READINGS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS (1)
READINGS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS (1)
BTF Would you say that Romans was written with the intent of establishing believers in the principles of the gospel?
JT I suppose so. Those to whom Paul wrote are addressed as saints, “called saints”, so that the truth of the gospel is in that way communicated to believers and left with them.
ARS It is important to see that the gospel is about Christ. He is the Subject of it.
JT It is a letter on the great subject of the gospel, and it is marked by apostolic authority, “Paul” being the first word in the letter. He is “a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God”.
CAM Would you say that the epistle met the exercises existing at Rome?
JT I would say that.
CAM Say a few words as to how it met those exercises.
JT The assembly there was composed largely of immigrants from the East, and being in Rome they needed to be adjusted in regard to God, to each other, and to the governing powers that then existed, indeed, to the whole scheme of God’s purpose as to the earth. But although Paul knew many of them personally, he did not know them as an assembly by means of a visit; his letter, however, would take the place of a visit, carrying with it all the authority of his mission from Christ, and at the same time setting out in the most orderly way, first of all the conditions [p. 2] that existed in the gentile world, and those existing in what you might call the cultivated world, Greek and Jew, and showing how God met all in Christ through redemption. Consequent on God’s intervention in Christ and through accomplished righteousness in His death, the believer is adjusted in regard to all these things. There is also adjustment in regard to sin in the world, sin in the believer and the law. That is how the body of the epistle stands. We have also light as to God’s faithfulness in regard to His promises to the Jews, and the believer’s position on earth, that believers are one body in Christ; and then also, as I remarked, the believer’s relations with the powers that existed, the governing powers.
CB I suppose all these adjustments need to take place with us, as they did with the saints in earlier days.
JT In these parts, to which we have immigrated, our circumstances are very much, speaking generally, like those of the saints in Rome; we have, at any rate, to come back to Romans constantly for adjustment.
CAM The thought of adjustment is perhaps not very easily taken in — who or what is adjusted?
JT Well, it is man. Man in responsibility is in view in Romans. He is not viewed as dead as in Ephesians or Colossians, but as alive, first in his sins and then as justified, but always in responsibility. He is regarded as alive and in the sphere of responsibility all through.
CAM So that adjustment is for the earth in that way.
JT Yes; man is recovered for God here on earth, where the breakdown occurred.
ANW Heaven is not referred to much in Romans; this is worthy of notice, especially in view of the fact that many regard the gospel as simply a means of getting to [p. 3] heaven.
JT It is adjustment on earth that is more particularly in view; the question was as to whether man could be righteously in relationship with God as on earth.
BTF The gospel then should be presented to men as such.
JT Yes; the epistle is an orderly setting forth of the truth of the gospel so as to meet the conditions that existed on the earth as the result of sin.
ANW The primary key to adjustment would be the recognition of the rights of God.
JT That is the first thing we have to admit.
CB Would you say that this epistle presents man as justified through faith, but in responsibility on the earth as under the authority of Another?
JT Yes. As we go on in the epistle we shall see how it is worked out. First it is “the gospel of God”, and it is “concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”. He is the theme of it, and so at the outset there is an Object for the heart.
WLP “He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” — is that adjustment?
JT Yes; that is in regard of God. We have here “the gospel of God”, then there are “the glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God” (1 Timothy 1:11) also “the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). These latter undoubtedly are extensions or developments, but what is immediately before the apostle here is the adjustment of things in regard to God. It was urgent then, and it is urgent now with everyone — we must be adjusted in our souls in regard to God and everything that He recognises here on earth.
JS That would bring men into righteousness. Righteousness is revealed in the gospel that men might be brought into righteousness; and there is revealed wrath against all unrighteousness, against ungodliness of men holding the truth in unrighteousness.
[p. 4] JT The righteousness of God is revealed, and it is “on the principle of faith, to faith”. Comparison between Romans, Colossians and Ephesians helps to show what characterises Romans, namely, the recognition of all that God had recognised before, and all that He then recognised. This is important, especially for young people. Living in the metropolis of the world, people would be apt to make much of Rome; this letter makes nothing of Rome as a city, but the apostle recognises Jew and gentile — the Jew first, and the promises made to him. These things being taken up in this letter, and their absence from the other two letters help to an understanding of the difference in the teaching.
