Who can be Saved? (Romans 10:5-13)

The most important question that a person can ask is: “What must I do to be saved?” This is the question that was on the heart and mind of the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16). This young religious leader came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” It’s interesting that the first thing the Lord said to this young man was the truth of man’s total inability to do good because man isn’t good. “And He said to him, ‘Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good…’” (Matthew 19:17). This truth alone puts the possibility of obtaining the righteousness God requires out of the reach of fallen men. To show this young man his inability to inherit eternal life by the works of his own hands, the Lord said, “But if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17).

Notice the unusual response of the young ruler to the Lord – “Then he said to Him, ‘Which ones’” (Matthew 19:18)? Behind this question is the false notion that as long as ones partial obedience to the commandments outweighs his disobedience then God will be pleased. It’s the false notion that as long as my good outweighs my bad then God will grant me eternal life. This overlooks the truth that God’s Law and God’s holy nature requires perfect perpetual obedience and partial obedience is disobedience – “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). Also the Law itself said, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them” (Galatians 3:10).

The Law puts the requirements of God for eternal life out of reach of sinful humanity (Romans 3:20) and witnesses to the truth that eternal life must come as a gift by faith in the only One who is good and lived in perfect perpetual obedience to the Law (Romans 3:21-24). Since salvation is by grace through faith in Christ and not by works of the Law then that which is impossible becomes possible – that which is out of reach through the works of sinful man becomes near and in reach through faith in the One and only Sinless Man. This is the truth that Paul is establishing in Romans 10:5-13.

The righteousness of God is impossible for sinners through the work of the flesh (Romans 10:5). Eternal life is out of reach and impossible for sinners to accomplish themselves. In order to do so he or she would have to have perfect perpetual obedience to the Law. Impossible!

The righteousness of God is possible for sinners through the word of faith (Romans 10:6-8). Eternal life is in the reach of sinners as a gift through faith in the finished work of Christ. Notice that this requires faith in Christ and not oneself. This means that we must believe in our own inability in order to believe in Christ and His ability. We must believe that we are truly unrighteous and in need of imputed righteousness. We must believe that we are sinners, God is holy, and our only hope is in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ must become to the sinner his sole source of righteousness.

This truth humbles all who will receive it and removes all boasting before God so that he who boasts, boasts in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31). Do you see how a person must be humbled by the truth of his own inability in order to believe in Christ as his sole source of righteousness? Man must see that the righteousness of God is so far out of his reach that it is impossible for him to attain to it. It is only then that man can see the wonderful truth of how God has made possible the impossible as a gift. By making the righteousness required for eternal life a gift through faith in Christ, God has made the impossible, possible; and that which was out of reach; near.

This is why Paul personified the righteousness based on faith and showed us how it speaks. What does faith say? “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is to bring Christ up from the dead)” (Romans 10:6-7). Those are two impossible tasks for men, both of which are a denial of the work of Christ, and faith doesn’t talk that way. How does faith talk? It says this, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Romans 10:8).

In order to be saved by faith a person must see his total inability and his hope of any self-sufficiency must die so that he can trust in Christ’s work as his only hope of righteousness and eternal life. By this he will confess his own sinfulness and Christ’s righteousness; his own inability and Christ’s ability; and his own insufficiency and Christ’s total sufficiency – [this] is, the word of faith which [Paul] was preaching (Romans 10:8).

The word of faith must affect the heart to inform the mouth (Romans 10:9-13). The word of faith connects the mouth and the heart so that what the mouth says actually comes from the heart. It is possible for the mouth to speak and not mean what it says. Jesus said, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say” (Luke 6:46). He also said, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). To speak the right words without believing or understanding those words in the heart is not confession but confusion! For genuine confession to take place the heart must be supernaturally affected by the truth if it is to inform the mouth with real understanding. Jesus said, “For the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them” (Matthew 13:15).

Since the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart, the heart must be changed for one to turn from self and sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. This only happens through the preaching of the word about Christ (Romans 10:17) which confronts man with his own sinfulness and inability with the sinless, sufficient work of Christ on his behalf in stark contrast.

Then and only then will the sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection of Christ become heart knowledge and not just head knowledge and it will result in the confession of Jesus as Lord.

Vicarious Law-Keeping (Romans 10:4-5)

The aim of the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the Gospel is to remove the false notion that man can be justified through keeping the Law in the power of his flesh. The aim of the Gospel is to show that justification is on the basis of grace along through faith alone in Christ alone because of His vicarious Law-keeping, vicarious Law-paying, and vicarious Law-releasing. In other words, the aim of the Gospel is to show Christ as the fulfillment of the Law and not its nullifier so that the righteousness of God can be attained by faith and never by the flesh. We are justified solely as a gift through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24) based on His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection – all on our behalf. Therefore we cannot be justified by our own Law-keeping (because we can’t keep it) and we cannot be justified without Christ’s Law-keeping (He’s the only One who could) for it must be fulfilled and not nullified. Our justification is based on the works of another and not our own! We are justified by a Savior who serves as our Substitute who alone was qualified to pay a debt He didn’t owe for those who owed a debt they couldn’t pay!

Since it is true that the aim of the Gospel is to remove the false notion that man can be justified through keeping the Law in the power of his flesh then of necessity you will understand that God has never justified any sinner through works of the Law but only on the basis of faith in God’s perfect Substitute – the Lord Jesus Christ. There has never been nor will there ever be a dispensation in which men are justified by their own law-keeping. It is error and heresy to believe that God has at one time in history justified men by their own law-keeping but today has nullified the Law through a dispensation of grace. There has never been anything but a dispensation of justification by grace through faith in the One and only Vicarious Law-Keeper.

Let me define vicarious so that you know exactly what I’m communicating so that you can also communicate this wonderful good-news to all men everywhere. Vicarious means “performed, received, or suffered in the place of another” (Webster’s Universal College Dictionary). All three meanings of the word apply to the totality of the work of Christ on our behalf. Christ performed Law-keeping in our place through His sinless life; Christ suffered Law-paying in our place through His sacrificial death; and Christ received Law-releasing in our place through His supernatural resurrection. Every single aspect of the work of Christ is necessary for our justification. Without His sinless life He could not become the Sacrificial Lamb and would not experience a supernatural resurrection by which we could be justified and become the righteousness of God in Him. Therefore faith in Christ does not nullify the Law but establishes it (Romans 3:31) and brings to an end all attempts at meriting justification through our own works by receiving it through faith in His works (Romans 10:4).

Here is the wonderful truth of redemption in Christ – we can’t keep the Law; He never said we could! He can keep the Law; and He always said He would! It is in this and this alone that the weary and heavy laden find rest for their souls. We don’t have rest because the Law has been abolished – we have rest because our Lord has been sufficient! Christ didn’t abolish the Law; He fulfilled it just as He said He would.

There are those today who believe that the Law has been abolished and that Romans 10:4 is teaching that the Law has been abolished. These are so against the Law that they discount the sinless life of Christ under the Law as a non-essential to salvation. They would dare divide the seamless garment of the work of Christ and reject His obedience to the Law as a necessary part of our justification. This is a severe misinterpretation of this passage that not only overlooks its immediate context but also the overall context of Scripture. That the Law has not been abolished but fulfilled is the explicit teaching of the Bible and so it does not imply in this verse or any other verse that the Law has been abolished. Faith establishes the Law because it trusts in the vicarious Law-keeping of Christ!

In Romans 10:4-5, Paul is contrasting Gospel righteousness (Romans 10:4) to the righteousness of the Law (Romans 10:5) in order to show that we are saved by Another’s Law-keeping and not our own. Why is this so? Because to be saved by the Law through our own ability to keep it is impossible for sinful man since the Law requires perfect obedience at every point perpetually throughout man’s life in order to receive the Law’s promise of life. The Law promises life for those who live by it in perpetual perfection but it promises death for those who don’t. “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them’” (Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26).

So the Law does not bring righteousness to man, it actually reveals man’s unrighteousness through his inability to live by it in perpetual perfection. It is because of this that men must trust the only sufficient Substitute, Jesus Christ, in order to be justified by God. “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for ‘The righteous man shall live by faith’” (Galatians 3:11).

We are justified by faith in the finished work of Christ alone. It is not that He kept nine of the commandments and we kept one – it is that He kept all the commandments and we kept none – “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). We don’t add anything to the work of Christ – He did it all and He did it all by Himself. That is why we read that “when He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).

That, my brethren, is vicarious Law-keeping - the Law-keeper dying for the Law-breakers and being raised from the dead for our justification and His own vindication. Christ performed the whole Law, suffered the Law’s penalty, and received the Law’s release on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him and also receive the Law’s release. That is justification; that is liberation; that is the Gospel!

