Romans 5: Reconciled and Reborn!

Chapters 5 of Paul's epistle to the Romans provided by Bible Gateway

    So, this will be interesting because I intend to keep this blog pretty short. I'm trying to achieve what I originally intended for this blog, and to do so I have some catching up to do. That being said, I'm not going to go into detail on the text right now, but rather to a bit of a drive through and point to things for you guys (whomever you may be) to ponder over as you read these chapters on your own. For the sake of context, the thing I want to reiterate regarding Romans 1-4 is that Paul goes to great lengths to show the Roman church that man, in his fallen state, is either ignorant (at best) or unwilling (at worst) to pursue God through holiness. The prevailing notion, then, was to take on good deeds as a means of pleasing God. For his argument, Paul built a straw man using the case of Abraham. Abraham being understood has having received justification(imputed righteousness) from God. He then tears the straw man down by pointing out when, and in what way that justification was applied to him. Simply put, Abraham was credited with righteousness through his belief in God's covenant with him prior to his circumcision. The conclusion aptly drawn that that episode is that justification before God is not to be achieved by human effort or endeavor. Right....deep breath, and on to Romans 5.
   Being justified as we are before God (through faith), we are also reconciled to him; enjoying the full benefits of a restored relationship. No longer being objects of wrath, we can dare to hope towards Glory. For the Christian, then, even the things that ought to bring death to our souls (suffering and the like) paradoxically do the opposite [5:3-5]. Rather than our suffering bearing fruit to death, it bears fruit to life for the believer.  Pay close attention to v.5. The very fact that we can gain Godly character through suffering ought to produce extreme hope for glory in our hearts. And, as Paul says can not disappoint us because it is a hope in salvation according to the counsel, and will of our Omnipotent eternal God. Overwhelmed yet? Because there's more.
     The proof that his hope does not fail us lies in the very conditions under which we receive it. Look at vv. 6-11. Jesus did not become incarnate for our sake once we had ordered our lives better. The very opposite is true. When Jesus took on flesh he arrived in an Israel at the height of it's whorish-ness. There were two lovers present to Israel in the time of Jesus. The first being Rome; and the second being their own righteousness. Here's what I mean by that...in order to survive as a nation Israel had to subject it's leadership under the puppet work of Caesar and the empire. There probably wasn't a very clean division between Roman and Jewish culture. Moreover, the popular religious notion at the time was Pharisaical. To put it bluntly: the Jews loved the law more than they loved God who gave it to them. They thought that, if they were righteous enough God would restore their national Sovereignty. A lot like how a little kid will kiss up to get candy from their parents.  Under those socio-religious condition God became incarnate to his covenant people, and allowed them to murder him.....for their own salvation. Not only that, but his sacrifice was not applied only to those present, the son of God being an eternal member of the trinity died with the burden of all man's sin for all time. Not only were his contemporaries atoned for, but also those who preceded him, and followed after him. For all of us, it's as if we were standing right there. If Jesus Christ can willing, and ably bear that burden for us; is there any sin from which he is unable or unwilling to redeem? Paul's answer is no.
     But how exactly does this work? We still dwell in the world, we still [even after the elaborate display of Christ's life, ministry, death and resurrection] sin in our minds, and actions. To sum up the rest of chapter five we are forced to look at the truth of God's Covenantal relationship to us. That being said, Paul takes on our lives as sons of Adam. Up until the moment of our salvation in Christ, we stood condemned with the imputed sin of Adam on our account. The fact that you and I sin today is the fruit of Adam's transgression. Being our progenitor (First man, or representative) his decision in the garden was effected for all of us. Sin filled the gap in between us and God after Adam ate the fruit. That is why the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus and John 3 is so important. Salvation is not attainable by doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way. Because, altruistic though we may very well be, we still bore Adam's unrighteousness on our shoulders. Which is only proven by the fact that you and I sin, and by the fact that in several years all of us will die. The reality of the penalty proves the reality of the problem.
     Praise God though! In his life and ministry, and in his death and resurrection Christ became our progenitor. He became our Adam. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is referred to as his "passive obedience". Meaning he received the penalty of our sin during his crucifixion. His life and ministry is referred to as "active obedience" because during his ministry Christ actively restored righteousness for our sake. Hence the baptism at the hands of John, and the temptation in the wilderness. Everything that Jesus went through on Earth, we went through so that it would be attributed to us by the Holy Spirit through his (Christ's) death and resurrection. Simply put, we have the heart of Jesus Christ imputed to us.
 

