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CHAPTER 9 – notes not complete

1    I say truth in Christ; I am not lying; my conscience testifying to me in (lit: “in spirit holy”) Holy Spirit,

αληθειαν λεγω εν χριστω ου ψευδομαι συμμαρτυρουσης μοι της συνειδησεως μου εν πνευματι αγιω

It is important to note that Paul speaks as a man led by the Holy Spirit. Where he tells us that he is speaking his own words, we are to believe that he means what he says, and they are not God’s word to him. But where he speaks as from God or says he is telling us what God says, we must accept his words as the word of God, and engage what he says accordingly.

2    that sorrow to me is great and unceasing pain to (in) my heart,

οτι λυπη μοι εστιν μεγαλη και αδιαλειπτος ...

1   Brethren, indeed the delight of my heart and the prayer to God over Israel is into salvation!

αδελφοι η μεν ευδοκια της εμης καρδιας και η δεησις η προς τον θεον υπερ του ισραηλ εστιν εις σωτηριαν

Paul was not at all interested in seeing Israel abandoned to her faithlessness. If Paul had understood the prophets and Christ’s words regarding Israel, to mean that God had finished all dealings with that people, and had replaced them in His plan with the church, as some believe, Paul would not have wasted his prayers...

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God….” Romans 3:22 

“the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 

“for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life….He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only begottenSon of God.” John 3:16,18 

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” John 14:6 

“He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:12 

“Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heav...

The main purpose of posting these articles is to encourage the brethren to greater knowledge of the Scriptures, through which only may we know the Lord as He reveals Himself to men. When we know the word of God, we know the Lord Himself better, we know ourselves better, and we are better equipped to endure the attacks against the Truth as well as the trials we will face in this life.

Many times, well-meaning folk come to false conclusions about spiritual matters as a consequence of failing to use the rules of language properly when reading the Bible. Another problem occurs when people don’t really know what a word means, and either accept a meaning someone has communicated to them, or assume a meaning they feel fits what they believe the Bible to be saying...

John 12:28       “Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

Some people have come to believe wrongly that when the Bible refers to God ‘glorifying His Name’, that it refers to some strange situation in which God proclaims His own greatness to Himself. This unbiblical idea is bizarre; and has been a stumbling block to some unbelievers who, having believed that God spends His time praising Himself, consider such a being to be the epitome of arrogance.

The verb “to glorify” means to bring glory or honour to someone or something. While we may express the glory of something by speaking its praise, we do not bring honour to it or show its honour simply by speaking...

Isaiah 64: 5-6 “You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember You in Your ways. Behold, You are angry, for we have sinned. In those is continuance, and we shall be saved. But we are all as an unclean thing; and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…”

All our good deeds and right actions are just a dress-up to masquerade as ‘worthy’ of God’s approval.It is not enough to put on an outfit to appear as something we are not. All of our ‘goodness’, as great as it may be, is not goodness if it is not a reflection of our communion with God. If we are in rebellion against God, we are automatically evil. Any performance on our part is reduced to just that: a performance; a show of our good impression of ourself. 

Goodness is defined by God...

“Now it was not written for him only, that it was reckoned to him, but also for us to whom it is being reckoned, who believe on Him Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Who was given up because of our offences and was raised for our justification.”

The essence of the gospel: God’s righteousness shall be imputed to us also if we trust Him Who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, Who was delivered to death for our offences and raised that we may be justified. We must trust the Lord Jesus Christ – Who He is, What He says, What He has done on our behalf. How very simple. How very plain.

Christ died for our sins, He rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will return to judge the living and the dead...

“Is this blessedness then upon the circumcision, or also upon the uncircumcision? For we are saying that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.  How then was it reckoned: in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe, though uncircumcised, that righteousness might be accounted to them also; and the father of circumcision to those, not of the circumcision only, but also to those who walk in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham while yet uncircumcised...

But to him who is not working, but trusting in the Justifier of the ungodly, his faith is reckoned to him for righteousness, even as also David says the man is blessed to whom God accounts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose transgressions were pardoned, and whose sins were covered.  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not be reckoning sin.”

The person who works to justify himself to God is spinning his wheels in sand, digging a progressively deeper pit in which he will become inextricably buried...

Now to him who works the wage is not accounted according to grace, but according to debt; yet to him who is not working, yet believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted to righteousness”

When someone works, he earns his reward; his reward is deserved. Grace is the extension of some benefit which is not deserved. There is no grace in paying someone what they have earned; the wages are owed; they must be paid.

When someone does not work, he earns nothing. Any benefit he receives is undeserved, and imparted through the grace of the one who gives. A man who does not work to earn God’s benefits, but trusts God, has acknowledged God as God when he believes what God has said...