What does the book of Romans tell us about the Christian faith?

What does the book of Romans tell us about the Christian faith?

In chapters 1-3 we learn that every person is declared guilty before God because of sin. The law condemns us utterly as sinners. Not one person is adjudged innocent by God’s perfect standard. There is no salvation in the law. It simply points out our guilt and depravity.

Rom 3:20  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 

Because of our hopeless state, God had to do something to save us. To do this, God chose to save us, not by the righteousness of the law, but by the abundance of His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross, the shedding of His pure and blameless blood, paid the price for us. God, who is absolutely just, was now able to justify the guilty, because a payment was made to sufficiently cancel the sin debt for every person who ever lived.

Can we fall from grace by our will to sin? What does the Bible say?

QUESTION/STATEMENT:

Heb 10:26-27  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,  27  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

Hebrews 6:4 and several others make it plain that a person may choose their sin over salvation and many do. Saying that they weren’t really saved beforehand is twisting the Word of God to make it say what it plainly does not.

We are in agreement that salvation is by grace through faith alone, without any mixture of works. We seem to disagree that a Christian will continue in grace despite choosing willful sin. The Bible clearly teaches that we can fall from grace by our will to sin.

Clear divisions between the programs of prophecy and grace.

Clear divisions between the programs of prophecy and grace.

In order to understand the proper context of scripture, it is of critical importance to recognize the division between two programs which God predestined and is executing in His wisdom. These two programs will eventually be brought together in the fulness of the times, Eph 1:10. (Notice the word, ‘times’. It is plural, meaning there is more than one time, age, dispensation, program.)

The Bible is FULL of scriptures that indicate a division between Israel and the Body of Christ. This post will examine only one passage of scripture as an example. Please read the following passage below, which is part of Peters discourse to the Jews in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 3. The bolded parts will be compared to what Paul writes to us today in this grace dispensation.

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 5 - Redeemed Israel gets a NEW Heart, Grace Believers get a NEW Mind)

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 5 - Redeemed Israel gets a NEW Heart, Grace Believers get a NEW Mind)

If you have been following this series of posts, you will be familiar with the two opposing lives (and laws) within the grace believer. In Romans chapter 7, Paul tells us about the war between the heart (the outer man) and the spiritual mind (the inner man), and how they are contrary to each other. Just read this short passage again to get the context,

Rom 7:14-24  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.  15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.  17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.  22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:  23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 4 - Who is the husband and who is the wife?)

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 4 - Who is the husband and who is the wife?)

Start at part 1 here: Part 1

In Romans 7:1-4, Paul uses an analogy of a wife that is bound to her husband because of the law of marriage. In the context of the passage, the analogy helps us to understand that we are not bound by ‘the law’, since we have died to it by the death of Christ, as explained in chapter 6. In the context of our current study, concerning the structure of a human being, and concerning the heart of man (the outer man), and the spiritual mind (the inner man), this analogy perfectly describes the two ‘soul’ parts within a person. Before we dive into this lesson, let’s first read the analogy again,

Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 3 - The Spiritual Mind)

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 3 - The Spiritual Mind)

Start the series here: Part 1
Go to the next part here: Part 4

This study began with a brief overview of the three-part structure of a human being, spirit, soul, and body. It is the soul component that is the primary focus of this study since it is the part that is formed when God’s Spirit, His breath of life, enters into the clay shell of the flesh. It is the soul, and more particularly, the contents of the soul that is of significance, as it is here where the Word of God works.

The content of the soul forms the heart of the person, the essence of the person, and what flows out of them into this world. Part 2 of this study placed brief focus on the heart, to define it, and identify its role in the context of a person. It is vital that you clearly understand what the heart of a person is, in order to better understand this next part that I am going to introduce in this post, which is the spirit of the mind,