Romans 16.20-Paul Promises Romans That The Spirit Will Quickly Crush Satan Under Their Feet
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday August 25, 2010
Romans: Romans 16:20-Paul Promises Romans That God The Holy Spirit Will Quickly Crush Satan And Desires That The Grace Of Our Lord Jesus Be Manifested Among Them
Lesson # 551
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 16:17.
In Romans 16:20, Paul promises the Roman believers that God the Holy Spirit who produces peace in and among believers will soon crush Satan under their feet.
He follows this up by expressing his desire that the grace of the Lord Jesus be manifested among them.
Romans 16:17, “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. 18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. 19 For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
The promise “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” marks a transition from Paul’s warning concerning false teachers in Romans 16:17-19 to a promise of deliverance from Satan who is behind these false teachers here in Romans 16:20.
“God” does not refer to the Father or the Son but the Spirit, which is indicated by the grammar of the passage and Paul’s statements in Romans 14:17, 15:13 and in Galatians 5:22-23, thus this first statement in Romans 16:20 is technically not a prayer.
First of all, in Romans 16:20, the noun eirene, “peace’ functions, as a genitive of product meaning that it is the product of the noun theos, “God” to which it stands related indicating that God the Holy Spirit produces peace in and among believers.
Secondly, Romans 14:17 teaches that peace and joy is manifested among believers by means of fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 15:13, Paul shares with his readers the prayer he makes to the Father on their behalf that the Spirit will cause them all to be filled with all joy and peace by exercising faith in what the Spirit’s says in the Old Testament and through the Lord and the apostles’ teaching that now appears in the Greek New Testament.
The purpose of this he teaches is that they would prosper with a confidence that is divine in quality and character by means of the power of the Holy Spirit, which is appropriated through faith in what the Spirit says in the Word of God.
Paul’s statement in Galatians 5:22-23 further supports the fact that the noun theos, “God” in Romans 16:20 is referring to the Spirit and not the Father or the Son since it teaches that joy and peace are the production of the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Therefore, as was the case in Romans 15:5, 13 and 33, this statement in Romans 16:20 is technically not a prayer since it is not addressed specifically to the Father.
However, it is an intercessory prayer that Paul prayed.
Paul is revealing his Spirit inspired desire for the Roman church as an indirect means of encouraging the Roman believers to go forward in the Father’s plan.
“Of peace” refers to the peace of God that is produced by the Spirit in and among the Roman believers.
He does this when they continue to obey the commands and prohibitions that Paul issued them in the main argument of the epistle and if they obey his teaching concerning false teachers such as the Judaizers in Romans 16:17-19.
Romans 16:20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
“Will crush” is the verb suntribo (συντρίβω) (seen-dree-vowe), which is not used in reference to God the Son’s victory over Satan at His Second Advent or upon putting down the final Gog-Magog rebellion after the millennium since there is nothing in the context that indicates this whatsoever.
Rather, it speaks of a victory in the lives of the Roman believers at the time of writing and not the future eschatological victory of Christ over Satan and his kingdom.
This is indicated by the fact that Paul does not say that Satan will be crushed under Christ’s feet, which will be the case at His Second Advent and when He casts Satan into the lake of fire but rather he says that God the Holy Spirit will crush Satan under his readers’ feet!
This will take place if the Roman believers obey his teaching in Romans 16:17-19.
Here in Romans 16:20, Paul implies that Satan is behind the false teachers that he warned the Roman believers about and thus when they obey his teaching in verses 17-19, the Holy Spirit who inspired this teaching, will, as a certainty, crush Satan and the false teachers that he inspires.
“Under your feet” is a special imagery taken of one who is vanquished lying beneath the victor’s feet.
It speaks of Satan being vanquished under the Roman believers’ feet if they obey Paul’s teaching concerning the false teachers in Romans 16:17-19.
Romans 16:20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
The apostle Paul employs the figure of “asyndeton” at this point in the verse meaning that he does not use a connective between the previous promise and the Spirit inspired desire for the Roman believers that follows.
“The grace” is the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun charis (χάρις) (ha-reece), which refers to the means by which grace might be received, namely through the mind and thinking of Christ, the Word of God, which is inspired by the Spirit of God.
The Spirit, through the communication of the Word of God to the believer reveals God the Father’s grace policy to the believer.
The Spirit of God speaking through the communication of the Word of God to the believer’s human spirit regarding the will of the Father is the means by which grace is received by the believer.
Romans 16:20 is a Spirit inspired desire that the Romans would respond to the Spirit’s teaching in this epistle regarding the will of the Father for each individual Roman believer.
This second statement is not speaking of grace at salvation but the grace or God’s provision for after salvation.
“Our Lord Jesus Christ” denotes the intimate relationship between Paul and the Roman believers and the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Be with you” indicates that Paul’s Spirit inspired desire is that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, namely His doctrine or Spirit inspired teaching would cause itself to be manifested among the Roman believers.
This would take place if they continue to obey the commands and prohibitions that Paul issued in the main argument of the epistle and his teaching concerning false teachers in Romans 16:17-19.