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[Discussion Questions] [Solid Ground-Home]
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ReviewSpin up:
Lots of good news this week (popular on-ramp for the
“Romans Road”)
Romans
5:1 Therefore, since we have been
justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by
faith into this grace in which we stand, and
we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
The result of Justification before God is peace with
God.
Notice the tense of the verbs:
Contrast “peace with God” with the following
verses: (peace with God is a BIG DEAL!)
ESV James 4:4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
ESV Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ESV Romans 2:5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on
the day of wrath when God's righteous
judgment will be revealed.
ESV Romans 5:3 More than that, we rejoice in
our sufferings, knowing that suffering
produces endurance, 4 and endurance
produces character, and character produces
hope, 5 and hope does not put us to
shame, because God's love has been poured into
our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has
been given to us.
Weeks ago we discussed some of the false promises of
pop-evangelicalism, one of those being you
will be happy, healthy, wealthy, etc.
ESV James 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith
produces steadfastness.
ESV Hebrews 12:7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons.
For what son is there whom his father does not
discipline? 8 If you are left
without discipline, in which all have
participated, then you are illegitimate
children and not sons.
ESV Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
It
is not a question of whether difficult times
will come. The question is how we will respond to
them. How
will we view them? Are tough times evidence of a lack of
faith?
sufferings à endurance à character à hope
hope (New
Testament definition) – “the assurance of
something not yet fully realized”
* NOT uncertain, wishful thinking (“I hope my lottery ticket wins”)
does not put us to shame (fail) … why? because God's love has been poured
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who
has been given to us.
*Side note: notice the Holy Spirit here is referred
to as “who” (some question personhood)
How
is God’s love poured into us? —Through the
Holy Spirit. Other effects:
ESV Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and
in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of
the earth."
ESV Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things
there is no law.
ESV 1 Corinthians 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts,
but the same Spirit; 5 and there
are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it
is the same God who empowers them all in
everyone. 7 To each is given the
manifestation of the Spirit for the common
good. 8 To one is given through the
Spirit the utterance of wisdom,
and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to
another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles,
to another prophecy,
to another the ability
to distinguish between spirits, to another
various kinds of tongues,
to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered
by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to
each one individually as he wills.
Power, fruits, gifts …
ESV Romans 5:6 For while we were still weak,
at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a
righteous person- though perhaps for a good
person one would dare even to die- 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified
by his blood, much more shall we be saved by
him from the wrath of God. 10 For
if while we were enemies we were reconciled to
God by the death of his Son, much more, now
that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by
his life. 11 More than that, we
also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom we have now received
reconciliation.
This
is a great summary of the gospel and what
we’ve covered earlier. Christ died for the ungodly, … while
we were still sinners … us … reconciled to
God … peace with God (saved from wrath).
Paul
is the only one who uses this term, and he
uses it three times here… very important as
we transition to the discussion of Christ and
Adam.
Reconciled - reconcile
· c.1300, of persons, from L. reconcilare "to bring together again," from re- "again" + concilare "make friendly"
· To reestablish a close relationship, as in marriage
In
order for there to be a need for
reconciliation, there has to exist a broken
relationship…
ESV Genesis 3:23 therefore the LORD God
sent him out from the garden of Eden
to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He
drove out the man, and at the east of
the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and
a flaming sword that turned every way to guard
the way to the tree of life.
ESV Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came
into the world through one man, and death
through sin, and so death spread to all men
because all sinned- 13 for sin
indeed was in the world before the law was
given, but sin is not counted where there is
no law. 14 Yet death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning
was not like the transgression of Adam, who
was a type of the one who was to come.
Paul
begins a comparison of Christ and Adam lasting
the rest of the chapter.
types
and shadows—throughout
Scripture you will see types and
foreshadowings of Christ (Melchizedek, serpent
of brass, Isaac, Moses, David …). Here Adam will be revealed as the
representative of all mankind (as our father).
“those whose sinning was not
like the transgression of Adam”- Adam did not have the handicap of a sin
nature, had true “libertarian free will.” As we’ll see, all since Adam have
been born sinners by nature, “slaves of
sin” in need of liberation.
ESV Romans 5:15 But the free gift is not like
the trespass. For if many died through one
man's trespass, much more have the grace of
God and the free gift by the grace of that one
man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of
that one man's sin. For the judgment following
one trespass brought condemnation, but the
free gift following many trespasses brought
justification.
Adam’s
sin—“many”
(previously revealed as all men) died
(spiritually) à condemnation
ESV Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
Christ’s
redemption—(“free
gift” X4, “grace” X2) à justification
ESV Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ- by grace you have been saved
ESV Romans 5:17 If, because of one man's
trespass, death reigned through that one man,
much more will those who receive the abundance
of grace and the free gift of righteousness
reign in life through the one man Jesus
Christ. 18 Therefore, as one
trespass led to condemnation for all men, so
one act of righteousness leads to
justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many
were made sinners, so by the one man's
obedience the many will be made righteous.
Adam’s
sin—“all
men” were made sinners
Christ’s
redemption—
“all men” were made righteous (“every single person?”)
all men- are all saved? (universalism) see
questions.
ESV Romans 5:20 Now the law came in to
increase the trespass, but where sin
increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also
might reign through righteousness leading to
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Law
(much much later than Adam) increased trespass
(by codifying/clarifying God’s standards)
As
death and darkness are increased, so is the
contrast of the beauty and brilliance of
grace.
ESV Romans 4:20 No distrust made him waver
concerning the promise of God, but he grew
strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he
had promised. 22 That is why his
faith was "counted to him as
righteousness." 23 But the words
"it was counted to him" were not
written for his sake alone, 24 but
for ours also. It will be counted to us who
believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus
our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for
our trespasses and raised for our justification.
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