Romans 8:1 to 8:8

The seventh chapter of Romans ends with the struggle we find in our lives to live according to the moral law. After salvation, with the mind I acknowledge that the moral law is good and righteous. However, as a result of my sin nature, I still fail to live up to the moral law I approve of. So I would find myself condemned by both God and myself if it were not for the justification that God has freely provided.

Romans 8:1-4
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The justification that we’ve been discussing removes our sin and grants us Christ’s righteousness in the atonement. We are free from the cycle of sin and death that we would otherwise still be living under. The corruption of original sin made obedience to the law impossible for us. Now, as a result of the work of Christ, we have imputed righteousness and as we walk according to the Spirit our works are acceptable to God. You have forgiveness for your sins and the leading of the Holy Spirit for works day by day. It begins and ends in Grace.

Chapter 8 is one of my favorite chapters of the Bible. Meditating on the joy that is ours in the freedom from condemnation accomplished by God and not by me and the security I have in that freedom is a constant source of joy.

Chapter 7 and 8 are strong contrasts. But Luther summarizes the contrasts with his famous statement in Latin that we are, “simul iustus et peccator” which means that we are at the same time justified and sinner. We don’t believe that contradictions are true but here I’m not saying that a Christian is justified and sinner at the same time in the same relationship. We are justified and sinner at the same time but not in the same relationship. Considered in myself and based on my own performance I’m still a sinner and fail to fully obey God. However, by virtue of Christ’s righteousness imputed to me, I’m just in the sight of God.

Historically, the Roman Catholic teaching has objected to this teaching. They have argued that this would involve God in a form of fraud. They have argued that God can only pronounce someone as righteous if they actually are righteous. Well we would agree that you must actually possess righteousness but the heart of the question, and the root of our freedom from the Law, is how you possess righteousness. We believe that righteousness is possessed by faith. The Roman Catholic teaching views baptism as the start of justification with grace infused as a result of baptism. Then they teach that you must participate with the infused grace to become righteous. The problem is that it isn’t necessarily a permanent state. Any mortal sin will kill the grace while any venial sins are less serious in this teaching. So if you commit a mortal sin you kill the grace but not the faith so you can have faith but not be justified. Then you need a form of penance to form “the second plank of justification for those who have made shipwreck of their souls” in which “works of satisfaction” generate either congruous merit or condign merit making it either fitting or necessary for God to reward the penance. They teach that grace, faith, and Christ are involved in your justification but they also teach that these are not sufficient and you need earn additional merit.

It is remarkable that such a departure from Scripture was constructed when the Gospel message is so clear. I think the motivating factor in this construction is a desire to feel justified by our own works. It is a sad thing that God purchased our salvation at a price we could never pay and yet we want to bring something to the table to feel that we are somehow owed salvation. Condign merit or a merit that God is forced to reward was the teaching that finally stuck in Luther’s craw and precipitated the movement that eventually produced the denomination we find ourselves a part of. We are justified by faith alone. Christ’s righteousness is the only merit we have before the face of God and anything else we bring is a sinful offense. It makes a vital difference whether you believe that your righteousness rests within your behavior or is something provided for you.

Romans 8:5-8
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Notice that Paul does not leave room for what some these days call “Carnal Christians”. We are saved by faith alone but we are not saved by a faith that is alone. Saving faith has inevitable consequences in a man’s life. The Holy Spirit will continue His work and call us to a life that is sanctified. Your natural mind is hostile to God. While an unsaved man may desire the benefits of God and not be as evil as he could be it is still true that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. In the flesh, mankind is wholly unable to please God. No “good” work is produced by our old natures. God has good works prepared for us after salvation. We do them with Him. This is only something that is perceived after salvation. Before we are saved, the idea that our donations to the needy or kindness to strangers is not pleasing to God would be rejected as absurd. An unsaved person would assume that God is probably happy with whatever “good” thing they do. But to stand before God thinking you have earned His favor is sinful. We compound our sin. Stewart was teaching on Hannah last Wednesday and asked the question (in the context of Hannah’s prayer for a child), “Does God make deals with us?” We had a nice discussion and generally came around to an answer of “no” but the problem with the question is that it implies we have something to make a deal with. Of course we don’t have anything that is ultimately ours and not God’s. If I wanted to make a deal with the God of the Universe I think I’d at least need to have something that didn’t already belong to Him to bring to the table and I don’t. You may be thinking of our wills submitted to His. You could think of offering that in a deal with God but that brings us all the way around and back to original sin. We owe God perfect obedience with our wills submitted to Him in heart and action. He doesn’t profit from that. He gets what He is owed from that. You don’t have anything to bargain with and I don’t mean you don’t have enough to bargain with. I mean that you have nothing (i.e., no thing) to bargain with.

Romans 6:20 to 8:4

We should be slaves of righteousness in the same way as we were slaves to sin is because we need to allow our choices and desires to come under the Lordship of Christ. We take advantage of the Means of Grace and allow God to change our desires.

Romans 6:20-23
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul is still talking about sanctification but has the fruit of our salvation in view. We only had death as a fruit before salvation. However, the fruit of salvation, even if it comes via trials and struggles, is fruit that leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. The cost of sin is death but God gives eternal life as a free gift. A life pleasing to God is a fruit of being slaves of God. As we submit to the Lordship of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit we have eternal life in Christ but it is a gift and not a wage. This is because it is initiated and sustained by the power of God and not by us. God doesn’t owe us anything but we owe Him everything.

We need to be fully aware of our freedom from the law and our submission to God. So Paul uses the analogy of marriage and death to stress the finality of our break from living under the bondage of sin manifested by the law.

Romans 7:1-6
Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from he law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

When we first enter the Kingdom of God by saving faith we die to the law through the body of Christ. This is because we are then wet to Christ and our allegiance is to Him. So we are no longer captive to the law we now serve via the Holy Spirit and not via the written code of the law. But then how are we to view the law? Is this where we enter into antinomianism? No it is not and we must guard our hearts against that tendency.

Romans 7:7-12
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

It is important for us to realize that the law is not bad. The law is good and it accomplished the purpose for which God revealed it. It manifested sin. You know the problem with the law ultimately was that it turned a light on my heart. The law said you shall not covet.

Modern society considers covetousness so lightly that we can name a product “Covet”. The show called “Sex in the City” was all about the coveting of a group of women. One of the actresses now has a line of perfumes and etcetera called “Covet”.

Covetousness is a heart problem first and only an action problem later. The heart departs before the lifestyle. To covet means that you may never act on it but you have a heart desire to take and have. Cupidity is another similar word that indicates a desire to take what another has. So most cultures (without the law of God) would never ask their members to regulate their hearts and teach that covetousness is a sin. But of course it is. I could never argue now that to covet wasn’t sin. God sees my heart and so sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. God isn’t indicating that to admire my neighbor’s stuff is bad but you can see another response in your heart to test it. When my neighbor (I’m using that in the broad sense) is blessed with something then the question is, “am I thankful and blessed to see them receive it or am I annoyed and want one too or judge them for how I think they acquired it?” I’ve sometimes thought that you could think of covetousness as wanting something bad enough to take it if you could get away with it but it goes deeper than that because our heart response can reveal a covetousness in us that judges and begrudges the blessings another person receives. This problem is magnified when we don’t think the person deserves what they have. So the commandments of God had a broad impact on mankind convicting each of us of our sin.

