A lost post

Romans 1:8

“Indeed I give thanks first to the God of me through Jesus Christ on behalf of all of you because the faith of you is being announced in the whole world.”

What’s interesting here is the cause or reason for Paul’s giving thanks. The conjunction “because” is dependent on the context. It is expressing the reason for something. Paul is thankful that the faith of them is being announced in the whole world.

Faith. This is a concept that I am only just beginning to grasp. Pistos (faith) comes from the word peitho (to persuade). I wrote previously about faith (being persuaded) that God will do and act according to what He has promised. It is all God, saying something, and doing it, exactly the time and place and way He intended to do it. The Spirit of God gives us the faith to believe that He will do it. That is faith-being persuaded. Faith is the presence and activity of God’s Spirit, NOT the believer’s works. Galatians 5:22……….. Faith is, being persuaded by God. I think of the old hymn:
“But I know whom I have believed,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day”

Is being announced. This is a great word!! Katangelos is the word angelos (a messenger, or angel) with the prefix kata (a preposition meaning according to, after or against.). Actually, this is interesting because, when you put certain prepositions in front of this word, it changes the meaning. For example, if you put the preposition pro in front of angelos, the word means “to announce beforehand”. The preposition ana in front of the same word changes the meaning to “to bring back news”. Our preposition kata, makes the word mean “to spread out news, up and down”. Paul is saying that the Roman’s faith was being announced throughout the whole world. It was spreading, like a first century facebook message, or tabloid headline. I hear excitement and wonder in Paul’s tone.

The phrase that Paul uses here, “ in the whole world” is a hyperbolic statement. Paul uses them occasionally, and they were very common to ancient Romans and Jews. A hyperbolic statement is an exaggerated phrase or colloquialism. When someone is overweight, a hyperbolic statement would be, they are “bigger than a house”.


Romans 1:9

“For the witness of me is the God whom I serve in the spirit of me, in the gospel of the son of Him.”

Previously we looked at how Paul referred to himself as a slave to Christ (vs.1). When Paul makes reference to “the God whom I serve”, he does not use the same Greek word dulos (slave), but rather the word patris (meaning to serve; to hire for public service). In the New Testament, the word patris is always used to make reference to religious service, specifically, the function of the priest.

The last part of the verse is two prepositional phrases, which I find extremely fascinating. The first is, “in the spirit of me”. This is the preposition en which is in the dative case, signifying location, or sphere. Paul is going out of his way to point out the fact that this “service” is taking place, not in his flesh, but in his spirit! This was revolutionary for the Jewish community, for the Hellenistic Jews, and for the Gentiles. Can you imagine a religion that is not based on works? I doubt they could have.

John 4:23-24 says, “But the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The word worship means "to bow down and kiss the hand". It is an act of submission. Or should I say, it is a heart attitude made manifest in worship.

John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” God’s spirit is the only on that produces spiritual things. Flesh can only produce flesh. Spirit can only produce spirit. That’s why Jesus’ words to Nicodemus were so revolutionary. We are physically born of the flesh in the flesh. The only way we can be born of the spirit is in and by the Spirit!!

Philippians 3:3, “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh…”. The emphasis here is on the spiritual “religion”, not the fleshly religiosity produced by man’s efforts.

The next phrase, “in the gospel of the son of Him” give us Paul’s area of service. The gospel is all about Jesus, the Son of God. It is not about us. Not about Satan, Not about bad things happening to good people or good things happening to bad people. Not about our worth in Christ. The gospel, the good news is Christ. Him crucified and risen. Everything Paul does and says is only within the confines of Christ. The gospel is the tabernacle in which he serves as a priest.

As believers, everything important and substantial happens in our spirit. It is where the Spirit dwells and functions. Because of His work in our spirit, we have a holy calling to serve within the gospel of Christ. What does that look like? Is it like an electric collar that zaps us every time we step out of the perimeter of the gospel and into the ugly world? No. Look at Paul’s life. He was a tentmaker. He worked for a living, but he was always functioning (in his spirit) under the influence of the gospel of Christ.

Oh, I wish I were so propelled, in every menial task, by such a deep and strong love for the gospel, that it all counted for eternity and nothing would be burned up (like wood, hay, and stubble. see 1 Cor.3: 12-15)!!! God, raise up your Spirit in my spirit, to love, joy, and peace!!!

The Law and Dressing a Chicken

Matthew 5:17-20: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teadhes them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

We are studying through the book of Matthew and this week we were discussing what Jesus said in chapter 5:17-20. Particularly the portion where Jesus said He came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Discussion abounded on this point and we were all wrestling to understand what exactly that meant. Just what was the Israelite perception of “the law”? What was Jesus talking about when he referred to the law? One thing is for certain; He was not referring to the volumes of laws the Pharisees added to Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

I remember capturing a glimpse of this while teaching my kids. Many years ago we were reading and studying through Matthew in our Bible lessons. We were talking through the Beatitudes, what it meant to be salt and light, and this portion about Jesus and His relation to the Law. Coincidentally, one of the children was reading a second grade reader called Amelia Bedelia. In the book, the protagonist Amelia is characterized by taking people literally, leading her into some very humorous predicaments. One scene in particular, Amelia was told by her employer to dress the chicken for dinner. Amelia got lace and thread and fabric and made clothes for the chicken.

While reading through Matthew and discussing the Pharisees’ love and worship of the law the picture of Amelia Bedelia dressing the chicken came to my mind. The chicken represents the law. The Pharisees spent years dressing their chickens. They made such elaborate outfits with so many embellishments that after awhile you couldn’t even recognize the chicken underneath all the bling. Not only that but the whole purpose of the chicken was overlooked. It was intended for dinner, not adorning. Jesus comes, and in this section of Matthew, He takes off the embellishments and adornments, sticks His hand in the chicken, pulls out the entrails, and begins to skin it. Now the chicken is laid bare exposed and naked ready, for its purpose. And it is shocking to those who worshipped the dressed up chicken. I know the analogy is not the greatest, and at some point, it breaks down, but for our purposes, it was the amount of Truth that we could digest at the time.

It reminds me of Romans 1:25. “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen”