Romans 2

So in Chapter 1 Paul demonstrated the sinfulness of the immoral pagan (1:18-32), Paul now presents his case against the religious moralist/legalist by cataloging 6 principles that govern God’s judgment:
1) Knowledge (2:1-2) 
2) truth (2:2-3) 
3) guilt (2:4-5) 
4) deeds (2:6-10) 
5) impartiality (2:11-15) 
6) motive (2:16). 

On a 1-10 scale, how well do y’all think you understand this chapter? 
What was confusing or difficult for you?

2:1-11
  • 2:1
In what was is man ‘inexcusable\’?
    Man has been given knowledge of God through the creation and His law is written on man’s heart, as we’re about to get more into in this chapter. You, O man, have done that which is wrong in God’s sight you are by no means expect from God’s judgment.

    “condemned yourself” Paul is dealing with hypocrisy here. 
In what way/according to what standard should we live?
    Given God’s standard of perfect righteousness, we are to live up to that through reliance on the living Christ, the perfect righteousness man.

Have y’all ever been accused of hypocrisy by the watching world? If so, would you care to explain how and how you handled it?
    [let them answer]

What happens when we are hypocrites? IE What do we do with our guilt/how do we repent?
    Given the standard is perfection, we should more often than not expect to fail in our walk with God. That said, there is still no excuse to betraying the standard/the Christ to which you hold. 
    There are several components to my remedy to repentance of hypocrisy:
  1. If you have no conviction/sorrow of sin against your God then you should fear if your salvation is genuine and work out your salvation with “fear and trembling”. (IE if you have no desire to uphold the standard you should fear that you are not saved from the coming wrath of God). 
  2. Assuming you are sorrowful of your sin, look to yourself, wretched hypocrite, and ask the Lord for His forgiveness for yourself and offer up gratitude that He is still long-suffering for you, and plead for the gift of repentance in your life
  3. After this, look to the crucified Savior and take comfort that He chose to love you to pay for even your hypocrisy 
  4. After this, look to the empty tomb and know that the Christ is with you, wretched hypocrite, even now and loves you at still; for His love for you relies on Him alone and not you at all.  Then decide all of yourself to God and living toward Him. 
AKA: The solution to hypocrisy is nothing less than full repentance to God.

“practice the very same things” This is just a general reference to 1:29-32; not an actual callout.

  • 2:4
Define the “goodness/kindness of God” 
    His long-suffering, or rather, HIs common grace. Common grace is the term we use that refers to the benefits that God bestows on all as Christ states in Matthew 5:45, “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” IE this is God’s goodness to all men. 
See Ephesians 1 for a further explanation of His kindness. 

In what way does His goodness lead to repentance?
    With one arm God draws men to Himself and without the other holds back His forthcoming wrath. Rather than destroying every person, the moment they sin God graciously holds back His judgment/grants them more time to come to Him in repentance. 

  • 2:5
Define “day of wrath”
    Here Paul uses the term to refer to the final day of His judgment upon men that will come at the end of the age. 

  • 2:6
For the Christian, what is the consequence of our sin?
    Lack of comfort from the Holy Spirit or lack of assurance/greater anxiety, Lack of rewards in Heaven. 

So is Paul presenting a works-based Gospel? 
    By no means. We can only do good by God in our lives. The fact that we do true good at all is proof of God in our lives. However, there can be no doubt that some Christians have greater good/more good works than others. God will reward each Christian accordingly. 

  • 2:7
If someone were to ask you to define the Christian life what would your response be?
    [Let them answer]

How is the Christian life glory, honor, immortality?
    Here, Paul describes the rewards of those believers who do good. The deeds of the believers aren’t the basis of their salvation but rather the evidence thereof. 
    We seek “glory” in that when we pursue God’s glory we boast in God; for that is our glory. 
    We seek “honor” in that when we honor God, let\’s say in our bodies, we are indeed honoring ourselves by using the body given to us for its proper purpose.
    We seek “immortality” in God, the author of life itself and therefore have true/eternal life. 

“Patient [continually]” Do y’all find this to be difficult to be patient with God? IE why doesn’t He just sanctify me right now? OR Why doesn’t God just complete redemption history and return to us right now?
    I ask because I have struggled with all of this. When we are tempted to be impatient with God we must remember that it is God set forth all of this and is, in one fashion or another, bringing all things good and evil for His purposes. 

  • 2:8
    Here, I think one can see the definition of the Christian life, in a word, as self-less rather than self-seeking. 

  • 2:9
Why is the Jew first?
    The Jews were given the first opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel and they will be the first to receive God’s judgment if they refuse. The Jews will receive a greater punishment because they were given greater light and blessing. 

  • 2:11
    Here I think is one of the most encouraging verses in the bible that I recommend you keep on hand in evangelism. 
    God as no respecter of persons is one of the greatest truths of the whole bible. He cares not how well you present yourself or how cleaned up you may be He will judge all regardless of status. IE come to Him as you are. 
 
2:12-16
  • 2:12
    So here\’s the thrust of Paul’s argument for this section; that the Gentiles who never had the opportunity to know God’s moral law will be judged on their disobedience in relationship to their limited knowledge. And the Jew and Gentile that did have access to God’s Law will be accountable for their greater knowledge. 

  • 2:13
    Notice “righteous” vs “justification” we do not make ourselves righteous but God justifies and makes righteous. 
We’ll cover justification more next week. 

  • 2:14
How do we know that its wrong to murder? Why does our conscience bother us when we do something wrong?
    Because God’s law is written on our hearts IE we have a conscience of right and wrong. People in a pagan society, without God’s law, still generally value justice, honestly, and goodness/good action toward others – reflecting the divine law written in the heart. This innate knowledge of God’s law will actually witness abasing them on the day of judgment. 

  • 2:16
Is there such a thing as “secret sin”?
    No, all deeds, thoughts, and actions both good and bad will be revealed on the day of judgment. Best to be rid of sin here and now than to even risk eternal separation from God. 

2:17-24
    Having shown that outwardly moral people will stand condemned by God’s judgment, Paul turns his argument exclusively to the Jews; where Paul shows them that their heritage, nor knowledge, nor ceremonies or circumcision will save them from God’s righteous judgment. 

  • 2:17 
    Thus, Paul says here that they became boastful/prideful in themselves and ceremonies rather than God. 
Do y’all find it difficult to be humble? I mean, you’re not like “those people”; you’re not as bad as they are right? 
For us, the Jew, here, serves as a warning sign to remain or become humble and forever grateful in mind, heart, and action before God for His free grace upon our lives. 

  • 2:21
Why does it matter whether or not we live according to what we teach/preach?
    Ultimately, our doctrine/theology is not learned only in the head but it finally learned in the heart; once our doctrine has reached our hearts and we then begin to actively live out said doctrine it is then that we begin to mature/grow and therefore are indeed in the faith/truly believe. 
    Thus, if we possess the faith yet have to desire to live it we should be in fear that we don’t have the faith at all. 

  • 2:24
What is the right/biblical method of teaching the truth?
    Dialectic discussion (obviously). No, I’m joking. The proper way to teach, or even to reach people, is to live the teaching in every part of our lives; both private and public as Paul is about to get into in the 2:25-29.
     Paul is citing Isaiah 52:5; claiming that the blasphemy of God is the result from the hypocrisy of the Jews not applying to themselves the standards of God that they knew and also taught to other. 
    
2:25-29
Here Paul strikes a death-blow to the hypocrite when he masterfully deals with inward attitudes of the heart and outward action of the body. For this last passage of Romans 2, I’ll only have us focus on 25, 28 and 29. 

2:25
So what’s Paul talking about here?
Paul is stating that our outward obedience in rituals, IE prayer, devotionals, the sign of the cross, etc, only hold value/are only beneficial to us if they hold substance/meaning to us. We can’t just have a shallow religion full of standard cliques of “have faith” or “close to Jesus” or “just trust in God and it’ll all be alright”. These things, while all correct and true, only help if we know the meaning to them. The rituals are and outward sign of inward faith/salvation they in and of themselves don’t bring us salvation. 

  • 2:28
The faith is an inward faith that manifests outwardly. Not the other way around. And to illustrate this point turn to Luke 15:11-32. 

Luke 15:11-32
So who is the “prodigal son” in this story?
Both sons are prodigal/wayward. 

Given Romans 2:25-29 that we just discussed who do y’all think is the outward rebel/sinner against the father in this story?
The younger son; obviously. 
How was he outwardly disobedient to his father?
He wished his father died and abandoned him in his old age. 

And who is the inward rebel in this story?
The older son.
How was he inwardly rebellious toward his father?
He did all his duties/chores but he did not serve his father out of love. He served him out of his own self-righteousness. He was a son in flesh but a slave/servant in spirit. 

And what do y’all think the key is to bring back a wayward son?

“…saw him and felt compassion” 15:20. The Father’s love, or to put it as Paul did His long-suffering, are ultimately draw us back to the Father again and again. The Father’s love is the cure for inward and outward rebellion.  

5 Ways to Improve Your Preaching

5 ways to improve your preaching by Pastor Matthew Everhard.

  1. Be a Bible expositor. Book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, line by line, word by word. The bible is more interesting than anything you have to say. 
  2. Write out your sermon completely in the manuscript then ditch it when you reach the pulpit. This will force you to think through what you\’re going to say. This also makes you speak to the people from the heart.
  3. Preach with your Bible open AND in your hand while you\’re preaching. This is practical and symbolic; it shows the people that you\’re teaching the text and is shows the church that the church is a bible-believing church. 
  4. Drop the tech. Tech usually detracts from the teaching. Use it ONLY when it\’s absolutely necessary. You, preacher, should be able to command and keep the attention and ear of the people via your words alone. Your zealous preaching is more powerful than PowerPoint. 
  5. Quit imitating your favorite preachers. You\’re not Piper, Sproul, MacArthur, etc. You are you. And God called you to the pulpit; and He already called Piper, Sproul, etc.

My 5 ways to improve your teaching:
  1. Be a Bible expositor. Read, study, question, search the word of God verse by verse. 
  2. Write your our bible study lesson fully and know it within your heart proper to delivering the lesson. 
  3. Always keep your Bible open and teach directly from the text.
  4. Keep it simple; use the tech when necessary and keep the illustrations to an absolute minimum.
  5. Use your own voice and not anyone else\’s.   

Ephesians 6:10-24

If someone were to ask you what Ephesians was about how would you respond? 

    Summaries: 
    Ch 1 is the glorious inheritance we, the saints, have in Jesus
    Ch 2 explains how we get these spiritual blessing and what the Church is
    Ch 3 is expounding Ch 1 and 2 where he explains how Jew and Gentile are brought into the Church 
    Ch 4 is how both parties are being brought together in unity by the HS
    Ch 5 (and the first part of 6) is living out all that Jesus has done for us in unity and love in the church, family, and employment

Now, what do y’all think this last bit of ch 6 is about? 
    Its always struck me odd how Paul suddenly shifts gears to discuss Satan right at the end of the letter; a letter all about     Christ no less;
    I believe Ch 6 is about how we use the immeasurable riches Jesus brought us to defend ourselves (and our joy) in God in the midst of temptation or spiritual attack. It is not directly about Satan, and his tactics, but rather Christ and His (and now our) riches. 

So with that view in mind, I hope to show it to you as we go through the text. So let\’s start: 

  • 6:10-17
    6:10
What\’s it mean to “be strong in the Lord”? 
    To continually trust/obey even when you don’t desire to. 
Are we strong in Him under our own power?
    No. “..in the strength and power of His might”. Let\’s talk about His might for a minute.
How are we to be strong/continually obey Him? 
    Obviously by putting on the “whole armor of God”, we’ll get to what that means in a minute. But turn to 2 Corinthians 12:9 for me. 
  • 2 Corinthians 12:9
Given this verse, I present the question again how are we to be strong in the Lord? 
    By being weak. If we have any shot of fighting/gaining victory over Satan and temptation it must be by your weakness “for then you are most strong”. We are at our weakest when we think ourselves most strong/when we are most prideful of ourselves. But we are strongest when at our weakness for then we are brought to our knees to reliance on God. 

How reliable and how grant are you resources in God to live for Him? 
    Flip to Ephesians 2:7. 
  • Ephesians 2:4-7
The immeasurable riches of His grace are shown to you by God, in kindness, to make you strong; to make you endure in the faith. 

So all that said, we will first examine who and why we are fighting then we will examine our armory. 
  • Look at Eph 6:12
So who is NOT our enemy? 
    Flesh and blood. Literally, ordinary man.
So who IS our enemy?
    Spiritual forces of wickedness. Literally, created spiritual forces of the air; as Paul wrote in 2:1-3. 
  • Look at 6:13.
Briefly its worth noting that our translators could have said, “take up all the armor given to you by God so that you have the ability to resist/withstand the darkness of the night of the last days…” to contrast the truth/light of God and the darkness/evil of these spiritual forces. But anyhow,
For what reason are we to have our armor?
    To stand/resist evil in these end times. 
So now that we know our enemy and why we should “take up” the armor; let\’s examine the armor itself. 

  • 6:11
So what is this “whole armor of God”? Whats Paul referencing?
    The Roman soldier and his armor? Are you sure about that? 
  • Turn to Isaiah 11:5.
What do we have here? 
    The belt of truth. But that only one piece of armor right, Im just crazy. 
  • Turn to Isaiah 59:17.
What pieces of armor do we have here? 
    Breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation. 
Here we have 2 pieces of the armor; not all of it, so maybe I’m just crazy right? 
  • Turn to Isaiah 52:7.
What do we have here? 
    Feet made ready by the good news/salvation.
What are we missing the shield of faith and sword of the Spirit? 
The shield of faith can be found commonly in the OT see Genesis 15:1, Proverbs 30:5, Psalm 91:4-5.
And the Sword of the Spirit can be found in Isaiah 49:2.

(In order of Study:  
Isaiah 52:7 – Shoes 
Isaiah 59:17 – Breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of Salvation
Isaiah 49:2 – Sword of Spirit 
Isaiah 11:5 – Belt of truth
Genesis 15:1, 5 – Shield of Faith)

Now, I ask again, do you think Paul is referring to the roman solider in Eph 6?
If you are still unconvinced, turn to Eph 3:1. Paul writes, “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for [or of] Christ Jesus…” While Paul was indeed a prisoner of Roman at this time he did not ultimately consider himself a prisoner of Roman but rather Jesus. It would seem Paul is more heavenly minded (particularly in this letter) than one might think. Moreover, this is not the first time Paul has referenced Isaiah in this letter (Eph 5:14). 