Romans 7:13-20
Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the
law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Note that Paul has switched from using “we” to using “I” and is relating a personal experience. In the process of sanctification, if you are running with patience the race that is set before you, you encounter this frustration. We realize that the moral law given by God (along with all the requirements for heart obedience) is spiritual and pure but we see ourselves fail to live up to it over and over. We really do find ourselves looking at our actions and wondering why we do what we don’t want. Now we always choose according to our strongest inclination at the moment but we wonder why, at that moment, we decided to be stupid. We want to live a life that is holy and pure before God and to be pleasing in everything we do but we fail. After salvation, we find that we are in a struggle with our sin nature during our struggle to be sanctified.

Romans 7:21-25
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Note that Paul’s struggle is a post salvation struggle (as we’ve said earlier) because he says that he delights in the law of God. This struggle that all Christians find themselves in would be intolerable if not for God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We each get frustrated with the failure we find in our lives if we have entered the struggle. In Chapter 8 we have an exposition of what it means to serve the law of God with our minds while we serve the law of sin with our flesh.

Romans 8:1-4
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The justification that we’ve been discussing removes our sin and grants us Christ’s righteousness in the atonement. We are free from the cycle of sin and death that we would otherwise still be living under. The corruption of original sin made obedience to the law impossible for us. Now, as a result of the work of Christ, we have imputed righteousness and as we walk according to the Spirit our works are acceptable to God. You have forgiveness for your sins and the leading of the Holy Spirit for works day by day. It begins and ends in Grace.

Romans 6:15 to 6:19

In addition to the material that follows, we had an extensive discussion of the means God uses in salvation and the privilege of evangelism in obedience to God.

Since we have a perfect justification in Christ what is our view of sin? God needs to give us a right view so that we can live before Him as pleasing children.

Romans 6:15-16
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Here Paul keeps drawing the line that our freedom from the chains of sin is not to be viewed as an excuse to stubble back into sin. Our relationship to sin changes but we are to be actively engaged in the struggle against sin in our life. The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith makes the following statement about Christians who continue in persistent and serious sin:

Nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins (a) and, for a time, continue therein (b) whereby they incur God’s displeasure (c) and grieve His Holy Spirit (d) come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts (e) have their hearts hardened (f) and their consciences wounded (g) hurt and scandalize others (h) and bring temporal judgments upon themselves (i). (a) Matt. 26:70, 72, 74; (b) Ps. 51:14; (c) Isa. 64:5, 7,9; 2 Sam. 11:27; (d) Eph. 4:30; (e) Ps. 51:8, 10, 12. Rev. 2:4; Song 5:2–4, 6; (f) Isa. 63:17; Mark 6:52; 16:14; (g) Ps. 32:3–4; 51:8; (h) 2 Sam. 12:14; (i) Ps. 89:31–32; 1 Cor. 11:32.

One of the key points is that we can fail to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. This failure can go beyond the common sins that so easily latch on to us like leaches and includes grievous sins that bring down ministries and scandalize the Body of Christ. We must not present ourselves as servants to sin. We are called to fight against our old sin nature after salvation.

Romans 6:17-19
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

In is now possible as a result of the Holy Spirit in our lives for our obedience to come from the heart. Once we had hearts that were spiritually dead so keep in mind that God has enabled your obedience by His initial and continuing work of Grace. If we focus on becoming slaves of righteousness in the same way we were slaves to sin then we will progress toward sanctification. The reason I said that we should be slaves of righteousness in the same way as we were slaves to sin is because we need to allow our choices and desires to come under the Lordship of Christ. We take advantage of the Means of Grace and allow God to change our desires.

Romans 5:12 to 6:14

God’s solution for sin brought an end to the sin chain begun in Adam.

Romans 5:12-14
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— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 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.

Adam’s sin started the entire cascade of sin in the Human race. We have a sin nature and are natural born sinners. The sins of disobedience to God’s revealed law were not counted prior to the giving of the law by revelation. However, the law written on hearts was violated and death reigned even though they impact of Adam’s sin was unique in the way it propagated. Adam could sin or not sin and it was not hard for Adam not to sin. Since Adam fell we sin. Apart from God’s move on their heart, an unbeliever will always sin because they choose to do that. We always choose according to our strongest inclination at the moment and we are sons and daughters of Adam.

Romans 5:15-17
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. 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. 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.

So sin entered through one man’s sin (like the shattering of a plate of glass because of a flaw) and spread spiritual death throughout mankind. In contrast, Grace came after many trespasses and produced justification. We will reign in life through Christ as we receive Grace and the free gift of righteousness.

Romans 5:18-21
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 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. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So God shows us the problem (Adam) and the solution (Jesus). The only solution for a Holy God was provided for us by the Holy God. Sin increased from Adam to Moses. Then the Law was given and sin blossomed until Christ. No Grace reigns through righteousness leading to eternal life.

Grace reigns? How does undeserved blessing reign over anything? Well the accuser comes against you with a viable charge. For example, “God your so called servant Dwight sinned yesterday. Actually he sinned more than once. In fact, I got bored and stopped counting. Anyhow, he deserves eternal punishment for his sins” and he has a legal and valid point apart from the Grace of God. By the Grace of God my sins, not in part but the whole, have been nailed to the Cross and I bear them no more. It is well with my soul. Grace reigns!

Romans 6:1-4
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones said:
There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this: that some people might misunderstand and misinterpret to mean that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding then it is not the gospel.

Think of how this doctrine has been opposed down through the centuries. Paul had to write an epistle to the Galatians telling them to stop trying to depart from this truth. Paul had to correct Peter because he was sliding back toward the ritual law. Not all of the early church fathers understood this doctrine. For example, around 200 AD a leader called Tertullian could be considered to be more Jewish than Christian in his understanding of justification. He seemed to think that God only gave the Gospel because we were so weak and that once we were following Jesus then all the law applied. Pelagious was a 5th Century monk whose name is now used by calling Pelagian all those who reject the necessary saving and enabling Grace of God and substitute their doctrine of salvation by works. We’ve spoken recently of Finney who was called Pelagian (I think that was a little unfair to Pelagious) and said that the doctrine of justification by double imputation was “impossible and absurd” (Lecture 36, Justification; Systematic Theology, Charles G. Finney). In our age many denominations now wonder if preaching a substitutionary atonement of Christ on the Cross shedding His blood for a lost and dieing world is just not “seeker sensitive”. Over and over again the Gospel has come to be viewed as a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence and so there is an attempt to remove the Chief Cornerstone.

1 Peter 2:6-10
For it stands in Scripture:
“ Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious,and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Some folks have observed that a particular sequence is often repeated in a local church or denomination that is departing from the Gospel. The sequence is that at first we proclaim the Gospel, then we assume the Gospel, and then we deny the Gospel. In fact this observation could be made of the Children of Israel as they cycled from following God to not following God. The process can take generations but what we want to do is draw ourselves back constantly to a clear presentation of the Gospel. We want to be like Paul who urged that we would be “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:18-20).

Paul wanted prayer so that he could open his mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel. He didn’t want to assume that the Romans would get it right. He wanted to spell it out in detail for them and subsequently for our benefit. We should start to panic when all we deal with at church is how to have a better life, how to deal with children, how to find fulfillment at work. It isn’t that these are not topics that the Body of Christ shouldn’t address. We should address these topics and we do have much to say about those topics. The problem is that they can’t displace the Gospel and the importance of the Gospel in our teaching. They are not the Gospel. Romans is a presentation of the Gospel and for a Christian it is your life and breath.

