1. Remember: Romans 9-11 in general and Rom. 11:17-24 in specific have absolutely nothing to do with individual personal salvation of sinners. Paul already covered that completely in Rom. 1-8. Rather, this passage explains that God has temporarily postponed the fulfillment of His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel while He carries out another work in the world, especially among the Gentiles: His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ, which is made known through Paul's distinct apostleship. In theological terms, these passages are NOT soteriological (about personal salvation of sinners) but are dispensational (about God's change in His two divine programs)
2. Remember: The Olive Tree represents the place of God's DIRECT blessings made possible through Christ and His Work on the Cross.
   1. Noah knew the watery judgment was over and the time of blessing had come when the dove returned with an olive leaf (Gen. 8:11).
   2. God's land of blessings for Israel included wheat and barley, vines and fig trees but especially the olive tree and honey (Deut. 8:8).
   3. When the Northern Kingdom decided to have their own king apart from God and the line of David in Jerusalem, the olive tree refused to be their king because it would have to leave the place of blessing through which it honored God and men (Judges 9:8-9).
   4. When David enjoyed God's blessings—His goodness, His deliverance, His mercy, His Name that does everything he needs—it was like a green olive tree in the House (the presence) of God (Ps. 52:8).
   5. When Christ returns, Israel will ask Him to receive them graciously by faith, and then Israel's beauty will be that of the olive tree where God freely loves them, blessing them with His mercy and no more anger. He will be like dew to them, and they will grow, and their branches will spread. And all Israel will live in His shadow, and they will grow and revive and bear fruit (Hos. 14).
3. Remember: In God's Prophetic Program He put the Nation of Israel (saved and unsaved alike) in the place of DIRECT blessing that came to them because of Christ and His Work on the Cross. The Gentiles only received God's blessings INDIRECTLY through national Israel. In other words, God gave His blessings DIRECTLY to Israel, who in turn was supposed to transmit those blessings to the Gentiles INDIRECTLY. In other word, the Gentiles were blessed THROUGH ISRAEL AND HER RISE.
4. Remember: With the raising up of the Apostle Paul, however, God set aside (temporarily) His Prophetic Program with national Israel, removed her from the place of DIRECT blessings (ie., broke off her branches—Rom. 11:17), and is now operating in accord with His Mystery Program through which He has put the Gentiles (saved and unsaved alike) in the place of His DIRECT blessing (ie., grafted the Gentile branches into the Olive Tree).
   1. Through Christ and His Cross, God has reconciled His enemies, the world, especially the Gentiles, to Himself (2 Cor. 5:18-21). The Gentiles, who were afar off in Israel's Prophetic Program have now been brought near in the Body of Christ's Mystery Program (Eph. 2:11-13). In other words, today God's blessings are going out DIRECTLY to the whole world, especially the Gentiles, APART FROM ISRAEL AND THROUGH HER FALL (Rom. 11). Now, His blessings of righteousness, reconciliation and redemption are unto all (extended and available for all) and are actually received and participated in by those who believe (Rom. 3:21-25; 5:1-11; 2 Cor. 5:19-21).
5. Remember to follow the changing pronouns.
   1. Israel—THEY/THEM—runs throughout the whole chapter of Rom. 11.
   2. The Gentiles—YE (plural)—You Gentiles in general enters in at Rom. 11:13 and 11:25-32)
   3. Gentile arrogance—THOU/THEE (singular)—in between the YEs of 11:13 and 11:25 is Paul's Olive Tree (Rom. 11:17-24), where he addresses and rebukes a singular THOU, the singular type of Gentile who is thinking in accord with Gentile arrogance.

6. Remember the definition of Holy.

   Holy simply means being set apart for God's purpose. It doesn't refer to any inherent property or quality in a person or thing. It is just something or someone that God makes use of for His purposes. For example, take a pottery store in the city market of Jerusalem. A priest from the Temple goes out and purchases clay and gold vessels, takes them back to the Temple, cleanses them with water and sprinkles them with blood, and they are now “holy,” set apart for God to use. Then a foreigner goes into the pottery store and buys the same vessels made out of the same clay and the same gold but uses the clay vessel as a wash pot and puts the gold vessel in his pagan god's shrine. These vessels, of course, are not holy. Not because they are made out of inferior clay or gold or poor craftmanship, but because the former vessels were used by God for His purposes and, therefore, holy while the latter vessels were not and, therefore, just common.

   A biblical example of this can be found in Ex. 3:6 at the burning bush incident where God tells Moses to: Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon though standest is holy ground. There was nothing inherently different about the ground Moses stood on and the ground that lay 10 feet behind him. They both contained the same dirt and microbes and plants. What made the ground holy was not anything inherent in the ground but in that God was using it for His purposes at that time. An hour later or the next day when a shepherd walked over the ground in his shoes with his sheep, God didn't strike him dead and destroy the sheep. The ground was just holy at that time because God was using it for His purposes.

   The point is this: God, in His Prophetic Program, made use of the Nation of Israel as the receptacle of His direct blessing to carry out His Purpose of re-establishing His Glory on the Earth. What comes from that is “holy.” But Now in His Mystery Program, He removed national Israel from that place of His direct blessing, setting her aside temporarily, and is now making use of the Gentiles as the receptacle of His direct blessing to carry out His Purpose of re-establishing His Glory in the Heavenlies. And what comes of that is “holy” as well.

And that is what Rom. 11:17-25 is all about.

The first thing to remember is that this passage has nothing to do with individual personal salvation of sinners. It has everything to do with God's change in programs from His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ. In God's Prophetic Program, God put the Nation of Israel in the place of direct blessings (the olive tree). But because of persistent rebellion in unbelief for some 1500 years, culminating in her rejection of Christ in His earthly ministry and the ministry of Peter and the 12, God removed them from the place of direct blessings. He broke off the unbelieving bulk of the nation (Rom. 11:17a) and placed them on the same plane as the Gentiles—in unbelief and under sin (Rom. 3:9; 11:32). But He preserved believing Israel, the Believing Remnant. While they would soon die out with their apostolic leaders (Peter and the 11), God preserved them in two ways: First, their ministry was preserved in the Scriptures (The Gospel Accounts, Ministry of the 12 in early Acts, and Hebrews through Revelation) so that God will be able to start right up again when He returns to His Prophetic Program for the Nation of Israel. Second, He gave them the promise of partaking in bodily resurrection at His 2nd Coming for participation in their earthly Kingdom.

To everyone's surprise, instead of coming back in His Wrath and Judgment to destroy His enemies, starting with Saul, the chief persecutor of Christ and His people, beginning in the House of Israel and especially the Gentiles, Christ came back in His Grace and Peace to save His enemies, starting with Saul, making him the Apostle Paul, and sending him to the Jews first and especially the Gentiles. In doing this, He grafted the whole world, especially the Gentiles, into the place of direct blessings (Rom. 11:17b), reconciling the world to Himself through Christ and His Cross (2 Cor. 5:19), offering righteousness and redemption to all who receive them by faith (Rom. 3:22-25). This is God's Mystery Program for the Body of Christ. In God's Prophetic Program the Gentiles were blessed indirectly through Israel and her Rise. In God's Mystery Program, the Gentiles are being blessed directly apart from Israel and through her Fall. The Gentiles have been enjoying this place for some 2,000 years, most of which have been characterized by (as was true of Israel) persistent rebellion in unbelief.

And this brings us to the purpose of Rom. 11:17-26, and Paul's use of the Olive Tree illustration. In this passage, Paul rebukes a singular type of Gentile, one tempted to think in way that is not in accord with God and His purposes but in accord with Gentiles and their arrogance. In Rom. 11, Paul rejoices in the proclamation that God is now blessing the Gentiles directly. They are the recipients of His riches. He is at peace with them. Paul, as the apostle of the Gentiles, MAGNIFIES HIS OFFICE (11:13)! But all of this rejoicing might lead the Gentiles to think that they are in some way special before God, better than Israel, a more promising people with more potential. They might say something like: God broke off the branches of Israel so that He could graft great Gentile ME into their place (11:19)! This is the way most of historic Christianity has thought when they say things like: The church, the Body of Christ, has replaced the Nation of Israel! Israel gets the curses! We get the blessings!

But Paul rebukes all of this, calling it high-mindedness (11:20) and being wise in their own conceits (11:25). This is just Gentile arrogance, and God and Paul rebuke it. Paul has already explained in Romans that both Jews and Gentiles come out of the same miry clay of sinful humanity (Rom. 1-3). The only reason God broke off Israel from the place of direct blessing is because of persistent unbelief (11:20). If they return to Him in faith, He will put them back into the place of direct blessings (11:23). What the Gentile who thinks in accord with Gentile arrogance needs to understand and what all the Gentiles need to be warned about is that just as God removed Israel from the place of direct blessing because of persistent unbelief, so too He can even more easily remove the Gentiles from the place of direct blessing because of persistent unbelief (11:20-21)! Israel was in persistent unbelief for some 1,500 years before God removed her from the place of His direct blessings. Today, the Gentiles have been in persistent unbelief for some 2,000 years, going all the way back to the days of Paul himself (read his letters to the Galatians, Corinthians and Thessalonians not to mention his very sad words to Timothy: ALL IN ASIA HAVE TURNED AWAY FROM ME (1 Tim. 1:15)! Therefore, the Gentiles are in an even more precarious position than Israel was in when she was removed from the place of direct blessing.

No, Gentiles don't become arrogant. Rather fear (11:20)! Don't be high-minded (11:20)! Don't be conceited (11:25)! Don't despise the RICHES OF GOD'S LONGSUFFERING GOODNESS (Rom. 2:4). Rather fall on His grace in faith. Treasure up the blessings God is now making available through the distinct apostleship and ministry of Paul. To do otherwise is to instead treasure up Wrath unto the Day of Wrath (Rom. 2:4-5, 16; 11:23). If you continue in unbelief, God's Longsuffering Goodness (so far some 2,000 years long!) will run out, and He will end the Dispensation of Grace, completing His Mystery Program with the Gentiles in the place of direct blessings (11:25). When that happens, He will restart His Prophetic Program. On the one hand, He will return (graft in) the believing Nation of Israel (as encapsulated in the Believing Remnant) to the place of His direct blessings (11:23-24). And on the other hand, He will remove (cut out) the unbelieving Gentiles from the place of direct blessing (11:21-22) and return them to the position they had before His Mystery Program began: The recipients of God's blessings indirectly through Israel and her Rise in accord with God's Prophetic Program. The believing Gentiles (and Jews), who comprise the Body of Christ, will be taken up into their heavenly positions through the Rapture Event. In this way, God will return to His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel, through which He will fulfill all His promises to her, and ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED (11:26)!

In last THURSDAY'S ROMANS BIBLE STUDY FELLOWSHIP (Romans 11), we watched as Paul, having warned us away from Gentile arrogance in the Olive Tree metaphor, proclaims to the whole world that God is not all done with the Nation of Israel. One day: ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED (Rom. 11:26). God will restart His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel exactly where He had left it off. In accord with the Davidic Covenant, national Israel's complete salvation package required that the Lord Himself enflesh Himself into the human line of David so that He could fulfill the 5 mandates of the Davidic Covenant to be Israel's Redeemer, Deliverer and Avenger, King and Blesser. When He halted His Prophetic Program with Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ had just fulfilled the 1st mandate on the Cross where He acted as their Redeemer. Paul explains that when He restarts His Prophetic Program with Israel He will pick it up with the 2nd and 3rd mandates. The Deliverer will come out of Zion to deliver His people out of the Tribulation Period and destroy His and their enemies once-and-for-all, turning away ungodliness from Jacob (Israel) (Rom. 11:26). Then, He will usher them into the Kingdom and be their Blesser, forgiving their sins (11:27). And then, ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED!

Unfortunately, for most of historic Christianity, even the believing element of historic Christianity, God's Mystery is still a mystery. For most, God's ways are beyond the ability of us mere mortals to know let alone understand. His ways are dark, convoluted and illogical. We just need to keep stumbling along in ignorance, uncertain about why God does what He does, but we encourage ourselves that it will all make sense in heaven, in the bye-and-bye. And then man-made religious and man-centered theological systems assure us that we are being spiritual in thinking this way.

Well, this may be what religious systems say, but it is not what God says. Yes, what God is doing today is called the Mystery. It is Paul's Gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the Mystery, which was kept secret since the world began (Rom. 16:25). Yes, the triune Godhead came up with this Mystery Program in eternity past before the creation of anything, and then they locked it away in the deepest and most secure vault in their abode where they kept it secret until they decided to reveal it. Then they created the Heavens and Earth, but didn't reveal it at that time. Then they created the Nation of Israel but didn't reveal at that time either. Then the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, came and carried out His earthly ministry but it wasn't revealed at that time either. Then they sent out Peter and the 12 under the ministry of the Holy Spirit but it wasn't revealed then either.

Through all that time and eternity, God just kept on keeping it secret until the exact and perfect moment arrived. And that moment came when He raised up the Apostle Paul, giving him the stewardship for dispensing His Mystery truth (Eph. 3:2), whereby it was made known to the whole world (Eph. 3:9). That's why Paul breaks out in shouts of praise in Rom. 11:33-36. What had been unknown to all the ages of humanity (Eph. 3:5), going all the way back to the creation of Adam and the Angels, has now been made known. What had been unsearchable (Eph. 3:8) in any source of human or angelic information and could not even be discovered in the non-Pauline Scriptures of God's Word (Old Testament, Gospel Accounts, ministry of the 12), can now searched out and discovered in the Pauline Scriptures of God's Word. What had been hid in God (not the Old Testament or earthly ministry of Christ) has now been revealed for all to see. Great News! The Mystery is no longer a Mystery! God has revealed it to and through the distinct apostleship of Paul.

So, how do we learn God's Mystery Truth that is now revealed? Eph. 3:1-9 gives us a step-by-step “How To” guide:

1. Eph. 3:2-3a: The Risen Lord Jesus Christ revealed it directly to the Apostle Paul through a DIRECT REVELATION.
2. Eph. 3:3b: Through the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote it down.
3. Eph. 3:4: Everyone else, beginning with the secondary apostles and prophet's (Paul's co-workers of that day) reads Paul's writings to understand his knowledge of the Mystery.
4. Eph. 3:5: Those who respond in faith to Paul's writings are taught by the Holy Spirit, who reveals these things to them, the deep things of God (see also 1 Cor. 2:10).
5. Eph. 3:9: With this perfect provision in place, God expects ALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE to be enlightened, illuminated, with the FULL-Knowledge of fellowship of God's Mystery. In short, it is no longer a Mystery. It has been brought to the surface and revealed to all.

Is it any wonder then that Paul shouts with God's Praises in the Doxology of Rom. 11:33-36! What could not be known to us because it resided in the deepest depth of the riches of God's knowledge and wisdom (Rom. 11:33), HAS NOW BEEN BROUGHT TO THE SURFACE BY THE HOLY SPIRIT (1 Cor. 2:10; Eph. 3:5). PRAISE GOD! What had been unsearchable anywhere else (Rom. 11:33; Eph. 3:8), even in God's non-Pauline Scriptures, is now searchable in the Scriptures of Paul. PRAISE GOD! PRAISE GOD!! What had been past finding out (Rom. 11:33; Eph. 3:1-9) can now be found out and discovered in Paul's writings. PRAISE GOD! PRAISE GOD!! PRAISE GOD!!! No wonder Paul exclaims: For of Him and through Him and to Him: Are All Things: TO WHOM BE GLORY FOREVER, AMEN!

In last Thursday's Bible Study Fellowship we began a new div in the Book of Romans, Romans 12-16. We will enter into what most people call the “practical” div of this letter, Rom. 12-16. While it can be helpful to think of Romans 1-8 as being “positional” truth, Romans 9-11 as being “dispensational” truth and Romans 12-16 as being “practical” truth, we need to realize that this is a vast oversimplification. The whole book of Romans is dispensational. The whole book is positional. And the whole book is practical. In fact, the most dispensational divs of the letter are the first half of Romans 1 where God introduces to the universe His new message, ministry, apostleship to the Gentiles and apostle, the Apostle Paul, and in Rom. 3:21-31 where God announces that today He is manifesting the Righteousness of God in saving His enemies through the Crosswork of Christ, and in Rom. 15:4-20 where Paul gives the full instructions for how to rightly-divide the Scriptures. All of these dispensational, positional and practical truths form the basis for what Paul says in Rom. 12:1-2: I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

1. God desires that all that you do be done with love (1 Cor. 16:14).
2. Love does not seek its own (1 Cor. 13:2).
3. Love seeks the other's well-being (1 Cor. 10:24; 33).
4. Love edifies (1 Cor. 8:1).

So, if we put these things together into one statement, we will gain the full picture of what (Agape) Love that flows from Pauline Grace does and doesn't do. Having believed Pauline Grace teachings centered on the Good News of the Death and Resurrection of Christ for sinners (Rom. 6:17), we are motivated and empowered by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5) to not consider our own things but the things of others so that they can be edified, building them up in the faith, God's truth for today.

Where do we find the pattern for this? From Paul (1 Cor. 10:31-11:1) because he is following the pattern of Christ (Phil. 2:5-8). In serving God by serving others in (Agape) Love, we are at liberty to exercise our privileges, blessings, advantages, rights NOT for our own advantage but for the advantage of others. Of course, the flip side of this coin is that we are also at liberty to NOT exercise our rights and privileges if it means someone might be harmed or torn down (Phil. 2:1-5).

This divine viewpoint, of course, is the exact opposite of all human thinking. Thinking naturally, we claim and grasp our rights as though our lives depended on them and then exercise them for our own advantage with little concern for others, and we are proud of it too! But believers are equipped to operate from divine viewpoint on a whole different plane of existence. Through Pauline Grace teachings, we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), and Christ's mind operated on the basis of (Agape) Love (Phil. 2:5)!

ALTHOUGH the Lord Jesus Christ possessed all the privileges, rights, benefits and advantages of being absolute God, Creator of the universe, He did NOT use those privileges and rights to advance His own things, BUT to advance the things of others: Instead of grasping His rights to Himself, He used them to make Himself of no reputation, took the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men ... He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death on the Cross (Phil. 2:5-8), and He did it for us, for ungodly sinners on enemy status before Him! And He did it out of (Agape) Love (Rom. 5:5-11)!

Maybe you are thinking that this kind of love is impossible. This love just sets the bar too high. You think, there is no way I could do that! Of course, the Lord Jesus Christ can do it: HE'S GOD! But I can't. There is some truth to this. We cannot carry out the (Agape) Love Life through the power of our own flesh. It can only be the result of the thankful receiving of Pauline Grace truth about the love of God at the Cross of Christ for us in faith!

With that, God creates the believer's heart anew and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in it, where He overflows it with the LOVE OF GOD DISPLAYED AT THE CROSS OF CHRIST FOR HIS ENEMIES: PAULINE GRACE (Agape) Love. So, you are right and wrong. No, you cannot produce the (Agape) Love Life yourselves. It is impossible. But as a believer, God can and will do it in and through you: for it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). That is the only way, and that is why this life can only be lived by a believer. An unbeliever is one who by very definition has rejected the Love of God at the Cross of Christ in unbelief.

AND just in case you are still doubting, God goes on to give a whole list of regular everyday believers operating according to (Agape) Love. He gives the example of Paul operating on the basis of (Agape) Love. ALTHOUGH Paul had the right to be supported and ministered to by the brethren (specifically Timothy) as God's apostle (He was in jail at this time), he did NOT exercise those rights, BUT instead he sent Timothy to the Philippians so that they could be ministered to by Timothy in person instead unto their edification (Phil. 2:19).

AND if you are still not convinced, thinking: Of course Paul can do this: HE'S A SUPER-SAINT! But that's not me. I'm not God, and I'm certainly no super-saint. Well then, God says, consider average everyday Timothy, who was often defeated and discouraged even to the point of being physically ill (1 and 2 Tim.). He operated according to (Agape) Love too. ALTHOUGH he had rights of his own, he did NOT consider his own things BUT the things of others by first going to minister to Paul in jail and then going to minister to the Philippian believers in Philippi (Phil. 2:19-23).

AND what about the Philippian assembly itself? It was made up of regular everyday people just like you and me, and they operated in accord with (Agape) Love too. ALTHOUGH they had rights of their own, they did NOT consider their own things BUT the things of Paul, first by taking up a collection for him and then by sending one of their own leaders, Epaphroditus, to take it to him (Phil. 2:25).

AND what about Epaphroditus himself? He was just a regular everyday person like us, and he operated according to Agape Love too. ALTHOUGH he had his own rights, he did NOT consider his own things BUT the things of the Philippians and Paul. So, he left his home in Philippi and made the long and at often times dangerous journey to Paul, almost losing his life in the process (Phil. 2:25-30).

So, no more excuses. As we focus on Christ and His Cross through the lens of Pauline Grace, the Holy Spirit takes the Love of God displayed there, fills our hearts with it so that we can be motivated and empowered to serve God by serving others, especially fellow believers, SELFLESSLY for the sole purpose of building them up in God's truth for today. The only true “Christian Life” is the (AGAPE) LOVE LIFE, which produces a walk that is always acceptable and well-pleasing to God.

In last Thursday night's Bible Study Fellowship from Rom. 12:1-2, we finished up a review of one of the core principles of Pauline Grace: (Agape) Love. God took away from the Greeks this general word for love, which had little meaning of its own and could, depending on the context, refer to any number of more specific loves like “phileo” (brotherly love), “stergo' (familial or friendly love), and “eros” (sexual love). He the word “agape” claimed for Himself, and then filled it up with His own specific meaning (THE LOVE OF GOD AT THE CROSS OF CHRIST FOR SINNERS!) and gave it to the Apostle Paul to use in his Scriptures. Pauline Grace (Agape) Love is now distinct and separate from all other loves. Rather it is the source and basis of all other loves. For the believer, it is the Love from which all other loves flow. God makes “Agape” into His geyser of Love, recreating the heart with it and overflowing that new heart with Love by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). And is that overflowing “Agape” Love that constrains us (2 Cor. 5:14), pushing us forward, motivating and directing us to walk in a way that is well pleasing and acceptable to God (Rom. 12:1), not considering our own things but the things of others, selflessly building up others in the faith just like our Lord Jesus Christ did for us sinners (Phil. 2:1-8).

