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The Gospel Power That Saves (Romans 1) | Biblical Studies Press · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine discovering that a single missing hyphen in an
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English translation of an ancient manuscript could, you
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know, accidentally turn you into a heretic.
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That is quite a thought. Right.
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Or that a subtle grammatical choice made by a tired scribe
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2000 years ago drastically shifts how you view your own
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salvation today? Well, welcome to Reformed
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thinking. It is great to be here for this.
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Yeah. So usually when we sit down to
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read an ancient text, we just read the English words on the
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page and we assume we are getting the whole picture.
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Oh absolutely. We just take it for granted.
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But today we are doing a meticulous deep dive into the
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NET Bible 1st Edition notes on the 1st chapter of the book of
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Romans. And we have some incredible
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sources for this. We are looking at translation
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notes, textual criticism data, and some really intense
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grammatical analysis. Yeah, The mission today is to
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decode how translating ancient Greek into English reveals
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massive theological concepts about humanity, sin, and
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salvation. We're going to show you how a
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single grammatical choice alters our entire understanding of the
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text. It is going to be a lot of fun.
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Think of it like this. Reading these translation notes
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is like looking at the architectural blueprints of a
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house you have lived in for years.
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I love that analogy. You know you have walked down
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the same hallway 1000 times, but suddenly looking at the
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schematic you see the hidden load bearing walls.
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Right, you realize why a certain pillar is there.
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Yeah, and you understand the immense weight it holds up.
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That is what we are doing today with the grammar of Romans
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chapter 1. It is a striking way to look at
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the text because, well, when you live in a house, you just take
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its structure for granted. For sure, when you read a letter
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in your native language, you take the phrasing for granted.
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But the Greek text of Romans is it is a masterpiece of
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theological engineering. It really is.
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Every single participle, every genitive noun, every missing
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word was placed there or omitted with deliberate intent.
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So it is very calculated. Very.
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And when we look at the notes the translators left behind, we
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get to see the actual math, so to speak, behind the theology.
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That is fascinating. We are going to see the
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absolute, absolute sovereignty of God and the reality of the
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human condition laid bare just by looking at how a few ancient
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Greek verbs and nouns interact. So it removes the illusion that
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translation is just a simple, you know, word for word math
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equation. Precisely, it is a highly
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analytical process of weighing historical context, linguistic
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idioms, and theological consistency.
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Well, right out of the gate, before we even get to the core
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message of this letter, we have to look at how the sender
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identifies himself. Yes, the very first word.
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And frankly, we have to look at the textual history of his very
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name, because the first note in our sources points out something
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so simple, yet it shifts how you view the translation process.
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Oh, the missing preposition. Yeah, in Romans, one verse one,
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the English text almost always says from Paul, right?
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But the notes show us that the Greek text actually lacks the
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word from. It just says Paul.
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Which is wild to think. Yeah, the translator supplied
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the word from simply to make it readable for an English
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audience. That feels like a tiny detail,
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but it opens up a massive realization about what reading a
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translation actually means. It really highlights an
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immediate challenge in bringing ancient Greek into modern
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English. Greek is, well, it is a highly
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inflected language. What does that mean for the
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listener who is not study Greek? So it means the endings of the
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words often tell you the relationship between them.
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The ending of a noun tells you if it is the subject, the direct
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object, or if it indicates possession.
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Oh, I see. Because of this built in
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directional system, Greek does not always need the helper
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words, the prepositions that English absolutely requires.
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So English is just a bit more needy in that that regard.
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Yeah, pretty much. When a translator inserts a word
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like from, they are making a micro decision about
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readability. They are building a bridge.
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Exactly. They are trying to build a
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bridge between a 1st century Mediterranean thought process
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and a 21st century Western mind. But those micro decisions
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sometimes carry staggering theological weight, as we will
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see very shortly. And the very next word
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introduces one of those massive concepts Paul calls himself a
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doulos. Yes, a very specific term.
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Now traditionally you will see this rendered in English as
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servant, but our notes indicate that this is highly misleading
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for modern readers. Very misleading.
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The BDAG, which you know is the standard Greek lexicon for
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biblical studies, notes that the word does not carry the
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connotation of a free individual functioning for another person.
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Right, it's not a part time job. Not at all.
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It implies selling oneself into slavery.
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It is best translated as bondservant.
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So we're not talking about a hired employee here, we are
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talking about absolute ownership.
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If we tie this to the larger context, a modern employee has
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autonomy. They have a contract.
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Right, they can clock out of five.
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Exactly. They can quit if the working
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conditions are poor. A doulos, A bondservant,
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possesses no such autonomy. So they are totally bound.
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They have been purchased. Their time, their energy, their
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very bodily existence belongs entirely to their master.
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That is a heavy concept. It is in the context of the
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theology we're looking at today. This points directly to the
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concept of being bought with a price.
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Paul is not volunteering his free time to God.
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He is acknowledging total, comprehensive ownership by God.
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His entire life is a proprietary asset of the Creator.
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That is a perfect way to put it. I do want to clarify that
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concept for a modern audience though, because the word slave
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carries horrific historical baggage for.
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Us. Oh.