Zeal without Knowledge (Romans 10:1-4)

In Romans 9:1-33 the apostle Paul gave two reasons for Israel’s failure to obtain salvation: (1) Israel failed to obtain salvation because of God’s sovereignty – God saves by grace through faith whoever He chooses on the basis of unconditional election. God saves by grace not race; by mercy not merit; and by faith not flesh. Therefore no man can put God under obligation to save on any other basis. (2) Israel failed to obtain salvation because of human responsibility – since God saves by grace through faith man is responsible to see his inability to be saved by the Law through works of the flesh on the basis of conditional election. Israel pursued salvation as though it were by works rather than by faith (Romans 9:31-32).

Paul was at one time in the same shoes that the majority of his Israelite kinsmen were in. He also pursued salvation as though it were by works and believed in conditional election rather than unconditional election – until the Lord saved him on the Damascus Road. So what Paul was about to write in Romans 10:1-4 was not only true to Scripture but also his own personal experience – he had zeal without knowledge and was attempting to establish his own righteousness.

Paul’s prayer was for Israel’s salvation (Romans 10:1). There are two discoveries to be made in this verse by keeping it in its literary context (the verses that precede and follow it) and in its historical context (the situation in life for the author and the meaning of the message to its original audience): (1) We discover that believing in God’s sovereignty (chapter 9) does not discourage praying for the lost or witnessing to the lost. (2) We discover that while Paul was accused of preaching against the people (his situation in life), his telling them the truth and praying for them showed his genuine concern and love for them. It was those false teachers that told them what they wanted to hear and preyed on them that were actually against them.

Paul’s problem was Israel’s religion (Romans 10:2-3). We notice four problems with Israel’s religion in these two verses that made it almost impossible for them to receive Paul’s message: (1) the first problem with Israel’s religion was that they had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. (2) The second problem with Israel’s religion was that they were ignorant of God’s righteousness. (3) The third problem with Israel’s religion was that they were seeking to establish their own righteousness – being ignorant of the righteousness of God that He requires. (4) The fourth problem with Israel’s religion was they did not subject themselves to God’s righteousness.

Paul knew all about these four problems because at one time in his life he was the epitome of Israel’s religion. Paul said that he was more zealous for Israel’s religion than the rest of his countrymen – “And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions” (Galatians 1:14). Paul also said that he was “circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6). While being attacked in the temple at Jerusalem and given the opportunity to make a defense before the Jews, Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today” (Acts 22:3).

Paul had a zeal for God but without knowledge. The word knowledge is epignosis which means “real knowledge” or “true knowledge.” Gnosis is the word for common knowledge which is a lower form of knowledge and may even be a false knowledge. However the prefix epi means “over” or “above.” So epignosis is “true knowledge” which is “over” or “above” common knowledge and must be revealed by God because it does not originate in man. It is knowledge from above as compared to earthly or natural knowledge (see James 3:15, 17).

Paul also at one time was ignorant (without knowledge) of God’s righteousness and sought to establish a righteousness of his own. After being confronted by the Lord on the Damascus Road, Paul threw away his attempts at having a righteousness of his own derived from the Law and relied totally on the imputed righteousness of Christ as his only hope for attaining to the righteousness of God (Philippians 3:7-9). To be ignorant of God’s righteousness is to fail to see that God’s standard is beyond the reach of sinful man and that what we need we cannot attain and therefore it must be received as a gift through the works of another who was able to completely meet God’s righteous standard – this is why salvation is by faith in Christ.

The whole time Paul was depending upon his zeal for God and his personal obedience to the law in order to establish a righteousness of his own by which to be acceptable to God and merit His favor, he was not subjecting himself to God’s righteousness. Believing that he was pleasing God – being very sincere in that belief – Paul was refusing to place himself under God’s revealed way of salvation and was despising God’s authority. Nothing would have looked more like subjecting oneself to God’s righteousness than the earnest pursuit of rules and regulations – but those rules and regulations were for pointing men to Christ by pointing men to their own sinfulness. So instead of subjecting themselves to God’s way of righteousness – they rejected it.

Paul’s prescription was Israel’s Liberator (Romans 10:4). Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Christ is the goal to which the law points and in Him men can rest and cease striving. By this He is the end of attempting to gain God’s required righteousness through the works of the law because it cannot be done. Christ fulfilled the Law of God completely. In His sinless life He upheld the precepts of the Law; in His sacrificial death He upheld the penalty of the Law; and in His supernatural resurrection He upheld the Person of the Law so that faith in Christ establishes the Law rather than nullifies it (Romans 3:31). Men are saved through the work of Christ alone and not one iota of their own!

The Gospel is Exclusive (Romans 9:27-33)

In Romans 9:25-26 the apostle Paul showed that the Gospel of salvation by grace is inclusive – it is for undeserving Jews and undeserving Gentiles. Since salvation is by grace and not by merit then it is for every people group in the world and not just one ethnicity. God has promised to save some from every tribe and every tongue and every nation. Paul quoted a couple of verses from the Old Testament prophet Hosea to show that God had always intended to graciously include Gentiles in his plan of salvation by grace – “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people.’”

The Gospel is inclusive – it demonstrates God’s grace and mercy as He saves undeserving sinners and it demonstrates God’s righteousness as He shows no favoritism for any one group of people. For many, many years it seemed as though God didn’t care for anyone except the Jews. Just as the Old Testament prophets had prophesied of the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s plan of salvation, they also prophesied of the reversal of God’s order of salvation. The Jews were going to reject their Messiah and because of this the kingdom of God was going to be taken away from them and given to a people producing the fruit of it (see Matthew 21:42-43). Not only was God going to graciously include the Gentiles in His plan of salvation, He was also going to give them the main responsibility of spreading the Gospel – until the time of the Gentiles be complete (Luke 21:24 and Romans 11:25).

So not only does the Bible teach that the Gospel is inclusive, it also teaches that the gospel is exclusive. The Gospel includes everyone who believes in the finished work of Christ as his only hope of righteousness – Jew or Gentile (Romans 1:16). But the Gospel also excludes everyone who pursues righteousness as though it is by works (Romans 9:32) or who perverts the grace of God and uses it as a license to sin (Romans 6:1; Jude 4).

The Gospel is Exclusive (Romans 9:27-33). Paul moved on to show that the majority of the nation of Israel wasn’t going to be saved but only a remnant from among the nation. He quoted twice from Isaiah to prove that what he was teaching was biblical. You can correctly imagine that the Jews listening to Paul’s message of salvation by grace would have wondered at why, if his message was true, the majority of the Jews who had God’s Word weren’t being saved. Why were there more Gentiles being saved than there were Jews? The answer: because salvation is by grace and not by works (Romans 9:32).

The gospel is exclusive. God only saves by grace through faith in Christ and all who dare pursue salvation as though it is by the will of man or the works of man are destined to stumble over the stumbling stone of salvation by grace. There is no salvation for the person who thinks his religion can earn him a righteous standing before God. Jesus said in Mark 2:17, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The majority of the Jews pursued salvation as though it were by works and not by faith (Romans 9:31-32). If God hadn’t graciously chosen to save a remnant of Israel none of them would have been saved – “[they] would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah.” God would have had to destroy them because there wouldn’t have been even ten righteous people found among them – while as a whole they believed that the majority of them were righteous.

It’s amazing that we can see sin in others easily. It’s not so easy to see sin in ourselves. This makes it nearly impossible to see sin in our religion – and we will not if God doesn’t open our eyes and cause us to see our need for his grace and mercy. Most people judge by appearance and believe that when something bad happens to others that those others deserved it while they themselves were spared because of their own righteousness. Here is a case in point: “Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish’” (Luke 13:1-5).

Do you see the how the self-righteous assess the tragedy of others and bolster a dangerous and unbiblical assurance that they themselves are pleasing to God? It’s the idea that they deserved tragedy and we didn’t! That’s the attitude of the self-righteous who thinks that his religion rather than the work of Christ has earned him a right standing before God.

The self-righteous, as long as they remain in that state, are excluded from salvation because it is by grace and not by works. The only thing that any person, Jew or Gentile, can do to be saved is to believe that he can do nothing to merit salvation and to cast himself on God’s mercy in the finished work of Christ. Being brought to the place of recognizing ones inability and being enabled to believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is the work of God (John 6:29ff). He accomplishes this work in the hearts and lives of the ones that He has chosen for salvation through the proclamation of the word about Christ. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word about Christ (Romans 10:17).

The Gospel is exclusive – it is only for those who have been shown and have come to know that they are sinners. All others are excluded.

Inability Does Not Remove Responsibility (Romans 9:19-24)

As we examine and study the gospel of salvation by grace in the light of what God has revealed in Scripture we notice that it is offensive, foolish, and a stumbling block to the natural man. Since this is true we are not to be surprised that the real gospel has built into it some objections from those who oppose it. If we know what the light of God’s Word has revealed those objections to be then we can know and discern all other gospel proclamations by holding them to the light of God’s Word and seeing if they raise the same objections. Counterfeit gospels do not have these objections built into them because they are designed to remove the gospel’s offensiveness and therefore they do not raise the objections that the real gospel raises.

