Latest / Scripture Central / Romans 7-16: New Testament with Lynne Wilson (Come, Follow Me)

Transcript

Romans 7-16: New Testament with Lynne Wilson (Come, Follow Me) · Scripture Central

0:00
Welcome back to Scripture Central.
0:02
I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson here excited to talk with you today
0:05
about the second-half of the book of Romans.
0:07
This wonderful pistol of Paul is one of his greatest treaties on
0:11
grace and the need for a balance between grace and works.
0:16
It's written as we remember when Paul was in Corinth, probably
0:19
during his third mission in the winter times of the winter of 57
0:23
to 58 AD. And if you want to go back and
0:25
look at some of the historical background for this, it falls in
0:28
the book of Acts, chapters 18 to 21.
0:31
Just as a reminder, the book of Romans has a few themes, the
0:35
redemption through Christ, not the Mosaic law, the plan of
0:39
salvation, and the justification by faith.
0:42
I mentioned last week that this is often referred to as a
0:44
diatribe, this argument between an opponent and he gives a
0:48
question and then he gives his answer and he gives a an
0:51
argument and then he explains that you know, but I I feel more
0:54
that his book is a development. Yes, it's a question, answer,
0:58
yes, it's a diatribe. But he develops this theory and
1:01
he continues to build on it. So you can't just take one or
1:05
two verses out of context. To me, the book of Romans is
1:08
very difficult to understand if you just take a verse out of
1:11
itself and try to state a theology by one verse, because
1:15
the whole verse is part of a beautiful Symphony of theology
1:20
and he's developing things and you have to have the notes in
1:23
reaction or else you misunderstand things.
1:25
It's like the old idea of looking at the elephant by the
1:28
tail or they're looking at the elephant by the trunk.
1:30
You know you're getting the whole wrong image.
1:32
You've got to look at the book of Romans in the whole way.
1:34
Another thing that's difficult about the Book of Romans is when
1:38
we assume that the King James translation is recording what
1:42
Paul intended. The Book of Romans I think
1:45
should be read in many different translations.
1:47
If we just look at the King James, we're getting a Reformed
1:49
tradition, people that believed in the Calvinistic thought of
1:54
only the elector saved, that all humanity are deprived, that the
1:58
atonement only affects a few who are saved.
2:01
You know, it's it's a very different interpretation than we
2:04
will if we look at many different translations,
2:06
especially the Joseph Smith translation.
2:09
The book of Romans though is the greatest treatise that we have
2:12
the need for both grace and works.
2:14
The word grace is mentioned 20% of the time in the book of
2:18
Romans and good works 30% of the times.
2:22
I mentioned earlier that there's going to be a lot of emphasis on
2:24
salvation 7 times he refers to salvation, 9 times to
2:28
justification, but 17 times to the grace of God.
2:32
And the reason why Paul does this so many times is because
2:35
the people that he's talking to, he says I'm talking to those
2:38
people who are immersed in the law, people who understood the
2:41
law of Moses. I think there's a lot of Jewish
2:43
converts that he's talking to in this text.
2:47
And he wants to explain to them that even though after the
2:51
Babylonian Exile and after the exile to Assyria, you know, for
2:55
600 years as the Israelites came back and spread all over the
2:59
Roman Empire, we have about 10% Jewish populations in many of
3:03
the big cities, and 20% of some of them, as they're dispersed
3:07
all over the place, they held onto their laws.
3:09
They developed these 10,000 oral Laws, and they said we can be
3:12
saved by complete obedience to the law.
3:15
And Paul is trying to say, no, it's not.
3:18
The micromanaging of these 10,000 Oral Laws are which Jesus
3:22
referred to as the traditions of the Jews.
3:24
It is our Savior. And he repeats over and over
3:28
again this need to come unto Christ.
3:30
It's a beautiful testimony that Jesus is our Redeemer.
3:35
Let's start with Chapter 7, Christ's power to change lives.
3:39
This is such a gift and I believe it all is stemmed around
3:43
the gift of repentance. He divides the chapter into 3
3:46
sections verses one to six. Our need to leave the deadness
3:50
of the old law 7 to 13, the relationship between sin and the
3:55
law. And then he concludes it verses
3:57
14 to 25 in this propensity of the flesh or our natural man to
4:02
sin. That it's part of humanity.
4:04
That we have this nature with a lot of Satanic influence.
4:08
That we have this natural man, that the flesh goes to things
4:11
that are needing to be controlled by God's laws,
4:14
needing to be directed by Christ teachings, needing to be held
4:18
into the bounds that the Lord requires.
4:21
He also refers to the need for Christ to change our sinful
4:24
nature into the nature of man. He calls it a child of Christ.
4:27
It sounds to me a lot like King Benjamin's sermon.
4:30
These sections in Chapter 7, Chapter 7, verse one I'm going
4:34
to read from the NIV translation because that's the one that
4:36
always gets the gender right. Brothers and sisters, I am
4:39
speaking to those of you who know the law.
4:42
He's referring to the Law of Moses.
4:44
And then in verse five to seven he jumps down and says, when we
4:47
were in the flesh and the motions of sin that were in us
4:50
by the law did work into our members to bring forth fruit
4:53
unto death. Well, Joseph Smith completely
4:56
changes that. He adds not according I think
5:00
this is so helpful. Many times the changes in the
5:03
book of Romans by the Joseph Smith completely changed the
5:06
meaning to the opposite meaning. It's very important to either
5:09
look at your index or your footnotes or a different
5:13
translation. I like the height and version of
5:15
the Joe Smith translation because I can see which words
5:17
were crossed out otherwise. Online we have the Joseph Smith
5:20
translation at the Joseph Smith Papers and also at our different
5:23
websites. But now we're delivered from the
5:25
law. And then he took out that being
5:28
death and adds being dead to the law, that we should serve the
5:33
newness of the spirit, not in the oldness of the letter.
