# Introduction
I am not a professional psychologist, but I am an amateur, in that I love the *souls*, the *psyche*, of people. As a pastor/shepherd, discipler, and as a practicing disciple of Christ myself who walks the road of sanctification every day, I can also say that identity of soul is vital and internal conflict about identity is destructive and paralyzing.
For example, the misery of young men and women being catechized and cajoled by worldly counsel into gender denial and attempted transition is a hellish reality. The confusion of and combat against embodied fact ruins lives. Some of the physical damage is irreversible, and as great as grace is to deliver from guilt, we can expect severe struggles on the road to restoring the image of God for those who convert to Christ.
As another example, I've been a part of a couple conversations about PTSD recently, and if I had known I forgot, that the stress of trauma after the fact is regularly not about what a soldier *saw* but what a solder himself did. The worst conflict isn't over atrocities witnessed but atrocities committed by oneself. Who we thought we were doesn't hold up to the evidence of our behavior, and that leaves a lot of unwanted, uncomfortable memories. Soldiers without a Savior, without gospel, may have a lifetime conflict in their minds that threatens their survival long after they’ve left the field of military conflict.
These identity conflicts provide at least a partial analogy to the Christian's experience with the passions of the flesh that wage war against the soul (1 Peter 2:11). It is war, and Romans equips us.
A reporter once asked Mike Tyson about his plan for an upcoming fight with Evander Holyfield: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Romans chapter 6 equips us to throw punches in the fight, and chapter 7 equips us so that we'll be ready when we get punched in the mouth.
In chapter 7 Paul refers to it in terms of law, and all faith and hope and mind-renewal must be brought to bear. This is no playground. The saints will persevere by God's grace, and they need to know the right path lest they be surprised when harassed. Christian, your saved soul needs to know this.
We considered last time that the frustration is so intense in verses 13-25 and the expressions so explicit that a surface reading may make one think Paul represents an unbeliever. But then we put the passage in context and demonstrated that only a believer actually has the sort of care and want for good. He sees an internal division, a spiritual conflict, but the conflict is a sign of life.
Paul is clarifying how the law of God, primarily the Mosaic Law, and even the 10th Commandment against coveting, is holy and *good*. Yet the law also aggravates and awakens sinful desires and even is found "producing death in me" (verse 13). Paul does not back off the goodness of the law, nor back off wanting the law's standards, nor back off how the law itself runs roughshod over the souls of believers who, though well-motivated, get their relationship with the law out of order. That's because their is another controlling principle in yet-to-be-glorified believers, namely, the law of sin, that resists. Sin is the enemy, and we need to hold on to our identify as those united to Christ and not as declared by the law.
# The Law Exposes Sin (verse 13)
Paul rejects any idea that the good law has fault in bad death. **Did that which is good**, that is the law, **bring death to me? By no means!** We may ask, why go about using the law at all, Lord? Because it trains us to see sin for what it is. The Lord wants us to grow wiser by learning our own depravity.
Here’s the purpose: **in order that sin might be show to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure**. The law is a 5 million lumens make-up lamp to show and magnify every defect. Whether it shows more clearly a pre-existing rebellion or proves that sin is so ruthless in its demands that it will pervert the good for its own benefit, those who are Christians are trained to see more of why Christ's crucifixion was so crucial.
# The Law Provokes Conflict (verses 14-20)
The next two sections come at the same problem from two angles, both portray a conflict between intention and outcome, wants and actions. The first shows him doing what he doesn't want, the second not doing what he does want.
The law is **spiritual** but he is of **flesh**, and that can't be a simplistic dualism between material and immaterial. Spiritual refers to a purity and integrity. Jesus was spiritual in flesh, but not "of the flesh." For believers, even though we have died to sin and are no longer slaves to it, we are being trained to see its deceiving and destructive work while still connected to it. We are saved, but we are not done being saved. More than just a man's body, there is a problem in fallen human nature.
Verse 15 explains the **sold under sin** in context. **For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.** Paul has been given a taste of true freedom but finds himself back at the table of fake freedom. When he looks at the law this is what he sees. **Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good.** The intention has some benefit: to show that what he did was *wrong* and that sin is a masterful manipulator.
