The Duty of the Gospel

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The Duty of the Gospel

Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans
by Bob Burridge ©2011

Lesson 5: Romans 1:13-17

Some people love to give advice. Someone in a group mentions that he has a head ache or a stomach ache, then the suggestions and remedies begin. Each person has a strongly recommended cure. You might casually mention that you need to pick a vacation spot. Before long everyone is a travel agent. They all want you to go to some special place. Or when you say you are thinking about buying a car it’s not uncommon to hear story after story of car buying horrors or personal testimonials of favorite cars to own. This is the way we often learn and get information. The things our trusted friends have found helpful are much appreciated.

When a person brings up things relating to God’s law and justice, of things relating to his soul, he speaks of far greater matters than relief of a headache, where to go on vacation, or buying a car. Most headaches go away, bad vacation choices often give us great stories to tell. Even buying a lemon of a car is something we can survive. But the needs of the soul are eternal, far more important than these other matters.

It’s strange that believers often feel conflicted to help others with important spiritual advice. Few hesitate to advise about taking aspirin, buying a Saturn, or taking a trip to Bush Gardens, but to tell someone at work they need Christ’s forgiveness, to tell a family member they will not find peace outside of living by God’s ways, or suggesting to a neighbor to honor the Sabbath day as God commandment, these issues are seen as bing much harder to bring up.

There should be something in the soul of a true believer in Christ that presses on his conscience to let others know about the gospel that has meant so much to him, a gospel that not only gives eternal life, but also satisfies his deepest needs, and enables him to live in a way pleasing to God.

Sadly, believers often hesitate to speak out for the gospel of Christ. We are all well aware of how such messages are often received. Strange cults have given religious advice a bad reputation. The current morality condemns and scoffs at anyone who believes in absolutes and truth. The real message of the gospel humbles a person and points out his need. Today, people have come to religiously believe that man’s soul has no real problem, that he’s fully able to help himself without God. Many who say they trust in the finished work of Christ are not confident that God can make his plan work without our help.

Modern prejudice has put an anxiety in people’s hearts. They may really want to help,but they don’t want to alienate friends, build barriers, or drive them somewhere else. This presents a great temptation not to say anything, or to modify the message making it more acceptable to the fallen heart.

Paul faced attacks and rejection when he presented the gospel of God. He was shouted at, ridiculed, exiled from cities, beaten, stoned almost to death, accused of imagined crimes, arrested on false charges, jailed, and eventually executed. But until death itself silenced him, he kept on presenting that life changing message. Here in Romans 1:13-17 we see a glimpse of what helped him overcome his anxieties. Paul offers some principles as remedies to help us faithfully represent Christ to a lost world.

A person growing in Christ is compelled to testify about the gospel.

Paul had a great desire that could not just let the issue drop. In Romans 1:13 he said, “Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.”

In verse 15 of the same chapter he wrote, “So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.”

In our study of verses 8-12 we saw Paul’s strong desire to fellowship with the believers in Rome. He wanted to care for them, and to enjoy their fellowship and encouragement for himself. But there was work to be done in many other places in the world also. So God, in his providence, had not yet provided for Paul to go to Rome.

Yet, in spite of all the threats, dangers and personal sacrifices involved, something inside him kept pressing on his heart to teach those at Rome about God’s message of grace in the Messiah. He did the only thing he could do considering the circumstances. He took time to write this very well planned and organized letter to Rome summarizing the message of the Gospel.

Where did Paul find that power that overcame the threats of his enemies? that so willingly accepted challenging inconveniences? What was it that made him willing to risk even his friendships which he had in his career as a respected Rabbi?

It came from a life transforming work on his soul, the very fruit of the Gospel itself. No one can be a witness for Christ by the mere words they speak. They must be personal recipients of God’s saving Grace themselves. He puts life into us which can be seen by others. He produces a change in us.

Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus in Ephesians 2:5 where he said, “even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”

Our new life in Christ shows through us as a testimony to the power of God, not to our own power. Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

If we are redeemed, the inner change ought to compel us to tell others about God’s nature and promises. In 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8 Paul wrote, “so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.”

Paul also put it clearly in his letter to the believers in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 9:16 he wrote, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”

Peter and John were often persecuted for their message. They were threatened, jailed, and beaten. When told by men to silence the message, they explained the same inner conviction in Acts 4:19-20, “But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’ ”

There is no reason for shame in the gospel. In Romans 1:16 Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

There is nothing about which to be shy. Its message really helps people. Your personal remedy for a headache may not work for everyone. Your dream car may turn out to be a nightmare to someone else. But God’s remedy for the soul in Christ has no defects when it is presented honestly and received with a God-given faith.

Of course you know that the un-redeemed soul will not see it that way. Is that why you hesitate to tell others? In Paul’s time the promoters of the many Roman gods saw Christianity’s belief in just one God as atheism. The Jews saw Paul as one who was bringing in gentile culture and subverting their traditions. Together they ridiculed, and persecuted the Apostle.

Considering all that, when warned of his arrest in Jerusalem, Paul said, “… For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21:13)

He boldly entered Athens where he faced the philosophers alone. He went to Jerusalem where he was arrested, just as had been foretold to him. Later he came to Rome as a prisoner to face trial in the courts of the Empire. In each case he stood as a clear spokesman for Christ. He could not hold back out of fear from all the intimidation and threats.

Paul understood why those who needed the message of Christ would be opposed to him. God explained it in many places in Scripture and Paul summarized the problem in his First Letter to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 1:23 he said, “but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.” Then in 1 Corinthians 2:14 he explained, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

We should not let the unbeliever’s wrong assessment of his own need silence us. Paul encouraged young Timothy saying, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:80). In verse 12 of the same chapter he explained his own confidence which overcame his intimidation, “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” (2 Timothy 1:12).

No religion is as offensive to the pride of man and stirs his anger as much as the true gospel. Instead of telling men they are basically OK, it tells them they are in eternal danger and have offended the eternal God beyond any hope of repair. It calls them to admit their own inability and rest in God’s Savior alone. Fallen man hates to admit to things like that.

Don’t let that keep you from telling God’s truth. There is a strong temptation to hide parts of God’s truth, or to make up messages more appealing to lost hearts than the true one.

Transformed people will love the plain, unvarnished truth of God. To those who are made alive in Christ, the gospel is a wonderful message. However, it begins with a sobering truth that must not be hidden. We dare not sugar coat it with a deceptive lie to tell the unbeliever.

We twist God’s word if we say, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” Eternity in the fires of hell? Is that the wonderful plan? Yet it God’s plan for many fallen humans. It is where we all deserve to spend eternity according to God’s word. That’s where the masses of humanity will end up. Only those who are washed in the blood of Christ are rescued from that.

Now that’s a hard doctrine! It may cause you to not speak out, or to change it. God forbid that we should be ashamed of the real good news, the truth of God.

Dr. Haldane observed, “The more the Gospel is corrupted, the more its peculiar features are obscured by error, the less do we observe of the shame it is calculated to produce. It is in fact the fear of opposition and contempt that often leads to the corruption of the Gospel.”

God’s truth will always be despised by the unregenerate. It challenges that most loved myth of man’s independence and his imagined ability to determine his own path. It shakes up his security and brings him face to face with the Almighty and Holy God he has offended.

Jesus said, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)

Therefore to overcome your shame in the gospel it must first have its powerful work in you. It is the Gospel alone that transforms and produces that compelling desire that is greater than our own self-comforts and defenses. Once you are his, the most important way to become a better representative for Christ is to better know Christ yourself. When the gospel grows in you, it will compel you to testify eagerly about the gospel.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

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Special From the Start

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Special From the Start

Video presentation of this lesson
Westminster Shorter Catechism Q:12
by Bob Burridge ©2011

It’s no wonder that so many people complain about depression. They are surrounded by so called “experts” telling them they are just an evolutionary accident. To make it worse, some say we humans are the bad accident that is destroying the rest of the world.

If we are just a cosmic curiosity that emerged by pure chance without purpose or meaning, then our immediate feelings and pleasures would be all that counts.

When people think they are just another animal let loose in a meaningless world to serve themselves, it is understandable that there is so much selfish violence when someone gets in the way. There could be no standard of morality that makes some things just plain wrong. There would be little to get excited about beyond what brings personal pleasure. The malignancy that grows from that is the life-numbing apathy that is so common today.

In such a world, there can be no accountability beyond what immediate benefits the individual. That makes people want others to do the hard work of managing their responsibilities. That idea is being promoted in our culture. It permeates education, some music, movies, games, economics, politics, social theory, personal relationships, and much of current trends in theology.

According to Atheist Jacques Monod, “… man at last knows that he is alone in the universe’s unfeeling immensity, out of which he emerged only by chance. His destiny is nowhere spelled out, nor is his duty. The kingdom above or the darkness below: it is for him to choose.”

Albert Einstein may have been a good physicist, but he studied a universe he misunderstood. He proved that even great intellects can miss the obvious. He once said, “I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern without any superhuman authority behind it.”

This is what is believed by most of those who report what we think of as news, who make our movies, who write our magazines, construct video games, and make our music.

Humans are not just one little insignificant piece
in a vast evolving universe.

We are not just equal members of a created array of living things. The Bible tells us that we were created to be special agents for promoting the Creator’s glory. We humans are here in God’s world for a reason – each one of us.

Even before humanity fell into sin through Adam, God revealed something amazing. There is a covenant relationship between us and our Creator. It is important that we understand what we were made to be from the beginning, and what Jesus Christ restores us to be when he redeems us to be his people.

The 12th question of our Shorter Catechism teaches about how special humans are. It asks, “What special act of providence did God exercise towards man, in the estate wherein he was created?”

The answer it gives is very simple — but profound, “When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.”

A covenant is a very special type of promise.

The Bible talks a lot about covenants, but this i’s a foreign idea in our 21st century culture. It is not like the contracts and agreements we make between two equals parties.

The Old Testament in Hebrew uses the word berit (ברית) to describe these covenants. It was a common word back when God moved Moses to use it in his books of the Bible. It was a term used in the ancient Hittite suzerainty treaties of that day.

There were basic elements in every covenant. When a king conquered a city or province, he was thought to have the right to kill all his enemies. Instead of just destroying all the people, the wise king often subjugated them. It was not a negotiated deal he worked out with representatives of the conquered citizens. He sovereignly imposed a covenant making promises based upon conditions.

The King promised he would not kill them even though he had a right to do so. He also promised that his army would protect them. The people had to pledge loyalty to the king, and do all that the king commanded. Usually that meant serving in his military, and paying taxes. The penalty for violating the treaty was death. There was a formal ratification ceremony to legalize the deal. Animals were dismembered to show what would happen to violators of the covenant.

After explaining all this from historical records, Dr. O. Palmer Robertson, in his book The Christ of the Covenants, defined these ancient covenants as, “a bond in blood sovereignly administered.”

God used this same word to explain his special providence toward the humans he created. The bond God made with man is referred to in the Bible as a berit (ברית), a covenant. As the Sovereign Creator, before the fall into sin, God promised life to Adam. He would protect and sustain him and all the humans he represented. They were obligated to loyally obey God, and to served him as caretakers of his creation.

We know that there was that tree in Eden called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was there to test their obedience. The tree of life represented God’s promise to them. However, man’s duties were more broad than just not eating from the forbidden fruit. There were several Creation Ordinances God gave to Adam.

