The God of Sovereign Justice (Romans 9:14–24)

By | September 26, 2024
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In a previous post, I began a series of posts to summarize Romans 9–11 passage by passage. In Romans 9:1–13, Paul begins to explain “God’s purpose of election” for Israel (Romans 9:11; cf. 9:4–5). In short, God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not mean that every ethnic Israelite was an Israelite who was also a child of promise and of God. God chose that only a remnant would receive His saving grace (cf. also Romans 11:5). Abraham’s promises went to Isaac, not Ishmael. Isaac’s promises went to Jacob, not Esau. Likewise, God gives His promises to a spiritual remnant within national Israel.

In Romans 9:14–24, Paul anticipates and answers two objections to the truth of Romans 9:6–13, objections that could be paraphrased in this way: (1) Is God unjust to show selective mercy to some but not others? (Romans 9:14–18); and, from Paul’s answer in Romans 9:14–18, (2) Is IS it fair for God to find fault with those He hardens? (Romans 9:19–24).

Romans 9:14–18

Paul asks if God is unjust and answers with an emphatical denial (Romans 9:14). He quotes God’s words to Moses in Exodus 33:19, in which He declares His right to show mercy and have compassion on whomever He chooses (Romans 9:15). Paul even clarifies that it is neither human will nor action but God alone who determines who receives His mercy (Romans 9:16; cf. 9:11).

Paul then quotes God’s words to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16, in which He declared that He raised up Pharaoh to show His power in judgment and so that His name would be proclaimed in all the earth (Romans 9:17).

Summarizing Romans 9:14–17, the first half of Romans 9:18 restates that God shows mercy to whomever He wills (cf. Romans 9:15–16), and the second half of Romans 9:18 concludes from God’s words to Pharaoh that God hardens whomever He wills (cf. Romans 9:17).

Romans 9:19–24

Paul shifts from himself (Romans 9:14, “we”) to others (Romans 9:19–20, “You… O man”) with a further objection in Romans 9:19—why does God find fault with those He hardens in sin and unbelief?

Paul answers this objection with a series of rhetorical questions. His first question indicates that the question in Romans 9:19 is inappropriate because it places the objector in authority and judgment over God (Romans 9:20a). His second question supports this notion by comparing the objector to a molded artifact that questions its molder as to why he molded it as he did (Romans 9:20b). Paul’s third question supports God’s authority further with another picture—a potter has authority to make both honorable and dishonorable vessels from the same lump of clay (Romans 9:21).

Paul then drops the metaphorical language in Romans 9:22–24 and asks another question to identify three purposes of God in showing judgment and mercy. In doing so, he also indicates how these purposes relate to one another.

The first two purposes are that God desires (1) to show His wrath and (2) to make known His power (Romans 9:22). The power in judgment (plagues and military loss) that Pharaoh experienced in Egypt (cf. Romans 9:17), God desires to show in full at the final judgment. These two purposes lead to a third and greater purpose—that (3) God will make known the riches of His glory to the recipients of His mercy (Romans 9:23). In other words, when God’s mercy is placed in front of the background of His wrath and power, His mercy is all the more glorious.

Paul then speaks of himself and describes the recipients of mercy as “even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles” (Romans 9:24). God’s purpose in election involves both Jews and Gentiles in the church today. Praise God for His wonderful mercy!

From Infancy to Maturity in the Christian Life

By | September 12, 2024
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Imagine a grown man intentionally acting like a baby, wearing diapers and crying like an infant. Some people actually do. In reading the news about a situation with this behavior, I learned a new term: paraphilic infantilism—acting like a baby as an adult.

Now imagine a newborn Christian who does not grow but remains in spiritual infancy. What would this person be like?

Well, if he is indeed a Christian, he at least knows and believes in the elementary doctrine of Christ and foundational truths of God’s Word—instruction about repentance, faith, baptism, resurrection, eternal judgment, and so on (Heb 6:1–2).

But this person knows little more than that. He has not graduated from the milk of God’s Word to the next stage of his spiritual growth—a maturity marked by a practiced discernment between good and evil and the ability to understand and appreciate theological matters like the priesthood of Jesus Christ (Heb 5:11–14; cf. 1 Pet 2:2).

