes boasting. If a man is justified by his own actions, he can boastabout it. But when he is justified because Jesus is the object of his faith,then the credit clearly belongs to God, who justified the sinner.
Ellen G. White gives an interesting answer to the question, “What isjustification by faith?” She wrote: “It is the work of God in laying theglory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in hispower to do for himself.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministersand Gospel Workers, p. 456.
Works of law cannot atone for past sins. Justification cannot beearned. It can be received only by faith in the atoning sacrifice ofChrist. Therefore, in this sense, works of law have nothing to do withjustification. To be justified without works means to be justified withoutthere being anything in ourselves to merit justification.
But many Christians have misunderstood and misapplied this text.They say that all one has to do is to believe, while downplaying worksor obedience—even obedience to the moral law. In so doing they completelymisread Paul. In the book of Romans and elsewhere, Paul attachesgreat importance to the keeping of the moral law. Jesus certainly did,as did James and John (Matt. 19:17; Rom. 2:13; James 2:10, 11; Rev.14:12). Paul’s point is that although obedience to the law is not the meansof justification, the person who is justified by faith still keeps the law ofGod and, in fact, is the only one who can keep the law. An unregenerateperson who has not been justified can never fulfill the requirements ofthe law.
Why is it so easy to get caught up in the trap of thinking thatbecause the law doesn’t save us, we need not worry about keepingit? Have you ever rationalized away sin by claiming justificationby faith? Why is that a very dangerous position? At the sametime, where would we be without the promise of salvation, evenwhen tempted to abuse it?
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Righteousnessof Christ in the Law,” pp. 236–239; “Come and Seek and Find,”pp. 331–335; “Perfect Obedience Through Christ,” pp. 373, 374, inSelected Messages, book 1; “Things New and Old,” pp. 128, 129, inChrist’s Object Lessons.
“Though the law cannot remit the penalty for sin, but charges the sinnerwith all his debt, Christ has promised abundant pardon to all whorepent, and believe in His mercy. The love of God is extended in abundanceto the repenting, believing soul. The brand of sin upon the soul canbe effaced only through the blood of the atoning Sacrifice . . . of Himwho was equal with the Father. The work of Christ—His life, humiliation,death, and intercession for lost man—magnifies the law, and makesit honorable.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 371.
“Christ’s character stands in place of your character, and you areaccepted before God just as if you had not sinned.”—Ellen G. White,Steps to Christ, p. 62.
“When the Apostle says that we are justified ‘without the deeds of thelaw,’ he does not speak of the works of faith and grace; for he who doessuch works, does not believe that he is justified by doing these works.(While doing such works of faith), the believer seeks to be justified (byfaith). What the Apostle means by ‘deeds of the law’ are works in whichthe self-righteous trust as if, by doing them, they were justified and sowere righteous on account of their works. In other words, while doinggood, they do not seek after righteousness, but they merely wish to boastthat they have already obtained righteousness through their works.”—Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. 80.
Discussion Questions:
1 Read over the texts for this week and then, in your own words,write a paragraph summarizing what they are saying. Share yourparagraphs with each other in class.
2 Read Luther’s quote above. Why would such a truth like thishave spurred him on as it did? Why is what he said such a crucialpoint to understand even for us today?
3 “Seventh-day Adventists see themselves as heirs of and buildersupon the Reformation insights into biblical teaching on justificationby grace through faith alone, and restorers and exponents ofthe fullness, clarity, and balance of the apostolic gospel.”—Ivan T.Blazen, “Salvation,” Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology(Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald® Publishing Association,2000), p. 307. What reasons do we have to believe this about ourselves?
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 15:6; 2 Samuel 11; 12;Rom. 3:20, 31; 4:1–17; Gal. 3:21–23; 1 John 3:4.
Memory Text: “Do we then make void the law through faith? Godforbid: yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31).
In many ways Romans 4 gets to the foundation of the biblical doctrineof salvation by faith alone and to the heart of what began theReformation. Indeed, 500 years ago this week it all began withLuther, and faithful Protestants have never looked back.
By using Abraham—the paragon of holiness and virtue—as an exampleof a person who needed to be saved by grace without the deeds of thelaw, Paul was clear. If Abraham’s works and law-keeping didn’t justifyhim before God, what hope do we have? If it had to be by grace withAbraham, it has to be the same with everyone else—Jews and Gentiles.
In Romans 4 Paul reveals three major stages in the plan of salvation:(1) the promise of divine blessing (the promise of grace), (2) the humanresponse to that promise (the response of faith), and (3) the divine pronouncementof righteousness credited to those who believe (justification).That’s how it worked with Abraham, and that’s how it works with us.
It is crucial to remember that for Paul, salvation is by grace—it’s somethingthat is given to us, however undeserving we are. If we deserved it,then we’d be owed it; and if we’re owed it, it’s a debt and not a gift. And,for beings corrupt and fallen as we are, salvation has to be a gift.
To prove his point about salvation by faith alone, Paul quotes Genesis15:6: “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness”(NIV). Here’s justification by faith in the first book of the Bible.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 4
Read Romans 3:31. What’s Paul’s point here? Why is this point importantto us as Adventists?
In this passage Paul states emphatically that faith does not makevoid God’s law. But even those who kept the law, even the entire OldTestament corpus of law, were never saved by it. The religion of the OldTestament, as that of the New, was always one of God’s grace given tosinners by faith.
Read Romans 4:1–8. How does this show that, even in the Old Testament,salvation was by faith and not by works of the law?
According to this Old Testament narrative, Abraham was accountedrighteous because he “believed God.” Therefore, the Old Testamentitself teaches righteousness by faith. Hence, any implication that faith“makes void” (Greek, katargeo: “renders useless,” “invalidates”) thelaw is false; salvation by faith is very much part of the Old Testament.Grace is taught all the way through it. What, for instance, was the entiresanctuary ritual if not a representation of how sinners are saved—not bytheir own works but by the death of a substitute in their stead?
Also, what else can explain how David was forgiven after the sordidaffair with Bathsheba? Certainly it wasn’t law-keeping that saved him,for he violated so many principles of the law that it condemned himon numerous counts. If David were to be saved by the law, then Davidwould not be saved at all.
Paul sets forth David’s restoration to divine favor as an example ofjustification by faith. Forgiveness was an act of God’s grace. Here, then,is another example from the Old Testament of righteousness by faith.In fact, however legalistic many in ancient Israel became, the Jewishreligion was always a religion of grace. Legalism was a perversion ofit, not its foundation.
Dwell for a few minutes on David’s sin and restoration (2 Samuel11; 12; Psalm 51). What hope can you draw from that sad storyfor yourself? Is there a lesson here about how we in the churchshould treat those who have fallen?
The issue Paul is dealing with here is much more than just theology.It gets to the heart and soul of salvation and of our relationship to God.If one believes that he or she must earn acceptance—that he or shemust reach a certain standard of holiness before being justified andforgiven—then how natural to turn inward and to look to oneself andone’s deeds. Religion can become exceedingly self-centered, about thelast thing anyone needs.
In contrast, if one grasps the great news that justification is a giftfrom God, totally unmerited and undeserved, how much easier andmore natural is it for that person to turn his or her focus on God’s loveand mercy instead of on self ?
And in the end, who’s more likely to reflect the love and character ofGod—the one self-absorbed or the one God-absorbed?
Read Romans 4:6–8. How does Paul expand here on the theme of justificationby faith?
“The sinner must come in faith to Christ, take hold of His merits,lay his sins upon the Sin Bearer, and receive His pardon. It was for thiscause that Christ came into the world. Thus the righteousness of Christis imputed to the repenting, believing sinner. He becomes a member ofthe royal family.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 215.
Paul then continues, explaining that salvation by faith is not only forthe Jews but for the Gentiles, as well (Rom. 4:9–12). In fact, if you wantto get technical about it, Abraham wasn’t Jewish; he came from a paganancestry (Josh. 24:2). The Gentile-Jewish distinction didn’t exist in histime. When Abraham was justified (Gen. 15:6), he was not even circumcised.Thus, Abraham became the father of both the uncircumcisedand the circumcised, as well as a great example for Paul to use in orderto make his point about the universality of salvation. Christ’s death wasfor everyone, regardless of race or nationality (Heb. 2:9).
Considering the universality of the Cross, considering what theCross tells us about the worth of every human being, why is racialor ethnic or national prejudice such a horrible thing? How canwe learn to recognize the existence of prejudice in ourselves and,through God’s grace, purge it from our minds?
It was 500 years ago this day that Martin Luther hung his Ninety-FiveTheses on the door of the Wittenberg church. How fascinating that thesubject for today also gets right to the heart of salvation by faith.
In Romans 4:13, “promise” and “law” are contrasted. Paul is seekingto establish an Old Testament background for his teaching of righteousnessby faith. He finds an example in Abraham, whom all the Jewsaccepted as their ancestor. Acceptance, or justification, had come toAbraham quite apart from law. God made a promise to Abraham thathe was to be “heir of the world.” Abraham believed this promise; thatis, he accepted the role that it implied. As a result God accepted himand worked through him to save the world. This remains a powerfulexample of how grace was operating in the Old Testament—which is,no doubt, why Paul used it.
Read Romans 4:14–17. How does Paul here continue showing howsalvation by faith was central to the Old Testament? See also Gal.3:7–9.
As we said in the beginning, it’s important to remember to whomPaul is writing. These Jewish believers were immersed in OldTestament law, and many had come to believe that their salvation restedon how well they kept the law, even though that was not what the OldTestament taught.
In seeking to remedy this misconception, Paul argues that Abraham,even prior to the law at Sinai, received the promises, not by works ofthe law (which would have been hard, since the law—the whole torahand ceremonial system—was not in place yet) but by faith.
If Paul is referring here to the moral law exclusively, which existed inprinciple even before Sinai, the point remains the same—perhaps evenmore so! Seeking to receive God’s promises through the law, he says,makes faith void—even useless. Those are strong words, but his pointis that faith saves, and the law condemns. He’s trying to teach about thefutility of seeking salvation through the very thing that leads to condemnation.We all, Jew and Gentile, have violated the law, and, hence,we all need the same thing as Abraham did: the saving righteousnessof Jesus credited to us by faith—the truth that ultimately led to theProtestant Reformation.
As we saw yesterday, Paul showed that God’s dealings with Abrahamproved that salvation comes through the promise of grace and notthrough law. Therefore, if the Jews wished to be saved, they would haveto abandon trust in their works for salvation and accept the Abrahamicpromise now fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah. It’s the same,really, for everyone, Jew or Gentile, who thinks that their “good” deedsare all that it takes to make them right with God.
“The principle that man can save himself by his own works layat the foundation of every heathen religion. . . . Wherever it is held,men have no barrier against sin.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire ofAges, pp. 35, 36. What does this mean? Why does the idea that wecan save ourselves through our works leave us so open to sin?
How did Paul explain the relationship between law and faith inGalatians? Gal. 3:21–23.
If there had been a law that could impart life, it certainly would havebeen God’s law. And yet, Paul says that no law can give life, not evenGod’s, because all have violated that law, and so all are condemned by it.
But the promise of faith, more fully revealed through Christ, frees allwho believe from being “under the law”; that is, from being condemnedand burdened by trying to earn salvation through it. The law becomes aburden when it’s presented without faith, without grace, because withoutfaith, without grace, without the righteousness that comes by faith, beingunder the law means being under the burden and the condemnation ofsin.
How central is righteousness by faith to your walk with God?That is, what can you do to make sure it doesn’t get blurred byother aspects of truth to the point where you lose sight of thiscrucial teaching? After all, what good are these other teachingswithout this one?
We often hear people say that in the New Covenant the law has beenabolished, and then they proceed to quote texts that they believe provethat point. The logic behind that statement, however, isn’t quite sound,nor is the theology.
Read 1 John 2:3–6, 3:4, and Romans 3:20. What do these texts tell usabout the relationship between law and sin?
A few hundred years ago, Irish writer Jonathan Swift wrote: “But willany man say that if the words drinking, cheating, lying, stealing, wereby Act of Parliament ejected out of the English tongue and dictionaries,we should all awake next morning temperate, honest and just, and loversof truth? Is this a fair consequence?”—A Modest Proposal and OtherSatires (New York: Prometheus Books, 1995), p. 205.
In the same way, if God’s law has been abolished, then why arelying, murder, and stealing still sinful or wrong? If God’s law has beenchanged, then the definition of sin must be changed too. Or if God’s lawwas done away with, then sin must be, as well, and who believes that?(See also 1 John 1:7–10; James 1:14, 15.)
In the New Testament, both the law and the gospel appear. The lawshows what sin is; the gospel points to the remedy for that sin, whichis the death and resurrection of Jesus. If there is no law, there is no sin,and so what are we saved from? Only in the context of the law, and itscontinued validity, does the gospel make sense.
We often hear that the Cross nullified the law. That’s rather ironic,because the Cross shows that the law can’t be abrogated or changed. IfGod didn’t abrogate or even change the law before Christ died on thecross, why do it after? Why not get rid of the law after humanity sinnedand thus spare humanity the legal punishment that violation of the lawbrings? That way, Jesus never would have had to die. Jesus’ death showsthat if the law could have been changed or abrogated, it should havebeen done before, not after, the Cross. Thus, nothing shows the continuedvalidity of the law more than does the death of Jesus—a death thatoccurred precisely because the law couldn’t be changed. If the law couldhave been changed to meet us in our fallen condition, wouldn’t that havebeen a better solution to the problem of sin than Jesus having to die?
If there were no divine law against adultery, would the act causeany less pain and hurt than it does now to those who are victimsof it? How does your answer help you to understand why God’slaw is still in effect? What has been your own experience with theconsequences of violating God’s law?
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Christ the Center of theMessage,” p. 388, in Selected Messages, book 1; “The Call of Abraham,”pp. 125–127; “The Law and the Covenants,” pp. 363, 364, in Patriarchsand Prophets; “The Sermon on the Mount,” pp. 307, 308; “Controversy,”p. 608; “ ‘It Is Finished,’ ” pp. 762, 763, in The Desire of Ages.