In Genesis 1:26-28, the Bible tells about the creation of man. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ ”

Humans were made to honor and to be loyal to their Creator as their only God. They were to work in the garden to maintain it and exercise dominion over it. They acted in God’s place as representative masters over all that was made.

Adam and his wife were to produce offspring to fill the earth. In chapter 2, Genesis adds that they were to be faithful to one another.

When he finished his creation, God limited man’s work in a very special way. He was to work faithfully for six days, then set aside one full day of ceasing from that labor. That wasn’t Adam’s day to take it easy and rest up. It was a day dedicated to the Lord. The rest it speaks of is a ceasing from the labor he performed on other days to provide for his own needs. This would be a day for honoring the Creator in his ceasing from the works of Creation. Man’s work on that day was to worship their Maker very specially.

In Exodus 20:8-11 God said the Sabbath Commandment was based upon this creation ordinance. There it says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

The Sabbath wasn’t something new instituted at Mt. Sinai for Israel. It was a day to remember the Creation Command God announced at the beginning. There was to be a day of ceasing from what was done on the other six days.

This Covenant of Life was a gracious covenant because it was totally undeserved. Adam was newly created. He hadn’t done anything to deserve God’s blessings. The idea that grace and law are at odds with one another is a horrible misunderstanding. Law and Grace are not opposites. They must go together. Law informs us about what honors God. It reveals our sin when we disobey it. Grace removes our guilt, and enables us to do what honors God by his redeeming love.

Since the promise was life, the Westminster Shorter Catechism calls it a Covenant of Life. Some call it the Covenant of Works because of the condition of obedience placed upon Adam. It has been suggested that we should call it the Covenant of Creation.

These Creation Ordinances were later summarized in the Ten Commandments. They were each assumed to continue by Jesus and the Apostles. By the power and love of our Risen Savior we are forgiven and redeemed to keep them today. God demanded perfect and personal obedience to all these basic ordinances. There is no provision for only sometimes being faithful to God. No one is able to obey that perfectly. It is only when we are clothed in the righteousness of our Savior that we are counted as worthy to stand in the presence of the Creator we have offended.

As long as the humans fully obeyed the covenant instituted at Creation, God gave them life. If they disobeyed, even in one small forbidden act, that life would be taken away. They would be subject to physical death, and would die spiritually. The result is total alienation from God for themselves and for all those who would descend from them.

God’s Covenant in Eden was what we call a Federal relationship.

Adam represented all the human race. We were all there, represented by him. The Creation Covenant, all it’s commandments together with the blessings and punishments, were made through Adam, but with all of us federally. As Paul put it in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Adam’s first sin violated the covenant and made all he represented subject to death. In him we’re all fallen and deserve God’s wrath forever.

As the wise and Sovereign king, under no obligation to preserve any of the human race, God promised to redeem some from the fallen race to be his people, and for him to be their God.

This is what we call the Covenant of Grace. (We’ll take that up on more detail in a later study.) It is also referred to as a berit (ברית), a covenant, in the Bible. It was not deserved by us. It was sovereignly made with us at the cost of the shedding of the Savior’s blood.

Jesus the Messiah was the only one qualified to represent the fallen race other than Adam. Federally, as the representative of his people, the Savior died in their place.

The principle of federalism means that representatives act for those they represent. When our lawmakers pass a law, we all have to obey it. When congress declares war, we are all at war. if it is our personal choice or not. God tells us that Adam represented the whole human race. He also tells us that Jesus represented all of his people when he died and rose again.

It is interesting that people often object that it is unfair that we all fell in Adam. The fallen soul wants to be captain of its own fate. It rejects the biblical definition of God. It rebels at the idea that he has to pay for what Adam did.

The Creator built this principle into his creation. What he directly decrees cannot be wrong. He is the definition of what is right and wrong in the universe he made for his own purposes and glory. It is interesting that very few ever complain that it is unfair to be represented by Jesus. They don’t like it that we are all condemned by what Adam did, but few say it is not right to be redeemed by Jesus when he represented us on the Cross. He obeyed God’s law and died representing his people in the same type of federal relationship.

The key idea in this first covenant with man is the promise of life.

That is what God promised. In the end, that life is exactly what all his people will receive.

The path to that wonderful end is the adventure of human history. It is the continuing war between evil and good. It includes the attacks and calamities that come against us which are the fruits of that fall into sin. It is the victories God’s people enjoy when suffering is comforted, when disease is healed, when lonely people find love, when families are blessed with children, when lost hurting souls are redeemed by Christ, when humble believers gather together in humble worship, and when those rescued souls enjoy the beauty and wonder of the Creator’s Universe.

God’s Creation Covenant did not fail. It accomplished exactly all God intended it to. It set up the need that revealed his saving grace. It also shows that God made us special and that is what we ought to be. Those redeemed are to carry out the responsibilities he gave to Adam and to his posterity.

Enabled by the work of our Living Savior, Jesus Christ, the one who shed his blood in our place, we should be faithful managers of all God made. We are to use all God made for the Creator’s glory. We are to use it responsibly for our provisions. We should be faithful in our marriages, and in the raising of our children. We are to be hard workers doing our best in all we do, and doing it first of all for God’s glory. We should honor God’s Sabbath according to the rules he gave us in his word. We need to remain loyal to the one true God only, the one who made us.

The promises are still to be realized in full. One day, perhaps soon, maybe a long time in the distant future, the death imposed by Adam’s sin will be no more. We will enter an eternal and perfect place in the presence of our Maker. There he will sustain us in life, and we will joyfully and perfectly live for his glory. Forever he will be our God, and we who come through Christ will always be his people.

There will be no more tests, no more struggles or discomforts, no more war with evil, and no more waiting for victory to come some day. That day will come. It is at the end of the path we all struggle along every day. When we know the path, and the power and grace of the one who constructed it, we can enjoy the wait, find comfort even in the hard stretches of the journey.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Encouraged Together

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Encouraged Together

Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans
by Bob Burridge ©2011

Lesson 04: Romans 1:8-12

People were not created to be alone. We were created to be families and communities. We were created to work together to produce the things we need. We were commanded to organize into churches, and into governed societies. This can get frustrating at times. These groupings are as imperfect as the individuals that form them.

There are wrong ways of dealing with imperfect groups of people. Some people just withdraw and isolate themselves when they have a hard time with the behaviors of others. They might tolerate working with others in limited ways out of necessity, but they try not to develop close relationships. They may even attend worship, but limit their contacts with the others in the church beyond that.

Others keep jumping from group to group looking for a more perfect situation. They have little commitment to their workplace, community, and sometimes even to their family relationships. They often drift from job to job. They may even move from community to community. They are the ones who never find a church they like. To justify their lack of commitment they list all the faults and imperfections of those who make up or who lead the group.

This is not the way God taught us to live. If there are problems we need to become part of the solution. Loyalty and commitment are important character traits. We ought to develop them. The fallen world has abandoned those values in favor of a more self-serving ethic. Today loyalty and commitment ends when the going gets hard.

Marriages end for reasons not justified by God’s law. People leave their spiritual families in churches as easily as they leave their spouses. It’s hard for employers to afford new workers when they leave as soon as opportunity comes along, even after considerable expense has been made to train them.

Instead of abandoning others when problems arise, and in place of that critical spirit of finding faults, there ought to be mutual encouragement of one another in Jesus Christ. There is great joy in seeing God at work in families, churches, workplaces, and communities.

Paul appreciated the Roman church’s
great reputation which was spoken of world-wide.

Romans 1:8, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.”

The faith God had put into the hearts of the Roman believers was testifying powerfully. It provided a real-life demonstration that the gospel is God’s truth, it works!

In our study so far (Romans 1:1-7) we have seen that the gospel means “good news”. All humans are separated from God’s fellowship because of the offense of real moral guilt. Not just individual guilt, but primarily the guilt and corruption we inherit from Adam. But God made a promise in Eden after the first sin. One would come who would be born of a woman, who would suffer in place of God’s people and crush Satan.

As history unfolded more details were made known. By the time of the Apostle Paul, it had become clear that Jesus was that Promised One.

The good news that there are fallen humans who are reconciled with God through Jesus Christ had come to Rome too. The hearts of believers there had been changed by the power of God. Faith had been implanted along with life-transforming power. Good News indeed!

The watching world had seen the changes in the lives of the Roman believers. Paul calls believers “epistles.” In them, the world could see the effects of the gospel. In 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 Paul wrote, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”

Similarly Paul said to the believers in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8, “… you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.”

We should all be concerned to show the work of Christ in our lives. Others, both in the church and outside of it, will observe our words and actions. God’s truth and grace in Christ ought to be evident in us. Jesus said our lives should shine like light so that men might see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

The believers in Rome, were imperfect (we will see more of that as we continue), yet they were being a good testimony to the world of Christ’s life-transforming power.

Paul explained that he was in continual prayer
to praise God for what he had seen in them.

Romans 1:9, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,”

Similarly, when John saw other believers living as evidence of Christ’s power, he rejoiced. He wrote to them saying, “I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father.” (2 john 1:4), and “For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth.” (3 John 1:30).

Man’s fallen nature tends to become jealous about the success of others. However, we should not be just individuals trying to get gain for ourselves. We ought to learn to rejoice in the success of others. Specially others in the body of Christ. We are a family together with them. There should be evidence of certain family traits in each of us. The fruit of the Holy Spirit and our spiritual loyalty ought to mark us out.

There is a fundamental unity that we ought not ignore, even when things are imperfect. 1 Corinthians 1:10 says, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

There are also some limits placed upon our fellowship. There ought to be some kind of division that separate us from those who have no loyalty to Christ and to his church. There should be no confusion about who is a representative of Christ, and who is not. A compromising testimony by the church does not honor God. It confuses his message and obscures the gospel.

In that same letter to the Corinthians Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 5:9-13, “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner — not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person.’ ”

From the larger context we see that this is not about shunning those who sin. We would have no one left in our lives if we did that, since we are all sinners by God’s definition of it. The context is in the membership of the church. Those who continue to rebel against God’s standards unrepentantly should not be on the roll as members of God’s family. They are not rightly part of our spiritual family’s meals and trust. Out of respect for the standards God demands of his church, such people need to be put out of the church as long as they insist on defending their rebellious behaviors and attitudes. But we are not to be unkind to them. We are told to treat them as unbelievers and work to bring them to humble repentance and restoration to fellowship through the power of the gospel.

In his second letter to the church at Corinth Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.’ Therefore ‘Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.’ ”

When the church stands together, marked by loyalty, it presents a powerful testimony to the world. The goodness of God’s news is made plain by the transformation of lost souls woven together into a family of God.

We should set aside time in our prayers to praise God for his blessings upon his people. Paul’s prayer reminds us again of the wonders of Grace. Paul does not commend the Romans as if God had them to thank for the good testimony of the church. He thanks God for their obedience of faith. God is the one who works goodness in us. Nothing remains in which we can boast. There is no place for self-pride. Instead, we have a marvelous sense of God’s redeeming and sanctifying grace.

Paul had a compelling desire to be encouraged
together with the Roman believers.

Romans 1:10-12, “making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established — that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”

Paul very much wanted to go to Rome to see these believers in person. However, God had not provided the opportunity. When we study verse 13 we will see how Paul, though wanting to come to them, kept his own desires in submission to God and his greater and often hidden plan.

The Apostle’s purpose in wanting to go to Rome had two parts. On the one hand he wanted to build them up by imparting spiritual gifts to them. Some of that work was special to the office of Apostle. There were unique miraculous gifts in that Apostolic era for the building of the church’s foundation.