In Romans 9:6-24 two objections are raised by the doctrine of unconditional election which establishes that salvation is by grace. The first objection raised by the real gospel is one concerning the justice of God (Romans 9:14). God is viewed as being unfair and unjust because He saves by grace and not by merit. He doesn’t save by physical descent (Romans 9:6-8) or personal desire (Romans 9:9-13). He doesn’t save by doing good or doing bad (Romans 9:11). He doesn’t save by the will of man or the works of man (Romans 9:16). He saves by His choice (Romans 9:11) to have mercy on whom He desires (Romans 9:18). Since man is totally unable to merit God’s favor God is viewed as unfair for giving His unearned favor to some and not to others.

The second objection raised by the real gospel is still concerning the justice of God but taking it a step further. The second objection calls into question God’s holiness which is the foundation of the justice of God (Romans 9:19). Here the accusation is that God is the author of sin by man’s inability being God’s fault. This is the false belief that inability destroys human responsibility and therefore God is wrong to find fault because He made us this way! In other words, if God hardens whom He desires (Romans 9:18) their sin and hardness is His fault. The Holy Spirit rebuked such thinking in Romans 9:19-24.

The Illogical Conclusion Considered (Romans 9:19). Here we see two illogical conclusions against the truth of unconditional election that Paul was preaching: (1) The preacher is lying about God and (2) unconditional election makes God the author of sin and man a robot.

One: The preacher is lying about God – “You will say to me then….” The complaint was against Paul the preacher and he was perceived as lying about God. When men will not receive the revealed truth of God they reject the preacher of that truth believing that they are rejecting a lying preacher rather than the truth of God. This truth is revealed in several places in the Bible – when the people rebelled against Moses they were rebelling against God; when the people rejected Samuel they were rejecting God; and when people refuse God’s preachers they are refusing God. One of the ways men have Biblical assurance of salvation is by knowing who is and who isn’t preaching truth (1 John 4:1-6). It is illogical to believe a preacher is lying because he preaches unconditional election.

Two: Unconditional election makes God the author of sin – “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” If what Paul was preaching about unconditional election was true then surely he was preaching that God is the author of sin; that man doesn’t have “free-will” and therefore must have “no-will”; and because of this, human inability destroys human responsibility, making God unjust for finding fault with men who cannot be held responsible. This is the false notion that unconditional election means that God made us the way we are and therefore He is wrong to find fault with us. It’s no different than someone claiming that he is homosexual because he was “born that way” and therefore shouldn’t be held responsible for his actions. That lame excuse could be applied to any sin that men commit but still wouldn’t remove their responsibility for their actions. This is precisely the argument raised against unconditional election by the opponents of the gospel. It was an illogical conclusion that Paul considered.

The Illogical Conclusion Condemned (Romans 9:20). Paul condemned the illogical conclusion of his opponents by revealing the truth that their argument wasn’t with him but with God – “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God.” Unconditional election wasn’t a doctrine that Paul made up but one that God revealed. So the conclusion that the preacher was lying was condemned and the truth that the preacher’s opponents didn’t have a problem with the preacher but with God was firmly established. Also the conclusion that unconditional election makes God the author of sin was condemned with the assertion of God’s absolute sovereignty – “The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it?” It was an illogical conclusion that Paul condemned.

The Illogical Conclusion Confronted (Romans 9:21). Paul confronted the illogical conclusion of his opponents by revealing the truth that God has the right to deal with sinners either in mercy or in justice for serving His glory as He sees fit. Here we see that God’s decree to permit the fall of man into sin logically preceded His decree of election. So when God chose the elect and passed over the non-elect, He was contemplating them all as fallen, sinful creatures – “Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump…?” God is not the author of sin and men are responsible for their sin. It was an illogical conclusion that Paul confronted.

The Illogical Conclusion Contradicted (Romans 9:22-24). Paul contradicted the illogical conclusion of his opponents by revealing the truth about God’s sovereign purpose behind His choice for saving some undeserving sinners – “to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:23). The illogical conclusion is that men must either deserve to go to heaven or deserve to go to hell by their “free-will” or else God is unjust in saving some and not others. However, God has the right to give mercy to whomever He desires and harden whomever He desires for His own purpose of displaying both the glory of His righteous wrath and the glory of the riches of His mercy. It was an illogical conclusion that Paul contradicted.

Inability does not remove responsibility. That illogical conclusion has been considered, condemned, confronted, and contradicted.

Culpable but not Capable (Romans 9:19-24)

The book of Romans is the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the gospel of salvation by grace. It goes against the natural man’s false belief of being able to merit God’s favor through the will or works of the flesh. The gospel is offensive to the natural man and is foolishness to him. It embitters those who are perishing (Acts 14:2); gets accused of confusing whole cities (Acts 16:20-21); sets cities in an uproar through those who oppose it (Acts 17:5); upsets the world (Acts 17:6); divides congregations (Acts 19:9); fills men with rage (Acts 19:28-29); and is viewed by the unsaved religious as a dangerous heresy (Acts 21:28).

All throughout the book of Romans the apostle Paul has been making the Biblical case for the gospel of salvation by grace which runs contrary to the whims and wishes of the flesh. He established the total inability of man in Romans 1-3 including the truth that the Jews were also under sin and were just as unable to merit God’s favor as any uncircumcised Gentile. In Romans 3:24-31 the truth of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus was proven as the only means that God can forgive and remain just. In Romans 4:1-25 the truth of salvation by grace was proven from the life of Abraham who was saved by grace and not by works (Romans 4:1-8); and not by circumcision (Romans 4:9-12); and not by the Law (Romans 4:13-16); and not by personal ability (Romans 4:17-25).

The book of Romans deals with the truth that salvation by grace is based upon unconditional election or else it is not by grace. Those who maintained that salvation is based on conditional election thought that Paul was preaching that God saves on the condition of doing evil rather than doing good and concluded that he was preaching that men should do evil in order to be saved (Romans 3:8). This resulted in Paul being slandered as a preaching against the Law and giving a license for sin. He dealt with this error in Romans 5, 6, and 7.

Paul wasn’t preaching any form of conditional election because salvation is by grace and not by any type of work – he was preaching unconditional election which establishes salvation by grace. So in Romans 8 Paul began to deal with the truth of both the suffering and security of the true believer who has been unconditionally elected by God and saved by grace. They will suffer because of their faith and their proclamation of the truth of salvation by grace and will be secure because of the Lord’s faithfulness.

It was in Romans 8:28-30 that Paul introduced the truth of unconditional election. Romans 9:6-33 is Paul’s Biblical case for unconditional election. Here he established the truth that election isn’t based on physical descent (Romans 9:6-10) or personal desire (Romans 9:11-13). The truth of unconditional election which establishes salvation by grace raised the question of God’s justness or fairness. If God chooses unconditionally then isn’t He unfair or unjust (Romans 9:14). Paul answered that question Biblically showing that God, by His free-will, can have mercy on whom He desires and can harden whom He desires while remaining totally just (Romans 9:14-18).

It is the truth of unconditional election that magnifies the truth of man’s total inability to do anything to earn or merit God’s favor. Man is so helpless and incapable because of his sin that he cannot act morally to rehabilitate himself and he cannot act willingly to exonerate himself. There is nothing he can do to merit God’s favor. He deserves damnation and that is all that he can or will ever earn.

The truth of man’s total inability – that he is incapable of doing anything to merit God’s favor – raises the question of man’s culpability. The question is that if man is incapable then how is he also culpable. If man is incapable then how can God hold him responsible? This is the argument that if men don’t have “free-will” then he is a robot and God made him the way he is. In other words, if man doesn’t have “free-will” then God is the one to blame for man’s sin, his inability, and his unwillingness to be saved by grace. Romans 9:19-24 is Paul’s answer to prove that inability doesn’t remove man’s responsibility. Man is culpable but not capable!

The faulty reasoning (Romans 9:19): If salvation is by unconditional election based on God’s will to have mercy on whom He desires and harden whom He desires then how can he still find fault because who can resist His will? If I’m incapable how can I be held culpable? Isn’t my hardness God’s fault? This is the faulty reasoning of the opponents of the gospel who haven’t understood that their inability to do good doesn’t remove their responsibility for sinning. God doesn’t make men sin and therefore men are responsible for their sin. Since the fall of man into sin all men sin because all men are born with a sin nature. Man is totally incapable of freeing himself from sin but is totally culpable for his sin. Man is not a helpless robot doing what he really does not want to do – he is a helpless sinner doing exactly what he wants to do! The wages of sin is death. Inability does not remove responsibility!

