Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 1 Study # 2
August 25, 2019
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: Those who have already experienced the grace of God are the ones to whom Paul addresses his summons.
Introduction: In our last study, we considered the significance of Paul's first two words in
Romans 12:1. We saw that the first word, in the order of the words written, fundamentally points to a "summons" that
assumes some form of waywardness in the one being summoned. The word, etymologically, means "to summon alongside" within a context of the one summoned
not being "alongside" (there is no point to "summoning" someone to a place where he/she already stands). Thus, because the word sticks fairly close to its etymological roots (which is not always the case; there is such a thing as an "etymological fallacy") we find the translational choices to be a group of words that identify the root cause of the distance between the one
doing the summoning and the one
being summoned: "urge", "encourage", "rebuke", "entreat", "call for", "pray", etc.
Then we noted that the second word, in the order of the words written, is actually the first word in the order of "impact" in view of "the necessity for realization". "Therefore" means that Paul is not only "building" a case for his appeal to his readers, he is also pointing out the necessity of the readers' acceptance of that "case" so that they may possess both the "love" and "faith" to actually take the action to which Paul has called them.
This evening we are going to look at Paul's "view finder" in respect to his summons. What is it that he uses to lay the groundwork for an honest expectation of a legitimate response to his summons?
- I. The First Aspect of the "View Finder": The Identity of The "Summoned" As "Brethren".
- A. The essentials of Paul's use of "brethren" in this text are two: one, an identity as one of a group who possess a common "Father"; and, two, an identity as one of the group who have come to grips with the truths of Romans 1-11.
- B. There is a highly significant reason for Paul's placement of this summons at the end of eleven chapters of "theology".
- 1. If, as some insist, one must "present" him/her self to God as a living sacrifice at the "point of faith unto justification", Paul would have insisted upon this "presentation" as early as the latter part of chapter three, or, at least, before he finished chapter four.
- 2. Even the imperatives of "presentation" in chapter six (as we noted in our last study) are rooted in the theology of (at a minimum) chapter five where the concept of "one acting for all" is firmly established.
- 3. Thus, both the imperatives of chapter six and the summons of chapter twelve are only made "after the fact" of justification through substitutionary atonement.
- 4. This strongly argues for the necessity of some "experience" with God before one can legitimately expect anyone to turn their entire life over to Him "as a sacrifice".
- C. Paul's initial identification of his readers as "brethren" is, therefore, significant in that the strong assumption of "presentation" is "prior, and appealing, experience".
- 1. There are those in visible Christendom who insist that one must present him/her self to God as "Lord" before he/she can be "saved", but even these misguided souls actually, by their doctrine, admit that only "brethren" can be called upon to present themselves to God as both "Lord" and "Savior".
- a. Their argument is two-fold.
- 1) First, that "regeneration precedes faith".
- a) This means that God makes a person a "brother" before he "believes".
- b) One author on the web actually wrote "...If there's one phrase that captures the essence of reformed theology, it is the little phrase, regeneration precedes faith".
- c) Interestingly, however, this is not rooted in the words of divine revelation (nowhere in the Bible do the words "regeneration precedes faith" exist), but, rather, in human reasonings.
- i. The reasoning is this: because of "total depravity", man is incapable of "faith" so he must have this capacity created in him by God.
- ii. The only way God can create this capacity in him is by "regenerating" him so that he is now "capable".
- d) This "human reasoning" is flawed at two levels.
- i. First, any "system" of theology that has, as its essence, a concept that is not directly declared by Scripture should be automatically suspect and is automatically wrong.
- ii. Second, the notion that "regeneration" communicates a "capacity to believe" is, fundamentally, a departure from "Grace".
- i) "Grace", by essential definition, is "God's action on our behalf to address our incapacities".
- ii) Thus, if "regeneration" imparts the capacity to believe, all "believing" is now a human capacity that requires no further input from God since He has already provided that input by "previous, initial, Grace".
- iii) This results in "initial Grace" eliminating the need for "continuing grace": in other words, "Grace" puts us "under Law" because, having been regenerated by Grace, we no longer need "Grace" to live.
- iv) Paul wrote, "...if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should [more accurately, "would"] have been by the law..." (Galatians 3:21).
- v) Thus, if we have been "made alive" (regenerated), we are now responsible to live by Law because, according to Paul, our only "problem" was that we were "dead".
- vi) The bottom line here is that "regeneration" is not what produces the capacity to believe: being "alive" does not mean we now have a "human, inherent, capacity to believe".
- 2) The "faith that justifies" is of a kind that includes the ability to abandon oneself to God.
- a) In fact, "the faith that justifies" does not cover that much ground.
- b) The proof of this "fact" is the existence of the majority of the New Testament canon.
- i. There is little, to no, need for as much "explanation, exhortation, confrontation, and appeal" as exists in the New Testament if people come into "Life" having already taken the "faith step" of complete abandonment to God.
- ii. Neither, as we have already pointed out, is there any need for eleven chapters of "explanation, exhortation, confrontation, and appeal" to precede the summons contained in our text.
- b. Their argument ignores most of what the Bible teaches about "capacity to believe".
- 1) The Bible says that "faith cometh by hearing" [literally "faith out of hearing"] (Romans 10:17).
- a) In this context, "hearing" can happen without generating "faith" (10:18-19), but "faith" cannot come into being without "hearing".
- b) And, the terms of the declaration about "faith" coming into existence in the heart include the phrase "the hearing [cometh] through the word of Christ".
- c) Thus, we have a direct text that links "faith's" existence to the "hearing" of The Gospel (10:16), including the reason for any given person being given that opportunity to hear (the "hearing" is by the command of Christ).
- 2) But the Bible also says that for "faith" to arise in the hearts of men, the "hearing" must be attended by "power" (1 Thessalonians 1:5) and the straightforward sense of this text in its context is that the "power" is that of the Holy Spirit Who does two specific things.
- a) He makes the words "make sense" by removing a vail that prohibits understanding (2 Corinthians 3:15-17).
- b) He persuades/convicts of the truthfulness of the words so that a person is said "to be persuaded" so that "faith" comes into existence (to "be persuaded" is to "believe" so that "unbelief" is sometimes a translation of a word that means "to be unpersuaded").
- 3) Their position is that, once "regenerated", men no longer need enlightenment or persuasion; they can "believe" simply because they are "born again". Reality vehemently argues that this is simply not the case: illumination is still needed and persuasion is still needed.
- 2. Paul's point in identifying his readers as "brethren" is that, not only have they been regenerated as God's response to "faith", but they have also possessed "experience" of God's fatherly treatment of them from the beginning of their "faith" to the end of chapter eleven: this makes his summons a call to "dive into the reality of what it means to trust the Father".