Christians who remain their spiritual childhood are “children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph 4:14). They are “infants in Christ” who act with jealousy, strife, and boasting (1 Cor 3:1–4; cf. 1:10–11; 3:18–19; 4:18).

What do we do with spiritual babies? How can they graduate from the spiritual nursery?

Pastors should care for them like gentle mothers but also be firm like fathers in encouragement and exhortation (1 Thess 2:7, 11–12). Admonition can be necessary, not to shame them but to treat them as beloved children so that they might look like Jesus Christ (1 Cor 4:14–16).

In fact, the whole church is necessary to their growth, each one showing patience and doing good in response to any wrongs (1 Thess 5:14–15). There are many father/son, mother/daughter, and sibling relationships within the church that God gives to us for our growth (Titus 2:1–10; cf. 1 Tim 5:1–2). Generally speaking, the Great Commission teaches us to make disciples who in turn make disciples themselves—a process of teaching doctrine and how to live out the teachings of Christ (Matt 28:18–20).

Considering the above, we could ask ourselves some questions. Where am I in my Christian life? Do I have infantile understanding of God’s Word? Am I diligent to study it as best I can? Do I exhibit fleshly behaviors that betray a lack of growth in Christ? If so, how can my pastors and fellow Christians help me to grow? If I am a mature Christian, who am I discipling to greater growth in Christ? My own children? Someone else within the church?

Whatever stage you find yourself within your spiritual growth, may we all fully understand and live out the elementary doctrines of God’s Word and grow yet more in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18).

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A Theology of Woman from Proverbs 5-7: A Foolish Woman to Avoid

By | September 5, 2024
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This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series A Theology of Woman

This blog series is adapted from Sunday School lessons I wrote several years ago for women and teen girls. The goal was to form a “theology of woman” by looking chronologically at all of the major portions of Scripture regarding women and womanhood. What does the Bible say are the roles, duties, challenges, and opportunities that we have as women?

While the warnings regarding the “Proverbs 7 Woman” are addressed to men, the implications of the warnings apply to women.  Although not every aspect of the description of this woman is a problem area or temptation for every woman, we all should be duly warned against any aspect of ungodliness exampled in her. The Proverbs 7 Woman models how not to live as a godly woman.

Her Background 

She is a married woman.

Though married, she is unfaithful in her marriage.  To the “young man lacking sense” who wandered by her house in the dark of night (Proverbs 7:6-9) she assures:

“My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.” (Proverbs 7:19-20)

Her husband, probably a merchant, is gone on a business trip and will not be home for a while.  It’s dark at night now, and he won’t be home until the full moon.

She is the kind of adulterous woman who forsakes her marriage, the covenant she has made before God (cf. Malachi 2:14-15).

“The adulteress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.” (Proverbs 2:16-17)

The Hebrew word companion is used two other times in Proverbs, both times translated as “friend” (cf. Prov 16:28; 17:9).  She had made a covenant of marriage with her friend whom she married. Obviously, their marriage and friendship had begun to break down before this encounter.

She is a “religious” woman.

“She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, ‘I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.’” (Proverbs 7:13-15)

These vow offerings she offered were voluntary peace offerings, in which she made an offering as thanks to God for an answer to a prayer. Unlike many other offerings, the giver was able to take the bread, pastries, and meat home to eat (considered a luxury!). The giver, being rightly related to God, was supposed to then share the feast with her family as a symbol of joyous communion and fellowship with God.

This woman clearly was hypocritical in all of these religious acts.  In fact, she was devious in the midst of her “worship.” She chose to give an expensive offering which she knew required a feast afterward at a time when her husband was gone. It seems that she may have used this as a ploy to make herself look godly and well-respected to her victim as well as to entice him to her home under false—even seemingly godly—pretenses.

Her Mindset

In the father’s description of this forbidden woman to his son, he said:

“Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.” (Proverbs 5:5-6)

The word ponder means “to mentally weigh” something[1]. She does not carefully think about what she is doing. As a result of her careless thinking, she wanders. Wander means “to stagger, shake, or waver.” She does not even realize she has no direction. Yet, her careless thought pattern leads her steps to death. Her undisciplined mind has eternal consequences.