“To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt(4:4). The Apostle here explains the quoted passage (Gen. 15:4–6)to conclude and prove from it that justification is by faith and notby works. This he does first of all by explaining the meaning of thewords ‘it was counted unto him for righteousness.’ These words explainthat God receives (sinners) by grace and not because of their works.”—Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. 82.
“If Satan can succeed in leading man to place value upon his ownworks as works of merit and righteousness, he knows that he can overcomehim by his temptations, and make him his victim and prey. . . .Strike the door-posts with the blood of Calvary’s Lamb, and you aresafe.”—Ellen G. White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Sept. 3,1889.
Discussion Questions:
1 Why is it so important to understand salvation by faith alonewithout the deeds of law? What kind of errors can that knowledgeprotect us from? What dangers await those who lose sight of thiscrucial biblical teaching?
2 What other reasons can you give for the continued validity ofGod’s law, even though we understand that the law and obedienceto it are not what save us?
3 The basic issue at the core of the Reformation is how are wesaved? What are ways in which we can openly and forthrightlytalk about the difference between Protestants and Catholics onthis important topic, while not making personal attacks on anyone?
4 As justified sinners, we have been made the recipients of graceand undeserved favor from God, against whom we have sinned.How should this fact impact how we deal with others? How fullof grace and favor are we toward those who have wronged us anddon’t really deserve our grace and favor?
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Romans 5.
Memory Text: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peacewith God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we haveaccess by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hopeof the glory of God” (Romans 5:1, 2).
Paul has established the point that justification, or acceptance withGod, comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, for His righteousnessalone is enough to give us the right standing with our Lord.Building on that great truth, Paul now expounds more on this theme.Showing that salvation has to be by faith and not by works, not evenfor someone as “righteous” as Abraham, Paul steps back to look at thebig picture—at what caused sin, and suffering and death, and how thesolution is found in Christ and what He has done for the human race.
Through the fall of one man, Adam, all humanity faced condemnation,alienation, and death; through the victory of one man, Jesus, allthe world was placed on a new footing before God. By faith in Jesus,the record of their sins and the punishment due for those sins could beremitted—could be forgiven and forever pardoned.
Paul contrasts Adam and Jesus, showing how Christ came to undowhat Adam did, and showing that by faith the victims of Adam’s sincould be rescued by Jesus, the Savior. The foundation of it all is thecross of Christ and His substitutionary death there—which opens theway for every human being, Jew or Gentile, to be saved by Jesus, who,with His blood, brought justification to all who accept Him.
Surely this is a theme worth expounding upon, for it’s the foundationof all our hope.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 11.
Read Romans 5:1–5. On the lines below, summarize Paul’s message.What can you take from that for yourself now?
“Being justified” is literally “having been justified.” The Greekverb represents the action as being completed. We have been declaredrighteous, or regarded as righteous, not through any deeds of law butthrough our having accepted Jesus Christ. The perfect life that Jesuslived on this earth, His perfect law-keeping, has been credited to us.
At the same time, all of our sins have been laid on Jesus. God hasreckoned that Jesus committed those sins, not us, and that way we canbe spared the punishment that we deserve. That punishment fell onChrist for us, in behalf of us, so that we never have to face it ourselves.What more glorious news could there be for the sinner?
The Greek word translated as “glory” in Romans 5:3 is the onetranslated as “rejoice” in Romans 5:2. If it also is translated “rejoice”in Romans 5:3 (as in some versions), the connection between Romans5:2 and Romans 5:3 is more clearly seen. Justified people can rejoice intribulation because they have fixed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.They have confidence that God will work all things for good. They willconsider it an honor to suffer for Christ’s sake. (See 1 Pet. 4:13.)Notice, too, the progression in Romans 5:3–5.
1. Patience. The Greek word thus translated as hupomone means“steadfast endurance.” This is the type of endurance that tribulationdevelops in the one who maintains faith and who does not lose sight ofthe hope he or she has in Christ, even amid the trials and suffering thatcan make life so miserable at times.
2. Experience. The Greek word thus translated, dokime, means literally“the quality of being approved”; hence, “character,” or more specifically,“approved character.” The one who patiently endures trials candevelop an approved character.
3. Hope. Endurance and approval naturally give rise to hope—thehope found in Jesus and the promise of salvation in Him. As long as wecling to Jesus in faith, repentance, and obedience, we have everythingto hope for.
What is the one thing in all your life that you hope for more thananything else? How can that hope be fulfilled in Jesus? Or canit? If not, are you sure you want to be putting so much hope in it?
Read Romans 5:6–8. What does this passage tell us about the characterof God, and why is it so full of hope for us?
When Adam and Eve shamefully and inexcusably transgressed thedivine requirement, God took the first steps toward reconciliation. Eversince, God has taken the initiative in providing a way of salvation andin inviting men and women to accept it. “When the fulness of the timewas come, God sent forth his Son” (Gal. 4:4).
Romans 5:9 says that we can be saved from God’s wrath throughJesus. How do we understand what that means?
On the eve of their departure from Egypt, the blood on the doorpostsof the Israelites in Egypt protected the firstborn from the wrath thatbefell Egypt’s firstborn. In the same way, the blood of Jesus Christguarantees that one who has been justified and retains that status willbe protected when God’s wrath finally destroys sin at the end of the age.
Some people struggle with the idea of a loving God having wrath.But it’s precisely because of His love that this wrath exists. How couldGod, who loves the world, not have wrath against sin? Were He indifferentto us, He would not care about what happens here. Look aroundat the world and see what sin has done to His creation. How could Godnot be wrathful against such evil and devastation?
What other reasons are we given to rejoice? Rom. 5:10, 11.
Some commentators have seen in Romans 5:10 a reference to the lifethat Christ lived on earth, during which He wrought a perfect characterthat He now offers to credit to us. Although this is certainly whatChrist’s perfect life accomplished, Paul seems to be emphasizing thefact that whereas Christ died, He rose again and is alive forevermore(see Heb. 7:25). Because He lives, we are saved. If He had remainedin the tomb, our hopes would have perished with Him. Romans 5:11continues with the reasons that we have to rejoice in the Lord, and that’sbecause of what Jesus has accomplished for us.
Death is an enemy, the ultimate one. When God created the humanfamily, He designed that its members should live forever. With fewexceptions humans do not want to die; and those who do, do so onlyafter the greatest personal anguish and suffering. Death goes againstour most basic nature. And that’s because from inception we were createdto live forever. Death was to be unknown to us.
Read Romans 5:12. What is Paul describing here? What does thisexplain?
Commentators have argued more over this passage of Scripture thanover most others. Perhaps the reason is, as noted in The SDA BibleCommentary, vol. 6, p. 529, that these commentators “attempt to usethe passage for purposes other than Paul intended.”
One point they argue over is: In what way was Adam’s sin passed onto his posterity? Did Adam’s descendants share the guilt of Adam’s sin,or are they guilty before God because of their own sins? People havetried to get the answer to that question from this text, but that’s not theissue Paul was dealing with. He had a whole other object in mind. Heis reemphasizing what he already stated: “for all have sinned” (Rom.3:23). We need to recognize that we are sinners, because that is the onlyway that we will realize our need of a Savior. Here Paul was trying toget readers to realize just how bad sin is and what it brought into thisworld through Adam. Then he shows what God offers us in Jesus as theonly remedy to the tragedy brought upon our world through Adam’s sin.
Yet, this text tells only of the problem, death in Adam—not the solution,life in Christ. One of the most glorious aspects of the gospel is thatdeath has been swallowed up in life. Jesus passed through the portalsof the tomb and burst its bonds. He says, “I am he that liveth, and wasdead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys ofhell and of death” (Rev. 1:18). Because Jesus has the keys, the enemycan no longer hold his victims in the grave.
What has been your own experience with the reality and the tragedyof death? Why, in the face of such a relentless enemy, mustwe have hope in something greater than ourselves or greater thananything this world offers?
Read Romans 5:13, 14. What is Paul teaching us here about the law?
What is Paul talking about here? The phrase “until the law” is paralleledwith the statement “from Adam to Moses.” He is talking about thetime in the world from Creation to Sinai, before the formal introductionof the rules and laws of the Israelite system, which included, of course,the Ten Commandments.
“Until the law” means until the detailing of God’s requirements inthe various laws given to Israel at Sinai. Sin existed before Sinai. Howcould it not? Were lying, killing, adultery, and idolatry not sinful beforethen? Of course they were.
It is true that, prior to Sinai, the human race generally had only alimited revelation of God, but they obviously knew enough to be heldaccountable. God is just and isn’t going to punish anyone unfairly.People in the pre-Sinai world died, as Paul here points out. Deathpassed upon all. Though they had not sinned against an expresslyrevealed command, they had sinned nevertheless. They had the revelationsof God, in nature, to which they had not responded and thus wereheld guilty. “The invisible things of him from the creation of the worldare clearly seen . . . ; so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20).
For what purpose did God reveal Himself more fully in the “law”? Rom.5:20, 21.
The instruction given at Sinai included the moral law, although it hadexisted before then. This was the first time, however, according to theBible, that this law was written and widely proclaimed.
When the Israelites began to compare themselves to the divinerequirements, they discovered that they fell far short. In other words,“the offense” abounded. They suddenly realized the extent of theirtransgressions. The purpose of such a revelation was to help them tosee their need of a Savior and to drive them to accept the grace sofreely offered by God. As stressed before, the true version of the OldTestament faith was not legalistic.
How do the laws in your own country reveal to you a humanconception of right and wrong? If human laws can do that, thenwhat about God’s eternal law?
“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all mento condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free giftcame upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’sdisobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of oneshall many be made righteous” (Rom. 5:18, 19). What contrast ispresented here to us? What hope is offered us in Christ?
As humans, we received nothing from Adam but the sentenceof death. Christ, however, stepped in and passed over the groundwhere Adam had fallen, enduring every test in behalf of humans.He redeemed Adam’s disgraceful failure and fall, and, thus, as ourSubstitute, He placed us on vantage ground with God. Hence, Jesus isthe “Second Adam.”
“The second Adam was a free moral agent, held responsible for Hisconduct. Surrounded by intensely subtle and misleading influences, Hewas much less favorably situated than was the first Adam to lead a sinlesslife. Yet in the midst of sinners He resisted every temptation to sin,and maintained His innocency. He was ever sinless.”—Ellen G. WhiteComments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1074.
How are Adam’s and Christ’s acts contrasted in Romans 5:15–19?
Look at the opposing ideas here: death, life; disobedience, obedience;condemnation, justification; and sin, righteousness. Jesus cameand undid all that Adam had done!
It is fascinating, too, that the word gift occurs five times in Romans5:15–17. Five times! The point is simple: Paul is emphasizing that justificationis not earned; it comes as a gift. It is something that we don’tmerit, that we don’t deserve. Like all gifts, we have to reach out andaccept it, and in this case, we claim this gift by faith.
What was the best gift you ever received? What made it so good,so special? How did the fact that it was a gift, as opposed to somethingyou had earned, make you that much more appreciative ofit? Yet, how could that gift even begin to compare with that whichwe have in Jesus?
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Help in Daily Living,”pp. 470–472, in The Ministry of Healing; “Christ the Center of theMessage,” pp. 383, 384, in Selected Messages, book 1; “The Temptationand Fall,” pp. 60–62, in Patriarchs and Prophets; “Justification,”pp. 712–714, in The SDA Encyclopedia.
“Many are deceived concerning the condition of their hearts. Theydo not realize that the natural heart is deceitful above all things, anddesperately wicked. They wrap themselves about with their own righteousness,and are satisfied in reaching their own human standard ofcharacter.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 320.
“There is great need that Christ should be preached as the only hope andsalvation. When the doctrine of justification by faith was presented . . . , itcame to many as water comes to the thirsty traveler. The thought that therighteousness of Christ is imputed to us, not because of any merit on ourpart, but as a free gift from God, seemed a precious thought.”—Page 360.
“Who is the figure of him that was to come (5:14). How is Adam afigure of Christ? As Adam became a cause of death to his descendants,though they did not eat of the forbidden tree, so Christ has become aDispenser of righteousness to those who are of Him, though they havenot earned any righteousness; for through the Cross He has secured(righteousness) for all men. The figure of Adam’s transgression is in us,for we die just as though we had sinned as he did. The figure of Christis in us, for we live just as though we had fulfilled all righteousness asHe did.”—Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, pp. 96, 97.
Discussion Questions:
1 How do we understand this Ellen G. White quote: “There is needof a much closer study of the word of God; especially should Danieland the Revelation have attention as never before in the history ofour work. We may have less to say in some lines, in regard to theRoman power and the papacy; but we should call attention to whatthe prophets and apostles have written under the inspiration of theHoly Spirit of God.”—Evangelism, p. 577.
2 Think about the reality of death, of what it does not only to lifebut to the meaning of life. Many writers and philosophers havelamented the ultimate meaninglessness of life because it ends ineternal death. How do we as Christians respond to them? Why isthe hope we have in Jesus the only answer to that meaninglessness?
3 Just as Adam’s fall imposed a fallen nature on us, Jesus’ victoryoffers the promise of eternal life to all of us who accept it by faith,no exceptions. With such a wonderful provision right there for us,what holds some back from reaching out and eagerly claiming it?How can we help those who are seeking to better understand thatwhich Christ offers and that which He has done for them?
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Romans 6, 1 John 1:8–2:1.Memory Text: “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye arenot under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
If works can’t save us, why bother with them at all? Why not just keepon sinning?
Chapter 6 is Paul’s answer to this important question. Paul hereis dealing with what commonly is understood as “sanctification,” theprocess by which we overcome sin and, more and more, reflect thecharacter of Christ. The word sanctification appears only twice inRomans. It appears in Romans 6:19, 22 as the Greek word hagiasmos,which means “sanctification.” In English, it appears in these two textsas the word holiness.
