Romans

Here's a book that one needs to know. I might write that of the entire Bible but realistically one needs to focus, for a number of differing reasons, upon some books more than others. Romans is undoubtedly one of those books. Essentially it is the most complete explanation of the Gospel anywhere in the New Testament. This is the book on redemption history, on the doctrines of Grace, on the process of our Salvation.

What follows on these pages is the extension and continuation of an existing project to digest and eat Romans. It began with repeated reading and listening to audio readings of Romans, now it moves on to a chapter by chapter, verse by verse commentary.

Mapping it roughly, to give an overview, Romans reveals:

• All are Sinful. The whole world is guilty before God.
• The Gospel offers a cure, the gift of righteousness.
  
• Walk in the Spirit.
  
• The Gospel does not abolish the covenant promises to Israel.
• Christian Living: Christian life and service.
  
• The practical outworking, the outflow of Christian love.

Chapter 1

Concerning Jesus Christ, Our Lord, seed of David, Son of God.

After introducing himself, Paul defines his audience to include Gentiles.

He is to preach the Gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation for all that believe. The just shall live by faith. All ungodliness shall meet the wrath of God. There are clearly two types: the righteous believers and the ungodly, or the unrighteous sinners. Paul goes on to describe this latter group. My understanding is that he is very explicitly describing the children of Moses and describing events that took place during the reign of the Aaronic priesthood and simultaneously he is painting a picture of the sinner in all times and all places.

They do not glorify god, nor are they thankful, they are vain in their imaginations, their heart is darkened, professing themselves to be wise. They worship idols. They change truth into lie and are governed by lust and fleshly desires. They are wilful and disobedient. God has given them up to uncleaness and a reprobate mind - nothing less than a state of forgetfulness. They are haters of God, inventors of evil. They ignore the judgement in favour of personal pleasures and encourage others to share their corrupt nature also. They are filled with unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, envy, murder, deceit, malignity, etc. But perhaps this list is too extreme. It does not let off the vain boaster, the self-worshipping nor the man lost in imaginations of personal grandeur and self-importance - and that fairly describes us all as sinners. Paul is clear, the just shall live by faith.

Voice

Joh 12:28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
Joh 12:29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
Joh 12:30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

The first 'voice' in the Bible is that of the Creator God, Elohim: "Let there be light." Adam will speak next and then the serpent will have his say. You have to remember that the word 'voice' makes it's first appearance in Genesis, in the garden. Adam and his wife know what they have done, they have sinned. Convicted by their own conscience they dare not face their LORD God, JEHOVA Elohim, and hearing His voice drives them into hiding. This one word, 'voice', occurs some further 504 occasions through the Bible. The second occurrence of the word 'voice' confirms, as we would expect, the meaning contained in the first occurrence, when Adam was hiding. This time it is Adam who speaks to JEHOVA Elohim, and he confesses that he was afraid when he heard the LORD God's voice because he was naked, because he knew he had sinned. He was afraid because he had done wrong and understood it was wrong and so he hid away unable to face the consequences of his actions. Among the obvious words to be associated with 'voice', words like hearken, heard, spake, said, shouting, swearing, cry, it is worth noting that 'obey' makes frequent occurrence throughout scripture. This ought to be expected, our fallen state dictates a tendency to follow in the rebellious nature of the first Adam, so we are continually admonished to obey His voice, His commandments, His Law.

I ruminated on this V word all day through but missed the totally obvious fact that those who do not hear the Word have no contact. Eyes to see, ears to hear. When we hear His Word, we know the Holy Bible is for our sakes.

Now, the very last occurrence of 'voice' is in Revelation and it brings the whole meaning of this word into focus. "A great voice" is heard to say out of heaven, "the tabernacle of God is with men," and, "... they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." It is there in the final moment that the covenant which was broken in the garden by the naked Adam is restored. What is the tabernacle but the Divine dwelling place or habitation of God - a great voice from above, heard by all who have ears to hear, states openly: the dwelling place of God is with men. That is the destiny of man, to be with His Creator, not imprisoned in confines presently made familiar through the lusts and desires of the flesh being.

Hearing the voice of the LORD God is the perfect symbol for the elect in this sense of receiving. The letter V is symbolic of the open mouth of a nestling bird receiving sustenance from it's parent, just as we receive victuals through Our Father's Holy Word.