5:37
See, that was the problem. They wanted to live the letter
5:39
of the law. They were trying very hard to
5:42
live exactly how many steps they had to count, where they could
5:45
spit on the Sabbath, what they could do on any other day, you
5:48
know, how many days apart they could.
5:51
You know, it was just tragic the way that they manipulated these
5:54
little micromanaged the law. So then he adds at the end of
5:59
verse seven, what shall we say then?
6:01
Is the law sin? God forbid.
6:04
And he repeats that 10 times in this book.
6:07
He's never suggesting that we live without God's law.
6:11
He's just suggesting that we live without these traditions,
6:14
these Oral Laws that completely confined and restricted the
6:19
ability to see Christ. It didn't.
6:22
The Law was to lead us to Christ.
6:24
But the Oral Laws took us away from the Messiah, and so he's
6:27
he's condemning that. Do you remember in King
6:29
Benjamin's sermon when it refers to the natural man as an enemy
6:32
to God? That was Mosiah 319.
6:35
If you can read the book of Romans and insert the natural
6:38
man every time you read flesh or sin, I think you'll get a better
6:42
feel for what he's talking about.
6:44
I think the book of Romans is often misunderstood by many
6:47
Christians to talk about the depravity of man, to justify the
6:51
fact that humanity is born wicked.
6:54
We are sinful, we are naturally sinful, and without Christ we
6:57
cannot be saved. You know part of that is right,
7:00
but part of it is wrong. We are told in the Book of
7:03
Mormon, Ronai chapter 8, Mormon is speaking and he says the
7:07
Atonement of Jesus Christ covers children.
7:10
We are not born sinful, we are born sinless and we begin to
7:16
sin. But by the time we are
7:18
accountable for our sins, we need to repent daily in fact
7:22
according to our prophet and yield unto the spirit so that we
7:26
become purified through the atonement of Jesus Christ.
7:30
In Romans Chapter 7, verse 14 we've got some great Joseph
7:33
Smith translations. And on my slides and on my
7:35
handouts I always put the Joseph Smith translations in red.
7:38
And I show you the cross outs of what he does on the others.
7:40
So it helps to see what it used to say and the enormous
7:44
doctrinal changes that Joseph makes here.
7:46
Initially it said for we know the law is spiritual.
7:49
Joseph changes that and says, but we know that the commandment
7:53
is spiritual. And then he also adds, when I
7:56
was under the law, I was yet carnal, sold under sin.
8:00
And that's a complete change, you know, before it said, but I
8:04
am carnal, sold under sin. You know, it's this idea of the
8:06
depravity of man, this Reformed tradition that was augmented by
8:11
Calvin. But actually it was introduced
8:13
by Saint Augustine back in the 3rd century.
8:17
And so it filtered through, and it's a lot of the Greek
8:19
philosophy of the time. So Paul's audience is well aware
8:23
of this Greek philosophy that anything physical is sinful and
8:26
anything spiritual is of God. That's a very wellknown
8:30
Neoplatanist kind of Roman and Greek philosophy that had
8:34
infiltrated into Christianity by the 3rd and 4th and 5th
8:37
centuries. Here's another Joseph Smith
8:39
translation in 715, Joseph Smith added.
8:43
But now I am spiritual for that which I am commanded to do, I do
8:49
it said exactly the opposite in the King James, and Joseph
8:52
continues to add. And that which I am commanded
8:55
not to allow, I allow not. So he's saying now that we're
8:58
Christians, we can obey the Spirit, he continues.
9:02
On the King James says for what I would that I do not, and Jonas
9:06
Smith crosses at that out and says for what I would know is
9:10
not right, I would not do for that which is sin I hate.
9:17
And before Paul said that which is sin I hate and I do it, it
9:20
was just exactly the opposite. I'm so grateful for the King
9:24
James translation and other good English translations that help
9:27
rectify some of those changes. When in verse 22 to 23, Paul
9:31
continues on to talk about the challenge of the inward man,
9:34
which I'm referring to as the natural man.
9:36
I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see
9:40
another law in my members meaning my flesh or my natural
9:44
man that wars against the law of my mind and brings me into
9:48
captivity. A wonderful sermon that was
9:51
given by Elder Holland when he was president of Brigham Young
9:54
University on this very verse. And he quoted these two verses.
9:57
And then he added, too often we are in servitude to our own
10:02
bodies. I don't just mean the dramatic
10:05
sins, anger that leads to a murder or passion that leads to
10:09
sexual transgression or the lust that leads to theft.
10:12
There are more common kinds of bondage than these.
10:16
The war in our body of someone who's a little overweight that
10:19
makes him huff and puff by the time he gets the top of the
10:22
stairs, or the war of the mattress on our back that
10:26
sometimes we can't shake in the morning so we miss those
10:30
precious, most inspirational hours of the day.
10:34
All these are restricted to the freedom if we don't control
10:38
them. But of course, certain
10:40
limitations are sometimes beyond our control.
10:44
God has given disciples power to control the natural man through
10:49
the power of his Spirit, and I believe this is what Paul is
10:53
getting to. If we can follow the Spirit, if
10:56
we can become a child of Christ through his atonement, we then
11:01
can be freed from this natural man.
11:03
We can have the the desire to wake up and to serve the Lord
11:08
and to seek His wisdom and streties in the scriptures and
11:11
to immerse ourselves in his word.
11:13
I think that's what he's asking us to do.