**So now it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me.** He is not claiming multiple personalities. He is not making excuses. It's the opposite. He's recognizing that this is worse than he thought. He's saying that there is an enemy within. He's saying that peace with God (per Romans 5:1) means war with sin. There is still sin to be exposed, and the law, useful to expose it, so necessary and good, must be held as a mirror. But it must *not* be looked to as the judge. Going to the law as judge never results in good. The law can be a means toward righteousness, but it is a brutal master.
Verse 18 gives two further pieces of explanation. Sin is connected to the flesh and so **nothing good dwells** there. This affects the actions. Paul has desire but **not the ability to carry it out**. Verses 19-20 repeat the point, but we've moved from inconsistence with wants to impotence of wants. He does what he didn't want to--sinning by transgressing the standard, and he doesn't do what he wants--falling short of the standard. The problem is sin, and sin can be singled out as an unwelcome but persistent resident.
Sin causes sin. The law does not cause sin to exist, but yet the law does not cause sin *not* to exist. All the frustrations Paul describes happen under the shadow of the law. He wouldn't know what good to want without the law, whether he does it or not. In fact, the law is good for showing what is good. But we are not neutral observers. We are not a blank slate waiting to find a good template. In Adam we aren't fixed by just knowing.
# The Law (of God) Wars Against the Law (of Sin) (verses 21-23)
The conflict is so persistent that Paul calls the conflict a law. That means that in the next couple verses there are *two* laws. The law of sin (in members) and the law of God (in mind). Both are controlling principles, but the law of sin is known by more than words.
There is a nagging and controlling pest, a **law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand**. In a more humorous anecdote, there is a law that when we're told not to imagine a pink elephant, to process the prohibition in order to obey it is to fail to follow it.
If he did not have an interest in the better it would be different, not righteous, but maybe not quite as disruptive. **For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind, and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.**
Four descriptions cover two laws. God's law is the one in his mind, the sinful use of law is the one in his members.
There are two laws but three participants: law, us, and sin. We will never know what it would have been like without sin, mostly because law is for sinners, but also because law makes sinners worse. When we are glorified, the law will be written on our hearts so perfectly that we will not need external standards and we will be delivered from the part that sin attaches to. But for now sin is the third wheel that makes our time with the law awkward.
# The Law Makes Desperate for Rescue (verses 24-25)
Sin in him was not an excuse. Sin in him was worse. The more delight in God's law the more despicable was his sight of living with it. He could see what it could be, he could see and desire the fruit of righteousness. The solution wasn't the law.
**Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?**
He needed, we need, to go forward as disciples, and in reading the epistle. Verse 25 is good, so is chapter 8. We look to no condemnation in Christ.
**Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!**
The final summary after the expression of faith leaves us, along with Paul, in a state of conflict, with sin and with identity.
# Conclusion
Romans 7 is *normal* Christian conflict, and this chapter equips us so that we will not be surprised. It is not instructions on what we should seek as a spiritual state of authentic misery. This was Paul as maturity, but it is not what made him mature.
Should you seek to stimulate anxious groanings?
> This passage is indeed remarkably fitted for the purpose of beating down all the glory of the flesh…. Paul, by his own example, stimulates them to anxious groanings, and bids them, as long as they sojourn on earth, to desire death, as the only true remedy to their evils; and this is the right object in desiring death. (John Calvin)
I think you should seek to win the fight, not seek to get hit in the face, but recognized that its your own sin punching back. It’s not a feeling to celebrate, though it is a feeling that shows we’re in the right conflict. We are not in a wretchedness competition.
Maturity is recognizing the law of sin, staring it in the face, and telling it, *I am dead to you in Christ.* It is looking at the law and saying, *If you are here to hurt me, I am dead to you. I am with Christ now.* (see Romans 7:4)
So we live from faith to faith, not under law but under grace.