Does this mean that Paul has nothing to say about what commonly isunderstood by sanctification? Not at all.
In the Bible “to sanctify” means “to dedicate,” usually to God. Thus,to be sanctified often is presented as a past completed act. For example,“all them which are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). The sanctified ones in thisdefinition are the ones who are dedicated to God.
But this biblical usage of “sanctify” in no way denies the importantdoctrine of sanctification or the fact that sanctification is the work of alifetime. The Bible strongly endorses this doctrine, but it generally usesother terms to describe it.
This week we’ll look at another side of salvation by faith, one thateasily can be misunderstood: the promises of victory over sin in the lifeof one saved by Jesus.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 18.
In Romans 5:20, Paul makes a powerful statement: “But where sinabounded, grace did much more abound.” His point is that no matterhow much sin there is or how terrible the results of sin are, God’s graceis sufficient to deal with it. What hope that should bring for each ofus, especially when we’re tempted to feel that our sins are too great tobe forgiven! In Romans 5:21, Paul shows that although sin has led todeath, God’s grace through Jesus has defeated death and can give useternal life.
Read Romans 6:1. What logic is Paul dealing with here, and how, inRomans 6:2–11, does he respond to that kind of thinking?
Paul follows an interesting line of argument in chapter 6 as to why ajustified person should not sin. To begin with, he says that we shouldn’tsin because we have died to sin. Then he explains what he means.
Immersion in the waters of baptism represents burial. What is buried?The “old man” of sin—that is, the body committing sin, the bodydominated or ruled by sin. As a result, this “body of sin” is destroyed,so that we no longer serve sin. In Romans 6 sin is personified as amaster who rules over his servants. Once the “body of sin” that servedsin is destroyed, sin’s mastery over it ceases. The one who rises fromthe watery grave comes up a new person who no longer serves sin. Heor she now walks in newness of life.
Christ, having died, died once and for all, but He is now alive forevermore.So the Christian who is baptized has died to sin once and forall and should never again come under its dominion. Of course, as anybaptized Christian knows, sin doesn’t just automatically disappear fromour lives once we come up out of the water. Not being ruled by sin isn’tthe same as not having to struggle with it.
“From this we clearly see what the words of the Apostle mean. Allsuch statements as: 1. ‘We are dead to sin,’ 2. ‘We live unto God,’ etc.,signify that we do not yield to our sinful passions and sin, even thoughsin continues in us. Nevertheless, sin remains in us until the end of ourlife, as we read Galatians 5:17: ‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, andthe Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other.’Therefore all apostles and saints confess that sin and the sinful passionsremain in us till the body is turned into ashes, and a new (glorified)body is raised up which is free from passion and sin.”—Martin Luther,Commentary on Romans, p. 100.
What admonition is given to us in Romans 6:12?
The word reign shows that “sin” is represented here as a king. TheGreek word here translated as “reign” means literally “to be a king” or“to function as a king.” Sin is all too willing to assume the kingship ofour mortal bodies and dictate our behavior.
When Paul says “let not sin . . . reign,” he implies that the justifiedperson can choose to prevent sin’s setting itself up as king in his or herlife. This is where the action of the will comes in.
“What you need to understand is the true force of the will. Thisis the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision,or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise.You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to Godits affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Himyour will; He will then work in you to will and to do according toHis good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought underthe control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centeredupon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him.”—Ellen G.White, Steps to Christ, p. 47.
The Greek word in Romans 6:12 translated as “lusts” means“desires.” These desires may be either for good things or for bad; whensin reigns, it will make us desire the bad. The desires will be strong,even irresistible if we fight against them on our own. Sin can be a crueltyrant, one who never is satisfied but who always comes back for more.Only through faith, only through claiming the promises of victory, canwe overthrow this unrelenting master. The word therefore in Romans 6:12 is important. It goes back to thatwhich has been said before, specifically, to that which has been said inRomans 6:10, 11. The baptized person is now living “unto God.” Thatis, God is the center of his or her new life. The person is serving God,doing what pleases God, and, therefore, he or she cannot serve sin at thesame time. He or she is “alive unto God through Jesus Christ.” Go back over the quote from Ellen G. White in today’s study. Notice how crucial the concept of free will is. As moral creatureswe must have a free will—the power to choose right or wrong,good or evil, and Christ or the world. Over the next 24 hours, tryto keep track consciously of how you are using this moral free will.What can you learn about your use, or abuse, of this sacred gift?
Read Romans 6:14. How are we to understand this text? Does it meanthat the Ten Commandments are no longer binding on us? If not,why not?
Romans 6:14 is one of the key statements in the book of Romans.And it’s one we often hear quoted in the context of someone telling usAdventists that the Seventh-day Sabbath has been abrogated.
Yet, that’s obviously not what the text means. As we asked before,how could the moral law be done away with and sin still be a reality?The moral law is what defines sin! If you were to read all that camebefore in Romans, even in just chapter 6, it would be hard to see how,in the midst of all this discussion about the reality of sin, Paul wouldsuddenly say, “The moral law—the Ten Commandments, which definesin—has been abolished.” That makes no sense.
Paul is saying to the Romans that the person living “under thelaw”—that is, under the Jewish economy as it was practiced in hisday with all its man-made rules and regulations—will be ruled bysin. In contrast, a person living under grace will have victory oversin, because the law is written in his or her heart and God’s spiritis allowed to guide his or her steps. Accepting Jesus Christ as theMessiah, being justified by Him, being baptized into His death, havingthe “old man” destroyed, rising to walk in newness of life—theseare the things that will dethrone sin from our lives. Remember, that isthe whole context in which Romans 6:14 appears—the context of thepromise of victory over sin.
We should not define “under the law” too restrictively. The personwho supposedly lives “under grace” but disobeys God’s law will notfind grace but condemnation. “Under grace” means that through thegrace of God, as revealed in Jesus, the condemnation that the lawinevitably brings to sinners has been removed. Thus, now free from thiscondemnation of death brought by the law, we live in “newness of life,”a life characterized by and made manifest through the fact that, beingdead to self, we are no longer slaves to sin.
How have you experienced the reality of a new life in Christ?What tangible evidence can you point to that reveals that whichChrist has done in you? What areas are you refusing to let go,and why must you let them go?
Read Romans 6:16. What point is Paul making? Why is his argumentvery black and white here? It is either one or the other, with nomiddle ground. What lesson should we draw from this very clearcontrast?
Paul comes back to the point again that the new life of faith does notgrant liberty to sin. The life of faith makes victory over sin possible;in fact, only through faith can we have the victory that is promised us.
Having personified sin as a king ruling over his subjects, Paul nowreturns to the figure of sin as a master demanding obedience of hisservants. Paul points out that a person has a choice of masters. He canserve sin, which leads to death, or he can serve righteousness, whichleads to eternal life. Paul doesn’t leave us any middle ground or roomfor compromise. It’s one or the other, because in the end we face eithereternal life or eternal death.
Read Romans 6:17. How does Paul expand here on what he said inRomans 6:16?
Notice how, interestingly enough, obedience is linked to correct doctrine.The Greek word for “doctrine” here means “teaching.” The RomanChristians had been taught the principles of the Christian faith, whichthey now obeyed. Thus, for Paul, correct doctrine, correct teaching, whenobeyed “from the heart,” assisted in the Romans becoming “servants ofrighteousness” (Rom. 6:18). We sometimes hear that doctrine does notmatter, just as long as we show love. That’s a very simplistic expressionof something that’s not so simple. As stated in an earlier lesson, Paul wasvery concerned about the false doctrine to which the Galatian church hadsuccumbed. Thus, we need to be careful about statements that somehowdenigrate the importance of correct teaching.
Servants of sin, servants of righteousness: the contrast is verystark. If after baptism we sin, does this mean that we are nottruly saved? Read 1 John 1:8–2:1. How does this passage help usto understand what it means to be a follower of Christ and yetstill be subject to falling?
Keeping in mind what we have studied so far in Romans 6, readRomans 6:19–23. Summarize on the lines below the gist of whatPaul is saying. Most important, ask yourself how you can make realin your life the crucial truths that Paul is addressing. Ask yourself,what issues are at stake here?
Paul’s words here show that he fully understands the fallen nature ofhumanity. He talks about the “infirmity of your flesh.” The Greek wordfor “infirmity” means also “weakness.” He knows what fallen humannature is capable of when left on its own. Thus, again, he appeals to thepower of choice—the power we have to choose to surrender ourselvesand our weak flesh to a new master, Jesus, who will enable us to livea righteous life.
Romans 6:23 often is quoted to show that the penalty for sin—that is,the transgression of the law—is death. Certainly sin’s penalty is death.But in addition to seeing death as sin’s penalty, we should see sin asPaul describes it in Romans 6—as a master dominating his servants,duping them by paying them off with the wages of death.
Notice, too, that in his development of the figure of the two masters,Paul calls attention to the fact that the service of one master means freedomfrom the service of the other. Again we see the clear choice: one orthe other. There is no middle ground. At the same time, as we all know,being free from the dominion of sin doesn’t mean sinlessness, doesn’tmean we don’t struggle and at times even fall. It means instead that weare no longer dominated by sin, however much a reality it remains inour lives and however much we must claim daily the promises of victoryover it.
Thus, this passage becomes a powerful appeal to anyone who isserving sin. This tyrant offers nothing but death as payment for doingshameful things; therefore, a reasonable person should desire emancipationfrom this tyrant. In contrast, those who serve righteousnessdo things that are upright and praiseworthy, not with the idea of thusearning their salvation, but as a fruit of their new experience. If they areacting in an attempt to earn salvation, they are missing the whole pointof the gospel, the whole point of what salvation is, and the whole pointof why they need Jesus.
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Victory Appropriated,”pp. 105, 106, in Messages to Young People; “The True Motive in Service,”pp. 93–95, in Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing; “Appeal to theYoung,” p. 365, in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3; pp. 1074, 1075, inThe SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6.
“He [Jesus] did not consent to sin. Not even by a thought did He yieldto temptation. So it may be with us. Christ’s humanity was united withdivinity; He was fitted for the conflict by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.And He came to make us partakers of the divine nature. So long as we areunited to Him by faith, sin has no more dominion over us. God reachesfor the hand of faith in us to direct it to lay fast hold upon the divinity ofChrist, that we may attain to perfection of character.”—Ellen G. White, TheDesire of Ages, p. 123.
“At our baptism we pledged ourselves to break all connection withSatan and his agencies, and to put heart and mind and soul into the workof extending the kingdom of God. . . . The Father, the Son, and the HolySpirit are pledged to cooperate with sanctified human instrumentalities.”—Ellen G. White Comments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1075.
“A profession of Christianity without corresponding faith and workswill avail nothing. No man can serve two masters. The children of thewicked one are their own master’s servants; to whom they yield themselvesservants to obey, his servants they are, and they cannot be the servantsof God until they renounce the devil and all his works. It cannot beharmless for servants of the heavenly King to engage in the pleasures andamusements which Satan’s servants engage in, even though they oftenrepeat that such amusements are harmless. God has revealed sacred andholy truths to separate His people from the ungodly and purify them untoHimself. Seventh-day Adventists should live out their faith.”—Ellen G.White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 404.
Discussion Questions:
1 Although we have all these wonderful promises of victory oversin, the fact is that we all—even as born-again Christians—areaware of just how fallen we are, of just how sinful we are, and ofjust how corrupt our hearts can be. Is there a contradiction here?Explain your answer.
2 In class, give a testimony as to what Christ has done in you, as to thechanges you have experienced, and as to the new life you have in Him.
3 However important it is that we always remember that oursalvation rests only in that which Christ has done for us, whatdangers arise if we overemphasize that wonderful truth to theexclusion of the other part of the salvation: that which Jesus doesin us to transform us into His image? Why do we need to understandand emphasize both these aspects of salvation?
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Romans 7.
Memory Text: “Now we are delivered from the law, that beingdead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit,and not in the oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:6).
Few chapters in the Bible have created more controversy thanhas Romans 7. Concerning the issues involved, The SDA BibleCommentary says: “The meaning of [Romans 7:14–25] has been oneof the most discussed problems in the whole epistle. The main questionshave been as to whether the description of such intense moral strugglecould be autobiographical, and, if so, whether the passage refers to Paul’sexperience before or after his conversion. That Paul is speaking of his ownpersonal struggle with sin seems apparent from the simplest meaning of hiswords (cf. [Romans 7:7–11]; . . .). [Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 19;Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 475.] It is surely alsotrue that he is describing a conflict that is more or less experienced by everysoul confronted by and awakened to the spiritual claims of God’s holylaw.”—The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 553.
Bible students differ on whether Romans 7 was Paul’s experience beforeor after his conversion. Whatever position one takes, what’s important isthat Jesus’ righteousness covers us and that in His righteousness we standperfect before God, who promises to sanctify us, to give us victory oversin, and to conform us to “the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). These arethe crucial points for us to know and experience as we seek to spread “theeverlasting gospel” to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people”(Rev. 14:6).
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 25.
Read Romans 7:1–6. What illustration does Paul use here in order toshow his readers their relationship to the law, and what point is hemaking with that illustration?
Paul’s illustration in Romans 7:1–6 is somewhat involved, but a carefulanalysis of the passage will help us to follow his reasoning.
In the overall context of the letter, Paul was dealing with the systemof worship established at Sinai; that is often what he means by the wordlaw. The Jews had difficulty grasping the fact that this system, given tothem of God, should end with the coming of the Messiah. This is whatPaul was dealing with—Jewish believers still not ready to abandonwhat had been such an important part of their lives.
In essence, Paul’s illustration is as follows: a woman is married to aman. The law binds her to him as long as he lives. During his lifetimeshe cannot consort with other men. But when he dies, she is free fromthe law that bound her to him (Rom. 7:3).
