Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 1 Study # 6
August 19, 2008
Lincolnton, N.C.
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<426> Thesis:   In terms of "opportunity lost", "the glory" is the greatest loss of all. Introduction:   In our studies of Romans 9, we have seen that the initial focus is upon how emotionally distraught Paul was because of the unbelief of his fleshly brethren. We have seen that it was important for Paul to reveal this emotional turmoil as a prelude to his doctrine because it creates a significant prejudice in the hearers. It is no accident that the destruction of love for another and the destruction of confidence in another is always preceded by a two part "perception" issue. On the one hand, whenever one's "perception" of one's own importance rises above reality, love is destroyed; and on the other hand, whenever one's "perception" of another's intentions include "loss for the perceiver", faith is destroyed. Thus, Paul attempted to establish his own credibility by revealing the truth about how much more valuable were his "brethren" than he. Anyone who would actually accept that was automatically on the way to "faith". As we have moved on into Paul's description of the condition of his "fleshly brethren", we have seen that they are initially characterized as those who have had an enormously rich heritage in a divinely dominated history: they are Israelites. Then, in our last study, we looked into their "possession" of what Paul calls "the adoption". The adoption is a "post-life-in-this-world" event that is focused upon the Father's decree that the "resurrected" child is now ready for entrance into his/her actual inheritance. We saw that even Jesus was subject to the processes that culminate in "the adoption" before He was permitted to enter into His ultimate position as "the Christ". As it was with Him, so it is also with us. Now we are ready to consider what Paul called "the glory". This evening we are going to spend our time considering what "the glory" is and what the relationship of it is to "the adoption".