Her Heart

“And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.” (Proverbs 7:10)

She is “wily of heart.” The word wily can mean “guarded or hidden.”[2] In this context, wily refers to her subtlety and craftiness. She has a secret agenda, and she is willing to do whatever she must to manipulate her victim.

Delilah is a prime example of this wily, manipulative heart (cf. Judges 16:4-20). Her manipulative heart led to evil plans and actions.

Her Appearance

While her heart has a secret agenda, her clothing choices certainly do not. She dresses “as a prostitute” (Proverbs 7:10). Her clothing choices, in reality, reveal her heart. She is seeking out someone who is not her husband, and she dresses for the job.

Her Attitude

“She is loud and wayward.” (Proverbs 7:11a)

Loud

The Hebrew word implies “to make a noise. . . to roar, be agitated. . . to be turbulent.”[3] She is flashy, gaudy, showy, theatrical, unrestrained, sassy, cocky, and pushy. She’s a “girl with an attitude!” However, Proverbs 9:13 says of the loud “Lady Folly” that she “knows nothing.” She is foolish and stupid.

Wayward

The Hebrew word means “stubborn. . . against God.”[4] This is a woman who demands her own way and refuses to be instructed or led.

Today’s culture praises these characteristics as virtues. The world renames them as “self-assertiveness” and “female empowerment.” However, God calls them sin.

Her Routine

“She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.” (Proverbs 7:11-12)

She was always out and about. She had neglected her priority—her home. Her physical routine drove her out of the home, and her mental focus was most certainly elsewhere.

Her Methods

Nonverbal communication

“Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes.” (Proverbs 6:25)

Women like the Proverbs 7 Woman can capture men with their eyelashes. They have learned to send messages to men using looks, touches, body movement, head tossing, etc. This is flirting, seduction, and sin when done outside of the marriage relationship.

Promises of pleasure

“I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.” (Proverbs 7:16-18)

She describes to her victim the beautiful and expensive bedspreads and linens that she had prepared for him.  The descriptions of such opulence imply a focus on extravagance that this woman had.

She also proposed that she and her victim delight in each other’s love all night.  The phrase “take our fill” means to satisfy. She was proposing that their rendezvous would satisfy and bring intense joy. She was a self-indulgent woman who wanted instant pleasure.

Her Speech

“So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.” (Proverbs 2:16)

“For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil.” (Proverbs 5:3)

“To preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.” (Proverbs 6:24)

“To keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.” (Proverbs 7:5)

“With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.” (Proverbs 7:21)

The most frequently mentioned descriptor of this woman is how she speaks or uses her words. Note especially 7:21—“With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him” (italics added). She speaks a lot, she speaks manipulatively, and she speaks deceptively in order to flatter.

Her Outcome

“But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.” (Proverbs 5:4-5)

Although she promises sweet enjoyments, her end is bitter. Her steps lead herself and those who go with her to death and judgment.

“All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.” (Proverbs 7:22-23)

Conclusion 

I don’t know anyone who waits at corners dressed as a prostitute. Most of us, as believers, strive to live godly lives, living out our professions to Christ and our faithfulness to our husbands (if married). Yet, it would help each of us to examine ourselves in order to make sure that we do not practice any of the thoughts, attitudes, actions, or speech of the Proverbs 7 Woman. It is not too late to change any or all of these ungodly habits. All of our actions, words, clothing choices, and attitudes stem from our hearts. May the love of God so captivate our hearts so that we point others to him and live a life that shows the glory of a changed heart by God’s grace.

 

****Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild by Mary Kassian greatly aided my thinking as I put together this lesson/post.

[1] James Strong, A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 95.

[2] Ibid, 79.

[3] Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), 250.

[4] Ibid, 770.

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God’s Faithfulness, Election, and Israel (Romans 9:1–13)

By | September 5, 2024
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Romans 9–11 is a difficult and debated section of Scripture in terms of God’s role in salvation and ethnic Israel’s role in the redemptive plan of God. Over the next few weeks, I hope to crystallize my own thoughts about these chapters into a few posts, passage by passage, as we work through this section of Scripture as a church, making devotional comments along the way.