Some of the gifts to be imparted were a common work we all do as believers. By our fellowship we are to stir one another to spiritual growth. We help one another develop the fruit of the Spirit. We become mutual examples of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (see Galatians 5:22-23). In humility we correct one another when we fall into sin or into neglect of these fruits.

On the other hand Paul longed for himself to be encouraged by the believers in Rome too. Ministers and members of the church alike are important to one another in Christ.

The union we have as a church is very special. Our bond is not just because we have common interests, or like temperaments, or similar backgrounds and circumstances in our lives, or even plans for the future. Those may occur among us but our bond is much stronger than that. It is not just because we have common beliefs and convictions.

These are the things that cause union in the world too. But in the family of God there is an element the world cannot know. The special nature of our fellowship consists in our real spiritual union in Christ. We have an actual family bond. We have the same Father in heaven. We are joint heirs of eternal blessings in Christ. We are truly brothers and sisters spiritually.

In John 15:5 Jesus used a helpful analogy. He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

We all draw from the same nourishment. The same sap flows through us. Our spiritual life blood is the same. We share in the same covenant benefits, live by the same rules, and are one with the same Lord. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says,”But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

Paul wrote important instructions to the church in Ephesus. In Ephesians 4:2-6 he said, “with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

Though we have this unity, we are not all the same. Not by far. There is a diversity of gifts in the body of Christ. We are all very different from one another: We are born in different decades. We dress differently, wear our hair differently (for those who have it), and have different styles of speech. We have different talents and abilities. God has called us to different occupations.

1 Corinthians 12:14-18 explains it so well, “For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”

Every member of the body is vital to the whole. Paul adds in verse 22, “No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.” In verses 25-27 he says that we need to value every member of the church, “that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”

Because one of us has a gift, we all have it too as brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are a family in Christ.

Ever since I was very little, I’ve loved to take things apart. I disassembled radios, television sets, door bells, carburetors, kitchen faucets, and so on. Putting them back together was always harder. I know you have all had the experience in one way or another of putting parts together. It’s a bit unsettling when you have some parts left over. A few times I’ve ha to install new kitchen faucets. I remember once when there was a rubber washer left over. When I turned it on all seemed ok — until I tried the rinsing hose. Water sprayed all over. That little washer was important! Just as every component and wire is important to a radio of computer, so also every one of you is important to the proper functioning of the body of Christ.

What happens when a vital part of the body is missing? even just for a while? Can you imagine what it would be like if your body parts only worked once-in-a-while? What if your eye or a particular finger only was available occasionally? What if a lung shut down unexpectedly every few days? Could you be just as effective if you never knew when you would have to do without an arm or leg for a day? or for a week? Think of what it would be like walking down the street and a foot unexpectedly decided to shut down for a while.

That is why it is important to have regular attendance in the church. When attendance is occasional, it’s like occasional paralysis. Each part contributes to the whole. It could be a little story, or experience in your life, a little personal insight or a lesson you’ve learned, or how you smile at one of the children, or when you show a bit of humility among the adults. These each may seem insignificant to you in casual conversation over refreshments after worship, but maybe that little gesture or comment is exactly what someone else needs to see or hear.

When one person is absent it effects the whole — as when a family member is gone. Of course sometimes God in his providence keeps us away. We may get sick, or may be called out of town, or travel on vacation. Unless we can’t be there by reason of God’s providence, we have a job to do for Christ as part of his family.

Jesus Christ has called each one of us to family union and Kingdom service. Don’t cripple the body by withholding that talent or experience God has entrusted to you. It ought not be a chore to be with God’s people in worship on the Lord’s Day. It ought not to feel as if you are making a sacrifice. Being there instead of home watching TV, or sleeping in, is an important family duty. Getting to bed decently on Saturday night so you can get here on time Sunday morning, ought to be a satisfying preparation for your service to the church, and for fulfilling your part as the whole body comes together to worship the God who saved us.

We each have a joint obligation to devote our gifts to the glory of Christ, and the growth of the body of his church. It is a job for which we need to make preparations. We need to take our Christian responsibilities seriously. Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”

Our service together on Sundays, and our support of one another all week long, is not an option or an extra to add to our lives as Christians. It is our reasonable service.

The fallen world around us has a different standard. It makes friends to satisfy self-needs, to gain what friends can offer, or to feel accepted. We have been transformed from that by Christ. Our friendships in the Lord are to honor our Savior and to help one another.

Christ did not call us to be alone. Nor has he called us to neglect our families, jobs, church, or community. They may be very imperfect places. Other families, jobs, churches, or communities may look more appealing to us in some way. However, children don’t leave families and move in down the street with another family because they have a better pool or TV set, because there are more kids to play with, because the allowance is better, or because it’s a shorter walk to the mall. There should be loyalty and commitment to the family. So also there ought to be an undying loyalty to the imperfect unions we have at work, and in our communities. We should not looking for something better, but how to serve where God puts us. Even more so there should be loyalty and a sense of belonging in the church, our spiritual family, the body of Christ. Be an active member lending all you can to the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

The church works best when every part is committed and working hard as a family. Oh, what a testimony that is to the glory of our Heavenly Father when the spiritual family works together, when all its parts are functioning, when everyone is present and on time looking for opportunity instead of looking for gain.

This is what Paul is saying in this part of his introduction to the letter to the Romans. He longed for a time of fellowship with the believers in Rome so he could encourage them, and be encouraged by them.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Back to the Index of Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Failure Is Impossible

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Failure Is Impossible

Video presentation of this lesson
Westminster Shorter Catechism Q11: God’s Providence
by Bob Burridge ©2011

When we make plans, we try to plan for the unexpected.

If you go on an camping trip, you take along a first aid kit. You pack tools to repair things. As Boy Scouts we were expected to live up to our motto, “Be Prepared.” That’s why we have spare tires in our cars, back-up files for things stored on our computers, and fire-extinguishers in our kitchens.

None of us can be sure about what might happen, so we prepare for the unknown. Those of us who live in Florida try to be prepared during the warmer months for the threatened approach of a hurricane. A few years ago Tropical Storm Fay appeared to be aiming directly at us here in Pinellas County. Stores sold out of propane tanks, bottles of water, duct tape and batteries. As it turned out, Fay didn’t become a Hurricane, and our county never felt it’s power. However, we wisely prepared, even though we knew the predictions were very uncertain.

Several years ago Hurricane Charlie also seemed to target Tampa Bay. Just hours away, it suddenly turned sharply and hit communities way south of us. Many were unprepared there because it was suppose to visit us. The result was devastating to a community caught by surprise. It is always best to take precautions in spite of our best guesses to err on the side of safety.

We often have to deal with things we don’t count on. We hear people talk about back-up plans, fall-back positions, alternate routes, and things like that.

When our astronauts first landed on the moon, one of the first things they did was to scoop up what they called a “contingency sample” of moon soil. It was gathered in case they had to leave quickly before more careful samples could be collected.

Our plans are good if they do what we design them to do, but they are seldom, if ever, perfect. That is why we plan for the unexpected and make room for the uncertain. This is why it is hard to really comprehend the fact that God’s plan never changes or fails to accomplish exactly what God eternally intended.

It is hard for us to imagine a perfect plan.

God’s eternal plan for his creation includes everything that ever happens, and all that makes it happen. What God intends always takes place just as he meant it to.

Psalm 135:6, “Whatever the LORD pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places.”

There’s a prejudice in the fallen mind. Unless you are redeemed by grace, you will always modify what God says about himself in the Bible.

One of the hardest concepts to understand, much less accept, is the absolute sovereignty of God. He is not only King of all kings. He is Ruler over every molecule, every quantum of energy, every event, and every outcome.

Bible scholars spent over five years putting together the Westminster Standards. They summarized the decrees of God in Shorter Catechism questions 7 through 12. The answer to question 7 tells what the Bible says about God’s decrees. It says, “The decrees of God are his eternal purpose according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.”

God put his decrees into action with the works of creation and providence. He Created everything in the physical universe, and all the living things he put in it. His work of providence is his direction of all creation toward it’s intended goal.

Question 11 of the Shorter Catechism asks, “What are God’s works of providence?” The answer derived from Scripture alone is, “God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.”

God is much more than what most people understand.

Even God’s own spiritual children can get confused by popular opinions about their Creator’s nature. Our imperfect human minds try to imagine him being like us. In our imperfect state we tend to read our own limitations into the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable nature of God.

Some believers still imagine God to be limited by what he created as if he needs our permission to save us. The problem is that the Bible says very clearly that you trusted in him only because he already redeemed you. Otherwise we would never have learned to love him.

Some imagine that our prayers actually inform God and convince him to change his eternal plan. That’s not the power promised in prayer. We aren’t smarter than God to advise him. However, God uses the power of our prayers to carry out his perfect plan. When you pray, and God does what you ask him, you discover that all along he made you part of that wonderful work. When you fail to pray, you show that you have not honored God’s call to come to him about the needs he brings to your attention. It shows a lack of care to be part of his works on earth. That is a frightening thing to discover about yourself.

Generally, fallen man accepts his corrupted idea of God. For the most part, he loves believing in a super being who helps him, but he refuses to admit that he answer to him as a fallen sinner. He does not give him all the glory for his faith, for his good choices, for his charity, and successes. He wants some of the glory for himself.

When God’s love transforms your heart through Christ, you set aside your human pride and prejudices. You see a more marvelous God than you otherwise could have imagined.

We already read in Psalm 135:6 that God does all he pleases at all times. Psalm 115:3 says almost the same thing. … our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.

That was one of the lessons Job had to learn. In Job 42:2 he humbly learned to say to God, “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”

In Colossians 1:16 the Apostle Paul wrote, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

That is the purpose of Creation. He made all things “for him”. Creation built the platform on which all God planned is carried out. Everything, without exception, declares the Creator’s glory and power.

The Westminster Confession, chapter five, begins this way, “God the great Creator of all things does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.”

This is the work of providence, one of the great truths about your God. It is amazing and comforting to remember that God directs everything in the world in which we live.

God’s providence directs the events of nature.

The word providence comes from a Latin word providere, which means “to see before.” The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament is pronoia (πρόνοια). It means “forethought.” (ISBE)

It’s far more than just looking ahead to see what is going to happen. God knows it, because he decreed it, and because he has the infinite power to control it all. God provides for all that is needed for his plan to work out. He sees it all as a whole thing, not as individual disconnected events. This provision for the whole course of history is what we call his “providence”.

Throughout the Bible, we see God’s absolute control over his creation. In Job 12:15 it says about God, “If He withholds the waters, they dry up; If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.”

Jesus said in Matthew 5:45, “… He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

In Acts 17 Paul described God as the Creator and Preserver of everything. He not only made it all, he also directs everything to serve his purposes. In verse 26 he said about all the nations, that he, “… has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.”

One of the problems we struggle with is understanding evil. People wonder how God can be in control when there is wickedness in his universe.

But by God’s providence he even governs the boundaries of evil.

If God made all things to declare his glory as the Bible tells us, then there needs to be a way to display his Justice, his Mercy, and his Amazing Grace. So he made his world susceptible to sin so he could rescue his people from it. Obviously, the best universe is one where sin is beaten, not one where sin never existed.

It is not for us to be able to see how it all fits together just yet, but we are assured that it does. Job never knew why God put him through those hard times and deep sorrows, but he did learn that God had reasons he did not need to know.

