Commentary on Romans 1 through 9

[_Franktalk]

Romans 5

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

If we accept it the love of God will manifest in us by the Holy Ghost. Notice that verse 3 says that we glory in tribulations. Just how many of us glory in our tribulations? Is this a measure of faith? In verse 2 it states that we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. But verse 3 says not only grace but also glory in tribulation. Paul goes on to say that the tribulation worketh patience. It is the experience of the tribulations that will lead to hope. So after all of the work is done we should not be ashamed. For if we do the work and acquire the experience we can stand before God and not be ashamed.

1Jo 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

So faith is the starting point. Then holding on to our faith we can be perfect only when we experience tribulation and glory in it instead of falling. As we experience this over and over we develop strength in our faith and that leads to hope that we have made our self ready for Christ at his coming.

In 1john 2:28 the confidence is something that we have developed by experience. Experience in abiding in Him. To follow Christ is something we do. We must experience the following of the commandments. We must experience the successful handling of tribulation. There are some who believe that Jesus does all and we do nothing but believe on Him. They use Christ as a crutch and limit their own behavior. They say that Christ paid for all my sins and faith is all that is required. Those who hold this view will know in their own hearts that they could have done more and worked at gaining experience by abiding in Christ or walking as Christ walked. They will be ashamed to stand before Jesus at His coming.

Romans 5

6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Here Paul is contrasting the world before the law and how sin was not imputed. It says that sin was in the world but it was not counted for sin. This is because man did not know what sin was. Only through the law was sin imputed to those who knew better. Now that the gospel is preached throughout the world man is without excuse. Somehow this is different than the knowledge of good and evil. This needs to make sense so some explanation is required about how sin is imputed. I will delay that explanation until more foundation is laid.

[_Albion]

I think it important to examine exactly what the word justified means. Simplistically, it means "just as if we have not sinned". If God sees us just as if we have not sinned then he declares us fully righteous, fully innocent before him. As Paul points out a "new" righteousness has been revealed...not based on the Law nor on works or commandments in which we could all boast of our efforts, but based wholly on our faith in Christ. I think Paul is very clearly stating that salvation comes through faith...faith in Christ...and not on works of the Law and the keeping of commandments. I don't think Paul negates the Law nor the keeping of God's commandments but they are upheld in the resultant life lived without fear of condemnation by the saved in Christ. I see in Paul's words the clear declaration of the divine judge, God himself, that we are innocent, declared justified through our demonstration of faith...as he says "apart from the law". If works could make us righteous, why would we even need Christ? The law makes us conscious of sin...faith in Christ saves us from the consequences of that sin and makes us whole. Christ died at Calvary to satisfy the demands of the law for us. If the law still has demands on us, he died in vain.

[_Franktalk]

....... Christ died at Calvary to satisfy the demands of the law for us. If the law still has demands on us, he died in vain.

Are you saying that we can ignore the commandments of God and just using our faith nail Christ to the cross over and over?

To be saved from sin is a promise based on faith. But what faith? Faith that when tested fails? I do believe that eternal life is something that is done by walking as Christ walked. Not falling away in sin when trouble comes our way. He showed us the way. Let us walk is His ways and not live a different life, one that we think of ourselves as righteous but act unrighteous. A life that leans on Christ and we can do what ever we desire and we can sink into the lust of the world.

If a belief in Christ is all that is required why is it that few will find the way? The many believe Christ saves us to eternal life. The few walk in His ways. But scripture clearly says it is the few who will find the way.

Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

So who are the few? The majority of people who consider them self Christian? There is something more to it. And why say "way" when all you need is faith in your eyes?

[_Albion]

It is a false characterization of orthodox Christianity to suggest a person can claim to be saved and thus do anything he wants. What part of Paul's statement that now "....a righteousness FROM God apart from law, has been made known..." presents a problem? Paul is clearly saying that it is Christ's righteousness, imputed to the believer through faith, apart from the law, which saves. He uses the term "free gift"...it can't be earned, it can't be deserved on merit by works, it is a free gift FROM God. Because of it, by faith the repentant sinner can stand before God, fully justified (judged worthy, innocent and righteous). She/he is reborn, a new creature in Christ, saved to good works not by good works. I have no debate with your point about walking in his ways...that is the life of the saved. It is about heart change and not how many regulations we have checked off. Few will find their way to faith in Christ...in terms of the numbers of the world believers are have always been "few". The assurance of salvation is what frees a believer to to live a holy life in Christ. I think Paul makes this very clear over the course of Romans.

[_Franktalk]

It is a false characterization of orthodox Christianity to suggest a person can claim to be saved and thus do anything he wants.......