Consider Your Ways

Hag 1:7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
Hag 1:8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.

All through my youth I loved to laugh at, mock and imitate Ian Paisley. He was the best entertainment that came out of Ireland - no one could touch his ferocity, and he was an endless source of hilarity for myself and my friends. Some seismic shift occurred in my being because now, 20+ years later, I'm linking a sermon and telling you, this is real and pure and absolutely a must listen. Never mind the shouting and the furore, this is inspirational. I know a lot of friends from my old days would barely believe I'm saying these things, this sermon is awesome, not just in delivery but content too. What I see now is that Ian Paisley is a key unlocking the wisdom of scripture with absolutely no dilution nor compromising of the message. He just does not care about the traditions of man.

Five Steps to Genuine Revival

We are like pygmies next to the giant men of the Old Testament with the glory of God in their soul. Churches are like canaries in their cage, a lot of moving around but no progress. God, give us Churches where sinners are scared. Some people have enough religion just to endure. Get back to the cross - commence the climb. Get up the mountain! My constant aim is higher ground. I hate sin. I hate the flesh, I hate the Devil. That broken pleading battered body of Christ is the handiwork of all sins. Get up that mountain today. C'mon brother leave the lowland, you've been there long enough. The blessed spirit of God is sent to FILL US! It's what the Bible says! I want to disturb the devil. I want to go up the mountain ...

This man has old time power and ever has he meant business. It's just short of 30 minutes and I can't recommend it enough.

Lectio Divina

There are countless ways and means of approaching and accessing scripture, but of particular interest and value is this ancient monastic practise. This has to be understood as a unique practise and should not replace other forms of Biblical study or reading. There are numerous online sources, but in summation:

1. Lectio: reverential listening both in a spirit of silence and of awe. We are listening for the still, small voice of God that will speak to us personally - not loudly, but intimately. We read slowly, attentively, gently listening to hear a word or phrase that is God's word for us this day.
   
   
2. Meditatio: having found a word or a passage in the Scriptures that speaks to us in a personal way, we must take it in - memorise - and “ruminate” on it. The image of the ruminant animal quietly chewing its cud was used in antiquity as a symbol of the Christian pondering the Word of God.
   
   
3. Oratio: prayer understood both as dialogue with God, that is, as loving conversation with the One who has invited us into His embrace; and as consecration, prayer as the priestly offering to God - we allow the word that we have taken in and on which we are pondering to touch and change our deepest selves.
   
   
4. Contemplatio: we simply rest in the presence of the One who has used His word as a means of inviting us to accept His transforming embrace. Love.
   

"The amount of time we spend in any aspect of lectio divina, whether it be rumination, consecration or contemplation depends on God's Spirit, not on us. Lectio divina teaches us to savor and delight in all the different flavors of God's presence, whether they be active or receptive modes of experiencing Him." [My underlining emphasis].

Culled from: Lectio Divina

Worth adding perhaps, we are not monastics and will each adapt this practise to suit our own daily life but it may be of some value to make notes where possible and allow some exterior life to the result of this interior practise. Surely we all realise by now that much is lost that is not put down into words. I speak of understanding, cognizance, apprehension, realisation, discernment, insight, perception, faint gleanings, bridges . . .

I also see great value here in using the KJV's built in dictionary, which Gail Riplinger details in her awesome work In Awe Of Thy Word. A brief description of the built-in dictionary, with instructions from one of her other works, can be found here, (requires pdf reader).

Lamb of God

Just for the record, Reymond's Lamb of God being so utterly succinct really leaves the reader with wide margins for further and deeper exploration of ideas and themes raised through the book, which of course any worthwhile book would claim as a natural achievement, if only as a by-product to the main discourse. I don't say this is anything I plan to do immediately but something that would be valuable in so far as it would undoubtedly consolidate knowledge and understanding gleaned through reading the book. With this in mind, I might want to consider a closer look at The Four Servant Songs of Isaiah; the types of sacrifice in the Old Testament; The Most Holy Place; the typical and anti-typical sacrifice; the meaning of spiritual darkness; and of key importance, Faith & Works, understanding clearly beyond any ambiguity the distinction between Works and active Sanctification.