The proper reasoning: Man is not capable (Romans 9:20-21)! Notice in verse 21 the words “same lump.” There is no difference in the clay in which a potter decides to make a vessel for honorable use or for common use. Because all men are sinners from the same lump it is totally up to God what he does with each one. Here we see that man is incapable and that his only hope is the mercy of God.

Man is culpable (Romans 9:22)! Here the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction took an active role in the hardening of their hearts. The Greek verb rendered “prepared” is passive. God is not the subject doing the preparing – men are (see Romans 2:5)!

Mercy is God’s choice (Romans 9:23-24)! Against the backdrop of the truth that man is not capable but he is culpable, God demonstrates the riches of His glory and the riches of His mercy by saving men apart from any merit or work of their own. Those that God saves He prepared beforehand for glory! Here the Greek verb for “prepared” is in the active voice and God is the subject and the One doing the preparing. Men are culpable but not capable! God saves by grace; owes salvation to no man; and enables those whom He has prepared beforehand to receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

Mercy is by God's Free-Will (Romans 9:14-18)

Many wrongly conclude that salvation is dependent upon man’s free-will. Overlooking the Biblical truth of man’s total inability to do anything to merit God’s favor many opt for the unbiblical notion that sin has left man’s will unaffected and that he has the ability to merit God’s favor either by exercising his free will to choose God or by exerting his free-will to pursue God. However, the Biblical record and human history proves that man’s will is not free but is enslaved to sin. This was the whole purpose of God giving His Law – to show that men are enslaved to sin and cannot and will not obey God (see Romans 8:5-8).

If man’s will was free in the sense that most use it then of necessity it would mean that man is free to obey God’s Law. As a matter of truth it would be in the choosing to obey and the actual obeying of God’s Law whereby the man with “free-will” would prove that he is “choosing” God. Disobeying God’s Law by not subjecting oneself to it is “choosing” sin and not God. Every man has made his choice - and it hasn’t been “for God.” Man in his unregenerate state operates his will enslaved to sin. It is for this reason that he cannot and will not do that which is truly good (obey God’s Law or choose God). Being enslaved to sin the only freedom of will that a man has is that he is free to sin and free from being able to do righteousness (Romans 6:20; John 8:34). This proves man’s inability!

Is this not the Biblical record? “There is none righteous not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). Where is free-will in that? Where is human ability in those verses?

Since man’s will is enslaved to sin and free from being able to do righteousness his total inability is established rendering him unable to respond properly to God’s mercy apart from supernatural assistance. This is why regeneration precedes the ability to exercise saving faith. We are not regenerated because we exercised saving faith (we are unable in and of ourselves); we exercised saving faith because we were regenerated by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. This is what Jesus was speaking of when He told Nicodemus that a man must be born again by the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit using God’s Word in order to enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5-8).

The Lord also spoke of this same truth (that regeneration precedes saving faith because of man’s inability) in John 6:45, 63-65 – “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me....It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe…. For this reason I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” I want you to notice something very important in John 6:45 – everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me – Jesus said. This means that all who are regenerated come to saving faith in Christ. There are none who are regenerated that resist the grace of God – they all come to Christ.

Since all that we have said is Biblical and true then salvation doesn’t depend upon man but upon God who has mercy. It is precisely this point that salvation isn’t by man’s will but by the grace and will of God that brings about the accusation of God being unjust. This is what the apostle Paul was dealing with in Romans 9:14-18. Here he was proving that salvation is by God’s free-will to have mercy on whom He desires and is not by man’s free-will.

Anticipating the wrong conclusion about the Gospel of salvation by grace, Paul brought up the question of God’s justness in Romans 9:14; stated the emphatic and obvious truth that it is impossible for God to be unjust; and then he went directly to the Scriptures to prove that dispensing mercy is solely the prerogative of God on undeserving sinners – “For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion'” (Exodus 33:19; Romans 9:15).

Salvation doesn’t depend on man but on God who has mercy! Paul stated the obvious application of Exodus 33:19 – salvation does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy (Romans 9:16). Moses didn’t find favor in the sight of God because of his will or his works but solely on the grace of God. This was true for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all other true believers – they were saved by grace and not their will or their works.

That salvation doesn’t depend upon the will of man is made abundantly clear not only from Romans 9:16 but also from John 1:13 – “Who were born, not of blood [physical descent] nor of the will of the flesh [personal desire] nor of the will of man [popish decree], but of God.” Esau is a perfect illustration of this truth who was the firstborn of Isaac (not of blood/physical descent); he later desired to inherit the blessing (nor the will of the flesh/personal desire) but was rejected and found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears (Hebrews 12:16-17); and his father was intent on giving him the blessing (nor the will of man/popish decree) although God had already said that the older would serve the younger and that they younger was to be the heir of the promise (see Genesis 25:23 and Genesis 27:1-38).

To further prove that salvation doesn’t depend upon man but on God who has mercy, Paul gave the Biblical illustration of Pharaoh (Romans 9:17). Pharaoh was a king who thought that he had free-will but found himself in bondage to sin, an object of God’s wrath, for the proclamation of God’s glory. Moses was a slave, Pharaoh was a ruler, and yet God had mercy on Moses and withheld mercy from Pharaoh. Neither deserved mercy! So the logical conclusion is given in Romans 9:18 – “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens who He desires.”

Pharaoh was confronted with enough truth that we marvel at why he didn’t repent and believe in the Lord. The hardening of Pharaoh was judicial. He should have seen his need for mercy – but he didn’t! Mercy is by God’s free-will!

Unconditional Election: Is God Unjust? (Romans 9:14-18)

The truth that salvation is by grace means that salvation is unmerited – it is unearned. Since salvation is by grace and is unmerited or unearned then that means that salvation is unconditional. There are no conditions that one must meet that would merit or earn salvation or else salvation is not by grace but by works. Romans 11:6 says, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” Let’s state it another way which still means the same thing: But if it is by grace, it is no longer conditional but unconditional, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

Paul has been teaching the truth of unconditional election unto salvation which forever proves that salvation is by grace and not of works so that no man can boast. There is nothing in any person that would merit God’s choice of him or her for salvation. The only thing that any of us have merited or ever will merit is the wrath of God. There is nothing in us that can change that. We can’t start living a good life to merit God’s mercy for that would be salvation by works. We can’t rehabilitate ourselves in order to cause God to choose us for salvation for that would still be salvation by works. None deserve to be saved. And yet God saves undeserving sinners according to His purpose, His choice, and His desire (Romans 9:11).

An improper response to this truth is given in Romans 9:14 – that this means that there is injustice in God. Unconditional election is viewed as being unjust because men cannot get over that God would save by grace and not by merit. God is accused of being an unjust God if He chooses to save some men by grace while leaving others in their sin. The response is: “That isn’t fair” or “that isn’t just.” So in order to remove what appears to be an injustice in God or unfairness in God, men devise a scheme of salvation that is conditional rather than unconditional and they remove the offensiveness of the Gospel by making election unto salvation conditional. Under the false notion of conditional election unto salvation this improper response isn’t given because it no longer exists. This is one of the ways we know whether or not we are preaching the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the Gospel of salvation by grace (unconditional and unmerited) which Paul preached or if we are preaching a false gospel of salvation by works (conditional and merited).

Those who teach conditional election are in error. Even if that condition is that God looked down through the corridors of time and saw who would have faith and who wouldn’t – it is still salvation by merit which turns that faith spoken of into a work. What those who teach this have forgotten is that faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 6:65; John 12:39-40), and that faith is generated in man and is not innate in man (Romans 10:17; John 6:45, 63). They have also forgotten that their explanation of conditional election isn’t election at all but ratification. In their scheme of things God isn’t choosing based on His purpose or desire but is consenting to man’s choice. This would mean that God chose you because you chose Him, that God loved you because you loved Him and that God drew you because you drew Him. This is a reversal of the Biblical record. We didn’t choose Him, He chose us; we didn’t love Him first, He loved us first; and we didn’t draw Him, He drew us to Himself.

Since all men are sinners and have earned God’s wrath then of necessity it means that there is nothing in us that could ever earn God’s favor. So if God decides to show His favor on any sinner then the choice is totally His according to His purpose and His desire. That God would choose any undeserving sinner for salvation has nothing to do with any cause within the sinner but has everything to do with that which is in God Himself – the desire to make known the riches of the glory of His grace (Romans 9:23; Ephesians 1:3-14).

It is the Gospel of salvation by grace that is offensive to man because it establishes man’s total inability – not partial inability but total inability – to merit God’s favor. This is the error of conditional election – it teaches partial inability but not total inability and therefore leaves man in his pride believing that his being elected by God was based on some condition that he met.