Romans 6:5
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Just in passing, remember that you will not be a disembodied spirit or angel strumming a harp on a cloud in the resurrection. You’ll have a resurrection body like His. Your body will be different but you will not be disembodied. This being united with Him in His death and being united with Him in a resurrection like His is also part of having our sins paid for on the Cross and being clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Romans 6:6-11
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Notice the level of identification that exists for us in Christ’s death. Our old self was crucified with Him, we are no longer servants of sin, we now live with Christ, and we will never die spiritually. You have a command here. You are commanded by God to consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Not only has a substitutionary atonement been made but your living is now different. You are alive to God in Christ Jesus as opposed to your previous condition of being dead in your trespasses and sins.

Romans 6:12-14
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Paul is now transitioning into a discussion of sanctification. The “therefore” here is to link back to the command to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ. We are therefore in a struggle to keep ourselves away from sin and to present ourselves to God for His use. Sin doesn’t rule over us because we are under grace and our works are acceptable to God because we are alive to God in Christ Jesus. The works are not acceptable because they are perfect the works are acceptable because we are alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 4:13 to 5:11

The justification we receive freely will drive our obedience as we live before the face of God empowered by the Holy Spirit. You’ve got to know that you are justified by faith alone so that you’ll run with patience the race you have before you.

Romans 4:13-15
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

From the very beginning, when mankind has been judged to be righteous it has been because of faith. You can’t invalidate Abrahams promises with the law that came later. The law magnifies our lack of ability to serve God and the way our nature is set to serve ourselves.

Romans 4:16-17
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

The promise doesn’t rest on the works of Abraham but upon the faith exhibited by Abraham. Likewise the heirs of Abraham are not heirs according to the law but according to Grace because they share in the faith of Abraham and are the result of the promise made to Abraham by God. In that sense, Abraham is the father of us all. God gave life to us when we were spiritually dead. God called us into existence as the children of Abraham when we were lost and without hope in the world. That day when you were saved, as you heard the Gospel … God resurrected your dead heart and called you into existence as a child of Abraham. Salvations are as miraculous as Lazarus’ resurrection when serves as a physical picture of our salvation. Jesus gave life to a dead Lazarus and called him into existence when he was not in existence except as a rotting corpse.

Romans 4:18-22
In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced
that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness.”

I wonder if Abraham objected to being referred to as “as good as dead” but I guess not. Abraham knew that it was not his ability that would fulfill the promise. Abraham’s confidence was in God and was the result of years of fellowship and interacting with God. Abraham was familiar with God and so he knew that God was the one who was able to do what He had promised and that was what mattered.

Romans 4:23-25
But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Our righteousness comes from faith in Him who raised Jesus from the dead after being delivered up for our sins and raised for our justification before God. Here we have in view our blessed double imputation in the atonement; we trade our sin for His purity.

Chapter 4 ends with a compact statement regarding the imputation of our sin to Christ and the imputation of His righteousness to us. It has been called “The Great Exchange” in a recent book by Bridges and Bevington. It is the heart of the Gospel. Paul continues to explain the Gospel in Chapter 5.

Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember when we see a “Therefore” we look to see what it is there for. In this case it is a link back to “Double Imputation” as the heart of the Gospel and faith as the operative “cause” that results in the peace we have with God. Please keep in mind that faith has content and an object in Christianity. Our faith is not “believe-ism” or a blind leap. Like Abraham (and in fact partly because of the testimony of Abraham) we believe God because He has proven Himself faithful. God says that I’m justified by faith in the work of Christ and that I have peace with God through Christ.

Listen to these verses by Spafford in the hymn “It is Well with my Soul”;

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Spafford – It is Well with My Soul (1871)

Spafford knew the comfort of justification (and hath shed His own blood for my soul) and he knew that his sins were paid in full not in part.

Romans 5:2
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.

Again listen to Spafford point to the hope of the glory of God …

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Spafford – It is Well with My Soul (1871)

We like Spafford should long for the appearing of Jesus and our entry to heaven. We now can rejoice that the sky and not the grave is our goal. Rather than fear the Glory of God, the Grace of God will prepare us for the Glory of God. Apart from the Grace of God that Glory terrifies and our God is a consuming fire.

Romans 5:3-5
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 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.

One more time listen to verses from Spafford’s great hymn;

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
Spafford – It is Well with My Soul (1871)

It is well with my soul when I am justified before God. We don’t easily remember that we should rejoice in our sufferings. We undervalue endurance and character. We want a shortcut to hope. Spafford had sorrows like sea billows. He was a wealthy man mourning the loss of his son who then lost almost all of his wealth in the Chicago fire of 1871. That fire burned about 4 square miles over about 3 days. Thinking they needed a vacation he sent his wife and 4 daughters ahead of him for a vacation in England. There was a collision at sea and his 4 daughters were all killed. He wrote the lyrics for this hymn as his ship passed the point where his daughters died at sea. He was writing his heart and even in the deep sense of loss he was looking for a way to rejoice in suffering, allow endurance to produce character, and allow hope founded on Christ to be his only life.

A daughter named Bertha born later to Spafford and his wife said, “That he could write such words at such a time was made possible by the fierceness of his struggle and the completeness of the victory.”

Romans 5:6-11
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 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. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Salvation, is three fold in that we are saved (Justified), we are being saved (Sanctified), and we will be saved (Glorified). That is why Scripture here says, “much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

If God gave us Grace (underserved favor in His sight) when we were sinners then it is irrational to think that He will not also give us Grace to live before His face. How could we ever question God’s work in our life? He didn’t destroy us when we were in rebellion against Him. We were His enemies and He reconciled us by the death of His Son. He didn’t reconcile us to lose us or to destroy us. Being lost and destroyed is all we deserved but He was for us. How can we worry about the enemy of our souls taking us from His hand? We are purchased at too great a price for God to let us go. We were reconciled while enemies and now, much more, shall we be saved by His life.

Romans 4:1-12

Paul begins in Romans 1:18 to 22 by pointing out what is called general or natural revelation. That is what Paul is stressing is actually suppressed by unbelievers and that all humans receive this revelation from nature. It is also called general revelation because we would not know many specifics about God without special revelation. During the reformation the material cause or the cause we see argued by Luther and others was often “Sola Fide” or the biblical doctrine that was are justified by faith alone. But the formal cause of the dispute or the underlying cause was a difference about “Sola Scriptura”. The Roman Catholic Church held that there were two sources of special revelation. Those sources for them were Scripture and tradition. So while both sides accepted the infallible authority of Scripture the Roman Catholic Church departed from the teaching of Book of Romans disallowed any teaching from Scripture that would contradict tradition. We reject that teaching (although sometimes our reaction to change in our church services makes me wonder) and although creeds such as the 1689 London Baptist Confession may be brilliant in summarizing and clearly teaching us the Gospel and while they may merit deep study and meditation … they must bow the knee to Scripture. They must be judged by their fidelity to Scripture and, if in conflict, be corrected by Scripture.

We need this high view of God’s revelation in Scripture when we move on to verses regarding the universal sinfulness of mankind. In fact, Romans will continue to teach you about yourself and your salvation and you need that high view of Scripture to understand Romans.