To confuse the (Agape) Love found it Paul's Scriptures with that found in the non-Pauline Scriptures (including the Apostle John) is to confuse the basic human love that the Law demanded in God's Prophetic Program with Israel (just love others as or equal to yourselves, ie., “agape” love is just a more general word for the specific word “phileo” brotherly love (Mat. 7:12)) with that of the love Pauline Grace provides to believers in God's Mystery Program for the Body of Christ (believers are supernaturally empowered by God to LOVE OTHERS GREATER, BETTER AND MORE THAN THEMSELVES (Phil. 2:1-8))! To confuse the Pauline and non-Pauline uses of (Agape) Love is to confuse the greatest love in God's Prophetic Program with Israel (Christ died for His friends (Jn. 15:13; Rom. 5:7)) with the greatest Love of all: Pauline Grace (Agape) Love whereby CHRIST DIED FOR HIS ENEMIES (Rom. 5:5-11))!! The Greeks didn't have a word for this kind word of love, so God had to create His own, and He did it by taking “agape” away from the Greeks and making it His Own word, which He filled up with His Own very, very, very specific and special meaning: THE LOVE OF GOD AT THE CROSS OF CHRIST FOR UNGODLY SINNERS ON ENEMY STATUS BEFORE HIM! And this, and this alone, is the way in which we today in the Dispensation of Grace are to do all things, or as 1 Cor. 16:14 says: Let all your things be done with (Agape) Love.

It is important to realize that Rom. 12:1 is not just a rehash of Rom. 6 and 8. While this isn't wrong, it doesn't go far enough either. In Rom. 6 we learn about how believers have died with Christ and risen with Christ unto newness of life, therefore, they are alive before God in Christ. They are “living” believers. And in Rom. 8 we learn that when living believers walk according to the Spirit, the Spirit gives life to their mortal bodies. They have “living” bodies.

But Rom. 12:1 is NOT talking about living believers (Rom. 6) or living bodies (Rom. 8). Rom. 12:1 is talking about living sacrifices. There is a progression of thought going from Rom. 6 to Rom. 12. God and Paul are beseeching (living) believers (“ye”), who have (living) bodies to now present those bodies as living sacrifices. It is hard to conceive of a living sacrifice. Normally sacrifices are anything but living. They are put to death. While the sacrifice may arrive at the Temple alive it never leaves the Temple alive. This is true of all sacrifices in Israel's sacrificial system. All, that is, except for one.

According to Lev. 16, once a year on the Day of Atonement (Reconciliation) Aaron carried out a number of sacrifices. Most of them were FOR HIMSELF (and His family of priests). But there was also a sacrifice that involved two goats (Lev. 16:5-11, 20-22). One of the goats was indeed put to death, but the second goat was kept alive and sent out into the wilderness FOR OTHERS. It was called the (e)scapegoat. It carried away the children of Israel's guilt and sin so that God could continue to dwell with them.

Since this is the only “living” sacrifice in Israel's sacrificial system, this is probably what Paul was bringing to mind when he mentioned in Rom. 12:1 a living sacrifice. In doing so, he is appealing to living believers (alive because they have been placed into Christ's death and resurrection—Rom. 6) to offer up their living bodies (alive because they are walking according to the Spirit—Rom. 8) as living sacrifices (like the scapegoat) ON BEHALF OF OTHERS. This, of course, leads us back to the operating principle of all God does: Agape Love, and it ties in neatly with the believer's great ministry in this Dispensation of Grace, the Ministry of Reconciliation. Of course, in the Old Testament the reconciliation and atonement through animal sacrifices was just a covering. Christ fulfilled the whole sacrificial system at the Cross, not just covering sin but removing it once-and-for-all:

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. (Rom. 5:10-11)

And now the Ministry of Reconciliation has been handed over to us:

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

And we carry out this Ministry of Reconciliation motivated solely by Agape Love: For the Love of Christ constrains us (2 Cor. 5:14a).

In Romans chapters 12-16, Paul will go on to show how living believers with living bodies now sacrificially serve God by serving others unto edification in accord with Agape Love in every facet of their communal and individual existences.

The only way living believers (as described in Rom. 6) can present their living bodies (as described in Rom. 8) a living sacrifice (as beseeched in Rom. 12:1) on the basis of Agape Love for others, is by the renewing of their minds. Believers are not told to renovate or clean up their minds. They are told their minds must be renewed. They need to let God create their minds anew. And here is how Paul says it works:

Present you bodies a living sacrifice (12:1) ...

YOU DO THAT BY:

Not being conformed to or taking on the shape of the world (12:2a) ...

AND YOU DO THAT BY:

Being transformed (from the inside by God) (12:2b) ...

AND YOU DO THAT BY:

The renewing of your mind (12:2c)...

Everything begins with the renewal, the re-creation of the mind. So, it might be a little clearer if we flip the chart:

The renewal of your mind ...

RESULTS IN:

(God) transforming your inner person, mind and heart (Rom. 6:17; 5:5) ...

WHICH RESULTS IN:

our not being conformed into the shape of the world ...

WHICH RESULTS IN:

Your living body becoming a living sacrifice on the outside in service to God by serving others (ie., in Agape Love) (12:1).

Even though religious systems have all kinds of ways to obtain mature spirituality, God and the Bible only know of one: God renewing the mind through Pauline Grace Mystery Truth. Period.

1. The Holy Spirit reveals to us and teaches us the things that are freely given (GRACED) to us of God (1 Cor. 2:12).
2. The Holy spirit reveals to us and teaches us Mystery Truth (Eph. 3:2-9).

When we read the Pauline Scriptures and believe them, the Holy Spirit takes the things He recorded there and reveals and teaches them to us, which causes our minds to be renewed, which gives us the MIND OF CHRIST (1 Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5), which motivates us to serve God by serving others selflessly (sacrificially) simply for their edification (building up) based on Agape Love.

Are the “spiritual gifts” for today? The answer is Yes and No. NO, the MANY spiritual gifts enumerated especially in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Romans 12 are not functioning today. But YES there is ONE spiritual gift that is still functioning. It is the ONE spiritual gift of Rom. 1:11 and 16:25: Paul's Gospel (the Gospel of Grace), in the context of the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the Mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, which I will shorten to: Pauline Grace Mystery Truth. This is what Paul calls the "measure of faith" in Rom. 12:3. When Paul talks about the other spiritual gifts available at that time before the full revelation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth was available to all, he explained to the Corinthians that those other gifts were just temporary and partial (1 Cor. 13:9-13), and he explained to the Romans that they would be used “proportionally” to the amount of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth available to that assembly of believers (Rom. 12:3-8).

We know from Rom. 1:11 that Paul's strong desire was to visit the Romans in person in order to give them the ONE spiritual gift that could fully establish them (Rom. 1:11 with Rom. 16:25). Of course, the corollary of this is that if Paul had to give them a spiritual gift that would establish them then the MANY spiritual gifts that they already had (as enumerated in 1 Cor. 12-14 and Rom. 12) were NOT able to establish them. There was ONE spiritual gift he wanted to give them that was able to do what none of these other MANY spiritual gifts, alone or all together, could do; namely, fully establish believers in God's plan and purpose for today in the Dispensation of Grace. Paul's point in discussing the MANY spiritual gifts in Romans and Corinthians was to make sure everyone understood that once the revelation of God's body of Truth for the Body of Christ in the Dispensation of Grace was available to them, the Holy Spirit would stop using the MANY spiritual gifts and would only use that ONE spiritual gift: Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, summarized by the Faith-Love-Hope triangle (1 Cor. 13:13).

To explain this to the Romans, Paul used the concept of proportionality, “the proportion of (the) faith” (Rom. 12:6). Remember that Pauline Grace Mystery Truth was revealed, recorded in the Scriptures and distributed progressively. Therefore, at the beginning of the church, the Body of Christ, relatively less Pauline Grace Mystery Truth was available to the various assemblies of believers being formed around the world. Over time more and more of this body of Truth became available until it was complete. In Col. 1:25-28, after discussing his distinct apostleship with regard to God's Mystery Program, Paul says: I am made a minister according to the Dispensation of God given TO ME for you, to fulfil (complete) the Word of God, even the Mystery which has been hid from the ages and from generations BUT NOW (through Paul's apostleship) is made manifest to His saints ... that we may present every man perfect (fully established, spiritually mature) in Christ Jesus. Paul recognized that by the time he wrote Colossians, He had received from God the complete revelation of His Mystery Truth for the Body of Christ, and it would soon be fully recorded in the Scriptures, completing God's Word, and distributed throughout the world.

Paul's point to the Romans was that the only reason the Holy Spirit was providing these MANY special spiritual gifts at that time was because they had not yet received in its fullness the ONE spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth. And what they needed to realize is that when they finally did receive from Paul the completed ONE spiritual gift that could fully establish them (he hoped in person--Rom. 1:11--but now we know it would be through his Epistle to the Romans), they would no longer need the MANY spiritual gifts that could not fully establish them. This is where God and Paul make use of the idea of proportionality (Rom. 12:6). At the beginning of the Dispensation of Grace, when there was relatively less of the ONE spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth available, the Holy Spirit would make use relatively of more of the MANY spiritual gifts. But as more and more Pauline Grace Mystery Truth became available, He would use the MANY spiritual gifts less and less until they completely stopped. When, say, 25% of the ONE spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth was available, God would proportionally use the MANY spiritual gifts for 75%. But when, say, 75% of the ONE spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth was available, God would proportionally use the MANY spiritual gifts less, 25%. And when 100% of the ONE spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth was available (about 10 years after Romans and 1 Corinthians were written), then God's use of the MANY spiritual gifts would cease.

Paul says much the same thing to the Corinthians only using different imagery. To the Corinthians he contrasts a temporary childhood stage, characterized by only partial knowledge, with a permanent adulthood stage, characterized by full knowledge. In the context of the MANY spiritual gifts, Paul explains: Love never fails .. prophecies, they will fail ... tongues, they will cease ... (the special gift of) knowledge, will vanish away. For (at the time Paul wrote to the Corinthians--probably about 10 years before writing Colossians) we know (Gk. gnosis) in part (they only had part of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth) and prophesy in part (prophesying only to fill in some blanks of what they were still missing of the revelation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth). But when that which is perfect (complete) has come, then that which is in part (namely prophesy) shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child (because I only had things that were temporary and partial). But when I became a man, I put away childish things (the temporary and partial things, beginning with the gift of prophesying). For now we see in a mirror dimly (see imperfectly like a child) but then (when complete knowledge has come--v. 10) face to face (I will see the face in the mirror clearly). (Let me, Paul, explain what I mean) Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known (I will have an adult full understanding of what God has made me to be in Christ, being transformed into His image—Rom. 8:29, 12:2). And now (when complete knowledge is available and the partial is done away) abideth faith, hope and love, these three: but the greatest of these is (Agape) Love (1 Cor. 13:8-13).

Paul is not talking about something in the future referring to when we die and go to heaven then we will know completely. That is something said by those who have rejected Paul's distinct apostleship and Mystery revelation. The whole context of 1 Cor. 13 has to do with the Body of Christ and its members going from immature childhood to mature adulthood. It is important to note that the Greek word Paul uses in his early letters (Romans thru Galatians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians), including 1 Corinthians, is gnosis. But there is another word that he uses in his later epistles (Ephesians through Titus) that is EPIgnosis, which refers to FULL-knowledge. God and Paul do not use the Greek word for "full-knowledge" with regard to Pauline Grace Mystery Truth until after the Transition Period. By the time Paul wrote Ephesians and Colossians (about 10 years after he wrote 1 Corinthians) he had received the full revelation of the Mystery but had not yet fully recorded it in the Scriptures and distributed throughout the world. Paul could tell the Colossians that: For this cause, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the FULL-KNOWLEDGE (Gk. epignosis) of His will in ALL wisdom and spiritual understanding (Col. 1:9). And that spiritual understanding comes from: The Riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement (FULL-KNOWLEDGE--Gk. epignosis) of the Mystery of God (Col. 2:2). And it is this spiritual understanding that results in the Putting off of the old man with his deeds and putting on the new man, which is renewed in FULL-KNOWLEDGE (Gk. epignosis) after the image of Him that created him (Col. 3:10).

In conclusion, Paul's point is that just as the Romans would need to transition their reliance away from the MANY spiritual gifts and rely more on the ONE spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth when they received it, so too the Corinthians would need to transition to spiritual maturity by relying more and more on the ONE spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth because that is what has the ability to fully establish them, bringing them into full maturity, and less and less on the MANY temporary and partial spiritual gifts, which could not establish and bring them to maturity and that were, in fact, about to cease completely.

In short, today, we have the far superior, ONE permanent and complete spiritual gift: The full revelation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, which supersedes and obsoletes all the MANY temporary and partial spiritual gifts of that day. Paul's ultimate point is why in the world would anyone want to go back to the temporary and partial MANY gifts that could NOT bring full edification when we have the FULL, COMPLETE, PERMANENT, POWERFUL, ONE SPIRITUAL GIFT OF PAULINE GRACE MYSTERY TRUTH that can? The answer is that there is no reason for doing so. It would just be foolish!

Paul in Rom. 12 and 1 Cor. 13 explained why the many spiritual gifts were only temporary and partial. In Rom. 12, he explained using the imagery of proportionality. The many partial and temporary spiritual gifts that could not fully establish believers would diminish and cease in proportion to the amount of the ONE complete and permanent spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (the measure of faith) that could fully establish believers became more and more and available (Rom. 12:3-8) and eventually was complete.

In 1 Cor. 13, Paul explained the same thing using the imagery of childhood/immaturity and adulthood/maturity (1 Cor. 13:8-13). The many spiritual gifts were for the Body of Christ in its infancy before the “mirror” of God's Word had been completed with the full revelation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth. Once the “mirror” of God's Word was clarified with the full revelation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, the Body of Christ would be able to look into it and see clearly what God is doing today thereby entering into adulthood. The “childish” things of the many spiritual gifts would be done away while the one spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Truth would be permanently made available in the Scriptures for all to look into so that they can see God's Word completely and know it fully (1 Cor. 13:11-13; Col. 2:2).

This, however, begs the question: Why did God use the many temporary and partial spiritual gifts in the first place? There are three basic reasons:

1. God used them for the benefit of the Body of Christ in its “infancy”, before God had fully revealed Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, recorded it in the Scriptures and distributed it throughout the world. During this time, when problems, questions, concerns, etc. came up in an assembly that could not be solved and answered with the incomplete revelation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth that that assembly had available, the Holy Spirit would work through these many spiritual gifts to answer those questions and solve those problems providing some partial edification for that assembly.
   
   COROLLARY: The corollary of this is that once the revelation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, the ONE Spiritual Gift that could fully edify believers, had been completely revealed, recorded in the Scriptures and distributed throughout the world, the Holy Spirit would use Paul's Scriptures to answer the questions and solve the problems of an assembly, and He would no longer need or make use of the many partial and temporary spiritual gifts.
2. During the Transition Period when God's Prophetic Program was diminishing but He was still dealing with national Israel, He continued to provide the signs and wonders that He had promised to Israel going all the way back to the Exodus (Ex. 4), signs like, healings, speaking in tongues, handling snakes, casting out devils, etc. They were used by Paul as he went to the synagogue first during this time to appeal to unbelieving Jews who were still members of the apostate Nation of Israel in order that some of them might be “saved” out of that predicament and brought into the Body of Christ's Mystery Program (Rom. 10-11).
   
   COROLLARY: The corollary to this is that once God had completely set aside and ceased His dealings with national Israel at the end of the Transition Period, the sign and wonder gifts to the Nation of Israel were set aside and ceased as well.
3. Finally, the primary apostles and prophets (Peter and the 12 for the Believing Remnant and Paul for the Body of Christ) performed signs and wonders through the Holy Spirit as proof that they were true messengers from God.
   
   COROLLARY: The corollary of this is that once the primary apostles died out and the “apostolic” generation ended, these signs and wonders associated with them were no longer be needed and died with them.

In conclusion, the many temporary and partial spiritual gifts ceased in the 1st Century A.D. But this shouldn't disturb us. We don't need to go back to those days or try to re-create Pentecost or re-invent the days of Christ in His earthly ministry because we have something far better than all those many temporary and partial spiritual gifts which could not fully establish believers, when used individually or all together. We have the ONE PERMANENT and COMPLETE SPIRITUAL GIFT OF PAULINE GRACE MYSTERY TRUTH available to us which is able to FULLY ESTABLISH BELIEVERS TODAY! Praise God!!

The most important thing to understand about Romans 12 is that Paul is not just switching from the dispensational teachings of Romans 9-11 to the “practical” teachings of Romans 12-13. Rather, he is giving some “practical” truths for a dispensational reason. Paul wants the Romans to realize that once they had received his ONE complete and permanent spiritual gift that could fully establish the Body of Christ (ie., Pauline Grace Mystery Truth which he calls the “measure of faith” in Rom. 12:3), the Holy Spirit would use it proportionally more and more while using the many partial and temporary spiritual gifts that could not fully establish the Body of Christ proportionally less and less (Rom. 12:6-8), until they became unnecessary and ceased.

Here is the logic of Rom. 12:

1. Paul opened his Letter to the Romans longing to impart to the Romans some spiritual gift to the end that you may be established (Rom. 1:11). This means that the Romans were NOT fully established at that time because if they were Paul wouldn't have needed to give them a spiritual gift that would establish them. Paul identified this spiritual gift with the summary statement found in Rom. 16:25: Now to Him that is of power to establish you according to MY GOSPEL (PAUL'S Gospel, the Gospel of Grace) and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY, which was kept secret since the world began. Putting together the underlined words, we have entitled this spiritual gift that was able to fully establish them: Pauline Grace Mystery Truth. This is THE FAITH, God's body of truth for today, Paul's Scriptures, and is called the “measure of faith” that God had made available to every member of the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:3).
2. It is noteworthy that even though the Romans already had the many spiritual gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8 and probably many others as well, they were still NOT established. For that, Paul says, they needed to receive from him another spiritual gift, the ONE spiritual gift that would be able to establish them fully! The many spiritual gifts only provided partial and temporary edification. Paul's One spiritual gift provides complete and permanent edification for every member of the Body of Christ.
3. Paul's point to the Romans in chapter 12 is that as they received more of the ONE spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, THE FAITH, (which would increase astronomically once they received Paul's Letter to the Romans), they needed to understand that the Holy Spirit would use the many spiritual gifts that COULD NOT establish them less and less and use Paul's ONE spiritual gift that COULD establish them more and more.
4. Then to show how this would work, Paul shoots out a list of no fewer than 28 exhortations in 13 verses (Rom. 12:9-21). To one commentator these verses Paul sounds like an auctioneer. To another he sounds like a drill sergeant barking out orders. Perhaps this is a list of things the Holy Spirit had told them through the many spiritual gifts, and Paul was showing them that they are now recorded in his Scriptures. In any case, in this fireworks explosion of exhortations, Paul is showing the Romans that once they have the ONE spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth for the Body of Christ, they won't need to go back to the many spiritual gifts. All they will need to do is read Paul's Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit will use that to reveal and teach these things to them (Eph. 3:1-5).

Did they want to know about “Exhorting”? Once they had received Paul's Letter to them, they didn't need to seek after and wait for one of the many spiritual gifts. Instead, they just needed to read Paul's Scriptures, beginning perhaps with the 28 exhortations he lists in Rom. 12:9-21. Now, Paul's Scriptures would contain all the exhortations God has for us today so that the Body of Christ can be fully established.

Did they want to know about “Ministering” or “Teaching” or “Leading”? Once they had received Paul's Letter they didn't need to seek after and wait for one of the many spiritual gifts. Instead, they just needed to read Paul's letter where he begins by explaining that everything begins with (Agape) Love (Rom. 12:9), and that they are characterized by not being slothful in (God's) business but fervent in the spirit (through the Holy Spirit), serving (ie. ministering) unto the Lord while rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation and continuing instant in prayer (Rom. 12:11-12). And they can see a real-life illustration of these things in action by reading Rom. 1:5-16 where Paul displays how he ministers, teaches and leads, and then they could follow his pattern! Then they could top it all off with Paul's explicit instructions about these things in his Pastoral Epistles to Timothy and Titus. Now, Paul's Scriptures would contain all the instructions God is giving today for carrying out His ministry, teaching and leading so that the Body of Christ can be fully established.

Did they want to know about “Giving” in simplicity? Well, once they had received Paul's Letter to them, they didn't need to seek after or wait for a special spiritual gift. They just needed to read Paul's Scriptures where he explains it to them: Distribute to the necessity of saints and be given to hospitality (Rom. 12:13). And then they could read Rom. 1:11 and learn that the most important thing to give today is Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, the ONE spiritual gift that can fully establish us (Rom. 16:25). Then, in 1 Cor. 2 they can read about all the things God is freely giving believers today through Christ and go on to learn about how Christ gave Himself for them and the whole Body of Christ (Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:26). Now, Paul's Epistles would contain all God wants us to know about giving unto the full establishment of the Body of Christ.

And if they wanted to know about “Showing Mercy”: Once they had received Paul's Letter to them, they no longer needed to seek after or wait for a special spiritual gift. Instead, they just needed to read Paul's Scriptures, beginning with: Bless them that persecute you: Bless and curse not. And Recompense to no man evil for evil. And avenge not yourselves but rather give place to vengeance for vengeance is Mine ... And if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink (Rom. 12:14, 17, 19-20). then they could go on to all the “mercies of God” (Rom. 12:1) found in Romans 1-11, especially the mercy God is now extending to all ungodly sinners on enemy status before Him, Jews and Gentiles alike, gathered together under sin (Rom. 3:9) in unbelief in the Dispensation of Grace (Rom. 11:30-32)!

To conclude, Paul wanted to make sure the Romans understood that as they received access to more and more Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, as recorded in Paul's Scriptures (not least of which being this Letter to the Romans which he was about to send to them!), the Holy Spirit would use that ONE spiritual gift that could fully establish them proportionally more and more, while using the many spiritual gifts that could not establish them, taken individually or all together, less and less, until they eventually ceased completely when the full and complete revelation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth was available (Col. 1:25), which would also do away with the need for further revelations, thereby removing the need for a special spiritual gift of Prophecy.

We began a new mini-series on the Genuine (Agape) Love (Rom. 12:9) that Pauline Grace Mystery Truth produces. Here is what we will be looking at:

1. The Operating Principle of Genuine Love
2. The Motivation for Genuine Love
3. The Extravagance of Genuine Love
4. The Microscope of Genuine Love
5. The Liberating Power of Genuine Love
6. The UN-genuine Love of Money

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In Phil. 2, Paul explains that if we are to enjoy the consolation found in Christ and the comfort that flows out of Love (agape) and the fellowship of the Spirit and all the tender mercies of God, we must all be like-minded, having the same Love with one accord and with one mind (Phil. 2:1-2).

Okay Paul, that sounds good, but how do we do it? We do it negatively by not doing anything through strife or vain glory, and positively by being in lowliness of mind each esteeming the other better than themselves, not looking on their own things but the things of others (Phil. 2:3-4).

Okay Paul, that sounds good too, but how do we do that? We do that by letting the Holy Spirit through Pauline Grace Mystery Truth give us the Mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:16).

Okay Paul, but what is this Mind of Christ? It is the way Christ thought when even though He was absolute God, Creator of the universe, He didn't use His status and advantages and privileges for His Own advancement but used them for the advancement of others. To do this, He descended to making Himself of no reputation, and descended to take upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in the fashion of men He descended to humbling Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross to provide salvation for hopeless sinners on enemy status before God (Phil. 2:6-8). This attitude is the Mind of Christ, and when we through the intake of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth follow this pattern, we too have the Mind of Christ. This mindset of descending to serve God by serving others selflessly unto their edification, resulted in God highly exalting Christ along with those who are in Him (Phil. 2:9-11).

But there is another mindset we can operate according to, the mindset of the world and humans and the flesh. It is the mind of Satan, who thought in this way: I, Lucifer, am the greatest of all God's Creation, and He has given me much status and many advantages and privileges beyond all other created things. I am going to use these things for my own selfish interests, my own advancement, even if it means destroying others along the way. He said in his heart: I will ascend into heaven ... I will exalt (ascend) my throne ... I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High (God) (Is. 14:13-14). When we operate according to the world apart from God, we follow this pattern and have the mind of Satan. For Satan this mindset resulted in God bringing him and his cohorts low, even down to hell and the sides of the pit (Is. 14:15).

The only operating principle God accepts is the operating principle of Genuine (Agape) Love. And this is why in Rom. 12:9 Genuine (Agape) Love is the beginning point of all service and ministry in the Body of Christ. It is the beginning point of everything God tells us to do (1 Cor. 16:14)!

On Thursday we that we saw the source of all that we do in the Dispensation of Grace is Genuine (Agape) Love (Rom 12:9-10). Going through all the instructions Paul gives from Rom. 12 all the way through Rom. 15 the one fundamental, foundational necessary ingredient is (Agape) Love. These chapters are summarized by Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians: Let all your things be done with (Agape) Love (1 Cor 16:14). Thursday we learned about the Extravagance of Love.

In Rom 12:9-10, our KJV does us a great service in translating the “love” words in these verses with their definitions instead of just the general word “love.” In these 2 verses, Paul uses 3 different Greek words for love. Love #1 is Agape Love—Let love be without dissimulation, the love of God at the Cross of Christ (v. 9). Love #2 is Storge Love—kindly affectioned one to another, familial or friendly love (v. 10a). Love #3 is Philadelphia Love—with brotherly love, love of the brethren, fellow believers (v. 10b). For believers operating according to Pauline Grace Mystery Truth everything starts with Agape Love (Love #1), which then becomes the source and foundation for all other loves (Loves #2 and #3). Genuine (Agape) Love is not just one thing in this long list of items. Rather, it is the title of the list, the funnel through which everything else flows. (Agape) Love is the one controlling love, which then regulates all the other loves, and everything we do (12:9-21; 1 Cor 16:14).

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So far in this series we learned the Operating Principle of Genuine Love in Phil 2:1-11 and the Motivation of Genuine Love in Rom 5:1-11. Now, we will look at the Extravagance of Genuine Love in Eph 2:1-10. Rom. 5 starts with us as ungodly sinners on enemy status before God, and since we were without strength and, therefore, unable to do anything about it, Christ did it all, going to the Cross to die FOR US. Eph. 2 goes back to how we are born into the world as part of Adam's fallen humanity: Children of (the) Disobedience (Adam's disobedience), who are by nature the Children of Wrath and are unable to do anything about it. So, God has to do it all for us.

Every human born into the world since the Fall of Adam are born dead (spiritually) in the sphere of sin. Metaphorically, we are all born trapped in the quicksand of sin and death, and there is nothing we can do to escape it. In fact, in quicksand the more you try to do, the harder you try to escape, only results in your sinking faster and deeper. That's the great deceitfulness of religious and human philosophical systems. They meet their fellow-sinners in the quicksand of sin and death and tell them to work harder, do more; engage in a ritual, do a rite; improve your lifestyle, do more, more, more. All of which does absolutely nothing to help get them out. In fact, it all just ensures their speedy and certain demise!

So, what are you supposed to do when you find yourself trapped in physical quicksand? Well, I have it on the great authority of an episode of Gilligan's Island, that the key to getting out of the quicksand is to STOP DOING ANYTHING, so that you can instead rely on someone else, who isn't trapped in the quicksand, to place a rope around your shoulders and pull you out. That's the only way. Nothing else will work.

Well, it works the same way with the metaphorical quicksand of sin and death that entraps fallen humanity apart from God. And that is what Eph 2:1-10 is talking about. We are all born into the world held captive in the quicksand of sin and death, pushed along by the powerful course of this (evil) world, held down by the powerful prince of the air, Satan, pushed into acting wrongly by the uncontrollable selfish lusts of our (evil) hearts, not able to think correctly, all leading to death and worthy of God's Wrath and Judgment (Eph 2:1-3).

In short, we are in a hopeless and horrible predicament that we can't do anything about on our own. Thankfully, Paul doesn't stop there. He goes on to say BUT GOD, who is rich in mercy, for His GREAT LOVE (noun--Extravagant Agape Love!) wherewith He LOVED us (verb—actively Agape Loved us!) did something astounding. This Great Love is the Love of God at the Cross of Christ where the Lord Jesus Christ died for ungodly sinners on enemy status before Him (Rom 5:1-11) to deliver them out of the sphere, the quicksand, of sin and death under God's Wrath and Judgment. He has done everything that needs to be done for them. They just need to let God put the rope around their shoulders and pull them out, or as Paul says: By grace you are saved through faith (Eph 2:5,8), and when this happens, God doesn't just clean them up and give them a second chance and send them on their way. No, God:

1. Removes sinners from quicksand of sin and death, making them alive (Eph 2:5).
2. That would be wonderful enough, but God doesn't stop there. He makes us alive with the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus Christ, raising us up together with Him (Eph 2:6).
3. Wow! That's amazing. But God doesn't even stop there. He makes us alive with the resurrection life of Christ so that He can seat us together with Christ in the Heavenly spiritual realm (Eph 2:6), which is FAR above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come (Eph 1:21)!
4. Wow! Wow!! Unbelievable. It's just too much! Well, tighten your seatbelts because God doesn't even stop there. Being made alive with the resurrection life of the Risen Lord and seated together with Him in the Heavenlies, Jesus Christ, as the Head of the Body, fills us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ (Eph 1:3) so that we can display the riches of God's Glory throughout the universe forevermore (Eph 1:23).
5. Wow! Wow!! Wow!!! What astounding things God has done. GREAT, EXTRAVAGANT LOVE indeed! In Adam we had sunk to the lowest point possible in the quagmire of sin and death. In Christ, however, God has exalted us together with Christ to the highest point possible! But why has he done all of this with us? Why has God done all this for and with ungodly sinners on enemy status before Him? He did this so that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus (Eph 2:7). So that we, the Body of Christ, would be equipped to display the riches of His Glory forevermore. We are His workmanship, His poem, His creative work of art, specially designed for Him to work in and through us, these are the things He preordained for us to walk in (Eph 2:8-10).

All the believer is called on “to do” is to appreciate and enjoy the EXTRAVAGANT SALVATION that God has provided out of His GREAT LOVE wherewith He LOVED us! Everything else flows out of that—a continual source of joy that gives eternal meaning to our lives.

Paul in 1 Cor. 13 showed us what the Genuine (Agape) Love of Rom. 12:9 that abhors evil and clings to (God's) good would look like if you could put it under a microscope. If we could do that, we would see that Agape Love, the Love of God displayed at the Cross of Christ, is LONGSUFFERING AND KIND (1 Cor. 13:4a). I remember as a young kid getting my first microscope. I put a plant leaf under its lens and saw a whole new world. I saw cells made up of cell walls on the outside and cytoplasm on the inside. Well, when you place the leaf of Genuine Love under the microscope, Paul says you will see it is made up of the cell walls of longsufferingness that contains the cytoplasm of kindness. These are chief characteristics of what God is doing today in the Dispensation of Grace. Today, He is holding back His wrath and judgment so that out of the riches of His Longsuffering Kindness He can offer sinners salvation freely by grace through faith (Rom. 2:4; 9:22; 2 Pet 3:15). Through Christ and His Cross, God was reconciling the world of His enemies unto Himself, and now He is inviting them to BE YE RECONCILED, receive that reconciliation freely by faith (2 Cor. 5:18-20). The end goal of God being Longsuffering now is to call out a redeemed humanity unto Himself so that in the ages to come (forevermore!) He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His KINDNESS towards us through Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:7)! God's Longsuffering Kindness is the basis for all that He is doing today and is the structural components of Love.

Before setting off the Love fireworks in v. 7, Paul first points out what you won't find when you look at the leaf of Love under the microscope. You won't find envy/jealousy, boasting and pride, nor rudeness because Love never seeks its own things (but seeks the things of others unto edification and salvation—1 Cor. 10:24,33; Phil 2:3-4). And you won't find anything that is easily provoked to anger, thinks evil or rejoices in sin (1 Cor. 13:4b-6a).

But when you have pure, sincere, Genuine Love, which hates the evil and clings to the good (Rom. 12:9); when we rejoice in The Truth (1 Cor. 13:6b), The Faith, God's Truth for today, Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, the Love of God powerfully works in and through us. Love BEARS ALL THINGS FOR US (seeking not our own things but the things of others unto edification, 1 Cor. 10:33) because it BELIEVES ALL THINGS that God says in His Word (nothing can separate us from the Love of God, Rom. 8:39), thereby HOPING ALL THINGS in confident certainty by which it ENDURES ALL THINGS now in the midst of trials and tribulations down here on this sin cursed world—AND WHEN LOVE DOES THIS, IT CARRIES US ALONG WITH TOO! Notice that the only thing God asks us to “do” is to BELIEVE AND REJOICE IN THE TRUTH (1 Cor. 13:6b). Rejoice in Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, and all that it reveals about our glorious Savior, His work for us on the Cross, and all that God has made us to be in Christ, and all that He has made Christ to be for us. All the glory! All the wonder!! His extravagant Love that made us alive with the resurrection life of Christ Himself so that He could seat us together with Christ in the Heavenlies FAR above all powers and authorities for the purpose of displaying the Riches of His Grace and Mercy, Goodness and Kindness, forevermore.

That's all God asks of us. Just keep on believing and rejoicing in these grace truths. Relish them. Thank God for them. Enjoy them. And God does everything else. He works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13), overflowing our hearts with His Love (Rom. 5:5), the one and only Love that is indestructible (1 Cor. 13:7) and limitless (1 Cor. 3:8), and that is able to strengthen the inner man that Christ might dwell in our hearts by faith (Eph. 3:16-19). That is why for all the problems the Corinthians had, Paul could summarize everything he had told them in 16 long chapters with this brief statement: Let all your things be done with (Agape) Love (1 Cor. 16:14).

We have just completed a short series on Genuine Agape Love. In that series we saw that:

1. First, in Phil. 2:1-8, we saw the operating principle of Agape Love: The Lord Jesus Christ who as the absolute Creator God of the universe with all its benefits and advantages and privileges and rights and status didn't operate by using His things for His Own advancement but rather descended, descended, descended unto death, even the death of the cross for the advancement of others, fallen humanity! Now, believers are to have this operating mindset as well.
2. Second, in Rom. 5:1-11, we saw the motivation for Genuine Love: Christ died for us! But who is “us?” Christ died for “us” when we were weak (unable to do anything on our own to escape our sinful predicament) ungodly sinners on enemy status before God (separated from God and in open rebellion against Him). This goes far beyond the love manifested in God's Prophetic Program with Israel whereby Christ died for His friends (Jn. 15:13). Here we learn of the infinitely greater love whereby Christ died for His enemies.
3. Next, in Eph. 2:1-11, we saw the extravagance of Genuine Love: We are born into the world trapped in the quicksand of sin and death, by nature the children of wrath and of Adam's disobedience, forced down by the power of darkness and the evil world system, helpless and hopeless on our own, enslaved to our selfish desires. BUT GOD, who is rich in mercy, for His GREAT (EXTRAVAGANT) LOVE WHEREBY HE LOVED US delivered us from all that by Grace through Faith. In doing this, He gave us new life, but not just any new life. The resurrection life of Christ Himself so that He could seat us right now in the Heavenly Realm together with Christ far above all powers and principalities.
4. Then, in I Cor. 13, we viewed Genuine Love under God's microscope. I remember getting a microscope when I was a kid, and it opened a whole new world. I remember putting a leaf under the lens and for the first time seeing cell walls, which provided strength and structure, while enclosing the cytoplasm with all its organelles. Well, in 1 Cor. 13, Paul puts the leaf of Agape Love under the microscope, and there we saw its cell walls were made up of Long-Sufferingness, and they enclosed the cytoplasm of Kindness. And if we increase the magnification to the highest level possible, we couldn't see any envy or strife, pride or boasting, no unseemliness or rudeness, no enjoyment of sin, and none of the individual organelles were seeking their own things but things for the other organelles and the benefit of the whole body (of Christ). When the believer rejoices in the truth, Love is indestructible and limitless: It bears all things and believes all things and hopes all things and endures all things!
5. Finally, in Gal. 5:1-23, we saw the liberating power of Genuine Love that is free of all bondage. Love is what we participate in when we are enjoying our liberty in Christ, serving God by serving others freely unto their edification (Gal. 5:13), faith working by Love (5:6).

And this brings us back to the biggest mistake we can make when it comes to Agape Love. Getting a glimpse of the Love of God at the Cross of Christ has excited us. We want to live that way. We tell ourselves we are going “to do” it. But this approach just leads to bondage because the plain truth is that WE CANNOT DO IT through our own effort and strength. It is impossible. Agape Love is not just a higher or better Law System. It does away with the Law System altogether! It is a whole new mode of existence based on a Grace System in which God does everything. If we try to “do” the things of Love through the flesh, we will utterly fail, fall into despair and be defeated. Agape Love is NOT us “doing” something. It is Christ doing something in and through us (Gal. 2:20). It cannot be done through the flesh.

THE ONLY WAY AGAPE LOVE CAN BE PARTICIPATED IN is by REJOICING IN THE TRUTH (1 Cor. 13:6), Pauline Grace Mystery Spirit Truth, God's Word for today. This is what renews our minds (Rom. 12:2-3) as it puts on display the Love of God at the Cross of Christ, which the Holy Spirit uses to re-create our hearts, overflowing them with that Love, which then motivates and empowers us to selflessly serve God by serving others for the sole purpose of building them up in the Lord: AND THIS IS NOTHING LESS THAN CHRIST LIVING IN AND THROUGH US (Gal. 2:20).

Agape Love is not the result of us trying “to do” something. It is the result of us simply, by faith, stop doing anything so that we can rely on God doing it for us. It is simply enjoying and relishing in wonder and amazement our glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He has done, is doing and will do for and with us! It is the simplest thing in the world: Just REJOICE IN THE LORD (Phil. 4:4), and when we are doing that it will change our thinking, our attitudes, our feelings, our actions and our words so that what comes out is steered away from the self and toward others in Love.

Rom. 12 and 13 is usually identified as the “practical” section of Paul's Letter to the Romans. But this is not the whole story because these chapters, and really going all the way to the end of the Letter in chapter 16, are also highly dispensational. In chapters 12-13, Paul addressed legitimate issues that came up during the roughly 30 year Transition Period when God transitioned away from His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel and transitioned to His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ. During this time, Israel's program headed up by Peter and the 12 was diminishing and would soon be off the stage, and the Body of Christ's Mystery Program headed up by our Apostle Paul was increasing and would soon be complete and the only show on the stage.

While this transition was occurring, there was a legitimate reason for some confusion and questions and lack of clarity, especially for those from a Jewish background. They had been told from infancy that they were under the Law, but now Paul comes along and says you are no longer under the Law. They had been taught since infancy that they could eat some foods but not others, but now Paul comes along and says there are no food restrictions. They had been told that they were distinct from the Gentiles, but now Paul comes along and says there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles. It is easy to see where legitimate confusion and misunderstanding might come in.

The Gentiles had just left behind their worship of idols. The Jews, however, were actually associated with a real and true program of God as members of the Nation of Israel. For many Jews this would have been a very hard transition to make. To address this issue, God authorized Paul to carry out his ministry during the Transition Period by going to the Jews first to help them through some of these issues so that some might be saved (Rom. 11:14). Here in Rom. 12-13, Paul is going to address four major issues that legitimately came up during the Transition Period:

1. Transitional Issue #1: First Paul discusses the transition from the many temporary and partial spiritual gifts enumerated here in Rom. 12, 1 Cor. 12-14 and Eph. 4 and the transition to the ONE PERMANENT AND COMPLETE spiritual gift (Rom. 1:11) (Rom 16:25) of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (PGMT), the Prophetic Scriptures of Paul (not the least of which being this foundational Letter Paul wrote to the Romans!). If their minds were renewed with Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (PGMT— Rom. 12:1-2), and their hearts were overflowing with Agape Love (Rom. 12:9-10), they would realize that the many temporary and partial spiritual gifts were not given so that a few individuals might think too highly of themselves or, as he tells the Corinthians, be puffed up. The purpose of these many gifts was to build up the whole assembly of believers in unity. Secondly, they would realize that the Spirit would use the many temporary and partial gifts proportionally to the amount of Pauline Scriptures--the ONE permanent and complete spiritual gift that could fully establish them—that they had access to. In other words, as they received more and more of the ONE spiritual gift of PGMT, the Spirit would more and more make use of that ONE spiritual gift and less and less of the many spiritual gifts.

And once the revelation of PGMT) had been completed, the Spirit would cease using the many spiritual gifts altogether. After all, once God's full revelation for today through Paul had been manifested, recorded in the Scriptures completely and permanently and distributed throughout the world, there would be no new revelations from God, therefore, there would be no further need for the “spiritual gift of prophecy.” Once they had Paul's Scriptures in full, instead of seeking out and waiting for a spiritual gift to minister, exhort, give, rule, etc., all they needed to do was open those Scriptures up and read about it there in reliance on the indwelling Spirit.

This was a legitimate question during the Transition Period, but it is not a legitimate question today. Paul has explained fully that those many spiritual gifts were only ever meant to be temporary and partial until he completed God's Word with his Scriptures (Col. 1:25-26). To seek after the many spiritual gifts today when we have God's completed Word to us in Paul's Scriptures, is to tell God His provision isn't enough. What shame and destruction has been brought down on vast numbers of people who have been convinced that the many spiritual gifts are the way to spirituality, when they are really the way to rebellion against God and rejection of His Word. What a slap in the face of God. Why would anyone want to return to the temporary and partial spiritual gifts that could not fully establish believers when they already have the ONE complete and permanent spiritual gift of PGMT) that can (Rom. 16:25)? Foolishness!

2. Transitional Issue #2: Next, after establishing the foundation of (Agape) Love for all human relationships (Rom. 12:9-12), Paul goes on to the transition from God's dealing with the Nation of Israel to His dealing with the Body of Christ. How should members of the Body of Christ relate to the members of the Nation of Israel? Paul's answer comes in two parts: First, for the Nation of Israel as represented in the Believing Remnant of Israel under Peter and the 12, the Romans (along with all Paul's churches, Rom. 15:26; 1 Cor. 16:1-3) were to participate in the needs of the poor saints in Jerusalem. They were poor because God was shutting down His Prophetic Program with them. The saints in Rome were to share in their hospitality with them even though they did not belong to their church family. They were to receive them as guests, and help to meet their needs (Rom. 15:25-27; 1 Cor. 16:1-3; Gal. 2:10; 1 Tim. 5:10).

But there was another “Nation of Israel” as well, the unbelieving apostate Nation of Israel. What about them? During the Transition Period, they were still as a nation under God's judgment and wrath (1 Thess. 2:16). So, a legitimate question during this time would have been about how believers in the Body of Christ should relate to the unbelievers in Israel? Should they meet them with judgment, curses and wrath? After all they were Paul's most persistent persecutors (1 Thess. 2:14-18; Acts 17:1-10), dogging his every step, bringing trouble at every turn, and then when they chased him out of town, they continued by persecuting the churches he founded. Rom. 11:28 says that concerning the Gospel, they were enemies for their sake.

Paul's answer to this is that the mind renewed with PGMT) and the heart overflowing with the Love of God at the Cross of Christ would appreciate their ministry of reconciliation for all sinners, beseeching all people, including their persecutors and enemies, to receive that reconciliation by faith. Therefore, they were to NOT curse them but bless them. They were NOT to avenge them evil for evil but evil for good that they might be saved. In fact, if they are hungry, feed them. And who knows, maybe this would be like hot coals that set their conscience on fire, causing them to repent and return to the Lord (Rom. 12:14,Rom. 12:17-21).

Again, this was a legitimate question during the Transition Period, 2000 years ago because Paul had answered it once-and-for-all back in the 1st Century. The great evils that Historic Christianity has inflicted upon the Jews over the centuries in the name of God and His Scriptures is a cataclysmic betrayal of all that God is doing in the Dispensation of Grace, and it is inexcusable. Paul explains that God has now gathered the whole human race together, Jew and Gentile alike, under sin and in unbelief so that He could in mercy offer to all His salvation and blessing freely by grace through faith: TO BOTH JEW AND GENTILE ALIKE based solely on Christ and His work on the Cross for sinners (Rom. 3:9 with Rom 11:32; Rom 3:21-24; Rom 5:1-11; Eph. 2:8)!