Yet Another Update

Hey All,
   Sorry for the period of silence that has lapsed since my last post....I'm actually considering creating a header that perpetually apologizes for how rarely I update the wall. It seems like it enters my mind to post, and then the schedule of the day hi-jacks my attention. I suppose it's better to put off internet posting to meet with people, than putting off meetings for the sake of writing a blog. T he downside of that is that for the past month I've gone home feeling as if I had forgotten to do something.....
  In any case, I just wanted to drop in and say hello, and correct some information from my last posting. Unfortunately Becky's sinus surgery has been postponed for awhile so we are a ways off from being able to remedy that situation. I'll post more concrete news on here, as soon as I have it.
In the arena of good news, it seems like God has smiled on our desire for a new car......our little Honda has done us pretty good since we bought it two years ago. But we've been wanting to get a 4-door just in case we need to give people rides to things like RCF and such...and it seems like we're about to get a newer 4dr VW Golf. Which is uber-awesome (that's a technical German term to describe our exact sentiments).... Anywho, we are both thankful for your prayers and encouragements. Please keep praying for Becky's sinuses to correct themselves, that the car offer works out, and for God to grant RCF favor on the University of Oregon campus.

Thanks for reading my sporadic, rambling posting.
Matt,
 Reformed Campus Fellowship.

Personal Update

Hey all,

  As many of you have probably heard. Becky has been having chronic sinus congestion, coupled with asthma symptoms for over a year now. Shortly after we moved to Eugene and Becky recovered from pneumonia she started to experience the symptoms that she's been struggling with for a while now. We've been to several doctors, ranging from general clinics to naturapaths and allergists. Yesterday we made a drive up to OHSU Oregon Sinus department to get a second opinion on surgical options to correct the issues that Becky has been suffering from.
  Long story short, after several rounds of antibiotics and prednisone we've determined that surgery is the only option that is likely to correct what is going wrong in Becky's sinuses. OHSU has offered us financial assistance that covers 80% of her treatment, and it seems like this isn't going to go away on it's own. So...all that to say, we will probably take her in for endoscopic surgery sometime in February. Please keep us in your prayers as we call to schedule the necessary appointments and arrange our lives to make this happen. But more than that, please pray that this would work. Becky didn't have any issue until some rather interesting interactions with aspirin, so we're hoping that corrective surgery will ease the strain on her sinuses, and relieve her asthma symptoms. I'll post more details as soon as I find them out. Thanks for reading, and praying for us and our ministry to the University of Oregon.

Matt
~Reformed Campus Fellowship.

BCS Championship

Alright....so we didn't win last night, but you've really go to hand it to the Ducks. Those boys held on to the last second, and kept their cool while being roughed around by Auburn's massive team. Not to mention Casey Matthew's impressive hit on Cam Newton.

 There's always next year.


GO DUCKS!

Condemnation and Inclusion {Romans 1-4}

  For my first swing at teaching the Bible I decided to start with Paul's letter to the Romans. Although my reasons for doing this have, since then, expanded my original intent was based off of Paul's opening statements in the first chapter. You may have read some of my views regarding this at the Cascade Presbyterian blog; so I'll state them briefly here. Paul's epistle to the Romans was written by way of an introduction. He had not yet been to Rome, and wanted to travel there for the sake of expanding his journeys to Spain. That being the case, Paul wanted to establish the cause and goal {namely the Gospel} for his journeys in the Roman church.
  During the course of teaching I've come to realize that the justification of Jesus Christ plumbs the very depths of human depravity. Simply put, the lowest you can descend is the depth to which you can be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. His redemption is more boundless than our depravity. That is why Paul spends so much time establishing the moral failure of the Gentile and the religious failure of the Jewish community. If mankind were redeemed immediately after the Fall we would not have a full understanding of the depth, height, and breadth of God's redeeming affections.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

(Romans 5:6-11 ESV)

Merry Christmas!

 ~Matt and Becky

Breaking Radio Silence

Hi Everybody!

  Sorry for not updating this very much lately.....obviously I have been busy, but I ought to spend more time on here. In any case, my wife and I are making a last minute trip down to Ukiah to go to the memorial service of a mentor and friend of mine who passed away last week. It has been touching to dwell on the time he invested in my life, and the fruit that I see from his ministry to me over 5 years ago coming to to maturity in my life as a married man and a college minister. That being said, I don't have any bible stuff to put up here this week. But next week I'll post a run through of Romans 1 through the first half of chapter 4 to update you on what I've been teaching during the Tuesday night bible studies.

On a random note Rainn Wilson, the comedic actor behind Dwight Schrute of NBC's "The Office" has recently released a book and a website called "Soul Pancake". Long story short: it's a forum to discuss what Wilson considers to be "life's big questions." As long as things like these are being discussed in earnest I think we ought to be involved as Christians. I mention this website specifically because of it's light hearted approach to searching for meaning.....it's a good opportunity for candor at the very least.

Blessings to all of you during this Advent season

Fall Musings

Hi All.

   Just writing a brief notion based on the coming of Autumn. The chill of a coming November is already evident in the air here in Oregon, and the morning blanket of fog seems to curl thicker and thicker around the porch of our Whitaker home. Becky and I were driving down 5th Ave. the other day and I couldn't help but point out that the tree tops were already shot through with red and gold. As I've been meditating on the change from summer to fall I've noticed some poignancy in the transition. The beauty of decline. General consensus tells us that our best years exist between 16 and 30, but I have to disagree. As we age and decline our lives as Christians become like those autumn trees, arrayed in the brilliance of God's providence. The fragrance of which, though offensive to some, is a beautiful thing to be around.