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Romans 9:22 – Unfair Grace

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Will

But if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

Truth to Learn

God endures the sinfulness of sinners so that His wrath and power will be seen and understood.

Behind the Words

“Show” is from endeiknumi, which means “to point out or to show forth something about oneself.”

The verb translated “make … known” is gnoridzo, meaning “to make something apparent or known to someone else.”

“Endured” is from the verb pherō, which means “to carry or bear like a burden.”

The word “longsuffering” is translated from makrothumia, which refers to “the ability to endure pain or suffering inflicted by others for a long time before getting angry.”

“Destruction” is from apōleia, which is based on the verb apollumi, meaning “to destroy fully.” The Complete WordStudy Dictionary says of this word: “apōleia refers to the state after death wherein exclusion from salvation is a realized fact, wherein man, instead of becoming what he might have been, is lost and ruined.”

Meaning Explained

In the previous verse we saw that the Apostle Paul postulated that it is fair for God to declare some righteous (through His grace) and to allow the remainder of mankind to remain destined for Hell because of their sinfulness. But that implies that there must be two classes of people on the earth, unforgiven sinners and forgiven sinners. In this and the following verse Paul will show that, in fact, there are two classes of people, and God has a purpose in allowing both.

The first class of people is the class of unforgiven sinners. Remember, according to what Paul demonstrated back in Romans 3:23, all of us are sinners. There is no human being except for Jesus Himself who is without sin. We all deserve Hell. Paul here states that God is desirous of showing His wrath against sin and sinners and He is also desirous of making His power known. In order to do this, though, He is currently being long suffering, enduring the pain of the sinfulness of those who are not chosen, until the day when He will finally pour out His wrath on the sinfulness of all mankind.

God is continuing to endure the pain of the sins of the unsaved sinners in this world. At the same time, however, he knows the eternal damnation that they will receive when He finally slams down the gavel of His judgment on them. But what about our sins? Is God longsuffering with us? The answer is no, because our sins are covered by the blood of Christ and He sees us as sinless, holy, righteous vessels of glory. We are the second class of people, the forgiven sinners.

Application

On the surface this appears harsh and unfair, but keep in mind that God cannot allow sin to abide in His presence. The unfair thing is that He has declared us to be righteous and without sin (because the penalty for our sins has been paid by Jesus Christ on the cross).

Truly, that is not fair! Praise God for His grace!

In God's service, for His glory,

2 Peter 1:21 – Inspired Writing

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Will

For prophecy was never brought about by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Truth to Learn

The Bible is the “inspired” Word of God.

Behind the Words

The word translated “will” is translated from the word thelemati, a form of thelema, which refers to the “determined will” as opposed to “desirous will.” This we could translate the opening phrase as, “For prophecy was never brought about by the determination of man …”

Both the phrases “brought about” and “carried along” are from a form of the Greek word pherō, meaning “to carry” or “to bring.”

Meaning Explained

This verse requires careful translation to get the true meaning. A literal translation is, “for prophecy was not at any time borne by the determination of man, but holy men of God spoke, being carried by the Holy Spirit.”

In the previous verse Peter said, “…no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,” meaning that the prophets did not proclaim the messages with their own meaning or intent. Remember that we said the word “interpretation” did not apply to the one receiving the message but the one proclaiming the message? In today’s verse Peter explains what he meant by that.

Peter says, in today’s verse, that prophecy (referring to the entire Old Testament) was not at any time carried by the determination of man. He says that their message was not proclaimed based on what man determined. Instead, these holy men were carried along by the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Old Testament writers did not determine their message and then proclaim it. They were, rather, controlled by the Holy Spirit as they proclaimed their message.

In 2 Timothy 3:16, the Apostle Paul said it this way, “All scripture is inspired by God…” (NASB) or “All scripture is God-breathed…” (NIV). The word here translated “inspired” or “God-breathed” is theopneustos, a compound word made up of theos, which means “God” and a form of pneō which means “to breath” or “to blow.” So whether the prophet is “carried along by the Holy Spirit” or their message was “God-breathed,” the source and the content of the message are from God, while the prophet or author is simply the channel through which the message is conveyed.

