Paul’s Epistle to the Romans
September 26, 2021
Opening Prayer
Romans 6:19
19 I am speaking in human terms,
because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your
members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness,
so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to
sanctification.
v. 19
I am speaking humanly/in human terms … –
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He is using earthly imagery to explain eternal
truth
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Similar to parable, but with a different purpose
o
Matthew 13:13-17 - This is why I speak to them
in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not
hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in
their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
15 For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see,
and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly, I say
to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and
did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
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Paul is speaking in earthly imagery to help us
understand
… because of the weakness of your flesh.
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It is not just limitation – it is
weakness/sickness/disease
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There is something about our sinful condition
that leaves us unable to receive God’s Word.
o
Ephesians 2:1
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Romans 8:7 - For the mind that is set on the
flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed,
it cannot.
o
Remember that the Righteousness of God is revealed.
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John 1
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1 – Word
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4 – Light
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7 – John as witness
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10 – Unknown, although he is the Creator.
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14 – Dwelt, seen
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17 – Brings grace and truth
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18 - !!!
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This is the point of the Incarnation.
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This is at the heart of the Sacraments
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God’s Word
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Embodied
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For you
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The weakness of our flesh (sinful nature) leaves
us in a position that we struggle to trust God, believe his promises, and
receive his Word, so he comes to us in Christ, working through the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:20-23
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to
righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting
at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the
end of those things is death. 22 But now that
you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of
God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal
life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the
free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
v. 20
What does this mean when it says as slaves to sin, we were
free in regard to righteousness?
v. 21
What fruit? What did you get from living in sin?
Are we ashamed?
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Jeremiah 6:13-15 - “For from the least to the
greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be
overthrown,”
says the Lord.
What is the end – the goal, the fulfillment – of our sinful
living?
v. 22
But now …
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A switch has taken place!
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Free from sin, slaves to God
o
v. 20 – free from God, slaves to sin!
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Fruit
o
Sanctification
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Broad sense = justification
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Narrow sense = holy living
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Which does this passage mean?
o
What is the end – the goal, the fulfillment – of
sanctification?
v. 23
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Wages vs. Gifts
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Death vs. Life
The Christian faith is a matter of death and life.
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Deuteronomy 30:15-20 - “See, I have set
before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If
you obey the commandments of the Lord your God[a] that I command you
today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and
by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,[b] then you shall live
and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that
you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But
if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to
worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to
you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land
that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I
call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you
life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and
your offspring may live, 20 loving
the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him,
for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the
land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and
to Jacob, to give them.”
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