ROMANS ROAD
to RIGHTEOUSNESS |
Romans
1:18-3:20
|
Romans
3:21-5:21 |
Romans
6:1-8:39 |
Romans
9:1-11:36 |
Romans
12:1-16:27 |
|
SIN
|
SALVATION
|
SANCTIFICATION |
SOVEREIGNTY |
SERVICE |
NEED
FOR
SALVATION |
WAY
OF
SALVATION |
LIFE
OF
SALVATION |
SCOPE
OF
SALVATION |
SERVICE
OF
SALVATION |
God's Holiness
In
Condemning
Sin |
God's Grace
In
Justifying
Sinners |
God's Power
In
Sanctifying
Believers |
God's Sovereignty
In
Saving
Jew and Gentile |
Gods Glory
The
Object of
Service |
Deadliness
of Sin |
Design
of Grace |
Demonstration of
Salvation |
|
Power Given
|
Promises Fulfilled |
Paths Pursued |
Righteousness
Needed |
Righteousness
Credited |
Righteousness
Demonstrated |
Righteousness
Restored to Israel |
Righteousness
Applied |
God's Righteousness
IN LAW |
God's Righteousness
IMPUTED |
God's Righteousness
OBEYED |
God's Righteousness
IN ELECTION |
God's Righteousness
DISPLAYED |
|
Slaves to Sin |
Slaves to God |
Slaves Serving God |
|
Doctrine |
Duty |
|
Life by Faith |
Service by Faith |
|
Modified from Irving
L. Jensen's excellent work "Jensen's
Survey of the NT" |
FOR WHILE WE WERE STILL HELPLESS: eti gar Christos
onton (PAPMPGen) hemon asthenon: (Ezek 16:4-8;
Eph 2:1-5;
Col 2:13;
Titus 3:3-5) (La 1:6;
Da 11:15)
For (1063)
(gar) introduces Paul's explanation of why the pouring out of
God's love assures believers of hope (absolute assurance).
In other words, if after reading the previous verse on the pouring out
of the love of God in our hearts, you would still ask "But Paul, how do
we know His love?". Paul's answer in summary form would be "by His
death". And so Christ's death becomes the major subject the apostle
expounds in the following verses.
Note that in
Romans 5:6 God makes this demonstration of His love...
(1) While we were helpless
(2) At the right time
(3) For the ungodly
Were (5607)
(on)
is in the
present tense, indicating this was our continual state.
The progression in
Paul's thought is something like the following -
It's hard to love the weak and powerless, but when those same people are
also ungodly (opposed to all that God stands for) that kind of love is
amazing. The love of God is without
any cause outside of Himself.
Still helpless
- still without strength; utterly helpless with no way of escape; still
ailing; still sick (sin sick); unable to help ourselves; still powerless
and too weak to help ourselves, totally unable to rescue ourselves from
the effects of the fall. Helpless in this context emphasizes
moral frailty rather than physical weakness. We were quite powerless to
help ourselves or even to understand.
But a natural man does not accept the
things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he
cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Cor
2:14)
In short we were
up a creek without a paddle and did not even understand our abysmal
predicament. But God’s love triumphed where human power (and
understanding) failed.
Haldane
adds that...
Christ died for us while we were
unable to obey Him, and without ability to save ourselves. This weakness
or inability is no doubt sinful; but it is our inability, not our guilt,
that the Apostle here designates. When we were unable to keep the law of
God, or do anything towards our deliverance from Divine wrath, Christ
interposed, and died for those whom He came to redeem. (Haldane,
R. An Exposition on the Epistle to the Roman. Ages Classic Commentaries)
Charles Hodge
draws an important distinction writing...
The objection that the church
doctrine represents the death of Christ as procuring the love of an
unloving God is without a shadow of foundation. The Scriptures represent
God’s love to sinners as independent of the work of Christ, and as
preceding it. He loved us so much that he gave his one and only Son to
reconcile our salvation with his justice.
(Hodge,
Charles: Commentary on Ephesians. Ages Classic Commentaries)
Helpless (772)
(asthenes from a = without + sthénos
= strength, bodily vigor) (See study of related verb
astheneo
- note the concentration of asthenes/astheneo in the epistles to the
Corinthians - almost 50% of NT uses) is literally without strength or
bodily vigor. Asthenes describes one's state of limited capacity
to do or be something and is used literally of physical weakness (most
of the uses in the Gospels) and figuratively of weakness in the
spiritual arena (weak flesh, weak conscience, weak religious system or
commandment [Gal 4:9, Heb 7:18], etc) and thus powerlessness to produce
results.