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## Charge
Christian, you are a Christian. You are reconciled to God in Christ, You are, by God’s grace, being made more and more like Christ. You are grafted into Him as a vine, baptized into His death and raised to walk in newness of life. Christ in you is the hope of glory. Walk in Him.
## Benediction:
> [M]ay your hearts be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
> Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:2–3, 6–7, ESV)
37: The Law of Sin (Pt 2)
Or, The Problem with Trying to Do Good
October 2, 2022 • Sean Higgins • Romans 7:13–25
92: Altar Blessings
March 24, 2024 • Sean Higgins • Romans 1:16–17, Romans 12:11
One test of whether or not you understand something is if you can explain it in your own words. It's not only a helpful exercise to engage with the material, it's strategic for locating the *point*. If we assume that what we're reading is organized in order to reveal truth — which we can assume with the epistle of Paul to the Romans — then we expect that all the parts build into a whole. I keep being not just surprised, but disappointed when I reach the last verse of a Bible book in a commentary and the next page is: Appendix A, or Topical Index, or Acknowledgments. What about the *synthesis*? What about the *point*? We spent all the time looking at the trees on our way through the orchard, and some of the trees had great fruit. Now that we can look back, how far did we come? To me, not just a review but a rejoicing review is in order. There were two phrases that stood out to me as summaries of the two main divisions of the letter. Those phrases stood out to me enough that I used them as my email signature in two different years. The first captures the doctrinal (though there's truth for practice) in chapters 1-11, and the second captures the practical (though there's principles of truth) in chapters 12-16. # From Faith to Faith I get this from Romans 1:16-17, arguable Paul’s own summary of the theme of the epistle. In the gospel is revealed the righteousness of God **from faith to faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.' (NASB)** - We cannot be saved without faith; the gospel is for all the believing ones. - We cannot please God without faith; the gospel argues against our righteous works. - We cannot resist sin without faith; the gospel forgives and the Spirit frees us from sin’s power and fulfills righteousness. - We cannot endure suffering without faith; the gospel gives us hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. While one day we won't need faith any longer, when we see face to face, we cannot live as Christians without it for even one day in these bodies. Faith is the instrument of justification, and this undid Rome *twice*, first the paganism of the Roman Empire and then again the popery of the Roman Catholic world. In the 16th century the dominant worldview, which came from the teaching and worldview of the dominant worship, was that men could only be righteous through a combination of faith *plus*: faith plus their own works, faith plus some saint's extra good works, faith plus money that purchased a status, faith plus visiting/touching/kissing some special artifact. To be righteous by faith *alone*, that led to the single greatest church split ever, and we are still blessed by that proper division 500 years later. That said, faith apart from works is not really our fight. We wear t-shirts and drink out of coffee mugs with *sola fide* printed on them. That doesn’t always mean we live from faith to faith. Our fight is more faith vs sight, faith except for all the times we think we can fix it ourselves. We are people who get things done, who make things happen, who take responsibility. We are realists, pragmatists, “modern” men of math and material things. If there’s a problem, we’ll solve it. We’ve got bullet points, after all. And then we see the second half of Romans 1 played out in front of us, and we thought cultural degradation should be done by now. More bullet points! But consider the placement of Romans 1:18-32. We say that it shows the *need* for the gospel, and it does. Men do not meet God's standard for righteousness, in unrighteousness and ungodliness they suppress the truth, so they are guilty and need the gospel. So true. But who did Paul write the explanation *for*? It wasn't an evangelistic tract for the pagans per se, it was encouragement for those who needed to live from faith to faith. He wrote about God's wrath so that the Christians in Rome would know what to tell their sinning neighbors, but also so that the Christians in Rome would not lose heart. Our culture is schizo. Unbelievers want more and more material things, we want physical comfort and prosperity, and we figure all that is possible if we follow the right 7 Steps to Success. But when it comes to moral things, the same unbelievers think that's up for grabs, think and act and be whatever you want, and we figure any of it is possible, just follow your feelings. What both those perspectives share is