Author: Jim Cantelon

Key Verse: Romans 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

He was an over-eater. He came into my office grossly overweight and self-disgusted. As he told me his story, I received an education in the devastating bondage of “gradualism”. What’s that you ask? Well, you might call it suicide by degrees.

Just like a chronic smoker or pill-popper, he was destroying himself in incremental measure — numb to any short-term effect, but literally degenerating over the long-term. This is what “the flesh” will do if you let it. It’s bent on self-destruction.

Even under the best conditions and the most committed self-moderation, the flesh eventually give out. Wrinkles, aches, pains, cholesterol, and decrepitude of one form or another eventually lay you low. The old body expires, and we fly away.

But the question is: to where are we Flying? The Bible makes it very clear, tough as it seems, that our spiritual well-being has a lot to do with the moral choices we make on earth. It may seem unfair, but if we yield to the “works of the flesh”, the Bible says we won’t “inherit” eternal life — we’ll “fly” to a Godless eternity.

That’s why we’ve got to starve our lusts. Feeding them will only hasten our self-destruction. That’s not to say that our physical appetites are wrong; if we indulge them according to God’s word, we’ll bring blessing not destruction. But the key is obedience. And obedience is usually hard on us — at least in the initial stages.

On the other hand, if we choose to ignore the long term and simply enjoy the short term, we may find ourselves one day, like my fat friend, overwhelmed with self-indulgence and self-disgust. It’s only an extra piece of pie today — tomorrow it may be plugged arteries.

Key Verse: Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

Chapter 11 concludes with a beautiful doxology praising God’s wisdom, knowledge, judgments, and paths. He is sovereign and does what He wants to do. And, in the context of chapters 9 through 11, we see He wants to have mercy on all children of disobedience — both Jew and Gentile. It’s “in view of God’s mercy” that Paul, in chapter 12:1, calls us to total commitment: a commitment that constitutes, in fact, our “spiritual worship” (NIV).

Paul bluntly calls for bodily sacrifice — not producing a dead body, mind you, but a living offering. It is significant that the emphasis is physical. We’d all be much happier if the call was for mental assent, but he says we’re to put our bodies where our profession of faith is. We’re to pay the price — choosing sacrifice rather than pleasure.

Someone has said that the trouble with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the alter. So true. Indeed, the very idea of sacrificial living in our self-absorbed western world seems painfully archaic. But if we’re to practice what we preach, and look to Jesus as our supreme example, then we’re certainly not to embrace a faith that costs us nothing.

It’s fascinating that Paul links bodily sacrifice with spiritual worship: You wouldn’t expect this, for our tendency would be to separate the physical from the spiritual — just as the heretical Gnostics of early church history did. But no, God sees us as a totality, body and soul, material and immaterial — complete individual personalities. And He has such a high view of our bodies that He intends to resurrect and glorify them one day. So don’t separate your “spiritual” live from your everyday physical life. They’re inextricably linked — and God expects total faith from the total man.

Key Verse: Romans 11:32 “For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.”

The problem is exclusivism. I should know — I’m not only a Gentile but I also pastored a church in Jerusalem for seven years. Many Jews think they have the inside track to Heaven, and many Gentiles think the inner circle belongs to them. Some Jews say, “We’re the children of Abraham. The covenant is exclusively ours.” Some Gentiles say, (quoting Paul) “they [the Jews] were broken off because of unbelief” (11:20). Each group sees themselves as saved, the other as damned.

Personally, I don’t know why we’d want to damn anyone. The point is, both Jew and Gentile are in need of salvation. To Jews, Paul is saying, “You can’t be saved by osmosis — you need a Savior”. To Gentiles, Paul is saying, “Sure, you’ve been grafted into the tree, but don’t assume osmosis will save you either. Yo’ve got to be obedient, otherwise God will cut you off”. And to those Gentiles who have a low view of Jews, Paul says, “If you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree [Israel], how much more readily will these, the natural branches [pruned branches!], be grafted into their own olive tree?” (v.24). In other words, even though some of the natural branches have been pruned, and lie apparently lifeless on the ground, there is life in them yet! Just graft them back into their tree and they will bear fruit once more.

