Introduction
A study of the book of Romans, in the fashion of the best of John, pulling the special content to the
surface for closer investigation.
Chapter One
Notes on verses three and four: Paul's
take on the nature of Jesus Christ is two-fold. Paul believed Jesus
to be made from the seed and stock of David, 'according to the
flesh', but he believed Christ to be proclaimed the Son of God by the
indisputable evidence of his resurrection, 'according to the spirit
of holiness'. That is to say, the Holy Spirit declared Jesus to be
the Christ. The Holy Spirit influenced the resurrection as surely as
he had influenced the birth. (That which is born of the spirit, is
spirit.)
Notes on verses five and six: Apostles,
according to Paul, received their apostleship, and grace, from God
for a purpose. That purpose is stated as “obedience to the faith
among all nations.” On the surface, that statement seems Judaical
in nature – Jews clinging to their relationship with God while the
nations around them flounder in sinful idol worship.
But there is more.
The stated purpose had a purpose –
which was “for his name.” It was for the name of Jesus. Those
people addressed by Paul, referenced as “ye”, among the nations –
they, like Paul, were considered as “called of Jesus Christ.”
They were, therefore, as Romans (and here I refer to verse one)
separated unto the gospel of God.
Paul evinced a mindset that at once
addressed Jews (for the good news was from God) and gentiles (for the
good news was Jesus.) It was an approach that bridged the old and
new, showing that both sides of the divide were actually one.
Notes on verses seven through twelve:
One must see, in these verses, a personal connection in Paul's heart
to the Roman Christians. See that connection in Paul's own words –
from verse 7, “To all that be in Rome,” and from verse 12, “both
of you and me.” Paul felt very much the converted Roman, and so, he
had a vested interest in the spiritual conversion of Romans.
Paul is proud of them. They have a good
reputation. The world at large knows of their struggle in the new
faith. Paul wants to see them, to be with them. Paul serves God with
his spirit (note: in contrast to 'with his flesh') and wishes to
impart a spiritual gift to the Romans. Paul speaks of the inner man,
the converted man. Paul uses the words 'spirit' and 'spiritual' to
reference the mind, the thoughts. It is this quality of the Romans,
the renewed minds, that Paul wishes to establish. By 'established'
Paul means that they together, as Romans, may enjoy the comforts of a
better way of thinking.
Notes on verses sixteen and seventeen:
Paul was not ashamed of the gospel he preached. He had preached it to
Greeks, Barbarians, wise men, and simpletons. Like iron on iron, Paul
had honed his craft, insomuch that now, feeling indebted to his
earlier converts, he felt better prepared to preach the gospel to his
own.
Paul gives us a sense, in verses
sixteen and seventeen, of how the gospel (as it was preached)
actually worked. In two small words, Paul opens to us the dynamics
and efficacious workings of the gospel. They are “faith to faith.”
Paul explains that from faith to
faith, the gospel reveals the rightness of God. From the owned faith
to the accepted faith – from the experience of one supplying the
need of the other – the preached good news is (as the power of God
unto salvation) the one most essential ingredient of the recipe. It
is an exclusive salvation in that it is only effective for those who
believe. It is not within the reach of non-believers. The gospel, of
course, is the good news of the only begotten son of God. It is about
Christ – and by extension, it is about Christ-likeness.
Note on verse eighteen: This verse
clearly states that the unrighteous and the ungodly know the truth as
much as any believer; the difference between the believer and
non-believer is shown that the non-believer holds the truth in
unrighteousness. In other words, they use the truth the wrong way.
Truth for the non-believer is clipped and trimmed, maligned, and
twisted. It is a sad and pathetic amputee crying to be put out of its
misery.
Verse eighteen, while pointing to the
fact that the wrath of God is revealed against these types, is not
necessarily revealed to them. It stands to reason that if they knew
what they were doing, they might not do it. The truth which they
abuse is a part of God. They are cutting into God – He must react.
Wrath may be seen as a sort of knee-jerk reaction to pain and loss.
Note on verses nineteen through
twenty-five: Verse Nineteen. That which the ungodly may know of God
is manifest, not outside of or apart from the ungodly, but “in
them.” If God has revealed himself to the ungodly, then the ungodly
have seen God within themselves. Each of us, as mature thinking
adults, is aware of every facet of our nature. We know who we are,
what we are. To take a stand against God or against truth or against
what is right – that is a personal choice.
Verse
Twenty. The “invisible”, or spiritual, truths, as far back as the
creation, are “clearly seen”. One need only look within. Reflect.
God, truth, and the tools to realize them are all “in them.” We
may understand all spiritual truth, by the application of comparative
thought. All things that we see as solid and real are reflections of
all things spiritual. Because of this, it is seen that man is without
excuse, for in all matters, there is no mistake or accident, only
man's deliberate choice.
Verse Twenty-One. As it played out,
although wicked men have always had the same resources as the
righteous, and indeed, have known and recognized God in their nature,
instead of lifting God up in praise as God, they named him human
nature and imagined that wisdom originated in themselves. In fact,
they lowered God to their own level and subjugated all higher matters
to their will. Their mindsets lost the light of God, being
deliberately replaced by the darkness of willful isolation in the
name of independence.
