Session 2 – Romans; Beginning Verses of Chapter 1: Mark Lanier, 04/06/25

Session 2 - Romans; Beginning Verses of Chapter 1 Mark Lanier, 04 06 25
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[00:00:00] We are studying Romans, so this is our second Sunday to look at it, and as I discussed last week, we read and study an epistle. In the New Testament, I think, a bit differently than you read and study other parts of the Bible. And so I suggested to you last week that one of the things you need to do is look at the historical context that surrounds that epistle and that includes to whom it was written and what we know about that community.

It includes what we know about that age and time, but not only the historical context is important. We also need to look at the literary. Context, and we do that as we [00:01:00] unfold the letter and we look through it and it's, it's, the literary context will include a number of different things, just what you expect in an epistle.

We might talk about, uh, uh, the different, uh, usage of a scribe to write the epistle so that. Paul May be dictating it, and some of these he might dictate word for word. Some of these he might dictate by concept and then go back. You know, there are lots of things in the literary context we ought to consider.

Then there's the textual analysis itself, and that exists on a couple of different levels. It exists of trying to put together the actual best. Text that we know is closest to what was the original text. And it also includes, uh, analyzing within that text, certain things. Uh, then you break it down into paragraphs and you look at those paragraphs and try to understand.

What the paragraph says, and those are just four of the eight steps. The other [00:02:00] steps that I suggested, or look at it and analyze it theologically, try to figure out how to apply it, mix in what other people say, read the commentaries, the articles, the experts, and then just do this ongoing reflection where you're continually trying to.

To work through it. And the reason you're doing this is because these steps will lead to the the two important goals. Larry, are you here this morning? Larry sent me an email that said you left out the goals. Let me add the goals. Two very important goals. The first goal is to read and to understand this, these letters, these epistles, the way the original hearers or readers would've understood them.

We want to first understand, you know, if, if, if we talk about, um, I had a horrible flat, if I [00:03:00] say that to you, it's going to mean something different than if I say that to someone who lives in England who thinks I may be talking about my apartment. Um, you, you need to understand the way the original recipients would've understood it, and that is so that you can then rightly apply it to life today.

Otherwise, we run the risk that we're applying it, just reading it through our lens of what we believe and understand and, and one of the hardest things to do with scripture is to set aside. The opinions you already have to study and understand the scripture for what it's actually saying. There's this, uh, psychological phenomena called confirmation bias that all of us have where our tend, uh, to put it as Paul Simon did in the lyric, A man [00:04:00] believes what he wants to.

You know, man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest, and that that's confirmation bias. We just read things and understand things. Our tendency is based on what we already believe. And we don't wanna read into the text. We wanna get out from the text. And so that's what we're trying to do. And so as we did this last week, and I want us as, this is not the class yet, this is a refresher, but I'm adding in a little more material as we go along.

If we go back to the historical setting, the church in Rome began as a Jewish church. We have that, uh, uh, the Gentiles come at it later, but we know the beginning of it because it's in Acts two on Pentecost. When the church began, there were dwelling in Jerusalem. Um, uh, the word dwelling [00:05:00] there, um, is, uh, a word kuo means to like permanently reside.

Okay. It's, um. Dwelling Karo Cuo lives more or less permanently. If you heard Pastor Jarret's sermon this morning, or you're gonna hear it this after this, he's, he's writing from Ephesians two and that prayer that may Christ dwell in your heart's richly same verb, Karo cuo. It's, it's the idea of a permanent dwelling.

Well, they had a Jerusalem dwelling there. Men from every nation under heaven, and he lists all these different nations. But when Luke gets down to Rome, he says that these were visitors from Rome. In other words, you have dwelling there permanently, a bunch of different people. But he wants you to know that there were, um, Epiduo, uh, mill, uh, temporary visitors, [00:06:00] sojourners, and that means they went back home.