The Jews who believed in conditional election so understood the implications of the Gospel of grace which Paul was preaching that some of them slanderously reported that Paul was preaching that men must do evil that good may come (Romans 3:8). The Jews reasoned that Paul was saying that God didn’t elect on the basis of their ability to keep the Law so he must be preaching that God elects on the basis of doing evil. They could not grasp the truth of unconditional election as the necessary grounds for salvation by grace.

Since election is unconditional, men believe that there is injustice with God for choosing some and not all for salvation. At the heart of this response is still the embedded false notion that those whom God didn’t choose deserved to be chosen. If one deserved it then all deserve it. It’s the attitude that if you’re going to do it for one then you’ve got to do it for all. That’s simply just not true and there is no injustice in giving mercy in a manner that upholds the Law or giving wrath to uphold the Law. So dispensing grace is God’s sovereign prerogative. Grace is sovereign in its administration.

Election: Individual or National? (Romans 9:6-13)

In our studies of Romans 9:6-13 we have not been in a hurry and are endeavoring to come away with both a proper interpretation and proper application of the text. Since there is much disagreement and much confusion over this text, it is our responsibility before God and to men to know what it is talking about and give its proper interpretation. While this is true of the whole Bible it is especially true in those difficult places that cause men to stumble. The gospel of salvation by grace alone is a stumbling stone to many and Paul ended Romans 9 saying exactly that – “Just as it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed’” (Romans 9:33).

At the heart of the controversy over the interpretation of Romans 9 is whether or not election is conditional or unconditional and whether or not it is national or individual. Election or “elect” is a word that means to choose or select. So when we speak of the elect of God we are speaking of the chosen of God or those whom He has selected. Since it is true that God chooses and selects, a truth forever established by His choosing of Jacob over Esau in order to bring the Christ into the world and fulfill His covenant with Abraham, then the question becomes on what basis did God make His decision? The answer to this question will determine whether or not election is conditional or unconditional and whether or not election is national or individual.

We have already established that God is sovereign in election. This truth is wonderfully illustrated in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ where He said, “No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:65). So no man in and of himself has the heart to desire or the will to decide to come to Jesus apart from God’s sovereign election and supernatural education. This means that salvation is completely by grace based on the sovereign choice of God to have mercy on whom He will have mercy (Romans 9:15-16).

We have also already established the truth that God’s sovereignty in election means that election is unconditional and not conditional proving forever that salvation is by grace. In other words election isn’t based on anything or any cause within the man but is based solely on God’s good pleasure for the purpose of glorifying His grace (Romans 9:11, 18; Ephesians 1:5, 8-9, 11).

Remember that the Jews made the error of believing that election was conditional and that God based His choice of them on their physical ancestry from Abraham and their personal ability to obey the Law. If this were true then it would mean that all Jews and only Jews could and would be saved. Do you remember that the Jews had a problem with the truth that God would save men who were Gentiles? They also had a problem with the truth that God would condemn Jews who met the “conditions” of physical descent from Abraham and personal merit through the Law. This is why they thought God’s Word had failed (Romans 9:6).

The apostle Paul used the Old Testament Scriptures to prove that election is unconditional and that salvation is therefore by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. He showed how God chose Isaac over Ishmael unconditionally and how He chose Jacob over Esau unconditionally (Romans 9:7-13). This was to show that physical descent from Abraham didn’t guarantee or merit salvation and that physical descent from Isaac didn’t guarantee or merit salvation so that the proper and biblical conclusion would be that physical descent from Jacob (Israel) didn’t guarantee or merit salvation. Election unto salvation is unconditional – it cannot be earned or merited.

There are many who stumble over the doctrine of unconditional election which proves that salvation is by grace. So instead of honestly dealing with the text they teach that this passage isn’t dealing with individual election unto salvation but national election unto service. The problem with this interpretation is that it doesn’t deal with the truth that Isaac was saved and Ishmael wasn’t and that Jacob was saved and Esau wasn’t. It also doesn’t deal with the truth that Paul is explicitly speaking of election unto salvation even from among Gentiles (Romans 9:24). Paul wasn’t proving unconditional election unto service but unconditional election unto salvation which is precisely why the Jews thought that Paul was preaching against the people and against the Law for preaching the gospel of salvation by grace (Romans 2:17; Acts 21:27-28).

That this passage is speaking of individual election and not national election is made abundantly clear from Romans 9:6 – “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel.” So the next time you run into someone who believes that election is national and not individual ask him why all Jews aren’t saved. If he says that election is unto service and not salvation ask him why Paul was willing to be separated from Christ and why Paul spoke of those who were the children of God and those who weren’t - from among the nation (Romans 9:3, 7-8).

Make no mistake about it, if Romans 9 is teaching national election whether it be unto salvation or unto service then it would mean that all Israel would either be saved or all Israel would serve and that anyone outside of the nation Israel couldn’t be saved or couldn’t serve. But Romans 9 is clearly teaching individual election unto salvation and that not on the basis of physical descent or personal merit. Election unto salvation is unconditional (not based on anything deserving in the man) and individual based on God’s sovereign and gracious choice. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Do you have a problem with God granting you salvation apart from any cause within you that would cause Him to grant it to you or do you rejoice that God is willing to save undeserving sinners based solely on His grace and sovereign choice? If you have a problem with God saving undeserving sinners according to His gracious choice then you have a problem with salvation being by grace and not by merit.

Unconditional Election Proves Salvation by Grace (Romans 9:6-13)

In Romans 9:1-5 the apostle Paul expressed his great sorrow over the lost condition of his fellow Israelites through their stubborn refusal to acknowledge and believe that salvation is by grace and not by physical descent or personal merit. The Jews wrongly relied upon their physical descent from Abraham (Romans 2:17) and their ability to personally merit God’s favor through the Law (Romans 2:17). This belief came from an improper interpretation of God’s Word which gave the Israelites a false assurance of salvation based on unreliable and unbiblical indicators.

If we will keep in mind that Paul’s letter to the Romans is the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the Gospel of grace which was not only a defense that the Gospel is biblical but also a destruction of the speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, then we will better understand what is being revealed to us. Paul was accused of preaching against the Jews and against God’s Law (Acts 21:27-28) for preaching the truth of salvation by grace. This ran counter to everything the Jews had been taught by their apostate leaders and everything they believed God’s Word taught. If the Gospel of grace was true then the Jews reasoned that the Word of God had failed and that God’s promises were no good.

However, God’s Word had not failed and a proper interpretation of it showed God to be true and those who rejected the Gospel of grace as the ones that failed. Let me remind you that Paul had already proven that salvation was by grace through the life of Abraham in Romans 4:1-25. Paul proved that Abraham was justified by grace through faith and not by works in Romans 4:1-8. Paul proved that Abraham was justified by grace through faith and not circumcision in Romans 4:9-12. Paul proved that Abraham was justified by grace through faith and not the Law in Romans 4:13-17. And Paul proved that Abraham was justified by grace through faith in God’s ability in light of his own inability in Romans 4:17-25. So for the Jews to reject the God’s Gospel of grace they had to reject the means by which Abraham himself was justified.

The doctrine of unconditional election proves that salvation is by grace through faith and not of physical descent (Romans 9:6-9) or personal merit (Romans 9:10-13). Grace is not for the proud but for the humble for it is written, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). If you add any one of these false notions of physical descent or personal merit to the Gospel of grace then you have a false gospel. This was the overall failure of the Jews – they pursued salvation as though it were a privilege based on their physical descent and personal merit rather than by faith (Romans 9:30-32).

The Jews were wrongly relying upon false notions of salvation by physical descent and personal merit (conditional election) because of their improper interpretation of God’s Word. It was these false notions or ideas of salvation that the prophets, apostles, and the Lord Jesus had to do battle with in their day and which cost most of them their lives. Let’s establish this truth from Scripture.

Salvation is not by physical descent (Romans 9:6-9) – proven by John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ, and here in our text by the apostle Paul.

John the Baptist dealt with this erroneous belief in Matthew 3:7-10 and Luke 3:8 where he told the Sadducees and Pharisees that they were a brood of vipers and that they were not to rely upon their physical descent from Abraham – “And do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham” (Matthew 3:9).

The Lord Jesus Christ dealt with the erroneous belief that election unto salvation is based on physical descent in Luke 16:19-31 when He told the story of the rich man and Lazarus. In the story the rich man was a Pharisee who died and went to hell. This was unthinkable to the Jews and especially to the Pharisees. In the story we see that this rich Pharisee spoke to father Abraham and yet was in hell. This truth forever destroys the false notion that election unto salvation is based on physical descent.

The Lord Jesus Christ also dealt with this erroneous belief in a more direct manner in John 8:33-56. In this account the Jews brought up their physical descent from Abraham to whom the Lord replied that He knew that they were physical descendants of Abraham but that they were not spiritual descendants of Abraham – they wanted to kill Jesus and Abraham never did that but instead rejoiced to see Jesus’ day.

