Ears to Hear, Feet to Follow

Romans 1:5

Packed inside the tiny verse Romans 1:4, we saw the powerful doctrine of Jesus Christ; both His humanity and His deity. Now, in verse 5, Paul turns our attention to the provision of Jesus Christ. The verse starts with the preposition dia (when used with the genitive pronoun, “whom” referring back to Jesus Christ in verse 4), means “through”. It is through the provision and power of Jesus Christ that the following provisions are made to the believers Paul is writing to.
“Through Jesus Christ we received”. “Received” is a first person, plural, 2nd aorist, active, indicative. Let’s break it down:
1st person plural – we/us meaning inclusively, followers of Jesus Christ.
2nd aorist – tells of a single action that took place in the past
active – tells that the subject is doing the action (receiving). It is us being receptive.
indicative – tells that the verb is expressing a fact. Truth. Not a possibility or probability. Not a wish or desire, but actuality.
The important thing is that we received it; we did not take it, or earn it, or deserve it. We received this thing from the Lord. So what exactly did we receive?

Grace and apostleship. They are both in the accusative case, meaning they are the direct object of received. Grace - God’s grace did it all!! (see 1 Cor. 15:10 and Gal. 2:9). Apostleship – the word stello means “to arrange, set in order, to prepare” with the prefix appo, which is a preposition of separation, translated “from”. Put together, the meaning is “to order on to depart, to send away”.

Then the prepositional phrase that is translated “for obedience of faith”, when used with the accusative, shows purpose. These things (grace and apostleship) were received for the purpose of, or to bring about ….

Obedience. Love this word!! Hupakoane comes from akouoh which means, “to hear” and the preposition hupo, which means “under”. The word literally means to “put your hearing under”. Put your hearing under the persuasion of God. I love that!! It reminds me of Romans 12 where it talks about the renewing of your mind. This deliberate putting your hearing under the influence of God’s Truth and the Holy Spirit’s persuasion.

Of faith. This word is in the genitive case showing the origin. The origin of obedience is faith. Pistis means” to persuade”. God has persuaded us to put our hearing under His influence. He remakes us from the inside out. Spiritual, mental, and emotional regeneration (done by Him/His provision) which will be manifest in the physical realm as well.

Bury my hearing in the heartbeat of Jesus, to be propelled into motion by the Spirit of God, for the glory of the Father!!!