Now Rome was a city with a huge population, 750,000, some scholars, up to 1.1 million people at the time. And we know there's a large Jewish contingency living in at least two different areas. We've got the remains of at least 18 synagogues identified at this point, but Philo from Alexandria, a contemporary of Paul.

Would write about the Jewish presence, and we know that a lot of the Jews in Rome were taken there as slaves, but then had been manumitted and were free people by the time of Paul. So you've got a large Jewish contingency. Some of them have come to Jerusalem, some of them have accepted Jesus as the Messiah, and they return home and suddenly their synagogue is now church.

Or at least [00:07:00] a place where Christianity, not a word used at the time, but a place where Christianity is being discussed and they come back and start explaining. And so you've got a big presence of Christians, even though we don't have an apostolic start to the church, it's not a mission trip that we read about in Acts that started the church.

The church seems to have started by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and yet by the time Paul's writing Romans, he's able to say, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you, because your faith is proclaimed all the world. In all the world. So it's a, it's a real presence. These aren't just a few little Christians hanging around the fringes.

Now we also know historically that trouble hit Rome in a unique way that applies to this book around 49, ad [00:08:00] The Emperor at the time was Claudius. And Claudius as an emperor was charged with keeping the peace of Rome throughout the empire, but also in Rome. Now, understand Rome was not, look, if you got in a time machine and went back to Rome.

You would not go out at night to eat dinner. You would also be very careful about just walking around the streets during the daytime because it was, uh, crime was a serious problem in this city. And, and it's not like they had police. Oh, they might have the, the Imperial Guard. They might have, uh, uh, other soldiers present, but they, they didn't have the police like we have now.

Your main security were the people that you hung with your guild, your, um, family, uh uh, and, and so you would go out and about. [00:09:00] So it's not a real safe place, but something was happening on a scale of rioting. That had caused enough problems that, according to Suetonius, who's writing a generation later in his history of the emperors, he said that, that the Jews from the impulse, from the instigation of Cresto, um, were assiduously in a tumult.

They, they were, they were, um, continually. Causing problems. Here's a good one. He expelled from, so, oh, so from Rome, he expelled them. Um, he expelled from Rome, the Jews who were constantly making disturbances at the instigation of Crest, not the toothpaste.

Now most scholars recognize Crest is not, by the way. Um, here, it's in the ablative form up there. [00:10:00] Cresto, most scholars recognize that that's not a very typical Latin name that's taking Latin letters and transliterating a Greek word or name. And so, but, but Cresto, uh, in the Greek Cresto is not a common Greek name either.

So what do you have here? What you have is probably Christ as just the way it was pronounced. They didn't have spelling dictionaries, then they wrote according to what they heard. And so it wasn't uncommon in Latin writings for Christ to be written with an S sound instead of an S sound because they sound so much alike.

So in round 49 ad. The Jewish community is in such a riotous condition over this Christ that Claudius just says, all you Jews leave, [00:11:00] you're kicked outta Rome. I'm, I'm not putting up with it. We read about it in acts as well. After this, Paul left Athens. He went to Corinth. He found a Jew named Aquila, a native Pontus recently come from Italy with his wife, Prisca, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.

That's what happened. Claudius dies in October of 54, and Nero assumes the throne and the Jews come back in. And by the time Paul's writing, which is probably 55 to 58, somewhere in there, he, Priscilla and Aquila have already gotten back. Greet, Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus who risk their next for their life.

For my life. So you've got Nero, fresh on the throne, you've got Rome in this situation with Paul writing around 55 or so ad, and we know he is writing from Corinth. [00:12:00] Because in Romans, he identifies the people with him. Gaius, the whole church, Raus, the city Treasurer, brother QAs. These are people in Corinth.

And I challenge you to think through these implications of what it means for a Jewish church to lose all of the Jews. And now you've got Gentiles running it and for years. They get to be the preachers and they get to be the teachers and they are in charge of the treasury and they're the deacon board or the elder board.