Salvation is not by personal merit (Romans 9:10-13). In Matthew 15:1-14 the Pharisees and scribes chided the Lord and His disciples for breaking the tradition of the elders in regard to the washing of hands. They thought that they were keeping the commandments of God when in reality they were unable to ever accomplish such a feat – a truth that the Lord brought out in that text. The final analysis was that the Pharisees and scribes were blind guides of the blind and both they and their followers would fall into the pit of hell.

In Matthew 19:16-22 the Lord dealt with the rich young ruler who wrongly thought that salvation was based on personal merit. He actually thought that he was able to keep the commandments and that he should be able to earn God’s favor.

In Matthew 23 the Lord pronounced woes on the Pharisees and scribes for their erroneous belief that salvation was by personal merit.

In John 8:33-56 the Lord crushed the false notion of salvation being by personal merit by showing man’s enslavement to sin. All of this illustrates that unconditional election proves that salvation is by grace and grace alone.

Those that rely upon anything other than the unmerited mercy of God for salvation will not be saved (see Luke 18:9-14). God gives grace to the humble!

God's Sovereignty in Election (Romans 9:6-13)

The doctrine of election isn’t easy to understand and is the source of much conflict among professing Christians. Just as the apostle Peter said about the writings of the apostle Paul, “Just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15-16).

Notice that it wasn’t the intellectual ability of the apostle Paul that allowed him to plumb the depths of God's sovereignty in election but his ability to do that was because it was according to the wisdom given him. Paul was taught of God on this subject and so what we have before us is the wisdom and words of God which cannot be anything other than truth. It is the untaught and unstable which distort not only this section of Scripture but the rest also to their own destruction.

So it will not be by our intellectual ability to understand this subject but by the very truth that we have been born again and are able to receive the things of the Spirit of God so that we are not untaught but indeed taught of God. Just as it is written, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty in election brings about two reactions from those who don’t understand it: (1) it brings about the accusation of injustice in God (Romans 9:14) and (2) it brings about the accusation of men being robots (Romans 9:19). These two responses are the conclusions that would be drawn from those who don’t understand the Gospel of grace and are what Paul anticipated and dealt with from the Scriptures.

Let me give you a few examples of how the doctrine of election is sometimes attempted to be explained but are not what the Bible teaches:

First there is the belief that election means that God is voting for you; the devil is voting against you; and you cast the deciding vote. That all sounds nice and sounds like what might be happening in election but it isn’t. The Bible tells us that God’s election of those whom He would save took place in eternity past – before the foundations of the world. Also we know that the devil wasn’t and isn’t a registered voter – he had absolutely no say in who would and who wouldn’t be saved. We also know that we weren’t even born yet and so we weren’t old enough to vote. So that means that God is sovereign in election.

Second, there is the belief that election is only to service and not to salvation. Those who hold that Romans 9 is dealing with national election and not individual election would hold to this theory. However that would clearly violate a host of other Scriptures that indicate that election is unto salvation and it is individual – a truth Paul establishes in Romans 9. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians also establishes the clear truth of individual election unto salvation – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him…also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:3-4, 11-12). See also 1 Thessalonians 1:4 where the apostle Paul speaking to those believers about their faith in Christ said, “Knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you.”

So election is not just unto service it is also unto salvation and more specifically it is unto salvation for the purpose of serving the true and living God (1 Thessalonians 1:9) and serving His purpose of magnifying His grace and glory through our salvation (Ephesians 1:1-14). Neither is election just a matter of national choice for if that were so then Paul was wrong, the Jews were right, and God’s Word has failed.

Election then is unto salvation to the praise of God’s glory and grace and it is for individuals - proving that God’s Word has not failed but that it has accomplished exactly what God sent it out to do. This is Paul’s argument in Romans 9. Here in Romans 9:6-13 the apostle Paul showed two main truth’s about God’s sovereignty in election: (1) It was not based on physical descent (Romans 9:6-9) and (2) it was not based on personal merit (Romans 9:10-13).

We will get deeper and into greater detail concerning these two main truths about God’s sovereignty in election but for now we will just summarize their implications.

First of all the truth that God’s sovereign election unto salvation isn’t based on physical descent (Romans 9:6-9) proves that this text isn’t speaking of national election but of individual. This is why the argument that God’s Word has failed won’t stand. As a whole the Jews believed that because they had Abraham as their father that they were guaranteed salvation because of God’s sovereign choice of Abraham and their physical descent from him. They repeatedly relied upon their relationship to Abraham but that was to no avail. Abraham had Ishmael first by the flesh and then Isaac second by faith. They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel and neither are they all of faith who are descended from Abraham.

Last of all the truth that God’s sovereign election unto salvation isn’t based on personal merit (Romans 9:10-13) proves that election is unconditional and not based on God’s foreseeing anything good in us at all. This means that the Word of God is absolutely true and that the flesh profits nothing or the flesh is of no use at all (John 6:63) and that our salvation is based solely on His good pleasure and His grace and not on anything that we have done or can do for God. This the Jews also misunderstood and instead of rejecting the flesh and its inability to obey the Law they rejected faith in Christ and His ability to obey the Law and relied upon their flesh and the Law (Romans 2:17). They thought they had free will and therefore they thought they had the ability to obey God when in reality they were in bondage and needed to be set free (John 8:31-36).

Great Sorrow for Israel (Romans 9:1-5)

Many teach that Romans 9-11 are an interruption in Paul’s doctrinal teaching on the Gospel before he moved into its application in Romans 12. However, a careful study of Romans 9-11 reveals that this section is not an interruption or a parenthesis but is a necessary part of Paul’s argument for justification by grace through faith. Don’t forget that because of his preaching of the Gospel, Paul was considered a traitor to the Jewish nation and an enemy of Judaism. Paul was perceived as preaching against the people (Jews), preaching against the Law, and preaching against God (see Romans 2:17 and Acts 21:27-28).

So the book of Romans is Paul’s explanation of the Gospel which shows that he was not preaching against the people, the Law, or God but that the Gospel is validated by the Word of God. And whatever you do don’t forget that Paul’s explanation of the Gospel is inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the Word of God, and is absolute truth.

Paul was hated by the Jews for his ministry to the Gentiles and his teaching of salvation by grace and the total inability of being justified by the Law of Moses. Paul preached this Gospel of grace in many synagogues in many places as he carried the good news to the Jew first and through doing so he caused trouble everywhere he went. The religious but lost Jews viewed the Gospel message as dangerous and unscriptural. They viewed it as dangerous because they thought that justification by faith gave the license to sin as much as one wanted (Romans 6:1, 15). They viewed it as unscriptural because it taught that the Jews were actually condemned by the Law and couldn’t be justified by the Law (Romans 2:17 – 3:20). Since the Jews hated the message Paul preached they also hated the messenger. This is why Paul was considered a traitor to the Jewish nation and many wanted to kill him.

This caused Paul great sorrow and increasing grief. He wasn’t trying to make anyone mad but out of love he was telling them the truth. Paul went to great lengths explaining that he wasn’t anti-Jewish, that he wasn’t anti-Law, and that he wasn’t anti-God. Paul wanted the Jews to know that they were wrong just as he had been at one time. Paul wanted the Jews to examine the Scriptures and see that what he was saying was so. He desired above all else their coming to the saving knowledge of the truth and not their condemnation.

Despite Paul’s love for his people which he made evident over and over through his uncompromising stand on the truth, his great patience, and his gentleness correcting those who were in opposition, the majority still would not believe. Paul had the joy of salvation by grace through faith but he had the sorrow and grief of his kinsmen according to the flesh continually resisting the Holy Spirit and rejecting the Gospel of Christ. There was a Scriptural reason for Israel’s resistance and rejection which Paul taught in Romans 9-11 so that this section is still doctrinal and still the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of justification by grace through faith.

Paul had argued in Romans 8 that the believer is secure in Jesus Christ and that God’s election would stand (Romans 8:28-39). Because the Jews had wrongly interpreted God’s Word concerning election they believed that any member of the Jewish nation would be allowed into heaven based on his heritage as a Jew. The Gospel that Paul proclaimed clearly taught that just because a man is a Jew is no guarantee that he is going to heaven. So in the minds of the Jews if all Jews were not saved then God has failed to keep His promise and the very character of God was at stake.

Many who still misinterpret God’s Word today concerning the doctrine of election think that God either made a mistake or that His Word has failed. They may ask the question, “What about the Jews? They were chosen by God, and yet you now say that He has set them aside and that God is building His church. Did God fail to keep His promises to Israel? Is His Word really sure and true? If God was not faithful to the Jews, how do we know He will be faithful to the church?"