Next time, we will begin to look at the final two Transitional Issues:

Transitional Issue #3: Because God postponed the establishment of His Kingdom on earth in accord with Israel's Prophetic Program and with it His government of righteousness, how were they then to relate to fallible human government (Rom. 13:1-7)?

Transitional Issue #4: While God has said through Paul that the Romans are not under the Law but under Grace for initial salvation (Rom. 6:14), were they still under the Law as the standard of their Christian walk (Rom. 13:8-14)?

On Sunday we began Rom. 13 where we saw our third set of instruction that was occasioned by Transitional Period issue. In Rom. 12 Paul explained how they were going to need to transition away from the many temporary and partial spiritual gifts that could not fully establish them to his one permanent and complete spiritual gift of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, Paul's scriptures, that could. Then he showed them how to handle enemies and persecutors in the light of God's transition away from the Nation of Israel and to the Body of Christ.

Now, in Rom. 13, he gives two more sets of instructions.

In light of the postponement of Israel's earthly Kingdom where God's righteous government was to rule the earth, how were they to relate to very fallible human government?

Then Rom. 13 will conclude with instructions about not returning to the Law for the Christian walk because the Love that Pauline Grace Mystery Truth produces accomplishes through the Spirit much more than any love the Law demanded through the flesh.

The thrust of these chapters and really the thrust going all the way through the rest of Romans is our great privilege now (having been renewed in mind with PGMT) and our hearts overflowing with the Love it produces) of participating in and advancing God's Policy of THE GOOD and not falling into the traps of Satan's Policy of the Evil.

On Sunday we were in Rom. 13:1-7 where we saw our third set of instructions that were occasioned by Transitional Period issues. How will the mind renewed with the Pauline Grace Mystery Truth of Romans 1-11 view God's institution of human government? God created the power and authority for national government system on earth (Col. 1:16) for the benefit of humanity. It generally hinders Satan's Plan of The Evil and advances God's Plan of The Good. While it doesn't work in every individual instance and sometimes it completely breaks down, generally, national government advances God's Plan of The Good by providing the stability, infrastructure, legal system, and safe passage, etc., for God's Word to go out to a world in need. If there was no human government in Paul's day, the mob would have torn him apart at the limbs before he hardly began his ministry (Acts 13). But in spite of all the shortcomings of human government run by sinners, Paul could still say in Acts 19:20 that they provided for him enough resources and protections so that the Word of God grew mightily and PREVAILED. Viewed from God's perspective he focused on that and not on its shortcomings, which he gladly suffered if it meant God's Word was going out to the world (Phil 1:12-14). A heart overflowing with Agape Love will not focus on getting the government to give it more and or take away less for its own advancement. It will only think about the open doors that government provides for the spread of God's Word to the lost world AND BE THANKFUL FOR THAT. Today the USA and many other nations in spite of their sinfulness and rebellion against God still provide for the greatest dissemination of God's Word to the world that has ever occurred in human history. Viewed from God's perspective that is something to be subject to and rejoice about not to subvert and complain about.

Highlights

By the time we get to Rom. 12, Paul rules out the acceptability of “sitting on the fence” with one foot in God's Prophetic Program for the Nation of Israel and the other in God's Mystery Program for the Body of Christ. After 11 chapters of God's foundational spiritual gift to the world today of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (PGMT), there is no more excuse for confusing the two programs. To do so is no longer the result of sincere confusion about God's Good Will for today. That may have been a legitimate for the Transition Period, but it is no longer legitimate today because we have the full revelation of PGMT. Rather, it is overt rebellion against God and rejection of His Apostle for us today (the Apostle Paul) and of His Word to us today (Paul's Scriptures—Romans through Philemon) in the Dispensation of Grace.

In the first 11 chapters of Romans, God goes step-by-step through most of what we need to know today. First, He introduces His one new and unique Apostle for today, the Apostle Paul, and gives his ministry as the pattern for following Christ today (Rom. 1:1-17). Then he explains the pattern of fallen humanity, the predicament of all people born into the world in the image of fallen Adam, Jew and Gentile alike (Rom. 1:18-3:20) find themselves in. They need a Savior who will provide salvation for them and that's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did for them on the Cross as revealed in Paul's Gospel: The Good News of the Death and Resurrection of Christ for ungodly sinners on enemy status before Him powerless to change the situation on their own—justification (brought into a right relationship before God through Christ) by grace through faith without works (Rom. 3:21-5:11). That solves fallen humanity's greatest problem. Next, God explains what He does with those He justifies today. He is DOES NOT sanctify them by placing them into the Nation of Israel! He is NOT using them to replace Israel or make them into the new or spiritual Israel. No today, He takes those He saves and sanctifies them, sets them apart for Himself, by placing them into a new group of redeemed humanity called the Body of Christ, bringing them into His Glory (Rom. 5:12-8:39;  12:4-5). Then He explains that He had to create this new group of redeemed humanity because they are participants in His new Program, His Mystery Program (Rom. 9-11), which Paul later explains in Ephesians was designed to restore His Glory in the heavenlies (Eph. 1-3). Israel participated in His Prophetic Program, which was designed to restore His Glory on Earth.

Those are some of the mountain peaks of the first 11 chapters of Romans and to have these truths and disregard them is no longer excusable. To set them aside, preferring someone else's plan rather than God's plan is no longer be innocent confusion while desiring God's Good Will. No, it is rebellion against God and rejection of His Word and Will for today. Like Elijah of old who called out rebellious Israel of that day, explaining to them that “fence-sitting” by leaving one foot in Baal and the other in the Lord will only result in destruction. So too, confusing Peter and John's Gospel with regard to Israel's Prophetic Program and Paul's Gospel with regard to the Body of Christ's Mystery Program also lead to destruction as well (2 Pet. 3:15-18; the whole Book of Galatians).

Now that we have the bulk of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, instead of fighting it and rejecting it, we must believe and accept and embrace it. We must let it renew our minds. Now, every situation that comes up in life must be viewed from the divine standpoint of PGMT. We must ask how ought a mind renewed with Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (PGMT) and a heart overflowing with the selfless Agape Love it manifests for the building up of others—the Love of God at the Cross of Christ for enemy sinners--respond to the situation. Paul gives us some examples to practice with here in Rom. 12-13:

1. The mind renewed PGMT and whose heart is overflowing with Love would handle spiritual gifts properly (Rom. 12:1-3; 9-10):
   1. They won't use God's spiritual gifts for their own advancement but for the advancement of others, unifying and building up the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:3-12).
   2. They will recognize that the many revelatory gifts of the early church were designed only as partial and temporary gifts until the ONE spiritual gift of PGMT was available. They will appreciate that the Holy Spirit would use them proportionally: As the Romans received more and more PGMT (which was about to make a quantum leap when they received God's foundational document of all true Christianity, Paul's Letter to the Romans!), the Holy Spirit would use that more and more and use the many temporary and partial spiritual gifts less and less. And once God's Mystery Revelation through Paul was complete—revealed to Paul, recorded in his Scriptures and distributed throughout the world--those revelatory spiritual gifts would completely cease. In other words, they needed to rely solely on PGMT and NOTHING ELSE.
2. The mind renewed with PGMT and whose heart is overflowing with Love with respond to all with blessing (Rom. 12:13-21):
   1. To the saints in need, they will participate in helping to meet those needs. In Paul's day this began with the poor saints in Jerusalem who were living in poverty because they sold all they had with the expectation of entering into the plenty of Israel's earthly Kingdom. But Paul explains that God set aside that program and began a new program through Paul. So, Paul commanded his churches to take up collections to meet the needs of those suffering saints in Jerusalem (Rom. 15:25-27: 1 Cor. 16:1-4).
   2. To enemies and persecutors they will bless and not curse or respond with wrath or seek vengeance. They were to bless, especially the blessing of the ministry of reconciliation given to believers today, with the hope that maybe these blessings will get they to recognize their wrong and help them to return to the Lord.
3. The mind renewed with PGMT and whose heart is overflowing with Love will view human government from God's perspective not human perspective. God's purpose for instituting national governments was not primarily to ensure our individual happiness or comfort but to hinder Satan's Policy of Evil and advance God's Policy of the Good. We saw that in Paul's day if it weren't for national governments, Paul would have been torn limb from limb by the mob on his first missionary journey. Yes, God's governmental institution has been usurped by the enemy and is carried out by sinners and doesn't work in every individual instance and sometimes completely breaks down, but generally, it keeps pathways and doorways open to the spread of God and His Word to a world that needs it. The safeguard of national government is that even if a few completely break down, closing all doors to God and opening them to Satan, there will be other nations that do not, providing continued opportunities for the spread of God's Word. When one nation closed the door Paul could go to another nation and preach God's Word there. With some 195 nations in the world, it would be very hard for Satan to close all doorways to God. That is why he has always tried to counter God's design of national governments with one world rule. It would be easier for him to close one door to God than 195 doors to God. National governments also provide technology, they lay down roads, they provide safety for travel, prevent mob rule, provide a legal system, etc., all of which make it possible for God's messengers to take His Word out to a world in need—in spite of being run imperfectly by sinners. A mind renewed with PGMT will view things in God's way, and a heart overflowing with Agape Love doesn't not consider one's own things but the things of others unto their edification. So, if you live in the USA, under a government that has opened the doors to spread of God and His Word more than at any other time in human history, before you start complaining, first thank God for it and the open doors it provides to send God's Word out into the world. If that is the primary thing, everything else will be a very distant secondary things.
4. The mind renewed with PGMT and whose heart is overflowing with Love will appreciate that the Law has no place in Pauline Grace. The love that the Law demanded but gave no power to produce, is more than fulfilled and surpassed by the Love Pauline Grace produces through the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 13:8-14).

We have now come to a very important portion of the Book of Romans. Paul closes off these 13 chapters of Romans, having given an in-depth presentation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth and the Love it bestows, with an imperative, an authoritative command. He warns them to not go back to the flesh where the sin nature resides for any reason whatsoever. While it is not surprising that Paul says don't go back to the flesh to participate in the works of darkness—not in rioting and drunkenness, nor in chambering and wantonness, nor in strife and envying (Rom. 13:12-14)—it IS surprising, indeed shocking to many, that Paul also warns against going back to the flesh to participate in the works of the Law (Rom. 13:8-10)!

There is only one way that the Christian life can be lived out, and that is not based on a Law/Flesh/Works System but the Grace/Spirit/Faith System of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth. The Love that Pauline Grace Mystery Truth freely bestows through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5)—the Love of God at the Cross of Christ--is infinitely more powerful than the love the Law commanded of the flesh but gave it no power to produce. The latter results in defeat and despair (Rom. 7:24). The former results in VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN LIVING (Rom. 8:37).

In these final verses in Romans 13, we have the capstone of everything Paul has taught us in these chapters. Paul gives two lists of works, the works of the Law (Rom. 13:9) and the works of darkness (13:13). Now, it is not surprising at all that Paul says don't go back to the flesh to do works of darkness (rioting and drunkenness, lewdness and lust, strife and envy), but what is surprising, yet just as important, is that we must also NOT GO BACK TO THE FLESH TO DO THE WORKS OF THE LAW either! Paul's point is that we are to NEVER EVER GO BACK TO A LAW/FLESH/WORKS SYSTEM! We are to stay in His PAULINE GRACE/SPIRIT/FAITH SYSTEM for today. Israel's 1500 years under the Mosaic Law proved once-and-for-all that sinful flesh when called upon by the Law to do something will always, ALWAYS, fail, resulting in the curses of the Law not its blessings because the Law gives no power to accomplish the command (Rom. 3:19-20; Rom. 6:14; Rom. 7). And if this is true of God's good and holy Mosaic Law (Rom. 7:122), it is even more true of all other man-made law systems as an approach to God or as a means of producing the Christian walk, whether they be Catholic or Eastern Orthodox or Baptist or Reformed or any other law systems. Contrary to human wisdom and religious presumption, law systems don't advance our relationship with God. They hinder it.

The only thing powerful enough to produce the Christian Life comes from a Pauline Grace/Spirit/Faith System because the LOVE it freely gives fills to the brim and overflows the love the Law demanded from the flesh but the flesh could not produce (Rom. 13:8, 10). The Law commanded the flesh to look at itself (the “I”) and love others equal to that. But the “I” has no power to produce even this low level “natural” love that God was right expect from His human creation. When we try to go back to the Law System, what happened to Paul will happen to us. If we are honest, we will experience defeat and despair and cry out: O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death (Rom. 7:24). Pauline Grace/Spirit/Faith System takes us directly to the “Who” will deliver us by telling believers to NOT look at themselves but to look at Christ and His Cross where God displayed His Love for ungodly sinners on enemy status before Him as revealed in Paul's Gospel, the Good News of the Death and Resurrection of Christ. When this Gospel is received in faith, the Holy Spirit renews the mind with Pauline Grace Mystery Truth and re-creates the heart with the Agape Love it displays, which motivates and constrains, propels and empowers us to serve God by serving others selflessly solely for their edification in God's truth for today: Loving others MORE than themselves—“supernatural” Love (Phil. 2:3-4). In other words, there is no power in the flesh's “I” where sin resides. There is only power in the Cross of Christ, and that power is infinite because it comes from God working in and through believers, freely bestowing His Love, bearing much fruit (Rom. 5:1-10; Gal. 5:22-23), and when this happens, it is aways acceptable to God! IN SHORT, THIS IS THE VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN WALK!

Rom. 13:11-12 is a difficult passage for many interpreters. There are about as many different interpretations of it as there are interpreters. For instance, what is the TIME (v. 11)? And was there about knowing the TIME that indicated to the Romans it was HIGH TIME for waking out of sleep? What SALVATION WAS NEARER (to the Romans) than when they (first) believed? And what is the NIGHT (v. 12)? And in what sense is the NIGHT FAR SPENT, drawing to a close? And the DAY: What DAY IS AT HAND exactly? There is very little agreement on any of these phrases.

I suggest one reason for this confusion is because most interpreters do not rightly-divide the Scriptures and have, for the most part, thrown away Paul's distinct apostleship. But what if we come from the other side as those who strive to rightly-divide the Scriptures and embrace as much of Paul's distinct apostleship as possible? How would that change these terms and enhance our understanding of this passage?

The first thing to note about these phrases is that they all have to do with “time,” but not static time, rather moving time, changing time, a progression in time, a transition in time. This brings to mind something Paul spoke about before generally in Rom. 9-11 and specifically in Rom. 11 where he explained that national Israel has stumbled and fallen because of her unbelief and rejection of Christ. Israel had joined hands with the Gentile nations, rebelling against God, rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, their Savior, King and Creator, thereby ushering in the greatest fullness of the darkest night of prophecy, which deserved the full extent of God's Wrath and Judgment—the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord's Wrath.

Of course, Paul goes on to say that God didn't, however, do that. Instead, He did something you can't find in Israel's Prophetic Scriptures. He ushered in something the world didn't deserve: His Grace and Mercy through the distinct apostleship of Paul. In the light of this new divine work in the world, God put His Prophetic Program with Israel, which brought salvation and blessing to the Gentiles with Israel and through her Rise, in abeyance, and it “diminished” during the next roughly 25-30 years until it ceased completely. At the same TIME Israel's Prophetic Program was diminishing, God was ushering in His new Mystery Program with the Body of Christ through the apostleship of Paul, which brought salvation and blessing to the Gentiles apart from Israel and through her Fall. During this TIME of transition, the Mystery Program increased until it became the only divine show in town.

It is in this TIME period of transition that the Romans lived, and it covered about a 30-year period. When Paul wrote Romans, however, about 26 of those 30 years had already passed. There was only about 4 years left. In other words, this transition period of TIME was just about over. On the one hand, this meant that the dark night of Israel's Prophetic Program, which began in the 5th Couse of Punishment, continued through Christ's earthly ministry (Jn. 1:5; 3:2; 13:27-30) and reached its apex in the rejection of Christ in early Acts (Acts 7), was almost over and would soon be completely set aside not to be resumed again until after the Dispensation of Grace when God restarts His Prophetic Program with national Israel (1 Thess. 5:2-8). In other words, during this darkest night of Israel's Prophetic Program when Paul wrote Romans, the NIGHT OF ISRAEL'S PROPHECY WAS FAR SPENT.

On the other hand, the Light of God's Day of Salvation through the apostleship of Paul to the world apart from Israel and through her Fall increased from these words of God to Paul: I have set thee (Paul) to be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation unto the ends of the earth (Acts 13:47). God's Good News through the apostleship of Paul is that the darkness of Israel's Prophetic Program's Night of Wrath didn't recede into hopeless and utter darkness but into the superabounding Hope and Peace and Joy of the Light of the Body of Christ's Mystery Program's Day of Salvation (2 Cor. 6:2-7; Rom. 15:13-16).

The revelation of this truth, God's Truth for today, Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (Rom. 16:25), increased during this time until it was complete and had reached the whole world (Col. 1:6, 23, 25-27), marking the end of the Transition Time Period. In other words when Paul wrote Romans, the salvation God was sending out to the world and that would save them from the confusion and error of mixing up God's two Peoples, Programs and Purposes, WAS NEARER than when they first believed (some 5, 10-20 years before).

Sunday we looked at a passage that causes a lot of problems for commentators, Rom. 13:11-14. If you do not rightly-divide the Scriptures, and you have thrown away Paul's distinct and unique apostleship, it will be impossible to understand these verses. Most commentators work to throw away what (God) and Paul seem to be going out of their way to say and replace it with their own theological notion. They say, Paul can't be talking about a literal present time NOW, a NOW that was happening at the time he wrote Romans. He must be talking about some future time that would happen at Christ's 2nd Coming or the Rapture or the Day of the Lord or the Day of Christ or whatever your theological system demands. They try to replace Paul's 2 literal and definite “nows” of immediacy with some nebulous “now” of future imminency. They insist that Paul wasn't saying these things were happening at that time (although a straightforward reading of the verses does say just that!) but that these things could happen at any time.

But must we throw away God's and Paul's “nows”? Or, was there a literal Day of Salvation that was coming, was nearer and that was at hand and soon to be completed and fulfilled and made known to the world at the time Paul wrote Romans? And was there a Night that was literally decreasing rapidly and about to fade away completely from the scene at the time Paul wrote Romans? I suggest there is.

The Transition Period

The core problem with the traditional way this passage is handled is that most commentators have rejected Paul's distinct apostleship and with it the change in God's two peoples and programs whereby God transitions away from His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel and transitions to His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ. This transition was gradual and progressive, occurring over a 25-30 year period and is called the Transition Period or the Acts Period Transition. Israel's Prophetic Program was in full force at the beginning of Acts with Peter and the 12 at Pentecost (circa AD 35). But because Jerusalem continued to reject their Messiah and King, the Lord Jesus Christ, especially and finally at the stoning of Stephen (circa AD 36; Acts 7), a monkey wrench was thrown into the machinery of Peter and the 12's ministry. Therefore, God could not use it as it was, so He began packing up national Israel and her Prophetic Program into boxes and put them in storage until repairs could be made, causing it to diminish and eventually be set aside completely. Paul describes this as the stumble, fall and diminishing of Israel (Rom. 11:12).

But at the same time, God did not leave the world hopeless. Instead He opened up a new way of salvation for the world, especially the Gentiles, through the distinct apostleship of Paul whereby He would provide blessings apart from Israel and through her fall, something He had never spoken about before. That is why Paul calls it God's Mystery or Secret Program. The Mystery Program began with the raising up of the Apostle Paul (Acts 9) and continued to increase over the next 25-30 years until it reached its fullness and became God's only show in town.

Therefore, when Paul wrote Romans (circa AD 60), he could truly and literally say that God's Day of Salvation (to the Gentiles apart from Israel and through her fall), which had been being progressively revealed to and through his apostleship for the past 25 years was indeed NOW nearer than when they (the Romans) first believed and was indeed almost fully at hand and in full force. When Paul wrote Romans (the foundational document of all true Christianity; circa 60 AD), he could truly and literally say that the progressive revelation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, God's truth and light of salvation to the world (Acts 13:46-48; Rom. 9-11), had increased dramatically and would soon be fully revealed, completely recorded in the Scriptures and thoroughly distributed throughout the whole world (circa AD 64; Col. 1:6, 23). Additionally, Paul could say truly and literally that when he wrote Romans the night of national Israel's Prophetic Program under the wrath of God and the darkness of the Gentiles was far spent, nearly over, drawing to a close and would soon be completely shut down (circa AD 62-63; Acts 28:25-29).

In short, in the NOW when Paul wrote Romans (Rom. 13:11), 20-25 years of the 25-30 year Transition Period were over. Only about 4 years remained. On the one hand, the night of Israel's Prophetic Program would soon be completely over and set aside until God re-starts His Program with the Nation of Israel after the rapture of the Body of Christ (1 Thess. 4:15-5:9). And, on the other hand, God's Day of Salvation for today introduced through Paul's apostleship would soon be fully entered and completely established (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 1-3; Col. 1), the only divine show in town! Perhaps a diagram will help:

Sunday we continued our study of Rom. 13:11-14, especially regarding the Transition Period and the Armor of God. When we appreciate that Pauline Grace Mystery Truth was progressively revealed during the Transition Period and was fully revealed, recorded in the Scriptures and distributed through the world shortly after that period (Col. 1), it can add insights into the Scriptures. Understanding this, showed us that when Paul wrote about the salvation that was nearer than when they (first) believed and the day that was at hand and the night that was far spent, he was referring to a literal specific time when he was writing the Book of Romans at which time God's transition away from His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ was nearly complete. The Night of Israel's Prophetic Program was truly far spent, drawing to a close and would soon be completely shut down and packed away in storage. The Day of Salvation that God ushered in through Paul's distinct apostleship to take His light out to the Gentiles apart from Israel and through her fall was nearer than when they first believed and would soon arrive in all of its fullness (compare Acts 13:47 with Col. 1:6, 23, 25-29). It was truly at hand, having entered into the gates and would soon be completely in and God's only show in town.