They're, they're running the church and then the Jews come back and say, thank you very much. You did good while we were gone. We'll take over. And that's a tough situation and it's into that situation that Paul writes Romans. So this week, let's do three things. First, I want us to look at the salutation, this greeting at the start of Romans, the [00:13:00] first seven verses.

And then as we make it through that, we're going to look at the prayer that Paul's offers in verses eight through 15. And then we'll start on the theme. Though we won't get very far because we'll do a much more of that next week. The salutation, that is where we begin. It starts out, Paul, a servant of Christ.

Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures. Now, the first seven verses is just like almost one long sentence. And Paul, unlike every other one of his epistles, inserts a boatload of stuff after identifying himself and he identifies himself here with something interesting.

He does it here and he does it in Philippians, but he does it maybe Tide us, but he doesn't do it often. Paul, a servant of Christ, a Dolos. Now [00:14:00] certainly. Rome understood what a slave was. Same word, servant. Um, the Jews there that had come out of their Jewish slavery and been admitted would, would have known what it was.

But the most significant part of this to me is I think Paul's purposefully using a Hebrew concept here. There was a concept in Hebrew of the Evid Adonai, the Servant of the Lord. And this is someone who's, uh, Obediah is his name almost is just a composite of E Adonai, of Evid. The YA in Obediah is, um, short for Yahweh or Adonai as it would be said and, and pronounced.

Uh, this is actually Evid. Is the word for servant on that side of [00:15:00] the dash on this side that is the name of God spelled out. You just don't pronounce it in, in Hebrew, uh, politely and respectfully out of God's name and not wanting to ever take his name lightly or in vain. Uh, most good Jews will either say, Hashem, which just means the name, or they'll say Aai, which is, uh, means it's a common word for Lord.

So servant of the Lord. That label is used for Abraham. That label is used for Moses. That label is used for David. That label is used for Isaiah. That label is used for a lot of prophets, a servant of the Lord. And Paul says, I am a servant, but he says of Christ Jesus,

and he will call Christ Jesus Lord. He says, I'm a servant. And as he's using that word servant, he's emphasizing not we, we should not use the word [00:16:00] slave, even though that's a legitimate word, because that has become so tainted within our history of, of, of horrific, um, abuse. And, and so servant doesn't evoke the same ideas, but we need to remember servant here is emphasizing Paul's dependence upon God.

The servant's life was supplied by the master. The master gave the servant not just responsibility and job, but gave them food, gave them shelter, gave them protection. And the servant is expected to be committed to the family that is doing this. And so Paul's saying, I'm committed to Christ Jesus. I am dependent upon Christ Jesus.

And he has, I have been called Platos in the Greek called, that's the [00:17:00] word you would use to in if you invited someone in for dinner or something like that. Um, it's, it's an, and I have been called, I've been invited. God has asked me to be an apostle, someone who's been sent on his behalf. I've been set apart for the gospel of God.

Now, this word gospel, you and gelian in the Greek is actually a composite of two Greek words. The EU part we use in everyday language, like for euthanasia and things like that. It means good. And then the Anglos part, this is a GG in the Greek, but when you have two Gs together, you pronounce the first one with an N.

So you would be thinking in English, [00:18:00] A-N-G-E-L. What does that spell Angel? What is an angel? It's a messenger. So this is a good message. This is good news. This is not a word Paul made up. Uh. He writes, famous for pointing out that it was, and sometimes a regal word. If, um, if you go back to Augustus, when Augustus was born, it was good news that was spread throughout the kingdom.

Now Tom and I have, um, a disagreement on this, if as, that's hard to say because he's so much more well read than I am. We still have a disagreement because I think that the word is used in a host of manners back in that time of antiquity, not simply as a regal word, and I don't think the regal usage of it is as prominent as, as Tom thinks it is.

But [00:19:00] there's no doubt that this word means good news, and it has connotations of good news. But I'm gonna suggest to you that Paul uses this word in a way unique to Paul. Paul uses this word gospel 60 times out of the 76 times it's used in the New Testament. This is his word in the way he uses it. And when Paul uses this word, Paul has a, a visual image.

