Certainly not! – Ministry of Grace Church

Tag: Certainly not!

Romans 11:1 – We Preach, He Enlightens

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Will

I say then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Truth to Learn

We are to preach the gospel to everyone, whether they will believe or not.

Behind the Words

You will notice in this translation the word “not” doesn’t appear in the first sentence, whereas in other translations it does. The word actually is in the Greek text but it should not necessarily be written in the translation. Let me explain why. The Greek word in question is me, which is a negative particle and should in most cases be translated as “not.” There is another Greek word that is translated as “not,” however, which is ou. The difference is that ou has an absolute negative interpretation whereas me has a relative negative interpretation. In fact, me is often used, as is the case in the current verse, to express a question that anticipates a negative answer.

The words “Certainly not!” are translated from me genoito, which is often translated as “May it not be.” In today’s vernacular we would say “No way!”

“Seed” is translated from sperma, meaning “that which is sown, containing the germ of life which will produce new fruit.” It is an indication that Paul is a direct descendant of Abraham.

The word “tribe” is from phulē, which is based on the verb phuō, meaning “to generate or produce.” In the common usage of this word, phulē, refers to “a tribe or a clan.”

Meaning Explained

To a Christian Jew living in Rome reading through this letter (or listening to someone read it to him or her), it may have appeared that Paul was teaching that God had rejected the Jews. This would seem preposterous to them since God had chosen them as a covenant people. So in order to clarify what he means, Paul anticipated the objection and states it as a rhetorical question, “did God cast away His people?”

As we pointed out above, this question is asked in such a manner that it requires a negative answer. This would make it immediately clear to the reader (or hearer) that Paul does not even entertain the notion that God would totally reject all Jews. So, he is asking the rhetorical question in such a way that the reader would not immediately reject his statement and would continue on.

He follows-up the question with his familiar me genoito, “No way!” As proof that God has not rejected all Jews, Paul demonstrates that he, himself, is an Israelite and not an adopted one but a natural born Israelite, a direct descendent of Abraham. The Israelites took great pride (and still do today) in knowing the tribe and sometimes even the family of Israel of which they descended. Paul states at the end of this verse that he is of the tribe of Benjamin. He will continue this thought in the following verse.

Application

In verse seven of this chapter, Paul will explain that many of the Jews have been blinded so that they can’t see the truth. However, that does not excuse us from preaching the gospel even to those who cannot see the truth. It is not our responsibility to determine who will believe. It is simply our responsibility to preach the gospel truth. The rest is up to God.

In God's service, for His glory,

Romans 6:2 – Sin? No Way!

Posted on January 5, 2018 by Will

Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

Truth to Learn

Our lives should no longer be characterized by sinfulness.

Behind the Words

“Certainly not!” is a familiar expression with Paul. It is translated from the Greek words mē genoito. Mē is a particle of negation, meaning “not.” Genoito is a form of ginomai, meaning “to begin to be” or “to cause to come into existence.” In this expression it is used in the very rare optative mood (there are fewer than 70 examples of the optative mood in the entire New Testament). A literal translation of these two words is “May it not be!” In today’s vernacular we might say “No way!”

“Died” is from the verb apothnēskō, which is made up of apo, meaning “from” or “away from” and thnēskō, meaning “to die.” Hence, apothnēskō means “to die away from” or “to die off.”

We have talked before about the fact that Greek is an inflected language. That is, the form of a word indicates how it is used in a sentence. We see some of this in English. For instance “I” is a subject and “me” is an indirect object. The word translated “sin” is in the form of an indirect object. Hence, it could be interpreted as “in sin,” “to sin,” or “by sin.” Paul has already taught us that we are dead “in sin” and “by sin.” Now he is teaching us that we are also dead “to” or “with respect to” sin.

Meaning Explained

This verse is a direct response to the previous one: “Should we continue in sin so that grace may abound?” Paul’s response is, “No way!” He is proclaiming that we should never even consider continuing our sinful ways just so that God’s grace will increase. Paul carries this even further by asking, “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” In other words, if we have, indeed, died with respect to sin, how can we possibly live with respect to sin any longer?

In order to understand this better, it might be helpful to understand what the concept of death really means. We think of death simply as “absence of life,” whereas in reality it means, “separation from life.” By looking at it this way, perhaps you can understand what Paul is saying. We who have been separated from sin (because God has cast our sins as far from us as the east is from the west) cannot possibly be continually in its presence anymore.

Before we were saved, we had no choice but to continually live in a sinful manner. After all, we were controlled by our sin nature. But, because our sins have been paid for and our sin nature has been crucified with Christ, we now have a choice as to how we live.