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Absolutely. Our immediate association is the
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brutal chattel slavery of recent centuries, but the notes provide
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crucial Old Testament background that reframes this entirely.
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It is a completely different cultural framework.
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Yeah, for a Jewish person in the 1st century, this title actually
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held immense honor. It did not connote drudgery or
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abuse. Right, it was a badge of.
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Honor. It was a title associated with
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national Israel in Isaiah chapter 43 and with massive
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historical figures. Moses, David, Elijah, they were
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all called the servants or bond servants of the Lord.
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Heavy hitters of the faith. Yeah, think of it less like
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being a hired employee who can quit anytime and more like being
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a sworn lifelong envoy for a king.
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I like that. In that ancient context, your
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entire identity, your protection and your status were completely
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absorbed in the King's house. Your authority came directly
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from the one who owned you. So when Paul calls himself a
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doulos, he is claiming the mantle of Moses and David.
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He's stepping to big shoes. He really is.
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He is aligning himself with the great prophets who were totally
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consumed by the sovereign will of God.
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Wow. He is establishing His absolute
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submission, which, ironically, is the source of His absolute
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authority to write this letter. That is a fascinating paradox.
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He is saying I am not coming to you with my own ideas, I'm
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coming to you as the purchased property and authorized
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spokesperson of the King of the Universe.
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That changes how the Roman Church has to receive his words.
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It demands their attention immediately.
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And regarding his words, I noticed an incredible linguistic
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puzzle in the opening lines regarding the manuscripts
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themselves. Oh, the textual variant.
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Yes, the notes mention a textual variant in verse one.
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We have different ancient manuscripts that copy this
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letter. Some say Christ Jesus and others
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say Jesus Christ. It seems like such a minor flip.
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It does, but our sources point out that Christ Jesus is the
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slightly more difficult reading and therefore it is favored as
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the original text. Textual criticism rules are so
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interesting. They are because for someone who
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has never heard of textual criticism, the idea that a
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difficult reading is the right one sounds backward.
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You would assume the smoother text is the original.
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It does sound counterintuitive at first glance, but textual
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criticism operates on a very realistic understanding of human
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psychology so well. Picture a scribe in a dimly lit
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room copying manuscripts by hand for 10 or 12 hours a day.
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Sounds exhausting. It was Jesus Christ was the far
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more common expression in the early church.
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It just rolled off the tongue, right?
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If the original text said Christ Jesus, a tired scribe is highly
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likely to accidentally flip it to the more familiar Jesus
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Christ in their head as their quill hits the parchment.
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Oh, so muscle memory takes over. Spot on.
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They tend to smooth things out either accidentally or
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intentionally to make the text read more conventionally.
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That makes total sense. Scribes rarely take a normal
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smooth phrase and make it awkward.
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Therefore, the difficult reading is often the original because it
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explains why the later variations exist.
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They were subconscious or conscious attempts to fix or
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normalize it. So Christ uses as the winner
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here. Yeah, plus, the data shows Paul
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has a distinct fondness for the order Christ Jesus in his
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letters, particularly Romans, Galatians and Philippians.
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That is so cool. And that brings us to another
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grammatical puzzle. Right in the same sentence Paul
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says he is set apart for the gospel of God.
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The genitives, yes. In English, that sounds
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completely straightforward, but the Greek uses a genitive
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construction that gives translators a serious headache.
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It is a massive debate. The notes layout the debate.
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Is it a subjective genitive, meaning the gospel which God
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brings? Or is it an objective genitive,
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meaning the gospel about God? Both sound plausible.
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Our sources suggest it could be a plenary genitive where both
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are intended, but they slightly prefer the subjective.
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We need to define these terms. Let's start with the difference
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between a subjective and objective genitive.
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Sure. So a genitive case in Greek
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usually shows possession or relationship, often translated
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with the word of in English. OK, but of can mean several
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different things. Think of the phrase the painting
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of my father. OK, I am picturing it.
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Does that mean the painting that my father painted with his own
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hands? Like he is the artist.
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Right. That would be a subjective
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genitive where the father is the subject doing the action.
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Got it. Or does it mean a portrait
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showing my father's face? Where he's the model.
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Yes, that would be an objective genitive where the father is the
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object being depicted. Oh, that makes it very clear.
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So when Paul says the gospel of God, the subjective genitive
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means God is the subject doing the action.
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He is the author bringing the good news.
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OK. The objective genitive means God
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is the object of the good news. The news is about Him.
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And what about the plenary genitive?
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A plenary genitive is a fascinating concept discussed by
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scholars like M Zurwick. It suggests that the author
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deliberately used an ambiguous phrasing because he fully
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intended both meanings simultaneously.
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So Paul meant both on purpose. Exactly.
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The gospel which God brings is in fact the very gospel about
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Himself. It is a full robust dual
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meaning. However, the notes indicate A
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slight preference for the subjective genitive, here the
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gospel which God brings. Which fits the wider theology
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perfectly. It makes total sense within a
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framework that views salvation as entirely initiated by God.
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It is his gospel. He owns it.
