Romans
4:1-25 - Salvation is not a ‘reward’
to be ‘earned’. It is God’s ‘gift’ (4-5). Salvation comes from the Lord.
‘God so loved the world that He gave His only Son’ (John 3:16): Without
the love of God, the gift of God, the Son of God, there can be no
salvation. The way of salvation does not begin with the word ‘I’. Jesus
Christ is the Way. He is the Saviour. Salvation is in Him (John 14:6;
Matthew 1:21; Acts 4:12). Looking to ‘Jesus our Lord’, crucified and
raised for our salvation, we are saved and we give ‘glory to God’
(20-25). We rejoice in ‘God our Saviour’ – ‘He saved us, not because of
deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of His own
mercy…’(Titus 3:4-7). Looking away from ourselves to Christ, we learn
the truth of God’s Word: ‘it is on the basis of faith that it may rest
on grace’ (16). This is Good News!
5:1-21 - God has great things
in store for His people! (a) ‘Much more’ (9-10): ‘Justified by Christ’s
blood’, ‘reconciled to God’, ‘We shall be saved by Christ from the wrath
of God’, ‘saved by His life’. (b) ‘Much more’ (15,17): ‘The grace of
God’ has ‘abounded for many’. In Christ, we have ‘received the abundance
of grace and the free gift of righteousness’. Through Him, we shall
‘reign in life’. (c) ‘More than that’ (3): Our pathway to eternal glory
will not be easy. There will be ‘suffering’. God has given us a glimpse
of our eternal destiny: ‘grace reigning through righteousness to eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (21). ‘We rejoice in our hope of
sharing the glory of God’ (2). Having caught sight of the heavenly and
eternal glory, we see our ‘suffering’ in a new light, the light of
‘God’s love’ (3-5).
6:1-23 - (a) ‘We know that our old self was
crucified’ (6) – What a great thing God has done! He has made you ‘a new
creation in Christ’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). (b) ‘Consider yourselves dead
to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus’ (11) – Believe it . This is
what the Lord has done: ‘you are not in the flesh, you are in the
Spirit… the Spirit of God dwells in you… Christ is in you… the Spirit of
Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you… His Spirit dwells in
you’ (8:9-11). (c) ‘Yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought
from death to life’ (13) – Act upon it’. ‘Walk in newness of life’ (4).
Live as those whom God has made new. We are ‘not under law but under
grace’ (14). Keep your eyes fixed on the Saviour and your obedience will
be Gospel obedience and not merely legal obedience.
7:1-25 -
God’s purpose is not easily fulfilled in us. Our battle with sin is
extremely intense. There is a great conflict going on within us. ‘The
Spirit’ and ‘the flesh’ are at war with each other (Galatians 5:17). God
has given us His Spirit – ‘we serve… in the new life of the Spirit’
(6). We are still sinners – ‘I am carnal, a slave to sin’ (14). These
are two sides of the one coin. The Spirit is within us yet we remain
sinners. Honestly confessing our sin, we say, ‘Wretched man that I am!’.
Gladly rejoicing in our Saviour, we say, ‘Thanks be to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord!’ (24-25). Despite our many defeats, we say,
‘Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord’ (8:39). Wait for ‘the final result’: ‘God gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Corinthians 15:57).
No comments:
Post a Comment