Bible Study on Romans 1, verses 16 to 18, the just shall live by faith

 

Romans 1:16 ¶  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. 18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

 

Ashamed can mean embarrassed and disappointed at something you wish were not so. It also meant, though, bashful and modest at the time of the translation, something you held back. It confounded you, as in caused you shame.

 

Ezra 9:6  And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.

 

Jeremiah 6:15  Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

 

Job 6:20  They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.

 

Psalm 40:14  Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

 

 Paul is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, not embarrassed by it, not holding back, because IT is how God can save every man and woman who believes and trusts in it. The Jews were preached to first but also the Gentiles, which is what is meant by Greek as the dominant culture and language of the Gentiles among whom Paul moved. The just shall live by faith is an allusion to a verse in Habbakuk.

 

Habbakuk 2:4  Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

 

He says this again in Galatians and Hebrews.

 

Galatians 3:11  But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

 

Hebrews 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

 

An important statement is made in verse 18 for the upcoming religious history of mankind that is summarized. Man knows the truth, is willfully ignorant, and is judged based on holding the truth he knows in unrighteousness. Man knows in his heart there is a God, that he did not create himself or just happened out of nothing by accident. He also has a pretty good, if general, idea of right and wrong. But mankind, you and I included, usually choose to act as if God did not exist and that we had no clue what right and wrong were. Paul is beginning a great argument on justification or God’s declaration of our legal right to not suffer punishment for our sins because of Christ’s righteousness and sacrifice and resurrection, the commentators say, and this is His beginning, establishing the universal, debased condition of men and women and their guiltiness before a Holy God. God removes the guilt and the penalty for sin declaring the ungodly to be righteous based on Christ’s actions. It is most remarkable.

 

A Psalm for Sunday, Psalm 81, verses 1 to 7, remember the deliverance of God

 

Psalm 81:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph.» Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. 2  Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. 3  Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. 4  For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. 5  This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not. 6  I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. 7  Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

 

John Gill wrote that Gittith, a musical instrument taken from the town of Gath. This Psalm, it is said, was written as a commemoration of Exodus in particular to be sung at solemn occasions.

 

God was the strength of Israel, as He is the Christian’s strength. We should rejoice in Him always.

 

Leviticus 23:24  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

 

Although there are many different opinions on verse 5 perhaps this has to do with the fact that people had not heard God speak like He did to the Hebrews before in a new written language which I discussed in Exodus and through fire and the sound of a trumpet and many other ways. The languages that God used to lead the Hebrews was something unknown before that time.

 

He gave them their alphabet some have written. When Moses came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments that may be the beginning of the alphabet that we use, the precursor to it. God created the writing that contrasted with the pictograms of hieroglyphics and cuneiform writing that dominated the ancient world. From China, Sumeria, and Egypt to the civilizations of the ancient Americas pictures were used to convey ideas and history and as representations of things worshipped. The basic units of writing, the letters, become symbols for ideas rather than pictures representing things to be worshipped as idols. ‘A’, instead of a symbol for a bull or an ox, is Aleph in Hebrew and Alpha in Greek, and ‘A’ for modern purposes. A good study for this is Marc A. Ouaknin’s Mysteries of the Alphabet. This could be part of God drawing a people out of a world of idolatrous pictures to be adored and turning their writing into ideas to be expressed by symbols.

Exodus 20:18 ¶  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20  And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. 21  And the people stood afar off, and

Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

 

But God’s Law, given to Moses, was also a new language which while men may have known God’s standard from the beginning as Genesis and Job seem to suggest and we have discussed it was codified and “written in stone”. See my commentaries on Genesis and Job.

 

Pots in this context were the baskets where the bricks were put that the Hebrews had to make that they were forced to carry. For Meribah see;

 

Exodus 17:4  And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 5  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6  Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7  And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?

 

Bible Study on Romans 1, verses 8 to 15, For God is my witness

 

Romans 1:8 ¶  First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. 9  For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; 10  Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. 11  For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; 12  That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. 13  Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. 14  I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. 15  So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

 

Here is an important point for Biblical understanding. When Paul says your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world in these early days of Christianity he cannot mean the entire earth as common sense tells us that Christ has not been preached in Tierra del Fuego or Lappland yet, at least not by human beings. When ancient Roman era writers writing in the Roman Empire and environs spoke of the whole world or earth they were referring to the world in which they existed and lived, the Mediterranean world. Keep this in mind when reading things like Revelation.