11:16
The next chapter, Roman 8, speaks of God's spirit and the
11:19
ability to love all people. You know before the Law of Moses
11:23
was saying we are God's elect and the Gentiles are unclean.
11:27
And now in Christianity says no. All can be adopted into the
11:31
tribes of Israel, all can be of God, all can give their selves
11:35
to service of our Creator. He divides this into six
11:38
sections. He starts about the Spirit and
11:40
verses one through 4:00 and then the natural man versus the being
11:43
of God and verses 5 through 13. Verses 14 to 17 talks about the
11:48
regenerative powers of the spirit or the cleansing powers
11:51
of the Spirit. And then he moves to verses 18
11:53
to 27 on the ideas that all creation anticipates the
11:58
redemption and the glory of God. And then he concludes in these
12:01
last two sections, verses 26 to 30, God has called us to share
12:06
in his glory. And in chapter 8, verse 31 to 39
12:10
he gives this beautiful hymn and it's a praise of who can
12:14
separate us from the love of God.
12:15
That is probably the most well known verses in all of the book
12:18
of Romans. But especially in Romans chapter
12:20
8 he starts out in verse two making this beautiful parallel
12:24
between the law of the Spirit and life in Christ.
12:28
He says for the law of the Spirit, of the life of Christ
12:32
Jesus has made me free. This parallelism between what
12:37
the Spirit can do and if we live the law of Christ and his life,
12:42
then the law of the spirit can work in harmony with a lifestyle
12:46
that is in keeping with a disciple.
12:48
He then attacks the human nature or this idea that we are
12:52
inherently evil. Now in the King James, it sounds
12:56
as if he's trying to say we are inherently evil.
12:59
But the Joseph Smith translation changes it in verse 8 to read
13:03
they that are after the flesh cannot please God.
13:07
And he also repeats the same thing in Galatians and 1st
13:09
Corinthians, and we'll talk about that later when we get to
13:11
those. But he's talking about children
13:14
of Christ being spiritually begotten.
13:16
And I like this translation of the English standard version.
13:19
It's a little more literal and it's a little more consistent, I
13:22
believe, with the Greek text says in Chapter 8, verse 15, you
13:26
did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
13:31
the spirit of adoption. You know, we are all adopted
13:34
into Christ. He wants us to become part of
13:36
his Kingdom, and he needs us to serve him.
13:40
And as adopted children of Christ, we are to serve him.
13:43
That was part of their culture. He doesn't have to say those
13:47
words because if we're adopted, that means we're children, we're
13:49
heirs, and we then will serve our father.
13:52
The Prophet Joseph Smith spoke on these verses and he said
13:55
every person who embraces the gospel becomes the House of
13:59
Israel. In other words, they become
14:01
members of the tone of his lineage of Abraham's children.
14:05
He skips down a little bit and he says the great majority of
14:09
those who become members of the Church are literal descendants
14:12
of Abraham through Efrium, the son of Joseph.
14:14
Those who are not literal descendants of Abraham and
14:17
Israel must become such. And when we are baptized and
14:20
confirmed, we are grafted into that tree and are entitled to
14:26
all the rights and privileges as heirs.
14:30
This is the blessing of adoption.
14:33
This is the Bliptism of baptism. This is the blessing of living
14:37
our covenants that we become heirs with Christ.
14:40
Verse 17 then turns the next subject about being a Co heir
14:44
and this is in the NIV translation.
14:46
Then we are heirs of God and Co heirs with Christ.
14:50
This idea is repeated by Paul. It's repeated again in the book
14:54
of Hebrews and Galatians and in the Doctrine Covenants.
14:58
I love it in the oath and covenant of the priesthood
15:00
section 84. He also refers to becoming a Co
15:03
heir in Christ. I want to continue on in the BSB
15:06
translation If Romans chapter 8, verse 18, our present sufferings
15:12
are not comparable to the glory that will reveal us in the air
15:15
after now Paul has gone through horrific sufferings.
15:18
By now, he's been stoned, he's been whipped, he's been
15:21
scourged, he's been shipwrecked. And we just have to look at
15:24
almost every prophet, and we can see a similar pattern in their
15:27
lives. Joseph and Liberty jail our
15:30
Savior, obviously on the cross, as well as the emotional torture
15:33
and the physical torture that preceded it.
15:35
But he's saying it's easy for me to endure these physical pains
15:38
because I know I believe I can trust God that whatever I have
15:44
to endure now, as far as persecution is concerned, will
15:47
be so much better in the life you're after.
15:49
And as we continue on in verse 23, he talks about the fruits of
15:53
the Spirit. Now this is in the English
15:55
standard version. And he says the fruits of the
15:57
Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption.
16:02
And we learn elsewhere in Galatians and Ephesians when he
16:05
talks about the fruits of the Spirit, that they include love
16:07
and joy and peace. And for people who said, you
16:10
know, I'm not feeling the Spirit, I think well, have you
16:12
ever been happy? Have you ever been able to have
16:15
an emotion that's an experience of the Spirit?
16:17
Those are the fruits of the Spirit.
16:19
And if you felt peace, that's the fruit of the Spirit.
16:23
And he says that we want to feel these, we want to feel this
16:27
connection with God when we can express those.
16:30
First 28 says all things work together for the good of them
16:34
that love God. And that doesn't mean that all
16:36
things, if you love God, are going to turn out well.
16:39
In fact, the Lord had to teach Joseph in Liberty Jail.
16:42
All things give you experience, and experience can be used for
16:46
your good if you humbly and weakly accept it.
16:49
So I feel like my hardships, Anything that's brought me to my
16:53
knees, my suffering, my my, my cancers, my blindness, my
16:58
children, whatever it is that brings me strain and pain.