Paul brought conviction to the heart of the first century Roman Church by making sin personal to them and by declaring the depravity of mankind and making conviction of sin personal to us as well. We should all be weeping for our sins when we get to Romans 2:6-16. We should be weeping for our failure and sins even before we read on to Romans 3:9-18 in which our life before Christ is presented.

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul is determined that the Christians in Rome (and all us who have come after) will understand that that apart from Christ they are lost and that salvation is Sola Fide or by faith alone. Paul goes right to the most significant religious person in Judaism. He uses Abraham as his example who I would guess every Jew in the audience would assume was justified by his works of obedience.

Romans 4:1-6
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

Abraham had lots of works as well as a cousin named Lot. For example, his tithe to Melchizedek is commonly thought to be an Old Testament theophany (Genesis 14:18-20; Hebrews 7) and his willingness to offer his son Isaac was another act he performed. Since Abraham had offered his son in Genesis 22 it seems odd to stress that it was his faith was counted as righteousness yet he never committed a work that gained merit for salvation. Even in the sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham figured God would raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:19).

Ask yourself how we can make up for sin. In our minds we sometimes seem to drift to the conclusion that if I stop a particular sin then God should forgive me for it if I behave pretty well from this point forward. Yet in our society if a criminal wanted to be forgiven for his crimes because he wasn’t committing one right now and he said he was sorry for those crimes previously committed we’d think he was working on an insanity defense. In the movie, “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” after Delmer’s salvation experience (in which he is standing in a grave yard with nothing except a roasted gopher for dinner when he is compelled to rush into the water and be baptized followed by his friend Pete) he claims to be completely free from the consequences of his sins and even confesses to crimes he said he didn’t commit prior to his salvation. The unbeliever Everett says, “Even if it did put you right with the Lord the state of Mississippi is a little more hard nosed.” That movie has a lot to say about salvation and the sinful heart of man. But Pete, Delmer’s friend, uses the term absolved (to set free from the consequences of guilt) …

Romans 4:7-12
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely
circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

It seems reasonable to ask if this scripture argues for believer’s baptism since many argue for a parallel between OT circumcision and NT baptism but that isn’t the point here. Here we see faith and imputed righteousness preceding the obedience to the law. Obedience to the law then was a sign of the righteousness he received by faith. Your obedience to the moral law revealed in Scripture as God’s will is then a sign of the saving faith in your heart. Faith without works is dead because a justified heart can’t be dead and will seek to please the Father. The justification we receive freely will drive our obedience as we live before the face of God empowered by the Holy Spirit. You’ve got to know that you are justified by faith alone so that you’ll run with patience the race you have before you.

Romans 2:25 to 3:31

After Paul shows our sins and hypocrisy then he briefly addresses the topic of religious observance.

Romans 2:25-29
For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Paul foreshadows what we will hear as we move on into the epistle. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant in that the excess of the flesh was removed. The Law is good and righteous and circumcision is to be a matter of the heart and it accomplished “by the Spirit”. Approval of men is fundamental to those who seek to obey the law. Religious observance without heart obedience is not religious observance. True circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Holy Spirit.

The Gospels show the Pharisees in action seeking the approval of men. The Gospel is not about what other men think about what you do but about God who sees what you do and knows why you do it. Clearly the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

So what is the advantage of being raised in the faith? Paul is discussing the place of the Jews and the value of circumcision but you can ask the same things about baptism and growing up in the Church. However, God will use these religious acts as Means of Grace and if some are unfaithful it doesn’t mean that God is unfaithful.

Romans 3:1-4
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

Paul’s line of reasoning begs this question as to what was the advantage then of having God interact so extensively with a people? The faithlessness of the Jews is no commentary on the faithfulness of God. God has been completely faithful to the Jews and to His promises given in prophecy. The deficiency is with mankind as Paul has already shown. We don’t like to admit that we are the problem and here Paul quotes from a man that had the guts to face his sin. This is from Psalm 51 and immediately follows “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— “ David recognizes whose law he has violated.

Romans 3:5-8
But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

The idea that we are by nature sinners stimulates us to look for a reason to think that God owes us a pass because we are only doing what comes naturally. Often those who draw back at the teaching of the Gospel will do so by misstating the Gospel. This is especially common among those who are religious but have drawn back from the clear teachings of Scripture. I’ll try to be very careful to indicate those points that many modern men will misstate as we move on through Romans. However, this is really a spiritual effect. Paul faced this with those who said that he was teaching that people should sin so that God’s grace may abound. A man named Finney who preached from the mid to late 1800s had a terrible impact on the modern church. We see his residual works based evangelicalism in America today. He rejected the atonement. He didn’t think he needed it. The teaching of salvation by Grace alone (Sola Gratia) causes many to stumble. They’d like to bring their works into the picture and some denominations have complex doctrines of merit from the works of men.

Romans 3:9-18
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

And all the people said “Amen” or “Oh My”? Especially since some of our testimonies feature us as the basically righteous but unsatisfied protagonist who is seeking God but really has some skills they want to use for God and then we found God. But we have to say that it didn’t “feel” the way Scripture describes it for most of us. But God tells me it was this way and therefore I am taught of how lost I was. I wasn’t just a little lost.

In classical reformed doctrine this is one of the proof Scriptures for the T in “TULIP” acrostic and the T stands for total depravity. Scripture doesn’t teach that we are as evil as we could be. I think most of us realize that is the case. That is why Paul put his finger on the Roman’s sins (and ours) and poked real hard. We justify ourselves. Total depravity isn’t the same as complete depravity. Many modern authors use the term “radical corruption”. What Paul is getting at is that we don’t seek God. Know we know that when the Holy Spirit moves on us we do seek God but God gets the glory for that and Paul will get to that in a little while. We get no glory for our salvation.

Romans 3:19-20
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

God’s revelation in the law made a specific and detailed exposition of the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God. Our sin nature, like those who don’t have the law, keeps us from fulfilling the law but the law brings a fuller and more explicit statement of our sin. Notice how clear verse 20 is. The law identifies our sin but “by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight”. No one will be justified by the law because the law shows how far we are from our Holy God.

Romans 3:21-24
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

There are some precious exceptions that God gives in scripture and this “But now” is one of them. Notice that the Law and Prophets bear witness to it. We are redeemed by Christ being justified by grace. It is unmerited and it is a gift. It is not deserved. This, in part, illustrates the U in TULIP which is unconditional election. It is a gift and we deserved nothing but judgment.

So after explaining how all of mankind is subject to judgment for their sin, Paul now begins to explain Grace. It is important to Paul and to us that even though the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law it is still explained and foreshadowed in the Law and Prophets. If you’ll remember we recently finished a study of salvation pictured for the individual in the corporate salvation of Israel. Christ is everywhere in the Old Testament. Our righteousness comes by faith in Christ as we believe. There is no distinction between Jew or barbarian. We have all come short of the glory of God and the only justification is by His Grace. Grace is unmerited favor or undeserved blessing that results in our salvation through Christ. We have some words that we simply have to learn. Justification for example; what does justification mean. Paul spent a great deal of chapters 1 and 2 explaining our liability and that we deserve judgment.

So the distinction that Paul labors in an earlier chapter is explained as no distinction since we are all found to be sinners and are all likewise justified by His Grace as a gift. Remember our 5 Solas. We are saved by faith alone (sola fide), by grace alone (sola gratia) by Christ alone (sola Christo). We know this because we establish doctrine by Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) and then by definition we know only God gets glory from our salvation (soli Deo Gloria).