Furthermore, I don\’t know if y’all had this same thought when reading Ephesians but it has always struck me odd of Paul to suddenly shift gears to write on Satan after he’s spoken of Christ for the past 6(ish) chapters. I believe he did not suddenly change gears at all, but rather changed his mode of language to explain Jesus Christ further; satan is more of a side-character than a main focus of Paul in tonight passage. 

If you still remain unconvinced then so be it. I understand I\’m giving y’all a minority report on this passage; but I hope to further expound, and therefore convince you, on my reasoning as we go along and you’ll see why I think the way I do. 

We’re gonna go out of order than what Paul wrote; 
  • first, turn to Isaiah 52:7 again. 
So what piece of the armor are we talking about here? 
    “the readiness (literally the foundation) given by the gospel of peace”. 
What does Paul mean when he says “gospel of peace”? 
    Literally, he means the good news of peace/the ending of the war between man and God through what God has done on man’s behalf. 
Which is what? 
    God sending Jesus to take the wrath of our sin upon Himself.
Most preachers, when speaking of the “gospel of peace” in Eph 6 will relate it to the great commission. 
Which is what?
    “GO…” when all of our passage tonight is about “stand/withstand” NOT “going” at all. 

While in the application of Isaiah 52:7 would relate to the great commission; it does not directly relate to it in content. 
With that said, who brought us the “good news of happiness”? Jesus.

Talk to me about this “good news of happiness”. We just covered, and have been covering, what the gospel is, but how is the gospel a message of happiness? 
    The good news is that salvation and peace have been brought to us but a sovereign/(as Isaiah puts it) reigning God who fought for us even while we were against Him to bring us back to Him through the perfect peace offering of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. 

Let\’s dig deeper into that: How does Jesus Christ, and all that He did/is doing, cause us to be happy?
    I’ve implicitly taught the idea of John Piper’s “Christian Hedonism” to y’all but today I finally have a really good text to teach it explicitly. The idea to Christian Hedonism is this: God is most honored/glorified when we are most satisfied/happy in Him. Christ didn’t die so that we would be saved and drudgingly walk through the rest of our earthly existence miserable in life with God but that we would live happily in holiness with Him now to eternity. When Paul reference this passage in Ephesians; I believe Paul is teaching that one of the best defends against Satan is a satisfaction in God and all that He is for us. These “immeasurable riches” that He gave us, as a child’s inheritance, are but a means to an end of being happy/joyful in Him. We don’t enjoy Him for the gifts He gives (mainly defense against Satan) but the gifts are given so that we can protect our relationship, and our enjoyment thereof, with Him. 

IE the gospel brings us a joyful eternal salvation tonight Paul is showing the arms by which we defend our joy in God. 

Make sense?

  • Turn to Isaiah 59:17.
Talk to me about this “breastplate of righteousness”. What is righteousness? 
    Right, proper, justified stating with God. 
And how is righteousness attained?
    Through Jesus. When the Sinner is saved Christ indwells within the now believer and God now sees and treats you as the son that you now are. It is His righteousness that brought you and keeps you. 
So what’s a breastplate’s function?
    To protect the body/vital organs; namely the heart. 
So why is this apart of the believer’s armor? What\’s the connection between the protection of the heart and righteousness?
    As David wrote, “Create in me a clean/pure heart, O God…” (Psalms 51:10). The heart is the root of our life. If our heart is pure/clean/devoted to God then all else will naturally fall in line with our heart. If we guard/protect our heart then our devotion to God is likewise protected.

“helmet of salvation” 
So what does a helmet do? What’s its function? 
    Protect the head from a present or forthcoming attack
Ok, so “helmet of salvation” in what way does salvation help to protect the body? What do y’all think that means? 
(Keep in mind every single piece of our armor is Christ Himself.)
    Salvation is 3-fold. We have been saved; we are being saved and will be saved.
    The past, we’re saved from the penalty of sin; 
       the present, we’re saved from the power of sin; 
    in the future, we will be saved from the presence of sin. This helmet is a defense against doubt from past, present sin and against future sin.
  • Isaiah 49:2
What a sword primarily used for?
    Offense, tho it can be used for defense as well. This is the only piece of armor we have that is offensive. 
So if the sword of the HS is the word of God, how then am I to use the word as an offensive weapon?
    It\’s not so much merely having a bible but rather knowing it in the head and heart. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (PS 119). 
In temptation, we rely on its promises such as: 

  • Psalm 1
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

  • Psalm 128:1
Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.
  • Lamentations 3:25-27
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. 

  • 2 Peter 1:3-11
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
All of these promises come from God/His word; therefore we trust/have faith that we can rely on them in the midst of battle because the Lord is not a lair and will fulfill His promises. 
  • Isaiah 11:5
So in our armor where would our sword be located on our person? 
    The belt. From this, we can infer that the Sword/Word is truth. 

What is a belt used for?
    To hold the gear. The truth binds our armor all together. 

The belt of truth also comes from Isaiah. In Isaiah 11, God’s people, Israel, had turned their back on the light and chosen to live in darkness, spurning the Lord’s revelation. Yet God promised he would send a messianic figure from the line of David to deliver them. This coming King would wear righteousness as a belt around his waist and “faithfulness” as a belt around his loins (Isaiah 11:5).
The Greek translation of the Old Testament uses the same Greek word (aletheia) for faithfulness in Isaiah 11 that Paul uses in Ephesians 6, where our English versions translate it as truth. This messianic King will save his people and bring in the final blessing of peace — a peace that extends throughout creation (Isaiah 11:6–9). (The toxic effects of the fall, brought about by the first Adam listening to Satan’s lies, would be reversed by this second Adam and heir of the line of David, whose foundational qualities are truth and faithfulness.)
  • Genesis 15:1,5
So according to 15:1, what/who is our shield?
    God Himself.

In what way it God a “shield” to us?
    In Ephesians, Paul is not saying that faith in itself has remarkable defensive power against Satan. Rather, he is saying that faith protects us from Satan’s attacks because faith takes hold of the power and protection of God himself.
Throughout the Old Testament, it is God, not faith, that is repeatedly described as our shield as we just saw in Genesis 15:1. In Ephesians, Paul is teaching us that faith becomes our shield in Paul’s imagery because it is the means by which we flee to God for refuge.
I quick note on this text in Genesis; I just wanted to read y’all one of my favorite passages in Isaiah that talks about God protecting, shielding, His ppl. (Kelsey toward the beginning of the summer you, in effect, asked on “Perseverance of the Saints” I submit to you the stars as proof of this doctrine of our’s). 
  • Isaiah 40:25-26 Star On Top Left Hand
““To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. Look up and see! Who created these? He brings out the stars by number; he calls all of them by name. Because of his great power and strength, not one of them is missing.”

  • Ephesians 6:13
So given all of this, what does it mean that when Paul writes for us to “take up the whole armor of God”? 
    I think he’s saying to put on/take up Jesus. And that He is our defense against Satan/temptation. 
    We take up Jesus are His word, and His word is truth (John 17)
    We take up Jesus\’ righteousness by His perfect life and death; His righteousness is our’s now
    We take up the gospel of peace given to us/made ready for us by Jesus. He is our solid rock/ground on which we stand.
    We take up the shield of faith/the faith, the will to trust provided to us by Jesus to defend our joy in God. 
    This is the main point of our passage tonight: to take all of Christ Himself into battle with us; to us, He is not only Lord and Savior but Fellow soldier and friend to us in the fight. 
Make sense? 

  • 6:18-20
So how do y’all think Paul gained his “boldness” to preach the gospel?
    Prayer. Definitely prayer. 
What sort of things did he pray for?
    All the Saints.
    Here we have a brief lesson on the believers’ prayer life: 
1 “all prayer and supplication” focuses on the variety. 
2 “at all times” focus on the frequency 
3 \”in the HS” focus on the submission to God 
4 “keep alert” focuses on the intensely 
5 “all perseverance” focuses on the persistence. 

  • 6:19
Y’all remind me, what is “the mystery of the gospel”? 
    That even the gentiles are apart of the Church. (Eph 3:6)

  • 6:21-24
  • 6:21
Tychicus was a convert from Asia Minor who was with Paul during his 1st imprisonment. it’s unclear if Tychicus was a faithful preacher of the gospel or merely a faithful helping hand to Paul in his trails. Either way, it is no small thing to have the Apostle speak so highly of this fella. 

  • 6:23 & 24
Here at the closing of the letter, we have a beautiful benediction that sums up the major themes of this personal letter; reminding the reader of the peace, life, and faith from God and Jesus. 

I have a quick observation to share: 
  • Flip to 1:1 & 2.
What do y’all notice in the start and end of this letter? What’s a major point of contrast between the two?
    Grace to you and peace from God…
    Grace be with all who love our Lord…

    Paul, in essence, is saying that His letter/words are a form of God’s grace to His fellow believers. May our words be likewise to our fellow kin. 

Ephesians 5:22-6:9

  • 5:22-24
5:22 
Women, how fully committed are you to be to the Lord?
Totally. 
Given this, how committed are you to be to your husband?
Totally.

5:23 
So, given this verse, do y’all think it ever acceptable to go against your husband? 
Yes. 
When/why?
When/if he leads you away from the Lord. 

So Paul here is saying that you are a believer- already submitted to the Lord now be submissive to your husband; for just as Jesus is your leader your husband is as well. 

5:24
Now given all that we just said, how do you submit in everything to your husband?
Here Paul says that in the spiritual matters the wife is to defer to her husband because He is head of her; as Jesus is the Church. The Church may not like/agree with how the Christ is leading her but we trust His steady hand and loving eye to lead us through the storm because our hope is in Him. 
In a likewise manner, perhaps you are in a season of spiritual drought; here you are to trust in God’s hand working through your husband to lead you through. 

Now, look at this verse, our translator could have just as easily said “Now as the church submits to Jesus in everything, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands” 

So, why does the Church submit to God in everything? 
Because we know God is sovereign over all and uses all for our growth. 

I encourage every single one of you to dive deep into the scripture and find out all the word has to say on God’s sovereignty before you wed. Because what you believe about God’s sovereignty will determine how you react to tragedy and triumph in marriage. You must be ready for both; the sooner you’re ready the better. Will you crumble under the pressure of impure sons or puff up at the piety of your daughter? Your react to these things will affect your relationship with God and, by default, your marriage. I suggest beginning at the question: How sovereign is God? And keep consistent with that answer throughout your study. 

5:24
What are yalls thoughts on dating/romantically pursuing heathen?
    -How can we be unified with someone who isn’t even unified with our Lord?
Tell me what appeal does an unbeliever have to the believer? Why would you submit to someone who is unsubmissive to God? If he’s unsubmissive to God do you really think He’ll be able to love you as Jesus loves Church?

  • 5:25-30
5:25
How much are husbands to love their wives’?
As much as Jesus loved His Church. 
How much did Jesus love His church?
Even to lay down His life for her out of love. In this verse its “loved”; past tense, so Paul is showing you an event in the past that best shows Jesus\’ love to the church-which is obviously the cross. 

Gentleman, tell me how we could love our wives this much? 
notice this verse says “loved the church AND gave Himself up for her” 
We covered this last week, but in brief, to give up IE to relinquish all rights to self to give away to someone else is an act of love. If we have any hope of loving our wives, IE our closest neighbor, we are to give ourselves up to serve her. You’re to love her with the same unreserved, selfless, and sacrificial love that Jesus has for His church. Jesus gave all He had to her; as we shall too. 

5:26 
What is the point, the end, of our love toward our wives? 
We love her to make her holy. 

Brief aside: Who are the happiest Christians in the world right now?
The Church in Syria and China. Why do y’all think that is?
Because they are (some of) the holiest of God’s children. 
So if the happiest Christians are the holiest Christians then how do we attain holiness?
Be with God. You will be your happiest with God; for our hearts are restless till they find you as Augustine said. I submit to you they aren’t even happy till they find Him. Pleased by sin; sin. But not happy. 

Now, that said, gentleman, how are we to lead our wives to holiness? 
Bring them to God. Often we have a misunderstanding in the church that we only start a family when we have kids. This is simply wrong. the family begins when the couple says “I do”. It is then that you have the responsibility to lead your family to God. 

And how do we do that? How should we lead our family to God?
Simply. Gathering together to read the word and prayer. 
I don’t care how smart or knowledgeable you are on the bible/theology/etc. You are called to lead by the Spirit that is within you. Not by your own fleshly strength. 
I do however encourage godly discussions regularly or randomly happen in the family. and I encourage humility in those discussions when they do arise. 

5:27
I want this study to focus on marriage mostly, so for this verse; whats revenant is that Christ is making us in practice what we are in position. IE He is manifesting His own holiness and righteousness through us so that we might be holy/ without blemish. 

5:28
Paul keeps the metaphor going in 28. What is one of the main traits of marriage according to Paul here?
the unity of the marriage: She is a part of you as your own body is a part of you. Chapter 4 taught us on the unity of Christ and the Church now we’re seeing that shown in the unity between husband and wife. 

What are some things that help to cultivate unity in the church? 
Ephesians 4:1-3. Paul lists humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, eager/desiring to maintain unity. 

Y’all want to take a guess at some things that help to cultivate unity in marriage? 
humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, eager/desiring to maintain unity. 

and 29 states that we nourish and cherishes our bodies as Jesus nourishes and cherishes us/Church. 
We talked last week about how to become tenderhearted; I want ret-con that discussion a bit and add this verse to it. I encourage y’all to go home and consider what it means for Christ, Lord, and Savior, to cherish you oh wretched man. Moreover, if you are, to sum up your duties as a husband I’d say this covers it. You are to provide her warm and tender affection and comfort and security. 

5:30
When He cares for you He is also caring for Himself. Likewise with your wife gentleman. All the sacrifices you make for her will be returned to you. To quote one great man, “whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it. But whoever wishes to lose their life shall save it.” 

5:31 
Pop quiz: What’s Paul quoting here?
Genesis 2:24. 
Why does he quote it tho?
Paul reinforces the divine plan for marriage that God instituted at creation, emphasizing it permanence and unity. 

5:32
How permeant is the relationship between Christ and His Church?
Forever permeant.  

(If I could pass off one of my doctrines to you its “Perseverance of the Saints”; basically making that the faith of the Saints is preserved by God in all things and the persevere to the end. God started your salvation He will complete it. It is verses, and symbols, like these that make me wish out of all my doctrines of grace I could pass to you it\’s this one. Because PotS is bore out in marriage; no retreats, no reserves, no regrets for either party.)