What is important, what gives credit to works like Lamb of God, is the ability of the author to take you out of scripture - because obviously it is not part of the canon - and yet successfully lead you, the reader, deeper into the Holiness of The Word, taking you back to where you were, (so to speak), but with greater understanding. So nothing is lost and something is gained. Now it may be wrong but I sense there are a great many Christians reading books about Jesus and The Bible and not actually reading The Holy Bible - and that is entirely wrong, and foolish. It is with that in mind that I can praise Reymond because, he gives nothing to lazy readers - he wants you in The Word and everything he offers holds value only to those who are there, immersed in reading, studying, learning, developing understanding and growing in faith. I was only saddened, and that may be slightly too strong a word, that he used the NIV and not the AV, but on that matter arises another topic.

Holy Temple

1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

It is good - because all things from God are good - to remember that we are Holy within these Temples. The key word you just missed is remember: it is good that God gave us the possibility of remembering One self. Despite the lurings of the flesh we are separated out and Holy unto Him who is our Creator. The Holy Spirit dos not dwell in temples of lust and lewdness and drunken revellery. I don't say that such a life is common to any of us - though it may be - but, that it is easy to forget one's faith in the competing forces of the day. We need to put on the armour of light, we need to walk lightly in this world, playing a role but never wholly taken by it. We perform a higher service or we would, but we need to remember that we are Holy Temples, to look at ourselves from a higher perspective and feel that shame and repulsion we would naturally feel were we to remember this One self not servicing the flesh. We are not of the world but of the Kingdom of God, yet caught in the turmoil and pull of the world it is never easy to remember oneself, in the Kingdom of God, a Holy Temple.

Faith is Power

Mic 3:8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

Faith is power and truth, the bridge across this world, a gift of the spirit. Never forget, it was never easy, there was pain all along the way. It wasn't always a straight road, how often you were drawn away. There is a city called Rome, there are oceans of deep waters, cold wet days in which you would drown but for the glory of God who prevails against this dark confederacy. I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord. I give all thanks unto Him. I was afflicted. My bones were ground like sharp glass scratching against the dark eyes of my soul. I ached with lesions in a wilderness of hopeless living death. So I celebrate, now I am lifted, no longer dogs in the dirt not knowing what they do. You have to remember yourself in the presence of God, you have to understand the forces pursuing, hunting, seeking to eat you. You are nothing, nothing big or important, vain perhaps, a little man and often not even that. So wake up, press now for the sands of the cool earth have a peace only in a world you must leave - so seek Him for His sake, as purely and truly as you can - touch Him because He IS. We are already dust. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

Fear

Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Fearing God is, as it seems, a peculiarly difficult and at odds with our times type of thing. It appears - and I may be entirely wrong on this count - that the liberal expansion of the 1960's and the mantra's of all-you-need-is-love and such, made the idea of love desireable in a way different to earlier generations. Generally speaking anyway. Of course, to many love is love and it is all fairly simplistic and effortless with little distinction between the values of Eros, Philadelphia and Agape. Even so. Though a person may not be a Christian nor indeed particularly spiritually oriented they will often admit to seeing some level of meaning in the instruction to love thy neighbour. Contrary to this, the idea of fearing God gains no approval, makes peoples skin crawl and is, by and large, a no-go zone: vanity knows where it's not welcome.

So, what does it mean to fear God?

Well, what would it be to have to give account of oneself to God?

How could I? What would I say? Forgive me for I am a miserable sinner? I know not what I do? I lack all inner command? I am weak and have ever failed to remember myself, to be present to your presence? My will is crabbed and doddery when faced with temptations of lust and desire? What can I say? I walked in darkness. I lacked self-restraint. Nothing excuses what I became here in the flesh - no matter how grand a dream I may have envisioned before bursting through the waters of my mothers womb: the sheer weight of flesh upon my soul so pinned me to the floor, glued me to the tinsel attractions of the world, that it took half a lifetime just to open my eyes to the Truth of Thy Word. I cannot account for myself, I am condemned - not merely by acts committed in my name but by the thoughts to which I gave myself. Carried away in sin, a great lacuna of conscience, it is too terrible and adamic, nothing, no words of mine can release me. So God save me.