Application

Paul says we have an obligation to stay away from a life of sinfulness because God has declared us righteous. We also should be motivated by an intense sense of gratitude to God for wiping out our sin debt, which should cause us to want to live an obedient life that will testify to God’s grace!

So I ask you, “How do you want to live; in sinful selfishness or in grateful obedience?

In God's service, for His glory,

Romans 3:31 – Not Useless, Set Firm

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Will

Do we then make the law void through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

Truth to Learn

Living by faith upholds the law, it doesn’t destroy it.

Behind the Words

The Greek word translated “we make … void” is a form of the verb katargeō. This is a compound word made up of kata, used as an intensifier and argeō, meaning “to be idle.” Hence, this verb means “to render completely idle, useless, or ineffective.”

“Certainly not!” is from the Greek words mē genoito, which we have looked at before. The word mē represents a qualified negation (ou represents absolute negation) and genoito means “to cause to be.” Therefore, a literal translation of these two words is “May it not be!”

The verb translated “we establish” is a form of histēmi, meaning “to cause to stand” or “to establish.”

Meaning Explained

This rhetorical question is one of transition for the Apostle Paul. He knows that any devout Jew would be spiritually put off balance by his previous arguments because the Jews have been taught from childhood that obeying the Law is the only way to be justified. They would very likely be asking themselves, “But what about the Law? Does it mean nothing?” There are even those people today who say that justification by faith only leads to licentiousness because it does away with the Law (both the Law of Moses and the moral law).

Paul does not agree. In fact, he declares, “May it not be!” He realizes that justification by faith alone not only does not negate the Law, in fact it establishes it as true and right. You see, by the Law God demonstrated that there is a penalty to be paid for sin and that the Law had to be satisfied in order for anyone to be justified. Jesus Christ came to show that only He could perfectly satisfy the law and that He is the fulfillment of the Law. He is the Passover lamb. He is the lamb without spot or blemish that was demanded by the Law to be the offering in payment for sins. He, the One who satisfied the Law, is the only offering that could be made to pay for our sins. And His payment is made possible to us only if we believe that He is the sinless Lamb of God who has given Himself in payment for our sins. We can’t satisfy the Law by obedience to it but by faith in the one who did satisfy it.

This is precisely what Paul is showing to the Jewish Christians in Rome and to all Christians throughout the ages. When we believe Jesus Christ died on the cross as our Lord and Savior, we are justified by faith, and we actually establish the Law as good and right and holy.

Having now satisfied the assertion that the Law is good and right, in the coming chapter Paul will proceed to use the patriarch Abraham as the example of righteousness by faith apart from the Law. After all, Abraham was declared righteous by God some three hundred years before Moses received the law on Mt. Sinai. Abraham was even declared righteous by God years before the sign of circumcision.

Application

When we get saved by faith, we aren’t required to keep the law or rules of a church in order to stay saved. Instead, we are to walk by faith, doing the good works that God has ordained for us to do as His children and ambassadors. Do your actions and good works reflect the glory of your Heavenly Father?

In God's service, for His glory,

Romans 3:6 – Righteous Judge

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Will

Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?

Truth to Learn

Our righteous God will one day judge everyone.

Behind the Words

“Certainly not!” is from the Greek words mē genoito, which we explained in verse four. However, what we didn’t mention there is that this is expressed in the rare “optative mood,” which is a use that expresses a separation from reality as much as any mood in Greek. In other words, Paul is saying that there is no possible way that this could be reality. It is an expression that is a particular favorite of the Apostle Paul. Of the 15 times this expression is found in the Bible, 14 of them are in his writings.

The verb translated “judge” is the Greek word krinō. The basic meaning of this word is “to separate or to distinguish between good and evil.” It is a judicial word that implies a trial and frequently is used to denote condemnation and punishment.

Meaning Explained

Keep in mind that Paul is posing and answering rhetorical questions that the Jewish Christians in Rome would likely have expressed against his treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of being a Jew. His rhetorical question in the previous verse was,

But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)

His response to this question is, “Certainly not!” What Paul is saying is that God is in no way unrighteous in his judgment of sin, even though such judgment glorifies Him. It is not wrong for God to receive glory as a result of our sinfulness; otherwise, how could He judge the world? To the Jewish mind it is an unarguable fact that God will someday judge the world.

And we Christians also know from the New Testament writings that the Creator will one day judge all sin and will condemn all sinners to the lake of fire. But we also know that those who have humbled themselves at the foot of the cross, having accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as payment for their sins, will not receive this judgment. Instead, because of our faith, we have already been declared as righteous.

