Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 1 Study # 4
November 18, 2018
Humble, Texas
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1769 Translation:
6 And if by grace, then [is it] no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if [it be] of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
1901 ASV Translation:
6 But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.
7 What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened:
8 according as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this very day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, And a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, And bow thou down their back always.
- I. Paul's Clarification of the Essence of Grace.
- A. Its "necessity".
- 1. At the very heart of what Paul is saying in this larger section is one reality: God is God.
- a. God is God whether men know it or not, or whether men like it or not, or whether men can submit to Him or not, or whether they rage against Him or not.
- b. There is no rationale for Paul's "clarification of God's larger plan" except to further "faith".
- 2. That God is God means one thing: His Plan is going to progress through time and develop as He has already decided.
- a. What kind of "god" would God be if He had no Plan?
- b. What kind of "god" would God be if He did not pursue His Plan?
- 3. However, if men are going to benefit from His Plan, they must come to understand it and like it.
- a. God's "Plan" is rooted in the entirety of His "glory"; it includes all of the details of each aspect of His attributes as those details are ordered by those attributes, revealed to men or not.
- b. God's "Plan" is declared to be rooted in the over-all "intentionality" of "Life" for "some", which includes "Death" for "some".
- c. Those whom God brings into His "Life" may, or may not, understand the means and ways, but they are genuinely united with God and have the "seed" of "liking" within them.
- B. Its "essence".
- 1. Men simply cannot adjust to God's plans for their joy if they remain steadfastly committed to their self-perception of their superiority to Him.
- a. There is no rationale in heaven or upon earth that makes it possible for men to enter into the Joy of Life if they are rooted and founded upon the delusion of their superior virtue and wisdom.
- 1) This delusion forces "criticism" of God.
- 2) Criticism of God forces "ingratitude" toward God.
- 3) Ingratitude forces "discontent with, and opposition to, God".
- 4) And the Joy of Life flies away on the wings of the utter hatefulness of war against God.
- b. The Joy of Life is directly tied to "faith" in God's Truth as it is and the Truth begins with His superiority of virtue and wisdom.
- 2. Man's "faith" and experience of God's Life is most fundamentally rooted in "Grace".
- a. Paul has already declared that there is a "through-history" reality conceptualized in the doctrine of "a remnant that exists because of the election of grace".
- 1) An absolutely crucial sub-thesis of this doctrine is man's inherent depravity and bondage to Sin as a most profound reality.
- a) This, most fundamentally, means that men are inherently antagonistic to God with all of their being.
- b) This also, most fundamentally, means that men inherently see God as "Enemy" and rail against Him and His truth.
- 2) A second, and more important, sub-thesis is God's inherent attributes of Love and Grace whereby He pursues benefit for men in their blind bondage.
- 3) A third, and somewhat lesser, sub-thesis is that this pursuit is limited by the greater intention of "Life" through the knowledge of the glory of God (Romans 9:22).
- b. Now Paul is declaring the very essence of the concept of "Grace": it is absolutely void of any ties to "works".
- 1) By "works" Paul does not mean "any and every kind" because "Grace" is only available by reason of the "works" of Jesus, the Christ and of the "works" of His Spirit.
- 2) By "works" Paul does mean "any and every kind which lead to boastful self-exaltation".
- a) Paul's earlier question in reference to the destruction of the destructive attitudes embraced by men is "Where then is boasting?" and his answer is that "works" have been totally excluded when by "works" one means "man's obediences to God's laws" as a self-accomplished reality (Romans 3:27).
- b) Paul affirms this reality in his first letter to the Corinthians by challenging their "boasting" by declaring that everything they have that is "boast-worthy" has been given to them, not earned by them (1 Corinthians 4:7).
- 3) Any doctrine that posits man's ability/abilities to produce "boast-worthy" works is in direct contradiction to Grace.
- 4) Paul's pointed declaration is that "works" (as meritorious and "boast-worthy") rule out any/every link to Grace.
- c. For man to experience the Life of God, his faith must rest in the twin issues of Grace.
- 1) The first sub-thesis mentioned above as "man's utter incapacity".
- 2) The second sub-thesis mentioned above as "God's intentional pursuit unto Life".
- 3. The text of the Textus Receptus includes a declaration that "work" is no more "work" if intermingled with "Grace", but there are serious reasons to reject that as "of Paul".
- a. The textual commentary on Romans 11:6 argues that if Paul actually wrote what is recorded in the Textus Receptus, there would be no reasonable explanation for an alteration of it in many other textual records, and in the textual records that do include it there are several variations.
- b. The fact is, Paul's words are all about the essence of "Grace" and are not concerned with whether, in fact, "work" is "work". But, it is a part of his implied meaning that "Grace" is not the only virtue of God that is mangled by a perversion of "Grace". The essence of "work" is rooted in "Justice" and when "Grace" is mangled, "Justice" gets caught up in the same process of distortion. No one can corrupt any of the attributes of God without also corrupting all of the attributes of God. There is no "darkness" in the glory of God so that if anyone attempts to introduce such darkness, that one's entire theology is corrupt.