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“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” (Romans 8.22-25).

The hope of the redeemed is the adoption! Certainly our hope is not in this world. Paul put it…  ( Click for more )

The Spirit of adoption is not the adoption; it is a forerunner of it. The Spirit of adoption involves the attitude of the believer as he or she contemplates the glory that is yet to be ours. Paul put it this way:

For I consider [reckon; kjv] that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself…  ( Click for more )

To “Owe no one anything…” according to Paul’s written admonition (see Romans 13.8) is but one of the moral and ethical rules that ought to govern our lives. However, the believer is in debt from the time he or she commits the first sin until death takes us away. As discussed earlier, this debt is not a material indebtedness from which we can extricate ourselves by working really, really hard; it is a spiritual debt that can only be erased by the biblical application of God’s grace to our lives.

However, the point that I wish to make just here is…  ( Click for more )

Paul wrote by the power of the Holy Spirit, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then…  ( Click for more )

Bible passages deserve our very best efforts to understand them! They deserve this because of their ultimate Author, the Lord God Almighty. How much effort should we put into understanding the Bible merely because of who wrote it? How much effort should we put into understanding the Bible due to the impact that it can have on our eternal destiny? These questions serve to focus our attention on the awesome gravity of Bible study.

As an interpreter, it is our obligation to attempt to listen to the biblical authors with the ears of the audiences to whom they wrote. By this I mean…  ( Click for more )

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8.1-2). The focus of this text is not about the impossibility of apostasy and whether or not that is a valid doctrine; it is about those who walk “according to the spirit” as contrasted to those who “walk according to the flesh.” For the one group, there is no condemnation; for the other group, their…  ( Click for more )

No Condemnation (2 of 4)

It was a young earth when Paul wrote to the Romans, but it had been a long, long time since the night of sin had besieged mankind. Under the condemnation of sin, all men of conscience could scarce lift their heads during some of their blackest times. The best that any could do was to look longingly toward the promised Messiah (Genesis 3.15), and wait for the day when the head of the serpent would receive a fatal blow from the heel of the Son of Man. The weight of such condemnation was such that even men of penitent spirits saw their sins ever before them…  ( Click for more )

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8.1-4). …  ( Click for more )

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." (Romans 1.16).

The gospel which Paul preached to the Corinthians could save them as long as they held firmly to it (1 Corinthians 15.2). The perverted gospel that was being preached in the regions of Galatia was without God's authority and hence had no power to save anyone; in fact it had the potential for the opposite effect (Galatians 1.6-9). The gospel which Paul preached to the Romans was a singular gospel;…  ( Click for more )

"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ." (Galatians 1.6-7).

A small word in the text cited can escape the reader's attention if great care is not exercised. Notice that Paul spoke of those who "… want to pervert the gospel of Christ." (emphasis mine; jb). Some might pervert the teachings of the scriptures inadvertently, but those who are spoken of here did so with the intentions…  ( Click for more )

It is obvious from a cursory reading of 1 Corinthians 15 that the resurrection is an important, even central, doctrine of the Christian faith. However, is the Gospel comprised only of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as some believe and teach? Or, to approach our subject another way, we ask the question, "Does the Gospel consist of more than the fundamental facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?"

"For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and…  ( Click for more )

It is obvious from a cursory reading of 1 Corinthians 15 that the resurrection is an important, even central, doctrine of the Christian faith. However, is the Gospel comprised only of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as some believe and teach? Or, to approach our subject another way, we ask the question, "Does the Gospel consist of more than the fundamental facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?"

"For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and…  ( Click for more )

Some people have emotional and mental hangups that cause them to live in the past. Others constantly worry about the future such that they cannot live in or enjoy the present. Still yet, some folks miss living in the present by wearing “rose colored glasses” constantly and never quite coming to grips with reality. In any case, it should be obvious that a healthy mental outlook considers the past, lives in the moment, and plans prudently for the future. This is a widely accepted mental health recipe for reducing stress in our lives.