Y’all ready for a detour? Turn to 1 Peter 3
Out of the gate, what parallels do y’all see between 1 Peter 3 and Ephesians 5?
wives be submissive. 
husbands honor wives. 
Let\’s keep looking at what Peter has to say on marriage

3:1-2 
3:1
So who is Peter’s audience? 
Wives with heathen husbands. 
So does peter say its ok to marry heathen? 
No. He clearly is writing to wives who came to the faith post-wedding while their husbands haven’t yet. 

3:2 
Now, what are the 2 things Peter wants their unbelieving husbands to come to faith through? 
Respectful and pure conduct toward their husbands. In fact, there to be so well-conducting of themselves that she won’t even need to speak a word to him. 
What is the main focus of this kind of marriage? 
To bring the husband to faith. 
And why would that be her goal at all?
Because she loves him of course. 

3:3-6
Notice that Peter doesn’t say, “don’t adorn yourself” but instead he says what?
Adorn yourself be the hidden person of the heart/inner man; with the imperishable beauty of gentle and quiet spirit. 

So how does a wife adorn the inner man?
Hoping in God. 
Tell me what Sarah obeyed Abraham in?
His leading the family and look, God’s promise is fulfilled. As God said, I will make you a father of many nations. And Peter writes you are her children. You are the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham long ago. 

Notice the end of 3:6 in Peter’s call for wives to be fearless. What is the wife’ motive for fearlessness?
Hope in God. 
What\’s it mean to hope in God?
To trust Him for His future provision. As God did indeed do throughout Ab’s and Sarah’s story. God promised Ab that he would father many nations and he did; God promised that Sara would be protected by Him and she was safe in God’s hands regardless of Ab’s lying. Our hope in God is based on the past fulfillment of God’s promises; IE if we know He worked in the past we know He can and will work similarly in our lives. 

3:7-8
So in what “likewise” manner are husbands suppose to honor their wives? 
Likewise: We serve her too. Just differently; its the husband\’s duty to submit to the loving day of being sensitive to the needs, fear, and feelings of his wife. IE the Christian husband is to subordinate his needs to hers. Peter mentions chivalry and companionship. 

What’s “weaker vessel” mean? 
Literally, she’s weaker and in need of protection, provision and strength from her husband. You standard atheist will point to this verse as a defense of his low IQ position on religion. But take notice of the word “vessel”; her purpose is ultimately for God, not you. You are to care for that vessel that has been entrusted to you by God; particularly given that she is your co-heir to eternal life as well the grace of marriage itself.

So, here\’s a curious phrase by Peter, how would our prayers be hindered?
A lack of love, fellowship with her. Our prayers are hindered when we are not mindful of her needs and fellowship. 

Quick aside: When I say fellowship, what do y’all think that means?
Fellowship, biblically speaking, is believer coming together and speaking of or on Christ or His word. It\’s not just “hanging out” together. 

Ephesians 6:1-4
“in the Lord” Does this mean that if my parents aren’t saved that I don’t have to obey them?
No, We are to be obedient to them because God placed them over us; regardless if they’re saved or not. If the child is “in Christ” then they are still to fulfill that commandment. 

That said, how does one honor their parents?
In our actions, as verse 1 says and in our attitude toward them; as if we were obeying the Lord Himself. 

6:4
So what is the purpose of fatherhood/motherhood?
To raise up the next generation in righteousness. 

Hebrews 12:6-11
I wanted to point out this passage because I think it shows Paul’s point in Ephesians 6:4 so well.
Look at 12:11, what is the main point of discipline?
To produce righteousness. 
Gentleman, we are to be God to our children until they can grasp God for themselves. Do not spear the rod, yet not provoke them to anger and whatever you are to do do it out of love for your God and family. 
Provide, protect and pray for your family for this is your duty and duty is the essence of our manhood.
I encourage y’all to dig into this passage on your own time because we don’t have the time to do so here. 

6:5-9
So whats a bondservant?
Literally a slave. Please note, when an American reads things like this we quickly think racial slavery because of our history but the greeks and Romans really knew no such thing. If one were to fall into an unpayable debt he and his family would become a slave to his debtor to pay it off. Again, your low IQ atheists will point to verses like these and claim the bible endorses slavery. By no means is this an accurate rendering of the text. Paul is a man of his time dealing with the issues of his time; he is most concerned with what John MacArthur rightly calls “Spirit-filled relationships”. He is merely barring out what it means to “love your neighbor” in his time. 

[Moreover, as another quick aside, you put far too much stock in man and the future if you think we could never/wouldn’t go back to slavery of some kind. The next time around it will most likely be debt slavery like we see here; not racially based as it was before. And texts like these will help to keep our humanity should we revert back to such a thing. No doubt should the society go back into such a thing our knowledge of the bible will aid in the stabilization of the culture and help to further advance the gospel even in such times. (Its this possibly in mind aha helps keep me going so hard for our studies. But my insanity/vision of the future is another matter for another time).]

More historical context for this verse is important:
Take a guess at what the age of consent was for a roman slave.
5 years old.
Take a guess at the age of consent for a non-roman citizen.
0, they had no rights whatsoever. 
These things are important to keep in mind when studying texts as such.

6:6-7
Given these verses, what should our work ethic be like?
We work for The Lord, not man in all we do. 

Have y’all ever thought about how your work/job is an act of worship to God? Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31 “…or whatever you do do it for the glory of God.” 
Anything we do is to be honoring God. 

“…doing the will of God from the heart” how are we supposed to do this? IE what is the key to a “Spirit-filled relationship”?
4:18 “be filled with the Spirit” We can’t love our neighbor without the aid of the Lord in our day to day lives. Our love for them is to be an overfill of the love of God in our lives. 

And that\’s the main point to this whole study really-to be full of the Spirit IE to continually hunger for God in our lives and to see Him working through us always.  

Ephesians 5:1-21

4:32-5:2
So last week Jacob did this verse; and I gotta step on his toes a bit because of 5:1 demands that I do. 

So according to 4:32 what are we to do?
Be kind, tenderhearted. 

To whom?
One another.

And how is that kindness to be the best/most manifest?
In forgiving one another. 

Ok so being kind is best shown in forgiving. But what tenderhearted mean?
Soft-hearted, as opposed to hard-hearted. 

Which as we know from last week’s lesson hard-heartedness is caused by what (4:18)?
Ignorance of Christ; because they have not learned of Him. 
The eyes of their heart aren’t enlightened (1:18). 
Its almost as if Paul is extending his metaphor of “enlightened eyes” here. So our eyes are enlightened/opened making them sensitive/vulnerable/tender. As if before they were literally hard-hearted like brink not soft or vulnerable/unable to feel anything.  

Which is a re-enactment of what? 
God forgiving us in Christ. 

IE God’s forgiveness to us who are in Christ was an act of kindness. So, in 2:7 we established that God saved us to be kind to us forever; and that He delights to be kind to us. Given that God’s greatest kindness to us is forgiveness what does that say about God?
That God delights to forgive us; He wants to forgive us. In a likewise urge that we have to sin God has the urge to forgive and is quick, abounding, and delights to forgive His children. 

So, before we move to 5:1, how much did God forgive us in Christ?
All/everything. 

So 5:1, how are we to imitate God?
Being kind, tenderhearted, by manifesting forgiveness to one another. 

Why are we imitators of God?
Because we are loved/beloved children. 

And why is us being loved to be the motivating factor for us? 
Because otherwise it’d be legalism. 
We’d be kind and forgiving without any real emotion or affection or love to the other person without part 2 of verse 1. 
Therefore, it is necessary for us to be beloved children and THEN be imitators of God because God acts out of love. 
If we didn’t know the love of God we couldn’t love as God loves. 
It’d be impossible to love to the standard He’s commanding without God Himself.

Jump over to Romans 5:8-9
Read.
What\’s Paul saying here?

That God freely chose to give up/sacrifice His treasured precious of His one and only Son for His enemy. The point here, for our purposes, is that we were undeserving of that love and that sacrifice was costly. Our love should be likewise. 

So here’s God’s love: So out of love, God, in His tenderheartedness, chose to be kind to us and forgive us, US: the dead in our sins, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of air as sons of disobedience, children of wrath, BY Christ’s brutal sacrifice that was pleasing to Him.

With that said let\’s move to 5:2
What\’s it mean to “walk in love”?
to love continually 

And by what standard are we to love continually?
By the standard Christ set by His life 

And how did He set that standard?
By His giving Himself up, or deliver Himself, as a sacrifice. 

What does it mean that Jesus “gave Himself us” for us?
He took no claim to Himself, all He was He gave away to us for God. He Himself, His essence and being were delivered to us of His own choosing as a sacrifice to God. 

Given this, what does “fragrant offering” meaning?
He, His sacrifice was pleasing to God. 

I’ve always found it interesting that Christ is to say to us “well done my good and faithful servant” at our arrive into His heavenly kingdom. He doesn’t say, ‘you did many good works well done’ but He congratulates you-because like Him-you are to give yourself/sacrifice yourself in your love for His honor. 

Why? Why is God pleased to crush His own Son under His own hand?
Because it was God manifesting His love and kindness to us. He sacrificed His one and only son to love us. That is the standard of love for us. 

So that said, what does it cost anything to love someone?
Ourselves mainly.  

Do y’all find it easy to forgive? Why why not?
For me, it\’s not easy because I don’t want to let go of my own pride in thinking I know how best to handle this situation, I know best how to make them pay for what they did to me. 

So given all of this, given that it\’s not easy to forgive someone, that it’ll cost me something of myself, why should I forgive someone when they wrong me?
“as Christ loved us” Christ loved us, loved me, with a perfect sacrifice. What am I but mere dust to demand a more, higher price be paid for them to earn my forgiveness? Christ might have already paid for their sin. That could be my future brother or sister and I want them to be that so I am a channel of Christ’s love to them right now. And even if they don’t become my brother then God will be swift in dealing with them justly with eternal punishment. 

5:3-10
5:3
Talk to me about why “sexual immorality” and all impurity or covetousness is improper among the saints. 
IE how are those things in opposition to God and His love?
It is proper for us to walk in love. If we walked in anything else, let alone the exact opposite of love, it\’s improper for us because we don’t live to our calling nor honor Christ’s sacrifice. IE it\’s not a sacrifice but merely taking from them. 

5:4 
Leave “foolish talk” alone, for now, we’ll circle back to that. 
Define “crude joking” for me. 
Rude, unbecoming, sarcastic, untruthful, ugly jokes. 
Why is that un-loving? 
It tears ppl down, not builds them up. 

What does Paul tell us to replace this with?
Thanksgiving. 
Why? Why replace crude joking with thanksgiving? 
I think Paul may be continuing his repentance theme from last week in 4:28. Crude joking suggests hatefulness or ingratitude toward that someone/thing. But Paul is reminding us that that thing is from God and is, therefore, a gift from Him. 

So how are we to be thankful/cultivate gratitude toward God?
By being grateful/appreciative for what God has done/did do for me. 

What would you say to an ungrateful Christian in light of this passage? How would you choose to exhort them to thanksgiving? 
We, Christians, must remain continually on our face before God. This causes and fuels our gratitude to God.

5:5
Why do these ppl not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God?
Because they have earthly treasures and pleasures but not heavenly treasures and pleasures. 
They are not self-controlled, uncleaned from their sin, and are greedy for other’s stuff. 

Now, do y’all have any thoughts on the phrase “the kingdom of Christ and God”? 
I ask because this is the only place in the whole bible this phrase comes up and I think Paul is trying to tell us something here but I couldn’t pick up on it. 

5:6
Give me some synonyms for “empty”.

The original greek suggests vain or aimless, perhaps even void. 
Tell me how someone is deceived by “empty words”? How are they deceived via vanity? 
Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:14
Read 1 Cor. 15:12-19

The word “vain” in verse 14 is the same as “empty” in Ephesians 5. Given this, I ask once more, how are we deceived by empty words? 
By false doctrine. 
And how do we know false doctrine?
By knowing true doctrine. Or the truth. But I repeat myself. 
And how do we know that?
By knowing our bibles through and through. 

Now, change gears a hot minute and jump down to verse 1 Corinthians 15:58.
Read 1 Cor. 15:54-58

As some of you well know I’ve felt discouraged lately and here is perhaps the sweetest verse for such a trail from God. 
The opposite of vanity is what?
Purpose, fulfillment, complete.

All of this, the study, the research, the reading, prayer, meditation, the frustration, the struggle, the weekly meeting all of it is absolutely worth it according to this verse. Look back at this verse, what is the “work of the Lord”?
Salvation now and later. Salvation now in that we are being delivered from sin and later in the final deliverance from sin. All of which is from God, by God, for God. The victory is given by God; we must ask and receive it from Him. 

Flip back to Eph 5.
5:6b. “for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
So because of sexual immorality and impurity and covetousness and idolatry the wrath of God comes down on the unrepentant.

5:7
literally “don’t be jointed together with them”. So who are we to be jointed with?
The saints of course (4:16).
How are we not to be partners with them?
We are to be partners with our fellow saints in building up the body of Christ. Therefore, we cannot use those that are not of Christ to build up the body of Christ. For what fellowship does darkness have with light. 

“Walk as children of light” literally you could translate that as ‘live as children of the enlightenment of chapter 1’. 

5:9
Why does our enlightenment produce that which is good right and true?
Good because we now know and live a true morality
right because we are made right with God and true because we live according to God’s revelation/word which is the truth. 

Often I think we fall into the trap of thinking that “theology” is just a branch of philosophy with little or no real consequences on the world. But Theology, is properly done, is something like a mixture of history, metaphysics, and biology that affects everything around us and is every bit of real-life because it is the truth. 

5:10
Literally “learn what is pleasing”.
I know I’ve asked this question before but I\’m going to again with a slight twist to it: 
What is your goal in life?

Ok, now, what is your goal eternally?
To please God. 

The answers to those question should in no way be different. Paul had one goal in life: Please God. 
Everything else was secondary to that and served the purpose of that #1 goal. 
We’re wise to follow his lead on this. 

So how are we to learn what is pleasing to God?
It\’s rather simple really you live according to your new nature to love God with all your heart, soul and mind and after that, you will know what is pleasing to God for you will desire to honor Him in what you do. 
Plus, the point-blank guideline of “everyone who is sexually immoral… has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ” is also pretty obvious. 