Paul will explain all that the Jews had misunderstood and how they had improperly interpreted God’s Word to show that God did not make a mistake, that His Word has not and will not fail, and that God’s character is not at stake because He is always true to His Word and His promises.

Here in Romans 9:1-5 we see Paul’s great sorrow for Israel because of her great stumbling.

Great sorrow for Israel (Romans 9:1-3) – Paul loved Israel and had a strong passion for her salvation. Paul understood completely the powerful bondage of corrupt and apostate religion on his people because he had been there once himself. Paul also understood the powerful deliverance from such deception and sin through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wanted his fellow Jews to see the truth of justification by faith and experience the liberation and joy of salvation by grace.

The unrepentant and unbelieving condition of Israel caused Paul to have great sorrow and increasing grief in his heart, so much so that Paul could wish himself accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of his kinsmen. But if the Lord Jesus becoming a curse on the cross of Calvary wouldn’t change their minds neither would Paul’s becoming accursed. Paul and Moses both were willing to be cursed and separated from Christ if it would mean the salvation of Israel.

Great stumbling by Israel (Romans 9:4-5) – The Israelites lived with great privileges because of God’s covenant with Abraham and His choosing of Jacob. They were privy to the blessings and protection of God because of God’s choice of bringing the Christ through the nation of Israel. Israel was adopted by God as His own people (Exodus 4:22-23). He gave them His glory in the tabernacle and temple. He gave them His covenants which He gave to Abraham. He gave them the Law through Moses. He gave them the temple services. He gave them the promises and the patriarchs. The purpose of all this blessing was to bring Jesus Christ into the world through Israel to accomplish justification by faith. But in spite of these blessings Israel failed and rejected her Messiah.

Predestined - To Become Like Jesus (Romans 8:29-30)

In our studies of Romans 8:28 we have discovered that all of the negative things (all of the suffering) that would cause us to throw away our confidence, to lose faith, to quit trusting God, or to apostatize – these negative things or sufferings that we endure because of our faith – God is causing them to work for us and not against us. Every time we suffer for the sake of our faith in Christ, God causes that suffering to strengthen our faith, our character, and our godliness.

We also discovered that God isn’t doing this for everyone but only for those who love God and those who are called according to His purpose. We know that no man loves God in and of himself and the only reason any man loves God is because God first loved him. The only way to love God is to experience His love for you through the Gospel. This is why one of the biblical assurances of salvation is that we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us (1 John 4:16).

The called are those chosen by God for salvation. Just as no man loves God unless God first loved him so no man chooses God unless God first chose him. This removes salvation from man’s doing and shows it to be a sovereign work of God. Because of this truth we know that salvation is not of works but by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Many balk at this biblical truth because they can’t understand what part human responsibility plays if salvation is all of God. They forget however the reason men that have not been chosen by God remain in their unbelief is because they will not believe. They cannot believe because they will not believe because their wills are in bondage to sin and they love their sin. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus said in several places. First, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). And then, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life” (John 5:39-40).

Therefore salvation is for everyone who believes or whosoever believes. All who are willing to believe are willing only because God chose them and called them and granted that they may come to Jesus.

This brings us to our text, Romans 8:29. All that are willing to believe are those whom God has foreknown. The word “foreknew” means “to know beforehand.” This does not mean that God knew beforehand that you would believe and therefore He elected you to salvation. If that is the case then our election to salvation is conditioned on something good that God saw in us. Was that the prognosis? No! “There is none who does good, there is not even one” (Romans 3:12). Election to salvation is unconditional. There is absolutely no cause in us to merit salvation. This is why we read, “Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). The word “gift” means “gratuitously or without a cause.”
So the word “foreknew”, then, means that God knew beforehand those whom He would justify as a gift by His grace. If you believe that salvation is by grace through faith and not of works so that no man may boast then of necessity you will also believe in unconditional election. The only alternative is to believe that God’s gift of salvation is conditioned upon some cause rather than no cause and then you would have merited grace and grace that is merited is not grace. A merited gift is not a gift. “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Romans 11:6).

Those whom God foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son. The word “predestined” means to “predetermine or preordain.” God has predetermined or preordained that believers would be conformed to the image of His Son. This means that all the suffering that believers endure for the sake of righteousness is being used by God to cause them to look more like Jesus. What did Jesus look like? This isn’t talking about having long hair, a beard, or any other physical feature that the Lord may have had. This is talking about reflecting His image in and through our experiences. He suffered and yet kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously (1 Peter 2:21-23). This means that we are called to suffer and to do so by following in the steps of Jesus.

So God has predestined our suffering with Christ so that we may be glorified with Him. The wonderful truth of it all is that God is causing all our suffering for the sake of righteousness to work for us and not against us and is using it to make us more like Christ.

God’s ultimate goal or primary cause in the salvation of the elect is to glorify His Son through whom the grace and glory of God will be praised – “so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” The firstborn has the preeminence and the glory.

God is conforming us to the image of His Son through what we suffer so that when others see how we bear up under suffering, maintaining our faith and trust in God, they see what Jesus looked like. This gives Christ the preeminence and glory and shows Him to be a glorious Savior worth suffering for – “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

Our suffering glorifies Christ; conforms us to His image; and benefits others.

The Called (Romans 8:28)

The context of Romans 8:28 is the suffering that believers encounter and endure for the sake of their faith in Christ so that they will be glorified with Christ (Romans 8:17ff). In the simplest of terms this means that God is causing our suffering to work for us and not against us. Believers will be more than conquerors through Christ (Romans 8:37) and their faith will be continually strengthened through their suffering and they will never apostatize (Romans 8:30).

So the “all things” that God’s Word is speaking of in Romans 8:28 are the negative things; the sufferings and afflictions that God is causing to work for us and not against us. And if God is for us and working all things together for us, who or what can be against us (Romans 8:31)?

We have already noted that God isn’t doing this for everyone but only for those who love God. And we know that no man in his natural state loves God but is in fact and enemy of God, hostile toward God, and hates the God of the Bible. He may be in love with a God of his own imagination but the holy, strict, and always just God of the Bible he hates with a passion and would even dare charge Him with evil, immorality, and a monstrous character – all because He will not bend to their lower standards of justice and morality which is in fact injustice and immorality. Those who are brave enough will even declare that they could never love a God who would send men to hell and who would punish them eternally for their crimes against Him. Others hate God because He saves some but not all. They would love a God who saves all but not a God who saves some and not others.

But we know that we love God not of our own accord but because He first loved us. So apart from men coming to know and believe the love which God has for them as demonstrated through the Gospel, they will continue to hate the God of the Bible. And here is the kicker – no man can will himself or make himself love God (John 1:12-13). God must choose him and cause him to see the love of God for him in the Gospel so that he responds to the Gospel in faith and love. Only men who receive the love of God in Christ Jesus can become lovers of God.

And that brings us to our text where we will study “those who are called.” The Bible distinguishes between the external call where the Gospel goes out to call all men to believe on Christ and the effectual call where the Gospel actually becomes the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. In other words the external call only becomes the effectual call to those who are chosen.

Jesus categorically declared that many are called but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). He was saying that the Gospel invitation goes out to many but it is rejected by most because compared to those who are rejecting it only a few are chosen. This means that no man can respond properly to the Gospel in and of himself. This is why Jesus said, “No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:65).

So salvation is a result of the work and will of God that excludes the work and will of man (John 1:12-13). Believers have never been called or chosen on the basis of their works or superior worth to other men but solely by the grace and mercy of God (2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 2:9; Titus 3:3-7). God didn’t choose you because He saw that you would choose Him; you chose Him because He first chose you and there’s no getting around that.

You may be wondering then, how did God choose? We are told in God’s Word, “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before the Lord. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

God chooses according to the kind intention of His will (Ephesians 1:4-6), or as our text puts it, “According to His purpose.” This means that God’s choosing and calling us is totally a work of God and totally by grace and totally for His glory.

So the biblical conclusion is that the called are the effectually called and these are the chosen. Those that have not been chosen by God cannot and will not respond properly to Christ through the Gospel. This means that the Gospel then is to one group an aroma of death unto death and to the other group an aroma of life unto life. So we know for sure that for those who are perishing the Gospel is foolishness.

How do you know if you are called or not? The answer: “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God….But to those who are the called, Christ the power of God and wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 24).

Exalted Living (Romans 8:9-11)

Romans 8:5-8 tells us of those who operate in the flesh – in their own strength and wisdom – rather than by faith – in the strength and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Those who operate in the flesh are “trying” to live the Christian life; trying to please God in their own power through their own ingenuity. It cannot be done! The requirement of the Law is not being fulfilled in those who walk according to the flesh, whether they are religious or irreligious (Romans 8:4). It is impossible because the flesh does not and cannot subject itself to the Law of God (Romans 8:7) and therefore the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8).