17:02
When I take it to the Lord, when it takes me to my knees, it can
17:06
be used for my good. And then the Joseph translation.
17:09
The very next verse makes some changes again for him who did
17:14
for know. So this is talking about our
17:16
Savior Jesus Christ who had a far knowledge of all things.
17:19
He did predestinate to be confirmed to his own image and
17:25
Joseph Smith has made some changes there.
17:26
But interestingly he does not take out the word predestinate.
17:30
Now, in the King James Version, the word predestinate is
17:33
mentioned many, many times, and it was interpreted by the
17:36
Calvinist, who became the Reformed traditions of
17:39
Presbyterian and Congregationalist and Reformed
17:42
Baptist and Reformed Dutch. There's many traditions that
17:45
fall into that Reformed tradition.
17:47
They followed the Westminster Abbey, and I've spent many years
17:50
studying what this faith tradition believed.
17:53
And all five of their tenants were denounced by Joseph Smith.
17:58
All five were cut down in the Restoration.
18:00
In fact, the Book of Mormon talks about all of them and in
18:03
their traditions, predestinate means you could not choose your
18:07
behavior. You were either called to be the
18:09
elect or you were damned. However, Paul is not teaching
18:14
that, so Joseph is not necessarily saying don't look at
18:19
it from that perspective. Look at it from the perspective
18:21
of foreknowledge. And as we go through the book of
18:24
Romans, if you can just change that word to God's
18:27
foreknowledge, he's allowing us opportunities and he has plans
18:31
made for us, then it'll help your understanding of the
18:34
theology. I think the word predestinate in
18:37
Greek is put it on and it's not always translated predestinate.
18:41
In Acts chapter four, that same Greek word is used to say
18:44
determined before, and in First Corinthians the same Greek word
18:48
is used for ordained. So even though it's translated
18:53
predestinate here, we could put in the word determined before or
18:56
ordained like it is by the King James translators elsewhere.
18:59
But the Greek word means to define before or the boundaries
19:03
given before to determine before.
19:06
You know, it doesn't mean that there's no ability to change
19:09
that You're completely bound in a prison.
19:11
No, no, no, no. There's a lot of freedom.
19:13
Agency is the eternal principle of God.
19:16
That is not what he's been communicated here.
19:18
I want to just read some other translations of this word
19:21
predestinate that the King James uses.
19:23
I like the Phillips translation. It's not a literal translation,
19:26
but it's like the NIV. They use principle for
19:28
principle. They're trying to communicate it
19:30
in English. God in his foreknowledge chose
19:33
them to bear the family likeness of his son.
19:37
Isn't that beautiful? And the American standard
19:39
version for whom he for knew he also for ordained.
19:44
That's very consistent with the what the book of Abraham teaches
19:46
us in the CEV it reads. He has always known who his
19:52
chosen ones would be in the Jerusalem Bible, which is the
19:55
Catholic translation. They are the ones he chose,
19:59
especially long. And then one of the literal
20:03
translations that I like is the young literal translation, whom
20:06
he did for know, he also did for a point.
20:10
If you want to look at a lot of translations it wanted, I just
20:13
get on biblehub.com, I type in the verse and then you get 20
20:16
translations right there of that verse.
20:18
And it's a little easier to understand.
20:20
And you can click on the Greek or the Hebrew or whatever
20:23
Aramaic you know, and see what other translations read there
20:25
too. I mentioned this tradition of
20:28
the five major themes of the Reformed tradition, and just as
20:31
a review, I've talked about it earlier.
20:33
The Tulip is what they refer to it.
20:35
Total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement,
20:41
irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the Saints.
20:44
But they're all denounced shortly after that verse.
20:47
On predestinations we get to Romans 8, chapter 35 to 39 with
20:51
this beautiful hymn on Christ's love.
20:54
And we know the King James Version so well.
20:57
I'd also like to read the NIV just to hear it with new ears.
21:00
Who shall separate us from the love of God?
21:03
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine, or
21:06
nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are
21:11
more than conquers through him that loved us.
21:14
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels
21:19
nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
21:23
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
21:28
will be able to separate us from the love of God.
21:31
That is in Jesus our Lord. No outside sources can move
21:37
Christ's love. But many times in my life I
21:39
don't feel Christ's love. So what is separating me from
21:42
Christ is my sins. My wickedness can separate me
21:46
from Christ if I do not feel the Spirit.
21:49
There's something going on inside me, and sometimes it's
21:52
mental illness and sometimes it's medications.
21:55
When I was on chemo, I had a very hard time feeling the
21:58
Spirit. I had a hard time feeling
21:59
anything. It was pretty dangerous, but I
22:02
feel that my sins can take me to my knees, and repentance and
22:10
forgiveness can allow me to feel God's love again.
22:13
Whenever I need to feel God's love, I just bend on my knees
22:17
and plead for forgiveness. And most of the time, I feel so
22:22
much love again. Most of the time, when my
22:25
repentance is sincere and humble and meek, I feel the Lord's arms
22:31
around me and I feel an enormous outpouring of God's love.
22:36
It's such an amazing thing to be encouraged while being
22:39
corrected. As we move now to Chapter 9 in
22:42
Romans, the 1st 5 verses are Paul's lament about his fellow
22:47
Israelites that he's it from Benjamin, but the fellow kinsman
22:50
of they're called Jews at the time.
22:52
He's trying to explain in these first five verses that the
22:55
birthright of Israel is not enough.
22:57
We have got to live our covenants, he says in verse six.
23:00
They are not Israel, which are of Israel.