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He is the architect. Yeah, he authored it from
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eternity past and he is the one actively bringing it into the
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world. It does not originate with man's
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clever ideas. It is divine rescue mission
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initiated by the Creator. Which sets the stage perfectly
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for what follows. So if God is the author of this
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message, the text must immediately pivot to the central
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figure of that message. Yes, this requires precise,
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highly specific language about His nature, and that is where we
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see the grammar doing some incredibly heavy lifting
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regarding the incarnation. Look at verse 3.
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It uses the idiom born of the seed and according to the flesh.
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It's very specific phrase the. Translators note that this
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indicates Jesus's earthly life, and it specifically references
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human weakness. What caught my eye is that by
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stating he came according to the flesh, the text strongly implies
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he was more than human. It creates a boundary.
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Right, because if he were just a guy, it would have been
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sufficient just to say he was a descendant of David.
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If I tell you that my friend David is human, you would look
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at me like I'm crazy because it is entirely redundant.
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Right, I would say obviously he is human.
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You only specify that someone exists according to the flesh if
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there is another dimension to their existence.
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Oh, that is a great point. The grammar forces us to reckon
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with the incarnation the eternal Sun took on human flesh,
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entering into the frailty, the hunger, the exhaustion and the
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weakness of the human condition. He really stepped into our mess.
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He did. The phrase, according to the
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flesh, acts as a boundary marker for His earthly ministry.
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And the contrast to that boundary marker comes in the
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very next verse, which contains a massive translation trap.
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This one is. Huge verse 4 says he was,
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depending on your translation, declared or appointed the Son of
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God. The Greek word here is harizo.
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The notes are adamant that harizo means to determine or
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appoint, but the translators use a heavily hyphenated phrase to
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protect the theology. They translate it as Son of God
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in might. They had to be very careful
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there. Why is translating horizo so
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dangerous if we do not use those hyphens?
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This takes us back to the history of early church
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heresies. Oh boy.
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Yeah, there was a heresy called adoptionism which claimed that
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Jesus was just a normal human who was so exceptionally
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righteous that God adopted or appointed him to become the
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divine Son at his baptism or his resurrection.
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Wow, so denying his internal. Divinity.
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Exactly. If you translate verse 4 as he
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was appointed the Son of God by the resurrection, you risks
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supporting that heresy. That is dangerous.
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It makes it sound like he was not the Sun beforehand, but only
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achieved that status after he rose from the dead.
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But the notes are clear that the word horizo literally means to
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determine or appoint. It is where we get the English
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word horizon, the determining boundary between the earth and
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the sky. That is a great visual.
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You cannot just change the dictionary definition of the
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verb because it makes you uncomfortable theologically.
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You hit the nail on the head. The Greek term is used eight
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times in the New Testament, always meaning to determine or
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appoint. The translators cannot massage
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the verb. So what they do?
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Instead, they look closely at the structure of the whole
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sentence. Paul is not saying Jesus was
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appointed to be the Son of God. He is saying Jesus was appointed
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to a specific phase of his eternal sonship, Son of God in
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might. Oh, so the hyphenation groups it
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together? Yes, that entire phrase
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functions as a single title. Prior to the resurrection, he
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was the Son of God in weakness according to the flesh.
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At the resurrection, he crossed a horizon line.
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He was appointed to a new public phase of his internal reality,
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the Son of God in might, or an absolute, unquestionable
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authority. That changes everything.
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It mirrors Matthew 28 perfectly, where the resurrected Christ
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announces all authority in heaven and on earth has been
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given to me. That shift in function in public
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vindication rather than a change in his eternal nature, is a
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brilliant distinction. It really is.
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Now, in that same verse, Paul mentions the spirit of holiness.
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The notes state that some interpreters take this to refer
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to Christ's own inner spirit, not necessarily the Holy Spirit,
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the third person of the Trinity. Yes, that is a debated point.
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I have to push back on this phrasing if it refers to his own
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inner human spirit. Why you such a specific, almost
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clunky phrase like Spirit of Holiness instead of just saying
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His Holy Spirit? It feels intentionally distinct.
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It does feel clunky in English, but it is actually a very
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Semitic way of speaking, functioning within a Greek text.
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Oh really? Yeah, Hebrew idioms often use a
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noun to describe a characteristic rather than an
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adjective, but contrasting it with the flesh in the previous
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verse is the key to unlocking it.
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Verse 3 talks about his physical lineage, his flesh characterized
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by weakness and subjection to the fallen world.
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Right. His humanity.
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Verse 4 talks about his inner life, characterized by absolute,
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unblemished holiness. Even while dwelling in weak
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human flesh, his inner spirit remained Florida State holy and
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separate from sin. So it highlights the absolute
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purity of his inner life, contrasting with the frail,
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decaying flesh of his human lineage.
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It is a striking juxtaposition. It is a beautiful way to
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describe the incarnation. And the notes also mentioned
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that the resurrection spoken of here could be his own
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resurrection, or it could be translated by Resurrection of
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the Dead, referring to the general resurrection at the end
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of the age of which Jesus Resurrection is just the first
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installment. The grammar allows for both, and
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again, we might be looking at a deliberate double meaning.
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Like the plenary genitive we talked about earlier.
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Precisely. Christ's resurrection is not an
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isolated incident. As Paul outlines in First
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Corinthians 15, Christ is the first fruits of those who have
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fallen asleep, right? His resurrection triggers the
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mechanism for the final resurrection of all who are in
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him. When he rose, the guarantee of
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the general resurrection was set in stone.
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Establishing precisely who Christ is and what he
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accomplished leads directly to what Christ demands of the
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audience. The practical application, yeah.
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In verse 5, Paul talks about receiving grace and apostleship.
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When I first read that, I assumed he was listing two
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different things he received. That is how it sounds in
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English. But the translation notes call
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this a hendiatus. This was a new term for me and I
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realized it changes the entire flavor of his calling.
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A hendiatus is a fascinating rhetorical device.
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Can you break that down? Sure, it is a figure of speech
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where 2 words connected by and are used to express a single
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complex idea. OK, give me an example.
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Instead of saying I drank from a cup and gold, you mean I drank
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from a golden cup? Oh, I see.
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So when Paul says grace and apostleship, he does not mean he
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received 2 separate deliveries from God, a generic box of grace
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and a separate box containing the office of apostleship.
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He means he received the specific grace of apostleship.
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Exactly. It is the unmerited favor of God
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manifesting specifically as His calling to be an apostle to the
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Gentiles. That makes the calling itself an
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act of grace. It sure does.
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But the real debate is in the very next phrase, Paul says his
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goal is to bring about the obedience of faith.
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This is a massive grammatical puzzle.
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The notes outline 4 distinct possibilities for this genitive
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phrase, and each one drastically alters the expectation placed on
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the reader. It really dictates how you live
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out your theology. I want to spend some time here
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because this phrase is crucial. The first option is an
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objective, genitive obedience to the Christian faith.
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In that view, the faith is seen as a formal body of doctrine.
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Like a set of rules. Right.
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It is the objective truth of Christianity, the historical
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facts and theological claims. So obedience of faith means
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submitting your mind and your life to the teachings of the
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Christian religion. You are obeying the established
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rule of faith. It is external truth that you
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are aligning yourself with. OK, the second option is a
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subjective genitive the obedience that faith produces.
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Think of this like an apple tree.
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I like this analogy. The faith is the root system and
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the trunk and the obedience is the apples.
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That is a highly favored view among many commentators.
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Faith is the engine, right? You truly believe the promises
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of God, and because of that genuine internal belief, your
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external actions naturally begin to align with God's will.
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So the fruit just happens. True faith always yields the
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byproduct of obedience. It is impossible to have the
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root without eventually seeing the fruit.
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The third option is an attributed of genitive believing
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obedience. This feels more descriptive of
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the action itself. Yes, it is a quality.
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If the second option was the tree producing the apple, this
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option is describing the flavor of the apple.
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That is a great way to put it. It describes the specific
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quality of the obedience God desires.
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So it is not just blind rule following.
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Right. It is not a legalistic, grudging
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submission to rules because you are terrified of punishment.
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It is an obedience characterized by an attitude of trust and
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belief. You obey because you inherently
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trust the one giving the command.
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And the fourth option is a genitive of opposition
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obedience, namely faith. This one is profound.
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I mean striking. I want you to think about a
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phrase like the joy of running. Is it the joy that running
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produces after you finish, or is it the joy found inside the ACT
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itself? Like the running itself is the
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joy. Yeah.
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Is the running itself the joy? If we use a genitive opposition
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here, Paul is saying that the very act of believing God is in
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itself the supreme act of obedience.
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Faith is the obedience he is looking for.
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Within a reformed framework where humans are entirely
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incapable of earning their salvation through moral work,
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that fourth option hits a very heavy chord.
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Because it removes the works. Completely.
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The singular requirement God places upon us for justification
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is to believe His promises. To trust Him is to obey His
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primary command. Which option did the scholars
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land on? Well, of course, some scholars
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suggest Paul was deliberately ambiguous here to encompass all
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these ideas. Oh.
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Like the plenary genitive again. Yes, true faith is the obedience
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God demands. It inevitably produces moral
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obedience. It is characterized by a belief,
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and it submits to the external body of Christian doctrine.
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It is a theological diamond. Whichever way you turn it, you
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see a different facet of the truth.
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That is a beautiful way to phrase it.
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And Paul clarifies exactly who he is calling to this
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multifaceted obedience. Verse 6 says Among whom you also
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are called. A very specific audience.
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The grammar here connects you also back to all the Gentiles in
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verse 5. This proves that the Roman
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Church at this specific time was predominantly Gentile.
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Which is critical historical context for reading the rest of
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the letter. Give us some of that background.
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The Roman Church was likely founded by Jewish believers who
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returned from Pentecost in Jerusalem, but later the Emperor
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Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome because of riots.
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Oh wow, the Jewish Christians had to leave, leaving the
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Gentile Christians to run the church for years.
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When Claudius died and the Jews were finally allowed to return,
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they found a church that had developed entirely Gentile
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customs. I can imagine that caused some
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tension. Immense cultural friction
22:21
regarding food laws, holy days, and circumcision, Paul
22:25
establishes right out of the gate.
22:27
You Gentiles are part of my specific Apostolic jurisdiction,
22:31
and I have authority to speak into this situation.