The Bible is not just a collection of stories and predictions written by a bunch of different men over the span of several thousand years. It is the writing of men who were controlled by the Holy Spirit of God and it is, therefore, without error (in the original manuscripts) and perfectly accurate in its predictions of future events. And though not all of the prophecies in the Bible have come true (yet), not a single one that has come to pass has been wrong! That’s pretty amazing for a book that has been penned by so many human authors (under divine control) over such a long period of time. Only by the power of God could this be accomplished.

Application

The bottom line is that the Bible is truth. It is God’s truth, and contained within its pages is everything you and I need for salvation, godly living, and peace! Praise God!

We all need to read it more!

In God's service, for His glory,

Romans 9:22 – Unfair Grace

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Will

Romans 9:22 – Unfair Grace

What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

Truth to Learn

God endures the sinfulness of sinners so that His wrath and power will be seen and understood.

Behind the Words

“Show” is from endeiknumi, which means “to point out or to show forth something about oneself.”

The verb translated “make known” is gnoridzō, meaning “to make something apparent or known to someone else.”

“Endured” is from the verb pherō, which means “to carry or bear as a burden.”

The word “longsuffering” is translated from makrothumia, which refers to “the ability to endure pain or suffering inflicted by others for a long time before getting angry.”

Meaning Explained

The first class of people is the class of unforgiven sinners. Remember, according to what Paul demonstrated back in Romans 3:23, all of us are sinners. There is no human being except for Jesus Himself who is without sin. We all deserve Hell. Paul here states that God is desirous of showing His wrath against sin and sinners and He is also desirous of making His power known. In order to do this, though, He is currently being long suffering, enduring the pain of the sinfulness of those who are not chosen until the day when He will finally pour out His wrath on the sinfulness of all mankind.

God is continuing to endure the pain of the sins of the unsaved sinners in this world. At the same time, however, he knows of the eternal damnation that they will receive when He finally slams down the gavel of His judgment on them. But what about our sins? Is God long suffering with us? The answer is no, because our sins are covered by the blood of Christ and He sees us as sinless, holy, righteous vessels of glory. We are the second class of people, the forgiven sinners.

Application

Truly, that is not fair! Praise God for His grace!

In God’s service, for His glory,

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Romans 7:4 – Free to Bear Fruit

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Will

Romans 7:4

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

Truth to Learn

We have been set free so that we can bear fruit for God.

Behind the Words

Just as in the previous verse the word for “married” does not appear in the Greek text. A literal translation of that portion of the verse would be “for you to become another’s.” More than implying the marriage relationship, it implies ownership. We belong to Him who was raised from the dead.

“Bear fruit” is translated from karpophoreō, which is made up of karpos, meaning “fruit” and a form of pherō, meaning “to bring” or “to bear.”

Meaning Explained

There are some who believe Paul is saying that the husband in this imagery is really the Law which is now dead. Because the Law is dead, we as Christians are free to marry another, which is Christ. Whereas that would parallel the previous verse and would demonstrate that we are no longer under obligation to the Law since it is now dead, that is not what Paul is saying.

In the current verse we see that Paul says we have become dead to the Law, not that the Law has become dead. His reason for using this imagery is to show that death causes a cessation of the bonds of law. If you re-read the first 11 verses of the previous chapter, you will see that it is our death to sin that Paul is talking about.

Romans 6:1-11 What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Let it not be! We who died to sin, how shall we still live in it? Or are you ignorant that all who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, so also we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been joined together in the likeness of His death, so also shall we be in the resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be nullified, so that we no longer serve sin. For the one that died has been justified from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that also we shall live with Him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death no longer lords it over Him. For in that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives to God. So also you count yourselves to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When we were saved we were made dead to sin, being released from bondage to it. That bondage came from the Law to which all belonged (i.e. married to it). Now that we have been made dead to sin, we are no longer bound to try to obtain righteousness through the Law. Instead, as Paul has already said, we have received the gift of righteousness, not because we earned it but because it has been given to us by God.

Application

We are no longer under the Law. We do not have to obey all the rules to be acceptable to God. We are acceptable to God because of the blood of Christ. Therefore our works (fruit) are not the source of our righteousness, but are to be the result of our having been declared righteous.

In God’s service, for His glory,

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

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