While Joseph suffered in prison after his brothers sold him into slavery, while he wondered why he was put in a dungeon for a crime he never committed, he could not yet see how God was setting the stage for great blessings through him. He was put in place to save God’s people from a famine. He was there to lead them to Egypt which became the background for the great Exodus.

When he was very old Joseph lived to see some of the reasons for his suffering. He said to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

The greatest act of evil in all of history was the brutal killing of Jesus Christ. Evil men were clearly responsible for what they did, yet God had planned it from all eternity as the greatest display of his love and grace. Peter explained it exactly that way to the crowds in Acts 2:23, “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;”

There was no excuse in saying that God determined it. Those who crucified him were personally guilty. They sinned willingly. Yet it was all part of a greater plan. Probably as they laid our Lord’s body in the tomb and accepted the fact of his death, the disciples could not see how any good could come from that Roman injustice. However, on the third day the resurrected Jesus appeared to them, and they could see there was a wonderful purpose in what seemed a senseless violence.

Proverbs 16:4 says, “The LORD has made all for Himself, Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.”

As God’s child, your calling is to live honorably,
responsibly, through the unfolding of these decrees.

We who live in Florida know how hard it is to predict path of hurricanes. They are driven by the heat of the sun. It makes the air above the waters in one place hotter than the air around it. The rising hot air draws in the cooler air which gets heated up and rises into the atmosphere. The wind rushing in starts to spin because of the rotation of the earth. Other air masses around the storms feed it, and push at it, and sometimes become barriers to its movement. The storm follows the path through the boundaries of the surrounding systems. Though it is complicated, and we have a hard time predicting exactly where a storm will go, it moves as part of a greater complexity.

The path of history seems to move through the boundaries of circumstances, ambition, opportunity, greed and patriotism. Severe storms in the North Atlantic, navigational mistakes, and a new set of British naval tactics ended the powerful military threat of the Spanish Armada. The great Empire of Rome faded away under incompetent Emperors, self-centered citizens, a weakened military unable to protect from invaders, and as the historian Gibbon calls it “immoderate greatness.”

The brave patriotism of oppressed colonies stood with unexpected resolve against England. The many loyalties and events of the Revolutionary War gave us our own nation.

All the turns in the path of time were long before laid out in the plan of God. He sent the winds against mighty warships, and stirred bravery in the hearts of patriots. He trained and gave brilliance to leaders, inventors, pastors, explorers and writers. He raised up nations and brought down empires.

In your own life He caused you to be conceived just as you are in the womb of your mother. He gave you the lessons, joys, tragedies, and opportunities that shaped your choices. He alone opened your eyes to see your need for forgiveness for offenses against God, and stirred faith in your heart to trust in Jesus Christ as your only hope and Savior.

He brought you here at this very page, at this very moment, with all that is now on your mind, with all you remember of your life before this lesson started, and with all your concerns about what you face when this lesson ends. He has used all that has touched your life and all the lives you’ve touched to create the opportunities that shape the rest of today, tomorrow, and the remainder of your life.

Though it is valuable and important to know the history of what God has done, and to understand the principles that he lovingly tells you about in his word, the moral question is not how or why things are as they are right now. It is to know how you will live in these conditions to be a good child of your Father in Heaven.

Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

Your responsibility is not to try to figure out what is coming next, or why God decrees each thing. It is to do what he tells you to do with the attitude he says is right.

Give thanks to God alone for every good thing in your life. James 1:17 reminds us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

Rest in the power of the Risen Christ alone for whatever strength you will ever need. His word gives you lessons that make you wiser than anyone will ever become in universities, through years of experience, research, and practice. Nothing, no enemy, no rude or ambitions rival, no turn of circumstances, can even slightly frustrate the plan of the Creator and Preserver of the Universe, the one who is your loving and faithful Redeemer, Enabler, and Father.

Confidently press on in service of the King of kings. Remember that the little things you do, your choices, your hardships and sufferings, the words you speak, the thoughts you think, even your humbling failures are part of something far bigger than any of us can imagine.

God’s providence isn’t an intellectual exercise in theology. It is the promise and hope of every believer in Christ. It is the assurance that you have nothing to fear.

As the Apostle Paul was moved to write for God in Romans 8:28, it is the certainty that, “all things work together for good, to those who love God and who are called according to his purpose.”

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

An Ancient Promise Fulfilled

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An Ancient Promise Fulfilled

Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans
by Bob Burridge ©2011

Lesson 03: Romans 1:2-7

We hear bad news every day. There are accidents, disasters, diseases, crime, children shooting children, doctors killing the unborn, storms devastating communities, epidemics, resistant strains of bacteria threatening our health, and violent law breakers taking what is not theirs and terrorizing the lives of others.

To the world, without an understanding of God’s revealed truth, none of it makes any sense. People ask, “What possible good could there be in all this suffering, struggle, and pain?”

According to the common view today, man is alone in a meaningless universe. There is no God and no purpose to anything except what we make of it. Chance alone is believed to govern nature. Personal choice is believed to be all that governs individuals. This would mean that nothing is certain or has any real purpose. Often people make this pure rationalism the basis of all their thinking.

The religion of much of our modern world is Humanism. According to that view, man answers to nothing above himself. God is seen as a helpful fantasy invented by weak minded people. In the Humanist Manifesto II it states its own view of salvation for mankind: “No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.” (Paragraph 4 in the section about “Religion”)

Yet the manifesto begins by recounting the history of this human race that is supposed to save itself. It mentions the Nazis, police states, and racism. How can members of such a race of humans really save themselves? There is not much hope to offer, if we are on our own.

However, man is a created being, therefore he cannot live consistently as if there was no reality beyond the physical. For that reason many turn to mysticism and imagine all sorts of supernatural and superstitious realities. Even considering that, they can not account for why things are the way they are. One mystic believes one thing and another believes the opposite. One vision says God wants one thing, another vision or miracle shows the opposite. Contradictions become so common that the hope of real truth is abandoned.

Because of this abandonment of God, and of any absolute standard of truth and morality, despair and a sense of emptiness has become the norm.

In reality things are even worse than just bad news reports and man’s confusing philosophies. The Bible shows that at its root the fallen human soul is sick with sin and spiritually dead. As a result, the fallen dead soul is unable to rightly admit its own condition. It knows that no matter what is believed or done, no one can stop the bad news. There is no promise of a meaningful way through calamities, disasters, disease, or human crime.

We need a remedy for the cause of the underlying problem, not a tranquilizer for its symptoms. We don’t need pain killers, we need a cure. We don’t need to feel better, we need to get better. We don’t need to believe we are right, we need to be right. There is too much is at stake. Our world needs good news.

According to God’s word there really is good news.

While we may not be able to eliminate the tell-tale symptoms of a sin sick world, we can eliminate how they impact us. The individual soul can be delivered from the turmoil his inescapable sufferings can bring. Meaning and hope can be put back into struggling, empty lives.

The real good news is that there is a plan. There is a purpose to it all. The Greek word for “good news” is euangelion (ευαγγελιον). We translate it “gospel.” As Paul begins his letter to the Romans, the first chapter gives us the main theme. It is a letter all about the “gospel”, a word which appears four times in this first chapter.

In the opening sentence the author shows
what is at the center of his own mission in life.

Romans 1:1, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God”

The Gospel of Christ deals with the most basic problem in man’s struggle. The major theme developed in the first 5 chapters of Romans is that we are restored to fellowship with God only by what Jesus Christ accomplished. As people restored to fellowship with God we have great hope and assurance.

First he shows us that this good news is not some new innovation.

Romans 1:2, “which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,”

Christianity was not a new idea born in the first century. The same gospel was promised long ago by God’s Prophets in Scripture. Paul doesn’t just mean the Major and Minor prophetic books in the Old Testament. He includes all who spoke from God and whose words have been preserved in Scripture; Moses, David, and all the others.

No idea invented by man is certain enough to give us confidence in this world. This good news comes from God by his specially revealed word.

Paul and those to whom he wrote in Rome evidently knew these ancient promises of the Bible. He speaks of them without explaining what he meant. The Old Testament is the foundation for the New Testament. Without understanding the ancient promises and the terms used long before, we are bound to fail to fully appreciate the words and work of Christ.

Because there is such a poor understanding of the Old Testament in the Christian community today, many don’t understand the unified message of the Bible. They see a different God in the Old Testament than in the New. They see a different way of salvation, and a different answer to the problems of the world. But that cannot be. God does not change. He never needed to improve his perfect plan.

So Paul begins his gospel message by declaring the unity of God’s plan. When he introduces his theme in verse 17 we will saw in our last study that he bases it on an Old Testament text.

The center of the gospel is Jesus Christ.
There is no hope of good news without him.

Romans 1:3-4, “concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,”

From the first promise in Eden to the actual life of Jesus on earth, the coming of Messiah has always been the focus of the gospel.

Since the human race had fallen into sin through Adam, it would take a second Adam to redeem it. Jesus was born to be that second Adam. He took on a real human nature. As a real human he was fit to stand as a representative for his people. Of course there was a very important difference: Jesus did not inherit the sin of the first Adam as the rest of us have. He took on all our human attributes but without the corruption of inherited sin.

He fulfilled the ancient promises as to how that would be accomplished. Jesus was born of the seed of a woman as promised in Genesis 3:15. He was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit of God as Isaiah predicted. He was born in Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah. And very importantly he was of the family of King David. This was a promise made directly in Isaiah 9:7, “Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Jesus came to reveal his Kingdom in a grander earthly form.

Jesus is also revealed as having a complete divine nature. He is called the Son of God. Many can be called sons of God in a general sense of loving God as their Father. However, it took on a special technical meaning in the prophets. When Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) the next verse tells us that the Jews took up stones to stone Him (John 10:31). Jesus then explained their reaction in verse 36, “do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” The Jews understood what this term meant because they knew the words of the prophets.

Jesus didn’t become the Son of God at his resurrection. He was always God the Son. but his eternal Sonship was declared with power by the resurrection.

Jesus was one person who could draw from two natures: both human and divine. Only a Redeemer that was fully human could stand for man and his infinite sin and guilt. Only an infinitely holy and powerful God could pay that infinite price to redeem a fallen race. We will see as our studies in Romans continues, that when Jesus died he did not just make a way of salvation, or make salvation a possibility. He actually satisfied God’s justice for the moral crimes of his people and did all that was needed to fully restore them to fellowship with God forever.

Jesus was all that God had promised the Messiah would be. His eternal divine nature was united with an unfallen human nature to become the Savior.

This was not a new idea. It was the ancient gospel promised from the beginning. After the resurrection of Jesus he appeared to the two disciples along the road to Emmaus. There he pointed out how the whole of the Scriptures had spoken of him. In Luke 24:25-27 it says, “And He said to them, ‘O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”

This good news involves both God’s promise and our duty.

Romans 1:5-6, “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;”

The grace of God and the appointment of Paul as an Apostle had a purpose. God called Paul to bring about the obedience of faith. In particular he ministered the good news specially to the Gentiles. If the Old and New Testaments are separated into two gospels with two separate messages, the unity which was spoken of by Jesus, Paul and the others is lost. The New Testament becomes isolated from all the verses it quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures. A crippled message emerges which is not defined by God’s word as a whole. It becomes a tapestry woven by man’s own imagination. Terms are defined by theologians instead of by the inspired words of the Holy Spirit. In doing this, contemporary Christianity has obscured important truth, the truth that makes the news to be good.