22:34
That specific jurisdiction explains his intense desire to
22:37
visit them. We see Paul's eagerness mapped
22:40
out through specific structural cues in his writing.
22:43
The structure is so revealing. First off, verses one through 7
22:46
actually form a massive broken sentence structure in the Greek.
22:50
It is basically a giant run on sentence.
22:53
Yeah, Paul starts his thought, inserts clause after clause
22:56
about the gospel, about Jesus, about his apostleship, and
22:59
finally lands the sentence. And then in verse 8, he says,
23:02
first I thank my God. But he never gets to 2nd.
23:05
No, the notes point out a humorous detail.
23:08
Paul never actually gives a second point.
23:11
JB Phillips even translated it. I must begin by telling you
23:15
because the secondly never arrives.
23:18
It is a brilliant glimpse into the reality of ancient letter
23:22
writing. Paul was not typing this on a
23:24
word processor where he could easily edit, hit backspace and
23:27
restructure his bullet points. He could not just delete the
23:30
word first. Right, he was dictating to
23:32
ascribe a man named Tersus. You can almost picture Paul
23:35
pacing the room, overflowing with theological zeal.
23:39
Pacing it, just going off on a tangent.
23:40
He says first of all, and then he gets so caught up in the
23:43
majesty of what God is doing in Rome and his desperate desire to
23:46
see them that he completely forgets to offer a second point.
23:49
The sheer passion disrupts his own grammatical outline.
23:52
I love that human element in verse 11.
23:55
He says he longs to see them so he can impart some spiritual
23:58
gift to make them strong. People often misunderstand this.
24:02
Yeah, a lot of modern readers immediately think of the gifts
24:06
of the Spirit like prophecy, healing, or speaking in tongues.
24:09
Which is not what he means here. The notes clarify that this is
24:12
an autonomy of cause for effect. He does not mean he is going to
24:16
lay hands on them and hand them a superpower.
24:18
He is not passing out spiritual abilities.
24:21
No, he means he is going to use his own spiritual gifts like
24:25
teaching exhortation and Apostolic insight to build them
24:28
up. The cause is his gift, The
24:31
effect is their edification. And notice how quickly he
24:34
balances that pastoral authority with staggering humility in
24:37
verse 12. He.
24:38
Really lowers himself. He immediately adds that he
24:40
wants to be mutually comforted by their faith.
24:43
He is an apostle, the designated representative of Christ.
24:46
But he recognizes that the faith of these Roman believers, whose
24:49
reputation has spread throughout the whole civilized world, will
24:52
minister to him just as much as his teaching will minister to
24:55
them. It is a beautiful picture of the
24:58
interdependency of the Church. Everyone needs everyone else.
25:02
To emphasize how serious he is about this visit, verse 13 uses
25:06
a classic Pauline signal. I do not want you to be unaware
25:10
or in older translations. I would not have you ignorant.
25:14
It is his trademark phrase. The notes show he uses this
25:17
precise phrase in 1st Corinthians 10, First
25:19
Thessalonians 4, and elsewhere. It is his consistent neon sign
25:24
flashing, signaling that something vital is about to be
25:27
said. Pay attention, basically.
25:28
Yeah, he calls them brothers, which the Greek lexicon BDAG
25:33
confirms was a standard term for brothers and sisters or fellow
25:36
Christians, showing his familial bond with them despite having
25:40
never visited their city. His eagerness reaches an
25:42
absolute peak in verse 15, where he says, I'm eager to preach the
25:46
gospel to you. The Greek word there is
25:48
interesting. It is the Greek word for eager.
25:50
Here is prothomos. What is utterly fascinating is
25:53
that the only other place this specific word is used in the
25:55
entire New Testament is by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when
25:59
he tells his disciples the Spirit indeed is willing, but
26:02
the flesh is weak. Wait, the spirit is prothomos?
26:05
Yes. That connects Paul's zeal to
26:07
preach in Rome with a recognizable, intense spiritual
26:11
agony and readiness. It is a massive connection.
26:13
Jesus was facing the cross, facing the wrath of God, and his
26:17
spear was fiercely ready to accomplish the Father's will
26:20
despite the crushing weakness of the flesh.
26:23
Paul uses that same rare word to describe his readiness to March
26:26
into the capital of the Pagan empire to preach a crucified
26:30
Jewish Carpenter. It connects his Apostolic zeal
26:33
directly to the agonizing, obedient zeal of Christ.
26:36
He knew it was risky. Paul knows going to Rome is
26:39
dangerous. He knows it might cost him his
26:41
freedom and eventually his life. But his spirit is prothemos.
26:45
He's compelled by an obligation, a debt he owes to both Greeks
26:48
and Barbarians, to deliver the message of salvation regardless
26:51
of the personal cost. That intense readiness hits a
26:54
climax when he finally states the central thesis of his entire
26:57
letter. The turning point.
26:58
If there is a load bearing wall in the book of Romans, it is
27:01
verse 17. This single verse was the
27:04
epicenter of the Protestant Reformation.
27:06
It really was. Paul says the Gospel is the
27:08
authority of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the
27:12
Jew 1st and also to the Greek, and the notes clarify that in
27:16
this context, Gentile or Greek simply refers to anyone who is
27:20
not Jewish. Right, it is a universal
27:22
statement. But then we hit the phrase that
27:24
changed human history, for in it the righteousness of God is
27:28
revealed. The notes detail three massive
27:31
debates over what the righteousness of God actually
27:33
means here. This is where we really need to
27:36
dig in. Let us break these down because
27:37
they define how we view our standing before the Creator.
27:41
The first view sees the righteousness of God as a
27:44
genitive of source. Meaning what?
27:46
It means a righteous status that comes from God.
27:49
In this view, righteousness is a gift.
27:52
You are unrighteous, bankrupt, and guilty, but God hands you a
27:55
status of righteousness, placing it onto your account.
27:58
So it is not my own goodness. No, it is an alien righteousness
28:01
external to you, provided by the judge himself.
28:04
OK, the second view is the subjective genitive.
28:08
This sees righteousness as God's act of making someone righteous
28:11
or justifying them. It shifts the focus slightly
28:14
from the gift itself to the action of the giver.
28:17
Like a courtroom scene. Exactly.
28:19
It is God's active intervention in the courtroom of heaven,
28:22
banging the gavel and declaring the guilty Sinner to be fully
28:26
vindicated and just. It is God acting righteously to
28:29
save His people, keeping His covenant promises.
28:33
And the third view is the possessive genitive.
28:36
This sees the righteousness of God simply as an attribute of
28:39
God himself. It is God's own intrinsic moral
28:43
perfection being put on display. And historically, those who
28:46
adhere to Reformed theology, drawing heavily from the
28:49
insights of Luther and Calvin, have heavily leaned into a
28:52
combination of the 1st 2:00. Because the third one is
28:54
terrifying. Yes, the terrifying reality of
28:57
the third view, that the Gospel just reveals God's perfect moral
29:00
standard, is what drove Martin Luther to absolute despair as a
29:04
monk. Because he could never meet the
29:05
standard. Right if the the gospel just
29:07
shows how perfect God is, it is terrible news for sinners
29:10
because we can never ever measure up to it.
29:12
It just condemns us more clearly it.
29:14
Would be a crushing weight. But when Luther realized the
29:18
grammatical possibility that this righteousness is a status
29:21
given by God, an alien righteousness credited to our
29:24
account through faith alone, the text opened up like the gates of
29:29
paradise. It became good news.
29:31
The gospel is good news precisely because the
29:34
righteousness required by God is the righteousness provided by
29:37
God. And the mechanism for receiving
29:40
that provided righteousness is right there in the next phrase
29:43
from faith to faith. The Greek is Icpistios ice
29:48
pistine. That phrase has sparked so much
29:51
discussion. The translation notes explained
29:53
that this implies righteousness is obtained by faith because it
29:56
was specifically designed for faith.
29:58
I love to think of this like a lock and a key.
29:59
Walk us through that. The salvation mechanism.
30:02
The lock was designed specifically for the exact shape
30:05
of faith. It was not designed for the
30:06
shape of good works, or the shape of genetic heritage, or
30:09
the shape of intellectual brilliance.
30:11
It only takes one type of key. That is why faith, and faith
30:14
alone, is the only key that turns the lock.
30:17
Up structured the economy of salvation so that all human
30:20
boasting is entirely excluded. Because you didn't pick the
30:23
lock, you just use the key provided.
30:25
If the lock accepted the key of human effort, we could take
30:29
credit for opening the door. We could pat ourselves on the
30:32
back for being moral enough to earn it.
30:34
Which is exactly what human nature wants to do.
30:36
Right, by designing it strictly for faith, which is essentially
30:40
an empty hand receiving a gift from someone else, God ensures
30:44
that he gets all the glory for the salvation of the Sinner.
30:47
It is brilliant, and Paul backs this up immediately by quoting
30:51
the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk.
30:53
The righteous shall live by faith.
30:56
He's proving to his Jewish readers that this is not a new
30:59
invention. This has always been God's
31:01
design from the very beginning. But that brilliant light of
31:04
justification by faith needs a dark backdrop to be fully
31:08
understood. The contrast is coming.
31:10
Paul immediately pivots to reveal the terrifying background
31:13
against which this glorious righteousness shines, the
31:16
reality of human rebellion. Verse 18.
31:19
Verse 18 says For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
31:22
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
31:25
The notes indicate that Against all Ungodly People uses an
31:29
attributed genitive, and scholar CEB Cranfield points out that
31:33
this specifically targets all people, Jews included.
31:37
This is a vital structural note for the whole letter Paul is
31:40
about to launch into a devastating, prolonged critique
31:44
of Pagan gentile culture. Which the Jewish readers would
31:47
love. The Jewish readers in Rome would
31:49
be nodding along, cheering him on, agreeing with every harsh
31:53
assessment of the Roman world around them.
31:55
Is a trap. The grammar here sets a trap.
31:58
All ungodly and unrighteous people is universally inclusive.
32:02
Paul is slowly tightening the net.
