Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 4 Study # 4
March 1, 2020
Humble, Texas
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Thesis:   The "sacrificed body" is expressed by an unhypocritical love that is fixated upon a violent hatred of The Evil and a 'welded' unity to The Good that shows up in Zeal, Service, and Rejoicing.

Introduction:   Last week we did not get the audio of our study recorded because of a failure in the electronics of my digital recorder. Thus, by way of reminder, I want to briefly overview that study before we go into the study for this evening. In Romans 12:10-13 we have nine phrases, all of which begin with the phrase "In respect to..." as a pointer to a major issue of the Christian Life. These nine are divided into three sets of three that deliberately focus upon these major issues of "Life". Last week we considered the first of these sets of three. All nine of the phrases focus our attention upon how the "sacrificed body" will function in this world as a manifestation of an "unhypocritical love" that, itself, has two major aspects: a violent hatred of "The Evil" and a "Welded Attachment to The Good".

In the first set of three, the focus is upon how "an unhypocritical love" that violently hates "The Evil" and is welded to "The Good" shows up in respect to how we treat fellow-believers. That set of three is arranged chiasticly by virtue of an "adjective, participle, adjective" (A, B, A) arrangement so that we understand that it is the middle phrase of the three that is crucial: "honoring" one another by putting the eternal interests of the "other" ahead of our own. Then, prior to that critical attitude, we have the description of how we are to live in respect to "brotherly love" by "loving" as if the others are members of a family in harmony. And, following after, we have the description of how we are to live in respect to our "task" (put forward in the paragraph, Romans 12:3-8): not reluctantly putting off the responsibilities of that "task".

So, in the first set of three, we have an extremely concise presentation of "Life" as an expression of an unhypocritical love as it relates to how we treat one another.

That brings us to our study this evening of the second set of three as it is recorded in 12:11b-12a. In this set, the focus is upon "The Spirit", "The Lord", and "The Hope". Unlike the previous three, there is no linguistic use of chiasm; all three "in respect to phrases" are followed by present, active, participles. However, it is not hard to see, especially in the first two, that the overall focus is upon how we relate to God Himself. And, since the only way to relate to Him is "by faith" (because it is impossible to please Him without "believing Him"), the last of the three simply puts forward the main issue between us and God: His promise and how we relate to it. So we have a "God-focus" before us.

• I. It Begins With the "In Respect to The Spirit" Phrase.
  • A. This is not "anartharous spirit" (as a contrast to "body" or "soul"); this is "The Spirit" as the third member of the Trinity.
    • 1. As "The Spirit", He is to be understood as "The Facilitator".
      • a. All mentions of "spirit" in the Bible have to do with the sponsor of all activity so that James could write, "the body without the spirit is dead" (incapable of activity) and Jesus could tell His disciples that they would receive the Spirit of God as "the Power" of the "Life" that bears witness of Jesus.
      • b. As "The Facilitator", "The Spirit" does all of the things necessary to produce the Life of Jesus through the bodies that have been sacrificed to God according to 12:1-2.
        • 1) Among those necessary things is "divine revelation and illumination" as a kind of beginning point.
        • 2) And, obviously, there is "divine conviction" so that the revelation and illumination is "believed".
        • 3) Then there is "divine motivation" to "engage": He produces both the "willing" and the "doing" of the good pleasure of God.
        • 4) And, finally, there is the "prayer" of The Spirit to The Father to get all of this actually accomplished.
    • 2. Because "The Spirit" is "The Facilitator", the primary participle is "Fervency".
      • a. This verb is associated with our English word "zeal" and its most basic sense is "boiling" (as in a liquid that is heated up).
        • 1) The basic metaphor is that of someone who is "significantly motivated" (as if by fire) to relate to "The Facilitator" (illustrated in Jeremiah 20:7-9 where he determined to refuse to be God's prophet any longer).
        • 2) The basic background to this metaphor is two-fold.
          • a) The basic doctrine of God's gift to us of His own Spirit to do in and through us what we are charged to do, but have no capacity to do.
          • b) The problematic distortion that turns "zeal" into "lukewarmness" because of a loss of the sense of extreme neediness (both in terms of accountability and of inadequacy).
            • i. We are "accountable" and will be examined by God in regard to that.
            • ii. And we are "incapable" so that we have a "heated up need" to relate to "The Spirit" for His production of our required behavior.
      • b. Paul's way of awakening the "fervency" is to remind us that "In respect to The Spirit", we have been given "The Facilitator" Who insists that we depend heavily upon Him.
  • B. "The Spirit" is "The Promise" and "Faith" is His requirement (Galatians 3:14).
• II. It Continues With the "In Respect to The Lord" Phrase.
  • A. Paul's use of "Lord" in Romans is fairly extensive (38 references), and in 17 of those uses it is a direct identification of Jesus Christ.
    • 1. There is no direct attribution of "Lordship" to either Father or Spirit by Paul in Romans.
    • 2. That it is Jesus Christ Who is "The Lord" means that His "salvation" (Jesus) and His "kingdom rule" (Christ) are tied together under the concept of "Lord".
      • a. The basic issue of "lordship" is His authority to set and pursue "The Agenda".
      • b. The basic ideas of "Jesus" and "Christ" signal the fact that "The Promise" has a specific orientation: "Life" is only possible under, and in pursuit of, "The Agenda".
  • B. The participle attached to "The Lord" is "Serving" (douleuo).
    • 1. There are 7 references in Romans to this verb and 5 references to the associated noun.
    • 2. Additionally there is an associated verb "douloo" that is focused upon "being made a slave" with the difference between "serving as a slave" (douleuo) and "being subjected to slavery" (douloo).
      • a) The basic issue is "serving" "The Lord" because one is the "slave" and the other is the "Lord" as most basic characteristics.
      • b) Paul's "point" is that, "in respect to The Lord", one either "serves" voluntarily, or refuses such service as a "slave of sin".
      • c) "Serving" is the desired "attitude" toward "The Lord".
• III. It Is Concluded With the "In Respect to The Hope" Phrase.
  • A. 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.
    • 1. "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.
    • 2. "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".
      • a. 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).
      • b. The Point: "Hope" is not "wishful thinking", but "convinced reasoning".
    • 3. "Hope's" next use in Romans is 5:2 where its content is first expressed: "in hope of the glory of God".
    • 4. 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".
  • B. The characterizing participle: cairontes.
    • 1. 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.
    • 2. 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.
    • 3. This characterization of one's "attitude toward God" is, thus, an "attitude" of "glad expectation/experience of some great good, particularly of "Life").

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This is article #046.
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