What is the difference between what I said and people sinning like crazy and then asking for forgiveness once a week? The truth is in the behavior. People who say they believe are just as likely to go to jail, get divorced, etc, etc. Just what does orthodox Christianity claim is the process of being saved and obtaining eternal life?

[_Franktalk]

Romans 6

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

This is the question is it not? How can we sin after we know the grace of God? Our spirit is born and the flesh is dead but we still live as a spirit in this house of flesh and we are exposed to all manner of temptation. So how can we be perfect in spirit yet the body knows nothing but sin?

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

The newness of life is our born spirit. The old man which was our body of sin was crucified with Christ. So the new clean body that came from the water of Baptism still has to navigate this world and be tempted with the lust of the flesh. Our carnal mind can still be tempted by the wisdom of the world. Jesus after His Baptism went into the desert to be tempted for 40 days. After our own Baptism we are tempted as well by the world. We have to glory in the temptation and reject the world. If we do not then we have embraced the world that leads to sin and death.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Paul is speaking of Christ. That He being raised from the dead dieth no more. So if we are doing the things that Christ did we can expect the same. We would die no more.
It implies that Christ lived other lives in the flesh. But this life is different, Jesus dieth no more and that death had no more dominion over Him. It is my belief that the dominion of death describes a cycle of death on the earth. We live and are bound to death which means we come back into the flesh again to experience death again and again. Something must happen to break free from this bondage of death. Jesus showed us the way out. Now those who lived before the law were all bound to death and could not break free. There may have been a few exceptions; Job, Enoch, and Abraham come to mind. Job and Abraham are described in scripture as perfect and Enoch walked with God. Perfection and walking with God seem to be required.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We are given an opportunity to serve God and do the will of the Father. Christ liveth unto the Father. It is a choice we make just like Christ made His choice.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Paul tells us not to yield the body (members) as instruments unto sin. But to yield ourselves to God. He again is describing a choice.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

Sin shall not have dominion over our spirit. That does not mean we can’t choose to sin. It means that we have a choice.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Paul makes the choice very clear. You can be a servant of the Lord or a servant of sin. It is based on what you do not what you believe. Paul clearly states you either obey sin unto death or you have obedience unto righteousness. One or the other.

17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

Again Paul makes it clear that the people in Rome made a choice to be a servant of the Lord. To obey is a choice based on belief and faith.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Now Paul talks about the people in Rome who have faith to faith. They have obeyed from the heart. They no longer obey sin.

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

The flesh is still weak but our spirit can rule over the weak flesh. He is reminding them of days long ago when they yielded up their members to sin. He contrasts that with how they are now servants to righteousness.

20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

Paul reminds the people in Rome that those who are servants of sin do not gather fruit. The end for those in sin is death. If you choose the world and the sin of the world then death remains bound to you. Your spirit will come back over and over until you can break the dominion of death by choosing to walk in God’s ways and rejecting the world of sin.

22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So now that Paul has described their behavior as obedient and they serve the will of the Father he can now tell them that the fruit of that obedience is everlasting life. Notice that faith was the starting point but the actual change in behavior leading to obedience is what actually gets them to a point where they have everlasting life. Everlasting life is life without death. It is that simple. Those who achieve everlasting life progress into the spiritual realm of heaven. There are other sections of scripture that details this transition.

[_Albion]

Paul says it clearly in the first verses you quoted. Those who are dead to sin. How can they be "dead to sin"if they continue to sin? The saved, those who have by faith received justification are no longer under the penalty of sin and that penalty no longer has a hold over them. This is why they are dead to sin. It does not mean they have become perfect in the flesh but that they are perceived by God as perfect, justified, through their faith in his Son. That condition is in the here and now...it is not some future carrot waiting on a stick for us to work to.

With regard to your comment about those who wildly sin and seek forgiveness every week. That is not my experience of Christians with whom I associate. While, too, it is not my place to judge another's sincerity nor their struggles in life, I think it fair to assume that a real saving experience has not taken place in such people. It is the overcoming of deliberate willfulness to sin that is the process of the life lived in holiness to God. I am using the term willfulness in the sense of a person who says in their heart: "I know this is a sin but I'm going to do it anyway." This is shaking the fist in God's face and God will not be mocked. Do I sin? Yes...because I have a sinful nature...but Christ has already paid the penalty for that sin so it is accounted for if I am sincerely repentant to grow in faith to overcome it.

Salvation is very much a matter of confrontation. First we confront our sinfulness...then under conviction for that sinfulness we acknowledge our inability to change by our own effort, we repent, and through trust in Christ we ask for forgiveness and for God to save us....which he is bound to do because he has given his word. Through the Spirit we are changed to new life in Christ. Baptism does not wash away sin....sin is remitted by God's grace through faith and baptism is the public demonstration of what has already taken place in the heart. There is no magic in baptismal water...it only makes a person wet and is purely symbolic of a deeper spiritual heart change.