So the Jews are disobedient, and so are the Gentiles. That’s the way God has ordained it. Why? Because He intends to show mercy to both. And if we don’t like it, we’ll have to bring our argument to God. Prepare to lose!

Key Verse: Romans 9:15 “… I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”

Chapters 9, 10, and 11 are some of the most controversial in all of Scripture. Controversial because there is explosive potential in interpreting some of what Paul says rather than all of what Paul says.

For instance: in one place Paul, a Jew himself, says “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel…it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise [through Isaac — v.7] who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring” (vss. 6,8). This leads you to think that the “chosen people” factor and the messianic mission of Israel have somehow been nullified (at least in any racial or  national terms). But Paul later says, “And so all Israel will be saved” (v.26), and goes on to defend this by quoting Old Testament prophetic passages from Isaiah. This leads you to think that the “chosen people” are still uniquely chosen and that God’s relationship with them is inviolable (“for God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable” v.29). So what’s going on here? Is Paul contradicting himself?

There are so many complexities, themes, and sub-themes involved here that I wish I had twenty or thirty pages to help you grasp the flow of Paul’s argument. But there is an absolutely vital quote from Exodus (33:19) that is pivotal to Paul’s presentation. It’s the key verse (9:15) God is sovereign. He will do what He will do, whether we like it or not. No matter that the human attempt to reason through God’s reasons is muddy. He will save those of Israel He wants to save (some or all — it’s up to Him). He will also save those of the Gentiles He wants to save.

But one point is clear. Any “saving” going on will be through one person only: Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Israel’s Messiah and Savior of the world (11:26,27).

Key Verse: Romans 8:19 “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”

“Earth Day” is coming up soon. It is a day of laudable, idealism and provides an appropriate warning: we must assume, finally, our responsibility as stewards of our home planet. As novel as Earth Day is, however, it may surprise you to learn that the Bible has been teaching stewardship not only of the earth, but of creation, for hundreds of years. On top of that, Paul tells us that they creation is somehow dependent for its renewal on the “children of God” (v.21).

Paul says the creation is bound “to decay” (v.21), presumably because man, who has been placed as steward, has willfully sinned and fallen “short of the glory of God”. We’ve polluted creation, not only with our garbage and toxic waste, but with our self-absorption. It has no power to cleanse itself; it must wait for the sons of God to be cleansed — then the creation clean-up and recreation can proceed. That’s why the frustrated creation “has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (v.22). Paul suggests that our own frustration (our own inward groaning) gives us insight into how the creation feels, “as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (v.23).

So the creation hopes and waits. Just as we hope and wait. But there’s a final word to a groaning universe, and a groaning people — it’s a groaning Holy Spirit (v.26). God Himself groans.

But the point is this: the pain is childbirth pain. A new creation is at the door. And only those who have been “born from above” will enter that spring-fresh kingdom. All creation, earth and man will be made new.

Key Verse: Romans 7:25 “…So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”

Paul speaks for all of us when he cries, “What a wretched man I am!” His wretchedness springs out of what the Law of God exposes in his nature. Until the Law came along, man didn’t even know he was a sinner. In fact, without the Law there’s no sin, “For apart from law, sin is dead” (v.8b). Bu as soon as the Law entered the stage, the actor recognized his spiritual and moral nakedness (v.7b). What’s more, the Law gave no hope for man in his wretchedness — none of us can fulfil all the Law, and so it hammers us into the pit of hell.

Compounding our wretchedness is a moral instinct within us that affirms the rightness of the Law. The Law constrains us to do what our sinful nature doesn’t want to do, and in so doing we” agree that the Law is good” (v.16). But, nine times out of ten, even though we’re mentally “a slave to God’s law” we, nevertheless, find our performance betraying us as “a slave to the law of sin” (v.25b). Little wonder we sometimes wish we could have lived and died without ever knowing how far we were from “God’s glory”. There’s something to be said for being “blissfully ignorant”.

But there’s hope for the wretched. Even while we are caught in the vicious cycle of knowing what’s right and failing to do it, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1). We can cast, ourselves on God’s mercy by accepting the “sin offering” of His Son’s sacrifice on Calvary. We can claim Him as our Savior, our Mediator, our Friend. In so doing, the vicious cycle will be broken, and in its place will be obedient living, and “a peace that passes understanding”. Wretchedness will give way to blessedness.