Romans 3:25-26
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

For shock value some folks will say that we are ultimately saved by works. Technically this is true since we are saved by the complete and perfect work of Christ. Christ was put forward as a propitiation or payment by His blood and He kept the law perfectly from heart attitude to action. We receive this pardon by faith and God displays righteousness not because He simply forgot about our sins but because the price was paid. God is just and the justifier of those of use who have faith in Jesus. We need to remember that Grace isn’t cheap and that Christ’s works met the requirements of the law. So His perfect work saves us and we are saved by works. Not our works but His.

Romans 3:27-31
Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one. He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Sola fide is the means without regard to Jewish or Gentile background. There is only one means of salvation. We really have absolutely no reason to boast since God has saved us from our condition in which we were lost, spiritually dead and, apart from a move of the Holy Spirit on your heart, we did not seek God. Remember the hymn “For He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming Blood.” We need to be amazed by Grace.

Romans 2:6-24

Paul leaves us in verse 5 with knowledge of our hard hearts and an awareness that apart from God we are lost. As we come to verse 6 we should come under conviction with tears in our eyes because of our failure to comply with the righteous demands of a Holy God.

Romans 2:6-8
He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Remember the context here. Paul is developing a world view and later in the epistle will deal with when and how we display patient well-doing as well as what motivates it. At this point Paul is has established that those who reject God have no excuse for rejecting him and that the evil men display is a result of rejecting the knowledge of God. So Paul is gradually building the case that will show that God’s righteous requirements place the world, apart from Christ, under judgment.

Romans 2:9-11
There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.

So Paul is promising judgment and punishment for sin and indicates that both Jews and Greeks or Gentiles will all be subject to the same judgment and punishment.

Romans 2:12-13
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

This was an important distinction for a fellowship that was a mixture of Jews and Gentiles. The Jews who heard the law but failed to live up to it are still condemned along with all the Gentiles who never heard it.

Romans 2:14-16
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

So even those who have never heard the Gospel still bear the guilt of violating God’s law because we have the law written on our hearts. Here Paul begins to get at the heart of our problem. God judges the secrets of men. God looks at the heart and heart obedience is what makes doing good problematic. To do a good work I need to do a work God directs, the way He directs, at the time He directs, and with no other thought but for His glory and my obedience. So as a Christian I have a hard time doing that. Some would say I mess it up every time and I’d say sometimes I might get it right as long as I don’t think about it too long and start to think what a lucky guy God is to have me. But consider the case of a non-Christian … Paul has established that they have the law in their heart and as they suppress the knowledge of God they can’t intentionally obey and have no concern for anyone’s glory but their own. They have no chance. Every once in a while you get the question of the salvation of the innocent savage in the jungle. Well of course an innocent savage would go straight to heaven but Scripture teaches that the law in the heart and the heart convicts or drives us to seek excuses for our behavior.

Romans 2:17-20
But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—

After Paul explains the situation of those who live without the law Paul begins to deal with the Jews who have the Law as a guide and take pride in being guides, lights, instructors, teachers, and holding the embodiment of truth and knowledge in the law.

Romans 2:21-24
you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

The problem with having the law and serving God according to the flesh is that you fail miserably and fail others in the process. We fail to live what we teach. Jesus taught the high standard required for our thought life in these challenges. Covetousness is identified stealing, lust is identified as adultery, and money is shown as an idol that is served. Rather than being a light to the world the Jews failed to accurately representing God to the nations.

Paul is not saying that mankind (either Jew or Gentile) is as wicked as they can be. Paul shows that since we have the law of God on our hearts even the gentiles will set standards of behavior. This is a topic that we’ll address again but remember that Scripture doesn’t teach that we are as wicked as we could be. It may seem to be a small thing to stress but those who oppose sound doctrine will sometimes oppose the teaching that our hearts are dead or that we are dead in our trespasses and sins by pretending that those who quote that Scripture are inferring that mankind is as wicked as they could be. That is not the case and we’ll seem more of this in the Scriptures that follow these.

Romans 1:26 to 2:5

We normally assume that our sensitivity to the correction of God is a product of our own inherent righteousness. Normally it doesn’t even occur to us that the conviction we feel when we do something wrong is God’s law written in our hearts and we are dependent on God to keep this law sharply written in our hearts.

Romans 1:26-27
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

God leave us to be driven by our passions without His correction. If our passion is not for God then it will be misdirected toward the creation instead of the Creator.

Here we see homosexuality in view and the Roman culture had at least as big an issue with this as we do. Here Paul presents a radical contrast for a Roman church member. As long as the sex was an upper class male to a lower class male or female it was considered acceptable. Within a social class or any sort of homosexuality in women was considered disgusting. Here Paul is drawing equivalence between female and male homosexuality using the term “likewise” and for his Roman readers that would have been a tremendous shock. It is difficult to think of exactly what sins would cause such an extreme reaction in our day. Perhaps pedophilia presented first to provoke in us the reaction of disgust the Romans felt for lesbianism and then extramarital sex between consenting adults presented as likewise. Most individuals in our culture would protest the equivalence between pedophilia and extramarital sex. We rank our sins according out our standards and not Gods. However we serve a holy God and Paul continues to develop his presentation of the Gospel.

Dishonorable passions in the Christian life will draw God’s discipline and can rule the lives of those who don’t serve Christ. In our lives we are challenged to keep a passion for God as the driving force of our lives. There are plenty of created things that can substitute for God and all of them are sinful if they occupy that primary place that only He should have.

Romans 1:28-32
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

All of these evil characteristics are characteristics of a mind that has set itself against God. We choose to be our own God. We think that we are able to rule (be lord of) our lives apart from Him. The way in which this is manifested is really broad. It ranges from murder to simply being boastful or foolish. It is a sign of the depth of mankind’s rejection of God that we see violence against homosexuals in our day. Both are signs of rejecting God as Lord and the authority of Scripture.

You can pray for God to keep us far from all this stuff. Pray that God would teach us to be righteous, good, sharing, kind, happy with what we have, gentle, peace loving, honest, kind, not gossipers, thinking the best of others, respectful, humble, speaking with humility, looking for ways to do good, respectful of parents, wise, faithful, tender hearted, and open. As God answers our prayer we can’t expect those who have refused to acknowledge God to think we have made wise decisions.

In addition to praying those things, remember this week to be a servant of God. Remember to make Him Lord in your life and be surrendered to him. Pray that God will use you like He used Paul to reach the lost.

Romans 2:1
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

Remember that whenever you see a “therefore” you need to consider the logic of what the apostle is saying. Paul is pointing back at all the effects of rejecting Christ as Lord and saying that all those sins uniformly condemn all outside of Christ. You can’t argue that at least you were not a murderer and therefore OK. All those sins are manifestations of abandoning Christ. I was meditating on these things and thinking that for me treason against your nation is a sin that I really find grievous. I don’t understand how someone would do that and severe penalties seem reasonable to me. However, I know a teacher who refers to sin as treason and as I thought of these things I realized that my sin against God was truly treason and of course I have been redeemed by His Grace and that makes it even more horrible. Who has committed the most evil treason me or the man who only commits treason against a human institution? I have no excuse when I judge another for in passing judgment on another I condemn myself because I practice the very same things. God’s mercy endures forever but apart from His Grace I deserve only judgement.