Reminding ourselves of the context, Paul has just focused on the glory that will certainly come to us who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:18–39). As for Israel, however, Paul’s prose turns to pain for his “kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:3). He has “great sorrow and unceasing anguish” for Israelites who do not believe even though God’s many blessings belong to them (Rom 9:1–5).

These first five verses set the tenor for Romans 9–11 and should guide our discussions about these matters as well. To speak of “God’s purpose of election” (Rom 9:11) involves speaking of those who are not the elect—those whose fate should bring great sadness to our hearts. We should also remember that, as mysterious and incomprehensible as it is to us and our finite minds, God justly holds unbelievers accountable not on the basis of His promises and election but on the basis of their rejection of Him (cf. Rom 1:18–20; 2:8–9).

Paul then heads all that follows with this hopeful statement: “But it is not as though the word of God has failed” (Rom 9:6). If “the word of God” here involves the promise of salvation for all of Israel (cf. Rom 11:26a), and if most Israelites are presently “accursed and cut off from Christ” (Rom 9:3), how can we understand God to be faithful to His promises?

This is no small issue. If God made salvation promises to an Israel who has rejected these promises, how are to feel about God’s salvation promises to us in Romans 1–8? Will we fail to realize these promises as well?

Paul immediately explains God’s faithfulness to His word with this principle: “Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (Rom 9:6b). God never meant to save every single Israelite but only a spiritual remnant of Israelites within ethnic Israel as a whole (cf. Rom 2:28–29; Gal 6:16; e.g., Rom 11:1).

Two examples illustrate this principle of selectivity (Rom 9:7–13). First, God chose Isaac to receive His promises and not all of Abraham’s children. Only “the children of promise are counted as offspring,” a “counting” that comes by faith (Rom 9:7–9; cf. 4:3). Second, God chose Jacob to receive His promises and not Esau (Rom 9:10–13), a choice that could only be God’s because it was before their birth, with no thought to their works, and given to the younger of the twins. Verses quoted along the way are Gen 18:10, 14; 21:12; 25:23; and Mal 1:2–3.

If you think God’s selection of who receives His promises is unfair, Paul answers this matter as well and defends the justice and sovereignty of God in the verses to follow, which I hope to discuss in the weeks ahead.

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What Then Shall We Say? (Romans 8:31–39)

By | August 29, 2024
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Is eternal life really eternal? Does my salvation really last forever? Will my present standing in Christ truly result in glorification? Will heaven be mine one day?

Romans 8:31–39 answers these questions in multiple ways. This passage powerfully teaches the doctrine of eternity security—that once we are saved, we will always be saved, thanks to our righteous, loving God.

Paul begins this passage with a question, “What then shall we say to these things?” (Rom 8:31). In order to fully appreciate Rom 8:31–39, we must remind ourselves what “these things” are—the promises of glorification and eternal life, matters found not only in Romans 8 but all the way back to Romans 5. We have the hope of eternal life (Rom 5:1–11) because we have faith in Christ who obeyed, died, was raised, and now lives in heaven for us (Rom 5:12–21). We battle indwelling sin, but God’s grace to us through union with Christ gives us a newness of life whereby we live unto Him in His Son (Rom 6:1–14). We no longer live under sin and death but unto obedience, righteousness, and God (Rom 6:15–23). We have died to attempting righteousness on our own because we now belong to Christ (Rom 7:1–6). We live not by the power of our flesh affected by indwelling sin, but by the Spirit who has liberated us in Christ Jesus from the power of this sin (Rom 8:1–17). Even in spite of suffering, we overcome, and glory is ours one day (Rom 8:18–30).

“These things” now in mind, “What then shall we say?”