Verse Twenty-Two. By professing themselves to be wise, they usurped
the wisdom in them that was God. The first step on the road to ruin.
Verse Twenty-Three. Deliberately, they
changed the incorruptible glory of God's nature in man to a thing
they could manipulate – the nature of man, a corrupt low-end
knock-off of the original. They went a step further in redefining who
they were by dividing human nature into lesser natures such as the
various natures of wild animals they were impressed with.
Verse Twenty-Four. This verse presents the reader with a definition
of the actions of man. While one might think that all of this
describes the process of living a lie, and that is true enough, the
lie is, itself, based in something else. That something is named
'lust'. To lust, one must look away from what one has and want
something different. It is a tearing away from one's true self to
construct a fabrication that is not one's true self. In the matter of
tearing away from the nature and truth of God within, one may only
move to a lower plane – it is a form of self-debasement and
degradation, as when a man leaves the cleanness of his house to go
outside and wallow with pigs in their sty. Offended, God pretty much
said, 'fine. If that is what you want, I will not intervene. I will
let you be as nasty as you choose to be.' By their choosing, they
even dishonored the low estate of their flesh, thinking it so common
that any treatment was acceptable.
Verse Twenty-Five. The high and the glorious truth of God in man, they changed into a lie. It was such a serious break from the truth that man ended up serving and
worshipping the flesh (any flesh, any part of it, any image of it) of
humans and animals rather than the spirit of God in man – which can
never be anything other than good and right.
Notes on verses twenty-six and
twenty-seven: Because men make such deliberate choices, God's
response is to (hopefully) let them learn from their mistakes. God
lets them run with their “vile affections.” What are affections
and when are they vile? Let's do a little digging. Some synonyms of
the word affection include 'fondness', 'liking', 'endearment',
'attachment', and even 'devotion'. These are all common to the human
condition and not necessarily bad in and of themselves. So, how can
such very human states be vile?
Synonyms of the word vile include a
lengthy list. They are 'foul', 'nasty', 'unpleasant', 'disagreeable',
'horrid', 'horrible', 'dreadful', 'atrocious', 'abominable',
'offensive', 'obnoxious', 'odious', 'unsavory', 'repulsive',
'disgusting', 'distasteful', 'loathsome', 'hateful', 'nauseating',
'sickening', 'disgraceful', 'appalling', 'shameful', 'dishonorable',
'heinous', 'abhorrent', 'deplorable', 'monstrous', 'wicked', 'evil',
'depraved', 'debased', 'contemptible', and 'shocking'.
It is easy to see that these synonyms,
for the most part, are reactions. It is what one might see wrong in
another and criticize as something that works against the viewer.
After all, one does not bother to call a wall hard until after one
has run into it face-first. Using the expression 'vile affections' is
like God saying, “Well, I sure didn't mean for that to happen.”
In the very same verse, we see the
expression “natural use.” That the thinking of man turned from
the 'natural use' implies that there is a right way – a way that
was intended. One might well consider unnatural as 'forced',
'backward', and 'contrary'. The reference here is to sexual behaviors
and appetites that range beyond the original purpose of the man/woman
relationship.
The unnatural, backward way of doing things has certain –
ramifications – if you can look past the unfortunate pun and see
the dire consequences. Verse twenty-seven clearly states that those
who engage in such actions must face the consequences. The wording is
this: “receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which
was meet.” That recompense is always something bad – syphilis,
gonorrhea, social stigma, hemorrhoids.
Notes on verses twenty-eight through
thirty-two: These verses sum it all up. The very first statement, in
these verses, is an accurate depiction of the reprobate mind. “And
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,” shows
plainly that, one, God was there and, two, they deliberately removed
him. God responded to that willful choice by allowing the reprobate
mind to thoroughly rule their lives.
The word reprobate is defined as lacking principles. A reprobate mind
is an unprincipled mind. In regard to people of such minds, synonyms
include: 'knave', 'degenerate', 'wretch', 'villain', 'miscreant', and
'good-for-nothing'.
The reprobate mind leads an individual to do things that are
“inconvenient” to their own well-being and the well-being of
others. This means that a person who retains God in their knowledge
makes choices that are convenient. What is the definition of
convenient? It is defined as fitting in well with a person's needs,
activities, and plans. Synonyms of the word include: 'appropriate',
'expedient', and 'advantageous'.
There follows to the end of the chapter a long list of all the wrong
actions and wrong kinds of people that are a direct result of the
reprobate mind. “Being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of
God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents,
without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.”
Is there any possibility that these people stumble into this unaware?
Are they just 'born' that way? Can it be an accident? The Bible says,
“No.” These people have available to them everything that the
righteous have. They know that their appetites and choices work
against God. They know that their ways are ways that end in death.
That is why they do not like to retain God in their knowledge. They
reject the God who rejects their evil choices. They exalt their
choices and they love those companions of similar ilk.
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