Category Bible Studies

21       Because those knowing God, did not glorify (him) as God nor thank (Him) but they were vain (futile; useless; empty) in their reasoning (thinking) and their foolish (lit: unintelligent) heart was darkened.

Despite knowing God, they made a deliberate choice against God. This was an act of human will, and not a consequence of divine causation. They knew God; consider the implications of Revelation 6:12-17: they knew. They didn’t wonder what was this astonishing crisis that was upon them, but had certain knowledge that God’s wrath was about to be poured out and they were done.

From the beginning, Adam and Eve knew God like no one has known God since. Yet she believed and he obeyed the contradictory words of a created animal slandering God...

2:1       Therefore, you are defenceless, oh person! Everyone who judges, for in that which you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, for you who are judging are committing the same things!

Paul contrasts the judgment by people who hypocritically do the things they judge others for, and God’s judgement based on truth. In both instances, the judging party is judging against the action; in this statement Paul does not refer to the sinner approving when others do like sins to their own, but rather those who condemn another for sins they themselves commit. God judges against those who commit unrighteousness without distinction, whereas ‘o man’ judges others but not himself. God will judge both.

Paul also declares that the ones judging others while committing the same sins h...

3:1       Then what (is) the (excessive) prerogative (perisson – the sense of significant benefit) of the Jew, or what (is) the profit (benefit) of the circumcision?

If the Jew did not enjoy special consideration with God on the basis of his national heritage, if the Jew was to be found just as guilty of his sins as the ‘uncircumcised Gentile’, being just as condemned and just as much bound for hell as the Gentile who had never received God’s Law or His covenants with Abraham, if there was really no difference between a Jew and a Gentile in the eyes of God as pertains righteousness, then what advantage is there to being a Jew? Why bother being circumcised, if it is only a sign of membership in a family with no unique significance in the eternal scheme? What benefit is there in being ...

4:1       What then shall we say Abraham our father according to flesh to have found?

Abraham was the physical, biological ‘father’ of all members of the nation of Israel. When Abraham encountered the Sovereign LORD YHWH, he had not known Him, nor had he lived as a man who did. Abraham had nothing to offer God to compel God’s kindness or to turn aside the outcome of justice; Abraham was not a sinless man.

Abraham’s people lived in Sumer, in Ur of the Chaldees. The area was referred to as Mesopotamia, as well as the ‘fertile crescent’. Historical records show Sumer to have been pantheistic (‘god’ is everywhere) as well as polytheistic (they worshipped several deities).[1] Abraham’s father Terah served idols rather than the living and true God...

1    Being then justified from faith, we have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

We trust God, we believe Christ, we are declared righteous by God. If we are declared righteous, then we are no longer guilty before Him, and if no longer guilty, there is no longer enmity between us and Him. We are at peace with God. We are no longer His enemies, He has no more charge against us; we are free.

2       through Whom also we have access to the faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice (boast) on the hope of the glory of God;

As Paul stated earlier that Abraham had nothing to boast of before God even had he been completely righteous on his own merit, however we may boast of God’s grace in our lives and the hope we have of seeing His glory with full sight and awarene...

6:1 What then shall we say (declare)? Shall we continue in sin, that grace should increase?

When we consider the immensity of what God has done for us, in completely conquering sin and completely overcoming death, by subjecting both of them to the effect of His grace in granting righteousness to all who believe Him, our response to God should be tremendous gratitude and endearment toward Him. When we consider the immensity of His goodness toward us, and the fact that He has overcome sin, we should be motivated by His goodness toward us to repudiate wickedness in every form and purpose to avoid it at all costs. Yet, some professing Christians declare that it doesn’t matter what they do because they are ‘covered with the blood of Jesus’...

1    Or are you ignorant, brothers – for to those knowing law I am speaking – that the law is mastering of the person on as much time as he lives!

1   η αγνοειτε αδελφοι γινωσκουσιν γαρ νομον λαλω οτι ο νομος κυριευει του ανθρωπου εφ οσον χρονον ζη

Paul has continued throughout this explanation, to address those members of his audience who are ‘under the Law’. As we read the comments and arguments he presents, we must read them in the context of what they would necessarily mean to a native Jew. It was the Jew who ‘knew’ the Law, not the Gentile...

1    Consequently, now there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to flesh, but according to Spirit.

ουδεν αρα νυν κατακριμα τοις εν χριστω ιησου μη κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν αλλα κατα πνευμα

“Consequently” – because the man who is in Christ has been released from the Law, he is no longer a law-breaker. And if he is no lawbreaker, he shall not suffer condemnation as a lawbreaker. God knows than men are flesh; He understands that we have an inherent struggle with temptation because the draw of the flesh is intrinsic and strong...

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...