How does Paul apply the illustration of the law of marriage to the systemof Judaism? Rom. 7:4, 5.
As the death of her husband delivers the woman from the law of herhusband, so the death of the old life in the flesh, through Jesus Christ,delivers the Jews from the law they had been expected to keep until theMessiah fulfilled its types.
Now the Jews were free to “remarry.” They were invited to marry therisen Messiah and thus bring forth fruit to God. This illustration wasone more device Paul used to convince the Jews that they were now freeto abandon the ancient system.
Again, given all else that Paul and the Bible say about obedience to the TenCommandments, it doesn’t make sense to assert here that Paul was tellingthese Jewish believers that the Ten Commandments were no longer binding.Those who use these texts to try to make that point—that the moral law wasdone away with—really don’t want to make that point anyway; what theyreally want to say is that only the seventh-day Sabbath is gone—not the restof the law. To interpret Romans 7:4, 5 as teaching that the fourth commandmenthas been abolished or superseded or replaced with Sunday is to givethem a meaning that the words were never intended to have.
If Paul is talking about the whole law system at Sinai, whatabout Romans 7:7, in which he specifically mentions one of the TenCommandments? Doesn’t that refute the position taken yesterday thatPaul was not talking about the abolition of the Ten Commandments?
The answer is “No.” We must keep in mind, again, that the word law forPaul is the whole system introduced at Sinai, which included the morallaw but wasn’t limited to it. Hence, Paul could quote from it, as well asfrom any other section of the whole Jewish economy, in order to makehis points. However, when the system passed away at the death of Christ,that didn’t include the moral law, which had existed even before Sinai andexists after Calvary, as well.
Read Romans 7:8–11. What is Paul saying here about the relationshipbetween the law and sin?
God revealed Himself to the Jews, telling them in detail what wasright and wrong in moral, civil, ceremonial, and health matters. He alsoexplained the penalties for violation of the various laws. Violation of therevealed will of God is here defined as sin.
Thus, Paul explains, he would not have known if it was a sin to covetwithout having been informed of that fact by the “law.” Sin is the violationof the revealed will of God, and where the revealed will is unknown,there is no awareness of sin. When that revealed will is made known toa person, he or she comes to recognize that he or she is a sinner and isunder condemnation and death. In this sense, the person dies.
In Paul’s line of argument here and throughout this section, he is tryingto build a bridge to lead the Jews—who revere the “law”—to see Christas its fulfillment. He is showing that the law was necessary but that itsfunction was limited. The law was meant to show the need of salvation;it never was meant to be the means of obtaining that salvation.
“The apostle Paul, in relating his experience, presents an important truthconcerning the work to be wrought in conversion. He says, ‘I was alivewithout the law once’—he felt no condemnation; ‘but when the commandmentcame,’ when the law of God was urged upon his conscience,‘sin revived, and I died.’ Then he saw himself a sinner, condemned by thedivine law. Mark, it was Paul, and not the law, that died.”—Ellen G. WhiteComments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1076.
In what sense have you “died” before the law? How, in that context,can you understand what Jesus has done for you by givingyou a new life in Him?
Read Romans 7:12. How do we understand this text in the context ofwhat Paul has been discussing?
Because the Jews revered the law, Paul exalts it in every way possible.The law is good for what it does, but it can’t do what it was nevermeant to do—save us from sin. For that we need Jesus, because thelaw—whether the entire Jewish system or the moral law in particular—cannot bring salvation. Only Jesus and His righteousness, which cometo us by faith, can.
What does Paul blame for his condition of “death,” and what does heexonerate? Why is that distinction important? Rom. 7:13.
In Romans 7:13, Paul is presenting the “law” in the best sense possible.He chooses to blame sin, not the law, for his terrible sinful condition;that is, his working “all manner of concupiscence [lust]” (Rom.7:8). The law is good, for it is God’s standard of conduct, but as a sinnerPaul stands condemned before it.
Why was sin so successful in showing Paul up to be a terrible sinner?Rom. 7:14, 15.
Carnal means “fleshly.” Thus, Paul needed Jesus Christ. Only JesusChrist could take away the condemnation (Rom. 8:1). Only Jesus Christcould free him from slavery to sin.
Paul describes himself as “sold under sin.” He is a slave to sin. Hehas no freedom. He can’t do what he wants to do. He tries to do whatthe good law tells him to do, but sin won’t let him.
By this illustration, Paul was trying to show the Jews their needof the Messiah. He had pointed out already that victory is possibleonly under grace (Rom 6:14). This same thought is reemphasized inRomans 7. Living under the “law” means enslavement to sin, a mercilessmaster.
What has been your own experience with how sin enslaves? Haveyou ever tried to play with sin, thinking you could control it asyou wished, only to find yourself under a vicious and mercilesstaskmaster? Welcome to reality! Why, then, must you surrenderto Jesus and die to self daily?
“If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law thatit is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwellethin me” (Rom. 7:16, 17). What struggle is presented here?
Using the law as a mirror, the Holy Spirit convicts a person that heor she is displeasing God by not fulfilling the requirements of the law.Through efforts to meet those requirements, the sinner shows that he orshe agrees that the law is good.
What points that Paul already had made did he repeat for emphasis?Rom. 7:18–20.
To impress upon a person his or her need of Christ, the Holy Spirit oftenleads the person through an “old covenant” type of experience. Ellen G.White describes Israel’s experience as follows: “The people did not realizethe sinfulness of their own hearts, and that without Christ it was impossiblefor them to keep God’s law; and they readily entered into covenant withGod. Feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness, theydeclared, ‘All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.’ Exodus24:7. . . . Only a few weeks passed before they broke their covenant withGod, and bowed down to worship a graven image. They could not hopefor the favor of God through a covenant which they had broken; and now,seeing their sinfulness and their need of pardon, they were brought to feeltheir need of the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant.”—Ellen G.White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 371, 372.
Unfortunately, by failing to renew their dedication to Christ daily,many Christians are, in effect, serving sin, however loath they may beto admit it. They rationalize that, in reality, they are undergoing thenormal experience of sanctification and that they simply still have along way to go. Thus, instead of taking known sins to Christ and askingHim for victory over them, they hide behind Romans 7, which tellsthem, they think, that it is impossible to do right. In reality, this chapteris saying that it is impossible to do right when a person is enslaved tosin, but victory is possible in Jesus Christ.
Are you having the victories over self and sin that Christ promisesus? If not, why not? What wrong choices are you, and youalone, making?
Read Romans 7:21–23. How have you experienced this same strugglein your own life, even as a Christian?
In this passage, Paul equates the law in his members (his body) withthe law of sin. “With the flesh,” Paul says, he served “the law of sin”(Rom. 7:25). But serving sin and obeying its law means death (seeRom. 7:10, 11, 13). Hence, his body—as it functioned in obedience tosin—fittingly could be described as “the body of this death.”
The law of the mind is God’s law, God’s revelation of His will. Underconviction of the Holy Spirit, Paul consented to this law. His mindresolved to keep it, but when he tried he couldn’t because his bodywanted to sin. Who hasn’t felt that same struggle? In your mind youknow what you want to do, but your flesh clamors for something else.How can we be rescued from this difficult situation in which we findourselves? Rom. 7:24, 25.
Some have wondered why, after reaching the glorious climax in theexpression “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Paul shouldrefer once more to the struggles of the soul from which he apparentlyhas been delivered. Some understand the expression of thanksgivingas a parenthetical exclamation. They believe that such an exclamationfollows naturally the cry, “Who shall deliver?” They hold that, beforeproceeding with an extended discussion of the glorious deliverance(Romans 8), Paul summarizes what he has said in the preceding versesand confesses once again to the conflict against the forces of sin.
Others suggest that by “I myself ” Paul means “left to myself, leavingChrist out of the picture.” However Romans 7:24, 25 are understood,one point should remain clear: left to ourselves, without Christ, weare helpless against sin. With Christ we have a new life in Him, onein which—although self will constantly arise—the promises of victoryare ours if we choose to claim them. Just as no one can breathe for youor cough for you or sneeze for you, no one can choose to surrender toChrist for you. You alone can make that choice. There’s no other way toattain for yourself the victories that are promised us in Jesus.
Further Thought: “There is no safety nor repose nor justification intransgression of the law. Man cannot hope to stand innocent before God,and at peace with Him through the merits of Christ, while he continues insin.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 213.
“Paul desires his brethren to see that the great glory of a sin-pardoningSaviour gave significance to the entire Jewish economy. He desiredthem to see also that when Christ came to the world, and died as man’ssacrifice, type met antitype.
“After Christ died on the cross as a sin offering the ceremonial lawcould have no force. Yet it was connected with the moral law, and wasglorious. The whole bore the stamp of divinity, and expressed the holiness,justice, and righteousness of God. And if the ministration of thedispensation to be done away was glorious, how much more must thereality be glorious, when Christ was revealed, giving His life-giving,sanctifying, Spirit to all who believe.”—Ellen G. White Comments, TheSDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1095.
Discussion Question:
1 “In 7:25 the Apostle writes: ‘With the mind I myself serve thelaw of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.’ This is the clearestpassage of all, and from it we learn that one and the same (believing)person serves at the same time the Law of God and the Law ofsin. He is at the same time justified and yet a sinner (simul iustus estet peccat); for he does not say: ‘My mind serves the Law of God’;nor does he say: ‘My flesh serves the Law of sin’; but he says: ‘Imyself.’ That is, the whole man, one and the same person, is in thistwofold servitude. For this reason he thanks God that he servesthe Law of God and he pleads for mercy for serving the Law ofsin. But no one can say of a carnal (unconverted) person that heserves the Law of God. The Apostle means to say: You see, it isjust so as I said before: The saints (believers) are at the same timesinners while they are righteous. They are righteous, because theybelieve in Christ, whose righteousness covers them and is imputedto them. But they are sinners, inasmuch as they do not fulfill theLaw, and still have sinful lusts. They are like sick people who arebeing treated by a physician. They are really sick, but hope andare beginning to get, or be made, well. They are about to regaintheir health. Such patients would suffer the greatest harm by arrogantlyclaiming to be well, for they would suffer a relapse that isworse (than their first illness).”—Martin Luther, Commentary onRomans, pp. 114, 115. Can we agree with what Luther wrote hereor not? In class, give reasons for your answers.
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Rom. 8:1–17.
Memory Text: “There is therefore now no condemnation to themwhich are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after theSpirit” (Romans 8:1).
Romans 8 is Paul’s answer to Romans 7. In Romans 7 Paul speaksof frustration, failure, and condemnation. In Romans 8 the condemnationis gone, replaced with freedom and victory throughJesus Christ.
Paul was saying in Romans 7 that if you refuse to accept Jesus Christ,the wretched experience of Romans 7 will be yours. You will be slavesto sin, unable to do what you choose to do. In Romans 8 he says thatChrist Jesus offers you deliverance from sin and the freedom to do thegood that you want to do but that your flesh won’t allow.
Paul continues, explaining that this freedom was purchased at infinitecost. Christ the Son of God took on humanity. It was the only wayHe could relate to us, could be our perfect example, and could becomethe Substitute who died in our stead. He came “in the likeness of sinfulflesh” (Rom. 8:3). As a result, the righteous requirements of the law canbe fulfilled in us (Rom. 8:4). In other words, Christ made victory oversin—as well as meeting the positive requirements of the law—possiblefor those who believe, not as a means of salvation but as the result of it.Obedience to law had not been, nor ever can be, a means of salvation.This was Paul’s message and Luther’s message, and it must be ours,as well.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 2.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are inChrist Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”(Rom. 8:1). What does “no condemnation” mean? No condemnationfrom what? And why is this such good news?
“In Christ Jesus” is a common phrase in the Pauline writings. For aperson to be “in” Christ Jesus means that he or she has accepted Christas his or her Savior. The person trusts Him implicitly and has decidedto make Christ’s way of life his or her own way. The result is a closepersonal union with Christ.
“In Christ Jesus” is contrasted with “in the flesh.” It also is contrastedwith the experience detailed in chapter 7, where Paul describes theperson under conviction before his or her surrender to Christ as carnal,meaning that he or she is a slave to sin. The person is under condemnationof death (Rom. 7:11, 13, 24). He or she serves the “law of sin” (Rom.7:23, 25). This person is in a terrible state of wretchedness (Rom. 7:24).
But then the person surrenders to Jesus, and an immediate changeis wrought in his or her standing with God. Formerly condemned as alawbreaker, that person now stands perfect in the sight of God, stands asif he or she had never sinned, because the righteousness of Jesus Christcompletely covers that person. There is no more condemnation, notbecause the person is faultless, sinless, or worthy of eternal life (he orshe is not!) but because Jesus’ perfect life record stands in the person’sstead; thus, there is no condemnation.
But the good news doesn’t end there.
What frees a person from slavery to sin? Rom. 8:2.
“The law of the Spirit of life” here means Christ’s plan for savinghumanity; in contrast with “the law of sin and death,” which wasdescribed in chapter 7 as the law by which sin ruled—the end of whichwas death. Christ’s law instead brings life and freedom.
“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the controlof another power. He is not his own. He may talk of freedom, but heis in the most abject slavery. . . . While he flatters himself that he isfollowing the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of theprince of darkness. Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slaveryfrom the soul.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 466. Areyou a slave, or are you free in Christ? How can you know for sure?
However good, the “law” (the ceremonial law, the moral law, or evenboth) cannot do for us what we need the most, and that is to provide themeans of salvation, a means of saving us from the condemnation anddeath that sin brings. For that, we need Jesus.
Read Romans 8:3, 4. What did Christ do that the law, by its verynature, cannot do?
God provided a remedy by “sending his own Son in the likeness ofsinful flesh,” and He “condemned sin in the flesh.” The incarnation ofChrist was an important step in the plan of salvation. It is proper toexalt the Cross, but in the outworking of the plan of salvation, Christ’slife “in the likeness of sinful flesh” was extremely important, too.