Paul will talk more about this righteousness which has been credited to us later in this chapter. He will even show that such righteousness is ours through faith:

even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, toward all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; (Romans 3:22)

Remember that God is holy, meaning that He is set apart from sin and sinfulness. It is part of what He is. God cannot do wrong because of His holiness. That’s why Jesus, as completely man and completely God at the same time, could not commit a sin, which is also why He was able to sacrifice His life for us – the sinless One for the sinners.

Application

Every man, woman, and child will stand before the Judge one day. Only those who are as righteous as Jesus Christ will be spared from the Lake of Fire. In just a few verses Paul will declare that none of us is righteous except through faith in Christ. Do you have that righteousness?

In God's service, for His glory,

Romans 3:4 – God is True

Posted on September 13, 2017 by Will

Certainly not! But let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: "That you should be justified in your words, and you may prevail when you are judged."

Truth to Learn

God is true and always does what is right.

Behind the Words

“Certainly not!” is translated from the two Greek words mē genoito, which literally mean “may it not have come to pass.” I suppose in today’s vernacular we would say, “No way!” This is an expression used often by Paul when he wants to emphatically say “no!”

The words “let … be” are from the Greek verb ginomai, which is a verb of being, roughly meaning “to come into existence” or simply “to be.” It is expressed here in the imperative mood, indicating the force of a command. The way we express this in English is to use the word “let.” The phrase “let God be true” does not mean “allow God to be true” but “God is true!” or even “God is truth!”

Meaning Explained

Paul now answers the second rhetorical question that he posed, “So what if some (many) did not believe in Jesus? Does that mean that God is not faithful in saving His special people (the Jews)?” His answer is, “No way!”

He then enforces what he just said by declaring, “God is true, and every man is a liar;” Paul follows with a quote from Psalms.

This Psalm was written in response to God’s judgment David received through Nathan the prophet. David had lusted after Bathsheba, the wife of a man in his army and had committed adultery with her. When David discovered that she was pregnant, he had her husband placed in the most dangerous part of the battle where he was killed. Afterward, David took Bathsheba as his wife.

In his own heart David did not see anything wrong with this. But God did not allow David’s sin to go unnoticed. He sent the prophet Nathan to confront David. In response, David humbled himself before God. He recognized that God is righteous and truthful and he (David) is a liar and a sinner.

Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your eyes; that You might be justified when You speak, and be clear when You judge. (Psalms 51:4)

Just like Paul in the current passage, David did not dare call into question God’s truthfulness or His righteousness. Paul’s point is that God is righteous and He always does what is right and true. Therefore, if some of the Jews who had been entrusted with the Holy Writings did not believe and were ultimately judged and condemned by God, then that was the true and righteous thing to do. No one can blame God if He condemns those who do not believe because He is righteous!

There are some who ask, “How can God extend His grace to some and send others to Hell? That’s just not right.” According to Paul, it is right because God always does what is right.

Application

Oh, that we all would recognize the righteousness of our Holy God and the utter wretchedness of our own sins.

In God's service, for His glory,

Romans 11:1 – We Preach, He Enlightens

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Will

Romans 11:1 – We Preach, He Enlightens

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Truth to Learn

We are to preach the gospel to everyone, whether they will believe or not.

Behind the Words

The words “Certainly not!” are translated from me genoito, which is often translated as “May it not be.” In today’s vernacular we would say “No way!”

“Seed” is translated from sperma, meaning “that which is sown, containing the germ of life which will produce new fruit.” It is an indication that Paul is a direct descendant of Abraham.

The word “tribe” is from phulē, which is based on the verb phuō, meaning “to generate or produce.” In the common usage of this word, phulē, refers to “a tribe or a clan.”

Meaning Explained

Application

In verse seven of this chapter, Paul will explain that many of the Jews have been blinded from seeing the truth. However, that does not excuse us from preaching the gospel even to those who cannot see the truth. It is not our responsibility to determine who will believe. It is simply our responsibility to preach the gospel truth. The rest is up to God.

In God’s service, for His glory,

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

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Romans 6:2 – Sin? No Way!

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Will

Romans 6:2

Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Truth to Learn

Our lives should no longer be characterized by sinfulness.

Behind the Words

Meaning Explained

This verse is a direct response to the previous one: “Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?” Paul’s response is, “No way!” He is proclaiming that we should never even consider continuing our sinful ways just so that God’s grace will increase. Paul carries this even further by asking, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” In other words, if we have, indeed, died with respect to sin, how can we possibly live with respect to sin any longer?

Application

So I ask you, “How do you want to live? In sinful selfishness or in grateful obedience?

In God’s service, for His glory,

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

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