not *not* faith, certainly not saving faith, but an alternative faith, just that we don't call it "faith" because it seems like we have some sort of control. If there is anything that Romans teaches us, beloved, it is that men are not in control. As Christians we cannot even control our own flesh (think the last half of Romans 7); men are slaves to sin or slaves of righteousness, but they are not their own. It is God's will, by His eternal command, that the gospel go out, that faith would come by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. That faith confesses that *Jesus is Lord*. At what point in your Christian life do you not need to live in light of that reality? We do not enter the blessings by faith and then fix the rest ourselves. It's all by faith. # Don't Hold Back This is from part of a verse in Romans 12:11: **Do not be slothful in zeal**. Three times Paul references zeal in Romans, and all three assume that there are ways to mess up zeal. Paul said in Romans 10:2 about the Jews that "they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." In Romans 12:8 he exhorted those with various gifts in the body and included, "the one who leads, with zeal," like it's possible to go out first halfheartedly. And it is. Then in Romans 12:11, **Do not be slothful in zeal**. I think that the first line actually sets the tone for 11-13, because "being fervent, serving, rejoicing, persevering, being devoted, contributing, and seeking" are all participles that hang on it. To be **slothful** is to be reluctant, to lag behind, to hold back. Brothers, Jesus is Lord, don't hold back. # Conclusion *We are individually offerings*, having received mercy by gospel, so Romans 12:1. > I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. We've been called to altar living. You are not allowed to hold back some part of your life, some time of the day, some percent of your will. “To be freed from only one sin—that’s just our own agenda." (—John Owen, _The Mortification of Sin_). The mercies of God move all our bodies up onto the altar. *We are collectively an offering*, being made by the gospel: Romans 15:16. Paul was > a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The gospel is the power of God to make an offering of offerings, one made up of many, just like the singular body of Christ has a plurality of members. How then do we believe the gospel? Like offerings to God. We are part of the fulness of the Gentiles (Romans 11:25), so that “the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy” (Romans 15:9). God has grafted us into blessings, and His blessings make us jealousable before men and pleasing to Himself. Because of the gospel we are to be a people of faith, believing in God and confessing Jesus as Lord and being conformed to the image of God’s Son. By His will we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. By His love we have reconciliation and peace with God. By His command the gospel has been known to us to bring about the obedience of faith among all peoples. By His mercies we present our bodies as living sacrifices. What altar blessings! What gift. What depth of riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. To Him be glory forever! ---------- ## Charge Christian, living from faith to faith is not a hobby or side-hustle, it is your life calling. It is your identity; you are "the ones believing." Keep on believing in your heart the word of faith about the Lord of all. He bestows His riches and joy and peace on all who believe in Him. ## Benediction: > Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! > > “For who has known the mind of the Lord, > or who has been his counselor?” > “Or who has given a gift to him > that he might be repaid?” > > For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33–36 ESV)
91: There Will Be Strength
March 17, 2024 • Sean Higgins • Romans 16:21–27
This is it, the last of the letter. Unlike our salutations there’s no “Sincerely,” but Paul sincerely commits the Roman Christians to the care of the only wise God. We'll see a few more greetings in verses 21-23, then a send-off doxology in verses 25-27. Next week, Lord willing, we'll take one more run at a Romans recap, then we'll rejoice together on Resurrection Sunday. # Other Withs (verses 21-23) Chapter 16 started with 13 expressions of greeting to those *in* Rome, verses 21-23 include four more greetings from those *with* Paul. **Timothy** was one of Paul's with-workers, and we know more about him than any other named person in the chapter. He even received two letters from Paul himself, extending the ministry to churches. **Lucius and Jason and Sosipater** were more of Paul's with-borns, called **my kinsmen**. There's no reason to think they weren't part of his extended family. Verse 22 comes from Paul's with-writer, though that is not actually a word; I made it up. **I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.** Have you heard of the job: amanuensis? It's the academic name for a writing assistant, for one who takes dictation. Tertius wasn't just a professional secretary, he himself cared about the believers **in the Lord**. **Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you.