As a result of what God has done in sending Christ, it is now possiblefor us to meet the righteous requirement of the law; that is, to do theright things that the law requires. “Under the law” (Rom. 6:14), this wasimpossible; “in Christ” it is now possible.
Yet, we must remember that doing what the law requires doesn’tmean keeping the law well enough to earn salvation. That’s not anoption—never was. It simply means living the life that God enables usto live; it means a life of obedience, one in which we have “crucifiedthe flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24, NKJV), a life inwhich we reflect the character of Christ.
“Walk” in Romans 8:4 is an idiomatic expression signifying “toconduct oneself.” The word flesh here denotes the unregenerate person,whether before or after conviction. To walk after the flesh is to be controlledby selfish desires.
In contrast, to walk after the Spirit is to fulfill the righteous requirementof the law. Only through the help of the Holy Spirit can we meetthis requirement. Only in Christ Jesus is there freedom to do what thelaw requires. Apart from Christ, there is no such freedom. The one whois enslaved to sin finds it impossible to do the good he or she choosesto do (see Rom. 7:15, 18).
How well are you keeping the law? Putting aside any notions ofearning salvation by the law, is your life one in which the “righteousnessof the law” is fulfilled? If not, why not? What kind oflame excuses are you using to rationalize your behavior?
“They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to becarnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life andpeace” (Rom. 8:5, 6). Dwell on these texts. What basic messagecomes through from them? What do they say to you about the wayin which you are living your life?
“After,” here, is used in the sense of “according to” (Greek kata).“Mind” here means to set the mind on. One group of people sets theirminds on fulfilling natural desires; the other sets their minds on thethings of the Spirit, to follow His dictates. Because the mind determinesactions, the two groups live and act differently.
What is the carnal mind unable to do? Rom. 8:7, 8.
To have one’s mind set on fulfilling the desires of the flesh is, in reality,to be in a state of enmity against God. One whose mind is thus setis unconcerned about doing the will of God. He or she even may be inrebellion against Him, openly flouting His law.
Paul wishes especially to emphasize that if you are apart from Christ,it is impossible to keep the law of God. Again and again Paul returns tothis theme: no matter how hard one tries, apart from Christ one cannotobey the law.
Paul’s special purpose was to persuade the Jews that they neededmore than their “torah” (law). By their conduct they had shown that, inspite of having the divine revelation, they were guilty of the same sinsof which the Gentiles were guilty (Romans 2). The lesson of all this wasthat they needed the Messiah. Without Him they would be slaves of sin,unable to escape its dominion.
This was Paul’s answer to those Jews who couldn’t understand whywhat God had given them in the Old Testament was no longer enoughfor salvation. Paul admitted that what they had been doing was all goodbut that they also needed to accept the Messiah who had now come.
Look at your past 24 hours. Were your deeds of the Spirit or ofthe flesh? What does your answer tell you about yourself? If ofthe flesh, what changes must you make, and how can you makethem?
Paul continues his theme, contrasting the two possibilities that peopleface in how they live: either according to the Spirit—that is, the HolySpirit of God, which is promised to us—or according to their sinfuland carnal natures. One leads to eternal life, the other to eternal death.There is no middle ground. Or as Jesus Himself said: “ ‘He who is notwith Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters’ ”(Matt. 12:30, NKJV). It’s hard to be plainer, or more black and white,than that.
Read Romans 8:9–14. What is promised to those who surrender themselvesfully to Christ?
The life “in the flesh” is contrasted with life “in the Spirit.” The life“in the Spirit” is controlled by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. Heis in this chapter called the Spirit of Christ, perhaps in the sense thatHe is a representative of Christ, and through Him Christ dwells in thebeliever (Rom. 8:9, 10).
In these verses, Paul returns to a figure he used in Romans6:1–11. Figuratively, in baptism “the body of sin”—that is, the bodythat served sin—is destroyed. The “old man is crucified with him”(Rom. 6:6). But, as in baptism, there is not only a burial but alsoa resurrection, so the person baptized rises to walk in the newnessof life. This means to put to death the old self, a choice that wehave to, of ourselves, make day by day, moment by moment. Goddoes not destroy human freedom. Even after the old man of sin isdestroyed, it still is possible to sin. To the Colossians Paul wrote,“Mortify [put to death] therefore your members which are upon theearth” (Col. 3:5).
Thus, after conversion there still will be a struggle against sin. Thedifference is that the person in whom the Spirit dwells now has divinepower for victory. Furthermore, because the person has been so miraculouslyfreed from the slave master of sin, he or she is obligated neverto serve sin again.
Dwell on this idea that the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus fromdeath, is the same one dwelling in us if we allow Him to. Thinkabout the power that is there for us! What keeps us from availingourselves of it as we should?
How does Paul describe the new relationship in Christ? Rom. 8:15.What hope is found in this promise for us? How do we make it realin our lives?
The new relationship is described as freedom from fear. Slaves arein bondage. They live in a state of constant fear of their master. Theystand to gain nothing from their long years of service.
Not so with those who accept Jesus Christ. First, they render voluntaryservice. Second, they serve without fear, for “perfect love castethout fear” (1 John 4:18). Third, adopted as children, they become heirsto an inheritance of infinite worth.
“The spirit of bondage is engendered by seeking to live in accordancewith legal religion, through striving to fulfill the claims of the law in ourown strength. There is hope for us only as we come under the Abrahamiccovenant, which is the covenant of grace by faith in Christ Jesus.”—Ellen G. White Comments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1077.
What gives us the assurance that God has indeed accepted us as children?Rom. 8:16.
The inward witness of the Spirit confirms our acceptance. While it isnot safe to go by feeling merely, those who have followed the light of theWord to the best of their understanding will hear an inward authenticatingVoice assuring them that they have been accepted as children of God.
Indeed, Romans 8:17 tells us that we are heirs; that is, we are partof the family of God, and as heirs, as children, we receive a wonderfulinheritance from our Father. We don’t earn it; it is given to us by virtueof our new status in God, a status granted to us through His grace,which has been made available to us because of the death of Jesus inour behalf.
How close are you to the Lord? Do you really know Him or justabout Him? What changes must you make in your life in order tohave a closer walk with your Creator and Redeemer? What holdsyou back, and why?
Further Thought: “The plan of salvation does not offer believers a lifefree from suffering and trial this side of the kingdom. On the contrary,it calls upon them to follow Christ in the same path of self-denial andreproach. . . . It is through such trial and persecution that the characterof Christ is reproduced and revealed in His people. . . . By sharing inthe sufferings of Christ we are educated and disciplined and made readyto share in the glories of the hereafter.”—The SDA Bible Commentary,vol. 6, pp. 568, 569.
“The chain that has been let down from the throne of God is longenough to reach to the lowest depths. Christ is able to lift the mostsinful out of the pit of degradation, and to place them where they willbe acknowledged as children of God, heirs with Christ to an immortalinheritance.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7,p. 229.
“One honored of all heaven came to this world to stand in humannature at the head of humanity, testifying to the fallen angels and to theinhabitants of the unfallen worlds that through the divine help whichhas been provided, every one may walk in the path of obedience toGod’s commands. . . .
“Our ransom has been paid by our Saviour. No one need be enslavedby Satan. Christ stands before us as our all-powerful helper.”—Ellen G.White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 309.
Discussion Questions:
1 Read again the quotes from Ellen G. White in Friday’s study.What hope can we take from them for ourselves? More important,how can we make these promises of victory real in our own lives?Why, with so much offered to us in Christ, do we keep on fallingfar short of what we really could be?
2 What are practical, daily ways you can have your mind “set. . . on the things of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:5, RSV)? What does thatmean? What does the Spirit desire? What do you watch, read, orthink about that makes this difficult?
3 Dwell more on this idea that we are either on one side or theother in the great controversy, with no middle ground. What arethe implications of that stark, cold fact? How should the realizationof this important truth impact the ways in which we live andthe choices we make, even in the “small” things?
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Romans 9.
Memory Text: “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy,and whom he will he hardeneth” (Romans 9:18).
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. . . .For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy . . . , and I will havecompassion on whom I will have compassion” (Rom. 9:13, 15).
What is Paul talking about here? What about human free will and thefreedom to choose, without which very little of what we believe makessense? Are we not free to choose or reject God? Or are these versesteaching that certain people are elected to be saved and others to belost, regardless of their own personal choices?
The answer is found, as usual, by looking at the bigger picture ofwhat Paul is saying. Paul is following a line of argument in whichhe attempts to show God’s right to pick those whom He will use asHis “elected” ones. After all, God is the One who carries the ultimateresponsibility of evangelizing the world. Therefore, why can He notchoose as His agents whomever He wills? So long as God cuts off noone from the opportunity of salvation, such an action on God’s part isnot contrary to the principles of free will. Even more important, it’s notcontrary to the great truth that Christ died for all humans and His desirethat everyone have salvation.
As long as we remember that Romans 9 is not dealing with the personalsalvation of those it names; but that it is dealing with their call todo a certain work, the chapter presents no difficulties.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 9.
“And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holynation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the childrenof Israel” (Exod. 19:6).
God needed a missionary people to evangelize a world steeped in paganism,darkness, and idolatry. He chose the Israelites and revealed Himself tothem. He planned that they would become a model nation and thus attractothers to the true God. “It was God’s purpose that by the revelation of Hischaracter through Israel” the world “should be drawn unto Him,” Ellen G.White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 290. “Through the teaching of the sacrificialservice, Christ was to be uplifted before the nations, and all who wouldlook unto Him should live. . . . As the numbers of Israel increased they wereto enlarge their borders, until their kingdom should embrace the world.”
Read Romans 9:1–12. What point is Paul making here about the faithfulnessof God amid human failures?
Paul is building a line of argument in which he will show that thepromise made to Israel had not completely failed. There exists a remnantthrough whom God still aims to work. To establish the validity ofthe idea of the remnant, Paul dips back into Israelite history. He showsthat God has always been selective: (1) God did not choose all the seedof Abraham to be His covenant, only the line of Isaac; (2) He did notchoose all the descendants of Isaac, only those of Jacob.
It’s important, too, to see that heritage, or ancestry, does not guaranteesalvation. You can be of the right blood, the right family, even ofthe right church, and yet still be lost, still be outside the promise. It isfaith, a faith that works by love, that reveals those who are “children ofthe promise” (Rom. 9:8).
Look at the phrase in Romans 9:6: “For they are not all Israel,which are of Israel.” What important message can we find therefor ourselves, as Adventists, who in many ways play the sameroles in our era that the ancient Israelites did in theirs?
“It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it iswritten, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Rom. 9:12, 13).
As stated in the introduction for this week, it is impossible to understandRomans 9 properly until one recognizes that Paul is not speakingof individual salvation. He is here speaking of particular roles that Godwas calling upon certain individuals to play. God wanted Jacob to bethe progenitor of the people who would be His special evangelizingagency in the world. There is no implication in this passage that Esaucould not be saved. God wanted him to be saved as much as He desiresall people to be saved.
Read Romans 9:14, 15. How do we understand these words in thecontext of what we have been reading?
Again Paul is not speaking of individual salvation, because in thatarea God extends mercy to all, for He “will have all men to be saved”(1 Tim. 2:4). “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appearedto all men” (Titus 2:11). But God can choose nations to play roles, and,although they can refuse to play those roles, they cannot prevent God’schoice. No matter how hard Esau may have willed it, he could not havebecome the progenitor of the Messiah nor of the chosen people.
In the end, it was no arbitrary choice on the part of God, not somedivine decree, by which Esau was shut out from salvation. The giftsof His grace through Christ are free to all. We’ve all been elected tobe saved, not lost (Eph. 1:4, 5; 2 Pet. 1:10). It’s our own choices, notGod’s, that keep us from the promise of eternal life in Christ. Jesusdied for every human being. Yet, God has set forth in His Word theconditions upon which every soul will be elected to eternal life—faithin Christ, which leads the justified sinner to obedience.
As if no one else even existed, you yourself were chosen in Christeven before the foundation of the world, to have salvation. This isyour calling, your election, all given to you by God through Jesus.What a privilege, what a hope! All things considered, why doeseverything else pale in comparison to this great promise? Whywould it be the greatest of all tragedies to let sin, self, and theflesh take away from you all that’s been promised you in Jesus?
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your waysmy ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than theearth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts thanyour thoughts” (Isa. 55:8, 9).
Read Romans 9:17–24. Given what we have read so far, how are we tounderstand Paul’s point here?
By dealing with Egypt at the time of the Exodus in the manner Hedid, God was working for the salvation of the human race. God’s revelationof Himself in the plagues of Egypt and in the deliverance ofHis people was designed to reveal to the Egyptians, as well as to othernations, that the God of Israel indeed was the true God. It was designedto be an invitation for the peoples of the nations to abandon their godsand to come and worship Him.
Obviously Pharaoh had already made his choice against God, so thatin hardening his heart, God was not cutting him off from the opportunityof salvation. The hardening was against the appeal to let Israelgo, not against God’s appeal for Pharaoh to accept personal salvation.Christ died for Pharaoh just as much as for Moses, Aaron, and the restof the children of Israel.
The crucial point in all this is that as fallen human beings we havesuch a narrow view of the world, of reality, and of God and how Heworks in the world. How can we expect to understand all of God’s wayswhen the natural world, everywhere we turn, holds mysteries we can’tunderstand? After all, it was only in the past 171 years that doctorslearned it might be a good idea to wash their hands before performingsurgery! That’s how steeped in ignorance we have been. And whoknows, if time should last, what other things will we discover in thefuture that will reveal just how steeped in ignorance we are today?
Certainly we don’t always understand God’s ways, but Jesuscame to reveal to us what God is like (John 14:9). Why, then, amidall of life’s mysteries and unexpected events is it so crucial for usto dwell on the character of Christ and what He has revealed tous about God and His love for us? How can knowing what God’scharacter is like help us to stay faithful amid trials that seem sounjustified and so unfair?