23:03
You think you're not all God's chosen people just because you
23:07
have that birthright. The the blue blood is not what
23:09
makes it. It's your heart, it's your
23:11
actions, it's your behaviors. And then he talks about the
23:14
generations before talking about Rebecca and Isaac.
23:17
You know the children, Isa And Jacoby says for the children
23:20
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil,
23:25
that the purpose or the purpose of God according to the election
23:29
might stand not the works, but of him that calleth.
23:34
We're not saved by what we're doing.
23:35
We're saved by Jesus Christ. He's trying to combat this
23:38
Jewish idea, that literal obedience to the micromanaging
23:42
10,000 oral laws is what's going to get us to heaven.
23:45
No, we need a Redeemer. And he's already bought us back.
23:50
He's already suffered for our sins.
23:52
He's already atoned for us. He's already paid the price.
23:56
We are only saved through the grace of God.
23:59
After all, we could do Verse 17 then says in the BLB tradition.
24:03
I love this when it's a very good literal translation.
24:06
He shows mercy to them whom he wants and he hardens whom he
24:11
wants. Now this is exactly coming from
24:14
this idea that God is in control and we are not allowed to remove
24:19
ourselves from him. That is not what he says in the
24:22
next few verses. So you've got to keep reading.
24:25
He says God does not act arbitrarily in verses 24 to 29,
24:29
and this just sounds so similar to the ideas that they had in
24:32
the Second Great Awakening. He gives 4 Old Testament quotes
24:35
now in verses 25 to 29, and they're all showing God's
24:38
foreknowledge. And he talks about real Israel
24:41
as those people who actually are living the covenant.
24:44
He quotes Hosha chapter 2 where he says I will call them to be
24:48
my people, which were not my people.
24:50
And he quotes Isaiah chapter one, verse nine, that there will
24:53
be a remnant save. That's also repeated by the way
24:55
in in Isaiah 10, verse 22. But as we move down to Romans
24:59
928, he says he will finish the work and cut it short in
25:03
righteousness. This is our hope as servants of
25:07
Jesus Christ that we can cut the calamities of the last days
25:12
short and righteousness. Our Prophet Joseph repeated this
25:15
in Missouri, That we can cut the traumas of the last days if we
25:18
would but serve him and completely live our covenants
25:22
with him. That once the bride, once the
25:24
Church, once the Saints, once Christians, once the followers
25:28
of Christ are living their covenants, then we can cut short
25:34
the calamities the last days. It has nothing to do with how
25:37
wicked the world did. It has to do with the
25:38
preparation of the Saints, we're told and even our own beloved
25:42
prophet have said recently the time is coming short.
25:46
So this is our hope. Chapter 10 verses one to five
25:49
talks about Israel's future. Salvation comes from faith in
25:54
Christ. In verse one it reads in the NIV
25:57
Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for you
26:02
is and then verse two. They have a zeal for God, but
26:06
not according to knowledge. This idea of zeal without
26:09
knowledge is something Joseph also spoke on and he's quoting
26:12
Romans when he was referring to this in a discussion with the
26:16
Relief Society Sisters and Eliza Ar Snows Handwriting is all
26:19
recorded in the Joseph Smith papers that you can access
26:21
online and read. This because Joseph saw so many
26:24
people who who wanted to help and were willing to help, but
26:27
without the right understanding their help went to the wrong
26:30
direction and they were doing things in the wrong way.
26:33
And we see this not only amongst our neighbors but in our own
26:36
lives. If we are not careful about
26:38
praying for the right things and humbly and meekly asking God,
26:43
what is the better and the best thing for me to pray for, what
26:46
is the better and best thing that I can serve you as rather
26:50
than haphazardly going forth? Verse three of chapter 10 reads
26:54
they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to
26:58
establish their own righteousness.
27:00
They have not submitted unto God.
27:03
This is very consistent, you know, if we aren't attending a
27:08
classroom with God, if we aren't going to the Scriptures as if it
27:11
was our lesson to learn from him every day, if we put our will
27:15
above God's will, we're we're going to be in trouble.
27:18
And Paul is warning all Christians about that challenge
27:21
As we continue on to verse 5 on, we want to read to you from the
27:24
Anchor Bible translation. The one who does these things
27:27
will find life in them. This goes back to Alma 32.
27:32
Faith is a seed, but we have to nurture it.
27:34
And if we do these things, if we seek our Savior and we submit
27:38
our will to God's laws, and if we submit our will to God's
27:42
Spirit, we can grow and we will find life.
27:45
And we can bear fruit through the Spirit as we serve God.
27:48
He now turns to faith. Chapter 10 verse six The Bob
27:52
translation reads, The righteousness of faith speaks
27:56
and I hope that our faith can beam through our eyes and that
28:00
it beams through our fingers and our legs that we walk by faith.
28:04
We act by faith. We speak by faith so that others
28:07
around us will know that we are Christians.
28:09
Verse 10, also in the Anchor Bible reads such faith of the
28:13
heart leads to the uprightness, such profession of the lips to
28:18
salvation. This is such great advice.
28:21
We want to profess our faith with our lips.
28:24
I just really appreciate those. I get in an Uber for a drive
28:28
some place and they immediately start talking about their faith.
28:31
I so admire people who jump in and and address their beliefs.
28:36
Moving on to Romans chapter 10, verse 13, He quotes Joel Joel
28:39
chapter 2, verse 32. Whosoever shall call upon the
28:43
name of the Lord shall be saved. He's talking about a temple text
28:47
here. If we're going to be calling him
28:48
on the name of the Lord, it's the same as the high priest
28:51
going before the veil where the high priest is able to pronounce
28:54
the name of the Lord. And when we call upon the name
28:57
of the Lord, we are figuratively going to the veil and talking
29:01
through God through the veil, as if we in prayer.