** If Pheobe hosted a church in the port city of Cenchrae, just south of Corinth, Gaius was hosting an assembly in Corinth itself *and* at least Paul as a guest. **Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.** Just for sake of observation, while Paul told the Corinthians in his first letter to them that having a rank in the world didn't guarantee having wisdom to know God, Erastus, who was a Corinthian, did have some recognizable rank, and had become a Christian. He likely had enough of a network to have known some who now lived in Rome. You might not have noticed that, at least in the ESV, there is no verse 24 (NAS has it in brackets, KJV includes it). The more likely to be original manuscripts don’t have it, and if we read verse 20, we don’t miss anything. # Strengthening Worship (verses 25-27) There is a difference between a Benediction and a Doxology. I think about it when I choose the final Scripture for our Lord's Day worship. Paul ends different letters *both* ways, both are good, all are yours. A *benediction* is a good word (from Latin *bene* and *dico*, good-speaking), a favor-blessing usually directed to/over the recipients. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you" (16:20) is a benediction, as were 15:6 and 15:13. A *doxology* is a praise word (from Greek *doxa* is glory and *logos*, praise-speaking), an honor-blessing usually directed to God. Romans 11:33-36 is a previous doxology. But both — praying to the Lord for His favor (benediction) and praising the Lord for His glory (doxology) — *bless* the hearers. It is good for us that this is our God, and so we lose nothing by finishing with doxology instead of benediction. It is a different kind of literary protein, both build the muscles of our faith. Verses 25-27 make the longest doxology in the NT, one sentence stretched out (11:33-36 is like three within one, or even just verse 36 alone is the doxology proper). **Now to him who is able to strengthen you**, and immediately we see how an attribute of God blesses the people who worship this God. We could pause here for a moment, because, are you allowed to be encouraged that God has abilities to enable your abilities? Or is that man-centered? Are you just coming to God because of what you can get from Him? There is a kind of exaggerated pietism that is too good to ask God for help, as if helping "*me*" is below God. But God doesn't want our strength, He wants us to thank Him and honor Him for all His power (see Romans 1:20-21, see also 2 Corinthians 4:7 and 12:9, see also Psalm 50:12-15). The establishing/stabilizing/reinforcing comes **according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ**, which, is Paul allowed to say "*my*" gospel (which he already did in Romans 2:16, too)? Again with the so afraid of being man-centered that we focus on how a man is doing it wrong. The gospel is the theme of the whole letter according to Romans 1:16, and note that the gospel converts only as the start, then it transforms (Romans 12:2) and fortifies. This message is **according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages**. What is the **mystery**? The OT prophets knew a lot, including knowing that they didn't know it all. We're told some of them studied their own writings to know the time and person of the Christ (1 Peter 1:10-12). The identity of the Messiah was a secret, but so also that “a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25). Then light! There were shadows, but now there is substance. There had been questions **but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations** (*ta ethne*). Have all the Gentiles heard the gospel? Had *Spain* heard the gospel? The point here is that the gospel is *good for* all the peoples, that there is to be no narrowed for the Jews *only* even if “to the Jew *first*” (Romans 1:16). While not revealed in its entirety, the revelation is not a change of course. The gospel has gone out **according to the command of the eternal God**. God is internationally known, eternally governing. The gospel of salvation to all who believe was **to bring about the obedience of faith**. The only other place the phrase “the obedience of faith” is used is in Romans 1:5. In it is root and fruit, faith that leads to obedience. It is impossible to be justified by works/obedience, and those who have peace with God have been raised to walk in newness of life/obedience. So we keep living from faith to faith. This is the second bookend, more about the "Him" of abilities in verse 25. God is also the God of wisdom: **--to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.