5:11
Talk to me about exposing the unfruitful works of darkness yet not taking part in them. How does one do that?
Reprove those unfruitful works; for the unbeliever, it means convicting them of their sinful state. IE showing there wrongdoing and also showing them the correct standard which is?
Christ and His perfect work.

5:12
We’ll cover this when we get to verse 18

5:13
By what means are we to expose them?
The light/truth. 

5:14
So its’ no longer hidden in lies or shadows but is now open and in accordance with reality.

And here we have a very fun historical artifact. Here is one of the first hymns sung by the early church that comes from several different passages in Isaiah. Why does Paul choose to quote this here?
Its an illustration of what he’s teaching and the gospel. ‘Awake from your darkened sleep and let your eyes be enlightened to the risen Christ’ is essentially what he’s saying. 

5:15
So remind me, what\’s the standard according to we’re supposed to walk?
Love and Christ loved 5:2

So, how should we exam how we walk?
We should make sure that we not only love outwardly but inwardly in our hearts as well. 

5:16
Explain this one to me, how are the “evil days” the motivating factor in using my time wisely?
Because I don’t have many days or chances to waste. I am given today and that is all. I am given the test to follow God or fall away; I best not waste my the little time I have on that which is evil and only serves to destroy my relationship with God. 

I exist in some “off-brand” internet circles and perhaps you’ve heard the phrase “black pilled”. IE these folk will just take their foot off the gas and just like “whatever happens next just, happen” they’ve given up because of the evil days. Interestingly enough Paul here is teaching the exact opposite: that the evil days are the fuel of the Christian to keep going, and to not despair but to have hope in these hard days all the more. The reason being, in brief, is that we are to be grateful that we have any time left to honor God with at all; especially given all the sins we committed against Him and our neighbor. God has graced us with another day; let us use it for all that its worth. 

5:17
What\’s the opposite of foolishness?
Knowing the will of God. Why is that? 
Knowing God’s will is the wisest thing you can do and the best use of your time. God is sovereign over all and as given everything that we need for salvation it is, therefore, wisest to follow the good Lord in His loving, kind, gracious, perfect will no matter where it may lead you; for it is there that you are the safest you could be. 

Did anyone else see a connection between verse 10 and 17?
Because I think they are the same. That which is pleasing to the Lord is the will of the Lord. And that which is the will of the Lord is pleasing to Him. See what I’m getting at?

So how do we know the will?
We know what is pleasing to Him.
How do we know that?
We learn what is good, right and true in His eyes. 

5:18
Do y’all think Paul is teaching doctrine or practical wisdom here?
I’ll tell you doctrine. Heres why: the Greeks at this time would have drunk sex parties where they’re put on repetitive dance music and try to get themselves into, what we’d call, a higher state of consciousness in order to get closer to their gods. Here Paul is teaching them that they need not do such things, shameful things as he called them in 5:12, but to instead but full of the Holy Spirit. What does that mean?
IE walk in all facets of life in accord to the will of God/according to the word. 

5:19
So there are 4 things that Paul says we are to enjoy the filling of the Holy Spirit by. what are they?
Fellowship with one another “addressing one another”
Enjoying the word “psalms”
Enjoying sound doctrine “hymns”
Songs from Holy Spirit directed to God in personal worship of God “making melody to the Lord with your heart” 

What does it mean then to have your heart in worship?
Focused, sincere. 

5:20-21

I think Paul here wraps us this first half of the chapter well right here. We are to be imitators of God as beloved children and do that by giving thanks always for everything to God while we submit/honor/love/serve one another for Christ. 

Ephesians 2

2:1-10
2:1-3
Ok so in 1:19-23 Paul just set forth the overwhelming glory and might of Jesus. Now he moves back to us in 2:1-3; and wow what a contrast that is. 

What are some ways Paul describes us in 2:1-3?
Dead in trespasses and sins
following the course of this world
following the prince of the power of air-who works in the sons of disobedience 
of whom we once were because we carried out the passions of our flesh/desires of the body/mind 
by nature children of wrath.

Why does Paul describe mankind this way?
He’s describing the truth of our existence without God. Let\’s unpack that existence a little more before continuing to 1:4.

Whats’ “dead in trespasses and sins” mean? How were we dead in sin?
We had no life in God but only our sin. “and sin when it is full grow gives birth to death” (James 1) We continually did sin; it was the whole sphere of activities in our life (that’s what I think Paul means by “walked”); we sinned naturally, habitually, and easily. Sin was a natural and continuous habit in our natural state. 

Whats “following the course of this world”?
“Going with the flow” We were dead in sin flowing down the river called ‘world’ without a care where the river would take us; we just went with it with no resistance. 

“following the prince of the power of the air” Who’s the prince?
Satan. Who is the rule “of the power of the air” But what\’s that mean?
““the air” being that sphere in which the inhabitants of the world live and which, through the rebellious and godless condition of humanity, constitutes the seat of his authority\”
Or IE ’the heavens’ or ’the sky’ or perhaps even ‘fog’. The idea here is that Paul is saying that Satan exercises his power/rule over all around us; kinda like how air is around us now. Paul is trying to communicate that ever-presence danger and evil that operates around the believer and in the life of the sons of disobedience. We will pick up on this idea again in chapter 6. 

Talk to me a bit more on this Satan character. Who is he? What’s he do? Why do I care?
He’s the accuser to the Elect and challenger to God’s throne. He harasses the elect day and night to try and get them to turn from God and become slaves to him in sin/disobedience to God.
I care about this because every time I’m tempted to sin, according to the word of God, Satan is not offering me true pleasure but a mere bread crumb in exchange for life-long, brutal, torturous slavery to a slaveholder that wishes nothing less than maximum pain for his amusement. Not a very good deal is it? Think about that next time we’re tempted to sin/disobey a loving, merciful, and kind  Father. 

the prince” Satan. God has allowed him to be prince, not king, to rule and reign here and now insofar as God as allowed Him to do so before He crushes Him at the final day. 

I’ll explain it to you the way it was explained to me: 
Imagine a good king who has a vast, mighty kingdom; but there’s an enemy, evil king and kingdom that\’s the size of an ant and the might of dust that challenges this good king. This good king allows the evil one time; time to gather whatever armies and resources he wants to challenge him with and then they will reconvene at an appointed time to battle it out to see who rule over all the kingdoms. The evil king gathers all his might, all his forces and all his strength to challenge the good king at the appointed time and yet still the good king utterly decimates the evil one with an ease that was more easy to him than breathing. And the good king is totally victorious and all the people are in awe of his incredible might and power forever. 
That is why Satan has any power now; to be utterly decimated by King Jesus at the appointed time. 

Everyone w/o a savior is a son of disobedience
“the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” So we just established that Satan is the prince, the spirit that Paul is talking about here. And his goal is to cause disobedience. 

How does he cause disobedience in the life of the believer?
The temptation of sin. 
How do we remain faithful/obedient to God in temptation/how to fight temptation? 
Turn to Ephesians 6:10. We’ll take a quick look at 6:10-18. 
What ways does Paul tell us to combat Satan/temptation?
“the whole armor of God” so we need all the parts of the armor. A solider without shoes ain’t lasting too long in the fight. 
  1. Truth 6:14
  2. righteousness 
  3. gospel of peace
  4. faith (in all circumstances) (6:16)
  5. salvation
  6. the word of God (6:17)
  7. pray always (6:18)
These weapons/tools are how we fight off the temptations of the devil. We’ll cover this more in Chapter 6. 

One more on 2:2, who are the “SoD”?
The unrepentant. They are enslaved to Satan.

2:3
What are “the passions of the flesh”?
the desires of the body/mind springing up from or in accord with our nature/our natural selves. 

Who are these “children of wrath”?
Mankind. Unrepentant sinful man. 

Do y’all get why I stress the wrath of God so much in explaining the gospel?

So our very own nature heaped God’s wrath/anger upon us. Is there anything we can do to save ourselves?
No. Just Christ alone. Christ alone is our savior. Not our own works or righteousness. He is the only one who could have and did take the wrath of God upon Himself. 

2:4
“But God” Its a running joke in Christian circles that in the kid\’s ministry when the kids are asked to remember a verse they remember John 11:35 which is, “Jesus wept”. 
If you were to have only 2 words of the whole bible memorized I’d tell you to pick these 2. 

Would you like to guess why I might say that?
They are probably the sweetest words in the bible. 
“oh, I’m just little old me…But God”
“I am hopeless…but God”
I am unclaimed and unloved…but God”
I am caught in the snare of sin…but God”
I am weak and needy… But God”
Do you see where I’m going with this?

“rich in mercy” meaning what? 
If someone came to me rn and said: “Evan I have 28K to give you to pay for your 28K of debt.” They give in accordance w my need. But if a trillion gave me a million then he gives out of his riches. Likewise with God. God is so overly filled with mercy that He gives this mercy in accordance w that overabundance. And that overabundance indeed meets our needs as well so God gave His mercy out of an abundance thereof. 

“even when we were dead” God loved us first. Never forget that.

One more thing: to anyone that challenges the truthfulness of scripture I’d point them to these few verses. Would you like to take a guess why I’d do that?
Because nowhere else will you have any text that universally describes humanity this way; dead, slaves of Satan, rebellious by nature. You simply can’t find this anywhere else. Moreover, even if you ever did find this elsewhere, you would never see “but God” come afterward. Maybe ‘And God’ as in “And God swiftly satisfied His wrath by unleashing it upon all these disobedience.’ maybe, “and God, being rich in wrath, because of His great anger against us leave us for dead in our sin and rebellion against Him’ But not “but God”. 1-3 are the dark black curtain against which the first 2 words of 2:4 shine all the brighter. If these 2 words do not stir up in you a humble, awful view, and therefore worship, of God then this is your homework assignment: go home, read this chapter until you heart is moved by God’s great love for His children. 

2:7
For what reason, according to this verse did God save you?
So that He could be kind to you now and forevermore. God chose you, the imperfect dirty jar you are, to send forth His kindness upon you now and forever. Now, why would God chose to do such a thing like that?
He loved us before we loved Him there’s no other explanation than that. 
You were made to show God’s kindness to the world. 
Turn to 1 King’s 19. I read this morning and I wanted to share a small insight into the Lord’s kindness in the life of Elijah. 

2:8 
I’m curious y’all thoughts on this, the “it” in “it is the gift of God, not a result of works…” what does the “it” refer to”?
(Faith).

2:10
So in 2:7 we just established that we are saved to show God’s kindness but here Paul says we’re saved for good works. Put those to 2 puzzle pieces together and what do you come up with?
Out of His love God chose us to be a vessel of kindness through good works. Not salvation from good works or toward good works but for good works. Faith = justification + good works. NOT
Faith + works =justification
Faith = justification – works. 
Also, notice this: we are saved for good works. Not because of good works. 

2:11-22
2:11-12
We’re gonna stay here a few minutes.
Why would Paul tell us to remember our time of separation from Christ? 
The Gentiles/uncircumcision experienced 2 types of alienations. 1st was social resulting from the animosity that had existed between Jews and Gentiles for thousands of years. J considered G to e outcasts. The 2nd was spiritual because the Gentile were cut off from God in 5 different ways 1) they were separated from Christ, having no savior and without divine purpose. 2) they were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel; a nation who’s King was Christ. 3) G were stranger to covenants of promise/not partakers of God’s divine covenants in which He promised to give His people land, priesthood a nation, a king. 4) They had no hope because they had no divine promise 5) they were without God; they had many gods but didn’t know the one true God. 

That said why would God make circumcision the sign of His covenant with the Israelites? 
Circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham
When God told Abraham to be circumcised, he was past the age of bearing children and his wife, Sarah, was incapable of having children (Gen 18:11). Nevertheless, it would be through Sarah’s womb (Gen 17:21; 18:14) that God would fulfill His promise of innumerable offspring to Abraham (Gen 12:1–3). God’s covenant with Abraham could only be realized by miraculous intervention.
The miraculous nature of Isaac’s birth is the key to understanding circumcision as the sign of the covenant. After God made His promise to Abraham, every male member of Abraham’s household was required to be circumcised (Gen 17:15–27). Everyone knew that circumcision was connected to God’s promise. It probably didn’t make any sense, though, until Sarah became pregnant.
Everyone in Abraham’s household witnessed the miracle of Isaac’s birth. From that point on, every male understood why they had been circumcised: Their entire race—their very existence—began with a miraculous act of God. Every woman was reminded of this when she had sexual relations with her Israelite husband, and when her sons were circumcised. Circumcision was a visible, continuous reminder that Israel owed its existence to Yahweh, who created them out of nothing.
In the New Testament, membership in God’s family is “circumcision neutral” (Gal 5:6). It is faith in Christ, not a Jewish identity signified by circumcision, that makes someone part of the Church. Paul even connects baptism to circumcision (Col 2:10–12). Like circumcision, baptism is a response driven by faith. Both signs are for men and women.
Thinking on 2:12 how are we without hope when we’re without God?
No hope without God because we have no trust that the future could work out for our good. 

2:13-16
What\’s Paul talking about here?
How the Church is being built from 2 different people groups, J and G.

“our peace” literally He is our shalom that brought peace from God to both parties. He alone is the source of salvation and therefore also our peace. 

“brought near by the blood of Christ” 
Have y’all ever thought about how much God wants to be with you? 
I think when we understand that God does desire us it will increase our desire for Him and the more. 
Another thought to think on later: God wants to be with you and to be close to you.  

“broken down in the flesh the dividing wall of hostility…” So is this in reference to a literal wall or just a metaphor?
Literal. In the Temple, there was a wall dividing between the Jews who could enter into the temple and the “god-fearing” G’s who couldn’t enter in at all. He points to the wall as a social, religious and spiritual separation that kept J and G apart. Paul here is saying that that wall is now broken down and there is no more separation between J and G. God, at this point in redemptive history, is building His church and His true people not the exclusively the Israelites. 

2:16
This one is somewhat of an off-brand question for me but: do y’all think/fit there’s hostility in the church today?
Why so?
And how do we fix it?

2:19
“household of God” Redeemed sinners not only become heavenly citizens but also a member of God’s own family. 

2:20
“built on the foundation of the apostles…” Not them personally. But the divine revelation they taught as they authoritatively spoke the word of God. 

How is Christ the cornerstone?
He holds it all together in unity. 

Whats’ one big take away for all this for y’all?
Have boldness before God in prayer because of His kindness. 