Our faith and obedience are not the cause of God’s grace being extended to us. If it was earned by us, or caused by our decisions or choices, then it would not be grace. Grace is by definition something unearned and undeserved.

If we had to act first to stir God to apply his promises to us, there would be no hope at all. We are fallen sinners and if left to ourselves we would never embrace Christ. All who come humbly to him and who trust in his work alone for their salvation have been brought to him by an overwhelming grace that makes them willing to come.

It was this grace that re-claimed Paul on his trip to Damascus and made him a believer. It was this grace that called a proud Pharisee to be an obedient Apostle and servant of Christ. It is this grace that rescues even Gentiles and changes their fallen hearts so that they will trust what God has said and strive to obey him in their thoughts and lives.

Our obedience to the faith revealed by the Prophets and Apostles is the evidence, not the cause, of the grace of God at work in our lives. Our obedience to and trust in the truth which God has revealed in his word brings glory to him, to his name, not to us.

Those in Rome, or those of us here wherever we maybe, show that we are the called of God when this obedience of faith is seen in us toward Christ.

What good news! While we flounder to know truth and to find a standard of living, God delivers us by his own power and promise. Salvation does not depend upon what we do. It depends upon what Christ, the infinite and almighty God in human flesh has done.

These are not vague generalities.
They are specific promises to all those blessed by God’s grace.

Romans 1:7, “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul reminds these readers in Rome that they are beloved of God and called saints. They are beloved of God because his grace has made them partakers of the ancient promises. He reminds them that this grace which applies the work of Christ to them makes them saints.

These were not perfect believers. Paul’s letter corrects several errors among them. Yet, in Christ, all who are redeemed are declared free from the guilt of their sins. It is in this way that we all who are made to trust in Christ for our salvation are called “saints.”

The writer of the book of Hebrews explained the work of Christ as the sacrifice for sin. In Hebrews 10:10 he writes, “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

In this wonderful good news, the gospel of Christ, sinners are made into saints, slaves to sin are made into slaves of the Creator. This is a marvelous transformation of grace.

There is real good news here for our floundering world. There is a powerful Gospel. It is an ancient hope as old as the human race itself. It is a perfect hope founded upon the promise of God himself, and the work of Jesus Christ as the Redeemer.

When we see all the bad news closing in around us, or even when we become the victims of a world plunged into rebellion against its Creator, God does not give us pain killers, he gives us a cure. He does not just make us feel better, he cures us of the sickness itself. God doesn’t ask us to just convince ourselves we are right, he reveals what is right and true.

There is a plan and purpose to it all even if we don’t see how it all fits together. Our duty is to trust in this good news, and represent it in our words and lives to others. God’s promise is to deliver his people from the pain of sin and from the agony of disaster. God’s promise cannot fail.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Back to the Index of Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Where Did It All Come From?

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Index of Lessons in the Westminster Shorter Catechism

Where Did It All Come From?

Video (Part 1) presentation of this lesson
Video (Part 2) presentation of this lesson
Video (Part 3) presentation of this lesson
(Westminster Shorter Catechism Q: 9-10)
by Bob Burridge ©2011

We live in and are a part of an amazing universe.


It was all created by God. Every part of it is declaring the Creator’s glory and power all the time.

God’s Creation holds mysteries that have intrigued humans ever since God put us here. It is so vast that we have only seen a tiny part of all he made. Yet, what we see is awesome and beyond our comprehension.

Distant things in our universe totally unknown a century ago have been declaring God’s glory for eons.

Though Pluto was demoted from planet to plutoid, another category became available for classifying the diverse objects that fill our solar system. Eris was added to that group along with Makemake and Ceres. We’ve observed volcanoes erupting on the planet Mercury, ice on Mars, and distant white dwarf stars that are changing our understanding of how stars mature.

We have learned to take the rocks and minerals in God’s world and make amazing things out of them. They rage from tiny computer chips that power our telephones, game machines and home computers, to huge bridges, buildings, and orbiting space stations.

We’ve mapped the detailed chemical structure of DNA molecules that code the human body. With electron microscopes we can see the detailed structures of disease organisms. We can even watch the heat and electrical flow in a living human brain as it thinks, and monitor the flow of blood through a beating human heart.

There are many things we haven’t seen yet, and many of them we will probably never see. Yet they are there evidencing God’s glory in wonders beyond our present comprehension.

Science tries to observe things carefully and measurably. Then it develops mathematical models to predict how things are expected to behave under different circumstances. The work of real science simply observes, measures, fits things together, and tests its predictions, so it can’t possibly conflict with what the Bible teaches.

However, science is often confused with things people assume about God’s universe. Some who don’t want to believe that God created it all out of nothing are forced to come up with evolutionary theories that make it all an accident, the result of irregularities in whatever came before our physical universe. That is why evolutionary theory is more a philosophy than what we properly call science.

Of course there are many different views of evolutionism, and there are many different views about creationism. If you’re interested in a detailed study of the different views of Creation you can go to our Genevan Institute web site to read some articles in our Commentary on the Westminster Confession about that in the unit about God’s decree of creation. Though there is room for theories, the Christian must keep them within the boundaries of the basic facts God gives us in his written word.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Questions 9 and 10, deal with God’s work of Creation. It summarizes the basic Bible facts this way:

Question 9: What is the work of creation?
Answer: The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

The most basic fact is that God made everything.


The first two verses of Genesis say, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

Without arguments or debate, the plain fact is undeniable: God made everything. The word for God here is the Hebrew majestic plural Elohim (אלהים). The God of Scripture is one God, amazing and supremely wonderful.
He exists eternally in three persons.

All three persons of the Trinity were involved in the work of creation.
God the Father worked in creation. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 8:6. “… there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; …”

God the Son also worked in creation. John 1:3 describes Jesus as the Word. It says, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

Colossians 1:16-17 is talking about Jesus when it says, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

God the Holy Spirit worked in creation too. Genesis 1:2 tells us that in creation, “the Spirit of God was hovering over … the waters.” In Job 26:13 it says, “By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; …”

These three persons, the One True God, created everything out of nothing.
When we make something, a table, a fence, a radio, a table decoration, or a meal, we first need to get the raw materials we need to make it. If it is a piece of furniture or a tree house, you need the lumber and hardware. If it is a good hamburger you need beef, a bun, and whatever condiments you like on it.

However, what did God start with when he made this universe? What ingredients did he have? That’s the amazing thing — he had nothing outside of himself.

Psalm 33:6 says, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.”

God had his eternal intention and his infinite power — nothing more. He made all things, visible and invisible, out of nothing.

The first thing God made was light. He simply willed it into existence. Genesis 1:3-5 says, “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.”

God’s creation was organized into work done in the space of six days.
He laid out the cosmos in an orderly way to display his glory. The writers of the confession, regardless of their personal beliefs, used very simple wording here to stay faithful to scripture. The Hebrew word translated here as “day”, is used in many ways in the Bible. In Genesis 1 it seems to refer to specific normal 24-hour days of some sort. In other biblical references to creation the word allows for a less precise measurement of time. The King James Version and almost all other translations sometimes translate the same Hebrew word yom (יום) as “era, years, time” and other such words.

There have been many ideas about the age of the earth and universe. Many who firmly believe the Bible to be the infallible and inerrant word of God hold to different interpretations about how long the days of creation were. Genesis 1 is very difficult to put on an absolute time-line.

One group of interpretations is that it refers to six 24-hour days.

  • Some see the days as happening one right after the other, a total of 144 hours.
  • Some believe the 24-hour days are separated by long ages maybe billions of years long.
  • Some see the days as referring to an actual 24-hour day at the end of each creation period. On a specific day, God named or inspected what he made and pronounced it to be “good”.

Others don’t think it means that the days were 24 hours long at all.

  • Some think the word day there refers to long periods of time.
  • Some believe they were just figurative descriptions with no indication of time at all.

Could God have done it all in 144 hours? Of course he could have. The real question is not about what he could have done, but how long did he actually decide to take? The Bible doesn’t directly answer that question.

We need to be very cautious when we deal with matters not addressed in God’s word. We need to content ourselves with what’s directly stated. or what can be determined by necessary deduction from Scripture. Beyond that we get into areas of dangerous speculation.

The clear teaching here is that God made all things in an orderly way. Then God stopped creating and established the Sabbath Day. It is a day for us to stop the work we do on the other six days of the week. On that day, we should remember what God did in making all things by the word of his power to carry out his eternal plan and to reveal his glory.

After each stage of Creation, God announced that all he made was very good.
That is the repeated pattern after he made each group of things. God saw all he made and said it was “good”.

The word for “good” there is “tov” (תוב). It means that each group of things he made exactly fulfilled all he intended for it to be and to do. The result is an intricate and complex display of God’s power and glory. There is a uniformity in the design, pattern, and behavior of all the things God made.

Psalm 19:1-2 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.”

In Romans 1:20 Paul tells us that God’s invisible attributes, his eternal power, and the nature of his Godhead are clearly seen in the things he created. They so clearly reveal him, that it leaves the unbeliever without excuse for failing to give him the glory for all he made and has done.

Very specially, God made us humans.

The Bible teaches that God created man, male and female.


Adam was made from the “dust of the earth”. That means from the elements found in God’s physical creation: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, calcium, iron and many other basic elements. He was not made from “lower life forms” or from any other already living things.

Eve was made from the genetic material of Adam. Some translations say from “his side”. But it’s not such a precise term in the inspired Hebrew text. The fact is, all humans come from that one act of creation by God.

God’s word says he made us in his own image.


The next part of the catechism question clarifies what this means:

Question 10: How did God create man?
Answer: God created man, male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.

We were made with the ability to know things as God reveals them in nature, by providence, through his word, and in our conscience. We were made without rebellion in our hearts. There was no sin in either Adam or Eve when he made them. They were personally innocent, righteous, and holy.

Of course that changed when the first humans fell into sin. Adam represented us all. In Adam we lost our righteousness, and our ability to gain it back by our own efforts. So in Christ the Messiah we gain it back by being clothed in his righteousness.

This is the gospel, the good news you possess to tell your neighbors, those you meet every day. The damaged image of God in the lost troubled heart can be repaired by faith in him. We add nothing to that faith. It is by God’s grace and power that we come to him.

The same God who displays his power all around us can transform us. Psychology, medicine, social activism, politics, financial comfort miserably fail when divorced from the power of the gospel. They might make us feel more comfortable in our sin, but they cannot change our hearts. But a sincere faith in the Living Savior can and does.

And when God made us, he gave us dominion over the creatures.


This is our human duty and privilege. We are commanded to responsibly use what God put here to sustain us, and to improve circumstances in our communities and homes.

Today this duty is horribly distorted and challenged. Some abandon every concern for using God’s resources responsibly. They waste food, leave discarded trash around, and kill for sport rather than for food. They compromise the safety of others for their own selfish advancement.

Others go to the opposite extreme. They raise creation up over humanity. They would rather see humans suffer than to make use of what God provided. They put humans who were created in God’s image on the same level as creatures here for their provisions. They can’t be consistent with their evolutionary assumptions. While they protect snails and quails, they without hesitation know they need to fight to the death against bacteria and viruses. They often ignorantly use up natural resources faster than most while saying they are saving the earth. They ignore real science while choosing only the measurements that support their cause.

We are neither to abuse nor to abandon our responsibility. God commanded us to represent his dominion over the earth, and over all he put on it.

We have a mandate as the special creatures God made us to be.