** I appreciate that the ESV translates with an exclamation point. # Conclusion There’s room to recap the whole epistle and some of the emphasis we've considered, but what can we take-away from the final praise? God has wisdom and strength. Every moment God's wisdom and strength works all things for good for the called, for those who love God. Do you love God? He is the God of all glory; none compare to Him. Do you love God? He is the God of all wisdom; He neither seeks nor needs counsel. Do you love God? He is the God of all power, who has sent His Son for the eternal blessing of all who believe. From this doxology we are blessed to know that God is powerful, eternal, wise; those three attributes are stated explicitly. Also we see that God reveals His will. God has global intentions. God expects worship and obedience. God is personal, He has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ and the gospel. God deserves all glory. And He delights in glorifying Himself by giving us strength to worship Him as our Rock. You’ve been called to believe, to live from faith to faith. This is the God in whom you believe. > For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, > for my hope is from him. > He only is my rock and my salvation, > my fortress; I shall not be shaken. > On God rests my salvation and my glory; > my mighty rock, my refuge is God. > (Psalm 62:5–7 ESV) All the alternatives are smoke. They are superstitions and ignorance rather than revelation, deaf and mute and mortal and worthless idols rather than true. What are your temptations? What are your doubts? What are your sufferings? What are your weaknesses? Christian, do you need strength? *There will be strength.* ---------- ## Charge God not only has the power to strengthen you if He wants to, HE WANTS TO. The eternal and wise God saves you by faith and STRENGTHENS your faith to persevere in praise. He wills strength for you because He wills glory for Him. There will be strength! Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ## Benediction: > Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV)
90: False Offenses
March 10, 2024 • Sean Higgins • Romans 16:17–20
There are only so many more verses left in this letter, only a couple more sermons from Romans after today. What a mountain of material we’ve traveled over, and yet the final 5% is still important. They say most accidents happen closest to home, Paul doesn’t want us to crash before we get there. He puts up a big warning sign as he gets ready to sign off. In verses 17-19 he urges the believers not to be naive because they’re in a battle, and in verse 20 he encourages them with a good word about winning that battle. # Divisions and Scandals (verses 17-19) There is a kind of selfish person that sounds as if he’s “in-the-know” and who gets kicks out of kindling strife. With only a few strokes left in his pen, Paul gets in this crucial instruction, how to identify offense-mongers (AKA offense dealers, offense traffickers), what drives them and how to respond to them. Before considering the exhortation, observe the problem people: **those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.** **Divisions** is “dissensions” (NASB)(one of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:20), a break between people. We also call these factions, schisms, splinter groups. The divisions belong with the **obstacles**, which is from * σκάνδαλα*, so stumbling blocks, hindrances, *offenses*. And the structure identifies a group with shared characteristics. They are “the — factions and offenses - making ones.” This is the way of man, to “help” someone to see how BAD it really is, and form a Ring of the Ones Who Are Right (ROWAR) against those who are the cause of the BAD or even against those who can’t see how BAD it is. Show a person how upset, how offended he should be, the dam of love is broken, the floods of offense flow and now there are two sides. In marriage, two become one flesh; in the flesh, one becomes two, or more. These persons are creating a perverted koinonia as they teach how grieved some should be (at others). That divide-by-offense strategy is **contrary to the doctrine**. It’s false teaching making false offenses, teaching that is outside the “standard of to which you were committed” (Romans 6:17). What was the contrary teaching? It’s not specified here, and it’s not even obvious that such faction-makers had arrived in Rome. Paul addressed some arguers throughout the letter, but he had also just said that the Roman believers were doing great (Romans 15:14). That said, he’d been around “all the churches” (Romans 16:16), and of course he was writing from Corinth, known for their divisive quarreling. The problem and the problem people, are not those who have questions, who have exegetical disagreements, or those who have different convictions in disputable matters. Think back to Romans 14 and the need to sacrifice for and welcome whose who choose differently. Yet there is a kind of teaching that is opposed to salvation by faith alone; they teach there must be *more* than faith. There is a kind of teaching that is opposed to grace that frees us form sin and makes us slaves of righteousness; they claim that adds *more* to faith. Both of those angles have been addressed earlier in Romans. The gospel is the power of God to save and to cause us to walk in newness of ever-transforming altar-sacrifices. It’s