And it is with the Light of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth that we are to armor ourselves (Rom. 13:12). Appreciating this progression of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth adds light to the development of the armor of God as it goes from two pieces of armor (the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation in what many think was Paul's earliest letter, 1 Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:8—written in Acts 18 circa 54 AD)—to the Armor in general terms: of Righteousness (2 Cor. 6:7—written in Acts 20 circa 59-60 AD) and of Light (Rom. 13:12—written in Acts 20 circa 60 AD) about 5-6 years later—to reaching its fullness with: Put on the WHOLE Armor of God, that you might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:11) .. Wherefore take unto you the WHOLE Armor of God (Eph. 6:13—written after the Acts Period when in prison circa 64 AD) at which time Paul described every piece of the armor in detail about 4 years later.

On Sunday, we looked at the Armor of God in Rom. 13 and Eph. 6. Earlier in the Transition Period (circa 54 AD), Paul didn't mention the armor of God but did mention two of its pieces: The breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation (1 Thess. 5:8, circa 54 AD). Later when Paul wrote Romans and 2 Corinthians (circa 60 AD), he does mention the Armor of God but only in general terms: The Armor of Light (Rom. 13:12) and the Armor of Righteousness (2 Cor. 6:7). But once the Transition Period is over (circa 63 AD), and Paul wrote Ephesians (circa 64 AD), he could announce that the whole Armor of God was now available for believers, and he goes on to delineate its specific pieces in two groups of three: truth, righteousness and the gospel of peace; and THE faith, salvation and the Word of God (Eph. 6:14-17). But we must not take these verses out of context. The purpose for the full Armor of God, the reason Paul needed to have it on at all times, and the reason we need to have it on at all times as well is: That utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the Mystery of the Gospel (Eph. 6:19-20).

Satan's sole desire today in the Dispensation of Grace, and the purpose to which he directs all his wiles and arrows, is to silence the proclamation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth. To protect ourselves from that, we need the whole Armor of God!

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	TRANSITION PERIOD	AFTER TRANSTION PERIOD
BAPTISMS	3 BAPTISMS	1 BAPTISM
Nation of Israel's Prophetic Program under Peter and the 12	1. Man baptizes believers of Believing Remnant of Israel with water (Acts 2:38a). 2. Christ baptizes believers of Believing Remnant of Israel with the Spirit (Acts 2:38b; Acts 1:5).	Once the Nation of Israel was completely set aside and her Prophetic Program ended, these two baptisms ceased.
Body of Christ's Mystery Program under Paul	3. The Spirit baptizes believers into Christ (Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 12:13).	This is the ONE baptism that remains in effect today (Eph. 4:5).
Gospels	2 Gospels	1 Gospel
Nation of Israel's Prophetic Program under Peter and the 12	Gospel of the Kingdom/Circumcision (Acts 2-3; Gal. 2:7) based on grace in Abrahamic Cov. whereby God blesses the world with Israel and thru her RISE.	Once the Nation of Israel was completely set aside and her Prophetic Program ended, this Gospel ceased.
Body of Christ's Mystery Program under Paul	Paul's Gospel, the Gospel of Grace/Uncircumcision based on God's Riches of Grace to the world esp. the Gentiles, apart from Israel and thru her FALL.	This is the ONE gospel that remains in effect today (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 4:4-5; 6:19).
ISRAEL'S SIGN GIFTS: TONGUES, CASTING OUT DEVILS, HANDLING SNAKES, etc.
Nation of Israel's Prophetic Program under Peter and the 12	At the Exodus God promised to give the Nation of Israel signs so that they would believe (Ex. 3-4)	Once the Nation of Israel was completely set aside and her Prophetic Program ended, there was no longer a need for sign gifts to national Israel and they ceased.
Body of Christ's Mystery Program under Paul	During this time Paul went to the Jews first, displaying some of these sign gifts to them, along with apostolic signs and wonders. The Jews required a sign (1 Cor. 1:22)	After the Transition Period, Paul no longer went to the Jews first as members of the accursed national Israel. God had gathered all, Jew and Gentile alike, under sin in unbelief so that He could extend grace and mercy to all (Rom. 3:9; 11:32). They ceased
REVELATORY GIFTS
Nation of Israel's Prophetic Program under Peter and the 12	Spirit empowered Prophecy regarding Israel's Prophetic Program (Acts 2)	Once the Nation of Israel was completely set aside and her Prophetic Program ended, there was no longer a need for a gift of Prophecy to national Israel, and it ceased.
Body of Christ's Mystery Program under Paul	Spirit empowered Prophecy during the “infancy” of the Body of Christ before Pauline Grace Mystery Truth had been fully made known to full establish the church. The Spirit would use these gifts proportionally to how much Pauline Grace Mystery Truth was available (Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 13:9-13).	Once Pauline Grace Mystery Truth had been fully revealed, recorded in Paul's Scriptures, and distributed throughout the world and permanently made available (Col. 1), the Spirit would use Paul's Scriptures to fully edify and establish believers and the temporary and partial gifts ceased (1 Cor. 13:8-13).

The devil's wiles today take the shape of trying to get us to mix up and confuse these two distinct divine Peoples, Programs and Purposes of God. In doing this, Satan has to a large extent been successful in steering most of historic Christianity away from God's Mystery Program for the Body of Christ as revealed in Paul's Scriptures and to His Prophetic Program for the Nation of Israel as revealed in the non-Pauline Scriptures, ushering in all kinds of errors and confusion that has put believers to sleep, hindered the ministry of the assemblies and has caused it to nearly self-destruct. Whole denominations are vainly spending their resources to re-create Pentecost, all for nothing. Whole religious systems vainly spend their resources getting us to follow in the footsteps of the earthly Jesus. Others try getting us back under the Law. These wiles of the devil are especially deceptive because they look so biblical, so scriptural, so spiritual. When in fact they are carnal and fleshly because they mis-use God's Word by not rightly-dividing it.

But the problem is that these things aren't what God is doing today. Today we follow the Risen Heavenly Christ, and we do that by following Paul (1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1). There is a very simple question to answer if we want to determine if we are wearing the whole Armor of God: Are we standing strong in the Lord and His might and praying without ceasing in the Spirit, putting on every piece of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth so that we can participate in OPENING OUR MOUTHS BOLDLY, TO MAKE KNOWN THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL (Eph. 6:19), primarily through an assembly of believers? Or, have we and our assembly been silenced by the wiles of the devil? If silent, then we must not be fooled. We may be wearing a lot of things, but the one thing we are NOT wearing is the whole ARMOR OF GOD!

On Sunday, we looked at the WHOLE Armor of God that is comes from the full revelation of Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (PGMT) with regard to God's Mystery Program for the Body of Christ as laid out foundationally by the Books of Romans and Ephesians. God gave His full armor to the Body of Christ so that believers, having put it on, could stand fast in the Lord in the power of His might, praying without ceasing in the Spirit for the purpose of persevering in the BOLD PROCLAMATION OF THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL, PAULINE GRACE MYSTERY TRUTH, PAUL'S GOSPEL: THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY WHICH WAS KEPT SECRET SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN (Eph. 6:10-20; Rom. 16:25). Once we know this, we also know that the aim of all Satan's attacks and tricks will be to counteract the BOLD proclamation of Mystery Truth by silencing believers and their assemblies, steering them to other play books that God is not working out of today. One particularly deceptive way of silencing believers is to get them to leave God's play book for the Body of Christ as revealed in the Pauline Scriptures and go to His play book for the Nation of Israel as revealed in the non-Pauline Scriptures instead. Doing this is especially deceptive because it seems so biblical, so scriptural, so spiritual when, in fact, it comes from the Scriptures wrongly-divided and is carnal, resulting in confusion and error that puts believers to sleep spiritually, hindering the ministry of the church and if not corrected leads to self-destruction (Rom. 10-14).

Let's all pray together with Paul that our ministry would remain standfast in the Lord, putting on the whole Armor of God as provided with Romans and Ephesians Truth, praying without ceasing in the Spirit, so that we would persevere in opening our mouths BOLDLY TO MAKE KNOWN THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL (Eph. 6:19-20)! For Paul this BOLD proclamation led to persecution and prison. He could have easily succumbed to Satan's attacks, grown defeated and discouraged, ceasing to BOLDLY proclaim the Mystery of the Gospel. But because he kept on the WHOLE Armor of God this didn't happen! He continued to BOLDLY proclaim PGMT, his co-workers continued to BOLDLY proclaim PGMT and the whole assembly BOLDLY proclaimed PGMT (Phil. 1-2). And would it be that we would continue BOLDLY proclaiming PGMT as well: According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed (silenced), but that with all BOLDNESS, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death (Phil. 1:20)

On Sunday, we entered Romans 14, looking at the “weak in the faith” and “strong in the faith” believers. We started by looking at what Rom. 14 is NOT saying. Sometimes knowing what something is “not” saying helps us to appreciate what it really is saying. Traditionally this passage is taught as something that excuses a believer from having to operate in accord with God and His Word. We say its ok, they are just weak believers, so their confusion and error are excusable because they are sincere. We also saw that the issue in Rom. 14 is not the same issue that is in 1 Cor. 8, therefore, we cannot read 1 Cor. 8 into Rom. 14 and make them refer to the same thing.

ARE THERE LEGITIMATE
“WEAK IN THE FAITH”
BELIEVERS TODAY?

From God's perspective, today are there Let's think about this question a little more. Before receiving Paul's letter, the Romans might have had a legitimate reason and excuse for some confusion and uncertainty, especially for those with a strong Jewish background, who would have boasted with the Apostle Peter: I have never in my whole life eaten anything unclean, and I have observed all the feast days just as God told us to do (Acts 10; Lev. 11)! Then, these Jews got saved through Paul's ministry, and his co-workers come along and say now God is telling them to eat whatever they want, and that the feast days are no longer to be observed (Rom. 14:14; Gal. 4:10; Col. 2:14-16)!

It is easy to see how confusion and disquiet could enter that kind of situation. They would wonder: Does God contradict Himself? What do we do? Do we listen to God's Word through Moses? Or God's Word through Paul? Or maybe we need to somehow try to follow them both. Maybe we should bring the things of Israel's Prophetic Program and add them to the things of the Body of Christ's Mystery Program. But any one or all these answers together only accomplish one thing: Messing everything up!

What they needed was God's solution to this problem, and that was to rightly-divide the Scriptures, which Paul tells them in Rom. 15:1-18, where he demonstrates how to view the Old Testament, the Gospel Accounts and the ministry of Peter and the 12 through the lens of his apostolic ministry. There may have been some legitimate excuse for being a “weak in the faith” believer BEFORE they received Paul's Letter to the them, but once they had received it, there was no excuse for being “weak in the faith.” It became inexcusable and illegitimate.

In Paul's Letter to the Romans (and very soon they would also have Paul's Letter to the Ephesians to top it off!), God and Paul explain fully that God had set aside His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel and has set up His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ as revealed to and through the distinct apostleship of Paul. Therefore, continuing to confuse God's two Programs and Peoples became inexcusable. To persist in ignorance of these things AFTER receiving God's full explanation of them in the Book of Romans was no longer excusable ignorance; it was willful ignorance. To continue to reject the information God gave to them in Romans would not result in legitimate weakness but illegitimate rebelliousness. God has done everything He could do: He has made everything known; He has perfectly equipped us with the full revelation of His Truth for today in Paul's Epistles; and He has given us the indwelling Holy Spirit to teach us those truths and empower us with them. Therefore, today in God's sight, having given us this provision and having it ignored and rejected: IT IS INEXCUSABLE AND ILLIGITIMATE FOR ANY BELIEVER OR ASSEMBLY OF BELIEVERS TO NOT BE STRONG IN THE LORD THAT COMES FROM PAULINE GRACE MYSTERY TRUTH.

Of course, the solution for both the “weak in the faith” believers in Paul's day and the disobedient believers since that time is the same: Rightly-dividing the Scriptures. Once Romans and Ephesians truth became available, the contrast was no longer between “weak in the faith” and “strong in the faith” believers, but disobedient and obedient believers (Rom. 1:5; 15:18; 16:26). After the Transition Period, all believers were expected to be strong believers, and if they weren't, it was not because God hadn't given them the resources but because they have rejected and thrown away the resources He gave. If Paul confronted this situation boldly in the 1st century with those who had his Epistles for only a short time (Rom. 15:15), just think how MUCH MORE BOLDLY he would confront an historic Christianity that has had Paul's Scriptures for 2,000 years, and yet for the most part has persisted in ignoring and rejecting them! I don't want to be anywhere around when that happens!

We had a great question that I thought would be of interest to others. One participant in the ministry asked: Can a believer today be “established” by the Old Testament? Now, the person who asked this question probably just wanted to know how the non-Pauline Scriptures contribute to the edification of believers in the Dispensation of Grace. But the question highlights some very important additional things as well, so I thought I would respond with the Highlights Article entitled:

CAN A BELIEVER BE “ESTABLISHED” BY THE NON-PAULINE SCRIPTURES?

If we stick closely to Paul's (and God's) use of the word “establish,” the Greek word “sterizo,” the short answer to this question is: No. Believers today are not “established” by the non-Pauline Scriptures—the Old Testament, the Gospel Accounts and the ministry of Peter and the 12. Paul uses the word “establish” only 6 times, all in the Transitional Period Letters to the Thessalonians and to the Romans, and he always uses it to refer to his gospel preached in the context of the Mystery or Pauline Grace Mystery Truth.

Romans provides the foundation for believers being “established” today. The Letter opens and closes with “establishment.” In Rom. 1:11, Paul expresses his desire to go to the Romans so that he could impart unto them some spiritual gift, to the end you may be ESTABLISHED. And Romans ends by identifying exactly what that “establishing” spiritual gift is in Rom. 16:25: Now to Him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the Mystery, kept secret since the world began. Pauline Grace Mystery Truth as now recorded in Paul's prophetic Scriptures is the only thing that “establishes” believers today (Rom. 16:25-26 NKJV).

In 1 Thess. 3:2 Paul sends Timothy, Paul's brother, minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ (Paul's Gospel), to establish you and comfort you concerning your faith that comes to them apart from Israel and through her fall (1 Thess. 2:14-16), i.e., Paul's Gospel preached in the context of the Mystery (exactly what Paul says in Rom. 16:25). This is reinforced when we remember that Timothy's function as Paul's emissary was to beseech others to follow Paul (1 Cor. 4:16), and it was: For this cause, I have sent Timothy unto you, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church (1 Cor. 4:17). Again, what established believers today is Pauline Grace Mystery Truth.

Finally, Paul writes to the Thessalonians again and said: He called you by our Gospel (Paul's Gospel), to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hole the traditions which you have been taught (by Paul), whether by (Paul's) word or our (Paul's) Epistle (2 Thess. 2:14-15). This is what would establish them in every good word and work (2 Thess. 2:16), and establish them and keep them from (the) evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you (2 Thess. 3:3-4).

So, technically speaking, when it comes to “establishment” of believers today, it only comes from Pauline Grace Mystery Truth. “Establishment” is not a synonym for “edification,” and we must not use them as though they were. “Establishment” has the meaning of setting fast, anchoring to something, fixing firmly in place. “Establishment' is God setting the believers feet securely in the cement of the foundation of what He is doing today in the Dispensation of Grace, and that only comes through Pauline Grace Mystery Truth because what He is doing today had been kept secret since the world began (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:1-11), therefore, you cannot find it anywhere in the non-Pauline Scriptures.

“Edification,” the Greek word “oikodome,” however, refers to constructing and building up people spiritually. Putting the two words together, believers must first be “established”-- anchored to and set firmly--on the foundation of what God is doing today solely through Pauline Grace Mystery Truth. Then they can be “edified”—built up, brought to completion—primarily through Paul's Scriptures and secondarily through the non-Pauline Scriptures rightly-divided. In short, while only Paul's Scriptures can “establish” believers today, all Scriptures when rightly-divided can help to “edify” believers today. The non-Pauline Scriptures are for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope (Rom. 15:4). And all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Tim. 3:16-17). But, and this is a big BUT, only if they are rightly-divided according to Paul's instruction in 2 Tim. 2:15 and Rom. 15:1-18.

To summarize, FIRST believers must be set firmly into the foundation of what God is doing today as revealed solely in Paul's Scriptures (unto “establishment”), and then, having been “established,” they can then be built up first through the Pauline Scriptures and second through the non-Pauline Scriptures rightly-divided (unto “edification”).

On Sunday, we continued in our study of Romans 14, a very important chapter because it is, I suggest, the major reason Paul wrote the Book of Romans. Before receiving Paul's Letter, the Romans were not as a whole fully established in God's truth for today (Rom. 1:11; Rom. 16:25), and this was hindering their ministry and service to God (Rom. 13:11-14). But in Romans, God gave them everything they needed to be fully established so there was no more excuse for not being “strong in THE FAITH.” There was a small group of believers, who had come from a strong Jewish background, that was still genuinely confused about God's change in Programs. Before receiving Paul's Letter to them, they had been taught since infancy that God's Word through Moses told them to: Not eat anything unclean (Lev. 11)! But God's Word through Paul tells them the opposite: There is nothing unclean; eat whatever you want (Rom. 14:14)! Well, which Word of God should they obey? You can see that this could be the source of legitimate confusion to them. But once they had received Romans, it would no longer be legitimate confusion because the first 13 chapters remove this quandary. They must immediately make use of Roman's Truth, Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, to deal with this situation because it was already providing an occasion for the flesh (Rom. 14:1-4), and if not dealt with immediately, would threaten the whole assembly. Of course, the only true answer to this question is that it comes by rightly-dividing the Scriptures, which Paul goes on to explain in the first half of Rom. 15!

ROMANS 14 AND PAUL'S REASON FOR WRITING THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

Romans 14 is traditionally taught as dealing with insignificant and unimportant things, things that fall into grey areas where there is no right or wrong answer. Therefore, we should not care about such things and sweep them under the carpet. It is okay for believers to do whatever they want so long as they dress it up with Bible verses and think it pleases God. Don't worry, God will just accept it and excuse their errors.

But to teach this is to suggest that after writing 13 chapters of doctrine that fully explained what God is doing today, especially clarifying how He had set aside His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel, which had been spoken about since the world began in the non-Pauline Scriptures (Lk. 1:72; Acts 3:21), and that He is now carrying out His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ, which had been kept secret since the world began but is now revealed in the Pauline Scriptures (Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 3:1-11); Paul is now telling the believers in Rome that they can ignore everything he just wrote and do whatever they think is right. What nonsense!

In Romans, God and Paul take all the puzzle pieces of what He is doing today and puts them together into one unified and understandable picture for all to see. Before receiving Romans, before God had revealed the whole picture to them and presented it in a fully understandable way, their ignorance, confusion and errors were innocent, legitimate, and excusable, especially for those who came from a strong Jewish background. To please the Lord, they would sincerely wonder if they were supposed to follow God's Word through Moses, which said: Don't eat anything unclean (Lev. 11)! Or, God's Word through Paul, which said: Nothing is unclean; eat whatever you want (Rom. 14:14)! It is easy to see them becoming confused. They legitimately didn't fully understand what to do. So, they thought, maybe they should try to follow both?

But after receiving Romans all of this changes. Once they had Romans, they needed to take what God revealed in the first 13 chapters of Romans and use it to solve these questions and problems and alleviate this confusion. Reading Romans 1-13, they now knew, for instance, that God had raised up a new and distinct apostle, the Apostle Paul and gave him a new and distinct apostleship (apart from that of Peter and the 12's ) through which God began a new and distinct Mystery Program (having set aside His Prophetic Program) whereby He is now sending blessings out to the world, especially the Gentiles, apart from Israel and through her fall (Rom. 1:1-17). They now knew that the Righteousness of God is now being revealed apart from the (Moses's) Law and that sinners—Jew and Gentile alike--are justified by faith without the works of the (Moses's) Law (Rom. 1-4). They now knew that God takes those He justifies today and places them into the Body of Christ, not into the Nation of Israel, and that they are under Grace not under the (Moses's) Law (Rom. 5-8). They now knew that God had temporarily set aside His Prophetic Program with Israel while He carries out His new His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ (Rom. 9-11). And they now knew that in the light of this transition in God's programs they must rely solely on Pauline Grace Mystery Truth for their instructions on how to walk well pleasing to God today (Rom. 12-13). In order to do this, they will need to rightly-divide God's Word, which Paul explains in Rom. 15:3-20.

In the light of Romans truth, the problems generated by observing Moses's food regulations and feast days would disappear and with them the occasions for the flesh that they provide, so that the whole assembly could be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus. That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God (Rom. 15:5-6).

To ignore and throw away the explanation God provides in Romans (as most of historic Christianity has done for the past 2,000 years), and not make use of it and continue to act as though they didn't have it, however, turns the innocent ignorance they had before receiving Romans into willful ignorance after receiving it; the legitimate confusion they had before into illegitimate confusion after; the excusable errors they had before into inexcusable errors after. It is one thing for them to be “weak in THE FAITH” because God had not yet revealed everything to them. It is quite another to be “weak in THE FAITH” after God had revealed everything to them, providing all they needed to be “strong in THE FAITH” because they ignored it and threw it away. In the former there is still a sincere desire to please the Lord. In the latter there is insincerity, just rebellion against the Lord and the rejection of His Word. After they (and this is even more true for us today 2,000 years later!) had received Romans and Ephesians, in addition to all Paul's other epistles, it is no longer a contrast between the “weak in THE FAITH” and the “strong in THE FAITH” believers. It is now the disobedient and the obedient believers. Producing obedient believers is the main thrust of Romans: Through Paul's apostleship, through Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, God opened the door for the obedience of the faith among all nations (Rom. 1:5; 15:18; 16:25-26).

To summarize: Once the Romans had Paul's Letter to the Romans, they (and we!) had God's puzzle of what He is doing today all put together, every piece in place, and the whole picture clearly seen and understood. They needed to take this revelation and use it to solve the problems they were having in chapter 14 and 15, problems that were providing occasions for the flesh (Rom. 14:1-4). If not corrected immediately this problem would threaten the unity and survival of the whole assembly (Rom. 15:1-6). Romans 14 is not about excusing ignorance and error because there is no right answer. Rom. 14 is about how to get someone who is embracing the wrong answer to go on to embracing the right answer.