In Romans 9:25 Paul quotes Hosea 2:23, and in Romans 9:26 hequotes Hosea 1:10. The background is that God instructed Hosea totake “a wife of whoredoms” (Hos. 1:2) as an illustration of God’srelationship with Israel, because the nation had gone after strangegods. The children born to this marriage were given names signifyingGod’s rejection and punishment of idolatrous Israel. The thirdchild was named Loammi (Hos. 1:9), meaning literally “not mypeople.”
Yet, amid all this, Hosea predicted that the day would come when,after punishing His people, God would restore their fortunes, take awaytheir false gods, and make a covenant with them. (See Hos. 2:11–19.)At this point those who were Loammi, “not my people,” would becomeAmmi, “my people.”
In Paul’s day, the Ammi were “even us, . . . not of the Jews only, butalso of the Gentiles” (Rom. 9:24). What a clear and powerful presentationof the gospel, a gospel that from the start was intended for thewhole world. No wonder we as Seventh-day Adventists take part of ourcalling from Revelation 14:6, “Then I saw another angel flying in themidst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those whodwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (NKJV).Today, as in Paul’s day, and as in the days of ancient Israel, the goodnews of salvation is to be spread throughout the world.
Read Romans 9:25–29. Notice how much Paul quotes the OldTestament to make his point about the things that were happeningin his day. What is the basic message found in this passage? Whathope is being offered there to his readers?
The fact that some of Paul’s kinsmen rejected the appeal of the gospelgave him “great heaviness and continual sorrow” in his heart (Rom.9:2). But at least there was a remnant. God’s promises do not fail, evenwhen humans do. The hope we can have is that, in the end, God’s promiseswill be fulfilled, and if we claim those promises for ourselves, theywill be fulfilled in us, as well.
How often have people failed you? How often have you failedyourself and others? Probably more times than you can count,right? What lessons can you learn from these failures aboutwhere your ultimate trust must lie?
“What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followednot after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even therighteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after thelaw of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith” (Rom. 9:30–32).What’s the message here, and, more important, how can we takethis message that was written in a certain time and place and applythe principles to ourselves today? How can we avoid making thesame mistakes in our context that some Israelites did in theirs?
In words that cannot be misunderstood, Paul explains to his kinsmenwhy they are missing out on something that God wishes them tohave—and more than that, on something they were actually pursuingbut not achieving.
Interestingly, the Gentiles whom God had accepted had not evenbeen striving for such acceptance. They had been pursuing their owninterests and goals when the gospel message came to them. Graspingits value, they accepted it. God declared them righteous because theyaccepted Jesus Christ as their Substitute. It was a transaction of faith.
The problem with the Israelites was that they stumbled at the stumblingstone (see Rom. 9:33). Some, not all (see Acts 2:41), refused toaccept Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah whom God had sent. He didnot meet their expectations of the Messiah; hence, they turned theirbacks on Him when He came.
Before this chapter ends, Paul quotes another Old Testament text:“As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock ofoffence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Rom.9:33). In this passage, Paul shows again just how crucial true faith is inthe plan of salvation (see also 1 Pet. 2:6–8). A rock of offense? And yet,whoever believes in Him shall not be ashamed? Yes, for many, Jesus isa stumbling block, but for those who know Him and love Him, He isanother kind of rock, “the rock of my salvation” (Ps. 89:26).
Have you ever found Jesus to be a “stumbling block” or a “rock ofoffense”? If so, how? That is, what were you doing that broughtyou into that situation? How did you get out, and what did youlearn so that, one hopes, you never find yourself in that type ofcontrary relationship to Jesus again?
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Later English Reformers,”pp. 261, 262, in The Great Controversy; “Faith and Works,” pp. 530, 531,in The SDA Encyclopedia; Ellen G. White Comments, pp. 1099, 1100, inThe SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1.
“There is an election of individuals and a people, the only electionfound in the word of God, where man is elected to be saved. Many havelooked at the end, thinking they were surely elected to have heavenlybliss; but this is not the election the Bible reveals. Man is elected to workout his own salvation with fear and trembling. He is elected to put onthe armor, to fight the good fight of faith. He is elected to use the meansGod has placed within his reach to war against every unholy lust, whileSatan is playing the game of life for his soul. He is elected to watch untoprayer, to search the Scriptures, and to avoid entering into temptation.He is elected to have faith continually. He is elected to be obedient toevery word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, that he may be, nota hearer only, but a doer of the word. This is Bible election.”—Ellen G.White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 453, 454.
“No finite mind can fully comprehend the character or the works ofthe Infinite One. We cannot by searching find out God. To minds thestrongest and most highly cultured, as well as to the weakest and mostignorant, that holy Being must remain clothed in mystery. But though‘clouds and darkness are round about Him: righteousness and judgmentare the foundation of His throne.’ Psalm 97:2, R.V. We can so far comprehendHis dealing with us as to discern boundless mercy united to infinitepower. We can understand as much of His purposes as we are capable ofcomprehending; beyond this we may still trust the hand that is omnipotent,the heart that is full of love.”—Ellen G. White, Education, p. 169.
Discussion Questions:
1 Certain Christians teach that, even before we were born, Godchose some to be saved and some to be lost. If you happen to havebeen one of those whom God, in His infinite love and wisdom,preordained to be lost, then no matter the choices you make, youare doomed to perdition—which many people believe means burningin hell for eternity. In other words, through no choice of ourown, but only through God’s providence, some are predestined tolive without a saving relationship with Jesus here in this life, onlyto spend the next one burning forever in the fires of hell. What’swrong with that picture? How does that view contrast with ourunderstanding of these same issues?
2 How do you see the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its callingin the world today paralleling the role of ancient Israel in itsday? What are the similarities and the differences? In what waysare we doing better? Or are we doing worse? Justify your answer.
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Romans 10, 11.
Memory Text: “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? Godforbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribeof Benjamin” (Romans 11:1).
This week’s lesson covers Romans 10 and 11, with a focus especiallyon chapter 11. It’s important to read both chapters in theirentirety in order to continue to follow Paul’s line of thinking.
These two chapters have been and remain the focal point of muchdiscussion. One point, however, comes clearly through them all, andthat is God’s love for humanity and His great desire to see all humanitysaved. There is no corporate rejection of anyone for salvation. Romans10 makes it very clear that “there is no difference between the Jew andthe Greek” (Rom. 10:12)—all are sinners and all need God’s grace asgiven to the world through Jesus Christ. This grace comes to all—notby nationality, not by birth, and not by works of the law but by faith inJesus, who died as the Substitute for sinners everywhere. Roles maychange, but the basic plan of salvation never does.
Paul continues with this theme in chapter 11. As stated earlier, it’simportant to understand here that when Paul talks about election andcalling, the issue isn’t one of salvation; the issue is the role in God’splan for reaching the world. No one group has been rejected for salvation.That was never the issue. Instead, after the Cross and after theintroduction of the gospel to the Gentiles, particularly through Paul,the early movement of believers—both Jew and Gentile—took on themantle of evangelizing the world.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 16.
Read Romans 10:1–4. Keeping in mind all that came before, what’sthe message here? How could we, today, be in danger of seeking toestablish our “own righteousness”?
Legalism can come in many forms, some more subtle than others.Those who look to themselves, to their good deeds, to their diet, tohow strictly they keep the Sabbath, to all the bad things they don’tdo, or to the good things that they have achieved—even with the bestof intentions—are falling into the trap of legalism. Every moment ofour lives, we must keep before us the holiness of God in contrast toour sinfulness; that’s the surest way to protect ourselves from the kindof thinking that leads people into seeking their “own righteousness,”which is contrary to the righteousness of Christ.
Romans 10:4 is an important text that catches the essence of Paul’sentire message to the Romans. First, we need to know the context.Many Jews were “going about to establish their own righteousness”(Rom. 10:3) and seeking “the righteousness which is of the law” (Rom.10:5). But with the coming of the Messiah, the true way of righteousnesswas presented. Righteousness was offered to all who would fixtheir faith in Christ. He was the one to whom the ancient ceremonialsystem had pointed.
Even if one includes in the definition of law here the TenCommandments, it doesn’t mean that the Ten Commandments weredone away with. The moral law points out our sins, our faults, ourshortcomings, and thus leads us to our need of a Savior, our need offorgiveness, our need of righteousness—all of which are found only inJesus. In that sense, Christ is the “end” of the law in that the law leadsus to Him and His righteousness. The Greek word for “end” here isteloes, which also can be translated as “goal” or “purpose.” Christ is thefinal purpose of the law in that the law is to lead us to Jesus.
To see this text as teaching that the Ten Commandments—or specificallythe fourth commandment (what these folks really mean)—arenow nullified is to draw a conclusion that goes against so much else ofwhat Paul and the New Testament teach.
Do you ever find yourself proud of how good you are, especiallyin contrast to others? Maybe you are “better,” but so what?Compare yourself to Christ, and then think about how “good”you really are.
Read Romans 11:1–7. What common teaching does this passage denyclearly and irrevocably?
In the first part of his answer to the question, “Hath God cast awayhis people?” Paul points to a remnant, an election of grace, as proof thatGod has not cast away His people. Salvation is open to all who acceptit, Jew and Gentile alike.
It should be remembered that the early converts to Christianity wereall Jews—for example, the group that was converted on the Day ofPentecost. It took a special vision and miracle to convince Peter that theGentiles had equal access to the grace of Christ (Acts 10; compare Acts15:7–9) and that the gospel was to be carried to them, as well.
Read Romans 11:7–10. Is Paul saying that God purposely blinded tosalvation the part of Israel’s population that rejected Jesus? What’swrong with that idea?
In Romans 11:8–10, Paul quotes from the Old Testament, which theJews accepted as authoritative. The passages that Paul cites representGod as giving to Israel a spirit of slumber, preventing their seeing andhearing. Does God blind people’s eyes to prevent them from seeinglight that would lead them to salvation? Never! These passages mustbe understood in the light of our explanation of Romans 9. Paul is nottalking of individual salvation, for God rejects no one group en massefor salvation. The issue here, as it has been all along, deals with the rolethat these people play in His work.
What is so wrong with the idea that God has rejected en masseany group of people in terms of salvation? Why is that counterto the whole teaching of the gospel, which at the core shows thatChrist died to save all human beings? How, for example, in thecase of the Jews, has this idea led to tragic results?
Read Romans 11:11–15. What great hope does Paul present in thispassage?
In this passage, we find two parallel expressions: (1) “their [theIsraelites’] fulness” (Romans 11:12) and (2) “the receiving of them[the Israelites]” (Romans 11:15). Paul envisioned the diminishing andthe casting away to be only temporary and to be followed by fullnessand reception. This is Paul’s second answer to the question raised atthe beginning of this chapter, “Hath God cast away his people?” Whatappears to be a casting away, he says, is only a temporary situation.
Read Romans 11:16–24. What is Paul saying to us here?
Paul likens the faithful remnant in Israel to a noble olive tree, some ofwhose branches have been broken off (the unbelieving ones)—an illustrationhe uses to prove that “God hath not cast away his people” (Rom.11:2). The root and trunk are still there.
Into this tree the believing Gentiles have been grafted. But they aredrawing their sap and vitality from the root and trunk, which representbelieving Israel.
What happened to those who rejected Jesus could happen also tothe believing Gentiles. The Bible teaches no doctrine of “once saved,always saved.” Just as salvation freely is offered, it freely can be rejected.Although we have to be careful of thinking that every time we fall we areout of salvation, or that we aren’t saved unless we are perfect, we need toavoid the opposite ditch as well—the idea that once God’s grace coversus, there is nothing we can do, no choices we can make, that will take theprovision of salvation away from us. In the end, only those who “continuein his goodness” (Rom. 11:22) will be saved.
No believer should boast of his or her own goodness or feel anysuperiority over his or her fellow human beings. Our salvation was notearned; it was a gift. Before the Cross, before the standard of God’sholiness, we all are equal—sinners in need of divine grace, sinners inneed of a holiness that can be ours only through grace. We have nothingof ourselves to boast about; our boasting should be only in Jesusand what He has done for us by coming into this world in human flesh,suffering our woes, dying for our sins, offering us a model for how weare to live, and promising us the power to live that life. In it all, we arecompletely dependent upon Him, for without Him we would have nohope beyond what this world itself offers.
Read Romans 11:25–27. What great events is Paul predicting here?
Christians have been discussing and debating Romans 11:25–27 forcenturies now. A few points, however, are clear. For starters, the wholetenor here is that of God reaching out to the Jews. What Paul is sayingcomes in reply to the question raised at the beginning of the chapter,“Hath God cast away his people?” His answer, of course, is no, andhis explanation is (1) that the blindness (Greek porosis, “hardness”) isonly “in part,” and (2) that it is only temporary, “until the fulness of theGentiles be come in.”
What does “the fulness of the Gentiles” mean? Many see this phraseas a way of expressing the fulfillment of the gospel commission, inwhich all the world hears the gospel. “The fullness of the Gentiles”has come in when the gospel has been preached everywhere. The faithof Israel, manifested in Christ, is universalized. The gospel has beenpreached to all the world. The coming of Jesus is near. At this point,then, many Jews start coming to Jesus.
Another difficult point is the meaning of “all Israel shall be saved”(Rom. 11:26). This must not be construed to mean that every Jew willby some divine decree have salvation in the end time. Nowhere do theScriptures preach universalism, either for the entire human race or fora particular segment. Paul was hoping to save “some of them” (Rom.11:14). Some accepted the Messiah, and some rejected Him, as it iswith all people groups.
Commenting on Romans 11, Ellen G. White speaks of a time “in theclosing proclamation of the gospel” when “many of the Jews . . . willby faith receive Christ as their Redeemer.”—The Acts of the Apostles,p. 381.
