Chapter # 10 Paragraph # 2 Study # 3
July 22, 2018
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: The righteousness that is by faith says "the word is near you...".
Introduction: In our last study we considered Paul's use of Habakkuk 2:4 as the touchstone of his Gospel and his insistence that the righteousness that is by faith requires a rejection "in the heart" of two specifics that boil down to one particular issue. The two specifics are the twin difficulties of someone ascending into heaven to bring Christ down and descending into the Abyss to raise Christ out from among the dead. These twins establish the most fundamental issues of the Gospel: the descending presence of God's Christ into this world in order to accomplish "redemption"; and the ascending presence of God's Christ from among the dead to validate His accomplishment unto "faith". Then, the one particular issue is the "in the heart 'Who?' " question that points to man's penchant for assuming God's promise to man's responsibility. In other words, the prohibition of the righteousness that is by faith is one: Do not attempt to find a human being on the earth who is capable of the twin necessities of the Gospel. In other words, reject the tendency to question whether the promise(s) of God can be actually fulfilled.
Now, this evening we are going to at least begin to look into what the "positive" requirement of the righteousness that is by faith: What does it say?
- I. The Content of The Righteousness That Is By Faith is a Simple Sentence.
- A. It "says" as fundamental doctrinal content.
- B. Its "saying" is "the word is near you".
- 1. This is a quote from Deuteronomy 30:14 that brings its context along with it.
- 2. It is taken, by Paul, out of Moses' application of it to God's commandments, and it is given a new application.
- a. Moses' setting is the requirement of Law and the massive difficulty that it presents, his "declaration" is that it is not "too hard", and his "application" is to a whole-hearted love for God that will issue forth in the keeping of His commandments.
- b. Paul's setting is the requirement of the righteousness of faith and the massive difficulty that it presents, his "declaration" that it is "near you", and his "application" is to the simple, immediate, response to "the word" as an "in your mouth and in your heart" summons to faith.
- 1) Critical to this summons is the essence of "the word".
- a) This is not a large package of doctrinal content (logos).
- b) This is an abbreviated element of the larger body of doctrine (rema).
- 2) The essence of this "word" is defined in this context.
- a) It is a proclamation that "salvation" is available.
- b) It is a declaration that "salvation's" requirements boil down to two issues: the descent of God's Christ into this world for redemption purposes and the ascent of God's Christ from the dead to empower justification (Romans 4:25).
- c) It is an insistence that man do not challenge this "word" with the unbelief of "saying" that these two issues are "too hard" and accept the promise that God will make it happen.
- d) It is an explanation of what man is supposed to "do": "confess the Lord Jesus"; and "believe that God has raised Him from the dead".
- 3) Thus, "the word" is God's claim to have fulfilled His promises to send His Lord from heaven and raise Him from the dead.
- 3. At issue is Paul's meaning of "near you".
- a. It corresponds to Moses' "it is not too difficult for you" (Deuteronomy 30:11).
- b. It is explained as "in your mouth and in your heart".
- c. This is about as "near" as "near" gets.
- II. The Content of The Righteousness That Is By Faith is a Compound Sentence.
- A. The first aspect is the "nearness" as an "in your mouth" reality.
- 1. The message "heard" has immediately moved from your ears to your mouth.
- 2. The reason that "faith" is not too hard is that the words are already in your mouth just awaiting your release of them.
- B. The second aspect is the "nearness" as an "in your heart" reality.
- 1. The message "heard" has been validated at the root of your value core in "your heart".
- 2. Thus, it is considered by you as "truth".
- 3. The reason that it is not "too hard" to "believe" it is that it has already been confirmed as truth at the core level of your heart.
- III. The Problem.
- A. Paul does not address this issue, but it exists.
- B. Hebrews 3-4 sets forth this problem as, at the point of mouth/heart ease of response, a "hardening of the heart".
- 1. This means that, at the very point of "hearing" unto an "in your mouth and in your heart" capability, man must deal with his knee-jerk reaction.
- 2. This knee-jerk reaction is to "harden" himself against the impact of the "hearing".
- a. The admonition, "Do not harden..." strongly implies that, though a man may not have the ability to create a certain content of "truth" and then commit himself to it, he, apparently does have the ability to resist the impulse to hear a certain content of truth and reject it.
- b. In other words, man does not have the "freedom of will" to determine what is true and commit to it, but he does have the ability to recognize truth and refuse the impulse to reject it.
- 1) His ability to recognize the truth is God-given by the One Who commands the light to shine in our hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6).
- 2) His ability to "harden not his heart" (i. e. to refuse the impulse to reject what he/she has had "shined into his/her heart") is also God-given in that only God can create a desire for integrity in the heart of a sinner; this desire being a reluctance to deny what is obviously true.