JS Rome was held by men to be the centre, but it was not God’s centre.
JT No, it was the centre of the Babylonish system.
CB Christ’s sonship is emphasised here. It is introduced immediately.
JT He is said to have “come of David’s seed according to flesh”, but “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”. Christ is set before us as the Son of God, but He is also of David’s seed; this and the reference to the Old Testament scriptures are significant. It is not here an arbitrary statement as to His deity; but one of what had come to light in a Man on the earth. In John 1:1 we get, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. That is an absolute statement of His deity; here what has been “declared”, or “marked out”, is referred to. He is marked out Son of God in power by resurrection. It is not here God raising Him, but what He did Himself.
CAM What is the force of “seed of David”?
JT I think that it is that God is calling attention to what He had recognised before; Romans goes [p. 5] back to that; it is not God’s eternal thought. The reference is to what He had set up on earth before, and which He would maintain. He never loses a thread.
CAM Is that why we have so much of the kingdom in Romans?
JT Yes; the kingdom is the exercise of God’s grace in power in man; it is in Christ that the testimony introduced in David is made good. He was David’s seed, but manifestly Son of God in power, for He raised the dead. What a mighty fact that One who had taken the form of a lowly Man was marked out thus as Son of God!
BTF Raising the dead referred to His ministry before He died.
ANW The point regarding the resurrection is most important. Here it is literally, ‘resurrection of dead’.
JT It refers to the power that marked His ministry; as He said to John the Baptist, “Dead are raised”, (Matthew 11:5).
CAM It does not refer specially to His own resurrection.
JT Of course it is true that He raised Himself from the dead (John 2:19), but, I think, the reference here is rather to what He did for others.
ANW Say a word about “the Spirit of holiness”.
JT It would show that everything He did was absolutely according to God; the Spirit of holiness was the Spirit in which things were done.
JS It is in contrast to the way things were done by others.
CAM Speaking of resurrection — is that involved in the adjustment of man, of which we have spoken?
JT There can be no doubt; but the point here is that it witnesses to the Son [p. 6] of God.
WLP We have an instance of it in the raising of Lazarus. There was abundant evidence in that act that Christ was “Son of God with power”.
BTF “Obedience of faith”, the light of God presented in the gospel is responded to in this way.
JT The gospel would tend to bring about subjection; we are elect through sanctification unto the obedience of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2). His obedience is the pattern for us. Here it is the “obedience of faith”; it is not an obedience that is brought about by arbitrary power as in the millennium. In commissioning Paul, the Lord did not have a result, such as Christendom now is, in His mind; He had no thought of making Europe what it has become. His purpose was that there should be “obedience of faith among all the nations”.
TH God called Abraham and he obeyed (Hebrews 11:8).
JS “Of faith” — does that represent what is of God?
JT It is that kind of obedience, in contrast to what would be the result of arbitrary authority. It involves submission to the moral sway of Christ. The Holy Spirit is given to all those that obey Him (Acts 5:32).
JS It involves a moral work in you?
JT God comes in in Christ, and the heart submits to Christ; no one is affected by the gospel until his heart is subdued. It is not compulsion in an arbitrary way, but moral; what is presented in Christ subdues the heart. I use heart as a general term; I mean that the man, the moral being, is subdued, and subdued willingly, so to speak. Romans is the overcoming of evil with good. All that God is is presented in Christ. This subdues and wins the heart. But it is through faith. Faith is emphasised in this epistle.
WLP Faith could not do anything else but [p. 7] obey.
JT Faith is always marked by obedience. As our brother remarked, Abraham was directed to go out and he obeyed. In answer to Saul, the Lord says, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” — that was grace; and he “was not disobedient to the heavenly vision”, (Acts 26:19).
JS Is not faith brought to light by obedience?
JT Obedience is the proof of it.
JS Referring to the Spirit of holiness, we should be exercised that this should mark us.
JT If a man gets up to minister to the Lord’s people, much depends upon his spirit. His words are important, because he can only express himself by them, but it is the spirit behind the words that impresses people. Of Stephen it is said, “they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke” (Acts 6:10).
