Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 4 Study # 4
March 1, 2019
Humble, Texas
(046)
1769 Translation:
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
16 [
Be] of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [
rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [
is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
1901 ASV Translation:
11 in diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving
the Lord;
12 rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in prayer;
13 communicating to the necessities of the saints;
given to hospitality.
14 Bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not.
15 Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep.
16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Set not your mind on high things, but
condescend to
things that are lowly. Be not wise in your own conceits.
17 Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men.
18 If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men.
19 Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath [
of God]: for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord.
20 But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
- I. The Second "Application" of Unhypocritical Love: One's "Attitude" Toward Others, Continued.
- A. One's "Attitude" Toward Fellow Believers [See Notes/Message Outlines, (043), (044)].
- B. One's "Attitude" Toward God.
- 1. The grammatical structure.
- a. Each of these three phrases have an articular noun with both article and noun in the dative.
- b. Each of these three phrases have a masculine, plural, nominative, present, active, participle.
- c. Each of these three phrases contain three words (article, noun, participle). There is no obvious variation to indicate a special grammatical organization of words.
- 2. The three phrases [Note Ephesians 4:4-5 where Paul also uses "Spirit", "Hope", and "Lord"].
- a. In respect to "The Spirit".
- 1) Paul's concept of "spirit" is at least partially revealed in Romans because of his 27 uses of the word "spirit".
- a) His references include references to the spirit of man and The Spirit of God.
- b) His initial claim (1:4) is that Jesus was declared to be "Son of God" by means of the power of resurrection from the dead according to the standard of "spirit of holiness" (which I take to be the Holy Spirit as the root of all activity; "spirit" being presented in all of the Scriptures as the "origin of action").
- c) His next claim (1:9) is that he "served" (latreuo; a word only used in 1:9 and 1:25 in Romans) God "with my spirit" in respect to the proclamation of the Gospel of His Son.
- d) Several of his claims regarding "spirit" in Romans are made in texts that put all of the worth-while activities of men under the thesis that those activities were sponsored and carried out by God's Spirit, not man's.
- i. The "circumcision" of the heart, which initiates all of the details of God's benefits to men, is attributed to God's Spirit (2:29).
- ii. The "love of God", which is the root value system by which God operates, is poured out within the hearts of His "circumcised" by His Spirit (5:5) so that they can function legitimately in God's universe.
- iii. Romans 7:6 claims that all of our "service" (douloo: the same word as is used in our current text -- 12:11) is to spring out of the new reality of our possession of God's Spirit as an indwelling presence: 5:5.
- iv. Chapter eight has 14 of Paul's 27 uses of "spirit" in this letter; it is all about the impact, that having the "Spirit of God" dwelling in us, makes upon us as we relate to Him by a faith that is grounded in Truth regarding that "Spirit".
- v. The last reference by Paul in Romans to "spirit" before our current text is 11:8 where the claim is made that God "gave them a spirit of stupor with eyes to see not and ears to hear not" that, again, makes God's Spirit the primary root of all of men's activities, with the human spirit as the "echo" of whatever it is that God's Spirit has done.
- e) Thus, the initial issue of this set of three phrases is "respecting the Spirit/spirit" in the sense that the human spirit's only legitimate response is to these truths about God's Spirit primarily as an Indwelling Presence in God's "circumcised" people. The use of the definite article with "Spirit" indicates the Spirit of God.
- 2) The participle: zeontes.
- a) This particular form of the words denoting "zeal" is only found in Acts 18:25 and our present text. There are related forms with their own particular nuances of meaning, but this word indicates a similarity between the physical reality of "boiling hot" and the beyond-physical reality of eagerness in respect to relating to The Spirit by the human spirit.
- b) This concept of "zealousness" is not, primarily, a physical matter (a quadriplegic person who is extremely limited at the physical level can, none-the-less, be "Spiritually zealous"). It is primarily an eagerness to relate to God's Spirit as the Source/Root of "Life".
- c) However, as much as it is possible, the body of man is directly affected in terms of sponsored activity by the presence/absence of this "zeal".
- b. In respect to "The Lord".
- 1) In the 38 texts of Romans where Paul refers to "Lord", at least 17 of them are directly associated with Jesus, the Christ, and several others are textually/contextually so associated. There is no direct "attribution" of "Lordship" to the Father or the Spirit.
- a) The first of the 38 is 1:4 where the Son of God, resurrected by power, is identified: Jesus Christ our Lord (literally "the Lord of us").
- b) The major "point", when the uses are taken as a whole, is that Jesus is "The Lord" and He is the One Whose activities have been attributed to our enormous benefit (as in 4:8 where there is such a condition as being in a position so that "The Lord" will not take a person's sin into account" because of God's "crediting" righteousness apart from performance issues; 4:6). It is because He is "The Lord" that all of His attributes, decisions, and actions are the determining factors of the outcomes of men's experiences in this world.
- 2) The key participle: douleuo.
- a) There are 7 references in Romans to this verb and 5 references to the associated noun. Also there is an associated verb "douloo" that is focused upon "being made a slave" with the difference being between "serving as a slave" (douleuo) and "being subjected to slavery" (douloo).
- b) The basic issue is "serving" "The Lord" because one is the "slave" and the other is the "Master".
- c) Paul's "point" is that, "in respect to The Lord", one either "serves" voluntarily, or refuses such service as a "slave of sin". "Serving" is the desired "attitude" toward God.
- c. In respect to "The Hope".
- 1) When looking into Paul's meaning for "The Hope" (elpis), we notice rather quickly that the 9 references to "hope" found in Romans make it the predominant user of the word in the New Testament with Acts being second to it, though much longer.
- a) "Hope" is expressed in respect to many "outcomes" in the New Testament, but it is always used in the terms of Romans 8:24: "hope" is an expectation for the future, not for what presently exists.
- b) "Hope" is first presented in Romans in 4:18 in the setting of Abraham's dilemma of being in the condition of being "now as good as dead" (sexually) and married to a woman with a "dead" womb (barren), but having the promise of God that he would become a "father of many nations". The text goes on to say that "he did not waver" in respect to the promise of God, but "was made strong" by the fact that "what God had promised, He was able also to perform" (4:21). The Point: "Hope" is not "wishful thinking", but "convinced reasoning".
- c) "Hope's" next use in Romans is 5:2 where its content is first expressed: "in hope of the glory of God". In 8:20-21 that content is expressed as "being set free from the slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God". Then 8:23-24 adds another detail: our 'adoption', epexegetically identified as "the redemption of our body".
- d) The capstone of Paul's uses in Romans is found in 15:13 where he expresses his own "hope" that "The God of Hope [will] fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit".
- e) In Acts 23:6 Paul made the claim to "The Council" that he was being "on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead".
- f) From these references and multiple other ones we draw this conclusion: "The Hope" is the firm expectation of "Life" in the future and for all eternity. All of the other "content statements" regarding "The Hope" are simply the details of that great "Hope".
- 2) The characterizing participle: cairontes.
- a) The verb (cairo) is only used in three texts in Romans, but is found in 68 texts of the New Testament and in 7 texts of Philippians, which is the New Testament presentation of "the essential attitude" of Christianity.
- b) In Philippians, "rejoicing" is presented as either the emotional response to obtaining a strongly desired objective, or to the fixed expectation that one will ("hopefully"; in the New Testament sense of the word) receive it at some point in the future.
- c) This characterization of one's "attitude toward God" is, thus, an "attitude" of "glad expectation/experience of some great good, particularly of "Life").