We are here to appreciate his revealed glory in all of creation. We need to take time to appreciate its intricate wonder and complexity. We need to remind others about who made it all, and why he made it.

We are assigned the job of caring for creation as those charged with dominion over it. We are to use it wisely for our provisions, while respecting the needs of others around us. We are to worship the Creator at all times, day and night, as we consider its majestic wonder, and while we live in the humble service of the Savior, the one who died in our place to enable us to see the truth and the glory of it all.

Don’t let any day, specially any Sabbath Day, slip by without filling it with worshipful prayer and appreciation for all God made, and with humble thanks that he made you and those you love.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

No Exceptions

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No Exceptions

by Bob Burridge ©2011

Humans were created without an inclination to do evil. Adam and Eve were holy and free. Their freedom didn’t mean that God had no plan or idea what would happen. Their Creator was not open for suggestions about an uncertain future which in any way was dependent upon them. Eden was not a cosmic moral experiment. God is sovereign eternally. By “free” we mean that man had no built in pull toward evil. He had the moral ability both to do good and to sin.

In the fall, all humans lost that freedom and
became corrupted, inclined toward evil.

Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

At that moment in Eden, when Adam represented us all in the first sin, humanity became depraved. Sin brought death and bondage. There was no more ability to do good. The chains of corruption were firmly fixed upon us all. Fallen humans were cut off from the Creator, the source of truth and life. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:1 saying that we were all, “… dead in trespasses and sins”

Sin alienates us all from God. The guilt that comes from it deserves eternal judgment, eternal separation from the Creator. Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death.”

This corruption, or “depravity”, is inherited by all humans. In Romans 5:12 Paul wrote, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Just how seriously damaged are we from our inherited corruption?

We say this depravity is “total” because every part of the person is involved. Fallen humans are unable to do any spiritual good. Humans are corrupted to the core of their soul. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:20, “For there is not a just man on earth who does good  And does not sin.” The Apostle Paul references that verse, and quotes from Psalm 14:1-3 in his letter to the Romans. There he tells how complete our depravity is from the time of our conception. The classic passage of Romans 3:10-12 says, “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.’ ”

No one, aside from God’s grace, has the ability either to believe or to repent. Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” In 1 Corinthians 2:14 the Apostle Paul wrote, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

No one can change his own basic nature. To do that he would have to go against what he already is. He can’t even understand the real problem, much less understand and trust in the solution. As far back as the time of the prophets, Jeremiah 13:23 said, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.”

Fallen humans hate the fact that they need God’s grace in order to do what is truly good. Once confronted with this biblical teaching, it either converts them, or condemns them. Those not renewed by a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit will be offended. They will refuse to admit their lost condition. Their negative response further exposes the corruption they are so quick to deny.

The denial of man’s total depravity is at the root
of all non-christian thought and values.

The philosopher Rousseau proposed the idea of the “Noble Savage”. He was born in Calvin’s Geneva in 1712 (about 200 years after John Calvin). Rousseau came to hate the principles of God which were revealed in Scripture. Instead of total depravity, he taught the natural goodness of humanity. To him civilization was a mistake. It gets in our way. He thought that if we could just get rid of rules and cultural traditions, we would see mankind at his best.

The Frenchman Robespierre believed strongly in the teachings of Rousseau. He believed that man will prove his natural goodness if he was only allowed to be really free. He believed this theory could liberate the people of France.

He and his followers finally came to power. He had his opportunity to put his beliefs into practice. We call this period of France’s history the “Reign of Terror”. It lasted for a little over a year beginning in 1793. When it was over more than 20,000 Frenchmen had been killed in a horrible blood-bath by the “good men” of Robespierre. Included among those massacred were many clergymen who dared to doubt that man was naturally good.

How did he justify his use of terrorism and violence in proving that humanity is basically good? He explained it this way, “We must annihilate the enemies of the republic at home and abroad, or else we shall perish… in time of revolution a democratic government must rely on virtue and terror… Terror is nothing but justice; swift, severe and inflexible; it is an emanation of virtue …”

A couple generations later there was the French artist Gauguin. He also believed in Rousseau’s idea that man is basically good. He left civilization to live with the “Noble Savage” in Tahiti. The Tahitians lived without civil laws and restrictions. He was certain he would find an ideal society where there was unhindered human kindness and goodness. However, Gauguin was disillusioned with what he found in Tahiti. After painting a Tahitian scene, showing that what he found was not noble, he committed suicide.

History confirms what God reveals about man in the Bible. Humans are all fallen creature. We are totally depraved and live under the shadow of eternal damnation.

These are hard teachings. Jesus admitted this to the disciples in John 6. Some had stopped following him because of his teachings. In John 6:60 it says, “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can understand it?’ ”

So Jesus repeated that same thing he had said earlier in verse 44. In John 6:65 Jesus said, “… Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

Our total depravity provides the barrier
that reveals the power of God’s grace.

In contrast with our being dead in sin, Paul said in Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”

Since salvation is totally a work of grace, and since it is entirely granted by an all sovereign and all powerful God, there can be no uncertainty about our salvation when we truly believe in Christ’s work as our only hope. Our confidence is never dependent upon our works or knowledge. The price demanded by our offenses against God was fully paid for on the cross of Calvary long ago by Jesus.

(The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.)

A Servant’s Perspective

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A Servant’s Perspective

Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans
by Bob Burridge ©2011

Lesson 02: Romans 1:1

The first words of the book of Romans tell us a lot about its author, and they reflect its main themes.

Romans 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

This first verse shows us that the author saw himself as belonging to his Master, Jesus Christ, and that he was called to serve as an Apostle promoting the good message God had made known.

The message is summarized in this book of Romans in three main themes:
1. We are restored to fellowship with God only by what Jesus Christ accomplished.
2. Those restored to fellowship with God always show changed lives.
3. Lives changed by God ought to effect the society in which they live.

Living by these principles is neither common, nor valued in our world. Instead of seeing our hope and purpose centered in Christ, we are faced everyday with self-centered attitudes that are poisoning our society. Instead of asking what is right and what is true, people are asking what will further their own personal interests.

The idol of “Self” has become the god of our modern culture. Ego has become the center of our attention and concerns. Moral law has been re-written to justify anything that promotes a person’s self interests. Even much of our worship has been turned into entertainment to gratifying the god of self.

We live in an era where things are badly out of order. The idea of man being created and redeemed to serve God, who is truly his Lord, is not well liked, nor has it ever been truly popular. Individuals, homes, schools, businesses, churches, and governments don’t like to admit that there might be absolute standards they must obey. God is usually re-defined in some way that limits his authority over us. Even our duties to others are modified so that they will mostly benefit the doer.

One of the things most people try to avoid is being in the position of a servant. How different is Paul’s attitude as he begins this letter to the Roman believers.

Romans 1 begins …

Romans 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

The author of this book is the Apostle Paul.


We know from the rest of Scripture that he was born Saul of Tarsus. He was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin and a citizen of the Roman Empire. As a very gifted student of the Hebrew Scriptures he went to study in Jerusalem. His teacher was Gamaliel, one of the most celebrated rabbis of that era. Even today Rabbi Gamaliel is quoted and honored among the Jews. As a strongly committed Pharisee Saul lashed out at the Christians. He saw them as a new sect that threatened the traditions of the rabbis.

Saul’s life changed dramatically. As he traveled to Damascus, fully authorized by the high priest to hunt down and arrest Christians, the risen Christ stopped him, set him free from his bondage to sin. Jesus put faith into Saul’s heart enabling him to trust in the work of Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Soon Saul was promoting the Christian faith. He told the gentiles about the ancient promises and principles of God’s word. He explained to both Jews and gentilesthat Jesus was the Messiah promised ages ago in Scripture. In his travels outside the Jewish communities, Saul became known by the Greek name, Paul.

While on his third missionary journey he wrote his letter to the Romans. Paul had not been able to get to Rome in person. So he wrote this letter to tell them what he would have taught if he had come in person. Romans comprehends and summarizes the basics of the Christian faith.

Paul considered himself a “servant” of Jesus Christ

Romans 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

Paul used this unpopular idea of servant to summarize his relationship with Christ. We need to know what he meant.

In the Roman culture slavery had become very abusive. The Greek word used for bond slaves was doulos (δοθλος) which is the word Paul uses here. In Rome slavery had become ownership of the servant. They were forced into service against their will and often treated abusively. Even today we think of slaves as people who are demeaned and mistreated.

However, that would not be how a Jew of Paul’s training would use the word. Nor does that oppressive idea fit with what Paul is saying about his relationship with Christ.

In his law, God had explained what his people ought think about being servants. Back then, People weren’t hired with contracts and pay-scales in the way they are today. To work, they willingly bound themselves to a master to work faithfully expecting fair wages. Debtors could work their way out of obligations by working as servants. Law breakers not guilty of capitol crimes had to work to pay off those they victimized. There were no jails or prisons in God’s law.

Unlike the pagan nations, God’s people were to treat those who work for them with respect. The biblical idea of slavery should not bring up the cruelty and racial bondage we usually think of. Ownership of a human, or the sale of a human, was a serious crime in God’s law. Slavery could not be forced upon anyone unless it was to pay off debt from a crime. Slaves were never to be mistreated and had to be released after a set period of time. Abuses are not inherent in the idea of servitude according to God’s law.

There is a sense in which all believers are to be servants of Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers saying, “And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” (1 Corinthians 3:23), “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:1-20).

In his letter to the Ephesians Paul called believers “… bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6). In 1 Peter 2:16 Peter told believers to act, “… as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.” Later in this book of Romans Paul develops that theme even more as he applies it to Christians.

Certainly a Christian’s relationship with Jesus Christ can’t be compared with pagan slavery. Paul was not abused or forced into service against his will. He found love, not abuse, from his master. Paul became a most willing servant of Christ. His hardened will was changed by the Holy Spirit who gave him spiritual life.

But he did consider himself as a purchased possession of his loving Lord. That’s what makes human ownership of another human so wicked and immoral. People belong to their Creator, not to other creatures. Believers belong to their Redeemer, therefore it is wrong for men to possess other men.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

1 Corinthians 7:22-23, “For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”

In the Old Testament godly men were often called “servants of Jehovah” ‘eved YHVH (עבד יהוה). This title was used of Abraham, Jeremiah, Moses, Joshua, David, Isaiah and many others. The Messiah himself is called a servant in the great passages of Isaiah (49:1-7, 52:13, 53:11).

Paul was glad to be under the mastery of Jesus Christ. This duty and devotion to his loving master is the first thing he mentions in describing himself to the Roman readers.

Jesus told his followers they would be better to be servants than masters in his kingdom. Luke 22:25-27 reads, “And He said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called “benefactors.” But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.’ ”

This is how we ought to see our work for Christ. We ought to think of ourselves as servants, purchased by our Lord’s own death in our place, so that we can do the work of the one who loves us so. We ought to love being the subjects of the King of kings.

Paul understood his service to be in the office of an Apostle

Romans 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

When the church of God entered a new era after the death of Christ, officers were appointed. Titles were needed to identify these offices. Words that already existed were used.

The church was to be governed and instructed by Elders. The Greek word for Elder is presbuteros (πρεσβυτερος). It literally means someone who is older or wiser. This word was already used in Israel as a special title for the spiritual office of teacher and overseer.

The church was to be served by Deacons. The Greek word deakonos (δεακονος) literally means someone who serves. In the general sense anyone who serves could be called a deacon. When the Jewish office of Levite ended with the finished work of Christ, there was a need for a new office to carry out the daily administrations of God’s church. A new office of service was created by God’s direct command. The ordained deacons were to care for the needy, maintain the place of worship, and act as daily administrators of the church’s resources.