29:03
So this is a temple text coming from that period of time when
29:07
the temple was so important to the Christian tradition.
29:10
Continuing on in chapter 10, Romans 14, and then I'm going to
29:13
skip down the vert, 17 reads. How then shall we call on him
29:17
whom they shall not believe? Or how shall they believe?
29:20
On him whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear apart
29:24
from preaching? So then faith cometh by hearing
29:29
and hearing by the Word of God. He's calling these Roman Saints
29:33
to serve missions, to go out and preach the gospel, for every
29:36
member to be a missionary and to share their faith, to let the
29:40
word be known. Chapter 11 moves on to an
29:43
interesting analogy of the remnant of Israel is chosen by
29:48
covenant and is talking about this allegory of an olive tree.
29:52
He says in verse one Did God reject his people?
29:55
By no means. I am an Israelite, indeed a
29:58
descendant of Benjamin. That's when we find out which
30:00
tribe he's from. But his logic and discussion is
30:04
often misunderstood in Christianity because they start
30:06
with the view of understanding Romans through the perspective
30:10
of only the elector saved and we do not have agency and we the
30:14
atonement is limited. You know that that view of the
30:17
Tulip completely changes their understanding of the Law of
30:21
Moses. Verse six says if it's by grace,
30:24
then it is no more of works. But I mentioned earlier that 10
30:28
times in this letter he says, Does that mean we don't obey the
30:31
law? God forbid.
30:33
You know, he's just trying to differentiate between the 10,000
30:36
Oral Laws and Christ laws. He wants us to live by Christ
30:40
laws. Chapter 11, verse 13 to 14 in
30:42
the NIV, it reads, I am the apostle to the Gentiles in the
30:46
hope that I might somehow arouse my people.
30:50
Isn't this interesting? Sometimes when we're attacked or
30:52
when we think there's something wrong, it gets us activated to
30:55
study more. And he said, I think that if I
30:58
can preach the Gentiles, then the Israelites will also hear
31:03
the word and react and become stronger in their faith and
31:06
understand who their promised Messiah was.
31:09
It was Jesus of Nazareth. Continuing on now with the
31:13
allegory of the olive tree. In Romans Chapter 11, from
31:16
verses 11 to 24 he gives this analogy.
31:18
But I'm just going to start with verse 17 Here in some of the
31:20
branches were broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree,
31:24
we're grafted in among them, and with them partakers of the root
31:29
and the fatness of the olive tree, and you boast against the
31:31
branches. This is an interesting allegory
31:34
if we look at Jacob 5, or Zenus's allegory of the Olive
31:37
Tree with Paul. But there are many differences.
31:40
So in my chart and in my hand, and I've got them all written
31:42
out in charts and tables. Zenus has five trees.
31:45
Paul has one tree. The allegory in Jacob chapter 5
31:49
is all about the fruit, the desire for fruit, but in Paul's
31:53
allegory it's a desire for branches, and in Jacob 5 there's
31:57
a Lord of the vineyard, and in Paul's account there isn't.
32:00
But God is doing the grafting as we look throughout the Old
32:03
Testament. I don't know if you remember the
32:05
last time you read it through, but in Judges and Isaiah and
32:08
Hoshia we have many, many, many references to a vineyard and
32:12
olive orchard being grafted in and adopted tribes coming in.
32:16
And this analogy is saturated. The scriptures and we believe
32:19
that whether Zenus's allegory or one that predated Zenus has
32:23
filtered all through the thousands of years of biblical
32:26
history. In verse 29, the King James
32:29
Version reads for the gifts and calling of God are without
32:32
repentance. Now this is a negative
32:35
participle, but God will honor His side of the covenants.
32:38
I like the NIV better when it reads for God's gifts and his
32:43
call are irrevocable, so it's not without repentance.
32:47
But God has called you. Please honor your covenants.
32:52
Please hold to the rod. Keep your heart open and your
32:57
mind humble and meek to the Spirit's teachings.
33:01
Paul is not saying that there's irresistible grace and that only
33:04
the Saints can persevere. As I mentioned in those last two
33:07
steps of the Tulip, Paul is saying, our rejection of God
33:10
causes our imprisonment, not the other way around.
33:13
God is not limiting us. We are selfcentered.
33:18
Natural man is what is limiting us.
33:20
I'm so grateful for another witness.
33:22
The Book of Mormon completely turned this misunderstanding on
33:26
its head. 2nd Ephy 2 and 9 and Mosiah and Alma 42, you know,
33:31
they all addressed this issue. Joseph was able to get it right
33:36
before the church was organized. The Book of Mormon was
33:39
completely helped to reorganize this misunderstanding that
33:42
saturated, you know, we have about 90% of the Americans in
33:47
the early 18th century are following the reform tradition.
33:50
They are saturated in the theology and the Restoration
33:53
chops down every single one of their main tenants.
33:57
Chapter 11, verses 33 to 36, is a beautiful chiasmus, and I've
34:01
got it written out here on my slides, this beautiful praise of
34:04
God. He starts out, oh, the depths of
34:07
the riches of the wisdom of the knowledge of God.
34:08
And then that's repeated later on and he says next how
34:11
unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out.
34:15
Paul is such a gifted literary writer and his poetry in filled
34:19
with Old Testament scriptures. And the next one he quotes is
34:21
Leviticus 24, who has known the mind of the Lord.
34:25
And then the center of the chiasmus is from Isaiah chapter
34:28
40, verse 13. Or who has been his counselor?
34:32
Who has ever been given God that God should repay him, and from
34:36
him and through him and to him are all things.