Since the flesh does not have the power to obey God and please God, then the Christian life cannot be lived by inspiration but only by incarnation. The Christian life can only be lived by the indwelling Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The flesh may wrongly believe that it has the ability to obey and please God, but it doesn’t! Christianity is not a reformed life but a replaced life. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Those in the flesh can only live by inspiration in their own power and are certain to fail in their attempts to obey God and please God. It is impossible that they can succeed – if they could then Christ died needlessly! Those in the flesh are excluded from being able to fulfill the requirement of the law and from being able to please God – they are excluded from exalted living. Only those in the Spirit can live the exalted life and that life is lived by faith and not in the power of the flesh. Those in whom the Spirit of God dwells and who by faith are guided by the Word of God will experience three aspects of the exalted life.

The extraordinary life - Romans 8:9 – those in the Spirit; in whom the Spirit of God dwells are able to live the exalted life because Jesus is able to live His life in and through them. Those in the Spirit live the exalted life because they are in the process of living the extraordinary life (Galatians 2:20). Anyone who is not living the extraordinary life cannot live the exalted life and does not belong to Christ.

The exchanged life - Romans 8:10 – here we see that the essence of Christianity is the exchanged life – “If Christ is in you”. Colossians 3:3-4 gives us a clearer understanding of this verse showing that the essence of Christianity is the exchanged life – “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

Galatians 2:20 also gives more clarity to this verse so that we can understand what is meant by “though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” “Though the body is dead because of sin” corresponds to “It is no longer I who live.” “Yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness” corresponds to “But Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” The essence of Christianity is the exchanged life. It is the replaced life and not the reformed life. Don’t forget that Jesus warned of the extreme dangers of having a reformed life but not a replaced life (Matthew 12:43-45).

The expectant life - Romans 8:11 – to get clarity and understanding about this verse we go back to Colossians 3:3-4 – “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” The Christian is sealed by the Holy Spirit who was given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:14). Our resurrection from the dead is guaranteed by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

We don’t have the power in and of ourselves to live the Christian life and neither do we have the power to raise ourselves from the dead. The Christian life is by faith from start to finish! The Christian life is by incarnation – “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) and not by inspiration.

Can you imagine someone in the flesh getting inspired to raise himself from the dead? No – because he doesn’t have that capability! Neither does the man in the flesh have the capability of living the exalted life – it can only come by the exchanged life which is a result of true and saving faith in Jesus Christ. No one who wants to keep control of his own life has understood the gospel or responded properly to Jesus Christ. If Christ isn’t your Lord – if the government of your life doesn’t rest on His shoulders – then there has not been an exchanged life and neither can there be an experience of the exalted life which only comes by faith in the Son of God.
We can’t live the God-pleasing life; He never said we could; He can and He always said He would. We don’t have to try – we have to trust – hallelujah! Christians have the Spirit and can therefore live the exchanged life which will translate into the exalted life. The Christian will be sanctified because he no longer lives for himself but for Him who died on his behalf

No Condemnation - Exempted Living (Romans 8:1-4) Part 2

The Law cannot claim you (Romans 8:3-4)

Since the Law cannot condemn you it also cannot claim you. Why is this so? Because Christ has already set you free from the Law’s condemnation by suffering and paying for the Law’s just claim over you on the cross. The “law of double jeopardy” states that a man cannot be tried twice for the same crime. God would not be just to condemn you when He has already condemned Jesus Christ in your place as though He was you. Since Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sins and since you are in Christ, God will not condemn you.

The only safe place from the just wrath of God is in Christ Jesus. This is true because the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who could and did suffer the wrath of God in our place so that we wouldn’t have to.

The Law cannot save a sinner from the wrath of God – it can only condemn the sinner and guarantee that he will indeed be the recipient of God’s wrath. Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20) and because of this the Law brings about wrath (Romans 4:15).

In Romans 8:1-2 we saw the twin truths of justification and sanctification and their relationship to one another. Romans 8:1 is a declaration of justification through no condemnation. Romans 8:2 is a declaration of sanctification because of no condemnation. We saw that justification is the cause of sanctification and that sanctification is not and cannot be the cause of justification. So this means that God’s legally declaring us righteous in Christ is the foundation and cause of our actually becoming righteous by loving Jesus and living for Jesus.

Romans 8:3-4 declares these twin truths of justification and sanctification once again. The Holy Spirit of God wants us to understand the God ordained order of our salvation. Justification always precedes and causes sanctification. Where there is no sanctification, justification has not taken place – not because sanctification causes justification but because justification always causes sanctification. These twin truths are devastating to the heresy of easy-believism and firmly establish the Biblical truth of Lordship salvation.

But not only are these twin truths devastating to libertinism they are also devastating to legalism. Paul has been laboring to show both the intent and the inability of the Law so that men would see their need to be justified and sanctified by faith and not by the Law. In other words the apostle has been laboring to show that the Law cannot justify and that it cannot sanctify. This is the perfect antidote against legalism.

So in Romans 8:3 we read about what the Law could not do but what God could and did do. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” Here we see four statements in this verse: (1) The Law cannot condemn sin in the flesh and therefore it cannot justify or sanctify, (2) the Law cannot justify or sanctify because of the weakness of our flesh, (3) what the Law could not do God did, and (4) God condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son and therefore we can be justified and sanctified by faith in Christ.

The Law cannot condemn sin in the flesh and therefore it cannot justify or sanctify. This doesn’t mean that the Law cannot criticize sin or show it to be worthy of death – this is precisely what the Law does. In the sense of passing the sentence of death on the sinner and guaranteeing that it must take place, the Law is perfectly capable. But this is not what our text is speaking of. Our text is speaking of having the ability to set us free from the law of sin and death not by condemning sin in the flesh by criticizing it but by actually condemning sin in the flesh by carrying out sin’s penalty through capitol punishment on a willing and able Substitute. This the Law cannot do! The Law cannot justify the sinner; it cannot exempt him but can only demand his execution. The Law cannot sanctify the sinner; it cannot change him but can only charge him with his crimes.

The Law cannot justify or sanctify because of the weakness of the flesh. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh….” This portion of verse 3 tells us why the Law cannot justify or sanctify – the weakness or wickedness of our flesh. The problem with the Law is not that its commandments are evil (Romans 7:12) but that we are evil and sold into bondage to sin (Romans 7:14). The word flesh means our old fallen nature – what we are by nature because of our connection to Adam. We are by nature sinners! Therefore it is our nature to rebel against God and His Law and therefore we are rightfully under condemnation. This means that we need to be delivered from the just condemnation that belongs to us and we need a new nature. We need justification and sanctification.

How will we be delivered from condemnation? Not by keeping the Law – we can’t! How will we get a new nature? Not by keeping the Law – we can’t! How then? By trusting not trying! The sooner we see our sickness the sooner we can seek the Savior! Our flesh cannot be empowered by the Law for the Law does not arrest sin in us but arouses it!

What the Law could not do, God did! The Law could not exempt us it could only guarantee our execution; the Law could not justify us. The Law could not change us it could only charge us with our crimes; the Law could not sanctify us! What the Law could not do, God did! God exempted us and justified us and He changed us and sanctified us. How did God do this?

God condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son. Here is the high and holy doctrine of Penal-Substitution. God executed the just penalty for sin in the flesh of His sinless Son as an offering or substitute for my sin and your sin. There was no sin in Christ to condemn so the condemnation that He received was not His own but as a substitute for others. This is clearly seen in 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

My sin was punished fully and in its finality in the body of Christ. And if my sin was punished there finally and fully, then I will not be punished for it again – “My sin O the bliss of this glorious thought; my sin not in part but the whole; is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!” (Horatio G. Spafford, It Is Well With My Soul, 1873).

But what was the purpose of God justifying us by condemning our sin in the flesh of His sinless Son? Was it just so that we would be justified and have a fire insurance policy guaranteeing that we wouldn’t go to hell? Did God intend to justify us and not change us? What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the condemnation of the Law but under grace? May it never be!

God justified us so that we would love Him and serve Him and thereby be sanctified. This is what verse 4 declares – “So that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

The love of God rescued us from the wrath of God so that we would love God and serve Him in newness of life. Our justification causes our sanctification. We love Him because He first loved us. Another way of saying this wonderful truth is that we are sanctified because He first loved us and justified us. Our obedience is a result of love not Law.

The believer lives a righteous life, not in the power of the Law, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. The believer lives a righteous life, not by trying, but by trusting. This is what Paul meant when he said all the way back in Romans 1:17 that the righteous man shall live by faith.

The righteousness that God demands in His Law is fulfilled in us through the Holy Spirit’s power. Our sanctification – fulfilling the requirement of the Law – is based on our justification – Christ’s fulfilling the requirement of the Law on our behalf.

The Law cannot condemn us and it cannot claim us because of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. We now have no condemnation and experience exempted living.