I believe in his mind, or at least he's got a thought in his mind that translates for me into a visual image. Look at the passage without anything else next to it. Just focus on it set apart for the gospel. Of God, the good news of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy [00:20:00] scriptures concerning his son who was descended from David, according to the flesh, was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead.

Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now this is the gospel. It's promised beforehand. It's concerning the son. He's from David, according to the flesh, but he's declared the son of God in power through the resurrection of the dead. And so the gospel, this is good news, but what Paul's thinking about is Jesus Christ died, was buried and resurrected.

For our sins to atone for us and to make us right with God, and there's good news, but there's no news that's better than that. Leon Morris said, there is [00:21:00] no good news to compare with the news of what Christ God has done in Christ for man's salvation. And if you wanna see how Paul uses this word and what Paul thinks about, look at one Corinthians chapter 15.

Paul says, I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached. Now that is the gospel. Same word that I ied to you. This is that word put into a verb. It's just translated preached. But in the Greek, your emphasis here is, I would remind you of the gospel in these words that I used when I gave it to you.

These are the words. This is what I mean by gospel. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the [00:22:00] scriptures. That's what he's saying in Romans. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. He was buried and he was raised on the third day. That is the gospel. The gospel is the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ.

That's the good news. This is what he did. He died for our sins. He was buried and he was resurrected. For Paul, this word gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nothing more and nothing less. Now, don't get me wrong. Paul knew his Old Testament better than anybody in here, even better than our Old Testament scholars there on the second row.

He knew Isaiah. He knew Isaiah said, how beautiful upon the mountains of the feet of him, who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news [00:23:00] of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion your God reigns. He knew this verb form was being used of that word,

and it's very appropriate because the news of salvation. He's, he's not just using this because it's a Roman word to use for Augustus and something that happened regularly. This is a word deeply rooted in the Old Testament. It's deeply rooted in Isaiah, and we will see over and over Isaiah as my friend John Monson says to me, you can't read Romans.

Well, if you're not reading Isaiah at the same time, this is, this is the good news. This is what Paul was bringing them. This is what Paul's saying. I'm gonna publish news of your salvation. So Paul is called to be an apostle. He set [00:24:00] apart for proclaiming the death, burial, and resurrection of God and the death, burial, and resurrection of God was promised beforehand in the holy scriptures.

It's concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh now descended genai. It's used 35 times in Romans. It means he was changed in nature from one state to another. Don't think of it as being born. Think of it as being changed in nature. He was descended, he was changed in nature according to the flesh.

And then he was declared to be the son of God in power. According to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. Now, let's have some fun. I'm not suggesting that this hadn't been fun, and I know John Piper gets mad at me for using the word fun for something so seriously. Good. But that's what fun means in my vocabulary.

This is fine. So John, I doubt you would [00:25:00] ever watch this, but if you are, sorry. Um, Romans one, three, and four. Is at least a Creed, but it's probably a song. It's a song and it's a song that Paul just stuck in there 'cause it fit. Let me put it up here for you to see. Romans one, three. In Romans one, four.

Romans one, three. Concerning a son who was descended from David according to the flesh, gnu. Ex, uh, I can't see it from up close. Experi, David Kata, Sarka. He was descended from David according to the flesh, and then in his parallel fashion declared to be Aristos the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness.[00:26:00]

And if you remember our class on parallelism, you can kind of see. This contrasting parallelism that we have here. It's kind of cool. Now, there are things that indicate to you. This is a song. If you look at the Kata, Sarka a, a, according to the Flesh and Kata PMA AEs is according to the, the spirit of holiness is the way it's typically translated.

But, but according to the flesh, according to the spirit of holiness, that's, that's a parallelism. And it's not something that Paul typically does in his narratives. Paul will often quote songs, but Paul doesn't write in parallel fashion like he's writing poetry. And so we, that's one of the indicators that this is something that he's put in there.