34:39
That's Joe chapter 41. And then he ends to him be glory
34:43
forever. Amen.
34:45
So he, he has these beautiful mosaics of Old Testament
34:48
scripture that he pieces together in poetry and in a
34:51
chiastic form. You know, he is so well trained
34:54
in writing. You know, I think he's probably
34:56
the Neoli Maxwell of the early church.
34:58
Now, we have a lot of Christian commandments.
35:01
In Romans chapter 12 to 15, he introduces 50 commandments that
35:06
he wants us to live. And he talks about living by
35:08
sacrifice and our conduct and our relationship to God.
35:12
And I just want to remind you that if we just look at those
35:14
few verses that says then are we saved by works?
35:17
No, it's by grace that we're saved.
35:19
And yet as the development of his of his thesis grows, he has
35:26
50 commandments that he introduces here.
35:29
Sector 12 starts out with this relationship between the Jewish
35:31
law and the Christian gospel. You know, the the law is to lead
35:36
us to Christ's love, he says in verse one.
35:39
Brothers and sisters, this is of course the NIV.
35:41
In view of God's mercy, offer your bodies now in the Y
35:45
Mountain New Testament, it reads.
35:47
Present your faculties to him. But going back to the NIV, it
35:51
says as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
35:55
This is your true and proper worship.
35:58
And I also love the King James there that says this is your
36:01
true service. Our worship should be service
36:04
and our service should be worship.
36:06
The two are interchangeable there.
36:08
Continuing on in verse 14, he says blessed are those who
36:10
persecute you. Do you recognize that from the
36:13
Beatitudes, Paul quotes the Old Testament.
36:15
He quotes the Savior. I think the records were
36:18
available now that people who are later converts, like Paul
36:21
are able to have Christ teachings, especially the Sermon
36:24
on the Mount. His most important sermon is all
36:27
throughout Paul's epistle we so that suggests that the writings
36:29
were already being circulated from our Savior.
36:32
Continuing on now, in verse 16, he says live in harmony,
36:36
continuing down a little ways. Be of the same mind one toward
36:39
another. If your enemy is hungry, feed
36:42
them and overcome evil with good is verse 21.
36:45
You know all these beautiful statements from our Savior.
36:48
As we move now to chapter 13. He talks about this need to
36:51
respect authority and the 1st 7 verses are one little unit.
36:54
He starts out in chapter 13, verse one with a Joseph Smith
36:57
edition. That's very important.
36:59
Let every soul be subject unto the righteous powers, for there
37:02
is no power in the church but of God.
37:05
So he's saying follow the prophet.
37:08
He's not saying there's no power.
37:10
He's not saying Caesar is of God.
37:12
He's not saying, you know you're Roman leaders or you're Jewish
37:17
leaders of God. He's saying the church is being
37:19
directed by God, it's Christ. Church verse six is also Joseph
37:24
Smith translation. And instead of saying Peggy
37:26
tribute, he says pay your consecrations and unto them for
37:32
they are God's ministers. He's talking about citizenship
37:35
in the church, a heavenly citizenship.
37:37
You know, this is the Roman Empire.
37:39
He's talking to Romans. He's talking about people who
37:41
wear their toga, who who don't have to pay taxes, who live off
37:44
other people's. You know, he's talking about
37:46
Nero. Actually, the time that this
37:48
letter is being written, Nero is the Caesar.
37:50
He's saying no, no, no, no, no, no.
37:52
I'm not saying that Nero was righteous.
37:54
I'm saying follow your leaders in the church.
37:58
Although I do have to say one good thing about Nero about this
38:00
time. He said taxation across the
38:02
empire is out of control and we do need to control it.
38:05
So there's a little bit of of history for that one as well.
38:08
Verse eight of Romans 13 reads, Oh no, man, anything but love
38:13
one another. The RSV reads, leave no debt,
38:17
Outstanding. You know, we've got to be
38:19
financially responsible for ourselves.
38:21
And he continues on in verse 10 of the New Jerusalem Bible.
38:26
Love can cause no harm to your neighbor.
38:29
So love is the fulfillment of the law.
38:32
And you remember the first half of the 10 commandments all refer
38:37
to loving God. Thou shalt have no gods before
38:41
me. And and don't take the Lord's
38:43
name in vain and keep this up and they hold, you know, all
38:45
those are loving God. And then the last half, starting
38:48
from obeying your parents and not killing and committing
38:51
adultery and stealing and coveting, you know, all of those
38:54
talk about loving your neighbor. So he's saying that love is the
38:58
fulfillment of the law. And of course Christ introduced
39:01
the higher law, which is to love as he loved.
39:04
And that's I think, what Paul is trying to teach here.
39:07
Romans chapter 13 versus 11 and 12.
39:09
Continue on. It is high time to awake out of
39:12
sleep skipping a little bit and let us put on the armor of
39:16
light. Skipping down to verse 14.
39:19
Clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think
39:24
about how to gratify and desire the flesh.
39:27
You know later on he's going to talk about the armor of God in
39:29
Ephesians 4:00 and 6:00 and in Galatians he'll talk about
39:32
clothing yourself in the Lord. But remember, the word clothes
39:35
is to endow or to end do. And part of our covenants are
39:39
that we take upon ourselves the name of Christ.
39:42
And in all everything we do throughout the day, we do it in
39:45
the name of Christ. Whether we're eating a meal,
39:49
whether we're going to work, we dedicate that time and we ask
39:53
for God's blessing on it. I love the image of putting on
39:58
the name of Christ every day, and in everything we do, asking
40:02
it to be done in the name of Christ.