Sanday and Headlam
write that asthenes in Romans 5:6 means "incapable of working out
any righteousness for ourselves (in loc.)."
Godet adds
that asthenes in Romans 5:6...
expresses total incapacity for good,
the want of all moral life, such as is healthy and fruitful in good
works. It was certainly not a state fitted to win for us the sympathy of
divine holiness. On the contrary, the spectacle of a race plunged in
such shameful impotence was disgusting to it. (Godet,
F L: Commentary on Romans. Kregel. 1998)
The following is a
summary the nuances of meaning of asthenes (modified from
BDAG)...
(1) Pertaining to suffering from a
debilitating illness - sick, ill
(2) Pertaining to experiencing
some incapacity or limitation - weak
a) Of physical weakness - the
flesh is weak = gives up too easily (Mt 26:41, Mark 14:38); weaker
vessel = sex (1Peter 3:7); personal appearance is weak = unimpressive
(1Cor 10:10)
b) Of relative ineffectiveness,
whether external or inward weak = feeble, ineffectual (1Cor 4:10);
the weaker, less important members (1Cor 12:22); what is weak in (the
eyes of) the world (1Cor 1:27)
c) Of the inner life -
Helpless in a moral sense (Romans
5:6)
Of a weakness in faith, which through
lack of advanced knowledge, considers externals of the greatest
importance (1Cor 8:7, 9, 9:10, cp similar use of related verb
astheneo
in
Romans 14:1 [note];
14:2)
To those who are weak in faith I
became as they are (1Cor 9:22) (Arndt,
W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature)
John MacArthur
in his comments on the use of asthenes in
1Thessalonians 5:14
notes that asthenes is...
used in a general sense to describe
people who are simply deficient in some way (e.g., see 1Cor 1:27). Their
deficiency may be a lack of education, opportunities, or finances, or
perhaps a physical problem. These people sometimes find it harder to do
what is right because of their “weaknesses.” According to Paul, they
need more than encouragement: they actually need someone to come
alongside and help them to do what they need to do. (MacArthur, J., F.,
Jr, Mack, W. A., & Master's College. Introduction to Biblical
Counseling: Word Pub)
Weak (asthenes) focuses on
susceptibility to sin and applies to believers who struggle with
abandoning sin and obeying God’s will... The weak are always
impediments and stumbling blocks to growth and power in the church. (MacArthur,
John: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Moody Press
or
Logos)
Vine in his
discussion of asthenes in
1Thessalonians 5:14
adds that...
some believers are weak through lack
of knowledge of the will of God, some through lack of courage to trust
God; some, who are timorous or over scrupulous, hesitate to use their
liberty in Christ, some, through lack of stability or purpose, are
easily carried away; some lack courage to face, or will to endure;
persecution or criticism; some are unable to control the appetites of
the body or the impulses of the mind. These, and all such as these, are
to be the peculiar objects of the shepherd’s care, since, more than the
rest, they need the sympathy and help of those who are of maturer
Christian experience. For characteristic examples of such care see
Genesis 33:13, 14; Luke 10:34, 35; John 13:1–17. (Vine,
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
or
Logos)
In regard to being able to save themselves sinful men are
weak, unable, strengthless and powerless. There is nothing sinners can
do to save themselves or to remedy their lost condition. They are in
desperate need of a strong Savior!
Jesus
declared that...
No one can come to Me, unless the
Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
(Jn 6:44)
When we were powerless to escape from our sin, powerless to escape
death, powerless to resist Satan, and powerless to please Him in any
way, God amazingly sent His Son to die on our behalf. Christ died for
the ungodly and loved the unlovely. He loved us though there was nothing
loveable in us.
Asthenes is used here in Romans 5:6 in the phrase “while we were still helpless”
which is a reminder of our
powerlessness to obtain justification by works as set forth in the
passage [Romans 3:19-4:25]. Sinners were literally “strengthless.”
The immediate cause lies in the fact that we had not received the Holy Spirit, and so
had no power to please God.
As Cranfield
puts it...