The wrong way to do this was by trying to enforce it through the flesh by despising and judging one another (Rom. 14:1-13). The right way to do it was to follow the spiritual pattern of Paul so that they might be persuaded of the Lord by faith in love (Rom 14:14-15:3). And the only way that can happen is if the “strong in THE FAITH” receive and welcome the “weak in THE FAITH” not to doubtful disputations (14:1) but to teach them in love how to rightly-divide the whole Word of God (Rom. 15:4-20). Only then will the Romans be brought NOT into the false “unity” of men that pretends it by ignoring the confusion and excusing the errors, resulting in only more dis-unity and divisiveness. But by being brought into the true God-given unity that alleviates all confusion and corrects all errors, resulting in a single-mindedness that mightily serves the Lord so that the whole assembly—Jews and Gentiles alike--can praise God together with one mind and one mouth (Rom. 15:5-6).

The key to the problem being addressed in Rom. 14 is found in Rom. 14:14 where Paul begins to formulate his answer by saying this: I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself. This tells us that the issue in Rome is not the same issue as that of Corinth. In Corinth, it had to do with foods offered to idols, and the problem centered on Gentile idolatry and being weak in conscience (1 Cor. 8). In Rome, however, it had to do with clean and unclean foods as delineated in the food regulations of Moses's Law, and the problem centered on those with a strong Jewish background and being weak in THE FAITH.

While this small group of Jewish believers had been taught the Law since infancy, they had limited exposure to God's new Grace revelation through the Apostle Paul. These Jews would have boasted with Peter (and Paul before his conversion) that: We have never eaten anything that is common or unclean (Acts 10:14), not once in our whole lives! And we are not going to start now! Of course, the real problem with clean and unclean foods is that when enforced, they lead to clean and unclean people (Acts 10:27-28). In wishing to follow God's Word through Moses, this group of Jewish believers were, in effect, re-erecting the Law that separated Jew from Gentile, Israel from the nations, that Christ died to break down (Eph. 2:14-15), thereby calling into question all that God is doing today through the apostleship of Paul in sending His blessings out to the whole world apart from Israel (including her Law) and through her fall, something that had never been revealed before.

They were suggesting that by returning to the Law, its food regulations and feast days, for instance, that they were enhancing their standing and acceptance before God. Of course, the corollary of that is that those who did not return to the Law by observing its food regulations and feast days would have a diminished standing and acceptance before God. In the Dispensation of Grace, however, God is now fully and completely welcoming, receiving, and giving a right standing to all believers, Jews and Gentiles alike, based on Grace through faith APART FROM the Law and WITHOUT its works. Listen to some of the ways Paul says this in the first 8 chapters of Romans:

Therefore, by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in His sight (Rom. 3:20);

But now the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifested (Rom. 3:21);

For there is no difference (between Jews and Gentiles now): For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:22-24);

Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law (Rom. 3:28);

But to him that worketh not but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness (Rom. 4:5);

The Law entered that the offence might abound (not to reduce offences) ... but Grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20);

Ye are not under the law but under grace (Rom. 6:14); Ye are become dead to the law ... that we should bring forth fruit unto God (Rom. 7:4);

What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law (the righteousness the Law called for but gave no power to produce) might be fulfilled (by God working—filling full and exceeding anything that the Law called for by Grace) in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit (Rom. 8:3-4). And the examples could go on and on.

The point is that the information God and Paul provide in the first 11 chapters of Romans gives the Romans all the information they need about God's divine plan in the Dispensation of Grace to solve the problem of whether they are to follow the God's Word to Israel in Moses's Law (i.e., There is a whole bunch of unclean foods; Do not eat any of them!). Or, were they to follow God's Word to the Body of Christ through the Apostle Paul (There is nothing unclean; eat anything you want!). In the light of the above super-abundance of verses, the answer is clear and self-evident to any sincere and genuine believer operating from a heart of faith: Today, we must follow God's Word through the Apostle Paul, Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, as recorded in his Scriptures, Romans through Philemon.

When the whole Roman assembly is persuaded by the Lord of this correct answer, they will reach God's goal for them, being likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus, together glorifying God in love and out of faith (Rom. 14:22-23) with one mind and one mouth (Rom. 15:1-6) that comes from rightly-dividing the whole Word of God (Rom. 15:8-20), fulfilling Paul's joy (Phil. 2:2).

On Sunday we continued in our study of the problem in Rome presented in Romans 14. One of Paul's primary reasons for writing his Epistle to the Romans was to provide the Romans with the information about what God is doing today that they needed to solve this problem before it destroyed the assembly. Understanding this situation is important because the answer God gives to solve this problem in ancient Rome is the same answer that He gives us today, a solution that if followed would solve all the errors of historic Christianity. Here are the steps that can solve all the problems in every assembly:

1. Don't respond based on the flesh but based on our Sonship Position in and through Christ! (Rom. 14:1-13)
2. Follow the pattern of Paul, who was persuaded by the Lord from God's Word in faith, building each other up in love. (Rom. 14:14-15:3)
3. Learn how to rightly-divide the Scriptures, so that we understand exactly where Christ's earthly ministry and the ministry of the 12 fit in to God's Word; where the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets, fit in God's Word; and where Paul's Scriptures fit in God's Word. (Rom. 15:4-20)

Once you do this, all confusion and error would dissipate and eventually be alleviated. For the Romans, especially those with a strong Jewish background, the problem was confusion over the fact that God's Word through Moses said that in order to have an accepted status before God you need to observe the Law's food regulations. God's Word to Israel was: There are a lot of unclean foods, and you shouldn't eat any of them (Lev. 11)! Okay, that's pretty clear. But now, they were receiving God's Word through Paul, which said the exact opposite: There are no unclean foods, and you can eat anything you like. Well? Which is it? They are both “God's Word!” You cannot really do them both. But once you rightly-divide the Scriptures and appreciate the truths of Romans the problem vanishes into thin air. Once they had the Book of Romans, they would understand that today in the Dispensation of Grace, God has set aside His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel and her Law and is now carrying out a work in the world called His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ (Rom. 9-11), which is apart from Israel, apart from the Law and without its works (Rom. 3). God's instruction manual for today is found in Paul's Epistles, which explain that a right and perfect standing before God is obtained and maintained solely through the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the basis of grace and faith, apart from the Law and without its works (including observing the food regulations and feast days). Those in Rome with a strong Jewish background who were operating according to their Sonship position, thereby were responding positively to the God and His Word from hearts of faith and minds renewed with Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (Rom. 12:1-3) would be persuaded by the Lord (as Paul, who had a stronger Jewish background than anyone in Rome, had been persuaded by the Lord--Rom. 14:14) to accept this as the right answer: There is nothing unclean; eat anything you want.

Of course, this is just one aspect of a far greater issue. This example teaches that we not only do not need to observe the Law's food regulations or its feast days to gain or maintain a standing before God, we are not to return to the Law at all with regard to our standing before God at all. What Christ freely bestows through the Spirit in the power of God according to Pauline Grace surpasses, fulfills and overflows, anything the Law commanded but gave no power to carry out (Rom. 8). We must not go to the Law and its powerless flesh for anything. Rather, we must go on in the Spirit in the power of God! Think of all the confusion and errors of historic Christianity that could be alleviated by following God and Paul's simple instructions in Rom. 14-15. Just think: Imagine for a moment: If all Christianity followed these instructions, then all believers everywhere could finally be genuinely united together--Jews and Gentiles alike—with a GOD-GIVEN like-mindedness, worshipping God TRULY with one mind and one mouth (Rom. 15:5-6).

The Judgment Seat of Christ (Rom. 14:10) is a very misunderstood topic. It is typically presented as a harrowing experience whereby believers are dragged into Christ's court and are told to explain everything wrong they ever did. We envision all our sins being broadcast throughout the universe on the large screen tv of Heaven. No doubt, Bible teachers present it this way thinking scaring people to death about the future will get them to behave better down here on earth in the present. Besides the fact that such approaches never work, it injects fear and despair into our relationship with God, which He wants to be full of grace, peace and joy through Christ (Rom. 5:1-3).

There is a much better motivation than this, and we see it in the ministry of the Apostle Paul. What did he talk to God about. How did he account for himself before Christ? We needn't guess because he tells us in Rom. 15:15-19. The passage opens with Paul bringing the Romans (and all believers since) into the presence of God as he prays on their behalf: Now, the God of peace and consolation grant you to be like minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus that you may with one mind and one mouth (the whole assembly, Jews and Gentiles alike) glorify God (Rom. 15:5-6). Then, Paul “puts feet to his prayer” by explaining to the Romans (and every one since) that the only way they will be able to be to do this is by rightly-dividing the Scriptures. We can learn from the accounts of Christ's earthly ministry, the ministry of Peter and the 12 and the Law and the Prophets, but those Scriptures cannot solve the hopeless condition of the present sinful world. In those Scriptures, God revealed that His blessings would go out to the Gentiles WITH ISRAEL AND THROUGH HER RISE, and he gives four Old Testament passages to show that (Rom. 15:8-12).

But this creates an enormous problem for the world, especially the Gentiles, because if we have been reading Romans carefully, we know from Romans 9-11 that Israel had stumbled and fallen, and that God has cast her aside. While the Gentiles never had a hope of their own (Eph. 2:12), they could participate in Israel's hope. But when God had cast aside Israel and His Prophetic Program with her (temporarily), that hope for the Gentiles was cast away as well! If God didn't open a new conduit of blessings, the whole world, especially the Gentiles, would have been doubly, infinitely, utterly hopeless!

But thanks be to God for what Paul says next. Now, the God of hope FILL (full and overflowing!) you with ALL joy and peace in believing, that ye may (super) ABOUND in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13)! How can this be, Paul? At the end of v. 12 the world, especially the Gentiles, was full of despair and utterly hopeless. But now, one verse later, Paul insists we have overflowing joy and peace and super-abounding hope!! How can this be? It is so, Paul goes on to explain, because God did, in fact, open a new conduit of blessing through Paul's distinct apostleship whereby God is now providing the world, especially the Gentiles, with what it needs most: His blessings going out to them APART FROM ISRAEL AND THROUGH HER FALL! This is something He had never revealed before, and it is the only solution that can solve the plight of fallen humanity's sinful predicament (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 2-3).

So, back to our original question. What will we be talking about at the Judgment Seat of Christ when we give account of ourselves? We'll be glorying in the same things Paul glories in: All that God is accomplishing through Christ as revealed through Paul's distinct apostleship (Rom. 15:15-19). What we MUST NOT miss is that this need not just be something before Christ in the future. It is our great privilege that God wants us to start glorying in these things right now, in the present, today, at this very moment. He wants us to already be confirming, proclaiming, advancing His Good News to a world enemies as made known by Paul's Gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the Mystery, Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (Rom. 16:25). Now, we have the privilege of glorying in these things imperfectly on a sin-cursed, deathcontaminated world, on enemy territory under adverse conditions. At the Judgment Seat of Christ and from there forevermore, we will be glorying in these things under ideal conditions, perfectly reflecting God's Glory throughout the whole universe, especially the Heavenlies.

So, what is Paul going to be saying in God's presence when he gives account of himself at the Judgment Seat of Christ? It will be the same things he was saying in God's presence at the time he wrote the Book of Romans:

Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ (Rom. 15:17-19).

At the Judgment Seat of Christ, the whole Body of Christ will finally speak with one mind and mouth, praising the whole Triune Godhead for the salvation that came to them through the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ for sinners on the Cross as revealed, manifested, and made known through Paul's distinct apostleship. God's (God the Father) Word proclaimed Christ (God the Son), who was working in and through Paul's apostleship by the power of the Holy Spirit (God the Holy Spirit) to accomplish full and complete salvation for the Gentiles, apart from Israel and through her fall. That future day will be a great day indeed. But we needn't wait. We can begin to participate in it, right now, at this very moment; today can be a great day as well. Paul was beseeching the Romans (and every believer since) that having been brought into God's family as adult children and full participants in the Father's business (Rom. 8), we have the great privilege, the greatest privilege, of being enabled to glory in these things together with one mind and one mouth right now, in the present. Together, by rightly-dividing the Scriptures, we can already begin glorying together in what we will be glorying together in forevermore: The Riches of God's Salvation dispensed to and through the Apostleship of Paul.

On Sunday we began to look at one of the most confusing topics for many believers, The Judgement Seat of Christ, as mentioned in Rom. 15:10-12. When we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, giving account of ourselves, what, exactly, will we be saying and what happens there? To answer these questions, we looked at the basic principle of God's judgment as One who knows all things and can reveal the secret intents of the human heart as presented in Rom. 2. There we saw that God judges the “works” of people not by looking at the “works” but by looking at the “work” process, the factory in which the “works” were made. They either came out of God's factory that runs 24/7 on His power, was cleansed with the blood of Christ and sanctified by the Holy Spirit in Righteousness and Life, or they came out of Satan and the flesh's factory that runs 24/7 on the power of sin and is contaminated with death. Everything that comes out of God's factory is accepted by God and abides forever. Everything that comes out of Satan and the flesh's factory is designated unto destruction.

Once this is understood, we see that whether we are speaking of the judgment of unbelievers at the Great White Throne Judgment or of believers at the Judgment Seat of Christ, the only thing that is accepted by God are those things that He Himself does in and through us. Of course, unbelievers are by definition those who have rejected God, His Word and His Work, therefore, God does no work in and through them. They will appear before God with nothing to offer and will be cast into the Lake of Fire. For believers, however, and this is Paul's great point in Rom. 14-15, everything is different. What unbelievers could not do—produce service acceptable to God through the flesh—believers can do through the Spirit. By faith in God and His Word believers have the opportunity of having God work in and through them by the indwelling Holy Spirit. By renewing their minds with Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (Rom. 12:1-3) and allowing the Lord to persuade them of all its ramifications (Rom. 14:14), they will glory, rejoice, in what God is doing today through Paul's distinct apostleship whereby--astoundingly, amazingly, hopefully and joyfully (Rom. 15:13)—God proclaims to the Good News that He has opened a new way of blessing, especially for the Gentiles.

This was something He had never revealed before: This way is apart from Israel and her Prophetic Program whereby Gentiles are blessed not with Israel and through her RISE (in accord with the non-Pauline Scriptures) but apart from Israel and through her FALL (only found in the Pauline Scriptures)! Which, in the light of the fact that Israel had stumbled, fallen and been cast away (temporarily) (Rom. 9-11), that is exactly what the world needed, especially the Gentiles. While the whole Body of Christ will appreciate and glory in what God is doing through the apostleship of Paul at the Judgment Seat, and there each believer will account for his or her standing before God through Christ in accord with Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, Paul beseeches the Romans (and us!) to participate in the privilege that this need not just be a future thing. We can start doing it today. With God given like-mindedness that comes by rightly-dividing the Word of God, we can begin glorying together in all that God is accomplishing with us through His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ right now, down here on planet earth, on enemy territory under adverse conditions, with one mind and one mouth (Rom. 15:4-20). And when that happens, that is God working in and through us, and that will be what remains forever—through the Judgment Seat of Christ and on into everlasting life!

What happens on the other side of the Rapture Event at the Judgment Seat of Christ? One thing that Paul tells us for sure will happen is that when the Risen Lord Jesus Christ appears, the dead in Christ will rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: And so shall we ever be with the Lord! Wherefore, COMFORT one another with these words (1 Thess. 4:16-17; Eph. 1-3). When the Risen Lord appears believers will receive their resurrection bodies and meet the Lord in the air where they will be escorted by the angelic armies into the heavenly realm to be the displayers of God's Glory forevermore.

The Rapture Event will be the great clarifier of all that God is doing in the Dispensation of Grace. After going through it, every believer will fully understand what divine Purpose, Program and People they belong to. There will be no more confusion between God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to re-establish His Glory on the Earth, and His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ to re-establish His Glory in the Heavenlies. Everything will be crystal clear and undeniable. Once they are aloft in the clouds, sailing through the air and heading into the Heavenlies with Christ, denial and rejection become impossible.

What most believers down here don't understand and refuse to appreciate and many reject outright with regard to what God is accomplishing through Paul's distinct apostleship, at that time, in the air with the Lord with their resurrection bodies, heading into the Heavenlies, all believers everywhere will completely understand, perfectly appreciate and fully accept. The whole Body of Christ will finally be praising God with one mind and one mouth forevermore (Rom. 15:5-6). All the confusion and errors that characterize the church, the Body of Christ, down here, will instantly and eternally be purged out and disappear. Participating in the Rapture Event will be the automatic and instantaneous corrector of all false thinking in the Body of Christ. If a believer didn't know what divine program God involved him or her in, heading through the air and into the Heavenlies will instantly open their eyes

We saw something similar happen in our study of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus kept trying to teach His disciples that He must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priest and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day (Mat. 16:22). But the disciples refused to accept it. In fact, they ruled it out of their thinking, rejected it and fought against it to the point that Jesus had to command Peter to get thee behind me, Satan: Thou are an offence unto Me for you savor not the things that be of God but those things that be of men (Mat. 16:23). But after they went through the death and resurrection of Christ, however, all denials and rejection became impossible, superfluous. Jesus showed Himself to them, taught them and not long after they were boldly proclaiming the Risen Christ to the Nation of Israel in Jerusalem. Then, they were completely in sync with God's plan.

It will be the same way with the Rapture. What most believers reject and refuse to accept now will be received with joy when the Risen Christ appears, meets His Church, the Body of Christ, in the air, escorts it into the heavenlies, leaving behind anything that does not belong to God, thereby presenting us pure and spotless. At that time, every single believer will, with brilliant eyeopening clarity, appreciate that they indeed are the beneficiaries of what God accomplished through the apostleship of Paul on behalf of the world, especially the Gentiles, apart from Israel and through her fall, and will glory in it with one mind and one mouth forevermore (Rom. 15:5-6). What a sight that will be. The whole Body of Christ finally reflecting God's Glory throughout the whole universe united in praise of Him and receiving praise from Him (1 Cor. 4:5)!

Of course, Paul's point in Rom. 14-15 is that we don't have to wait until after the Rapture to glory in what the whole Triune Godhead is accomplishing today through the distinct apostleship of Paul. We can begin glorying in it with one mind and one mouth: RIGHT NOW (Rom. 15:15-19)!!

A major mistake we can make when hearing about the Judgment Seat of Christ is to respond in accord with a law/flesh/works system instead of the Pauline Grace/Spirit/Faith system. One way we do this is to respond to this teaching by obsessing about how woefully short our service to God has fallen in the past. We dredge up and lament over all the times we have missed opportunities for God to have worked in and through us. But this is certainly a fruitless activity that only leads into defeat and despair. It is carnal not spiritual and is most certainly not what God wants us to do with Paul's Judgment Seat truth.

Another way we go wrong in accord with a law/flesh/works system is to hear teaching on the Judgment Seat of Christ and conclude that the goal of the Christian life is to work as hard as possible so that we can get more rewards (and less punishment) than others at the Judgment Seat of Christ and become real grandees in Heaven, looking down our noses on others, and ruling over Heaven's lesser vassals. But again, such thinking is carnal not spiritual, and it messes everything up because it removes the divine motivation for service of the SELFLESS Love of God at the Cross of Christ and replaces it with the SELFISH love of the flesh. The former is God working in and through the us by faith. The latter is not.

The moment we make either of these flesh/works/law responses, we instantly mess everything up! The first flesh response mentioned above drains away the SPIRIT'S POWER from God's Grace/Faith/Spirit equation, and the second one removes (AGAPE) LOVE from it. Both ways always end the same, in defeat and despair. We are warned against operating according to a law/flesh/works system in Romans 3-8, with an especially dramatic picture of the defeat and despair it produces presented in Rom. 7. And we are instructed in passages like Rom. 12 and 1 Cor. 13 that the crucial ingredient of all divine service is Love. Agape Love is the very opposite of selfish love. By definition Pauline Grace Agape Love does NOT consider one's own things but the things of others unto their edification; and esteems the other better than ourselves, with an especially dramatic picture of this given in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who went to death, even the death of the Cross for us, enemy sinners (Phil. 2:1-9).

Therefore, to conduct our lives motivated by SELF-absorption through the flesh—whether our past failures or our supposed future successes--rather than by CHRIST-absorption through the Spirit, destroys the Christian walk. All such law/flesh/works responses nullify God working in and through us to produce things of infinite and eternal value. To the former flesh response Paul writes: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:13-14). The past is the past. Leave it there. Like Paul, we all have millions, no billions, no trillions of missed opportunities to have served God. That's that. Leave it behind. We need to keep moving on, looking only ahead at Christ, especially as fully presented in Pauline Grace Mystery Truth where we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus (2 Cor. 4:6) and are being transformed into the glorious image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). When we operate according to these Pauline Grace instructions, every moment is a new moment full of divine potential.

Now that we know how NOT to respond to Judgment Seat teaching, how should we respond? How does a Grace/Spirit/Faith system work? It is very very simple. Much simpler than a flesh/works/law system. In a Grace System all God wants us to do is one very simple thing: KEEP ON REJOICING IN HIM! Anything more complicated than that quickly turns into just another law/works/flesh system. What God wants us “to do” is not really doing anything at all: JUST KEEP ON REJOICING AND PRAISING AND WORHSIPPING HIM by faith no matter what's going on around you, no matter what you see, no matter anything: JUST KEEP ON REJOICING IN THE LORD.

That is why understanding Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (PGMT) because it is there, and there alone, that we find the infinite and eternal RICHES of God's Grace (Eph. 1:7, 2:6; 2 Cor. 4:15, et al.); RICHES of His Goodness and Forbearance and Longsuffering (Rom. 2:4); RICHES of God's Glory (Rom. 9:23; Eph. 3:16; Col. 1:27); the RICHES of God's salvation to the world, especially the Gentiles (Rom. 11:12); RICHES of God's wisdom and knowledge (Rom. 11:33); RICHES of God's mercy (Eph. 2:4); the UNSEARCHABLE RICHES of Christ (Eph. 3:8); the RICHES of God in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19); the RICHES of the full assurance and understanding to the acknowledgement of the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures (RICHES!) of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:2-3); the RICHES of Christ dwell in us in all wisdom (Col. 3:16). It is only in PGMT that we learn that Christ, though He was RICH, yet for our sakes became poor, that ye through His poverty might be RICH (2 Cor. 8:9), shedding His RICHES on us abundantly (RICHLY!) through Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 3:6)!!

