Help From a Terrible Fall

Introduction

Not many people realize the influence of scholarship upon the way we read, understand, and interpret the Bible. Scholarship shapes not only what and how we think about our faith, but it impacts the way we live our lives. This is so, because scholarship is always striving to answer the question: what does this mean to me?

The scholars of today are engaging the culture and probing for the most concerning issues of the day to determine how they might address them with the Word of God. Consequently, scholarship is always changing and ever-evolving. Therefore, we have thousands and maybe even millions of theological works and doctrinal references striving to explain what the Bible is saying [to us].

However, I have found this to be problematic for two reasons:

We lose the very possible opportunity to reach absolute truth.

We soon conclude that there are various ways to interpret the Bible and reach the same truth.

I propose a different method. I propose a method that relies on and trust the Holy Spirit. I propose that we accept the fact that all Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and if read, understood, and preached as originally inspired, to the original audience, the biblical narrative will produce some fruit in those who hear it.

At some point, we have to get back to reading, preaching, and understanding the entire Bible. Here’s why this is important. Luke 24:44 states, “44 He [Jesus] told them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.””

What makes us different from the heretics and false teachers of the world? Is it what we say about the Bible? Not at all. Neither is it what we say from the Bible. It is how we come to understand what we believe and know. That is, how we read and interpret Scripture is what separates us from the other false ideologies. For, if we use the same interpretative methods of the so-called heretics, aren’t we too heretics?

Once there was a church with unreached people group, who had never received copies of written Scripture. A preacher traveled to this area to deliver copies of the complete canon of Scripture and preach to many who would, for the first time, hear a message about Jesus Christ in person. They had heard about Jesus from fragments and single letters out of Scripture. However, they had never heard a carefully crafted sermon about Jesus. Neither had they studied an entire book of the Bible, let alone the total collection of Scripture.

So, the preacher began preaching. He preached from a sermon he had prepared for the hour and preached with all of his might. After an hour of powerful preaching, he proposed to the congregation it was time to end in order to take the subject up tomorrow evening.

At his suggestion, the congregation was distraught. They begged him and demanded that he continue his preaching. So he began once more for another hour. Finally, fatigued by the intense delivery of God’s Word, he said, “We must really end and take this up tomorrow.” Yet, they urged him to preach even longer. So, the preacher continued and after over 3 hours of preaching, he stated, “Okay, I must end now. I have nothing else to preach tonight. We must take this up tomorrow.”

To this, the crowd said, “No! Please continue! Preach more!”

The preacher responded, “I’ve preached my entire week’s sermon! What else do you want me to preach?”

They responded, “Preach the entire Bible!”

Have you ever heard such a thing in America? Have you ever heard such an interest and demand on preaching? Could it be that such a demand has not been found, because we think we have heard everything there is to hear? Would it profit us to ask God for fresh ears to understand the biblical narrative as to hear a fresh and more primitive story about our Savior Jesus Christ?

So, today I want to preach the “entire” Bible to you. However, I want to do it in a way that will be respectful to our time. So, I will do so by focusing on the first 5 chapters of the book of Romans.

The Book of Romans

The book of Romans was a letter written to the believers in Rome, and was penned by the apostle Paul. It is this epistle, out of all of the Pauline epistles, that provide a very detail exposition of what is now understood as the Pauline gospel. It is a phenomenal book that spends an abnormally large amount of time telling us two things. First, it declares we, who were once sinners, are now made right with God. Secondly, it shares just how we all have been made right with God.

The Book of Romans is an intriguing book that has several arguments within the main arguments. However, Romans 1-3 provides 3 significant points I would like to consider today:

Romans 1- God’s anger at sin.

Romans 1:18-23 “18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.”

2. Romans 2- God’s judgment of sin.

Romans 2:5-11 “5 Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. 6 He will repay each one according to his works: 7 eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness. 9 There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no favoritism with God.”

3. Romans 3- Man’s Slavery to sin.

Romans 3:10-18 “10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. 14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, 17 and the path of peace they have not known. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

In Romans 1-5 there are two main characters: sin and death. Paul presented sin in two unique ways.

First, it is demonstrated as the slave master that influences every person that is born. Then, it is presented as the activity that humans participate in as resistance to the truth. That is, sinners sin because they are born under the control of sin. As such, it yields death, which is the corruption and decay of that which is supposed to live.

However, we must be careful to understood a significant point. It is not simply the fact that we sin, that is, participate in the very act of not hitting the mark. God is not simply insulted by the activity of sin as much as he is the slavery of sin. In Paul’s framework, man’s greatest problem is not that he sins. Rather it is that he is, unwillingly, under the control of sin. And one of the clear signs that man is under the control of sin is the law of Moses.

The law of Moses is proof that man is in slavery to sin. Consequently, the law had two purposes. Romans 3:19-20 says,

“19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment. 20 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.”

Furthermore, the issue that Paul seems to be more concerned about is not the individuals that break, the law. Rather, those that misuse the law as a means to accomplish something it was not intended to do.

You see, in Paul’s view there are two ways to sin:

By disobeying God’s law.

By obeying God’s law as a means to justify one’s self and achieve one’s own righteousness.

The truth is, none of us can do enough to deserve salvation. Many have discussed the first way of sinning, because it is most obvious and visible. However, one may be surprised to discover Paul’s main concern was not towards visible sin. Paul did not live as one who struggled with keeping the law of Moses. In Philippians 3:4-9, Paul shared he had no issues with breaking the law. He wrote, “4 although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; 6 regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless. 7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.”

Key Point: The way to defeat sin is to have no law that can take advantage of our sinful nature. We need someone who can remove us from under the law, so we can have this righteousness by faith.

The Explanation: Romans 4-5

Romans 5:16-21, in particular, provides what is called the “how much more” clauses. It was a common to compare and contrast figures in Jewish literature. In the Bible, there is no better comparison of a figure to Jesus than that of Adam.

Adam is the one responsible for the chaos that led us into slavery. Since he was the type of Jesus Christ, His impact is astronomical. Because of his responsibility, we are unable to escape what He has done to us. He was the image of Christ, and the one responsible for keeping sin and death out of the world. However, his disobedience gave sin the right to enter the world, making sin our slave master and death our wage.

Paul understood that the law always bring punishment, but Jesus came and fulfilled the law as proof that sin and death has been defeated. Romans 4:15 reads, “15 because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.”

Conclusion

Abraham exemplified the sort of faith that God looks for in us. He demonstrated things may not look like they should, but they are always working out in our favor.

Romans 4:13–25 CSB

13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified, 15 because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. 16 This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to the one who is of the law but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. 18 He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. 22 Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, 24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.