Thoughts: 
2:1 “were” and “walked” past tense
2:2 “following” present. the course of this world    
                                        the prince of the power of the air-the spirit that is now at work in sons of disobedience. “sons” because disobedience originates from this “prince”?

2:3
“passions of our flesh” and “carrying out desires of the body” same thing 2 ways of saying it?

“child of wrath” are “sons of disobedience”?

2:4-5
Saved by God because of His great/rich mercy. 

2:1
Paul helps us to see our need for a savior here. We don’t kiss the feet of our Savior unless we feel our need to be saved. 
How do we come to know Jesus without knowing how lost and dead and hopeless we were without Him
We are commanded, 2:11-12, to remember Him. Our “deadness” is the dark black curtain that makes His diamond shining love pop all the more. We know our deadness to remember our need for Him; to not remember is to disobey. 
The 1st need of why we need a savior: Because of our deadness. 
What\’s dead mean?
2:3 IE everything you did to bring on the wrath you did by nature.
2:2 disobedience runs in the family/mankind. We need a savior not because I sin. But because I am a sinner-by nature a rebel.
That is alive to the flesh but dead to Spirit. 
2:10 “created” God’s work. Resurrection and new creation are both pics of conversation. 
Everything we did was by our nature was sin thus everything we did was sin before Christ. 
Did you do anything for the glory of God before being saved? no of course not. 
Do you see our horrible/wretched you are without a savior?
Understand this; you’ll love Jesus all the more. Romans 8:6-11
what is the flesh “rebellion, enmity against God, un-pleasers of God” 
“Death” unsubmissive to God. The Word shows us how desperate we are with Him. 
We preach/teach/hold accountable to each other on sin to behold the sweetness of the savior. 

3 reasons we need a savior: 
2:1 dead
2:2 captive to an alien power
2:3 child of wrath by nature. 

Prove of word from God. No human would ever say these things; we know that because they never ever have. 

God sends His son to bring me life, to set me free, and to give me a new nature. 
The way to freedom from this world is to let God interpret your situation

2:2
There is a being that works and moves in “the air” in the SoD/heathen. He makes them in step with the times/age.\\
“air” the dwelling of mankind. Between the Earth and the Heavens. 
“the prince of the power of the air” Eph. 6:12. “power of the air” a collective reference to all the demonic forces against you now. 
Authority/power that influences the “air” that influences us.
“the prince” Satan. God has allowed him to be prince, not king, to rule and reign here and now insofar as God as allowed Him to do so before He crushes Him at the final day. 

I’ll explain it to you the way it was explained to me: 
Imagine a good king who has a vast, mighty kingdom; but there’s an enemy, evil king and kingdom that\’s the size of an ant and the might of dust that challenges this good king. This good king allows the evil one time; time to gather whatever armies and resources he wants to challenge him with and then they will reconvene at an appointed time to battle it out to see who rule over all the kingdoms. The evil king gathers all his might, all his forces and all his strength to challenge the good king at the appointed time and yet still the good king utterly decimates the evil one with an ease that was more easy to him than breathing. And the good king is totally victorious and all the people are in awe of his incredible might and power forever. 
That is why Satan has any power now; to be utterly decimated by King Jesus at the appointed time. 

“the course of this world” IE godliness 

Everyone w/o a savior is a son of disobedience to this prince, evil prince, they’re not free but captives/slaves to him. 

We need a savior, not just because we’re dead in sin but because Satan is at work to try and keep them dead. There is the sin/corruption of our hearts and that corruption is all around us in the world. 

Satan tries to guard us against the light to keep that light away from our hearts. to keep us from seeing God.

Dead people don’t need any help doing evil deeds; it is in accordance w their nature. 
How at home are you in the world; the harmony between sinner and satan?

by nature, we did things God hates. But nature we put the wrath of God upon ourselves. 
Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. 
Never forget from where you’ve been saved because otherwise, you wouldn’t treasure Him as savior and if you don’t treasure Him then you don’t have Him as savior. 
cherish or perish.
Why did we need a savior? Because, we were dead in sin 2:1, held captive to satan/being led by him 2:2, our very nature heaped wrath upon us 2:3. 
For the Christian, God has given in place of wrath grace in kindness 2:7
Our of His richness of mercy He was merciful to you. God will never run out of ways to be merciful to you. 
Out of His riches, He will show us kindness for as long as we live and thereafter. 
He gives out of His richness, not our need.
God will never run out of resources to supply you joy and happiness in Heaven.
“seated us” 2:6 our hearts are in heaven/set on the heavenly. When converted, God made you homesick for Heaven. 
Jesus saved you to be free. In Christ is true freedom. 

2:1 and 2:5
dead and alive
2:2 and 2:6
following course of the world and raised up and seated w Him. 
2:3 and 2:(8), 10 

by nature children of wrath and created in Christ for good works. 

Ephesians 1:15-23

So for tonight’s study, we’ll be covering the first, of 3, prayers of Paul. 

1:15-16
So for what reason did Paul give thanks for the saints at Ephesus? 
He heard of their faith in Jesus and love to all saints. 

What do y’all think was the root of their love?
Their faith in Jesus, according to this verse. 

So their faith in Jesus caused these new(ish) converts to love all their kin. Why?
Because Jesus’ love overflowed out of them from Jesus once the saints understood all that God has done and is doing for them as Paul just set forth in our last study. From that understanding of Christ’s richness, the love of Christ overflowed to the rest of the saints. The gift of faith also gave them the gift of love. So we first love God then man. 

So help me apply this verse. what are some particle ways we can love each other (given that we’re all now saints)?

Notice the pattern set forth in this chapter also. Paul unloads an incredible treasury of theology on these saints and then begins to do what?
Pray for them. 

Talk to me for a minute about the Pharisees, who are they? What do y’all know about them?

Why were they so critical, so against Christ?
Because in their religious zealotry, in their quest for more theology, they forgot God. 
To anyone that says, “doctrine/theology doesn’t matter” point them to this chapter. Last week we barely scared the surface of what Paul said; continue to read, re-read and dig into every word of this chapter and watch as your heart grows in size for God. In the text/chapter/story always has a point and that point is always to point us back to God that is ultimately the point of any part of the bible. Let us indeed gain as much theology and doctrine as we can but let us not forgot to whom these things tell us to look toward and continue to cultivate faith and love. 

Ok, so, let us continue the idea of loving each other. 
What are some, general, things that each of us can be praying for the Cult? 

“give thanks” 
How do we become grateful? Or thankful for each other?
Recognize that these fellow saints are from God and are to be treated as such. 

1:17-19
1:17
Over the past year in particular, I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon in regards to prayer requests and maybe y’all notice this too; that we don’t pray like Paul did. Let\’s look at what Paul prays for his fellow saints.

There are 4 things Paul prays for. What are they?
  1. Give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowledge of Him/eyes of heart enlightened 
  2. that you may know the hope He called us to
  3. what are the riches of His glorious inheritance 
  4. what is the power to us who believe according to His rich and great might. 

When was the last time y’all heard these things as a prayer request?

Why do you think we don’t ask these things as prayer requests (usually)?  

Let\’s go through these one at a time. 
“the Father of glory may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in knowledge of Him” 
First off, how many of you have your bibles say “Spirit” in them rather than “spirit”?

This is a hard text. Because Paul, I think, clearly uses the Greek word for Holy Spirit and not man’s spirit or soul. The problem is that he is writing to believers who, presumably, have been baptized and have the Spirit. So why would Paul pray for the Spirit when they have it? 
My answer to this is that Paul prays for a great outpouring, a greater manifestation/revealing of the Holy Spirit in their lives that will give them the wisdom and revelation so that they know God. 

And I think Paul is saying the same thing again in 1:18.
What do y’all think Paul means by “the eyes of your hearts” and, whatever that is, being “enlightened”?
“eyes of the heart” that is that their ability to see, or to know something. 
“enlightened” Literally ‘given light’ 
So Paul prays that they be able to see and then know the hope to which they’re called. 

What is that hope?
I think that hope is, as Paul will put forth, the hope that God will one day, through His great might, bring all of creation back to Himself where all things are back to the way they were in Genesis 2, where we walked, literally with God and enjoyed Him and His gifts to us.

Or perhaps, hope of eternal life. Hope of the universe being submitted to God and His kingdom like in Genesis 2. 

What’s the “riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints”?
I think it may be the saints themselves in their praising Him. His glorious inheritance is us, saints, and our praising of His glorious grace that He’s shown us. 

1:19-23
1:19
“immeasurable greatness of His power toward [us]”
How is this power manifested to us here and now?
By raising us from “deadness in the trespasses and sins” (2:1) We’ll expound more on that next week. But briefly, Paul introduces that resurrection power” idea in 1:20.
so the power that is at work in you, believer, is 
The same power He worked in Jesus when raising Him
the same power that He worked when He seated Him
the same power that He worked when He exalted Him v 20
the same power that He worked when He put all things under His feet
the same power that He worked when He made His Church the body of Him who fills all in all. 

Those are the 5 ways to measure the greatness of His power. 
The same power He worked in Jesus when raising Him. God raised Jesus from the dead never to die again. Death is defeated; that\’s the point there. Therefore, this thing that was once a poison is now a pathway to life eternal; you will not be outta fellowship with Jesus EVER. 

The resurrection of Jesus, from the dead and what became of Him afterward, shows the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward those who believe. 

Why would God offer such power to us? 
To live a holy life. To be delivered from sin. To honor Him by His power through us. If you enjoy any deliverance from the power of the devil then you have this power within your life right now. You survive your battles because God is making you survive. He preserves us in our sleep surely He shall preserve us in battle. 

1:20-23
1:20
Paul will be expounding more on the resurrection in chapter 2. But for now let me ask this: 
What\’s it mean that God, by His might, seated Him at His right hand? 
Jesus is God’s, right-hand man. IE He holds the same power and position His father does. He helps Him rule the universe. 

the measure of His power to you now in this age is the same power that put the Devil under His feet. 

the same power that He worked when He made His Church the body of Him who fills all in all.  22
“all things” all of them; even today. Demons, destruction, history, sports, military might, religions, galaxies, atoms and sub atoms and 10,000 things man knows nothing about to Jesus. and He is given such an authority over the Church. That\’s the same thing he said in 1:19 He doesn’t give this same power to all but to those who believe.

Application: you have an enemy, a real enemy that hates you and your faith, your worship, family and family worship, relationships and ministry. If you want to know the power of 1:19 then wake up to the demonic battle that wages for your life and ministry. Sin is defeated at the cross and we war against it till last day. May God grant us the power that is available. By His blood, we will win, in the name of Jesus and the glory of His power. 

1:22-23
What\’s it mean that the Church is the body of Christ?
We are His representatives on Earth, we have a union/relationship with Him. 

1:23
I had a lot of trouble with this verse, what do y’all think this may mean? 
Maybe, Christ fills all of us, the Church with all of Him-His mercy, love, holiness, compassion, joy… 

Ephesians 1:1-14

This text tonight, and all of the ones following, are weighty and I pray that we believers get much out of it to see how much Christ loves us and how much God has in store for us. 
To the heathen, this is but a tiny peek into what you’re missing out on, and an open invitation for you to join us in this great mystery revealed and treasure received. 

So we just went over the “what” of Christ did for us in John. Now Paul is about to explain the “what” thereof, the “why” and the “how”, 

Let me get an idea of where y’all are at right now: 
How many of y’all have read Ephesians and what did you get out of it then?

So, basically, this letter can be divided into 2 halves; the first being Paul explaining the mechanics of the Gospel-that is what is it and how and why do we care; the second half being Paul showing us how to live what all that has just been taught. 

A couple to key things to look out for as we go through this letter: 
  1. The phrase “in him/Christ”
  2. This is the only letter where Paul doesn’t have a rebuke for its readers (Which is interesting given Revelation 2)
  3. The unity and edification of the Church. Particularly between Jews and Gentiles. 

So let’s dive into Paul’s background a bit and then some of Fairmount’s theology and the gospel. 

1:1-2
1:1 
What do y’all know about Paul?
A former Christian-Killing Jew turned apostle of Christ by the will of decree of God. You can read more on him in Acts 7-9. 

What\’s it mean to be “an apostle of Jesus Christ”?/Why does he bother mentioning it?
Early in his conversion, the church debated whether or not to let Paul enter a local church body, let alone let him service or lead. But once the other disciples/apostles saw that Paul denounced/repented of his former ways and saw the fruit of his new life in Christ and began preaching the gospel, even to the point where the Romans threw him in prison-like when he penned this letter, they became convinced. Here, Paul mentions it as a reminder to the church at Ephesus of his own credentials. Moreover, I would argue, that verse 1 and 2 are a kind of thesis that Paul is putting forth for his letter.  

What’s “by the will of God” mean here?
Here, as Paul is giving his credentials, he also reminds them that he was called by God. Him-Paul-“the least of sinners” (3:8), a Christ-hating Jew was saved by God. I believe he puts this here as a reminder that God willed the worst of sinners to salvation; IE NO ONE is beyond Him. As Spurgeon, my dead mentor put it, “As long as there is breathe in the sinner’s lungs there is still hope for them.”

Do y’all ever get discouraged in outreach ever to your friends or family? 
If so, I think Paul here means to encourage us to never lose heart/hope and continue in the work of evangelism/sharing and defending the faith because it\’s not by your will but God’s will. God will fill His Church undoubtedly because it was planned to be filled “before the foundation of the world”. Thus, we should not only pray for souls to be saved but for God to make us worthy of such a glorious use in His kingdom. 

Who’s Paul writing to?
“the saints who are in Ephesus”
Ephesus is within Asia Minor. 

What’s it mean to be a saint?
Literally, “holy ones”.
The Saints are saints by the will of God and therefore are faithful. They weren’t faithful and then made saints; sainthood comes first, that is our holiness comes first and then our faithfulness.

Given that definition of “saint”, what’s it mean to be holy?
“Holiness if first of all a positional category (IE how God views us). When God’s word regards something as holy, it means primarily that the something in question has been set apart for special use by the Lord. We’re set apart as holy in opposition to the unholy world, and then by the Spirit, we become purer and purer in practice. We become in action what we are in position- holy, set apart for God.”- (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/gods-holy-people/)

God has declared us holy in His Son (we are “saints”) and now He is making us holy so that one day we might be without spot or wrinkle (5:25-27). Those that are called by the Spirit seek to live up to the high calling of holiness. 