Romans 8:31–34 yields the first round of answers by asking more questions, primarily of a legal nature. Glorification and eternal life are certain because “God is for us,” proven by sending His Son for us (Rom 8:32). Christ suffered for our condemnation, a sentence that every charge of sin would have brought our way (Rom 8:33–34a). More than that, Christ Jesus was raised, sits at the right hand of God, and intercedes for us (Rom 8:34b). In other words, God raised our Savior and Advocate, brought Him to His throne, and listens to Him to speak on our behalf—and God sent His Son to do all that for us. Certainly, “God is for us”!

Romans 8:35–39 then speaks to our relationship with God and dramatically emphasizes that neither person (Rom 8:35, “Who) nor thing (Rom 8:37, “all these things”) can sever us from God’s love. These verses begin by asking if anyone can “separate us from the love of Christ” (Rom 8:35a). They conclude that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39b). Whatever the trial may be, wherever it might take place, whoever may be behind it, whenever it may happen (cf. Rom 8:35b–39a)—the love of God in Christ to His children is for both now and forever.

So, yes—and emphatically so—your eternal life is eternal, your salvation lasts forever, and you will be glorified in heaven one day. Praise God through Christ Jesus our Lord!

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The Spirit’s Prayer and the Father’s Promise in Romans 8:26–30

By | August 22, 2024
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The Holy Spirit helps us on our way to heaven. He lives within us, empowering us for good and enabling us for service, and He endeavors by praying for us to the Father. Romans 8:26–27 teaches us about the Spirit’s ministry of intercession.

Some of what Romans 8:26–27 teaches is fairly clear. Our human weakness limits our ability to pray as we ought, and, when our prayers are insufficient or absent due to ignorance, the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God. Other matters are not so clear, however. What are the groanings of the Spirit? And how does the Spirit groan within our hearts?

In context, “groanings” recalls the groaning of creation and the sons of God (cf. Rom 8:22–23). This groaning is a longing to be freed from sin and corruption and to be fully redeemed—to be glorified and thus no longer living in perishing bodies, fighting our indwelling sin, and suffering on occasion. But the Spirit Himself is God and must therefore groan in some other way. As He lives within us, His groanings are for us—not only that He would bring about our glorification one day, but also that He would enable us to overcome until then according to the will of God (cf. Rom 8:18–25).

The Father hears the Spirit’s petitions as He searches our hearts to know the Spirit’s prayerful mind for us. There in the heart, in words that we ourselves cannot utter or express due to our human weakness, the Spirit intercedes and communicates His mind to the Father on our behalf. These prayers are comprehensible petitions to the Father for us to carry out His will. “Groanings,” then, are not inarticulate expressions of the Spirit in our hearts or somehow through us as we pray. Rather, these groanings are inaudible to us and thus metaphorical. Still, though they are apart from our consciousness and comprehension, they are meaningful prayers by the Spirit, given to God on our behalf.

Stated another way, the Spirit really wants us to get to glory and prays for us to persevere according to the will of God. He prays in a way that, due to our weakness, we do not comprehend. But that doesn’t mean that the Spirit’s prayer is incomprehensible to God. The Father receives these prayers that the Spirit prays within our hearts, praying for us to persevere and achieve our future glory.

Adding to our encouragement, Romans 8:28–30 then promises the answer to these prayers. All things work together for our eschatological glory and good—in part, due to the Spirit’s prayers. What God planned of our salvation from eternity past will certainly come to be. We will be perfectly conformed to the image of His Son and glorified with Him.

Praise God for His promises to us, and praise God for the Spirit who prays for us to accomplish His will as God accomplishes His purpose in us!

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The Pilgrim’s Promise (Psalm 121)

By | August 16, 2024
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Psalm 121 contains “the pilgrim’s promise” for us today as we journey through life toward heaven. The promise is this—the Lord is our help and keeper, whatever life brings our way.

Like its companions in Psalms 120–134, Psalm 121 is “A Song of Ascents,” a song sung while ascending to Jerusalem for one of the annual feasts. These psalms begin from a distance (Ps 120:5–6), go to Jerusalem (Ps 122:1–2), and end in worship at the house of the Lord (Ps 134). Though Psalm 121 would be sung on the way to Jerusalem, its truths are necessary to know before the journey begins.

My help comes from the Lord (Psalm 121:1–2).