 

Paul serves God with his spirit, lowercase s.

 

The Spirit, uppercase S, is the mind and heart of God just as the spirit (lowercase s) of man includes the heart, reason, emotions, intellect, and talents. For contexts where the Spirit of God or the spirit of man can be synonymous with mind please see the following;

 

Romans 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

 

1Corinthians 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

 

Ephesians 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

 

Philippians 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

 

2Timothy 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

 

Now for the heart, and we must understand that all of our decisions include our invisible minds and hearts. Here are just a couple of examples.

 

Exodus 35:21  And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD’S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments.

 

Deuteronomy 2:30  But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.

 

Our spirit includes the talents and abilities God has given us.

 

See Exodus 31:1 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2  See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3  And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4  To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 5  And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. 6  And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee; 7  The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle, 8  And the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense, 9  And the altar of burnt offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot, 10  And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office, 11  And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.

 

In Old English there was no distinction between uppercase and lowercase. By Middle English whether to capitalize the first letter was inconsistent, I have read. By the time of the KJV, called Early Modern English, capitalization of proper names and nouns had become more standard. See Shakespeare’s use of capitalization. So, at the time of this translation uppercase and lowercase had begun to mean something. Notice here that the word spirit starts with a lowercase ‘s’. In a prophecy of Christ in Isaiah it is written;

 

Isaiah 11:1 ¶  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3  And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

 

The spirit with the lowercase ‘s’ is a reference to a trait, a quality, a skill, an emotion, the foundation of an ability, or the spirit of man, the part of man that God uses to know our thoughts and the function of our bodies.

 

Proverbs 20:27  The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

 

Verse 13 says;

 

13  Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

 

Let is an interesting word in Early Modern English. We think of let as giving permission, allowing, or permitting but the context can give it opposite meanings. One meaning of Let, from the Old English Lettan was to hinder, obstruct, or impede.

 

Here are the two different meanings in the context of the Bible. Verse 13 is prevented from. In the following it is also prevented or held back temporarily.

 

2Thessalonians 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

 

And here to permit or allow;

 

1Timothy 3:12  Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

 

1Timothy 4:12  Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

 

In 1:14 Paul makes a comparison between Greek and non-Greek, every one of which not in the Greek culture or speaking the Greek language they called barbarian. He speaks also of the wise and the unwise. Paul is stating that his ministry to the Gentiles is a debt he owes, something he is compelled to perform and he is glad to do it. Not only to the groups he has mentioned but to those at Rome as well he will preach the gospel, if at all possible.

Bible Study on Isaiah 7, verses 17 to 25, a warning to King Ahaz about Assyria

 

Isaiah 7:17 ¶  The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. 18  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19  And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes. 20  In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard. 21  And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; 22  And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. 23  And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns. 24  With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. 25  And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

 

This passage is filled with symbolism. Since Ahaz did not have the faith he should and was not willing to ask for a sign from the Lord trouble will come upon him and his house from another quarter, from Assyria, who will betray him.

 

2Chronicles 28:21  For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.

22  And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.

 

So, in the reign of his son, Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria invaded Judah and took all the cities.

 

2Kings 18:13  Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. 14  And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

 

Since in the time of Rehoboam when the ten tribes of Israel rebelled against the house of David…

 

1Kings 12:16 ¶  So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. 17  But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

 

…there has not been trouble as there will be in these perilous times.

 

Even the time of the great slaughter and captivity was not as bad as this time would be. Here is that previous episode that caused such distress but was not as terrible as what is coming.

 

2Chronicles 28: 1 ¶  Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father: 2  For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. 3  Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. 4  He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.5  Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.6 ¶  For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. 7  And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king’s son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah that was next to the king. 8  And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. 9  But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven. 10  And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the LORD your God? 11  Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you. 12  Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war, 13  And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for whereas we have offended against the LORD already, ye intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel. 14  So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. 15  And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.