“There is a mighty work to be done in our world. The Lord hasdeclared that the Gentiles shall be gathered in, and not the Gentilesonly, but the Jews. There are among the Jews many who will be converted,and through whom we shall see the salvation of God go forth asa lamp that burneth. There are Jews everywhere, and to them the lightof present truth is to be brought. There are among them many who willcome to the light, and who will proclaim the immutability of the law ofGod with wonderful power.”—Evangelism, p. 578.
Take some time to think about the Jewish roots of the Christianfaith. How could a selective study of the Jewish religion help youto better understand your Christian faith?
Paul’s love for his own people is clearly apparent in Romans 11:25–27. How hard it must have been for him to have some of his countrymenfight against him and against the truth of the gospel. And yet, amidit all, he still believed that many would see Jesus as the Messiah.
Read Romans 11:28–36. How does Paul show God’s love, not just forthe Jews but for all humanity? How does he express here the amazingand mysterious power of God’s grace?
Through Romans 11:28–36, although a contrast is made between Jewsand Gentiles, one point stands clear: God’s mercy and love and grace arepoured out upon sinners. From even before the foundation of the worldGod’s plan was to save humanity and to use other human beings, nationseven, as instruments in His hands to fulfill His divine will.
Carefully and prayerfully read Romans 11:31. What important pointshould we take from this text about our witness, not just to Jews butto all people with whom we come in contact?
No doubt, through the centuries, had the Christian church treatedthe Jews better, many more might have come to their Messiah. Thegreat falling away in the early centuries after Christ, and the extremepaganization of Christianity—including the rejection of the seventhdaySabbath in favor of Sunday—certainly didn’t make it any easier ona Jew who might have been drawn to Jesus.
How crucial, then, that all Christians, realizing the mercy that hasbeen given to them in Jesus, display that mercy to others. We cannot beChristians if we do not (see Matt. 18:23–35).
Is there someone to whom you need to show mercy, who perhapsdoesn’t deserve it? Why not show this person that mercy, no matterhow hard that might be to do. Isn’t that what Jesus has donefor us?
FurtherThought: Read Ellen G. White, “Before the Sanhedrin,”pp. 77–79; “From Persecutor to Disciple,” pp. 112–114; “Written FromRome,” pp. 474, 475, in The Acts of the Apostles; “Reaching Catholics,”pp. 573–577, in Evangelism; “What to Preach and Not to Preach,” pp. 155,156, in Selected Messages, book 1.
“Notwithstanding Israel’s failure as a nation, there remained amongthem a goodly remnant of such as should be saved. At the time of theSaviour’s advent there were faithful men and women who had receivedwith gladness the message of John the Baptist, and had thus been ledto study anew the prophecies concerning the Messiah. When the earlyChristian church was founded, it was composed of these faithful Jewswho recognized Jesus of Nazareth as the one for whose advent they hadbeen longing.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 376, 377.
“Among the Jews are some who, like Saul of Tarsus, are mightyin the Scriptures, and these will proclaim with wonderful power theimmutability of the law of God. . . . As His servants labor in faith forthose who have long been neglected and despised, His salvation will berevealed.”—Page 381.
“In the closing proclamation of the gospel, when special work is tobe done for classes of people hitherto neglected, God expects His messengersto take particular interest in the Jewish people whom they findin all parts of the earth. As the Old Testament Scriptures are blendedwith the New in an explanation of Jehovah’s eternal purpose, this willbe to many of the Jews as the dawn of a new creation, the resurrectionof the soul. As they see the Christ of the gospel dispensation portrayedin the pages of the Old Testament Scriptures, and perceive how clearlythe New Testament explains the Old, their slumbering faculties will bearoused, and they will recognize Christ as the Saviour of the world.Many will by faith receive Christ as their Redeemer.”—Page 381.
Discussion Questions:
1 As God’s law, and especially the Sabbath, comes into sharpfocus in the last days, is it not reasonable to think that theJews—many of them as serious about the Ten Commandments asAdventists are—will have a role in helping to clarify some issuesbefore the world? After all, when it comes to Sabbath keeping,Adventists, in contrast to the Jews, are “the new kids on the block.”Discuss.
2 Of all churches, why should the Adventist Church be the onemost successful in reaching out to Jews? What can you or yourlocal church do in seeking to reach Jews in your community?
3 What can we learn from the mistakes of many in ancientIsrael? How can we avoid doing the same things today?
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Romans 12, 13.
Memory Text: “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye tranformedby the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good,and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).
However much Paul is seeking to disabuse the Romans of theirfalse notions of the law, he also calls all Christians to a highstandard of obedience. This obedience comes from an inwardchange in our heart and mind, a change that comes only through thepower of God working in a person surrendered to Him.
Romans contains no hint that this obedience comes automatically. TheChristian needs to be enlightened as to what the requirements are; he orshe must desire to obey those requirements; and, finally, the Christianshould seek the power without which that obedience is impossible.
What this means is that works are part of the Christian faith. Paul nevermeant to depreciate works; in chapters 13 to 15 he gives them strongemphasis. This is no denial of what he has said earlier about righteousnessby faith. On the contrary, works are the true expression of what itmeans to live by faith. One could even argue that because of the addedrevelation after Jesus came, the New Testament requirements are moredifficult than what was required in the Old. New Testament believershave been given an example of proper moral behavior in Jesus Christ. He,and no one else, shows the pattern we are to follow. “Let this mind be inyou, which was also in [not Moses, not Daniel, not David, not Solomon,not Enoch, not Deborah, not Elijah] Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5).
The standard doesn’t—can’t!—get higher than that.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 23.
With chapter 11, the doctrinal part of the book of Romans ends.Chapters 12 through 16 present practical instruction and personalnotes. Nevertheless, these concluding chapters are extremely importantbecause they show how the life of faith is to be lived.
For starters, faith is not a substitute for obedience, as if faith somehownullifies our obligation to obey the Lord. The moral precepts are still inforce; they are explained, even amplified, in the New Testament. And noindication is given, either, that it will be easy for the Christian to regulatehis or her life by these moral precepts. On the contrary, we’re told that attimes it could be difficult, for the battle with self and with sin is alwayshard (1 Pet. 4:1). Christians are promised divine power and given assurancethat victory is possible, but we are still in the world of the enemyand will have to fight many battles against temptation. The good news isthat if we fall, if we stumble, we are not cast away but have a High Priestwho intercedes in our behalf (Heb. 7:25).
Read Romans 12:1. How does the analogy presented here reveal howwe as Christians are to live? How does Romans 12:2 fit in with this?
In Romans 12:1, Paul is alluding to Old Testament sacrifices. As,anciently, animals were sacrificed to God, so now Christians oughtto yield their bodies to God—not to be killed but as living sacrificesdedicated to His service.
In the time of ancient Israel, every offering brought as a sacrifice wasexamined carefully. If any defect was discovered in the animal, it wasrefused, for God had commanded that the offering be without blemish.So, Christians are bidden to present their bodies as “a living sacrifice,holy, acceptable unto God.” In order to do this, all their powers mustbe preserved in the best possible condition. Although none of us arewithout blemish, the point is that we are to seek to live as spotlesslyand as faithfully as we can.
“Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).In this way the Apostle describes (Christian) progress; for headdresses those who already are Christians. The Christian lifedoes not mean to stand still, but to move from that which isgood to that which is better.”—Martin Luther, Commentary onRomans, pp. 167, 168. What does it mean to move from good tobetter in the Christian life?
We have talked a great deal this quarter about the perpetuity of God’smoral law, and we have stressed again and again that Paul’s message inthe book of Romans is not one that teaches that the Ten Commandmentsare done away with or somehow made void by faith.
Yet, it’s easy to get so caught up in the letter of the law that we forgetthe spirit behind it. And that spirit is love—love for God and lovefor one another. While anyone can profess love, revealing that love ineveryday life can be a different matter entirely.
Read Romans 12:3–21. How are we to reveal love for others?
As in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, Paul exalts love after dealing withthe gifts of the Spirit. Love (Greek, agape) is the more excellent way.“God is love” (1 John 4:8). Therefore, love describes the character ofGod. To love is to act toward others as God acts and to treat them asGod treats them.
Paul here shows how that love is to be expressed in a practical manner.One important principle comes through, and that is personal humility:a willingness of a person “not to think of himself more highly thanhe ought” (Rom. 12:3), a willingness to “give preference to one anotherin honor” (Rom. 12:10, NASB), and a willingness not to “be wise inyour own opinion” (Rom. 12:16, NKJV). Christ’s words about Himself,“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly inheart” (Matt. 11:29), catch the essence of it.
Of all people, Christians should be the most humble. After all, look athow helpless we are. Look at how fallen we are. Look at how dependentwe are, not only upon a righteousness outside of ourselves for salvationbut also on a power working in us in order to change us in ways wenever can change ourselves. What have we to brag of ? What have we toboast of ? What have we in and of ourselves to be proud about? Nothingat all. Working from the starting point of this personal humility—notonly before God but before others—we are to live as Paul admonishesus to in these verses.
Read Romans 12:18. How well are you applying this admonitionin your own life right now? Might you need some attitude adjustmentsin order to do what the Word tells us here?
Read Romans 13:1–7. What basic principles can we take from thispassage about the ways in which we are to relate to the civil powerof government?
What makes Paul’s words so interesting is that he wrote during a timewhen a pagan empire ruled the world—one that could be incrediblybrutal, one that was at its core corrupt, and one that knew nothing aboutthe true God and would, within a few years, start a massive persecutionof those who wanted to worship that God. In fact, Paul was put todeath by that government! Yet despite all this, Paul was advocating thatChristians be good citizens. Even under a government like that?
Yes. And that’s because the idea of government itself is foundthroughout the Bible. The concept, the principle of government, is Godordained.Human beings need to live in a community with rules andregulations and standards. Anarchy is not a biblical concept.
That being said, it doesn’t mean that God approves of all forms ofgovernment or how all governments are run. On the contrary. Onedoesn’t have to look too far, either in history or in the world today, tosee some brutal regimes. Yet even in situations like these, Christiansshould, as much as possible, obey the laws of the land. Christiansare to give loyal support to government so long as its claims do notconflict with the claims of God. One should consider very prayerfullyand carefully—and with the counsel of others—before embarking on apath that puts him or her in conflict with the powers that be. We knowfrom prophecy that one day all of God’s faithful followers will be pittedagainst the political powers in control of the world (Revelation 13).Until then, we should do all that we can, before God, to be good citizensin whichever country we live.
“We are to recognize human government as an ordinance of divineappointment, and teach obedience to it as a sacred duty, within itslegitimate sphere. But when its claims conflict with the claims of God,we must obey God rather than men. God’s word must be recognized asabove all human legislation. . . .
“We are not required to defy authorities. Our words, whether spokenor written, should be carefully considered, lest we place ourselves onrecord as uttering that which would make us appear antagonistic to lawand order. We are not to say or do anything that would unnecessarilyclose up our way.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 69.
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he thatloveth another hath fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:8). How are we tounderstand this text? Does it mean that if we love, we have no obligation,then, to obey the law of God?
As Jesus did in the Sermon on the Mount, Paul here amplifies theprecepts of the law, showing that love must be the motivating powerbehind all that we do. Because the law is a transcript of the character ofGod, and God is love, to love, therefore, is to fulfill the law. Yet, Paul isnot substituting some vague standard of love for the precisely detailedprecepts of the law, as some Christians claim. The moral law is stillbinding, because, again, it is what points out sin—and who is going todeny the reality of sin? However, the law truly can be kept only in thecontext of love. Remember, some of those who brought Christ to thecross then ran home to keep the law!
Which commandments did Paul cite as examples that illustrate theprinciple of love in law-keeping? Why these in particular? Rom.13:9, 10.
Interestingly, the factor of love was not a newly introduced principle.By quoting Leviticus 19:18, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,”Paul shows that the principle was an integral part of the Old Testamentsystem. Again Paul appeals to the Old Testament to support his gospelpreaching. Some argue from these texts that Paul is teaching that onlythe few commandments mentioned here are in effect. If so, does thismean, then, that Christians can dishonor their parents, worship idols,and have other gods before the Lord? Of course not.
Look at the context here. Paul is dealing with how we relate to oneanother. He is dealing with personal relationships, which is why hespecifies the commandments that center on these relationships. Hisargument certainly shouldn’t be construed as nullifying the rest of thelaw. (See Acts 15:20, 1 Thess. 1:9, and 1 John 5:21.) Besides, as theNew Testament writers point out, by showing love to others, we showour love to God (Matt. 25:40; 1 John 4:20, 21).
Think about your relationship with God and how it is reflected inyour relationships with others. How big a factor is love in thoserelationships? How can you learn to love others the way Godloves us? What stands in your way of doing just that?
“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awakeout of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed”(Rom. 13:11).
As we have stated all quarter, Paul had a very specific focus in thisletter to the Romans, and that was to clarify for the church at Rome—especially the Jewish believers there—the role of faith and works inthe New Covenant context. The issue was salvation and how a sinneris deemed righteous and holy before the Lord. To help those whosewhole emphasis had been on law, Paul put the law in its proper role andcontext. Although, ideally, Judaism even in Old Testament times was areligion of grace, legalism arose and did a lot of damage. How carefulwe as a church need to be that we don’t make the same mistake.
Read Romans 13:11–14. What event is Paul talking about here, andhow should we be acting in anticipation of that event?
How fascinating that Paul was talking here to the believers, tellingthem to wake up and get it together because Jesus was coming back.The fact that this was written almost two thousand years ago doesn’tmatter. We must always live in anticipation of the nearness of Christ’scoming. As far as we all are concerned, as far as our own personalexperiences go, the Second Coming is as near as the potential for ourown deaths. Whether next week or in 40 years we close our eyes indeath, and whether we sleep only 4 days or for 400 years—it makes nodifference to us. The next thing we know is the second coming of Jesus.With death always potentially just around the corner for any of us, timeis indeed short, and our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
Although Paul doesn’t deal much in the book of Romans with theSecond Coming, in the Thessalonian and the Corinthian letters he coversit in much more detail. After all, it’s a crucial theme in the Bible,especially in the New Testament. Without it and the hope it offers, ourfaith is really meaningless. After all, what does “justification by faith”mean without the Second Coming to bring that wonderful truth tocomplete fruition?