Key Verse: Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Sin kills. Before you dismiss this as an overstatement, think again. Let’s look at it from our point of view. Then, with the Bible’s perspective, we’ll try to look at it from God’s point of view. And let’s take an “innocent flirtation” as our example of sin.

It starts with a hungry thought. Depending on your gender it might be something like, “My husband hardly notices me anymore. I have a need to be noticed, to be special, to be held.” Or, “My wife is getting dull. She doesn’t interest me anymore. I need some excitement, and someone who finds me exciting.” Then follows that first eye-contact across the room at the social gathering, held for a moment, but held. Then the casual comment, the jovial verbal jousting, the “positioning” in the seating or in the line at the backyard barbecue, the lingering. This cultivation continues with “accidental” meetings at a restaurant, or “legitimate” family get-togethers.  Then, after weeks or months, the explosion of passion, when spouses, children, and God are forgotten; and the predictable  fracturing of family and lives occurs. For the sake of the new relationship, the old bonded relationships are discarded and die.

Then there’s Good looking on. What does He see? He sees two people erasing their names from life. He sees 15 years down the line when the delinquent father wants to re-enter the lives of his now-adult children and is odd man out. He sees a woman who so easily  discarded her own commitments, now discarded by her knight in not-so-shining armour. And, most disturbing of all, in the case of those who have not confessed and repented, He sees an eternity of death. Sin kills. It’s called “the law of sin and death” (8:2). But never forget that Jesus kills too — He kills sin!

Key Verse: Romans 4:3 “…Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

How would you feel if you were almost 100 years old, your wife was 90; and you were still childless, even though God had promised you a son? You probably would have given up hope by now. You’d question the accuracy of the promise: at least, thinking that maybe you had misread the lines.

But Abraham, “against all hope…in hope believed” (v.18). He “believed God” and this act of faith (the hope plus the act of physically loving his 90-year-old wife) became the means, not only of the promise being fulfilled, but also of his justification. Because of his belief in the inviolability of God’s word, Abraham hung on to the promise and acted upon it. God, seeing this remarkable faith, counted it as “righteousness”, and Abraham was justified in His sight.

Notice that Abraham’s faith did not weaken, in spite of the physical realities. His body “was as good as dead” (v.19) and “Sarah’s womb was also dead”, but His faith was alive. The Bible says he simply “faced the fact” of the physical limitations and embraced the spiritual possibilities. His faith was so strong that he saw the promise fulfilled and became “the father of many nations” (v.19).

Paul makes the point that Abraham was vindicated, not because he was unusually adept at obeying the Law, but use of simply, persistent faith (v.13). It wasn’t his performance  alone — bu the tenacity of the belief upon which his actions were founded. Abraham was convinced that God could be trusted and, in return, God trusted Abraham.

Key Verse: Romans 3:28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of there law.”

What does it mean to be “justified”? And who or what is the “justifier”? Well, let us start with the meaning of “justice”. The Bible tells us God is “just” and His nature demands “justice”, especially in the context of man’s injustice. Justice is the reward of virtue and punishment of vice” (Concise Oxford Dictionary). To “justify” is to “show the justice or righteousness of (person, act, etc.), or to vindicate”. To be justified, then, is to be declared free from the penalty that God’s nature demands of sin. To be unjustified is to be subject to “the wages of sin”. According to the Bible, if owe aren’t justified we’re going to hell.

God is the ultimate and only justifier. Look at verses 25 and 26: “God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice…so as to be just and the one who justifies whose who have faith in Jesus” (NIV).

God’s justice demands a penalty for sin. For His own reasons, Good chose to require the giving of life as that penalty. In the Old Testament He allowed the Israelites to substitute the life of an unblemished animal for one’s own life. The shedding of the sacrificial blood was the only way to effect “remission of sin”. Without that blood there was no justification.

Jesus Christ has become that sacrifice for our sin, but we have to accept Him as our substitute. We cannot come into the presence of a holy and just God without the “covering” of His blood; there is no other way. As we have “faith in His Blood”, we are vindicated in God’s eyes — justice has been served. God’s anger at sin is atoned and we are accepted, unconditionally, into His presence.