From this infinite and eternal resources of God's RICHES, we are fully enabled to keep on rejoicing in the Lord always (and again I say REJOICE!) by continually communing with Him in thankfulness, talking with Him about these things that we have both learned and received and heard and seen in me (Paul), do: And the God of Peace will be with you (Phil. 4:4-9). When we do this, we are already glorying in what we will all be glorying in not only at the Judgment Seat of Christ but throughout all eternity in the Heavenlies as God's perfect displayers of His Glory to the whole universe.

Paul's point in bringing up the Judgment Seat of Christ is not to bring us into the legalism of scaring us to death and terrorizing us into serving Him through works of the flesh to gain a reward or escape a punishment. His purpose is to beseech us by grace that having been permanently united to God through Christ and indwelt with the Holy Spirit, we don't need to wait until we get to Heaven to glory in Him (Rom. 15:15-19). What we all, the whole Body of Christ, will be glorying in at the Judgment Seat of Christ perfectly, we can begin glorying in together and individually, right now, today, in this very moment. And if we are doing that, we will have no problem leaving everything else, including our future, to God!!

On Sunday we finished up our brief series on the Judgment Seat of Christ that sprang from our passage in Rom. 14-15 (sp. Rom. 14:10). We finished by looking at 1 Cor. 3-4. Paul's point in all this is that we don't have to wait until we get to Heaven (as the old hymn says) to begin as a united Body of Christ, praising God with one mind and one mouth (Rom. 15:5-6). We can begin doing it right now, today, on enemy territory under adverse conditions in the midst of trials and tribulations! But in order to do this we must all rightly-divide the Scriptures (Rom. 15:7-19). When we do that we see how God has fully provisioned us for carrying out His ministry today. He has already blessed us with ALL spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3). He has already made us heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). He has already brought us into the Father's business, explained to us the Father's business plan and has given us access to the Father's riches (Rom. 8:14-16; 5:1-3). We have everything we need and more. We have His super-abounding Riches! But if we ignore the riches and blessings and provisions God has given to us and refuse to participate in the Father's business, at the end of the day we can't really complain that we don't have much to show for our work.

To give a homely illustration, when I got hired by an employer, he gave me an office, a phone, a computer, a company car, a credit card and maybe even some assistants, not to mention a paycheck. He brought me into the riches of the business, giving me everything I needed to carry out my responsibilities. But if after all that, I just go into the office he gave me, shut the door and ignore those riches, working on crossword puzzles all day or looking out the window day-dreaming all day or sleeping all day ... Well, at the end of the day, I can't really complain that I don't have anything to show for my time. That is similar to the Christian walk. If believers spend there time down here ignoring God's provisions through Christ; if they refuse to participate in the Father's business and instead participate in the things of the flesh and the world (as at least some Romans were doing (Rom. 13:11-14; 14:1-4)) well then, like our employee, they can't really complain at the end of the day when they get to the Judgment Seat of Christ that while remaining perfect and complete in Christ, they don't have much to show for their time down here on earth. This is something even God can't change. But God's promise, God's guarantee, to all believers is that anytime we participate in the things that pertain to God as revealed through Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, they are things that will last forever. In other words—unlike the things of this world, a moment spent in the things of God is never a wasted moment. It lasts forever, following us into the Rapture, through the Judgment Seat of Christ and into the Heavenlies forevermore

Judgment Seat of Christ Recap

Let's re-cap what we have learned about the Judgment Seat of Christ by looking at how it is used rightly and wrongly.

1. The reason God gives us information on the Judgment Seat of Christ:
   1. Wrong Reason—it is not to scare us to death and terrorize us into serving the Lord better
   2. Right Reason—It is so that we know that having gone through the Rapture and the filter of the Judgment Seat of Christ, the flesh and all its sin and sins will be purged out. All things that pertain to God (including believers!), however, will last forever. At that time, the whole Body of Christ will finally, once-and-for-all, have a God-given like-mindedness by which we will all praise and worship God with one mind and one mouth. God and Paul's point in bringing this up in Rom. 14-15 is to explain that we don't need to wait until that future time to participate in this unity of praise. WE CAN BEGIN PARTICIPATING IN IT RIGHT NOW, TOGETHER, DOWN HERE ON EARTH, UNDER ADVERSE CONDITIONS, IN THE MIDST OF TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS. But for that to happen, we all must rightly-divide the Scriptures as well (Rom. 15:4-10).
2. The response to Judgment Seat of Christ teachings:
   1. Wrong Response—use this information to ignite a law/works/flesh response. This response falls on a spectrum. At one end of the spectrum, we focus on how far we fall short, obsessing over all our wrongful words and acts, trying to remember, dwell over and lament all our missed opportunities to serve God, which results in defeat and despair. At the other end of the spectrum, we focus on working through our own power according to the flesh to gain more rewards in Heaven, so that we can be one of the great ones in Heaven, ruling over its lesser subjects. This just results in pride and a selfish sense of superiority over others. The former response drains away the power of the Holy Spirit; the latter replaces divine (Agape) Love with fleshly self-love.
   2. Right Response—use this information to ignite the Pauline Grace/Faith/Spirit response, which is based on the selfless (Agape) Love of God at the Cross of Christ as revealed by Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (PGMT). When we renew our minds with that (PGMT) by faith, the Spirit takes the Love of God at the cross of Christ it (PGMT) reveals and re-creates our hearts with it, empowering us to walk in a way that is well-pleasing to God, serving Him by serving others selflessly, solely for their edification. This is always acceptable to God and lasts forever
3. How should we view ourselves and others in the context of the Judgment Seat of Christ.
   1. Wrong View—It is our place to “judge” ourselves and others to determine the hidden, inner motives, intents and thoughts of the heart and mind. But to do this is to usurp God and assume His throne of judgment. We as mere finite humans. Only God can look into the hearts and read the minds of humans. Only God can see our secret counsels rightly. We cannot, and it is fruitless to try. Doing so will always lead us into a labyrinth of confusion, a rabbit trail that never ends, that we will never be able to navigate. When we look at ourselves or others and analyze, wondering did we really do that thing out of love or selfish interest? Did they do that thing out of the flesh or the Spirit? When we judge in this way it only hinders our ministry because we cannot figure out our own thoughts and intents, let alone anyone else's! Therefore, judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts (1 Cor. 4:5).
   2. Right View—Leave judgment of the inner, hidden, secret thoughts, intents and motives to God. The key is to not be self-absorbed or others-absorbed but to be Christ-absorbed. Our role is to simply keep on rejoicing in the Lord by thinking about the things that we have learned and received, heard and seen in Paul, regarding the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross (Phil. 4:8-9). Once we are thinking on these things, the things that are important to God, and communing with God about them in thankfulness, we are brought into the presence of the God of Peace, who gives us the peace of God that will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, thereby removing anxiety, fear and worry (Phil. 4:5-7). And when all this happens, the supernatural, spiritual result is rejoicing with the Lord always, and again I say rejoice (Phil. 4:4). That is all God wants us “to do,” which is not really “doing” anything at all. Just be Christ-absorbed and rejoice in Him. Leave everything else to the God, who will have no problem sorting everything out justly in the end.
4. Finally what is the ultimate purpose for the Rapture and Judgment Seat of Christ?
   1. Wrong Answer—to humiliate believers by displaying their sins on the large screen TV of Heaven. Or, the flip side of that, it is our opportunity to demand from God rewards for our supposed good works that we accomplished through the power of the flesh.
   2. Right Answer—The Rapture and Judgment Seat of Christ will be a great purifying event. While most of even believing Christianity has rejected Paul's distinct apostleship and revelations, they won't continue in this error and confusion after the Rapture. For instance, when they meet the Lord in the air together with all members of the Body of Christ (1 Thess. 4:17), they won't be mocking Paul's revelation about the Rapture, nor will they continue to insist they belong to the Nation of Israel. And when they stand together with Paul before the Judgment Seat of Christ, they won't be rejecting Paul's distinct apostleship any longer (2 Cor. 4:14). And when they receive their resurrection bodies without the flesh with its indwelling sin, they will be glad God destroyed everything done through the flesh so that it doesn't stay with them forevermore. And when they are escorted to their positions in the Heavenly realm by the angelic armies, they will all appreciate that they are a part of God's Mystery Program for the Body of Christ to re-establish His Glory in the Heavenlies, not part of His Prophetic Program for the Nation of Israel to re-establish His Glory on Earth. In short, on the other side of the Rapture Event and after going through the filter of the Judgment Seat of Christ, the whole Body of Christ, will have a perfect God-given like-mindedness that will empower them to praise, worship and glorify God with one mind and one mouth forevermore (Rom. 15:5-6).

Then, Christ, who loved the church and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, will present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or blemish (Eph. 4:25-27). And then, shockingly, awesomely, amazingly, every believer shall have praise of God (1 Cor. 4:5)! We will all, the whole Body of Christ together, will be the perfect reflector/s of God's glory throughout the whole universe, especially the Heavenly realm, displaying the wonder of the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ not in how He saved His friends (that is what is manifested in Israel's Prophetic Program) but in how He saved His ENEMIES, ungodly idol-worshipping sinners on enemy status before Him—people like me and like you--and made them the perfect reflectors of the Riches of His Glory and Grace and Kindness in Heavenly Places (Eph. 2:6-7)!

No amount of superlatives can even begin to convey the awesome gloriousness in that!

On Sunday we began a short study on Paul's use of the Old Testament that will lead us into the distinct and unique apostleship of Paul that provides the whole world, Jews and Gentiles alike, overflowing joy and peace in believing in super-abounding hope from the whole Triune Godhead (Rom. 15:13)! Paul shows them, especially those with a strong Jewish background, the right way to use the Old Testament. Instead of using the Old Testament to bring the Mosaic Law into Pauline Grace, causing all kinds of problems and opportunities for the flesh, they should use the Old Testament to remember that God's ultimate purpose for His Prophetic Program with Israel (which we already know from Rom. 9-11 has been set aside temporarily) was that all humanity—Jews and Gentiles alike--would praise and worship God together. In His Prophetic Program this purpose would be accomplished with Israel and through her RISE (Rom. 15:8-12)! But Israel fell and has now been cast away (temporarily). So, the door to that way of worshipping God together slammed shut. But the God of Hope (Rom. 15:13) opened another door through the apostleship of Paul that revealed a new way Jews and Gentiles can right now, today in the Dispensation of Grace, start worshipping God together with one mind and one mouth that is apart from Israel and through her FALL in accord with His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ (Rom. 15:13-20)!

I recently talked to someone who was having a lot of problems in their life. He did what his church told him to do. He named and claimed Phil. 4:4-7 for himself, prayed to God and waited on Him to keep His promise by removing his problems and giving him peace and joy. But it didn't happen. His problems only increased, and he grew even more anxious and despairing than he was before. Why wasn't God listening? Why wasn't God keeping His promises to him? Perhaps he had done something wrong, and God was punishing him? Perhaps He had withdrawn His blessings from him for some reason? Maybe he lacked faith? Maybe he was out of fellowship with God? Maybe he had unconfessed sin? He needed to figure out something to do to get back into God's good graces! But he couldn't figure out what that might be. He felt deserted by God and in his quietest moments wondered (dare we even whisper it out loud), perhaps God is unfaithful? Perhaps He just isn't powerful enough carry out His promises? The only thing all this introspection accomplished, however, was to plunge this person into an ever descending spiral of defeat and despair.

This is the problem with “promise box” Christianity. We are told that the spiritual way to use the Bible is to take verses out of context, make them mean whatever we want them to mean, whatever we “believe” they mean (deceiving ourselves that this is actually true faith), and then wait for God to do what we asked Him to do. If you are thinking of following this instruction, let me save you some time and frustration: IT WILL NOT WORK! But the good news is that IT WILL WORK WHEN TAKEN IN CONTEXT!!

Taken out of context, we will think these verses are to be used like a magical incantation by which we can get God to do what we want. Or they are a bottle to rub to get the genie to come out and grant our every wish. Without its context, we will think that they instruct us to focus on ourselves and our problems and spend our prayer lives trying to get God to remove our problems and improve our circumstances, and when He does that we will be free from fear and anxiety and given peace and joy.

But this won't work because it leaves two essential ingredients out of God's instructions: We are to be doing all this while REJOICING WITHOUT CEASING and PRAYING WITH THANKSGIVING! But how do we do that? Where do we find things to rejoice and be thankful in for when we are in the midst difficult trials and tribulations? From human viewpoint, it is impossible. But from God's viewpoint, it is very possible indeed! But that just begs the question: How do we know God's viewpoint? Where do we go to find out what His viewpoint is? God and Paul answer these questions in the very next verses (Phil. 4:8-9), which while mostly unknown provide the key to the Christian Life, THE KEY TO EVERYTHING!

Everyone knows Phil. 4:4-7:

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

But hardly anyone knows what follows in Phil. 4:8-9:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Not knowing these verses is a travesty because Phil. 4:8-9 explains how the promise in Phil. 4:4-7 is brought about by God. In other words, if we “do” what God says in Phil. 4:8-9, we will experience what God promises in Phil. 4:4-7. So, it will be worth our while to take a close look at these verses. The first word is very important: FINALLY (Gk. loipon), brethren ... A Greek reference book says this word is an addition which serves as the last item in a series and marks a degree of finality or a conclusion. Here we have Paul drawing everything he had written in this Letter to the Philippians, and especially the previous verses, into a final exhortation that they must “do” if all that belongs to them in Christ as believers is to be brought into their experience, their Christian walk.

And it all begins with right thinking. Believers are to think on things that are true, honest, pure, lovely, good, virtuous, and praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8). But what, exactly, are these things? Bible teachers suggest that “these things” are the great achievements of humanity, like fine literature and fine art. Think about those things. Or “these things” are the perfections and beauty of mathematics and the sciences. Dwell on those things. Or “these things” are the wonders of nature. Meditate on those things.

Sounds nice, doesn't it. Well, I can say categorically and definitively that that is all nonsense! Nonsense that won't give us what we need to participate in the promise of Phil. 4:4-7. How can I be so certain? So dogmatic? Because in the very next verse Paul tells us EXACTLY what these true and honest and good and praiseworthy things are: THOSE THINGS YOU HAVE BOTH LEARNED AND RECEIVED, HEARD AND SEEN IN ME (Paul): DO (Phil. 4:9)! This is the key to every aspect of our Christian life. Think on the things we have received through Paul's distinct apostleship. What we call: Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (PGMT—Rom. 16:25).

PGMT takes our focus off ourselves and places it on our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, revealing the extent He was willing to go, even to His death of the Cross, to save us, ungodly sinners on enemy status before Him. PGMT takes our eyes off our temporal negative circumstances and places them squarely on the infinite, eternal positive circumstances of the display of God's Love at the Cross of Christ. It moves our center of gravity away from our precarious selves and circumstances and secures it firmly to the unchanging Christ and the circumstances of His infinite and eternal provision of Grace. In short, PGMT empowers us to be Christ-absorbed unto hope and victory rather than self-absorbed unto despair and defeat. It sets off a chain reaction that leads to victorious Christian living:

• Thinking on God and His things as revealed in PGMT—the Love of God at the Cross of Christ for sinners (Phil. 4:8-9a) ...
• Brings us into the presence of the God of peace (Phil. 4:9b) ...
• In His presence, we can talk with Him about the things we are thinking about—the things we have learned and received, heard and seen from Paul about Christ as recorded in Paul's Scriptures, Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (Phil. 4:6) ...
• Which reveals to us with infinite, eternal and unchanging things to rejoice in and be thankful for even in the midst of trials and tribulations (Phil. 4:4, 6) ...
• And guides our prayers, supplications and requests so that we talk with God about the things He wants to talk about, making requests of God that He is actually doing today, prioritizing the way God prioritizes, valuing what God values. Today, God hasn't promised to take away our problems, but He has promised to provide us with all we need—all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3)--to serve Him in the midst of those difficulties (Phil. 4:6). All we have to do is access this grace them by faith (Rom. 5:1-2) ...
• And when all this happens, the Peace of God from being in the presence of the God of Peace will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, alleviating anxiety and fear and providing joy and peace in believing by the Holy Spirit (Phil. 4:7; Rom. 15:13)!

Pauline Grace Christianity is not just another pagan superstitious religion, though that is what most of Historic Christianity has turned it into. True Christianity is a relationship with the One True Creator God and Lord of the Universe through Jesus Christ our Savior. Superstitious “christianity” says prayer is our way to get God to do what we want. True Christianity, however, says prayer is God's way to get us to do what He wants! Superstitious “christianity” says prayer is our way to get God involved in our things. True Christianity, however, says prayer is God's way to get us involved in His things. Whenever we give God's infinite and eternal things priority over our finite and temporal things, the result is always the same: Overflowing JOY and PEACE and super-abounding HOPE in the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, which only comes from Pauline Grace Mystery Truth (Rom. 15:13).

Now that's something we can be REALLY thankful for on Thanksgiving Day!

When we get to Romans 14-15, we have gotten to the summit of the whole Book of Romans. Paul takes everything he has taught them in the first 13 chapters and pours it into these chapters, providing the Romans (and us!) with all they need to solve the division in their assembly that was caused by confusing God's Prophetic Program for the Nation of Israel with His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ. Both groups, the “weak in the faith” and the “strong in the faith” are at fault and both will be assigned major areas to correct. The problem in Rome is that much like believing Christianity today, both groups have faith but one group, the “weak,” has faith in God's Word wrongly-divided, while the other group, the “strong,” has faith in the Word rightly-divided but are not exercising it in Love.

On the one hand, the “weak in the faith” (mostly those with a strong Jewish background), by wrongly-dividing God's Word, were bringing the works of Moses' Law into the faith of Paul's Grace. If this problem was not dealt with immediately and was instead allowed to fester, the whole assembly was at risk. What began with clean and unclean foods (Rom. 14:14) would soon lead to clean and unclean people and end with the conclusion that the Gentiles were not fully accepted by God without the works of the Law, and this would call into question everything God is doing today in the Dispensation of Grace. This would suggest that Christ and His work on the Cross wasn't sufficient. A sinner also needs the works of the Law to obtain, maintain or maximize a right standing before God. To alleviate this problem, the “weak in the faith's” major responsibility in Rom. 14-15 will be to follow the pattern of (Jewish) Paul by learning to rightly-divide God's Word to become “strong in the faith” (Rom. 15:4-20).

On the other hand, the “strong in the faith” (mostly Gentiles who came out of idolatry and didn't have the Old Testament background of the Jews), while embracing Pauline Grace Mystery Truth and Paul's distinct apostleship more readily than the “weak,” were not using it to serve in Love. To alleviate this problem the “strong in the faith's” major responsibility in Rom. 14-15 will be to follow the pattern of Paul and operate based on increasing Agape Love (Rom. 14:14-15:3). The “weak” were responding according to the flesh by judging and condemning the “strong” (Rom. 14:3-4). And the “strong” were responding according to the flesh by despising and being unwelcoming to the “weak” (Rom. 14:1). Stuck between these two errors, the Romans were in a precarious position that opened the door to error and provided a foothold for the flesh, which like a wedge would drive these two groups farther and farther apart, threatening their existence.

Paul wrote this Letter to Rome so that the Romans would have all the information they needed to resolve this problem based on their sonship position in the Spirit. The “weak in the faith” were to follow Paul who had a stronger Jewish background than any of them in Rome, and if the Lord could persuade him that nothing is unclean (Rom. 14:14), He should be able to persuade them of it as well. If the God could persuade Paul (the Pharisee of the Pharisees; Hebrew of the Hebrews-Acts 23:6; Phil. 3:5!) that He is now extending His Grace, Peace and Mercy to the world, especially the Gentiles, bestowing on them a full and complete standing before Him in Christ by faith without the works of the Law (Rom. 1-11), then He should be able to convince the Romans of this as well. The key for them was that they needed to be taught how to rightly-divide God's Word. Learning that, they would understand that God had set aside (temporarily—Rom. 11) His Prophetic Program for the Nation of Israel and had begun a new, previously unprophesied work in the world, His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ. Understanding this, they would appreciate that they are not a part of the former but of the latter, and in doing this they would go from being “weak in the faith” to being “strong in the faith.” Now, instead of judging and condemning the Gentiles, they would thank and praise God together with the Gentiles for His great mercy and grace through Christ.

And the “strong in the faith” were to follow Paul because if even though Paul was God's authoritative spokesman for today, he still did everything in Love (1 Cor. 13), then they should do so as well. By following Paul, they would be led into increasing knowledge of God's thoughts and intents, His ways and will, producing increasing service in Love. Now, instead of responding to the “weak” selfishly according to the flesh, they would respond selflessly based on the Love of God at the Cross of Christ in accord with the Spirit. Instead of treating the “weak” as unimportant and pushing them away, the “strong” would bring the “weak” under their arm for the purpose of helping them to participate in God's Good Plan by bearing them up, edifying and establishing them, and praising and worshipping God together with them in Love.

The most important way the “strong in the faith” could help to edify and establish the “weak” in Love was to teach them how to rightly-divide the Scriptures (Rom. 15:4-20), which would alleviate the errors brought in by confusing God's two Programs and Peoples. This is the only way they would receive a God-given like-mindedness centered around Christ and His Cross as revealed in Pauline Grace Mystery Truth, which manifests the Good News of the Death and Resurrection of Christ for sinners, uniting them so that they could praise God with one mind and one mouth, receiving one another as Christ received them all unto the Glory of God (Rom. 15:1-5; Phil. 2:1-9).

At the time Paul wrote this Letter to Rome (about 55-60 AD), the Romans had access to a wide variety of Scriptures. They certainly had the Old Testament--Moses and the Prophets. They most likely had some of the Gospel Accounts of Christ's earthly ministry and the ministry of the 12 in Acts and the General Epistles. They also had Paul's earlier epistles, like Galatians, 1  Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians, creating a veritable hodge-podge of Scriptures—preserved old Scriptures and an influx of new Scriptures, generating the perfectly understandable question by those in the 1st Century: What do we do with them all? How do we make sense of them all? How do we use them all?

And that is exactly what God and Paul explain in Rom. 15:8-20. There they give the basics of right-division, and the very first thing God and Paul insist that the Romans (and all of historic Christianity and all of us today!) must know about God's whole Word if they are going to have God-given like-mindedness that would unite them in praise unto the Glory of God is this: Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister to the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers (Rom. 15:8).