If you knew for certain that Jesus was coming next month,what would you change in your life, and why? If you believe youneed to change these things a month before Jesus comes, whyshouldn’t you change them now? What is the difference?
Further Thought: “In the Bible the will of God is revealed. The truthsof the Word of God are the utterances of the Most High. He who makesthese truths a part of his life becomes in every sense a new creature.He is not given new mental powers, but the darkness that through ignoranceand sin has clouded the understanding is removed. The words, ‘Anew heart also will I give you,’ mean, ‘A new mind will I give you.’ Achange of heart is always attended by a clear conviction of Christianduty, an understanding of truth. He who gives the Scriptures close,prayerful attention will gain clear comprehension and sound judgment,as if in turning to God he had reached a higher plane of intelligence.”—Ellen G. White, My Life Today, p. 24.
“The Lord . . . is soon coming, and we must be ready and waiting forHis appearing. Oh, how glorious it will be to see Him and be welcomedas His redeemed ones! Long have we waited, but our hope is not togrow dim. If we can but see the King in His beauty we shall be foreverblessed. I feel as if I must cry aloud: ‘Homeward bound!’ We are nearingthe time when Christ will come in power and great glory to take Hisransomed ones to their eternal home.”—Ellen G. White, Testimoniesfor the Church, vol. 8, p. 253.
Discussion Questions:
1 In class, go over the question at the end of Thursday’s study.What were the answers that people gave, and how did they justifythem?
2 The question of how we are to be good citizens and goodChristians can be very complicated at times. If someone were tocome to you seeking advice about standing for what he or shebelieved was God’s will—even though it would put him or her inconflict with the government—what would you say? What counselwould you give? What principles should you follow? Why is thissomething that we should proceed toward only with the utmostseriousness and prayerful consideration? (After all, not everyonethrown into the lions’ den emerges unscathed.)
3 What do you think is harder to do: to keep strict adherenceto the letter of the law or to love God and love others unconditionally?Or could you argue that this question presents a falsedichotomy? If so, why?
4 As we near the end of this quarter, talk about, in class, whatyou have learned from the book of Romans that helps us to understandwhy the Reformation was so important. What has Romanstaught us about what we believe, and why we believe it?
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Romans 14–16.
Memory Text: “Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dostthou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before thejudgment seat of Christ” (Romans 14:10).
We are now in the last part of our study of Romans, the bookfrom which the Protestant Reformation was born—the bookthat more than any other should, indeed, show us why weare Protestants and why we must remain that way. As Protestants, andespecially as Seventh-day Adventists, we rest on the principle of solascriptura—the Bible alone as the standard of faith. And it is from theBible that we have learned the same truth that caused our spiritual forefather,centuries ago, to break from Rome—the great truth of salvationby faith, a truth so powerfully expressed in Paul’s epistle to the Romans.
Perhaps the whole thing can be summarized by the pagan jailer’squestion, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). In Romans,we got the answer to that question—and the answer was not what thechurch was giving at the time of Luther. Hence, the Reformation began,and here we are today.
In this, the last section, Paul touches on other topics, perhaps not ascentral to his main theme, yet important enough to be included in theletter. Thus, for us, they are sacred Scripture as well.
How did Paul end this letter, what did he write, and what truths arethere for us, the heirs not just of Paul but, indeed, of our Protestantforefathers?
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 30.
In Romans 14:1–3, the question concerns the eating of meats thatmay have been sacrificed to idols. The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15)ruled that Gentile converts should refrain from eating such foods.But there was always the question as to whether meats sold in publicmarkets had come from animals sacrificed to idols (see 1 Cor. 10:25).Some Christians didn’t care about that at all; others, if there were theslightest doubt, chose to eat vegetables instead. The issue had nothingto do with the question of vegetarianism and healthful living. Nor isPaul implying in this passage that the distinction between clean andunclean meats has been abolished. This is not the subject under consideration.If the words “he may eat all things” (Rom. 14:2) were takento mean that now any animal, clean or otherwise, could be eaten, theywould be misapplied. Comparison with other New Testament passageswould rule against such an application.
Meanwhile, to “receive” one weak in the faith meant to accord him orher full membership and social status. The person was not to be arguedwith but given the right to his or her opinion.
What principle should we take, then, from Romans 14:1–3?
It’s important, too, to realize that in Romans 14:3 Paul does not speaknegatively of the one “weak in the faith” in Romans 14:1. Nor doeshe give this person advice as to how to become strong. So far as Godis concerned, the overscrupulous Christian (judged overscrupulous,apparently, not by God but by his or her fellow Christians) is accepted.“God hath received him.”
How does Romans 14:4 amplify what we’ve just looked at?
Although we need to keep in mind the principles seen in today’slesson, are there not times and places where we need to step inand judge, if not a person’s heart, at least his or her actions? Arewe to step back and say and do nothing in every situation? Isaiah56:10 describes watchmen as “dumb dogs, they cannot bark.”How can we know when to speak and when to keep silent? Howdo we strike the right balance here?
Read Romans 14:10. What reason does Paul give here for us to becareful about how we judge others?
We tend to judge others harshly at times, and often, for the same thingsthat we do ourselves. What we do doesn’t seem as bad to us as when othersdo the same thing. We might fool ourselves by our hypocrisy, but not God,who warned us: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgmentye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall bemeasured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thybrother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or howwilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and,behold, a beam is in thine own eye?” (Matt. 7:1–4).
What is the significance of the statement from the Old Testament thatPaul introduced here? Rom. 14:11.
The citation from Isaiah 45:23 supports the thought that all mustappear for judgment. “Every knee” and “every tongue” individualizesthe summons. The implication is that each one will have to answer forhis or her own life and deeds (Rom. 14:12). No one can answer foranother. In this important sense, we are not our brother’s keeper.
Keeping the context in mind, how do you understand what Paul issaying in Romans 14:14?
The subject is still foods sacrificed to idols. The issue is, clearly, notthe distinction between the foods deemed clean and unclean. Paul issaying that there is nothing wrong per se in eating foods that might havebeen offered to idols. After all, what is an idol, anyway? It is nothing(see 1 Cor. 8:4), so who cares if some pagan offered the food to a statueof a frog or a bull?
A person should not be made to violate his or her conscience, even ifthe conscience is overly sensitive. This fact the “strong” brethren apparentlydid not understand. They despised the scrupulosity of the “weak”brethren and put stumbling blocks in their way.
Might you, in your zeal for the Lord, be in danger of what Paulis warning about here? Why must we be careful in not seeking tobe the conscience of others, no matter how good our intentions?
Read Romans 14:15–23 (see also 1 Cor. 8:12, 13). Summarize on thelines below the gist of what Paul is saying. What principle can wetake from this passage that we can apply in all areas of our life?
In Romans 14:17–20, Paul is putting various aspects of Christianityinto proper perspective. Although diet is important, Christians shouldnot quarrel over some people’s choices to eat vegetables instead of fleshmeats that might have been sacrificed to idols. Instead, they ought tofocus on righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. How mightwe apply this idea to questions of diet today in our church? Howevermuch the health message, and especially the teachings on diet, can bea blessing to us, not everyone sees this subject in the same way, and weneed to respect those differences.
In Romans 14:22, amid all this talk about leaving people to their ownconscience, Paul adds a very interesting caveat: “Blessed is the manwho does not condemn himself by what he approves” (NIV). Whatwarning is Paul giving here? How does this balance out the rest ofwhat he is saying in this context?
Have you heard someone say, “It is none of anyone’s business what Ieat or what I wear or what kind of entertainment I engage in”? Is that so?None of us lives in a vacuum. Our actions, words, deeds, and even dietcan affect others, either for good or for bad. It’s not hard to see how. Ifsomeone who looks up to you sees you doing something “wrong,” he orshe could be influenced by your example to do that same thing. We foolourselves if we think otherwise. To argue that you didn’t force the personis beside the point. As Christians, we have responsibilities to one another,and if our example can lead someone astray, we are culpable.
What kind of example do you present? Would you feel comfortablewith having others, particularly young people or new believers,follow your example in all areas? What does your answer sayabout you?
In this discussion about not judging others who might view somethings differently from the way we do, and not being a stumbling blockto others who might be offended by our actions, Paul brings up theissue of special days that some want to observe and others don’t.
Read Romans 14:4–10. How are we to understand what Paul is sayinghere? Does this say anything about the fourth commandment? Ifnot, why not?
Which days is Paul speaking about? Was there a controversy in theearly church over the observance or nonobservance of certain days?Apparently so. We get a hint of such controversy in Galatians 4:9,10, where Paul berates the Galatian Christians for observing “days,and months, and times, and years.” As we noted in lesson 2, some inthe church had persuaded the Galatian Christians to be circumcisedand to keep other precepts of the law of Moses. Paul feared that theseideas might harm the Roman church as well. But perhaps in Rome itwas particularly the Jewish Christians who had a hard time persuadingthemselves that they need no longer observe the Jewish festivals. Paulhere is saying: do as you please in this matter; the important point is notto judge those who view the matter differently from you. Apparentlysome Christians, to be on the safe side, decided to observe one or moreof the Jewish festivals. Paul’s counsel is: let them do it if they are persuadedthey should.
To bring the weekly Sabbath into Romans 14:5, as some argue, isunwarranted. Can one imagine Paul taking such a laid-back attitudetoward the fourth commandment? As we have seen all quarter, Paulplaced a heavy emphasis on obedience to the law, so he certainly wasn’tgoing to place the Sabbath commandment in the same category as peoplewho were uptight about eating foods that might have been offeredto idols. However commonly these texts are used as an example to showthat the seventh-day Sabbath is no longer binding, they say no suchthing. Their use in that manner is a prime example of what Peter warnedthat people were doing with Paul’s writings: “As also in all his epistles,speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to beunderstood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as theydo also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Pet. 3:16).
What has been your experience with the Sabbath? Has it been theblessing it was meant to be? What changes can you make in orderto experience more fully what the Lord offers you in the Sabbath?
Read Romans 15:1–3. What important Christian truth is found in thispassage?
In what way does this passage capture so much of what it means to be afollower of Jesus?
What other verses teach the same idea? Most important, how can youyourself live out this principle?
As Paul brought his letter to a close, what varied benedictions did heutter? Rom. 15:5, 6, 13, 33.
The God of patience means the God who helps His children toendure steadfastly. The word for “patience,” hupomone, means “fortitude,”“steadfast endurance.” The word for “consolation” may betranslated as “encouragement.” The God of encouragement is the Godwho encourages. The God of hope is the God who has given hope tohumankind. Likewise, the God of peace is the God who gives peace andin whom one may have peace.
After numerous personal greetings, how does Paul bring his letter to aclose? Rom. 16:25–27.
Paul ends his letter in a glorious ascription of praise to God. God isthe one in whom the Roman Christians, and all Christians, can safelyput their trust to confirm their standing as redeemed sons and daughtersof God, justified by faith and now led by the Spirit of God.
We know that Paul was inspired by the Lord to write this letter inresponse to a specific situation at a specific time. What we don’t knoware all the details regarding what the Lord had revealed to Paul aboutthe future.
Yes, Paul did know about the “falling away” (2 Thess. 2:3), althoughhow much he knew, the text doesn’t say. In short, we don’t know ifPaul had any inkling of the role he and his writings, especially thisletter, would have in final events. In one sense, it doesn’t matter. Whatmatters is that in these texts Protestantism was born, and in them thosewho seek to stay faithful to Jesus have had and will have the scripturalfoundation upon which to base their faith and commitment, even as theworld wonders “after the beast” (Rev. 13:3).
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Unity and Love in the Church,”pp. 477, 478; “Love for the Erring,” pp. 604–606, in Testimonies forthe Church, vol. 5; “Helping the Tempted,” p. 166, in The Ministry ofHealing; p. 719, in The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6.
“I was shown the danger of the people of God in looking to Brotherand Sister White and thinking that they must come to them with theirburdens and seek counsel of them. This ought not so to be. They areinvited by their compassionate, loving Saviour to come unto Him, whenweary and heavy-laden, and He will relieve them. . . . Many come tous with the inquiry: Shall I do this? Shall I engage in that enterprise?Or, in regard to dress, Shall I wear this or that article? I answer them:You profess to be disciples of Christ. Study your Bibles. Read carefullyand prayerfully the life of our dear Saviour when He dwelt among menupon the earth. Imitate His life, and you will not be found straying fromthe narrow path. We utterly refuse to be conscience for you. If we tellyou just what to do, you will look to us to guide you, instead of goingdirectly to Jesus for yourselves.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for theChurch, vol. 2, pp. 118, 119.
“We are not to place the responsibility of our duty upon others, andwait for them to tell us what to do. We cannot depend for counsel uponhumanity. The Lord will teach us our duty just as willingly as He willteach somebody else. . . . Those who decide to do nothing in any linethat will displease God, will know, after presenting their case beforeHim, just what course to pursue.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 668.
“There have ever been in the church those who are constantlyinclined toward individual independence. They seem unable to realizethat independence of spirit is liable to lead the human agent to have toomuch confidence in himself and to trust in his own judgment ratherthan to respect the counsel and highly esteem the judgment of his brethren.”—TheActs of the Apostles, pp. 163, 164.
Discussion Question:
Given some of the themes of this week, how do we as Christiansfind the right balance in:
(a) Being faithful to what we believe, yet not judging others whosee things differently from the way we do?
(b) Being true to our own consciences and not seeking to be theconsciences for others, while at the same time seeking to helpthose who we believe are in error? When do we speak and whendo we keep silent? When are we culpable if we do keep silent?
c) Being free in the Lord and yet at the same time realizing ourresponsibility to be good examples for those who might look upto us?