40:04
I think this will allow us to. Have the same kind of feelings
40:09
that we people do on their missions when they are living
40:11
100% to follow our Savior. Chapter 14 moves ahead to strive
40:16
for the unity of the church. There's a lot of fractions
40:20
between the Gentile converts and the Roman converts.
40:23
Do you remember before Nero we have Claudius as the Caesar, and
40:26
Claudius, when he was serving between 41 and 54, Got so fed up
40:30
with the arguments between the Jews and the Christians that he
40:33
asked all of them to leave. He said everybody's out of Rome.
40:37
We talked a little bit about that in the book of Acts, but we
40:39
found a statement from this time period that's recorded in the
40:42
Anchor Bible that says as the Jews were making constant
40:46
disturbances as the instigation of 1 Christos, he expelled them
40:51
from Rome. Claudius is deporting all the
40:54
Jews came because of the arguments between the
40:57
Christians. And so Paul is saying, hey, hey,
41:00
hey, hey, hey, no contentions, let's jump in with chapter 14,
41:04
verse one. And I'd like to read it from the
41:06
NIV translation, except the one whose faith is weak without
41:10
quarrelling over disputable matters.
41:12
I feel like this is so applicable to our day and age,
41:15
where contention is such a problem and our beloved prophet
41:18
has asked us get rid of the contention within.
41:22
I find that every time there's a source of contention, I try to
41:25
set a goal to say I'm going to do it again by the end of the
41:27
month, or I'm going to do it again by the time I partake of
41:29
the Sacrament. I've got to come at peace with
41:31
this. He continued in on with this
41:33
theme in the last chapter. Do you remember?
41:35
In chapter 13 he said him that Edith despise him, that Edith
41:39
not one day was more sacred to another.
41:41
That's 13-5 and 1310 said, why dost thou judge thy brother?
41:45
You know he's just fed up with all the contention that's going
41:48
on chapter 14. He continues on in verse 15 and
41:51
20. If your brother or sister is
41:53
distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in
41:57
love. This is the MIV translation.
41:59
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.
42:03
Allow people to have their agency.
42:05
Allow people to believe what they believe.
42:08
But we need to be beings who are seeking the gifts of charity,
42:12
seeking the gifts of long-suffering and patience and
42:16
gentleness and meekness and kindness and love unfeigned.
42:20
Verse 17 says in the BSB, the Kingdom of God is not a matter
42:24
of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in
42:29
the Holy Spirit. And when I feel the Spirit, I
42:33
feel joy. It's not ecstatic happiness, It
42:37
is a peaceful feeling of joy. I can feel joy in the hardest
42:41
times because I am linked to my Savior.
42:44
In fact, sometimes during the hardest times is when I feel the
42:47
Savior's love. The best.
42:49
Chapter 15 begins by encouraging us to follow Christ's example
42:53
versus one to seven in our unit, and it starts out in verse one.
42:57
We then, that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the
43:00
weak and not to please ourselves, skipping down to
43:03
verse 3 For even Christ please not himself.
43:06
You know, we see this over and over as our Savior became the
43:09
servant, the suffering servant in the Last Supper, and the
43:12
Suffering servant in Gethsemane and on the cross as he atone for
43:15
us. As we continue on in the same
43:17
chapter, verses 8 to 13 talks about our conduct with our
43:20
neighbors to minister to the Gentiles.
43:23
Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's
43:26
truth so that the promise might be confirmed.
43:30
And the KJV it says ministers of this circumcision and I thought
43:34
that was confusing. This circumcision is another
43:36
word for covenant, so that's why I used this NIV translation.
43:39
There the promises might be confirmed.
43:41
I think is what he's talking about because Paul is making
43:43
this translation from talking about the Jewish Christians to
43:47
now moving on to talking about the Gentile Christians, chapter
43:50
15 of the NLT reads. I pray that God, the source of
43:54
hope, will fill you completely. Here's another translation, the
43:58
NLT of chapter 15, verse 14. He's reasoning you are full of
44:04
goodness. You know these things so well
44:07
that you can teach each other all things about them and I
44:11
should be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.
44:14
Jumping now down to verse 2070 also again uses this idea of of
44:17
material or carnal things. And so I'm going to read from
44:20
the NIV. The Gentiles have shared in the
44:23
Jews spiritual blessings. They've also shared with them
44:27
material blessings because they're living this law of
44:29
consecration. You know, they're sharing food,
44:31
they're helping each other, sharing money.
44:33
Now in chapter 15, verse 25, he says I can't come to you right
44:37
now. I've got to go to Jerusalem.
44:39
You know, I'm going to leave where I am right now in Corinth
44:42
or Ephesus. He's writing these letters.
44:45
I I got to come to you later, but I got to go to Jerusalem
44:47
now, And he then ends with all these greetings, and he has
44:52
greetings to so many people. Half of the names are Latin,
44:55
half of the names are Greek. And he knows Phoebe and he
44:59
commends her to the Saints in verse one.
45:02
And he knows Priscilla and Aquila, and he manages people to
45:06
be kind and to accept Timothy. He's sending Timothy his
45:09
coworker that's cleared down in 1621.
45:12
And then the fellow who's acting as the scribe says, hey, it's
45:15
me. Hi to some of you too.
45:17
I love you too. And then Paul and saying, and
45:20
it's my own handwriting right here.
45:21
I'll sign my my name to this. I've read it.
45:23
I've approved it. This is my letter.
45:25
And thus we end one of the greatest treatises on the gift
45:29
of grace that our Savior has given us in Scripture, but also
45:33
an epistle that is misunderstood many times.
45:36
I pray that you can be drawn closer to the Savior as you
45:39
study it prayerfully through the understanding and the gift of
45:43
the Restoration. In the name of Jesus Christ,
45:46
Amen.