The psalmist begins by looking to the mountains and seeking to identify his help for his journey. The Lord, of course, is his help, the one who made heaven and earth. Certainly the Creator can guide a pilgrim on a path within His created realm.

In the next six verses, the psalmist no longer speaks to himself in the first person but writes as if someone were responding to him, perhaps to prepare the pilgrim for his journey. The focus is on the Lord and what he does—he keeps, a verb used six times in these six verses (Psalm 121:3, 4, 5, 7 [2x], 8). These “keeping” truths could be stated in three ways.

The Lord will never not keep you (Psalm 121:3–4).

Two negatives in the English language cancel each other out to emphasize what is true. This concept is similar to the Hebrew negatives in Psalm 121:3–4. The Hebrew word behind “not” and “neither… nor” is typically used in prayer. The idea, then, is that if the psalmist had any doubt about the safety of his feet on the journey or about the Lord’s attentiveness to dangers along the way, the Lord would certainly not sleep while watching him or all of Israel.

The Lord will keep you, day and night (Psalm 121:5–6).

Located centrally in this psalm is the promise, “the Lord is your keeper,” pictured as “shade on your right hand,” a comfort immediately nearby for someone traveling the hot roads to the temple in Jerusalem. And, whether the sun by day or the moon by night, whatever the danger may be from each luminary or during their time in the sky, the Lord would keep and protect the pilgrim through it all.

The Lord will keep you, in every way and for all time (Psalm 121:7–8).

These closing verses are much like a benediction. The language is exclusive (all evil), personal (your life), extensive (going out and coming in), temporal (this time forth), and eternal (and forevermore)—all aspects of the Lord’s protecting ministry of keeping his pilgrim safe. What began as help for the hills now brings the pilgrim home again, and not only that, but for any going or coming, for this time and forever. Our Lord will bring us home.

Where is life taking you today? Can you trust the Lord to keep you at this time? The Father sent His Son to die for us, live again, and watch over us from heaven until He comes again. Not only does the Lord watch over us right now, but He will send His Son one day to bring us to heaven where He will keep us forever.

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The Faith of Closing the Casket

By | August 5, 2024
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As I watched the funeral director guiding my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephews to fold in the casket lining and close the casket, I remember having to suppress a slight feeling of panic. Closing the casket on my nephew meant that he couldn’t breathe anymore. I had to remind myself that what we were saying goodbye to was the mere shell of my nephew.

I felt the feeling again at the burial. We stayed and watched as they lowered his flower-covered casket into the ground. We backed up as they brought in machines to lower the cement lid of the burial vault. Then we saw a bulldozer rumble up and push the dirt into the grave and tamp the dirt down with its bucket. I kept imagining my nephew in there, completely covered.

Again, I had to remind myself that he was not there. But that takes faith. My memory could still see him lying there. My mothering instinct wanted to rescue him. But I had to believe that he was actually absent from his body.

He was not simply just absent from his body, however; he was and is present with the Lord. Paul told the Corinthians, “We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” (2 Cor 5:6). He contrasts the state of the living with their desire in verse 8: “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

Why should we rather be away from the body? Why should we prefer being with the Lord? Paul explained this in the first five verses of 2 Corinthians 5. In our earthly bodies, this temporary “tent,” “we groan” (vv. 2,4). Even when the “tent that is our earthly home is destroyed” through death, believers are assured that “we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (v.1).

Believing these truths as you watch a loved one’s casket close and be covered in dirt takes faith. But our faith is founded in a faithful God. Thus, we can repress our panic. We can grieve with grace and joy. We can praise our God through our tears.

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. (2 Corinthians 5:5–6a)

 

 

The Witness of the Spirit in Romans 8:16

By | August 4, 2024
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Romans 8:16 asserts, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” What does this verse mean?

The verb “bears witness with” is all one word in the Greek (summartureō), a combination of the preposition “with” (sun) and the verb “to bear witness” (martureō). Paul uses this verb only two other times. First, in Romans 2:15, just as one’s good actions are one witness to the work of the law on the heart, the “conscience also bears witness” to the rightness or wrongness of these actions. Second, in Romans 9:1, just as Paul claimed that he himself spoke the truth, so also he affirmed this truth by asserting, “my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit” (NASB95).

