Chapter # 13 Paragraph # 1 Study # 9
November 22, 2020
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: The two most challenging "debts" for "believers" are those which most directly affect their "souls" and their "spirits".
Introduction: In our last study we considered at length Paul's insertion of "conscience" into his argument that the believer's responsibility in respect to "higher powers" is "submission". We saw that "conscience" is a
better motivator than "fear of wrath" because it more directly addresses the
real issue of "Life": the issue of a harmonious relationship with God on
the basis of "a good conscience".
All "Life" flows from God to those who respond to Him in terms of the specific issue of "a good conscience". Thus, any "ordinance of God" (
13:2) will be considered "conscience" material so that obedience to it is assumed for those who properly relate to God.
In the study this evening we are going to pursue this "good conscience" issue in terms of its most fundamental roots. A "good conscience" will always, ultimately, boil down to the question of whether, or not, a person is an "idolater", assigning the capacity of "Giving Life" to something that cannot "Give Life", or a true worshiper of God as the Living God Whose most fundamental communication of benefit to man is "Life".
- I. Paul's Argument For Submission Is Rooted In Two Basic Realities.
- A. The first reality has to do with the reason Paul called upon "every soul" to be in submission at the beginning (13:1) of this instruction.
- 1. It is in the "soul" that "Life" is experienced simply because it is in the "soul" that all of the decisions about "Life" are made.
- a. Attitudes about the experiences of the "body" are always tempered by the "soul's" perspective regarding those experiences.
- b. Attitudes about the experiences of the "spirit" are always tempered by the "soul's" perspective regarding those experiences.
- 2. The Primary Lie in regard to the "soul" was initially introduced by Satan's use of the "delightful" appearance of the forbidden fruit to reinforce his claim that the "Living" God was a "Lying" God.
- a. At the very root of the temptation was the attempt to break the bonds of Adam's confidence in God as the Ultimate Arbiter of Life and Death.
- b. At the very root of the use of the appearance of the forbidden fruit as "delightful" so that Eve succumbed to the temptation was the suggestion that the fruit could provide, in an abundant way, for "Life" even if "the Living God" was disobeyed.
- 1) Our "problem" here is that the word translated in Genesis 3:6 as "delight" is a word that Moses only used twice in the entire Pentateuch and the second use is far more enlightening than this first one: Numbers 11:4 (note the story as a whole), where the issue is translated "greedy desires", a concomitant phrase to Paul's "covetousness is idolatry" in Colossians 3:5 (which is translated "greed, which amounts to idolatry" in the NASB).
- 2) Our "problem" is resolved when we look into the other records of "temptation", particularly those of Jesus in Luke 4 and Matthew 4, and James' take on "temptation" which results in stinginess in James 2.
- a) In these other records, invariably the parallelism with Genesis 3 places the acquisition of great amounts of material wealth in parallel to the "delight" of the soul.
- b) This leads us to the fact that the greatest "anti-god" in the Scriptures is "wealth".
- c) Thus, the "delight to the eyes" to which Moses referred is the notion that "if I have sufficient wealth, I can 'Live' and have all I need to combat whatever problem may arise"; thus, "idolatrous attribution of the ability to impart 'Life' to wealth".
- c. Thus, it is no accident that Paul first turned to "taxes and customs" in his instruction regarding the outcomes of living with a good conscience.
- 1) Taxes and customs hit the "obedient" in the pocketbook and directly challenge the attitude of "idolaters" who are loath to part with their "Life"-giving money.
- 2) Paul directed "payment" of both taxes and customs for a basic reason: those who benefit from the taxes and customs are doing a God-given job that requires the fulfillment of the principle that the laborer is worthy of his wages (Luke 10:7).
- B. The second reality has to do with the reason Paul turned from the pocketbook to the issues of fear and honor.
- 1. These two issues are tied together in terms of the question of why a "believer" would not wish to "render" fear and honor to those in authority.
- a. The rejection of "fear", in this context, is a dismissal of "wrath" and "vengeance" by people who do not wish to "fear" authority so that they can go about living by their own decisions.
- b. The rejection of "honor", in this context, is a dismissal of the requirement that there be no use of "flaws" in the "authorities in order to get around the need to "honor".
- 2. Both of these issues are issues of the "spirit" of the man who defines "Life" as the experience of applause and recognition.
- a. In the original temptation, "wisdom" was promised as the solution to the threats involved in having to live under the thumb of a "Lying God".
- b. The outcome was the notion that if a person had sufficient "wisdom", he/she could live apart from God by reason of the abilities to make wise decisions and underwrite good outcomes.
- 3. Thus, with the requirements of extending "fear" and "honor" to those whose positions were established by God, Paul forced the Roman believers to accept the fact that "Life" does not come from being able to denigrate others and refuse them the fear and honor due them.