Another one, if you look at oros, the, the verb is azo In the Greek, it means to, to set aside a, like, to, to draw a [00:27:00] property line and set something apart from, you know, that's now yours and this is mine. You, you, you draw that line. So Jesus, there's like a line that's been drawn and he's been declared. That's, that's his, that's a very un Paul, Paul doesn't use this word, can't find it in anything else.

Paul wrote Orzo. And if you look here, the Spirit of Holiness pma, um, Aase is, is, um, Paul doesn't write that way. Paul usually writes about the Holy Spirit, Panum Hagios. Or, you know, he, he, he uses a different form of that word. So this is unusual and that's another reason the wording being unusual for Paul makes scholars think, yeah, that's gotta be a song that he's just thrown in there.

What else do we have? There's kind of a rhythmic structure in the Greek. You don't get it as much in the English, but even if you don't read Greek, you can see that who was descended. It's [00:28:00] just one word. Um, GNU, um, declared to be is just one word or ISOs. And so it's, it's got this rhythm about it that is typical.

You didn't know I had rhythm, did you?

Uh, you can also, you still don't do you? Um. Paul introduces it with introductory language concerning the son and then that's it. But that, that concerning his son is kind of an introduction. Now, would you love to know what this song sounded like? Well, I can't tell you. Sorry, but lemme tell you what I can do.

Here's a map of. Turkey, especially Ephesus is right here where the Manan, uh, meander River dumped into the sea. It's now inland because of the silt that's been built up, but at the time it was a port [00:29:00] town. If you go in about 30 miles, you can go to trails and there are ancient remains still in trails. You can see those remains.

And, um, folks discovered a tombstone there. Dates generally from the first century. Some dated a little earlier, some dated a little later, but first century safe. So the time of Paul, it's called the OSE tombstone. Now, this tombstone may be the earliest melody we have, and because it's a tombstone, you know that the, the song is not one of frivolity.

You don't go to a, a, a funeral service and, uh, sing songs of frivolity. So it will have a somber melody. And I say that because this tombstone actually gives [00:30:00] us the melody. We are able to take it and you will see the melo. This is the Greek of, of the words. Hoone Za Nu. This is the Greek, but if you look, let, I think I put an arrow.

Yeah, it gets kind of fuzzy here 'cause this isn't a great copy. But you got your lyric here. That's Hoone za nu. And here you've got the notes and so we can take it and put it into musical notation.

Um, translated, this is my translation, so sorry. While you live, shine, don't grieve at all. Life is short and then you die. Clearly my translation. I, I mean, [00:31:00] technically to us, uh, uh, the end time, uh, uh, demands, time demands us in the end. Okay. But life is short and then you die. That's mine. Um, here is what it would sound like.

Ready? Y'all ready back there? Yes.

Now, you know me, I can't resist. So I take the lyrics to the Paul. And put them rhythmically to this and had Phil Keagy [00:32:00] instead of a Cathar, which is the ancestor to the guitar, he's gonna play the guitar and do the song. So here it is with the little keagy touch. He doesn't quite follow the melody perfectly, but you get the idea.

Son of God

to flesh through David.

Spirit resurrected

[00:33:00] God power, Christ, Jesus our Lord. It gives you an idea. And, uh, it's just, it's kind of cool. Um, I got a, a text message the other day from Keith Getty saying that Ke was, uh, doing something in a Bible study and said, uh, throughout our class and, and, and all, and he said, yeah, Lanier sent me this and, and, and they were all singing it and it just sounded so incredible to hear.

But that's what Paul's got here. He was descended from David, according to the flesh, declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead Christ Jesus, our Lord. And then Paul continues through whom we have received grace and Apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, for the sake of the reputation that Jesus has among all the nations, including you who are called.

[00:34:00] Remember Platos called is what Paul started out by saying he was called to be an apostle. You are also called to belong. To Christ Jesus. To Jesus Christ. And finally he gets to that part where he says to all those in Rome who are loved by God and who are called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that is the, the greeting that every letter would typically start with, with a whole bunch stuck in that Paul added. Then he begins with a prayer, which is very typical for his letters. Also, he says in Romans one, eight, first proton. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

I love [00:35:00] this. First thing he does is he, thanks God. When you woke up this morning, I love the idea of being thankful first thing in the morning, and just think for a moment, just under your breath, what can you say? Thank you, Lord, for let's have a heart of gratitude.

He says, first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. I read that and I think, man, what am I known for? What is my reputation? I don't wanna be known as that lawyer.

Um. Uh, there was a certain pharmaceutical company that I had, um, [00:36:00] dinged pretty bad, and I had a friend, I think I probably told you this before, but it's kind of relevant now. I had a friend who, um, had gone to sit Shiva. For someone up in New York and, and, uh, the people sitting Shiva, well, it's a redundancy.

Shiva means to sit, but, but to sit shiva in, in is to, to mourn with, uh, Jews who've lost someone. It, it's, um, it's, some of what we'll be doing this afternoon is sit Shiva. Um, but. She was there and she was talking to this other gal, and the other gal said, what do you do for a living? She said, well, I'm a lawyer.

She said, well, what kind of law do you practice? She said, well, I, I, I go after pharmaceutical companies. And the woman said, oh, I work for blank blank pharmaceutical company. Then the woman looked at her and said, uh, do, do you know Mark Lanier? And my friend said, I do. She said, in emails. We're not allowed to out use his name.

We [00:37:00] call him the Antichrist.

I don't wanna be known as the antichrist. I don't mind being known as a dragon slayer, but I don't wanna be known as the antichrist. What is your reputation? What are you known for? If people outside of church were to say, Hey, you. No, so and so, let me tell you what they're like. What's your reputation? I, I, I, I love that of the Roman church.

Paul continues for God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son. Um, now sir, serve here la. Some people will say there are x number of words for worship in the Bible. You have, uh, in Greek, uh, uh, pro cuneo, you have, uh, lareau, you [00:38:00] have these different words for worship, and it is a, that's a good thing to do.

It's translated serve here, but the reason it's kind of a worship word is in the Old Testament. In the Sept, the Greek version of the Old Testament serve is often related to that cultic or temple service of God. And so you'll see it used over and over in the Pentateuch in those first five books as it talks about the priests who are called to serve, to serve, to serve, and that was their worship.

And so Paul's saying, whom God's my witness. My calling, my religious calling is to serve God within the ambit of his kingdom, of his temple. Um, there, there is a, there, there are meta narratives that run throughout scripture, and one of the meta narratives throughout scripture is a temple narrative that God [00:39:00] seeks to dwell with his people.

And that's set up in, in, in the Garden of Eden and Creation. All of that is told in temple language and, and the casting out of Adam and Eve is a casting out of the temple, the, the presence of God. And then you get the temple set up again through the tabernacle. And God will dwell there. And, and, and he explains how the camps are to be built around the, the, the tabernacle, the temple, because our families, our life should be built around God and how instead of facing, uh, uh, uh, uh, one direction the east, like, like the Egyptians, they wanted their houses to face East because they wanted to see the sun come up and worship the sun.

No, the, the Jews were, their, their tents all faced the temple. We worship God, that's, that's the dwelling play. And then you get the temple built by Solomon, and then you've got the second [00:40:00] temple. And this whole concept runs through the New Testament pages. And so it's natural for Paul within the framework of that, to use temple language for what he's doing.

This is a kingdom that Christ is bringing to earth. And we'll get a new heaven and a new Earth. But this is, this is what he's about. So Paul says, I'm serving him. This is worship that I'm doing. I'm serving with my spirit in the gospel of his son, the death phal, and resurrection of his son proclaiming that message.

That without ceasing. I mention you always in my prayers asking that somehow by God's will. And I love that in the Greek, it's like you, you can't add more hedge words than Paul has put in there. Like, um, I hope [00:41:00] maybe, possibly if it's okay and it works, then just, it would be great if, but I know maybe not.