Romans 2:2
We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?

Everyone is condemned by their sins and standing outside Christ and condemning those who are outside Christ is foolish since God says all are subject to the same righteous judgment.

Romans 2:4-5
Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 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.

To be outside Christ and to assume that you are righteous enough for heaven is a dangerous place to be and if you stay long enough it is eternally fatal. Generally we do assume that. We feel righteous enough and therefore we are satisfied with ourselves and don’t recognize that God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. So it backfires on us. We are satisfied with our self righteousness and therefore we are storing up wrath for judgment day.

Romans 1:8-25

Paul’s introduction continues from last week writing to those who are loved by God and called to be saints. This was a fellowship that God was building and Paul was focused on a full presentation of the Gospel.

Romans 1:8-10
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

This is how we know that Paul had not been to visit the Church in Rome but that he wanted to visit and that they were well known as a major work of God. Paul’s faithful prayers and probably the prayer of other Apostles were answered by the work of the Holy Spirit but, as far as we know, without direct apostolic teaching by the time of the epistle.

Romans 1:11-12
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

Paul had the heart of a pastor in wanting to minister to the Church in Rome. The fellowship we have in church is supposed to be an encouragement to each other. It is part of the life of the Body of Christ.

Romans 1:13-15
I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Paul’s special ministry was to Gentiles so naturally he would want to visit a fellowship that was growing and well known as a work of God. Remember how Paul started this epistle? He started by telling the Romans that he was a servant of Christ. As servants we don’t decide how we will serve and we see that here with Paul. He wants to go and visit Rome but he has obligations to upscale (Greek) and literally barbarian churches and as a servant God will determine where he preaches and teaches.

Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Paul knew that the Gospel was the power of God to people who were religious like the Jew and also to the cultured and intellectuals of the day such as the Greeks. Paul was not avoiding Rome and he really had a desire to be there ministering to the Roman church.

Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

As Paul preached the Gospel to either Jews, Greeks, or barbarians it empowered salvation and birthed faith as a Grace gift in the hearts of those who heard him. Those who Christ justified were righteous and lived their lives by faith. Keep in mind also the Means of Grace since God uses those in our lives to produce righteousness from faith for faith.

Romans 1:18-19
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

It is striking that Scripture makes it clear that, prior to salvation, we suppressed the truth. When we lived lives that were ungodly and unrighteous we were suppressing truth and not simply ignorant of the truth. God says that even apart from the Gospel revelation in Scripture that His revelation in nature and in logic was sufficient to convict apart from our active suppression of the truth. Most unbelievers will look at you like you are nuts and argue that you are just plain wrong if you tell them Scripture says that.

Romans 1:20
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

So Scripture teaches that God’s natural revelation is not just sufficient to prove His existence but that it also is sufficient to remove any excuse for unbelief. There are going to be some unhappy folks at the judgment throne. The proofs of God are sufficient to remove any excuse but they are not effective apart from the Holy Spirit because the blindness of our sin natures and our suppression of the truth will prevent it. For example, the ontological proof of God is true and the argument to first causes is also a true proof of God (even Aristotle found that one convincing). Prayer and the Holy Spirit are essential to evangelism.

Romans 1:21-23
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

This process was our life process and would still be our life process except from the mercy of God. The end result is the acceptance of false gods so that we mistakenly attribute the glory of God to creation. For example, we start to think that our future is controlled by fate or that we control our lives by positive thinking. The Roman gods were like men with all the problems and sins of men. It is difficult for me to even think seriously of someone worshiping them. Our modern position is ironic in that we sometimes elevate animals and attempt to lower God to earth. So we exchange the glory of God for calling the earth our mother and animals our brothers and sisters. I once listened to a native American speaker who objected discussing our role to nature as a stewardship role because that inferred that we were superior to nature. If he had a biblical understanding of God then being given a stewardship role not only doesn’t make you superior (i.e., a husband’s stewardship role over wife and family) it subjects to you discipline from one who is superior if you do a poor job. It is the habit of our culture to give glory to things other than God such as fate, chance, or mother earth and we as Christians must not pick up bad habits. As our Piper quote says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

Romans 1:24-25
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

One of God’s gifts of Grace is His gift of conviction of Sin and when we set our heart on things other than God we numb ourselves to God’s conviction. When God withdraws His Holy Spirit we are lost and head into error. When we see others in sin then we can’t feel superior and we also realize that the sin they are manifesting is symptomatic of rejecting God. We will be called to love sinners and hate sin. One of the first steps is to realize that God’s work of Grace is alive in your life and now you can pray for that to operate in other’s lives.

Romans 1:1-7

Author of Romans: The Apostle Paul

Date and Occasion: Paul wrote Romans shortly before his visit to Jerusalem (Romans 15:25; Acts 24:17) and it was most likely written between 54 AD and early 57 AD.

The Romans church seems to have begun early and grown rapidly. Romans were present in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 2:10-11). It seems likely that they grew without an apostolic visit and they were a congregation that included both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 1:13).

Romans is the most developed and complete exposition of the Gospel in one book in the canon of Scripture. A famous preacher of the 5th century named John Chrysostom had Romans read aloud to him once a week. This book has had a tremendous impact on leaders of the Church throughout history.

Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

We are accustomed to Paul and his credentials but think of how this would strike you if you didn’t know Paul. Here is a guy who claims to be a servant of a guy who was killed as a criminal over 20 years before. This places the resurrection in the forefront of the epistle since this would be a nonsense statement otherwise. You can’t be the servant of a dead guy and a dead guy can’t call you to do anything and in particular can't call you to be an apostle. We don’t have apostles in the Church since they were gifts to the early Church. God used these men in a special way to build the early church. Their teaching had scriptural authority and made doctrine. Generally when someone claims to be an apostle today they simply mean that they are a church planter with a unique combination of evangelism and pastoral skills. However, you do get the occasional individual who actually claims to be an apostle and they generally become heretics somewhere along the line.

We are not apostles but we are called to be servants and we are set apart for the Gospel of God. As servants we need to remind ourselves constantly that we serve a living and active God who has plans for us and good works for us to do. These works are not for our salvation but simply for His glory. We are saints in the biblical sense and therefore by definition sanctified or set apart for the Gospel by the Grace of God.

Romans 1:2-3
which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh

It is important to God that we understand that He didn’t send Jesus without abundant prophecy. Jesus is foretold in the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi. God has been merciful to make His will clear and to tell us well (sometimes thousands of years) in advance that what He promises will take place. And we can trust Him because He isn’t guessing or predicting but rather He is seeing the end from the beginning.

Note that Jesus was “descended from David according to the flesh” so we had 14 generations from Abraham to David; 14 generations from David to Babylon; and 14 generations from Babylon to Christ (Matthew 1 and Luke 3). Matthew focuses on Jesus’ royal line and Luke on Jesus’ human line (Gospel of Mark is Jesus as servant and Gospel of John is Jesus as God).

Romans 1:4
and 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,

The resurrection is a testimony of Christ’s position in the godhead and notice that the Trinity once again testifies in the unity of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Three in person and one in essence.

Romans 1:5-6
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, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

Paul certainly was a recipient of Grace and his testimony makes that clear. Someone who was a persecutor of Christians became the one God used to write more of the New Testament than any other person. Grace is undeserved blessing from God and Paul was always aware of this. Grace is not a feeling God has; Grace is a thing God does. You see Grace as action very clearly in Paul’s life. And if you understand what I’m saying and desire to please God then you are called (by God) to belong to Jesus Christ. What a blessing in our lives.