And the church was to be established and set on its course by Apostles. The Greek word Paul uses is apostolos (αποστολος) which means “someone sent forth with an assignment.” As a general term “an apostle” is anyone sent out with an assigned duty. In New Testament times cargo vessels were called “apostolic boats”, boats sent on a mission. In that general sense, all believers sent out to serve God may be called apostles. In a more specialized way certain men sent out on special missions were “apostles.” The word is applied to Barnabas, Apollos, Timothy and others. But there was a very specialized use of the word for a limited number of men chosen by Christ. The office of Apostle applied only to the original 12 chosen by Christ, to Matthias chosen to replace Judas, and to Paul, who was specially chosen by Christ.

All holding the office of Apostle met these qualifications:

  • They were directly chosen and called by Jesus Christ. (John 6:70, 13:18, 15:16,19, Luke 6:13, Acts 1:24-26, Galatians 1:1,6)
  • They were eye-witnesses to Christ, his teachings, and his resurrection. (Acts 1:8,21,22, 1 Corinthians 9:1, 15:8, Galatians 1:11-12, Ephesians 3:2-8, 1 John 1:1-3)
  • Their calling was affirmed by special supernatural signs and miracles. (Matthew 10:1,8, Acts 2:43 3:2, 5:12-16, Romans 15:18,19, 1 Corinthians 9:2, 2 Corinthians 12:12, Galatians 2:8)

This means that the office of Apostle could not continue past the first century. Unlike the other church offices described in the New Testament, no qualifications were stated by which new Apostles were to be chosen by the church.

Due to that direct calling by Christ, they had a unique authority. They ordained elders to rule in the newly established churches. They had direct revelation and instruction from Jesus Christ. They uniquely explained the fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ. They laid the foundation of the church upon which later generations were to build.

Paul was to serve as an Apostle. He was called to that office directly by the risen Christ.

Paul was set apart to promote the good news God had revealed.

Romans 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

Some times men are set apart by the church for special assignments such as being missionaries, ministers, Sunday school teachers, elders, deacons, heads of committees. Paul and Barnabas were set apart for the first missionary journey in Acts 13:2. The setting aside Paul refers to here was his special call to explain the gospel. It was his calling to make known the saving work of Christ. This is why he gave up his comfortable life as a respected rabbi. This is why he spent the time and effort to write this well planned out 16 chapter book to Rome.

In a similar way we are all are called to obey God and to tell others about the gospel of Christ. We are not all set apart in the special way Paul was. However, when God gives us a duty in any area of life we must let nothing else interfere with it. We must carry it out as if we were given over to be bond-servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We each have divine callings in our lives too.


We must be devoted to each of our duties as servants of Christ. Some of you are called of God and gifted to be engineers, machinists, mechanics, sales representatives, managers, designers, students, teachers, home makers, husbands, mothers or fathers … many things.

The ways of our Master must be carried out in every assignment given to us by God

  • We have a duty toward ourselves to maintain a personal walk of devotion to Christ. Every day we need to learn more about his word, talk with him in prayer, encourage his people, obey his moral principles, and hope in his promises.
  • We have a duty to our family to be a good spouse, child, parent and family member.
  • We have a duty to our church, the spiritual family. There we must be faithful in worship, fellowship, and in promoting its work and ministries.
  • We have a duty to our calling at work to bring forth our provisions from our labor, and to do that faithfully.
  • We have a duty to society to help and encourage others in our community.

We are to carry out each duty as bond-slaves of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must honor him as our master and do all things within the boundaries of his standards.

The world sees these areas of life only in how they bring personal gratification. To our fallen souls, all work and relationships are to satisfy our own feelings and desires. God is seen only as one of the ways for getting what we want as individuals. Ego becomes god, and self-gratification becomes the standard for all judgments and decisions. When seen this way our order of priority is confused. Our personal lives, families, worship, work and society become twisted and wounded.

As Paul shows us here, to be what God has made us to be and redeemed us to be we need to fulfill our callings as those who are bond-servants of Jesus Christ.

The tragic myth of the world is the belief that freedom is found in serving one’s self privately, in the home, in church, on the job, in the workplace, and in society. Proverbs 16:25 warns us, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”

The most frustrating and oppressive servitude is to live as if you were free from God. The most satisfying freedom, is to be a devoted servant of Christ.

When we serve our Lord Jesus Christ in each duty he gives us, remaining within his boundaries, giving him recognition for every ability and blessing, we begin to discover the wonderful blessing of what God can make of our lives.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Back to the Index of Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans

God’s Perfect Plan

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Index of Lessons in the Westminster Shorter Catechism

God’s Perfect Plan

Video presentation of this lesson
(Westminster Shorter Catechism Q:7-8)
by Bob Burridge ©2011

God is greater than anything any of us can comprehend. What we experience in our day-to-day lives is the discovering of his prefect and eternal plan.

Since God is so much more than we can know, there are things that happen which we cannot possibly explain. In our fallen condition people try to explain things anyway. They add their foolish guesses and theories. They either reject the parts of God’s word they don’t like, or they try to explain them away by adding things from their own imaginations. This generates the confusion about God which is common today.

The Naturalist tries to explain what happens in our world by imagining that Nature itself is the mother of us all. To deal with what they would like reality to be, they deify everything, but that really means they deify nothing. If everything is God, then he isn’t anything more than everything else.

They use different versions of Evolution Theory to explain where we came from. This makes humans to be no more important than dust, rocks, beetles, or bacteria. To the Naturalist there is no plan, no certainty, no hope for the future. This lets them reject the idea that there are things that are really sinful or wrong. They condemn only what stands in the way of their personal peace and prosperity.

The Fatalist believes that everything that happens is inevitable. The religious fatalist imagines some kind of god or universal power moving all things along, but it’s all impersonal. We’re just actors following a script. Our thoughts and circumstances move us to do what’s been written out for us.

The material fatalist believes that the forces of nature and chance can only go one way. We do what the chemicals in our brains get stimulated to do by our circumstances. Our lives are simply a play written by impersonal cosmic forces.

In both types of fatalism life is meaningless. There is no morality or evil, just our wrong ideas about it all. There can be no personal responsibility. Human feelings are just hormonal reactions. There is no reason to sorrow or to be glad, except as it effects us personally.

As one Fatalist once put it, man is like a water-beetle caught in a torrent of water. He may struggle, or he may let himself be swept along in peace simply accepting his doom.

Others see God as a powerful being who’s there to the help us, but who doesn’t control everything. To them, God is big, but he is not infinite. They limit God by imagining that human choices are beyond his control. To them he is like a superhero, or the pagan deities of ancient Greece and Rome. They imagine that if we all pray hard enough, God will change his plan to grant our wishes. They must think that their wisdom about what should happen is better than God’s wisdom.

God hasn’t left us to wonder and guess about his plan with such foolish theories. In his revealed word, preserved for us in the Bible, he tells us what we need to know about his plan and our responsibilities. There God assures us that he decrees all things and isn’t surprised by anything. It also tells us that we are real persons, responsible for our own thoughts and actions.

This all fits together once we understand how God explains it. We need to let the Bible speak for itself. There is great comfort for those who trust in the True God. We can rest confidently in the things the way they really are, instead of just how we guess them to be.

In the Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 7 and 8 summarize what the Bible says about God’s control of all things.

Question 7. What are the decrees of God?
Answer. The decrees of God are his eternal purpose according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

Question 8. How doth God execute his decrees?
Answer. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.

First: It reminds us that God’s plan is eternal.


If God’s plan is eternal, then it had no beginning. There was never a time before his plan was formed. It’s always been there in his mind. From all eternity God’s intent and all that carries it out was complete and perfect. Psalm 33:11 says, “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.”

That is hard for us to understand. Our plans all have a time when they are formed in our minds. We gather the information we need. We think about it. Only then a plan emerges.

With God, his plan has always been there in its complete and unchangeable form. There’s no information he didn’t always know. He didn’t need to do research to get the facts. He didn’t need to make up contingency plans. There’s no need for a “Plan B”. As we’ve seen in our earlier study, God is eternal and unchangeable. There was never a time when any part of God’s plan was uncertain or incomplete.

Before anything was created, God knew all things as they would ever be. He designed everything to show his glory in the best way possible.

Second: God’s plan is the expression of his own will.


God’s decrees are his own eternal and unchanging intentions. Revelation 4:11 says, “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created.”

His plan wasn’t formed by advice or input from anything or anyone other than himself. Since the Bible says he knew all things before the foundation of the earth, nothing else existed when his plan was already and eternally fully formed. He has always known all things as they are and will ever be.

Some try to get around this by using Bible verses about God’s foreknowledge. They imagine God basing his plan upon what he saw would happen in the future. That can’t possibly be what those verses are talking about. It makes no sense to think that that the Eternal, Unchangeable God looked ahead to see what his creatures would do if he didn’t decree their actions, then decreed them from all eternity. So his decree was for what would happen if he didn’t decree it. The mind that wants to be independent of a Sovereign God can accept such self-contradictory ideas.

The word foreknowledge simply tells us that God knows with certainty before hand exactly how his plan will unfold. The Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 3, section 2 explains this when it says, “Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed anything because he foresaw it as future, …”

God doesn’t decide what to do based on what we would do. The Creator isn’t the slave of the creatures who make up history as they decide things. The Bible says it’s the other way around: Those who move history are moved by God. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.”

As Jesus taught us, even our prayers are to be presented humbly. We say, “Thy will be done …” We do not say, “God, you have your plan, but please abandon it and do it my way. It’s better.”

Third: The purpose of God’s decree is to promote his own glory.


That’s the continuing purpose of all Creation in Psalm 19:1-2, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.”

We looked at this more closely in our study of Catechism Question 1. As part of God’s creation we are each here “to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”

The Apostle Peter gave a warning to those who teach God’s word. In his First Peter 4:11 he wrote, ” … that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, …”

Our prime duty here on earth is to carry out this purpose of our Creator. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 we’re told, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Fourth: All of God’s plan, every part of it, is certain to come to pass.


God foreordained whatever comes to pass. We don’t say he Predestined it, because that word has to do with the destiny of our souls. Foreordination has to do with everything. There is nothing God didn’t include in his plan.

God’s perfect plans and infinite power come together to ensure us that all God determined to happen comes to pass exactly as he intended it. Since God is infinitely powerful, he is able to make all that he plans happen just as he wants. Jeremiah 32:17 says, “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:”

He is able to do whatever he decrees will happen. And that’s exactly what he does. This absolute sovereignty of God is one of the most clear and repeated teachings of the Bible.

Psalm 115:3, “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”

Psalm 135:6, “Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.”

Job 42:1-2, “… I know that Thou canst do all things, And that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted.”

There is nothing that can ever or will ever change or ruin God’s perfect plan for the ages. It is hard to understand the idea of a perfect and eternal plan that never changes. This is a high mystery to us finite and imperfect creatures. We can rarely accomplish our simplest of plans without having to make adjustments. With God, all he purposes to do — comes to pass without fail or amendment.

God’s decrees include everything. There is nothing in all of God’s universe that is independent from his decrees. Nothing surprises him and nothing is left out. He made all things to merge together precisely to declare his glory. Everything that takes place has been decreed by God for all eternity.