So all that said, what makes us holy? 
Not our works. Living in a holy manner as a corporate body isn’t what makes us holy in God’s eyes, although it confirms our confession of Christ to the world. The Church is holy because it is in Christ and through faith and repentance we seek to be in practice what God says we are positionally in His Son. 

Or to put it another simpler way, Christ is holy, Christ is in us, therefore, God sees His Son in us and not ourselves. Therefore, holiness is a positional category in regards to our standing with God. 

Let\’s break down the mechanics of that a bit more.
Have y’all ever heard of a theological phrase “double imputation”?
Double imputation is what happens when we accept Christ for who He is as Lord over us and Savior from our sin. 
Imputation is essentially a transference. It is the transfer of our sin to Christ and Christ’s righteousness/holiness to us. (As a brief aside, The virgin birth is important, in part, because original sin/the sin and guilt of our first father was passed down to us from him through our lineage; but Christ wasn’t born from the line of Adam but from God; therefore original sin “skipped” over Christ and thus His had His divine nature with Him since birth.)
This is simply the phrase we theologians (if you will) use to describe what happens when we accept Christ. And that’s where Paul is coming from here. 

1:2
“Grace” what is it?
Un-earned/unmerited favor 

“Peace” What’s that?
Peace, rest of hostility, between us Saints and God. 

Paul always says, “grace and peace” in that order in the opening of, most, of his letters. Why do y’all think that might be?

Because the unearned favor of God must be given first to a sinner in the form of the gift of salvation through Jesus before the sinner can stop his war against God in his sin and have peace/rest with Him. 

This is ultimately the banner under which the Church is knitted together, the grace and peace of God the Father through Jesus. Thus, in just the first 2 verses, I think Paul gives us his thesis for the whole book where he’ll talk about the will of God, the unity of the Church, and our relationship with Christ. 


1:3-14
What do y’all see here/what do y’all get out of that?
What’s worth noting in this passage is that Paul includes no punctuation in the original writing but merely explodes in worship and awe of God and all He’s done for us. All punctuation was later added to aid in the study of this portion.
Moreover, Paul sets forth the plan of salvation in terms of the past, election 1:3-6, the present, redemption, 1:6-11, and the future, inheritance 1:7-12, 13-16. As well as the triune nature of our salvation, The Father adopts us 1:3-6, the Son Redeems us 1:7-12, the Holy Spirit seals us 1:13-14.  

1:3
Why does Paul “bless” God here? 
Because God blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.

What’s it mean to “bless” God?
To speak well or to praise Him.
“blessed” God looking to us and speaking goodness into and then of us. 

How do we get these “spiritual blessings”? 
We have them “in Christ” so we get them in relation, or in union, to Christ. We already have these blessings by our relationship with Christ. 

Now, what are these “spiritual blessings” 
“every spiritual blessing” IE all Spiritual blessing that God has to give is now your’s. In His grace, God has already given believers total blessing. “Spiritual” does not refer to immaterial blessings as opposed to material ones, but rather to the work of God, who is the divine and spiritual source of all blessings. 

“in the heavenly places” literally, “in the heavenlies” Referring to God’s total domain from which all His blessings come. 

“In Christ” God’s over-abundant blessings belong only to believers who are His children, by faith in Christ, so that what He has is their’s- including His righteousness, resources, privilege, position, and power. 

Do y’all often feel this truth? Do y’all feel this overabundance of blessing from God? 
I don’t, not often anyhow. 
Why do y’all think we don’t often feel this? 
Probably because of our self-reliance. 
In our fight against our sin, it\’s not our strength we rely on; its God’s. And we have access to all of it by all of grace. The same Christ that saved/redeemed you is the same that will sanctify you; you relied on Him for your salvation now you must increase this reliance on Him for delivery of the besieging sins in our lives. Experience this reality to know this reality/truth.

1:4-6
1:4
What\’s it mean when Paul says, “before the foundation of the world”?
Before before. Before the world was created we, Saints, were chosen by God out of love to be with Him as holy and blameless. 

Why do y’all think Paul mentions this?
To emphasize God’s grace in salvation. Grace unmerited favor. He planned to grace us with grace before. He writes this to show us how gracious God is toward us. 

(God gives us every spiritual blessing to us in Christ. Even tho we don’t deserve them; this is part of what “before the foundation of the world” means. You don’t have these blessings because you’re so special but because of Christ and your union with Him. You possess every blessing that Christ has all this planned before the creation of the universe.) 

Now, given this, what’s it means when Paul says, “in Christ”?
For our purposes, we have our blessings in Christ because of what He did for us, 1:4

“holy and blameless” Holy the positive and blameless negative  IE, “My people are chosen so that they will have 0 defects someday/one day and full of love/beauty; the positive and the negative.”
“holy” set apart. The angels cry Holy x3 in Revelation. Therefore God is holy and we’re called to share in that same preciousness/set aside-ness of God. We are to be a set-aside/removed from sin as He is. 

What’s it mean when Paul says, “before Him”?
He is our father and He wants to be near us. As Paul is about to get more into with the end of 1:4/start of 1:5.

“in love”
In the original, Paul has no grammar through 1:14. So here, is why this verse break is so odd to us. The KJV says, “be holy and blameless before him in love.” but most of the bible now says, “be holy and blameless before him.” and then put love and predestination together. 
But are theologically and biblical sound. 
Love, in its perfection, is holy and blameless. So “in love could go to 1:4 perfectly. Or out of His abundant love, He predestined us. Both are true either way it works. 

So, given this, why are you saved? Why are you a Christian?
According to this verse, because of God’s love in your life, you are saved. He saved you out of His love for you. (not your’s for Him). 

1:5
“he predestined us for adoption…” this helps us to get to the point/meaning/intention of what being “chosen” (1:4) 
We were chosen for adoption. 
Now we’re going to talk about this “predestination” doctrine and then this “adoption” doctrine. 
What\’s the word “predestined” mean?
According to Fairmount theology, predestination is conditional. Which states that election is conditional on the one who wills to have faith in God for salvation. Although God knows from the beginning of the world who will go where the choice is still with the individual. IE God looked down the corridor of time and saw that you in your own will would come to Him for salvation and He then chose to elect you for salvation based on your actions. 
Bottom line: Salvation is available to all by God’s grace and God wants to bring you to Himself to love and enjoy Him forever. 

(So, Election just says, “you’re mine, I chose you for my own” and predestination just says, “you’re destiny is this: sonship.”
Thus, the destiny of those whom God freely chooses/elects is adoption/sonship. For more on adoption go to Romans 8:14-17.)

So how are we adopted?
We are adopted through the atonement (1 Peter 3:18) and faith (John 1:11-13). 

So what’s that mean to be adopted? To be a child of God?
Again Paul emphasizes God’s grace is not only saving us from our sin and damnation but also making us His own possession and making us apart of His family. 

This adoption is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David when God says, “I will be his father and he shall be my some…” (2 Samuel 7:14)
There are 2 aspects to this adoption: 1) God as Father 2) We, His children
Spurgeon preaches on these verses and asks what it means when God says, “I will be his father” 
He answers:
  1. Love of the highest order, eternal, irreversible. 
  2. Provision for every present and future want IE cleansing, clothing, healing, food, drink, presence.
  3. Protection: From our numerous enemies. This God’s children always need because they always are children.
  4. Instruction: We are all by nature ignorant (Ch 3) Our Father will teach us by His Spirit.
  5. Correction: Sin needs to be whipped out of us. God’s people shall have it according to His wisdom.
  6. An Inheritance is provided.
And on the “he shall be my son” Spurgeon continues:
“There are certain tempers which are necessary make of Sonship:
  1. Love. Absolutely necessary. All other marks vain.
  2. Obedience. A holy life cannon be dispensed with. God will make His children obey Him.
  3. Trust. Faith in His promises of protection. 
  4. Teachableness. Sitting at His feet to learn of Him.
  5. Submission to His correction. Children have this.
  6. Preparation for glory, the business of our lives. 

1:6
So what’s the point of all that Paul put forth here?
The praise of His glorious grace. All that God does is our praising of His glory and that glory reaches its’ apex in grace. His grace causes in us His praise for Him. All His grace comes to an apex in His grace toward unworthy, rebellious, hateful sinners. No one is worthy of this but He did it anyway; that’s what makes it praiseworthy. 

What makes His grace glorious?
The fact that we had nothing to do with it. And that grace redeemed us and turned us into children of God. 

What makes it praise-worthy? Why do we sing to God?
Because God saved us when He didn’t have to. He is our Father, kind and long-suffering to us. Our praise is a “thank you” to Him. 

(1:5-6
“to the praise of his glorious grace” God delights to draw His elect to Himself to magnify His glory and His grace.

“the purpose of his will” rather than just ‘his will’. Piper thinks that this phrase that Paul wrote inclines the freedom God has in doing His will. Or perhaps the pleasure He has in doing it/carrying it out. God runs the world the way He wants to run the world, and this is good news because He is good. Predestination means that you will spend eternity praising the beauty/glory of His grace in your life. And praise is the happy overflow of thanksgiving and adoration.)

(what is the end goal of predestination? God did it this way so that we might live for the praise of the glory of His grace. All that God does is our praising of His glory and that glory reaches its apex in grace.
All His grace comes to an apex in His grace toward sinners.
Election is all our grace; no one deserves election, therefore, electing grace is praiseworthy.
God didn’t foresee our lives and on the basis of our lives/merit chose us. He chose us not on anything we did. 
Eph 4:29 God in His sovereignty is/can be grieved if you do what is contrary to His will/command. So is God just and is man responsible?
He can be grieved. Therefore we have moral agency. 
Election/PreD do not turn us into puppets; our moral agency has significance.
Our disobedience is by our nature AND nevertheless deserve God’s just wrath. That\’s the paradox we live with. Enjoy the madness because it is truth. God is absolutely sovereign. and you are still completely responsible/accountable. Get your convictions from the bible, not your assumptions. 
“but God can’t be totally sovereign and hold me totally responsible” where did you get that from the bible? that\’s not in the bible at all. God is just in giving wrath because we are by nature rebellious against Him. All this is in Chapter 1.) 

1:7-10
1:7
all of 1:3-14 in the original greek is one sentence; Paul writes and explodes with worship of this great redemption. 

Now, I need to ask a question of y’all that will determine the rest of the study of Ephesians: was the cross plan B of God? 
(It was clearly Plan A. But be gracious to them regardless.)
(All that preD stuff doesn’t happen without Jesus\’ blood/death.  Given that our predestination happened before foundation we, therefore, say that Jesus\’ death was pre-planned as well. As well as everything leading up to the death of Jesus including the fall. 
Including the killing of Jesus which means killers were pre-planned also. God wasn’t shocked in the day of Gen 3. 
“to the riches of His grace” His love is costly but it comes from grace, therefore, all of this is of and from grace for God’s eternal praise. We have all this grace in Him and we are therefore never poor in Christ.)

How do we have redemption through His blood?
His blood paid for our sin against God. 

It’s interesting the order that Paul writes all this, read it in reverse:
You don’t know the riches of His grace without the forgiveness of trespasses/sins and you don’t have the forgiveness without the blood and you don’t have the blood without Christ and you don’t have Christ without God’s love. 
I say all this to emphasize God’s love in His forgiveness toward us. The price of our salvation was death. The cost of our salvation is honoring and cherishing that death. 

1:8
Who’s wisdom and insight do y’all think Paul talks about here?
God’s. He writes of how God in wisdom poured out in abundance His grace. 

1:9
Why does Paul describe God’s will as a “mystery”?
Not so much that we don’t know it; but more so something was was unknown, mysterious, that has been made known. 

“set forth in Christ”. Tell me, why would God set up the redemptive plan in such a way as He did?
In short, His glory. 

Does having Christ die for His enemies seem like a very wise and insightful plan?
Not really. 
Why?
Because it was the only way for salvation. Often you’ll hear the atheist say “what kind of God would send His Son to die for sinners”? the answer is, according to Paul here, a wise and loving and insightful God. 
The gospel is the supreme expression of the grace of God and the grace of God is the supreme expression of the glory of God. 

Let me ask this question of y’all, who are you? 
Christ is in you Christian and you in Him. This is your chief identity. You were made on purpose with a purpose by GOD. You were made for and by the glory of God. That’s why you exist; no other answer justifies existence let alone the pain thereof. 
1:10
What do y’all think this means?
God has a plan and executes, and is executing, the plan to unite all things back to Him. IE to bring all that is in total submission to Himself and His will.  
All of “all things” are mine because of my heir-ness with Christ; therefore I can live a simple godly life without the stuff.

1:11
Let’s stay in this verse a minute or two where I gotta pick you brains for a bit. 
In yalls opinion what are some of the main problems facing the church today?
What is the goal/mission of your life? IE where do you want to be in 20 years?
Do you want to have a lot of stuff? A lot of money? Why?

In the 20th century, off the heels of a lot of revivals, there was an attempt to reconcile the “Christian culture” with the reality that a lot of the fruits of those revivals didn’t seem to last for too long. The idea of a “carnal/fleshy Christian” came about. That is, “Christians” that claimed to be saved but there was little marked change in their lives. I mention this because while it is not a doctrine that widely held in speech it is still predominant in practice. IE, “cultural Christians” are still running amok in society and church at large. I fear today’s Christians are far too influenced by the world in many different ways. One, of many, of them being that we have no desire to change those around us and wish to remain “safe” from the culture at large. We wish to have Christ in one hand and the world in the other. Here, Paul speaks about our inheritance.

What do y’all think that “inheritance” is?
God Himself and His rich provisions for us in this life that we might endure. God desires you feel/know your security in Him. Our security in God for our salvation and sanctification. 

Beloved, do you feel this, do you know this truth in your heart? That no matter what sin may besiege you, what trail may test you, what hardship you might endure you are safe in God’s sovereign hand. 
This is but a tiny taste of the sweetness of the doctrine of predestination-that is our security in God and God alone. 

I mention this and the “carnal Christian” doctrine with the intent of showing the contrast between what we think is security and what Paul teaches us is true security. Our lives are not to be secure in our big house, our family or friends, our popularity, our entertainment or riches, health or looks but in and from God. 

With all that said, how do we rest secure in God for our salvation?
None of this relies on us but God and His predetermined plan for us. This plan was determined before before. It will by His power come about. And He invites all of us to be apart of that plan to praise Him forever. Only the fool rejects such a part to play in this loving plan of glory and praise to and from God. 