Ques Can you judge the spirit of a man by his writings, or have you got to know the man personally?
JT It has been remarked by someone who knew Mr. Darby, that what impressed him most was his spirit, manifested specially by his prayers while he was alive, and now that he is gone as seen in his hymns. A letter is a substitute for a visit, but Paul shows here how superior the latter is. He longed to see the Romans that he might impart to them some spiritual gift. Evidently he could not impart a spiritual gift by a letter; he desired to see them in order to do that.
WLP Presenting every man perfect in Christ; that would be brought about through his teaching?
JT Yes, it is what he aimed at in his ministry.
WB-w Paul as out of heaven was perfect; as such he could not be imperfect.
JT He says, “I know a man in Christ” (2 Corinthians 12:2).
WB-w He says, he “heard unspeakable things said”.
JT That is a side of the truth we want to get hold of in our souls. We want to know the “man in Christ”.
CAM He says, I know him “fourteen years ago”, as though it took him a long while to arrive at it.
JT The point of time is not before him, it is a continuous “know”, he knew the man all the time.
ANW It would suggest the character of the man he knew, he had not spoken of it before; Paul kept the secret of his being caught up for fourteen years.
JT I suppose he would not have spoken of it then, were it not that they compelled him. In 2 Corinthians 5 we have new creation. “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new”. This is normal of a Christian.
BTF Our place “in Christ” would bring us to the wonderful truth that we are loved of God.
JT Returning to our chapter we might notice how the apostle was identified with the gospel; he speaks of himself as “a called apostle” separated to it, and then says he is not ashamed of it. It shows what an appreciation he had of it, and the reason assigned is, that it is “the power of God unto salvation”. He was not ashamed of it, because of its beneficial effect on man. It was the “power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (verses 16,17). I would like that we all should see that — Paul, an apostle, separated to God’s glad tidings, appreciative of what he had to present, and his reason, its beneficial character manward; it shows how sympathetic he was with mankind, to both Jew and Greek.
WLP Sympathetic, too, with God’s heart.
JT [p. 9] He is in keeping with the moment. It is remarkable how he emphasises it in his opening words, as if to remind us that christianity was set up in the Western world in faith; it is “on the principle”, he says, “of faith, to faith”. It was not intended to be emphasised as a national religion at all; as seen on earth, christianity is of faith. St Peter’s at Rome is all of sight. Faith links up with what is unseen. Christianity was not intended to be national or continental, it is taking out from the nations. Anyone that is national denies the faith. We must refrain from being national in our thoughts. The gospel does not help a nation as such; it is to deliver one from nationalism. I think what we all need, and what the saints of God generally need, is to see that the house of God is universal, not national; faith takes me out of all that is national.
ANW “The just shall live by faith”, of whatever nation.
JS Abraham was called out of country and kindred.
JT It is remarkable how we go back to Abraham as a pattern of faith. Speaking again of the gospel, it says, “righteousness of God is revealed therein”. I think it is God’s rights asserted in mercy. The rights of God in mercy are revealed in the gospel. One can understand a man like Paul being set apart to present such a gospel as that!
CAM Wrath is also revealed.
JT But it is not revealed in the gospel.
ANW Wrath is revealed from heaven.
JT Wrath is revealed, it is a standing fact; but the gospel had not that in view.
JS What is “unrighteousness of men holding the truth in unrighteousness”?
JT It is men who had the light of God, light that Noah handed on, for instance; men held on to [p. 10] certain features of it, but did their own will. Holding the form of truth marks Christendom now.
JS Men are not subject to Christ. The test is that God has brought in His own Son.
JT I think God has shown His abhorrence of sin; now His wrath is revealed from heaven.
BTF You can see the wrath on the Jew at the present time, but can you see it now on the gentile?
JT It is revealed only here, not brought into effect; the righteousness of God is revealed and is of faith, to faith.
PHP Wrath comes from heaven. The flood gates of heaven were opened for the flood.
BTF At the end of our chapter we see death as God’s penalty.
JT Yes. It speaks of those practising such things being worthy of death; that is quite evident. But I think the allusion is that the state of things described forms a dark background to bring into greater display the gospel of God.