It occurs to me that this is what…  ( Click for more )

Some people have emotional and mental hangups that cause them to live in the past. Others constantly worry about the future such that they cannot live in or enjoy the present. Still yet, some folks miss living in the present by wearing “rose colored glasses” constantly and never quite coming to grips with reality. In any case, it should be obvious that a healthy mental outlook considers the past, lives in the moment, and plans prudently for the future. This is a widely accepted mental health recipe for reducing stress in our lives.

It occurs to me that this is what…  ( Click for more )

Some people have emotional and mental hangups that cause them to live in the past. Others constantly worry about the future such that they cannot live in or enjoy the present. Still yet, some folks miss living in the present by wearing “rose colored glasses” constantly and never quite coming to grips with reality. In any case, it should be obvious that a healthy mental outlook considers the past, lives in the moment, and plans prudently for the future. This is a widely accepted mental health recipe for reducing stress in our lives.

It occurs to me that this is what…  ( Click for more )

“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, 'Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.' Now this, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may…  ( Click for more )

Because history has a way of repeating itself, it can be a good thing to take a backward look every now and then, or as we have styled it in the title of this series, A Little Then and Now is OK Now and Then. Actually when we are inclined to look back, there are a couple of rules that we ought to check out, before we complete our journey into yesteryear. First, is there a potential for good to come from the trip? If not, stay in the present! Secondly, is it my intent to exact good even from what otherwise may have been a not so good past? If not, stay in the present!

Having given…  ( Click for more )

Every now and then I think about the past. On second thought, maybe I think about it more frequently than every now and then. Maybe I think about it too much! At any rate, it is good to consider how often we indulge ourselves in journeys into the past and what real benefit results from those excursions (or for that matter, what harm might come from them). From this balancing act comes the title and implied questions about looking back – A Little Then and Now is OK Now and Then. Think with me!

Lot's wife looked back against God's instructions and she was turned to a pillar…  ( Click for more )

Generally, persistence is a good thing; we see it as a virtue. However, depending on the cause that is being pursued, we sometimes see persistence as a vice. For instance, the tiny voice that keeps saying, “Daddy, I want a drink of water!” is persistence personified, but after a while, its cuteness vanishes from sight! That must have been how it was in the case with blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10.46-52). Time and time again he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The more he cried, the more the multitudes tried to silence him. They saw persistence…  ( Click for more )

“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7.24-25).

The wretched man is a man in misery. There are but two usages of this graphic word in the entire Book of Scripture. Of course, Paul’s description of himself before He became a believer in this passage is one of them. The other is when Jesus spoke to some self-deceived church members in the book of Revelation. “So then, because you…  ( Click for more )

God is not a sinner; never sinned and never will. However, the “law of sin” had an effect upon Him. It did not begin at the time of Jesus' crucifixion; it did not begin at the time of Jesus' birth; it did not begin at the time of the prophets; it did not begin when Adam and Eve sinned. The law of sin had its effect upon God in eternity past. The gospel plan of salvation is the result of that effect upon God!

Hear Isaiah declare the effect that the law of sin had upon God and the inhabitants of the heavenly realm: “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our…  ( Click for more )

In the last verse of Romans 7, it is “the law of sin.” In the second verse of Romans 8, it is “the law of sin and death.” Call it what you will, but it is the blight of mankind. It was this law that made the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh an absolute necessity. Had there been any other way to nullify the effects of this law, that way would have been chosen. Simple fact: The law of sin necessitated the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”…  ( Click for more )

Tired of ordinary sermons? For a refreshing change, try the Sermon on the Mount. The contents of this timeless sermon are not ordinary; its speaker was not ordinary; its purpose was not ordinary; its implications were not ordinary. About the only thing ordinary about the Sermon on the Mount were the issues with which the hearers were dealing. These were as old as time itself; they have not changed since then by any appreciable amount. The names are different, the customs are different, but the struggles are the same. It is a timeless message aimed directly at the heart of humanity. …  ( Click for more )

“For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God——through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin..” (Romans 7.22-25; emphasis mine - jb).

“With my mind I serve the Law of God...” With this statement, Paul echoes the intent of all who…  ( Click for more )