[_Franktalk]

Romans 7

1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Now Paul is telling us the same message but using different terms. The dead husband of the woman represents our dead old man which we left in the water of Baptism. So in a sense we were married to the flesh until in the act of Baptism the old man dies. This frees our spirit to marry another. If we choose to marry Christ we must obey as a wife obeys and we must love as a wife loves her husband. But we may fall from that marriage and love another. When we worship idols in any form we act as an adulteress. This is something we choose. We can abide in obedience with our husband Jesus Christ or we can follow sin.

5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Paul is telling us that while the old man lived we were bound to the flesh and could not leave of our own choice. And he also tells us that the sins that were committed while we were bound to the flesh could only bring forth fruit unto death. But Baptism separates out the old man and he is left in the Baptism water as we arise out. So we have a gift of a new life. Not one in which we are bound but one in which we are free to follow God. Or fall away and follow sin.

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

So while Paul was young and knew not the law sin was not imputed to him. But when he knew the law then sin could drive him forth unto death. Here is the start of the understanding of punishment. Once Paul knew sin then he would be held accountable. Now there were acts in the law that could remove punishment. But none of these allowed the bonds of death to be removed. Jesus showed us the way to escape death.

9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

It is interesting to note that he says that sin revived. How is it that sin revived? Could he have been in sin before being born in the flesh? Where could Paul have been where he was in sin before he was born as Saul? In a prior life.

10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

The law given to the people was misunderstood and misapplied by the Jews. So the thing which is Holy, just and good by sin was changed into death.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

It is a hard thing for the spirit to awaken and force the flesh to walk in the spirit in a fallen world.

15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Paul is describing the war between the inward man (the spirit) and the body of flesh. The body of flesh is designed around the temptations of the world. It is so easy to just let go and have the body tell us where to go as it follows after the lust of this world. It is our own inward struggle that is the last war we face before moving to heaven. Christ shows us the way but the struggle is between our soul and the flesh. Christ does not take this struggle from us. In fact He allows the struggle to start. In this He has brought contention to the world. As each of us in turn struggles against the world we fight the whole world and those around us that would lead us back to the world.

Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
Luk 12:52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
Luk 12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

Romans 7

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

The body always has the master being the world because the body is of the world. We are our spirit and we can choose our master. So when we choose our master to be God then a conflict between our body and our spirit manifest. When we are weak and let the body fall into sin which is its natural state we are to repent and get back on the path towards righteousness.

[_Franktalk]

Paul says it clearly in the first verses you quoted. Those who are dead to sin. How can they be "dead to sin"if they continue to sin? The saved, those who have by faith received justification are no longer under the penalty of sin and that penalty no longer has a hold over them. This is why they are dead to sin. It does not mean they have become perfect in the flesh but that they are perceived by God as perfect, justified, through their faith in his Son. That condition is in the here and now...it is not some future carrot waiting on a stick for us to work to.

You can read scripture anyway you choose. I see things differently than you. Where I believe I am taking all of Romans 1 through 9 in context I do not think you are. But that is my opinion.

Do you think that you can steal from your neighbor and because you have faith in Christ there is no punishment?

[_Albion]

Frantalk, why do you continue to pose these kinds of questions? Being "saved" does not exempt a person from earthly law and unrepented sin has its consequences. Awareness of sins committed, repentence and forgiveness are an ongoing part of the life lived in the spirit. Being saved is not a licence to sin and anyone who believes it is does not understand the Christian gospel. Peace and reconciliation with God only comes through Christ and in the resultant life lived by faith. He is the truth that makes us free. How on earth can a person ever feel fully free if they are constantly looking over their shoulder waiting for God to strike them down because they might have broken some rule or other. That was life under the Law. Life for the believer, under Christ, frees us from the Law and commandments which were against us so that we can live life in him and for him. Being justified means we are accepted through our faith and nothing else. This is what Paul is saying. Christ's righteousness, imputed to us through faith, is greater than the sinful nature we inherited through Adam. Paul isn't saying don't keep God's commandments but he is saying you can't rely on your own efforts in keeping commandments to save you. He is saying that Christ has paid your sin deb t in full...it is in the bank so to speak...what you have to do is accept it by faith to the renewing of the spirit to new life in him.

I believe, and the gospel teaches, that believers should be baptized but baptism doesn't save anyone...its water does not wash anyone's sin away. Salvation is through God's grace in Jesus and this is what forgives sin and justifies us to new birth. Baptism is the outward symbol of what has taken place in the heart already. Clearly this is what Paul is teaching.