 

    16 ¶  At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him. 17  For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives. 18  The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Bethshemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof: and they dwelt there. 19  For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the LORD. 20  And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not. 21  For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not. 22  And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz. 23  For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he

said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. 24  And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25  And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers. 26  Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 27  And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

 

God calls Egypt and Assyria in His sovereign power and they will fill the land. There is no place safe from them. The Assyrian king whom Ahaz tried to hire will, like a sharp razor, cut off the beard, a sign of male power and masculinity and dignity. Head and feet the Assyrian king will cut and shave, signifying destruction of Judah.

 

Shaving the hair is a sign of reproach and shame, of domination.

 

2Samuel 10:4  Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.

5  When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed: and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.

 

Verse 21 prophecies that there will be a scarcity of men AND cattle. In verse 15 the food of weaned infants is mentioned in the case of the kings who will die and now the prophecy is that the people will live off of what a baby eats, also underscoring the coming scarcity and want as I see it. The once good land will be overrun with briers and thorns and men will fight over it for their cattle to graze. The idea here is a time of want is coming. This is the prophecy that God is giving King Ahaz through Isaiah.

 

I think there is a curious thing in these accounts of the kings of Judah and Israel in that the writing assumes that the people who might read this in the immediate context would have a knowledge themselves of what happened so it is not written like it was trying to inform us in detail of events. It is a written summary with details left out that we, of course, would like to have. Ahaz is tormented by Israel and Syria who almost crush Judah and even speak of a confederacy to do so completely and place a puppet king on the throne of Judah but God says no. Still, because of Ahaz faithlessness the one he tries to buy for help, the king of Assyria, will turn on him and make things even worse than the depredations of Syria and Israel.

Bible Study on Romans 1, verses 1 to 7, part 3, Christ, the bridge between man and God

 

Christ is then that bridge between God and man, fully God and fully man, without whom the believer in God would be in the same predicament as other religions where their god is so distant from man that there is no connection, no compassion for man’s suffering, no understanding of the human heart, fears, and affections.

God reveals Himself to special select people under the Law and to all believers under Grace.

Amos 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

John 14:26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

(To deny this is to say that the so-called ‘Great Commission’ of the end of Matthew does not apply to every believer but only the Apostles).

The Lord Jesus Christ, while walking in biological flesh on the earth, also had a human spirit, a human will, being fully man and fully God. This spirit also manifested itself to us.

 

Luke 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

 

There was a great argument in the Roman Empire’s church regarding whether Christ even had two natures. Some focused on His divinity while others His humanity. The issue was somewhat settled at the Council of Chalcedon in 451AD in Bithynia in Asia Minor, in what is the country of Turkey today. It was understood that Christ was one person with two natures, divine and human, God in the flesh. This does not mean that they just figured that out but that they declared the other ideas as incorrect.

 

The Son of God is God in the flesh. In eternity;

 

1Corinthians 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

 

Notice in verse 4, the importance of the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ and the promise of our resurrection and our eternal life is the centerpoint around which Christian faith revolves. Without the resurrection Christianity becomes a mere philosophy of living and Christ only a great teacher or even a madman. The resurrection seals the deal, so to speak. We should celebrate it in our hearts every day not just at Easter. It is how we know Christ was God in the flesh and it is the basis on which the authority of the apostles rests.

 

Romans 1:6 includes us down through history as also the called of Jesus Christ including us in the command and authority to fulfill Matthew 28:18-20, called The Great Commission.

 

Saints has special meaning in the Bible and that is not special individuals honored by the Roman Catholic Church and given special mystical powers after their deaths. Saints are sanctified ones, called to be holy, God’s chosen people, either the Gentiles who still worshipped the true God or the Israelites in the Old Testament or the Christian in the New Testament.

 

Deuteronomy 33:2  And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 3  Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.

 

Acts 9:13  Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

 

And yet, these are all sinners, imperfect, depending completely on God’s goodness, His mercy, and His grace.

 

Job 15:15  Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

 

Paul wishes for God’s grace, His unmerited favor, to the church at Rome, and peace with God which is one of the main points of the Bible and the reason for God’s sacrifice on the Cross at Calvary. Having peace restored with our Creator after living in a state of rebellion should be our first duty. Here in the next passage quoted, Paul further explains peace with God and the union of Jew and Gentile to form the church.