I mean, you've got. Um, if somehow, uh, it, it might be now, and I, I, I might get to you, you just get this, uh, if somehow now at some time, but it's all that I may at last succeed in coming to you. He wants him to know he's been wanting to come. It just hadn't worked out by the will of God. But he wants to come because he wants to see 'em and impart to them a spiritual gift to strengthen them.

You know, if Paul was coming to see us, we'd be lining up everybody who's sick for them, him to pray over and he is not saying, I want to come see you, to pray over all the sick people. I wanna find Utica and, and bring him back. Paul's saying, I want to strengthen you. I wanna [00:42:00] give you a spiritual gift, that's the higher priority.

You know, and this causes me to think about why I go visit with people. I, I mean, I generally go visit with people because, uh, I wanna see 'em or because they're fun or I might go visit with them if they cook good. If Mark Wilkes got his Christmas lights up. I might go visit with him. You know, because Becky wants to, I mean, there are all sorts of different reasons, but I love this.

Paul says, I want to visit with you so that I can impart a spiritual gift, not simply for you. This is something that will mutually encourage us. We'll be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. Uh, this is a monster word put together. Uh, mutually [00:43:00] encouraged is like three different words crammed into one, but the idea is one of comfort.

I can give you comfort. You can give me comfort. Now he's speaking to a church that's got turmoil in it at some level. And Paul's saying, I want to come impart a spiritual, I wanna build you up in the faith. He says, look, don't think I've been ignoring you. I don't want you to be unaware. Brothers, I've often intended to come to you, but thus far I've been prevented.

But I come that I might reap some harvest among you, some, some, uh, fruit as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. They've got a large gentile population there. And he wa he wants to do it. And, and it's interesting the way he says this because he's clearly recognizing the, what the [00:44:00] church has been through the trauma, and he's praying within that and saying, I wanna be there.

I wanna help you guys. My problem is I can't get there as quick as I want. He says, I'm under obligation. I'm under obligation to Greeks and to barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish. This is actually kind of funny and it's an indication he's speaking especially to the Gentiles who may have been a little bit more sined when the Jews came back in because he says, I'm under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, but he doesn't mention the Jews.

See, in the Jewish world, there were two groups of people in the Jewish world back then. You got the Jews and you got the Goam. Everybody else, you're a Jew [00:45:00] or you're a Gentile. In the Greek world, there were two types of people. There were the Greeks, and that could be other people that may not be Greek themselves, but at least have Greek culture and can speak the Greek.

And then you have the barbarians of which in Greek is bar bears or bar baro here in this form. And, and that word itself is a derogatory word in a sense. It comes from, it's an onamia to the Greek ear. Anybody speaking a different language? It's like the parents in Charlie Brown. Uh, it is just bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar.

So those are the bar, bar speakers. And that's where the word comes from. So he said, look, I'm under obligation to Greeks and to the [00:46:00] bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar people, both to the wise and to the foolish. I've got this obligation, but I am eager to preach the gospel. Again, our word, it's the verb form of gelian to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

And that's his prayer. Now I want to begin uncorking the theme, and this is where we'll likely pick up next week because we'll get into a lot more. I wanna, next week we'll talk about. In, in Greek rhetoric, how a theme would be inserted into certain, um, writings of note. And, and, and we'll talk about some more background behind it and we'll get into it a lot more, but let's just look at it right now.

Fresh. Paul says, this is his theme, these two verses, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. [00:47:00] Now, when Paul uses that word gospel, you ain't gallion. What am I suggesting? He means the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. He says, I'm not ashamed of Jesus. Having died, buried and resurrected on my behalf doesn't shame me at all.

Why it the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is the power of God for salvation. To everyone who has faith to the Jew first chronologically, not in importance to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Remember, the church started Jewish, the Gentiles were added to it. That's true in the world.