32:04
Oh wow. In chapters 2 and three he will
32:06
spring the trap and show the Jewish believers that despite
32:09
their law and their heritage, they are caught in the exact
32:12
same net of total depravity. No human being escapes this
32:16
diagnosis. The text says these people
32:18
suppress the truth by means of unrighteousness.
32:21
Their unrighteousness is the instrument, the tool they use to
32:24
hold down the truth. Like holding a beach ball
32:26
underwater. Yeah, and verses 19 and 20
32:29
declare that the truth of God is manifest in them, leaving them
32:32
without excuse. This is the core concept of
32:35
general revelation. God is clearly seen.
32:38
God's existence and eternal authority are so clearly
32:41
displayed in the created order that humanity's ignorance is not
32:46
a lack of information. It is a willful, aggressive
32:50
suppression. It is an act of hostility
32:52
against the Creator. We do not drift away from God
32:56
accidentally because we just did not have enough data.
32:58
We push him away on purpose. We push him away intentionally
33:01
because we love our unrighteousness.
33:03
We use our sin as a heavyweight to hold down the truth that is
33:07
screaming at us from every sunset, every mountain range,
33:10
and the internal testimony of our own conscience.
33:13
We just refuse to look at. It we hold it underwater because
33:15
we do not want to submit to the one who made us.
33:18
And verse 22 describes the psychological result of that
33:20
suppression. Professing to be wise, they
33:24
became fools. There is an interesting
33:26
grammatical note there. Yeah, the notes point out a
33:28
concessive participle here. Although they profess to be
33:31
wise, despite their claims of high intellect, their advanced
33:35
philosophy, and their societal sophistication, they are engaged
33:39
in absolute absurdity. And that absurdity reaches its
33:42
peak in verse 23. This is one of the most tragic
33:45
and brilliant linguistic moments in the entire text.
33:48
Paul says they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God
33:51
for an image in the form of corruptible man.
33:54
The Greek words here are afartos for incorruptible and thartos
33:58
for corruptible. The phonetic similarity is
34:00
unmistakable. Athakos fit those.
34:03
They sound almost identical. You can hear the word play in
34:06
the Greek. Paul is using the sound of the
34:07
words to mock the sheer stupidity of idolatry.
34:10
It highlights how foolish it is. You had the F artists, the
34:13
immortal, infinite, unfading, undecaying creator of the
34:17
cosmos, and you traded him for the Sartos, something that rots,
34:21
decays, and eventually turns to dust.
34:23
What a terrible trade. This is a direct allusion to
34:26
Psalm 106 where the text says Israel traded the glory of God
34:29
for the image of a grass eating ox.
34:32
We read about ancient people carving statues out of wood or
34:35
stone, and we think of idolatry as an ancient primitive mistake.
34:40
We think we are past that. Yeah, we think we have outgrown
34:43
it with our technology and our modern sensibilities, but
34:46
framing it as trading the immortal for the decaying makes
34:50
it an incredibly modern problem. It applies perfectly today.
34:53
We might not carve wooden statues, but look at what we
34:56
worship. We worship youth and beauty,
34:59
which are actively decaying. We worship money which decays
35:02
due to inflation or market crashes.
35:04
We worship our careers. Exactly.
35:06
I mean spot on. We worship political might,
35:09
which is entirely subject to decay and shifting cultural
35:12
winds. We treat decaying things as if
35:15
they are immortal. We ask things that are rotting
35:18
to give us eternal security. And that is the essence of human
35:21
depravity. Our minds are so thoroughly
35:23
darkened by our active suppression of the truth that we
35:27
genuinely believe the decaying things will give us lasting
35:29
satisfaction. We trick ourselves.
35:31
We are bankrupting our souls to purchase ashes.
35:35
We look at the thartos, the infinite God who offers himself
35:38
to us, and we say no thank you. And we grasp desperately at the
35:41
thartos, the fleeting things that will slip through our
35:44
fingers the moment we die. When humanity makes that
35:47
terrible trade, what does God do?
35:51
This leads directly to God's response, the judgment.
35:54
The grammar here maps out a historical and societal
35:57
collapse. Verse 24 says Therefore God gave
36:01
them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity.
36:04
The notes show this is an allusion to Psalm 81 verse 12
36:07
where God says so I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to
36:10
follow their own devices. This concept of God giving them
36:13
over is terrifying. It really is.
36:15
We often think of God's wrath as him actively striking people
36:18
down with lightning bolts or sending immediate, catastrophic
36:21
judgment. Like a fire and brimstone event.
36:23
Right, but the text reveals a different kind of wrath.
36:27
It is a wrath of abandonment. Just letting go.
36:30
God simply removes the restraints.
36:32
He stops striving with the rebellious heart, steps back and
36:35
says you want to pursue your sin, you want to worship the
36:38
corruptible. I will let you have exactly what
36:41
you are asking for. I want to look at the grammar of
36:43
the next phrase because the notes show it is highly debated.
36:46
God gave them over to dishonor their bodies among themselves.
36:50
The infinitive. Yeah, the notes say that the
36:52
Greek infinitive to Adama's tie can be taken three ways, as an
36:56
infinitive of purpose, an infinitive of result, or an
36:59
explanatory infinitive. Those are very different
37:02
meanings. Let us think about the
37:04
difference between purpose and result here.