I also appreciate that Scripture here makes preaching the Gospel equivalent to bringing “about the obedience of faith”. The world is in rebellion against God and is hostile toward God. Sometimes we see it in little ways such as apathy toward the things of God and sometimes we see it in larger ways like false religions.

Romans 1:7
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We (just like those in Rome) are loved by God and called to be sanctified. If you are called to be sanctified then you seek holiness. The world, our flesh, and the enemy of our soul will work against holiness in our lives. You really need to run the race we call life with patience. We can't let disappointment defeat us in this race. Grace and peace are a traditional greeting and we really need to remember to pray for Grace and peace for each other and we need to remember that it comes from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Emotions, Government, and Just War

Pale Rider is a movie that provides an valuable case study in the way our emotions are manipulated by film and art, how civil government relates to Christians, and also just war theory.

In the movie a young girl named Megan prays when the bad guys kill her dog and asks for God to answer them. The Preacher (played by Clint Eastwood) then rides into town saves her prospective father from the bad guys and begins to protect the community. Most guys have seen this movie (I have called it Touched by an Angel for guys) so I'll assume a general familiarity with the movie plot.

Manipulation of Emotions
Standard plan for the plot of westerns results in a manipulation of our emotions. The bad guy does something really nasty to the good guy and/or his family and/or his friends. Then the good guy gets revenge and we are expected to find the process enjoyable.

We should exercise great care and certainly not simply sit and allow our emotions to be moved without the benefit of scripture when we see this type of movie.

Vengeance
“An eye for an eye.” The original intent of Ex. 21:24, Lev. 24:20, and Deut. 19:21 is that punishment should be equitable and should fit the crime. These limitations prohibited exacting a greater vengeance (such as Lamech boasted in Gen. 4:23) or having different penalties for different social classes. Jesus contradicted those who saw in this principle grounds for personal vengeance. Mankind had taken God's law that was given to suppress revenge and used it to justify their actions of revenge.

It takes faith to trust God to make all things right/fair/just in time because we don’t see the end (final just resolution to all wrongs) in this life. However it is also foolish to not trust God because your sense of what is right/fair/just comes from Him and He is perfectly righteous/fair/equitable/just (Deut 32:35). He has said there is a judgment throne but our impatience keeps us from trusting Him and drives us to see revenge.

Romans 12:18-21
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Prov 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

As Christians we need to be careful not to allow a manipulation of our emotions to cause us to rejoice in violence. Even though that is often the objective of some films in which we feel satisfied to see the bad guy get what we think he has coming. Our sense of justice is good but we shouldn’t rejoice to see destruction and violence. I’ve been in theaters in which the entire audience applauds and cheers when the bad guy gets killed or blown up.

I understand that it is make believe and justice is a good thing but keep your heart with diligence and don’t rejoice in the things that are really tragedy.

I'm not sure how aware the movie makers were of what they were doing but if you pay attention in the movie you'll see Preacher has six bullet holes in his back. Six is the number of man and there are six who shot him in the back who appear later in the movie. The movie brings some difficult questions regarding civil government to light. You can ask where civil government is within the context of the movie and how each individual relates to government.

How do you relate to civil government? Is it ok for you as a Christian to serve in government and what does scripture teach about the way you related. The following sections from the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith are very good at drawing together the scriptures related to our behavior as citizens living with a government.

Chapter 24 – 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith
Rewritten in modern English by
Andrew Kerkham, 1st ed. 1999, revised ed. 2001
CIVIL GOVERNMENT

24.1
God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, has ordained civil authorities to be under him and over the people, for his own glory and the public good. For this purpose he has armed them with the authority to use force, to defend and encourage those who do good, and to punish evil doers. (Psalms 82:1; Luke 12:48; Romans 13:1-6; 1 Peter 2:13-14; Genesis 6:11-13 with 9:5-6; Psalms 58:1-2; 72:14; 82:1-4; Proverbs 21:15; 24:11-12; 29:14,26; 31:5; Ezekiel 7:23; 45:9; Daniel 4:27; Matthews 22:21; Romans 13:3-4; 1 Timothy 2:2; 1Peter 2:14; Genesis 9:6; Proverbs 16:14; 19:12; 20:2; 21:15; 28:17; Acts 25:1; Romans 13:4; 1 Peter 2:13-14)

24.2 It is lawful for Christians to accept and carry out the duties of public office when called upon to so. In the performance of such office they are particularly responsible for maintaining justice and peace in accordance with the wholesome laws of the nation. For that purpose they may (in terms of the New Testament) lawfully engage in war if it is just and necessary. (Exodus 22:8-9,28-29; Daniel; Nehemiah; Proverbs 14:35; 16:10,12; 20:26,28; 25:2; 28:15-16; 29:4,14; 31:4-5; Romans 13:2,4,6; Luke 3:14; Romans 13:4)

24.3 As civil authorities are established by God for the purposes given, we ought to be subject to all their lawful commands for the Lord's sake, not merely to avoid punishment, but for conscience' sake. We ought also to make supplications and prayers for rulers and all who are in authority, that under them we may live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty. (Proverbs 16:14-15; 19:12; 20:2; 24:21-22; 25:15; 28:2; Romans 13:1-7; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13-14; Daniel 1:8; 3:4-6,16-18; 6:5-10,22; Matthew 22:21; Acts 4:19-20; 5:29; Jeremiah 29:7; 1 Timothy 2:1-4)

In the case depicted in the movie Pale Rider; there is an absence of government in a traditional sense. “The Government” is not there for the small mining community as depicted in the film. The miners are governing themselves democratically and are being attacked by corrupt men who are outside the law and attempting to use force. Even the Marshal and deputies are corrupt and not part of any legitimate government.

Consequently, you could say that “Preacher” was acting as the agent of the temporary government established by the group of miners. If you want to argue the point you must then argue that he is not acting as a vigilante because we are biblically forbidden to be a vigilante. Even Jesus’ rebuke of Peter when he pulled out a sword was, in a sense, a rebuke of vigilantism.

The movie makes the 'government' established by the mining community very visible. They essentially have a town meeting and Pale Rider essentially describes a war. Stewart taught based on the following material a few years ago just after 9/11 and the Church has worked through these questions in previous centuries.

Hannah More was an acquaintance of John Newton and Wilber Wilberforce as evangelicals working against the slave trade. She was writing about the slave trade but it what she said has wider application. She was troubled about the way people separated doctrines and duties. She said, “it is of importance to point out the mutual dependence of one doctrine upon another, and the influence which these doctrines have upon the heart and life, so that the duties of Christianity may be seen to grow out of its doctrines." We need to make sure that we don't let the duties of our life in any aspect grow apart from the doctrines that God has given us to teach us how to live.

Thomas Aquinas was one of God’s great gifts to the church. It is unfortunate that we hardly mention his name most of the time. We have the shoulders of giants to stand on. We may come to different conclusions about a particular war around the globe but at least we as Christians should be working from Scripture.

Part II, II, Q. 40
These notes are based on a selection from the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, Second and Revised Edition, translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 1920. This translation is now in the public domain.

Augustine says in a sermon on the son of the centurion [Ep. ad Marcel. cxxxviii]: "If the Christian Religion forbade war altogether, those who sought salutary advice in the Gospel would rather have been counseled to cast aside their arms, and to give up soldiering altogether. On the contrary, they were told: 'Do violence to no man . . . and be content with your pay' [Luke 3:14. If he commanded them to be content with their pay, he did not forbid soldiering."

I answer that, In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary:

First, the authority of the sovereign by whose command the war is to be waged. For it is not the business of a private individual to declare war, because he can seek for redress of his rights from the tribunal of his superior. Moreover it is not the business of a private individual to summon together the people, which has to be done in wartime. And as the care of the common welfare is committed to those who are in authority, it is their business to watch over the common welfare of the city, kingdom or province subject to them. And just as it is lawful for them to have recourse to the sword in defending that common welfare against internal disturbances, when they punish evil-doers, according to the words of the Apostle (Rm. 13:4): "He beareth not
the sword in vain: for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil"; so too, it is their business to have recourse to the sword of war in defending the common weal against external enemies. Hence it is said to those who are in authority (Ps. 81:4): "Rescue the poor: and deliver the needy out of the hand of the sinner"; and for this reason Augustine says (Contra Faust. xxii, 75): "The natural order conducive to peace among mortals demands that the power to declare and counsel war should be in the hands of those who hold the supreme authority."

This is probably “Preacher’s” biggest problem with Aquinas and just war theology. While there is no government in an immediate sense there is a government present in a larger sense. The problem they are having is that the federal and state governments are not active in the frontier where they are living.

Secondly, a just cause is required, namely that those who are attacked, should
be attacked because they deserve it on account of some fault. Wherefore
Augustine says (QQ. in Hept., qu. x, super Jos.): "A just war is wont to be
described as one that avenges wrongs, when a nation or state has to be punished,
for refusing to make amends for the wrongs inflicted by its subjects, or to
restore what it has seized unjustly."

Naturally in a western the cause of the good guy against the bad guy is well established but we can’t just ignore the spiritual consequences of what we are watching because what we watch has an impact on us and doctrine is supposed to have an impact on us and on our actions. One technique that westerns often use is to make the bad guy so bad that we lose sight of any mercy or pity that we might otherwise feel. It makes the suffering of the bad guy satisfying. God says that vengence is His but we take pleasure in vengence that we judge to be right and just.

Thirdly, it is necessary that the belligerents should have a rightful intention, so that they intend the advancement of good, or the avoidance of evil. Hence Augustine says (De Verb. Dom. [The words quoted are to be found not in St. Augustine's works, but Can. Apud. Caus. xxiii, qu. 1]): "True religion looks upon as peaceful those wars that are waged not for motives of aggrandizement, or cruelty, but with the object of securing peace, of punishing evil-doers, and of uplifting the good." For it may happen that the war is declared by the legitimate authority, and for a just cause, and yet be rendered unlawful through a wicked intention. Hence Augustine says (Contra Faust. xxii, 74): "The passion for inflicting harm, the cruel thirst for vengeance, an unpacific and relentless spirit, the fever of revolt, the lust of power, and such like things, all these are rightly condemned in war."

While “Preacher” fits this criteria pretty well you might object to his methods as in some cases cruel but they certainly provide such a bunch of bad guys and in this case attempt to motivate “Preacher” purely by rightful intention. In fact the movie makers stress Preacher's reluctance to take up his guns again.

To have recourse to the sword (as a private person) by the authority of the sovereign or judge, or (as a public person) through zeal for justice, and by the authority, so to speak, of God, is not to "take the sword," but to use it as commissioned by another, wherefore it does not deserve punishment. And yet even those who make sinful use of the sword are not always slain with the sword, yet they always perish with their own sword, because, unless they repent, they are punished eternally for their sinful use of the sword.

So did “Preacher” act lawfully. He was only commissioned to use the sword by the provisional government of those citizens under attack by the corrupt marshal and deputies as directed by LaHood.

It is necessary sometimes for a man to act otherwise for the common good, or for the good of those with whom he is fighting. Hence Augustine says (Ep. ad Marcellin. cxxxviii): "Those whom we have to punish with a kindly severity, it is necessary to handle in many ways against their will. For when we are stripping a man of the lawlessness of sin, it is good for him to be vanquished, since nothing is more hopeless than the happiness of sinners, whence arises a guilty impunity, and an evil will, like an internal enemy."

Those who wage war justly aim at peace, and so they are not opposed to peace, except to the evil peace, which Our Lord "came not to send upon earth" (Mt. 10:34). Hence Augustine says (Ep. ad Bonif. clxxxix): "We do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have peace. Be peaceful, therefore, in warring, so that you may vanquish those whom you war against, and bring them to the prosperity of peace."

Preacher really wasn’t seeking to bring anyone into a prosperity of peace that he was at war with. Vengeance was also part of his motivation. However, he did tend to leave the bad guys alone except when they attacked him or one of the small mining community.

Article 3
Whether it is lawful to lay ambushes in war?

Objection 1.
It would seem that it is unlawful to lay ambushes in war. For it is written (Dt. 16:20): "Thou shalt follow justly after that which is just." But ambushes, since they are a kind of deception, seem to pertain to injustice. Therefore it is unlawful to lay ambushes even in a just war.

Objection 2. Further, ambushes and deception seem to be opposed to faithfulness even as lies are. But since we are bound to keep faith with all men, it is wrong to lie to anyone, as Augustine states (Contra Mend. xv). Therefore, as one is bound to keep faith with one's enemy, as Augustine states (Ep. ad Bonif. clxxxix), it seems that it is unlawful to lay ambushes for one's enemies.

Objection 3. Further, it is written (Mt. 7:12): "Whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them": and we ought to observe this in all our dealings with our neighbor. Now our enemy is our neighbor. Therefore, since no man wishes ambushes or deceptions to be prepared for himself, it seems that no one ought to carry on war by laying ambushes.

On the contrary, Augustine says: "Provided the war be just, it is no concern of justice whether it be carried on openly or by ambushes": and he proves this by the authority of the Lord, Who commanded Joshua to lay ambushes for the city of Ai

Joshua 8:2. And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.

The object of laying ambushes is in order to deceive the enemy. Now a man may be deceived by another's word or deed in two ways. First, through being told something false, or through the breaking of a promise, and this is always unlawful. No one ought to deceive the enemy in this way, for there are certain rights of war and covenants, which ought to be observed even among enemies.

Secondly, a man may be deceived by what we say or do, because we do not declare our purpose or meaning to him. Now we are not always bound to do this. You ought to conceal plans from the enemy. Concealment is what is meant by an ambush which may be lawfully employed in a just war. Nor can these ambushes be properly called deceptions, nor are they contrary to justice or to a well-ordered will. For a man would have an inordinate will if he were unwilling that others should hide anything from him.

Preacher makes extreme use of ambushes … and you can’t fault him for that. What seems prohibited by Scripture is to lie to an enemy. For example, waving a white flag and then shooting your enemy when he comes out is forbidden since it is a lie. Scripture never teaches that you can lie. In fact, only Rahab gets away with it and that was when she was still a prostitute and before she began to live with the Children of Israel.

Preacher finally finishes Stockbridge with 7 shots – the number of completion in Scripture. The movie has some moral problems apart from the issues of government and just war. Preacher's morals are still not Christian. However, I think that they way in which the movie can cause us to remember Aquinas and Just War Theory are instructive and can help us keep those concepts clear in our mind as we live as citizens of the United States.