As time goes on our plans often change. We can’t possibly know in advance all the things that could derail our plans. We can’t anticipate human errors, circumstances, or natural disasters that might get in the way. We get new information and often have to admit that something can’t be done as we hoped.

Our information, and the way we make our decisions, are always imperfect and limited. We do the best we can to reduce the imperfections while knowing we can’t eliminate them all.

We need to keep in mind that knowing that God’s plan is certain isn’t the same as Fatalism. The Reformers, including John Calvin, made it clear that what the Bible teaches is nothing like Fatalism. Critics of the Bible often make the mistake of not understanding the difference.

We were created in God’s image as persons, not as machines. We act, and think, and choose. We alone are responsible for our sins. Even the good we do, our faith, repentance, and obedience are the work of God’s grace in us. He provides our abilities and opportunities. He gives life to our fallen hearts, turns us by his Holy Spirit, and gives us a new nature that impels us to want to do what he says is good.

Yet when God works in us by his grace, we come as persons made willing by Christ. We don’t repent and believe as machines or as rebels screaming and kicking against his redeeming love.

It is a wicked thing to believe that the loving work of our Sovereign God is just natural forces at work blindly.

One of the hardest things to understand
is the existence of evil in God’s perfect plan.


God did not create sin. It is not a created thing. Sin and evil do not exist on their own. They are not entities floating around somewhere in the universe. They only exist as attitudes or actions in created persons.

Sin is doing what God forbids, or failing to do what he commands. It is pure non-sense to say that God is the cause of anything against his own will and intention. Sin is not caused by God, and we should never blame him for it.

When the Bible says God caused “evil” there is a translation problem related to older forms of English. The Hebrew word translated as “evil” in some passages in the old King James Version is the Hebrew word רע (ra’) which means calamity or disaster. Sin, or moral evil uses the Hebrew word חטא (khatah) which is not said to be caused by God.

Obviously God’s plan allowed or permitted evil to exist. This is the way the Bible puts it in passages like Acts 14:16, God, “… in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.”

God allowing sin, does not make it to be good. God may decree evil, and even restrain it at times, but he is never the one who causes it. In Genesis 20:6 we see that God restrained Abimelech from sinning with Abraham’s wife Sarah. There it says, “… I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.”

When the sons of Jacob sold Joseph into slavery, it was their evil, but God had a purpose in it. In Genesis 50:20 Joseph explained how God fit into what they did. “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, …” Evil condemns the rebel, but God employs it to reveal more of his glorious perfections.

One of the clearest passages that helps us understand this difficult concept is Acts 2:23. It talks about the crucifying of Jesus, which was obviously both a wicked thing and something God planned from all eternity to redeem his people. Acts 2:23 speaks of Jesus, “… being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;”

On the one hand it says the crucifying of Jesus was decreed by God as part of his plan. He foresaw it as something he meant to happen. On the other hand, this verse clearly shows that it was a lawless and wicked thing to do. It leaves those who did this responsible for what they did. They did it willingly, not as machines, or as mere actors forced to play out a script.

God uses the evil he permits men to do, so that it furthers his plan. He has a purpose in those who are left in their sins, and in those who are saved by Christ. Romans 9:22-23 is very clear when it says, “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, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,”

So evil is part of God’s plan, but it is caused by the willing rebellion of fallen persons. They sin because they want to, not because they are forced to do something they do not want to do.

Fifth: God puts his decree into action for us to see
by his works of creation and providence


In Creation God made everything he wanted to put into his universe and into our world. Everything God made serves a purpose — together they display his glory: Psalm 19 begins, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.” Colossians 1:16 tells us that all things were created for God’s purposes.

All we see, all we use, all we are — everything is part of the revealing of his plan day-by-day. By his providence God directs all things toward his perfect purpose. What we call laws of science are really the principles God embedded in what he made. Colossians 1:17 says, “And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

The events of history, even those done in hatred toward God, turn out to further his plan. Even the deceit of Adam and Eve by Satan in Eden was use by God. The greatest attack became the greatest story ever told.

God uses sin to reveal his justice, to show us how much we need our Redeemer, to display a love so great that the greatest gift was given to overcome the worst rebellion.

The things that happen to you every day are there for the same reason: to display God’s glory. The beautiful sunrise, the friends and family who are there to comfort and love us, the children and elderly who need us to care for them, the opportunities we have to worship, they should all stir us to see God’s hand at work in and through his redeemed people. We have opportunities to practice the presence of Christ in our hearts when faced with flat tires, rude people who show disrespect for us, pathogens that make us sick, homework, bills, taxes, manipulations of politicians, and devastating storms.

The decrees of God are a great comfort to God’s people.


Nothing is out of control. Everything fits into God’s holy purpose and glorious plan. As Paul tells us in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

This is the symphony of God’s World made known to us in God’s Word, and made knowable to us undeserving sinners by God’s Redeeming Grace in Christ.

God’s promise is that he knows what he’s doing, even though we don’t yet understand it all. He is truly Lord over all things and over all the beings he made. That’s why even in a time of horrible tragedy and suffering, Job had the courage to say in Job 13:15, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him…”

This is the assurance we can give to our children, and can draw upon ourselves when we face the unknown. It is our comfort as we go to bed at night, and wake up to a new day in the morning. We pray to God as David did in Psalm 3:5-6, “i lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me round about.”

This is not just a useless intellectual exercise about large scale movements of history. It means that everything that happens day-by-day in each of our lives is the unfolding of God’s perfect plan.

Our duty is to look for our opportunities for obedience in every situation that comes along. Are you sick? Have you been in an accident? Maybe you received a good promotion at work, or your car has broken down again. Perhaps someone broke into your house and took your things. Whether you are blessed or attacked, surprised or bored: in all things you are moving through God’s plan as it unfolds.

The Bible tells us about God’s power and decrees so we can know we are safe all the time, and so we can honor him through it all. This gives us a different perspective. It is as if the lights were turned on to get rid of the darkness.

Whether you rest beside the still waters, or walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Shepherd who made all things and who upholds all things is there with you. He is not only on the path with you, he made the path, and he made you.

Trust him, even when things happen that can’t seem to be good in your limited understanding, specially then. See each challenge as your orders of the day. Learn to move dynamically, responding to what happens with godly obedience. Rest with childlike confidence in the promises of God which cannot fail.

(The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

The State of Evangelicalism Today

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The State of Evangelicalism Today

(based upon our April 14, 2011 webcast)
by Bob Burridge ©2011

Many churches and individuals identify themselves as being “Evangelical”. This is a good term that has an important historical meaning. In time, good words are often used in ways that become detached from their original meanings. What does being an Evangelical mean today?

The word “evangelical” is an adjective from the word “evangel.” It comes from the Greek root word euangelion (ευαγγελιον). It is a compound word which combines ευ, a prefix meaning “good”, with angelia (αγγελια), a word meaning “message”. The related word for “messenger” is angelos (αγγελος). In the language of that time any messenger, both military and civilian, was called “angelos”, an “angel”. The same word was used for those spirit beings who were the messengers of God.

This compound word, “evangel” means “good message”. It is the message that God and lost sinners are reconciled by grace through the atonement of Jesus Christ. The message is “good” because it restores the lost to God’s eternal blessing and fellowship.

An “evangelical” person promotes
God’s good message of redeeming grace.

Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

The word “gospel” in that verse is the word “evangel” (ευαγγελιον).

There is an historical and theological meaning for the word Evangelical.


The Christian churches which believe that the lost need redemption are divided into two camps. The Sacerdotalists believe that God works mediately through the church which administers salvation through the sacraments. In contrast, the Evangelicals believe that God works immediately upon the individual to forgive and to restore him through the proclaiming of the gospel.

The historical dedication of Evangelicals to biblical principles has eroded.


1. Many now play down the importance of biblical doctrine
There is a tragic lack of concern about what the Bible actually says in many churches claiming to be “Evangelical.”

In a series of articles about the state of 21st Century Evangelicalism, Dr. Paul Elliott of Teaching the Word Ministries quoted from a survey reported in Christianity Today. The survey was based upon work done by Barna Research. Dr. Elliott’s article points out the following responses from young people in Evangelical churches:

  • 80% could not place Moses, Adam, David, Solomon, and Abraham in chronological order.
  • 85% could not place the major events of the earthly life of Jesus in chronological order.
  • 80% did not know to look in the book of Acts for the account of Paul’s missionary journeys.
  • 40% did not know where to find the Ten Commandments.
  • 67% did not know where to find the Sermon on the Mount.

In a similar survey of adults who call themselves Bible-believing Christians in America today, less than one adult in six said that he reads the Bible regularly. 35% of the adults surveyed said they never read the Bible at all.

Dr. Elliott said, “The church unplugged becomes the church uncertain about Biblical truth. And the church uncertain becomes the church that doesn’t really care how its people live.”

He then quoted from a Barna Research survey conducted in 2001 to show the following statistics:

  • 37% of adults in Evangelical churches do not believe the Bible is totally accurate.
  • 45% do not believe Jesus Christ was sinless.
  • 52% do not believe Satan is real.
  • 57% do not believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal life.
  • 57% believe that good works play a part in gaining eternal life.
  • A similar number of Evangelical adults believe that other religions are “valid ways to God.”

2. Many in these churches show a lack of biblical morals.
In another Barna survey, less than 10% of adults in Evangelical churches cite the Bible as the primary basis of their worldview and behavior. Dr. Elliott reported that according to a 2008 survey by Pew Forum, 19% of those who are living with a partner outside of marriage identify themselves as Evangelical Christians.

Dr. Elliott referenced the book Willow Creek Seeker Services: Evaluating a New Way of Doing Church (the Purpose-Driven Church). It said that although 91% of its people stated that their highest value in life is having a deep personal relationship with God, 25% of the church’s singles, 38% of its single parents, and 41% of its divorced members “admitted to having illicit sexual relationships in the last 6 months.”

Dr. Elliott then concluded, “… systematic, expository Bible preaching has given way to motivational lectures where the Bible is rarely mentioned, much less really studied. The singing of Bible-based, doctrinally-rich, instructive hymns has given way to the use of repetitious, cliché-filled songs and choruses.” … “Many of these churches base their programs and policies on the latest fad how-to books rather than on the Bible. They model their services on the practices of television mega-churches rather than on the principles given by the Holy God who is the only legitimate object of worship, in His Word.”

Restoring the Good News to Evangelicalism:


Though the state of 21st Century Evangelicalism is clearly unhealthy, there is great hope. God’s word is powerful because of it’s source. God promises to transform the hearts of his people when they learn his word, pray for his direction, worship him as they ought, and encourage one another as a spiritual family.

There are things we can do to turn the tide of an eroding understanding of the gospel.
1. We need to restore the focus of the gospel to reconciliation with God and restoration to godliness, rather than just proclaiming a rescue from perdition.

2. We can also encourage our pastors and teachers to restore worship sermons to themes derived from the exposition of Scripture, rather than from popular motivational topics.

Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ ”

References:
Dr. Elliott’s helpful articles were found on the web at the following locations:
Part 1, The Greatest Story Never Read? By Dr. Paul M. Elliott
http://www.teachingtheword.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=67176

Part 2, What Do 21st Century Evangelicals Believe? By Dr. Paul M. Elliott
http://www.teachingtheword.org/articles_view.asp?columnid=5449&articleid=69330

The surveys come from:
Barna Research (http://www.barna.org/)
Bible Literacy Center (http://www.centerforbibleengagement.org/)
The Pew Forum (http://religions.pewforum.org/)