not hard to see Pharisees, Judaizers, legalists, church ladies offended by free grace, and it’s not hard to see law-hating, obedience-oppressed, flesh-lovers. That kind of division is no good and works against the witness of harmony in the body as just seen in verses 1-16. Paul is also NOT calling sin confrontations “divisive.” Here’s an example. Person A is sinning, Person B goes to them (per Matthew 18:15-17) and Person A pushes it off. Person B takes Person C, maybe eventually Persons D and E, too, and Person A still won’t listen to the appeals. Especially if Person A is a leader (and see 1 Timothy 5:19-20), he may be tempted to use his position of authority to claim that that Persons C-E are causing division, but he would be *wrong*. Not liking that someone else (or multiple someones) can see your sin does not make them the object of this paragraph. When there is an offense-monger faction-maker, Paul urges the brothers **to watch out**, to keep their eyes open, and to **avoid them**. The KJV has “mark…and avoid,” which is punchy enough for a lot of social media, but is nonetheless a call to divide from the divisive (applicable to pulpits, podcasts, and parking lots). Verse 18 exposes the motivation: they want power. **For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites**. They “serve their stomachs,” their bellies. It could be a figure of speech, not just that they want food, but appetite represents the esteem and support they get from others. It’s the idol of ego, without the resources of Nebuchadnezzar to make a 90’ tall statue. They are dining out on the grievances they triggered. This is how most fundraising works, show how your opposition is the devil that’s ruining lives and the wallets open. Most outrage-raisers eat well. They also manipulate, **by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive**. This doesn’t only happen with soft verbal pats on your cheek, “you’re so pretty.” Smooth talk can seduce you to anger not just adultery, and flattery leads to war not just personal vanity, hence offenses that cause divisions. It’s like our politicians use verses 17-18 as a playbook. Why should they care if we’re too dumb, **naive** or unsuspecting, to destroy ourselves. The same happens in local churches (the immediate context of Paul’s warning) and denominations and extended families. In verse 19 Paul makes clear that he’s giving preventative medicine to the Romans. **For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.** Naivety is a sliding scale. The Roman Christians had knowledge as evidenced in their living. It still didn’t change the charge. Without saying her name, a number of terms seem to reference Eve: wise, good and evil, flatter and deceit, as well as Satan and feet in verse 20. Have all kinds of wisdom doing all the ways of good, but be unmixed, be pure, when it comes to evil. Jesus taught His disciples to be serpents of good and doves of evil (Matthew 10:16), which goes against the usual animal archetypes. # Grace and Peace (verse 20) Peace and grace, both are typical expressions by Paul, here in powerful promises. Satan loves schism. Our adversary loves making adversaries among WITHS. The devil works to conquer by division. He loves destroying faith, he loves destroying fellowship. **The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.** The juxtaposition of peace crushing is obvious, but how does it work? Peace is more than absence of conflict, just as fellowship is more than two people in a room not choking each other. We battle as worshippers of the God of peace, we have peace so we engage, and we know His aim is peace, not eternal wars. But we don’t become pacifists because of our God, we are not naive. We may be tired, but we’re not blind. Satan will be crushed by God who uses **our feet**. This seems eschatological, the final win, though it will be **soon** depending on how you see the timeline. As the Seed of the woman crushed the serpent’s head, fulfilling Genesis 3:15, so by extension God uses those who confess the Son as the Seed. Don’t hold back. The **grace of our Lord Jesus Christ** is also not throw away. The anointed Christ, the master Lord, the God-man Jesus, who is and was and is to come, from through and to Whom are all things, risen from the dead, the Lion who defeats the prowling lion, the Son of the God of all grace. Such personal grace is blessed to you who serve the Lord Christ. # Conclusion “The Church’s One Foundation” is a great song. > though with a scornful wonder > men see her sore oppressed, > by schisms rent a-sundered > by heresies distressed; > yet saints their watch are keeping, > their cry goes up,“how long?” Saints, keep watch, it won’t be long. ---------- ## Charge Christian, mark and avoid your OWN false offenses, mark and avoid your own selfish appetites. Be wise in the ways of truth and true fellowship. Be innocent in envy and grumbling. Let your obedience be known to all. Victory is promised, and the Lord's grace given to keep watch. ## Benediction: > Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV)