Romans 1:3-6
3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: “But the righteous one will live by faith"
Paul teaches us that the righteous will live by faith. Faith in what or in whom? Verses 3-6 spell it out clearly. Faith in the Son of God, who was born a descendant of David (in the natural), was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Jesus Christ) and through Whom we receive grace to bring about the OBEDIENCE OF FAITH....
This is a mouthful but there is so much truth here. There has been many books, even dissertations written about this, trying to understand and piece together Paul's train of thought. I think mostly we just make it much more complicated that what it is. Keeping it simple, I think Paul is simply saying: We cannot live righteously enough or obediently enough so that our works will be able to declare us holy. So we are righteous by faith, we life by faith, and once we live from a place of faith in Christ, then we live in obedience to that faith. Obedience does not produce faith, it does not bring holiness, it does not make us righteous, only faith in Jesus Christ Who is THE RIGHTEOUS ONE, can make us righteous in HIM. And when we are in Him we cannot live differently but be obedient to the faith He is working in us, through His Spirit of Holiness.
Faith first, then obedience follows naturally. Faith saves, makes us righteous, obedience is the fruit of that salvation and righteousness in us. Obedience is a work of the Holy Spirit in us that follows salvation. Disobedience means I am choosing with my free will to say to the Holy Spirit - "please wait in the corner until I am done sinning, because I just first want to do this thing, even though I know it is out of line with holiness..."
It grieves the Holy Spirit when we do that, but He does not violate our free will. He honours it. However, choosing disobedience also means we choose the consequences that come with it. Can we learn to apply our free will to making godly choices against our sinful nature? Yes of course we can. We have been given the Spirit of Holiness. Let us choose to submit ourselves in totality to the Spirit of Holiness - and live by faith, having received the grace and apostleship that brings about the obedience to faith.
Point to ponder:
- Are there areas of my life where I still make my own decisions, perhaps not in to obedience to faith? Ask the Spirit of Holiness to help you deal with it this week.
- Rejoice in the fact that by grace we are saved through faith and that we live out of His Righteousness!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.