Chapter # 13 Paragraph # 1 Study # 6
November 1, 2020
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: The believer's escape from "fear" is rooted in basic wisdom: do what is "good".
Introduction: We have been looking into Paul's
insistence that believers be committed to "submission to authority" as a basic result of "wisdom for Life". Though the vast majority of humanity defines "Life" in terms of the methodology of "dominion" ("control" over others and circumstances), the believer is to reject the premise of that methodology: there is no "Life" in possessing "control". There is One Who "controls" and, though He grants stewardships of dominion to all sentient creatures, there is
no "Life" there
except as a subset of "Life through sharing in God's Love and Truth".
The methodology of "Life" is the experiencing of an unhindered fellowship with God as "The Living God" and
any/
every thing that becomes a substitute for that fellowship becomes an idol that destroys the experience of "Life".
That "submission to authority" is a key to the experience of God's Life is "basic wisdom". This evening we shall see just how basic it is.
- I. Paul's Grasp of the Roots of Life.
- A. Above all of the issues of "Life" stands one principle: "God's Divine Love".
- 1. Without participation in God's Divine Love, there is no "Life" (1 Corinthians 13:3 and 13).
- a. This participation begins with "Faith" in God's "Love" for us (John 3:16; 1 John 3:1; Romans 5:8 et. al.).
- b. Then it develops by a "faithful" return of "Love" for Him (1 John 4:10).
- c. And it then develops by a "faithful" expression of His "Love" for others (1 John 4:20-21).
- d. Thus, it goes without saying that no one can experience the "Life of God" without participating with Him in the value system by which He operates (if we do not value what He values, we do not experience "fellowship" with Him, nor do we possess the experience of His "Life").
- 2. There is one primary obstacle to participation in God's "Love" in all of its directions: Fear.
- a. In 1 John 4:18 we are told that "perfected Love" is absolutely "fearless".
- b. Thus, Paul immediately turns to "fear" as a serious obstacle to our experience of "Life" in Romans 13:3.
- 1) He begins his alternative to a "fearful" issue ("receiving judgment because of opposition to divinely established dominion by others over us"), by a superficially "debatable" declaration.
- a) He declares that "rulers" (archontes) are "not a fear" to "the good work".
- i. The "good work" is "lawful activity" that is in harmony with God's standards of what is "right".
- ii. The declaration is that a person who is behaving "lawfully" has nothing to "fear".
- iii. This is critical because all "fear" is a distortion of "Love" at the most basic issue of "who/what" is "beloved": Fear is self-centered.
- b) I have called this "superficially debatable" because Paul knows, and agrees, that Peter's admission that it is not an unusual thing for people to suffer for doing what is right (1 Peter 4:12) since that "problem" had its roots in Christ's suffering (the "Just" for the "unjust"): 1 Peter 3:17.
- 2) This alternative is more of a "proverb" than a "principle".
- a) Proverbs declare "norms".
- b) Principles declare uncontradicted facts.
- 3) As a "proverb", Acts 19:35-41 comes along as an illustration of the "norm" to which Paul appealed occasionally; but Acts 23:1-3 is also an illustration that "norms" are often violated by the very ones who are entrusted to maintain the norms.
- c. The "problem" here is rather obvious: people, being self-interested, are typically "fearful" of anyone who can harm them.
- 3. In this text, there is a very obvious solution to the "fear": do "the good".
- B. Paul's grasp of the roots of "Life" includes actions taken.
- 1. There is no "Love" where there are none of the "actions" the objective requires.
- 2. But "actions" must always be kept under the biblical instruction regarding the roots of action.
- a. Actions divorced from the biblical roots most often become idolatrous means to false ends.
- b. Actions united to their true roots are either "works of the flesh" or "labors of love" so that one must count on God's provisions for all "labors of love" (1 Peter 4:11).
- II. Thus, Paul's Counsel is Basic Wisdom.
- A. Submit to those in authority...
- 1. Understanding the primacy of Divine Authority...
- 2. And refusing to fall for the trap involved in defining "Life" in the methodological terms of "being in control".
- B. And you will have nothing to fear.