It's true in Jerusalem. It's true in Judea. It's true in Rome. I'm not ashamed of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. [00:48:00] Jesus dying for our sins and being resurrected by the spirit of God is the power that God has to save. Everyone who has faith. This is a profound truth.

When I was young, like real young. Weiler, how old are you? 16. 16. Alright. I was about 16 when I was young. I used to sit in church quietly, and I would never say this out loud 'cause I didn't want anybody to think that I was a heathen or a Pagan or a heretic or an in. Great. But more than one time I can remember sitting in church.

I can, I can show you the row almost and the seat, almost certainly the area of the auditorium at the Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock, [00:49:00] Texas, where I was sitting thinking, okay, I'm grateful Jesus died for my sins. And I understand that's a real big deal. I certainly don't wanna die for anybody's sense.

I don't wanna be crucified. It looks painful, no fun. But honestly, if it's that big a deal, why didn't God just do it some other way? I mean, if you're gonna do it, don't brag about doing it. Let me tell you what I did for you and I, and, and I thought, you know, I, I shouldn't be thinking this. I know. But I can't help but think this, if it's that big a deal to die for, for Jesus to be incarnate and die for our sins, then he's God.

Why doesn't he just say, okay, well I'm just gonna forgive him anyway. Or can't he just be a Messiah who comes and [00:50:00] life is fine. He can live forever. God can just say, cutting you some slack. It's Mercy Day. And what I didn't understand until I really got into studying Greek actually and studying these, these passages is God is a being that's unchanging and part of him as a being is a just God.

I, I, I'm a lawyer. I know what justice is. It's consistency. It's applying everything, the, the rule's, right? And the big cosmic issue is how can a just God accept an unjust people without there being [00:51:00] a price paid for the injustice? It's a courtroom dilemma. It is an easy way for us to understand it metaphorically, and that's why the Bible uses that.

And the answer is, God can't. He has to pay the price for our sins 'cause none of us are good enough to do it on our own and survive it. You wanna pay the price for your own sins, that's fine, but it does not mean resurrection to eternal life. Because you pay the price for your sins and you he knew.

Instead, God says, I will pay the price because I truly can. This is God's power to save everyone. There's no other way we're saved. There's no other door through which we enter. [00:52:00] Now there's lots that's entailed in this, and, and we've gotta take this apart and we'll spend the entire next week, I think, on these two verses and, and still only catch a glimmer because you, you, you've gotta figure out what is meant by some of these terms.

'cause they, they, they can mean different things and, and you have different theology that reads them differently and different theologians that read them differently. But I'm here to tell you now. In the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, God's righteousness is revealed. Amen.

Uh, from faith, for faith, from faith to faith, for faith, it's, I mean, these are all things. And then he's got this Habakkuk quote, the righteous shall live by faith. That honestly is taken outta context of Habakkuk, uh, from Habakkuk. And so how do we integrate Paul's usage of that? And is this, uh, just him, uh, being rabbinical and the way he takes it and it's a mid rush look, I, uh, all of that kind of stuff.

[00:53:00] Is intricate and, and fascinating and we'll look at, but I don't wanna let you go without something to take home. There is a lot to be praying about in this world, and we need to be people of prayer and our prayers need to start by thanking God. Second thing to take home is not just good news, but amazing news.

Jesus Christ died, was buried and resurrected for you, and that's because you are loved. And it's because you are called and it's because you are forgiven. And Paul says all of that within Romans one, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, and that my friends is worth singing about.

Psalm 98, 1 says, sing to the Lord a new song. For, he's done marvelous things. His right hand and [00:54:00] his holy arm have worked salvation, and that's where we are today in Romans. I hope to see y'all next week. Let me bless you in Jesus name. Lord, I ask your blessings on all who hear this word that your.

Righteousness that your redemptive work. That the, the great news of Christ crucified and resurrected will resonate and transform our lives as we seek to be yours. This is our humble prayer in Jesus. Amen.