Just as we see a double witness in both Romans 2:15 and 9:1, so also we see two witnesses in Romans 8:16. One witness is the Holy Spirit. The other witness is the Christian’s spirit. The content of this double witness is clearly stated: “that we are the children of God.” When our own spirit witnesses within us that we are the children of God, we consequently “cry, ‘Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15). But how exactly and to whom the Holy Spirit bears witness are matters over which good people disagree.

Some emphasize a witness by the Spirit that is externally manifest for the Christian to see. In context, the Christian “by the Spirit” chooses to “put to death the deeds of the body” and lives a life “led by the Spirit of God” (Rom 8:12–13). Thus, the Spirit’s witness is a transformed life, something that would only be true of a son of God.

Others understand the Holy Spirit’s witness as something internal, something from the Spirit to the Christian alone. Romans 8:15 identifies “the Spirit of adoption” as the One “by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!” Then, though no formal language connects Romans 8:15 to 8:16 (e.g., “because” or “for”), Romans 8:16 could nonetheless function to explain how the Spirit enables such a cry—by witnessing with the Christian’s spirit that he is a son of God. So, the Spirit witnesses with and somehow to the Christian that he is a son of God. As a result, the Christian will naturally “cry, Abba! Father!” (Rom 8:15). In this understanding, what is left unstated is how exactly the Spirit witnesses to the Christian’s spirit. A cessationist must see this witness as non-revelatory, and this witness could be described as mystical in the sense that it cannot be explained.

The Spirit’s saving work within a believer inevitably shows itself tangibly in that person’s life—the Spirit liberates the believer in Christ Jesus from sin and leads him to live a righteous life (cf. Romans 8:1–13). This Spirit-led obedience to Christ is one means of assuring him that he is a son of God. Additionally, Rom 8:16 could be understood to teach that the Spirit internally assures the Christian of his spiritual sonship, resulting in his cry to the Father above.

Five Verses on Adoption in the New Testament

By | August 3, 2024
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The New Testament uses the word adoption (huiothesia) five times. Theologically, “Adoption means to be placed as an adult son of God and given all the rights and privileges of a son.”1 What can we learn about adoption from these five verses?

The Adoption of Israel

Paul states of the Israelites in Romans 9:4 that “to them belong the adoption” and many other privileges (cf. Romans 9:4–5). Israel’s adoption does not mean that each Israelite is a believer and thus a son of God (cf. Rom 9:6; 11:25) but rather refers to God’s adoption of the nation as a whole. Israel is God’s “firstborn son” (Exod 4:22), a nation of “sons of the Lord your God” in the sense that God chose them from among the nations to be a treasured people unto Himself (Deut 14:1–2).

Distinct from Israel’s national adoption, the other four verses speak of the Father’s adoption of each believer into a saving relationship with Him.

The Adoption of Believers in Eternity Past

Ephesians 1:5 states that the Father “predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” In eternity past, predicated by His love (Eph 1:4), and on the basis of the saving work of Jesus Christ, God chose some to be His sons who would otherwise be outside of His family and thus the realm of salvation.

The Adoption of Believers in Christ

The Father sent His Son “so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5). It is only “in Christ Jesus,” Paul explains, that “you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:26). As believers, Paul explains in Romans 8:15 that we “have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (cf. Galatians 4:6). Not only are we adopted, an objective and legal matter, but the Spirit also assures us of this adoption by moving us to pray to God as our Father.

The Adoption of Believers Fully Realized in the Future

Romans 8:23 describes a future benefit of our present adoption as believers: “we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Though we are indeed the sons of God by faith now and know this reality through the work of the Spirit in us, we also await our resurrection and glorification because we are the sons of God.

When Christ returns, we will not only be God’s “children” but “heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17). May God help us to persevere as His sons as we look forward to what our Father has in store for us—resurrection, glorification, and inheritance above.

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  1. Rolland McCune, A Systematic Theology of Biblical Christianity: The Doctrines of Salvation, the Church, and Last Things (Allen Park, MI: Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, 2010), 115. [↩]