37:06
If it is an incentive of purpose, that degradation is
37:09
God's active goal in handing them over.
37:12
Right, like he is pushing them into it.
37:14
If it is an infinitive of result, the degradation is
37:17
simply the inevitable crash when the brakes are removed.
37:20
Think of a car parked on a steep hill.
37:22
Does God physically push the car down the hill or does he just
37:26
take his foot off the brake pedal?
37:28
Within a Reformed understanding of God's sovereignty and human
37:31
responsibility, the result view is incredibly compelling.
37:34
Cause the car wants to roll down anyway.
37:36
Yes, God does not need to inject fresh evil into the human heart
37:40
to cause degradation. The human heart is already a
37:43
factory of idols, as John Calvin famously said.
37:46
We manufacture our own ruin. When God removes the common
37:50
grace that restrains human wickedness, the inevitable
37:53
catastrophic result is that humans will dishonor themselves.
37:57
They will plunge down the hill the moment the brake is lifted.
38:00
Gravity does the work. Sin does the work.
38:03
They treated the truth of God for the lie, verse 25 says, and
38:07
this leads to verses 26 and 27 which detail the abandonment of
38:12
natural functions. This is where society starts to
38:15
fracture. The Greek term cresis is used
38:17
here, which the lexicon defines strictly as sexual relations.
38:21
The text describes males and females abandoning natural
38:24
creases for that which is contrary to nature and burning
38:27
with intense desire for one another.
38:28
It is important to note how objectively the grammatical
38:31
notes handle this Hall is diagnosing the societal symptoms
38:35
of a theological disease. Cause and effect.
38:37
When a culture rejects the Creator, when they fundamentally
38:40
flip the vertical axis of worship, exchanging God for the
38:44
creature, the horizontal axis of human relationships inevitably
38:48
flips as well. The whole structure tilts.
38:51
The abandonment of the Creator's design for worship leads
38:54
directly as a symptom to the abandonment of the Creator's
38:57
design for human flourishing and physical relations.
39:00
It is a direct chain of cause and effect presented in the
39:03
grammar. You cannot unmor the ship from
39:06
the dock and expect it to stay in the harbor.
39:08
Because they did not approve to have God in their knowledge,
39:11
verse 28 says God gave them over to a reprobate or disqualified
39:15
mind to do the things that are improper.
39:18
The mind itself becomes broken. And this triggers a massive
39:21
shift in the text. Verse 29 moves from the phrase
39:24
having been filled to a rapid fire list of specific actions.
39:28
This is known as a vice list. These are intense to read
39:30
through. The notes provide excellent
39:32
context here. Vice lists were actually very
39:35
common in the New Testament. We see them in Galatians 5 and
39:37
First Timothy 1, and they're also common in intertestamental
39:40
literature like the Wisdom of Solomon chapter 14.
39:43
The structure of a vice list is designed to overwhelm the
39:46
reader. It feels like an avalanche.
39:48
Paul is piling up the evidence. He lists malice, envy, murder,
39:53
strife, deceit. He calls them gossips,
39:56
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful,
40:00
inventors of evil, disobedient to parents.
40:02
It just keeps going. He uses a string of terms that
40:05
translate to foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless, or, as the
40:09
translation notes render it, promise Breakers.
40:12
That covers basically every area of life.
40:14
He is demonstrating that the rejection of God does not just
40:17
lead to a few isolated bad habits.
40:19
It leads to a comprehensive fracturing of the human soul and
40:23
the collapse of all social order.
40:25
Every sphere of life, from the public square to the private
40:28
home, is poisoned by the initial rejection of the F Thardis God.
40:32
Which brings us to the devastating conclusion of the
40:34
chapter in verse 32. The bottom of the spiral.
40:37
Paul says although they know the ordinance of God that those who
40:41
practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the
40:44
same but also give hearty approval to those who practice
40:48
them. It is chilling.
40:49
I want to leave you with a final thought to Mull over.
40:52
Drawing strictly from this progression in verse 32, the
40:55
translation notes highlight a terrifying 3 step escalation of
40:59
human rebellion. Walk us through those three
41:01
steps. First, there is the intellectual
41:03
reality, knowing God's decree, knowing that these actions lead
41:07
to death. Second, there is the behavioral
41:10
reality ignoring the decree and committing the acts anyway.
41:13
And the third step is even worse.
41:15
Yeah, the third step is the absolute bottom of the downward
41:18
spiral, actively approving of others who do them.
41:21
Why is mutual approval places the ultimate peak of human
41:24
rebellion? That is a great question.
41:26
Does creating a Society of mutual approval insulate us from
41:30
the guilt of the corruptible things we just discussed?
41:34
It suggests that the climax of human rebellion isn't just the
41:36
sinful action itself. It is the desperate desire to
41:40
rewrite the moral rules entirely and to applaud others for
41:44
following the new script. If everyone else is doing it, we
41:47
feel justified. Right, if we can get everyone
41:49
around us to clap for the decay, maybe we won't hear the
41:51
crumbling of our own foundations.
41:53
Think about that as you review the sources for yourself.
41:56
Thank you for joining this deep dive into the source material.