I say that last part as an open and standing invitation to Alaina and Ed. Make no mistake we all love having y’all with us here, no doubt and we hope you continue to come. But we all desire to have y’all join us spiritually in this study as well. Here, I only echo what Paul, and John for that matter, invite you into that is the eternal glorious riches, these spiritual blessings, of Jesus Christ. Come as you, and indeed taste and see that the Lord is good; to know these glorious riches in knowing Christ.

For the past several weeks now y’all have heard much about Christ from the scriptures. Now, answer me this question: do you wish to personally know the Christ in any way? Yes or No?
Why?

If yes, then after the study we’ll talk more about what it means and what the cost of personally knowing Christ is and then we’ll go from there and get you baptized asap. 

If no, then we’ll counties to love you and pray all the more for you that the eyes of your heart be enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power. As stated before, it\’s open and standing; acceptable at any time, but don’t think you can delay long; for no one is promised tomorrow. 

(All of “all things” are mine because of my heir-ness with Christ; therefore I can live a simple godly life without stuff.
\”God Threatens Our Security in Everything but God 
But it would be a terrible misunderstanding if we thought that these Scriptures were written to threaten our security in God. Exactly the opposite is the case. They are written to threaten our security in everything but God. If you find your security in health, the Bible is a threat to you. If you find your security in your family or job or money or education, the Bible is a threat to you. And in threatening all these utterly inadequate foundations of security, the Bible drives us relentlessly and lovingly back to the one and only eternal and unshakable foundation for security—God. All the threats and warnings of the Bible declare with one voice: sin is an effort to feel secure in anything other than God.)
Therefore, when God demands on the one hand, \”Turn from sinning or you will die,\” and on the other hand, \”Feel eternally secure in my love and you will live,\” he is not demanding two different things. Sin is what you do when you replace security in God with other things. So when God threatens our feelings of security in the world, it\’s because he wants us to feel secure in his love and power. The threats and promises of Scripture have one message: seek your security in God alone.” (https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/sealed-by-the-spirit-to-the-day-of-redemption).

1:12 Who are these ones “first to hope in Christ”? The Jews.

What is hope and what\’s it mean to hope in Christ?
Hope is faith, trust in God, in the future tense. Thus, I think to hope in Christ is to say that we have faith that in the future Christ will indeed “unite all things in Him” or maybe a future hope for salvation/place in Heaven through Christ. 

1:13-14
God works in your doubts. He works via sealing you with His Holy Spirit.
You will not wake up tomorrow and be a believer because of you but because God sealed you. 
And that Holy Spirit is purposed to glorify Jesus and tomorrow morning you will wake up and Jesus will be strong enough to hold you. You’re not leaving; because you’re His. 

So God does everything/all things to the praise of His glory. Is that a problem for you? 

What Does “Sealed\” Mean?
Sealed, like a king or lord would seal a letter of orders being sent to his troops. The seal was a sign that only the king had access to and therefore, whenever the orders arrived the troop knew who it was from, security, it authority/power, and its legitimacy.
In a likewise manner God shows us to whom we belong, our authority, and our legitimacy by having His own Spirit indwell the believer and secures their eternal salvation. The Holy Spirit is given by God as His pledge of the believer’s future inheritance in glory. It is a message of safety and security in God\’s love and power. God sends the Holy Spirit as a preserving seal to lock in our faith, as an authenticating seal to validate our sonship, and as a protecting seal to keep out destructive forces. The point is that God wants us to feel secure and safe in his love and power
(There are two great words here that aim to help us feel secure in God\’s love and power: the word \”sealed,\” and the word \”guarantee.\” Let\’s see if we can unseal this word \”sealed\” and look inside. What does it mean that believers have been sealed by the Holy Spirit (v. 13)? The word is used at least three different ways in the New Testament.
  1. In Matthew 27:66, the tomb of Jesus was secured by sealing it and putting guards around it. In Revelation 20:3 God throws Satan into a pit and seals it over so he can\’t escape. So one meaning is locking something up, closing it in.
  2. Another is found in Romans 4:11 where Abraham\’s circumcision is called the sign and seal of the righteousness he had by faith. And in 1 Corinthians 9:2 Paul says that his converts are the seal of his apostleship. So the second meaning of sealing is giving a sign of authenticity.
  3. A third meaning is found in Revelation 7:3 where the seal of God is put on the forehead of God\’s servants to protect them from the wrath coming upon the world.
So what did Paul mean in Ephesians 1:13 when he said that believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit? No matter which of these meanings you use the basic truth is the same.
  1. If the Spirit seals shut, the point must be that he seals in faith and seals out unbelief and apostasy.
  2. If the Spirit seals us as a sign of authenticity, then he is that sign and it is the Spirit\’s work in our life which is God\’s trademark. Our eternal sonship is real and authentic if we have the Spirit. He is the sign of divine reality in our lives.
  3. Or if the Spirit marks us with God’s seal, he protects us from evil forces which won\’t dare to enter a person bearing the mark of God\’s own possession.
However, you come at this message contained in this word) 

Therefore God’s message to us in this is: So then, what is God saying to us when he gives us his Holy Spirit and calls him a guarantee or a down-payment? He is saying, \”My great desire for those who believe in me is that you feel secure in my love. I have chosen you before the foundation of the world. I have predestined you to be my children forever. I have redeemed you by the blood of my Son. And I have put my Spirit in you as a seal and a guarantee. Therefore, you will receive the inheritance and praise the glory of my grace forever and ever. And I tell you this here in Ephesians chapter 1 because I want you to feel secure in my love and my power. I don\’t promise you an easy life. In fact, through many tribulations, you must enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22). I don’t promise always to speak in soft tones of approval, but to warn you in love whenever you begin to seek security in anything but me.” God’s desire for us is stronger than our’s for Him even on our best days. Therefore, He will not lose any of us. 

Romans 1

Highs and Lows
Prayer 
First a quick intro to the book and the author:
Author: 
    Paul a man of a Biblical mind (given his many quotations of the OT in this letter), a Resolute will (given his determination to preach the Gospel), and a loving heart (given his desire to see the Romans grow in their faith).

The book: 
    This is one of the most, if not the most, dense books of the bible but also one of the most binding books of the bible where Paul explains the problem between man and God and how God solved our problem for us. If Matthew is the bridge between the OT and NT then Romans is the highway between OT and NT. 
    Paul, at the time of this writing, didn’t know anyone from the Roman church but wrote to them out of His love for His fellow kinsman in the faith; the Romans in the middle of Roman’s idolatrous culture seem to have been far too influenced by it and     Paul writes to correct this error. 
    Paul’s key concern in writing this letter is to set forth the righteousness of God in the gospel (1:16, 17). It is a righteousness that we lack (1:18-3:20), but it is a righteousness that God is pleased to accomplish and to give in Christ (3:21-26). This righteousness of God accomplishes the singular need of humanity, to move from being under the wrath of God to have peace with God. Only justification by faith alone in Christ alone accomplishes this.

General questions: 
How many of y’all have read Romans? 

If so, what did y’all get out of it? 

If you haven’t read Romans before then I’d definitely recommend reading through it asap; so that you might get a better understanding of Romans and therefore get more out of this study and be more prepared to participate in the discussion. 
1:1-7
  • 1:1-2
What does Paul mean when he says, “the gospel of God”? (1:1) IE is he saying the Gospel is from God or its content concerning God?
    It seems to be both really. The gospel is the message of the good news of salvation in Jesus; it is the message of God IE God is both the source and theme of the gospel. 

“which He promised before through His prophets…”(1:2)  Can y’all think of a couple different places in the OT where God promised the gospel/the Christ?
    Genesis 3 where God promises to crush the serpent through the messiah
    Exodus where God promised that one greater than Moses will come to lead the Israelites out of bondage. 
    2 Samuel 7 where God promises David that David’s lineage will continue on to the messiah and that He would rule     forever; as Paul shows us in 1:3
    Etc. 

  • 1:3-5
“concerning His Son” (1:3) while the Gospel includes many great doctrines of the faith its’ chief concern is the Son of God. 

    Here we have a description of the 2 stages of the Savior’s ministry, that is His humiliation and exaltation/His humanity and His deity. Although He is the Son of God He was born as a “descendant of David” (1:3) in order to share our weakness, but was transformed by the “Spirit of holiness” (1:4) at the resurrection and brought into a new age of His personal human existence. 

  • 1:5-7
How do we be “obedient to the faith”(1:5)? IE How do we practice obedience/become obedient to God?
    By continually and increasingly rejecting sin in all of our lives and continually, and increasingly, seeking/pursuing God. 

Speaking of seeking God, how are y’all’s private devotions going? What are y’all reading and what is God showing you in the reading? [Chris this is a vital question. Take your time with it. I would like it if everyone answered this question. Encourage, rebuke, further question the fellow believers here as you see fit. Please note: you may ask Alaina if/what she’s reading or what she and Sara have been discussing recently; however she is an outsider and isn’t directly addressed in this question, therefore, you don’t have to get an answer out of her if you chose not to. Your call either way.] 

    “in Rome” (1:7) as stated and as we’re about to see, Paul had never been to Rome. It seems that the Church in Rome was not planted by any of the apostles but was probably born out of one, or more, of the listeners of Peter’s sermon in Acts 2. While Paul wanted to be with His brothers in Roman to minister to them he was hindered and therefore chose to reach them via this letter. 
1:8-15
  • 1:8-10
“your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.” (1:8) What did Paul mean when he said the “whole world”?
    Paul spoke of the whole Roman empire/the whole Mediterranean region; not literally the whole globe. 

“I thank my God…for you” (1:8) Paul was grateful for his brothers that he had never even met. He was grateful for them; not envious of them. 
Do y’all struggle with envy in any way? And what are some ways to combat envy?
    Clearly, gratitude is the key to combatting envy. When we think of being thankful we usually think of gratitude in reaction to things IE The waiter brings me food and I am grateful as a reaction to the food. 
    Perhaps one of the biggest keys to gratitude is to not only react to the gift given (in this case the church in Rome given to us by God) but also the motivate of the giver. Per example: God is love (1 John 4) therefore God always acts out of love. So when Chris gets a job in ministry and I don’t; I can still be grateful to God for Chris because I know in my head and heart that God is still acting out of His love toward me; even though it may not seem that way at the moment. 
    Thus, we chiefly consider the motive of God (His love toward us) when we combat envy and cultivate a spirit/attitude of gratitude.
1:11-15
  • 1:11
“…that I may impart to you some spiritual gift…” 
What was this spiritual gift that Paul is talking about?
    1:12 “that I may be encouraged together with you by mutual faith” It doesn’t seem that Paul is using the phrase “spiritual gifts” as he is in 1 Corinthians 12, where he talks about gifts from the Holy Spirit. But rather a gift of mutual and spiritual grace between Paul and the Roman church. 

  • 1:13
    Based off of this verse it would seem that the Roman church was composed of mostly Gentiles and the Jews were a minority. Given that Paul goes so in-depth with the Jews and their relation to God later in Romans it seems that there was some sort of conflict between the 2 parties. 

  • 1:14-15
What do y’all know about the Greeks and the Barbarians? 
    The Greeks could refer to literal citizens of Greece but here it seems to reference anyone who embraced Greek language or education. They were the elite of Paul’s day due to their interest and understanding in Greek philosophy; because of this, they were considered “wise”. 
    The Barbarians was a term coined by the Greeks to describe anyone non-greek. Because of the Greeks, someone who spoke in another language sounded like “bar-bar-bar”/unintelligible chatter. The Barbarians were the “un-wise” of the world. 
    Paul’s main point here, given his obligation to God to minister to Jew and Gentile, is that God is no respecter of persons; IE the gospel must reach both the wise and unwise of the world/its elites and outcasts. Moreover, given that Paul was “eager” to preach the Gospel to the saints we are also reminded of our need of the Gospel as well.
1:16-17
  • 1:16
And here we have the thesis for the entire book of Romans-the gospel of Jesus Christ which Paul will expound and explain in the following chapter. 
So talk to me about the Gospel. 
If someone came up to you, believer of Christ, and asked “what is the Gospel?” what would be your response? [Chris; It is preferred that every Christian present to give an answer to this question; particularly those that don’t often say much during the study]. 

    The Gospel, according to Paul, is “the power of God to save those who believe” (1:16). 

Given this, for what reason would you be ashamed of the Gospel?
    It’s foolish to the world, you would lose friends and family, employment, it could cost you imprisonment or death. 

Have you ever been ashamed of the Gospel? Have you ever not shared the Gospel because you were afraid of what might happen to you or what you might lose as a consequence of proclaiming the gospel? If so, how do you combat that shame?

So how do we become unashamed/bold in our sharing/proclaiming of the Gospel?
    Someone, somewhere at some time, was bold enough and loving enough to proclaim the Gospel to us. Let us not be so un-loving toward our neighbor as to rob them of the telling of the glorious Gospel. We become bold by our zealous love of God and man and burning desire to see God work/save sinners around us. Our confidence in the Gospel is God. It is God’s Gospel; not ours. It is He who raises us from our sin; when we proclaim the Gospel it is merely Him using/speaking through us. 

“…to salvation for everyone who believes” So according to 1:16 who does this Gospel save?
    Those who believe. Universalism be damned. It is the power of God throughout the whole Gospel that saves us. 

“for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (1:16)IE the Gospel first came to the Jews and then the Gentiles. 

  • 1:17
“the righteousness of God” (1:17) This is a curious term because depending on the context when used elsewhere, it could refer to the righteousness/justice of God OR the righteousness that is from God/given to us by God upon our belief in the Gospel. 
So, given this, I ask y’all how do you think Paul is using the phrase “righteousness of God” here?
    The righteousness that is given to us from God upon our belief in the Gospel. This is clearly the definition being used given the surrounding context where Paul speaks of our belief in the Gospel of salvation. 
    This phrase refers to the righteousness of Christ that is imputed/transferred to the one who believes. This imputation of righteousness to sinners who believe is fully consistent with the personal righteousness of God. As a just and righteous judge, God on the merit of the obedience and death of His Son alone justifies/declares righteous, sinners throughout true faith in Christ and not through anything that they have done. 

“from faith to faith” (1:17) 
    IE the righteousness of justification is received exclusively through faith; the faith held by either Jew or Gentile, Greek or barbarian. It matters not who holds the faith but that they have the faith and therefore have the righteousness of God. 

“shall live by faith” (1:17) How are the righteous (us) to live by faith?
    The whole of the Christian life, from beginning to end, is lived in trust and dependence on God who graciously justifies the sinner. We live our whole life in reliance/trusting in God. 

    Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4, here, to provide and prove the biblical basis for all that follows; which is the way of justification by faith alone was already known in the OT. 
1:18-23
    This portion of the text, while difficult due to its’ content, is frankly one of the easier texts we’ve ever dealt with. 
    Let me explain, over the past decade many have begun to wake up and come to the faith through the evil of the modern world; as one man said, “the evil of the today’s world proves to us the existence of God”. It was easy in generations past to simply ignore the faith and its doctrine. 
    Our current generation is paying the cost of their denial of God. I need not illustrate the evil of the modern world here; you can simply step outside and see the upside-down world we live in and Paul describes in this section. While our chapter ends on a bleak note, I hope to render the text in such a way where we look to God and have hope. 

  • 1:18-19
“…the wrath of God is revealed” (1:18) In what way is God’s wrath (his judgment/anger against sin) made known/revealed to us today? Keep in mind the immediate context where Paul just spoke on the Gospel. 
    The most graphic revelation of God’s holy wrath against sin was when He poured out His wrath upon His Son on the cross. To anyone who thinks that the God of the OT and NT are, somehow, 2 separate Gods let them primarily look to Christ crucified, as well as our text here, and be silenced. Including Christ crucified there are 6 main ways God reveals His wrath
  1. Eternal wrath, which is Hell
  2. The wrath that is to come in the last days before the return of Christ
  3. Cataclysmic wrath IE the flood of Genesis
  4. Consequential wrath, IE reaping what one sows
  5. The wrath of abandonment, which is God removing all restraining grace from a sinners life and letting them go headlong into their sins. 
Christ crucified and the wrath of abandonment seem to be what Paul speaks of here. 

“against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (1:18)
Do y’all think that Paul speaks of 2 separate actions here or just one?
    I take the view that it is a singular action that Paul speaks of here. It would seem that theological rebellion/rebellion against God comes first then a moral rebellion

Talk to me about godliness for a minute, what exactly does it mean to live a godly life? 
    Paul opened with “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” (1:7) Broadly speaking, sainthood and godliness seem to be the same thing. It is a life spent with God; centered/focused on God/totally living for Him. Living outwardly, in our actions, and inwardly, in the desires of our heart. 

  • 1:19-23
“…for God has shown it to them.” (1:19) In what way has God revealed Himself to the world?
    As Paul writes, “For since the creation…” (1:20) Thus Paul uses what is referred to as the Teleological argument (AKA the intelligent design argument) as proof of God’s very existence. It is also my second favorite argument for God due to its simplicity. 
    This argument was also used by the Greek philosopher Socrates a few hundred years earlier. Given Rome’s proximity to Greece, it is unquestionable that the Romans were familiar with this argument, and were likely taught it in their schooling. 
    Thus, Paul states that God is clearly seen in creation. IE if there is creation then there must be a creator. 

“…so that they are without excuse” (1:20) Have y’all ever heard the phrase “true ignorance”?
[Let them answer]
    Basically, true ignorance is the name of the question/debate ‘what does God do with those who have never heard the gospel?’ It\’s a fine question to ask so we’ll discuss it here. 
What are y’all’s thoughts on this “true ignorance” debate?
[Let them discuss]

    Paul says that none are excused for denying Him. That is, God holds all men responsible for their refusal to acknowledge what He has shown them of Himself in His creation. 
    Even those who have never had an opportunity to hear the Gospel have received a clear witness about the existence and character of God-and have suppressed it. 
    If a person will respond to the revelation He has, even if it solely natural revelation (God revealed through creation), then God will provide some means for that person to hear the Gospel. 

“…although they knew God…” (1:21)
Once more Paul emphasizes man’s knowing/consciousness of God’s existence, power and divine nature through creation. 

If you could re-phrase 1:21 in the positive form what would you say?
    Mine would go something like; ‘although we know God, we, therefore, glorified Him and thanked Him and became hopeful/profitable in our thinking and our wise hearts were enlightened.’ 
    We are saved by grace through faith; it is grace that brought us to God and caused in us to will to glorify Him and hope in Him. 

But back to Paul directly: 

“futile” (1:21) is an interesting word to use. In what way is the unsaved sinner “futile”?
    The unsaved sinner is without hope or meaning apart from God. 
    Because I have already introduced y’all to one big brain argument for God I wish to introduce you to my personal favorite argument for God; that is the Ontological argument.
Have yall ever heard of it before? 
[Let them answer]
    The idea to it is this: If existence as a purpose then that purpose must come from a higher authority than myself. If there is no higher authority from which a purpose could come then there is no purpose to existence.
    I bring this up as a reminder to you Christian that existence is meaningful; particularly your existence is meaningful. As we’re about to see in a moment, you have the glory of God to behold all your days; when you are low in spirit look to Christ crucified and see His wounds and be healed by them; when you are high in spirit look to Christ crucified and see the Savior lifted up high not the cross for you and continue in your joy for you know that all is under your Father’s loving hand and therefore all, yourself included, have meaning and then your life is truly worth living. 

“Claiming to be wise…” (1:22) They thought so high and mighty of themselves but later “became fools” (1:22).

“…they exchanged the glory…” (1:23) What was the height of their foolishness according to 1:23?
    The exchange the higher glory for a lesser, lowly glory. 

For what reason does man turn from God to sin?
    Look at 1:24 “in the lusts of their hearts” Man turns to sin because there is sin in him; not because of a lack of education or poverty though these things could magnify his sin it is not the cause of it. He is the cause of his own sin and therefore the wrath of God upon Him is indeed just. 
1:24-32

  • 1:24-25
So in 24, we see the abandonment of God and in 25 the essence of that abandonment “…for a lie” 

Talk to me about this “lie”. What is this lie the heathen live?
    The lie that God doesn’t exist and that their ‘gods’ are somehow better than the One True God. It could easily be inferred that the “lie” also includes the deception that their life of sin-the dishonoring of their own body- is a life worth living/brings satisfaction to them. 
    Here is another reason as to why I keep hounding y’all to be in the word (besides the fact that its commanded by, you know, THE CHRIST. Anyhow) Your life, as a Christian, is meaningful but it is meaningful because it is a life of truth; the truth is the bread and butter of your life; literally your sustenance. 
    I submit to you that if you are not in the word (reading and studying and questioning etc) then you are not living out your own God-given nature of beautiful truth (for truth is beauty) and you therefore not only dishonor God but also yourself. 
    Here, I exhort you to be true to who you are and to whom you belong; IE your childhood of God and God *your* Father. All you are and all that you need is bound up within the word of God, therefore, I beg you “take up and read” and read with all your heart.

“…and worshiped and served the creature…” (1:25)
Talk to me about worship. How do we, Christians, worship?
    Simply put, We sacrifice/give all our ourselves and all we have to God in daily living.

Given this definition, does the heathen worship in a similar manner? And to what/who do they worship?
    I submit to you they worship, just like we do-self sacrificially- but not to God but mainly to themselves. Even if they should claim the demon Allah or 8-fold path or some creation as their god their worship is ultimately to themselves. Allow me to explain:
    You see this come up a lot in Conservative circles actually. It takes the form of the question [Chris feel free to do your best Shapiro impersonation here] 
    “How could these 3rd/4th wave feminists align themselves with Islam? I mean don’t they know that those 2 philosophies aren’t compatible?” 
    The answer to their question is simply: Legalism. 
    That is that they wish to puff themselves up with their own righteous deeds and then, therefore, think themselves good and worthy of salvation to hellish god. 
    IE their worship/sacrifice is ultimately to themselves and not to their god. 

One more point on theses verses before we continue; take notice of the sweetness of Paul’s words even as he speaks of the wrath of God “the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen”. (1:25) 

Help me figure this one out: In what way is God “blessed forever”? IE what does that mean?
[Chris take note that I ask this one genuinely because I\’m not 100% certain as to what Paul means here but I have done my best to answer my own question]
    “Blessed”, as we have covered in past studies, usually refers to man’s happiness/joy in relation to God. Given this, as well as the immediate context, I think what Paul might be saying here is that God Himself is happy in the past, present and future work is doing through His people. 

  • 1:26-27
Here, Paul will show us the content of His abandonment. 

“dishonorable passions” (1:26) What do you think Paul means here?
    Vile, degenerate passions. Chiefly homosexuality as we’ll see in the next verse. 

“for even their women” (1:26) Take note of this, Paul mentions women first to show the extent of degeneracy under the wrath of abandonment because in most cultures women are the last to be affected by the moral collapse. 

Before we continue in our discussion of degeneracy I want to take a minute and exhort the women of God that are present: 
[Chris be sure to make the time for this question. The Cult is rather harsh on our ladies most days. Let us not pass up the opportunity to encourage them when we can]
    In the role of society, and maintaining said society, women are the gatekeepers. 
    What I mean by that is this: however you chose to present yourself/conduct yourself will play a pivotal role in what kind of a husband you will acquire. 
    A godly woman, who lives and breathes the truth of God, will in time attract a man of likewise godly stature. 
    The inverse is also true: an unrighteous woman will attract a man of likewise unrighteous stature. 
    Whom you chose to marry and raise children with will determine the course of the society and therefore the course of the nation and therefore the course of history itself. 
    You determine the course of history in even the littlest of actions. 
    I don’t care how long you must wait or how tiresome said waiting might be; the wait for a godly man is worth it. 
    And I promise you that if you chose to not wait for a godly man you will regret it; you will have hardship within yourself with your faith; as well as your own house, if your husband is not a man of true religion and your children’s faith, will also suffer for it as well and your faith and your nation will suffer all the more great for it. 
    Wait for a man of God and your own faith, church and nation will be eternally grateful to you. 
    Women of God you are the key and (dare I say) hope for the future; with you, the nation and the church can stand or fall. Exercise extreme prejudice, discrimination and wisdom when seeking your husband. 
    Your nation, your church, and your God ask this of you.
    Should you need more wisdom on this matter review Ephesians 5:22-33 and see what great standard your husband is to love you and determine whether a heathen could ever reach such a standard. 

Now, on to our discussion of degeneracy.

  • 1:27 
Paul uses homosexuality as the chief example of God’s abandonment. Why do you think that is?
    It’s unnatural. 
    God created man and woman to enjoy each other in marriage in the beginning. 
    He has yet to reverse this intended design for us and never will. 
    Homosexuality takes what is natural, beautiful, and fruitful and subverts it into an unnatural, ugly, fruitless act of self-pleasure/worship that does not help either party involved nor the society at large.  

“the penalty for their error” (1:27) So what is the consequence for this sin?
Spiritual death, a life of seeking but never finding satisfaction or peace and ultimately Hell. 

  • 1:28-32
This brief passage could easily be titled “What is wrong with America?” A damning list for us today no doubt.  

“did not like to retain God in their knowledge” (1:32)
Given this, how do we retain God in our knowledge?
  1. Intently reading the word for starters. It is one thing to have our eyes pass over the page; its another for use to read for the purpose of understanding the text and applying it.
  2. Prayer. Frequent, constant, zealous prayer.
  3. Fellowship with our kinsman; this is a hard life we would be wise to walk it together bearing one another burdens. On that note: we are called/commanded to love as Christ loves us. Should you ever need to walk with another through any trial/temptation never hesitate to reach out to any of us; we will joyfully receive you in love.

“deserving of death” (1:32) This chapter might be the most gut-punching one we’ve thus far dealt with. 
What have y’all gotten out of it? 
[Let them answer]
    Far be it from me to end on such a gut punch as 1:32. 
    For the Christian this text is your motivation to flee, fight and destroy indwelling sin in you; let us forsake sin and flee to Christ who took our deserved punishment (1:32) for our sin for us out of His great love for us. 
    To the heathen, this is your judgment: Death; death eternal and death here and now. You are to likewise flee to Christ for He will reject none that a come to Him. 

    As Isaiah wrote, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else.” (Isaiah 45:22 KJV) Look and be saved.  

Why I Write

It has been said that \”If you wish to truly learn you must teach.\”

Over the past 8 months of teaching through the Gospel of John, I have learned the validity of this statement. Not only have I learned more on proper interpretation of scripture and theology but I have become conceived of, and had my heart ignited by, 5 point Calvinism. As tiresome and difficult as these past few months have been at times I am overwhelming grateful for it all.

I often use the analogy of a gold-miner when speaking on the glories of teaching and interpreting the text. As tiresome, difficult and even discouraging as the work of gold-mining is, it is all worth it when one finds the prize of the precious metal. Likewise, as tiresome, difficult and even discouraging as the work of proper interpretation is; it is all worth it when I find even the littlest piece of truth within the scripture.

Given this, I have found it to also be maddening work. I often find myself intellectually moving at neck-break speed. Attempting to master the scripture is no easy task; doing it on my own with no mentor or personal teacher certainly doesn\’t make it any easier. In order to retain all that I have learned, and am learning, I have taken the task of writing here on this little blog. And I pray it to be of benefit to you, dear reader, as it is to me.

Even over these past few days that I\’ve been writing, I have found my thoughts to be of much higher quality than they were before. Given all this, I write to help myself and you as well; to teach all that I have been taught by God through the His holy scripture.

While implicated I wish to make this next point explicitly known to you that you are welcome to share and comment on any and all posts made. These writings are designed for your benefit just as much as mine. Part of the reason why I love my current job (shipping fulfillment for Amazon) is that I have quite a lot of time on my hands to do with as I please, and I plan on making the most of that free time while I can.

With this said, you dear reader, are well to make an essay request on whatever biblical/theological topic you may wish. You may make a request here on the comments in the blog or over on Twitter @blessedbearded if you so choose. With all that said; thank you for reading and keeping up with my posts and may the God of peace bless you, your house and your ministry in full abundance with all grace and joy given to us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

P.S. Perhaps you\’ve seen that I file all my brief essays under a label \”One-shot Essays\”. I have named it that for two reasons:
1) I\’m not very creative
2) The name itself is inspired by Dr. Frank Crane and his \”Four Minute Essays\” that I read, and thoroughly enjoyed in college. I highly recommend adding them to your reading list (https://www.amazon.com/Four-Minute-Essays-Frank-Crane/dp/B00L03BCOO/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_6?keywords=5+minute+essays+by+frank&qid=1554926953&s=gateway&sr=8-6-fkmrnull).
3) They\’re designed for me to lock, load, aim and fire whenever I need to write/sort out an issue within my heart or head. Hopefully, they provide aid to you as much as they do me.