 

Ephesians 2:1 ¶  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

 

    4 ¶  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9  Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

 

    11 ¶  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

 

    14 ¶  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Bible Study on Exodus 28, verses 1 to 5, filled with the spirit of wisdom

 

Exodus 28:1 ¶  And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons. 2  And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. 3  And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office. 4  And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office. 5  And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen.

 

Consider the way spirit is used in this context. The spirit of wisdom is not just a character trait. It is a gift from God. He has filled certain people in regard to the ability to create these garments for the priests with the spirit of wisdom. This is distinct from the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13) or the Spirit of Christ (1Peter 1:11) or the Spirit of God (Genesis 1:2), all the same Spirit emanating from God, which the translators under the inspiration given to them by God showed us with a capital S each to signify the origin of that Spirit. The Spirit, uppercase S, is God in operation with a will while the spirit, lowercase s, is a thing either given to man or woman.

 

Numbers 5:30  Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.

 

A lowercase s signifies a power, an understanding, a skill, an emotion, or some other sense of understanding and wisdom.

 

Isaiah 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

 

It is interesting that some neuroscientists speculate that consciousness doesn’t seem to emanate from within a person but that a person’s mind is like a cellphone that receives a communication from somewhere else. We can hear someone speaking through the phone but they are not in the phone.

 

Of course, neuroscientists don’t necessarily believe that there is a world of spirit from where consciousness comes. But having no satisfactory explanation of why we are self-aware any more than a theoretical physicist can logically explain why there is something rather than nothing or an evolutionary biologist can show why such a complex thing as life should exist rather than just rocks and dust without inventing their own gods, dead and inert, but prime causes beyond our experience nonetheless, they consider consciousness as something that uses the brain, rather than something the brain creates.

 

Of course, there are many theories of consciousness. Many believe that our thoughts are the results of neurons in the brain firing up but they can’t tell you whether a thought requires ten neurons or ten thousand. It’s all guesswork right now. However, these theoretical scientists have faith in their religion that all truth will eventually come from their inquiries.

 

Nevertheless, our rapid explosion of actual scientific knowledge since this Bible was translated in the early 17^th century and the resultant technological advancements where in the last century we have been propelled forward faster than in all previous centuries combined is not because of extra radiation in the atmosphere or the superiority of modern man’s brain.

 

Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding has been given to us. We learn how to appropriate it and use it but we did not create it.

Bible Study on Romans 1, verses 1 to 7, part 2, the nature of God

 

God is composed of three parts, as man and woman are; a body, a soul, and a spirit.

1Thessalonians 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God has a soul, the seat of self-identity and will.

Psalm 11:5  The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

This is God the Father, sometimes referred to just as God in the New Testament. He is invisible to us. As John says in John 1:18 and in 1John 4:12 no one has seen God, presumably God the Father, at any time. Every act of God’s will originates with Him.

God has a Spirit, how He moves throughout creation and acts on it and in it.

Genesis 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Romans 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

This Spirit is called the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

1Corinthians 12:3  Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

John 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you…26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

The Holy Spirit in its function, the Holy Ghost in His identity, is the mind of God and also God.

For contexts where the Spirit of God or the spirit of man can be synonymous with mind please see the following;

 

Romans 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

 

1Corinthians 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

 

Ephesians 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

 

Philippians 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

 

2Timothy 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

 

God not only has a soul and a mind but has a body, His person, whom man can see, and has even touched, is God in the flesh, called the Son of God.

Hebrews 1:1 ¶  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Colossians 1: 13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15  Who is the image of the invisible God…

Of course, an image is the likeness of someone, what he looks like.

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Genesis 5:3  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

Exodus 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

(Refer back to these verses when someone insists that the image of God is man’s ability to discern between good and evil, which is nonsense, as Adam was made in the image of God but did not taste of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil until he fell).

Jesus Christ is also the Word by which all things were created. Read the first 18 verses of the Gospel According to John. God’s mind formed creation and God’s Word spoke it into existence, bringing forth the light, which He is.

Genesis 1:3 ¶  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

One stark difference between man and God is that God’s three parts can act independently of each other and still be one God.

Deuteronomy 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Mark 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

Matthew 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

2Corinthians 13:14  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

1John 5:7  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.