This is the first thing we need to appreciate if we are to handle God's Word correctly. So, it will be well worth the time and work to analyze this verse closely:

1. Now, I Say: With this introduction Paul emphasizes the importance of what he is about to say, drawing attention to its content.
2. Jesus Christ was a minister to the Circumcision: In His earthly ministry, Christ came to minister to the Circumcision. The Circumcision referred to Israel and the Israelites. The Gentiles were referred to as the UNcircumcision in the Old Testament (Judg. 15:18; 2 Sam. 1:20), and Paul summarizes the whole past history of the Gentiles with that word (Eph. 2:11). Let's be clear: According to God and Paul, Jesus's earthly ministry and the associated ministry of Peter and the 12 as recorded in the Gospel Accounts, Acts and the General Epistles are specifically to and about Israel NOT the Gentiles!
   
   Christ came only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel (Mat. 15:24). That is why Peter and the other leaders of the Believing Remnant of Israel remained in Jerusalem years after Pentecost. The only Gentiles they ministered to were those already associated with the Jewish synagogue or Temple, like Cornelius, a God-fearing Gentile. Being ministers to the Circumcision (Gal. 2:7-8), they remained in Jerusalem because Israel's leaders had not yet received their Messiah and King, the Lord Jesus Christ. First, Jerusalem needed to receive Christ, then Jerusalem would take Christ out to Judea and its associated territory in Galilee. Then after Judea/Galilee received Him, they would take Christ out to Samaria. Then when Samaria had received Him, all Israel would be saved, and God would restore the nation, blessing her first, making her the head of the nations and the conduit of His mercy and blessings to the Gentiles with Israel and through her RISE. But, of course, we now know this didn't happen. Israel continued to reject the Lord Jesus Christ, stumbling and falling, and God shut down His Prophetic Program with her.
3. For the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: After 400 years of silence, Christ came to Israel to show that God had not forgotten His promises to their fathers. His Word was truth, and He sent His Son to assure them of this, confirming the promises He made to Israel's fathers—as especially encapsulated in the Abrahamic, Davidic and New Covenants—by partially fulfilling them thereby guaranteeing their complete fulfillment in the future. Contrary to what most of historic Christianity says, Christ came in His earthly ministry, which includes the ministry of Peter and the 12, NOT to start something new (His Mystery Program for Body of Christ), but to continue something old (His Prophetic Program for the Nation of Israel).

We know God didn't begin something new, like the Church, the Body of Christ, in Christ's earthly ministry because just before Jesus was born, Zacharias FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPPIRIT expressly declared that what was going on at Christ's coming had to do with what had been spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began (Lk. 1:67-70). And we know God didn't begin something new, like the Church, the Body of Christ, in the ministry of Peter and the 12 at Pentecost because Peter FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT expressly declared that what was happening at that time was something which God had spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3:21). This is the exact phraseology we read in Lk. 1:70!

So, we need to ask: In whose ministry does God begin something new, like the Church, the Body of Christ? If it is not in the ministry of Christ or Peter and the 12, when was it? In answering this that we discover one of the most astounding, earth-shaking, shockingly fall off your chair statements in all of the Scripture. The Holy Spirit takes this exact same phraseology from Lk. 1:70 and Acts 3:21 but turns it upside down and inside out when describing the ministry of the Apostle Paul: Now to Him that is of power to establish you according to my (Paul's) Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the Mystery, which was kept secret since the world began (Rom. 16:25). Once you can pick yourself up off the floor and get back on your chair and the shock wears off a bit so you can pull yourself together, let's slow the pace way down and make it real simple and plain:

Christ's Earthly Ministry was a continuation of something old:

What God HAD SPOKEN by the prophets since the world began (Lk. 1:70).

Peter and the 12's Apostleship and Ministry was also a continuation of something old:

What God HAD SPOKEN by the prophets since the world began (Acts 2:31).

But Paul's Apostleship and Ministry began something new:

What God HAD KEPT SECRET since the world began (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:1-10).

Well, there you have it. What are you going to do with it? It is self-evident and cannot be denied. A divine program that was kept secret since the world began CANNOT be the same divine program that was spoken about since the world began. It is impossible!

If you are truly interested in learning from God's Word, being taught of the Father (not men), then the very FIRST thing you need to know is that the NON-Pauline Scriptures—The Old Testament, Gospel Accounts, Ministry of the 12—all have to do with God's previously revealed Prophetic Program for the Nation of Israel, which had been spoken about since the world began. The Pauline Scriptures (Romans through Philemon), however, have to do with God's newly revealed program through the apostleship of Paul: His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ, which had been kept secret since the world began. That is the starting point for everything!

So, who are you going to decide to go with? God, His Word and the Apostle Paul? Or, with man-made religious systems and man-centered theological systems? If you chose the latter you cling to a malfunctioning way that over the past 2,000 years has produced 10s of so-called “christian” religions, 100s of so-called “christian” denominations, 1000s of so-called “Christian” sects and a church on every street corner, all of them saying something different. But if you chose the former, you follow the pattern of Paul into the Life and Righteousness of God through Christ (Rom. 1:16-17), which is the only way we can all have God-given like-mindedness that empowers us to worship and serve God together with ONE mind and ONE mouth!

In our Sunday Morning Fellowship, we continued in the capstone of the whole Book of Romans, Rom. 14-15: Rightly-Dividing God's Word in Love! If we want to handle God's whole Word correctly, we need to know three basic things about it (Rom. 15:4-20):

1. The first thing we need to know is that Christ's earthly ministry and the associated ministry of Peter and the 12 as recorded in the Gospel Accounts, Acts and the General Epistles all have to do with God confirming and fulfilling His Prophetic Program promises to the Nation of Israel, which had been spoken about since the world began in continuity with the Old Testament (Rom. 15:8).
2. The second thing we need to know is how Gentiles received God's mercy and blessings in His Prophetic Program with Israel: It was With Israel and through Her RISE (restoration). Israel blessed, restored and raised up above all other nations to serve as God's conduit of blessings to the rest of the world (Rom. 15:9-12). Of course, this causes a big problem for the mostly Gentile Romans because Paul just told them in Rom. 9-11 that Israel had stumbled, fallen, gone dark, and that God had cast them away and set aside His Prophetic Program with them. When Israel continued in their rejection of Christ, and rebellion against God, His conduit of blessing to the Gentiles broke, His hose of mercy to the Gentiles burst, leaving the world, especially the Gentiles, COMPLETELY, UTTERLY, TOTALLY, DOUBLY, DESPAIRINGLY, HOPELESSLY HOPELESS. They didn't have a hope of their own (Eph. 2:11), but they could participate in Israel's hope. But when Israel fell this door of hope closed, leaving them hopeless.
3. The third thing we need to know is, however, that this is not the end of the story! The God of Hope—the God who creates Hope, the God who opens new avenues of Hope—went into action and at the very moment the world was utterly hopeless, Christ returned not in judgment and wrath to destroy His enemies but in grace and peace to save His enemies, beginning with Paul. He gave Paul an apostleship of Grace, making it into a new conduit of His blessings to the world, especially the Gentiles, Apart from Israel and through Her FALL!! Which is the exact thing the world most needed! What a faithful and gracious God!

What Is the Most Important Truth in Romans?

When I was in college, I had to write a theme paper, but I couldn't think of a good topic. So, I went to the professor, and he gave me some great advice. He said: The best things to write about are those things that most people assume they know the answer to. He went on to say that when the answer is so “assumed” that it isn't thought about or questioned anymore, that is usually the time to start questioning and thinking about it again.

In the spirit of my professor's advice, let's ask a question that most assume they know the answer to: What is the most important truth in Paul's Letter to the Romans? We have been taught, reading Romans through the eyes of Luther and the Reformers, that the assumed answer is obvious and true to nearly all: The most important truth in Romans is Justification by faith. The fundamental purpose of Romans is man and his salvation. But, in the spirit of my professor's advice, is this answer the right one, or even the best one?

What if instead of answering the question by reading Romans through the eyes of Luther and the Reformers, we answered it by looking through the eyes of God and Paul? Would the answer change? What if the fundamental purpose of the epistle was not man and his salvation but God and His Glory? What if the most important truth in Romans isn't found early in Romans 3 but later at the end of the Letter in Rom. 14-15, thereby serving as the cap stone truth that provides the foundation for everything that came before in the first 13 chapters? Looked at in this way, the most important, fundamental truth in Romans, what everything else hinges on and flows out of, is NOT justification by faith (Rom. 3—as important and wonderful as that truth is!), nor is it sanctification by faith (Rom. 6—as important and wonderful as that truth is!!), nor glorification by faith (Rom. 8—as important and wonderful as that truth is!!!). Rather, it is rightly-dividing God's Word in Love (Rom. 14-15)! The key to everything.

Justification by faith hinges on knowing and believing God's saving Gospel for today. But the only way we can know which Gospel in God's Word is for today (is it the Gospel of the Kingdom? The Gospel of Grace? Some other Gospel?) comes by rightly-dividing God's Word. This alone clarifies that God's Gospel for today is the Gospel of Grace, Paul's Gospel, the Good News of the Death and Resurrection of Christ for sinners. Therefore, justification by faith flows out of the truth of rightly-dividing God's Word. Likewise, the only way we will walk in a way that is well-pleasing to God is to know and believe that our sanctification by faith did NOT place us into the Nation of Israel (contrary to most of historic Christianity) but into the Body of Christ. This too is only known by rightly-dividing God's Word. And if we are to enjoy our sonship position, participating in the Father's business unto His Glory by faith, we need to know and believe that the Body of Christ is not participating in God's Prophetic Program, which had been spoken about since the world began, but in His Mystery Program, which had been kept secret since the world began (Rom. 11, 16:25; Eph. 3:1-11).

Without diminishing their importance and grandeur one bit, Justification, Sanctification, Glorification are all secondary truths that hinge on, rest upon and flow out of the primary truth of God's Word rightly-divided in Love as revealed in Paul's distinct apostleship (Rom. 14-15). This is the cap stone truth in Romans. This is the spiritual gift that Paul wanted to give the Romans so that they could be fully established (Rom. 1:11). The explanation that would anchor and secure them to what God is doing today in His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ whereby He will re-establish His Glory in the Heavenlies (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 1-3).

Let's see how this spiritual gift of right-division can solve all the problems in Rome; not to mention all the problems in historic Christianity. There are two groups in Rome: The “weak in the faith” and the “strong in the faith” (Rom. 14). They both have faith, but the problem is that the “weak in the faith” have faith in God's Word WRONGLY-DIVIDED! And the “strong in the faith” have faith in God's Word rightly-dividing it to a greater degree, but they were not exercising it in Love.

For the “weak in the faith,” (and for an historic Christianity that has largely rejected Paul's distinct apostleship and, therefore, have rejected the necessity for rightly-dividing God's Word) the only answer is for them to learn how to rightly-divide the Scriptures, which is exactly what God and Paul proceed to explain in Rom. 15:4-20. For without right-division, they will continue to bring things from Israel's Prophetic Program into the Body of Christ's Mystery Program, destroying Pauline Grace because it calls into question the sufficiency of Christ and His Work on the Cross to bring sinners into a full and complete right standing before God. If not corrected immediately, they're returning to the Law as a means of acceptance before God (whether observing the Law's food regulations, feast days, obscure Nazarite vows or circumcision) will ultimately call into question everything God is doing today in the world apart from Israel and without the works of the Law, especially among the Gentiles.

Another problem that occurs when the works of the Law are brought into Pauline Grace because of confusion between God's two programs is that it creates competition between believers (Gal. 5:15). If we think we can improve our status before God by following the works of the Law, then we better get to work trying to outdo one another, thinking if I observe the Mosaic food regulations, I can make myself into a super-saint before God. This stirs up the flesh of other believers who think: Well, if observing the food regulations makes me a super-saint, then I'll also observe the Mosaic feast days and make myself into a super-super-saint before God! Which in turn stirs up the flesh of others to think: Well, I'll not only observe the Mosaic food regulations and feast days, I'll observe obscure Nazarite regulations and stop drinking wine as well! Then I will have made myself into a super-super-super-saint before God! You see the danger of returning to the Law. Where does it all end? Paul devotes a whole letter to this problem, the Letter to the Galatians. The Galatians took this to a whole new level by suggesting that by observing circumcision, they could make themselves into, I guess, super-super-super-super-super-super-saints!! The only thing returning to the works of the Law did for the Galatians was to turn them into animals that bit and devoured one another (Gal. 5:15), bringing the full ire of God and Paul down upon their heads (Gal. 1:1-9; 3:1-5, 5:1-12).

If all of this wasn't so destructively dangerous, it would almost be comical! The only answer to all this man-made religious and man-centered theological nonsense is: RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF GOD IN LOVE and that is the cap stone truth of Romans from which everything else flows. Paul's unique and distinct apostleship permeates all of Romans and encases it from beginning (Rom. 1:1-16) to end (Rom. 15-16).

In our Sunday Morning Fellowship, we finally came upon what is the key verse that reveals the key theme not only in Romans but all of Paul's Epistles.

The Core Theme of Romans

Romans 15:16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

Theologians argue over what Paul's main idea is in the Book of Romans. We have been taught to read Romans through the eyes of Luther and the Reformers. We assume this is one of the things they got right, and so we tend to take it for granted and not think about it anymore. Most theologians say Romans is all about man and his salvation. Therefore, its core truth is justification by faith, which leads to sanctification by faith and glorification by faith. But do these truths (as wonderful as they are!) comprise the fundamental primary theme of Romans? What if rather than looking at Romans through the eyes of Luther and the Reformers, which are focused squarely on man and his salvation, we instead looked at it through the eyes of Paul, which are focused squarely on God and His Glory? Would that change the core theme of the book?

It must be of great significance that when God and Paul get to the end of Romans—the most important and profound Book in the world—and are drawing things to a conclusion in Rom. 15, they announce that the major truth they want to leave the Romans so that it remains fresh in their minds and in the forefront of their thinking is the Grace given to Paul: That he should be the minister of Jesus Christ (His officially designated minister!) to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:15-16). Rom. 15:16 says it all! Now, as Paul closes his Letter to the Romans, he wants to leave them with one fundamental overarching all-important truth: God is now blessing the world, especially the Gentiles, through the conduit of Paul's distinct apostleship (apart from Israel and through her fall). Today, in the Dispensation of Grace, the whole Triune Godhead is working in and through the distinct and unique apostleship and ministry of Paul to send mercy, grace and peace to the whole world, especially the Gentiles! Paul is the official minister of Jesus Christ (God the Son), who is ministering the Gospel of God (God the Father), which is being accomplished by God the Holy Spirit. Brace yourselves! Put on your seatbelts! What God and Paul are saying to the Romans (and everyone since!) is that TO DENY AND REJECT PAUL'S DISTINCT MINISTRY (as most of historic Christianity has done) IS TO DENY AND REJECT THE WORK OF THE TRIUNE GODHEAD! TO THROW AWAY PAUL'S DISTINCT APOSTLESHIP IS TO THROW AWAY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Rom. 15:13,19)!! No wonder Christianity is in the impotent state that it is in.

The core truth and major theme of Romans is not justification by faith. Nor is it sanctification or glorification by faith, as wonderful as those truths are. There is another primary truth on which those secondary truths rely: The primary truth of rightly-dividing God's Word in the light of Paul's distinct apostleship as revealed in Paul's Scriptures. Without diminishing one wit the infinitely amazing and wondrous truths about man and his salvation—justification, sanctification, and glorification—they are, nevertheless, secondary truths in Romans because they are dependent on the one primary fundamental truth of God and His Glory (Rom. 1:5; 15:5-6) now being manifested through Paul's distinct apostleship as revealed in God's Word rightly-divided (Rom. 15:8-16).

Justification by faith is an amazingly wondrous truth, and I thank God for it every second of every day. But in order for justification by faith to “work,” we have to believe God's Gospel or Good News to us. We are not justified by believing God's Gospel to Adam or Noah. We aren't saved today by believing God's Good News to Abraham that in him all the nations would be blessed (Gal. 3:8). Nor are we saved by believing the Gospel of the Kingdom found in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, nor the Gospel of the Circumcision that was not to be preached to the Gentiles later (Gal. 2:7-8)! No, today God's saving Gospel that we believe unto justification is: Paul's Gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the Mystery, which was kept secret since the world began (Rom. 16:25), which is based on the Good News of the Death and Resurrection of Christ for ungodly sinners on enemy status before Him (Rom. 3, 5)! Without rightly-dividing the Bible, we would not know what God's saving Word for today is. The secondary truth of justification by faith depends on the primary truth of God's Word rightly-divided.

The same can be said of Sanctification and Glorification by faith as well. In order to walk in a way that is well-pleasing to God and reflect His Glory in the way He desires, we need to first know and appreciate what He did with us when He justified us. Did He place us in His Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to re-establish His Glory on Earth (as most of historic Christianity teaches)? Or, did He place us into His Mystery Program with the Body of Christ to re-establish His Glory in the Heavenlies (as God and Paul insist)? The only way we can answer these questions is by rightly-dividing the Scriptures, and when we do that we understand that believers today in the Dispensation of Grace are placed into God's Mystery Program for the Body of Christ, having been made participants in His Glory in the Heavenlies. Therefore, God's instructions for us today are found in Paul's Epistles. Again, without diminishing the infinite wonder of the secondary truths of sanctification and glorification by faith one wit, we nevertheless need to recognize that they are dependent on a more fundamental, primary truth of Paul's distinct apostleship and God's Word rightly-divided.

Romans 15:8-16 gives us the 3 fundamental things we need to know if we are going to learn from God's Word and handle it correctly. What we call rightly-dividing the Word of God.

1. In Rom. 15:8, God and Paul explain that the earthly ministry of Christ (as recorded in the Gospel Accounts—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and the associated ministry of Peter and the 12 and the Believing Remnant of Israel (as recorded in the Book of Acts and the General Epistles--Hebrews through Revelation) were not the beginning of something new, but the continuation of something old: God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel, which had been spoken about since the world began (Lk. 1:70; Acts 3:21) as recorded in the Old Testament. Christ's earthly ministry and the ministry of the 12 confirmed that God was still faithful to the promises He gave to the fathers of Israel—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and David and all the prophets, to name a few. Summary: The non-Pauline Scriptures in the Bible have to do with God's Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel by which He would re-establish His Glory on the Earth (Rom. 15:8).
2. In Rom. 15:9-12, God and Paul explain to us four times in four verses that in this Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel, the Gentiles are blessed with believing Israel and through her national restoration, her RISE (Rom. 15:9-12). But Paul just told us in Rom. 9-11 that Israel had stumbled and fallen in unbelief, and that God had cast her aside (temporarily) and put His Prophetic Program with her on hold. When this happened, it also slammed the door shut on God's blessings going out to the Gentiles in accord with His Prophetic Program, and at that moment the whole world became utterly and completely hopeless. The Gentiles had no hope of their own (Eph. 2:11-12), but they could participate in Israel's hope. But now, with the FALL of Israel, the possibility of participating in Israel's hope disappeared. Israel crash landed and was unable to fulfill God's purpose for her of taking blessings out to the Gentiles.
   
   Since the Old Testament (Genesis through Malachi), Christ's earthly ministry (Gospel Accounts—Matthew through John), and the ministry of Peter and the 12 and the Believing Remnant of Israel (Acts and Hebrews through Revelation) all manifest God's blessings going out to the world WITH BELIEVING ISRAEL AND THROUGH HER RISE, now that she has fallen and been cast aside (Rom. 11), those Scriptures CANNOT meet our most basic need today. What the world needed more than anything was for God to open a way of divine blessings that operated APART FROM ISRAEL AND THROUGH HER FALL IN UNBELIEF (Rom. 11:30-32)!
3. Rom. 15:13-19: And—thanks be to God—the God of Hope—the God who can create Hope and open new doorways of Hope--did just that! Rom. 15:13-16 explains that now the whole Triune Godhead has made Paul's distinct apostleship the conduit of God's blessings out to the whole world, especially the Gentiles, apart from Israel and through her FALL in unbelief (Rom. 11:31-32)! God met their greatest need, overflowing them with joy and peace and super-abounding hope (Rom. 15:13) through the Person and Work of His Son on the Cross for sinners as revealed in Pauline Grace Mystery Truth and recorded in God's Scriptures through the Apostle Paul (Romans through Philemon).
   
   Let's say it again: Paul's Scriptures are the only thing that can meet the fundamental need of lost, fallen humanity today because it provides the conduit of God's blessings to the whole world, especially the Gentiles, APART FROM ISRAEL AND THROUGH HER FALL IN UNBELIEF! This is in accord with God's Mystery Program for the Body of Christ, which had been kept secret since the world began (Rom. 16:25).

Once we know and appreciate these divinely given basics for handling the Bible correctly, it will go a long way to alleviating the problems, errors and confusion that have characterized most of historic Christianity. Let's close by putting it all together:

1. The Scriptures of the Old Testament (Genesis through Malachi), Gospel Accounts (Matthew through John), the ministry of the 12 and the Believing Remnant of Israel (in Acts and Hebrews through Revelation) ARE FOR OUR LEARNING BUT ARE NOT SPECIFICALLY WRITTEN TO AND ABOUT US. In these Scriptures we can learn many things primarily about God's faithfulness. When we see God faithfully carrying out the promises He made to Israel in His Prophetic Program, we can rest assured that He will be just as faithful in carrying out His promises to us in His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ, giving us encouragement, patience and hope (Rom. 15:4).
2. Paul's Scriptures (Romans through Philemon), however, ARE NOT ONLY FOR OUR GENERAL LEARNING, THEY ARE ALSO WRITTEN SPECIFICALLY TO AND ABOUT US today in the Dispensation of Grace. It is here that we find our instruction manual for the true Christian Life and Walk in accord with God's Mystery Program for the Body of Christ.

My prayer is that this would be a gift that keeps on giving, opening God's Word to us so that we can think like God thinks; so that we can receive a God-given like-mindedness; so that we can worship God together with one mind and one mouth: UNTO HIS GLORY! But in order for this to happen, we must all use God's Word the way He designed His Word to be used, and that only comes through the divine tool of right-division.