He did not wait for us to start
helping ourselves, but died for us when we were altogether helpless.
Barclay
writes that...
asthenes is the standard Greek
adjective for weak. When Christ comes to a man, he strengthens the weak
will, he buttresses the weak resistance, he nerves the feeble arm for
fight, he confirms the weak resolution. Jesus Christ fills our human
weakness with his divine power.
Barnes adds
that...
The word here (Romans 5:6) used
(asthenes) is usually applied to those who are sick and feeble, deprived
of strength by disease, Mt 25:39; Lu 10:9; Ac 4:9; 5:15. But it is also
used in a moral sense, to denote inability or feebleness with regard to
any undertaking or duty. Here it means that we were without strength in
regard to the case which the apostle was considering; that is, we had no
power to devise a scheme of justification, to make an atonement, or to
put away the wrath of God, etc. While all hope of man's being saved by
any plan of his own was thus taken away-- while he was thus lying
exposed to Divine justice, and dependent on the mere mercy of God--God
provided a plan which met the case, and secured his salvation. (Romans 5)
Here are the 25 NT
uses of asthenes...
Matthew 25:43 I was a
stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe
Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44
"Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see
You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not take care of You?'
Matthew 26:41 "Keep watching
and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak." (Comment: The
meaning of asthenes is thought by some to refer to the inability of the
old nature [the fallen flesh] to obtain success or victory in the
spiritual realm. That is a true statement and could be Jesus' meaning -
it's analogous to the struggle in Romans 7:14-25 where he does not do
what he wishes to do, but does the very thing he does not wish to do -
see notes beginning at
Romans 7:14)
Mark 14:38 "Keep watching and
praying, that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak."
Luke 10:9 and heal those in it
who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near
to you.'
Acts 4:9 if we are on trial
today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has
been made well,
Acts 5:15 to such an extent
that they even carried the sick out into the streets, and laid
them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by, at least his
shadow might fall on any one of them. 16 And also the people from
the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing
people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits; and they
were all being healed.
Romans 5:6 (note) For
while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for
the ungodly.
1 Corinthians 1:25 Because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is
stronger than men.
1 Corinthians 1:27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the
world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak (destitute
of power among men) things of the world to shame the things which are
strong,
1 Corinthians 4:10 We are
fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak
(unable to achieve anything great - relative ineffectiveness,
whether external or inward), but you are strong; you are
distinguished, but we are without honor.
1 Corinthians 8:7 However not
all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol
until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their
conscience being weak (lacking in decision and firmness about things lawful
and unlawful - vacillating, hesitating) is defiled.
1 Corinthians 8:9 But take
care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the
weak (lacking in decision about things lawful and unlawful).
10 For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's
temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak (lacking in
decision about things lawful and unlawful), be strengthened to eat
things sacrificed to idols?
1 Corinthians 9:22 To the
weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have
become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
1 Corinthians 11:30 For this
reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. (Comment:
This use refers to physical weakness short of overt illness and
represents a judgment on believers for taking "communion" in an unworthy
manner! Could this have any relevance to the condition of a believer
today who might be experiencing otherwise unexplained weakness or
illness?)
1 Corinthians 12:22 On the
contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be
weaker (in the sense of "less important") are necessary;
2 Corinthians 10:10 For they
say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is
unimpressive, and his speech contemptible."
Galatians 4:9 But now that you
have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you
turn back again to the weak (used of the religious systems
anterior to Christ, as having no power to promote piety and salvation)
and worthless elemental things (in the spiritual sense the rudiments of
Jewish religion had no ability to justify anyone), to which you desire to be enslaved all
over again? (Comment: The related verb
astheneo
is used in
Romans 8:3 [note]
with a similar meaning, referring to
the weakness of the Law to save a man.)
1Thessalonians 5:14 (note)
And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the
fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men.
Hebrews 7:18 (note)
For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment
because of its weakness and uselessness
1 Peter 3:7
(note) You husbands
likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a
weaker (asthenes in this verse does not refer to moral or
intellectual weakness) vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow
heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
There are 14 uses of asthenes
in the
Septuagint (LXX)
(Gen. 29:17; Num. 13:18; Jdg. 16:13; 1 Sam. 2:10; 2 Sam. 13:4; Job 4:3;
36:15; Ps. 6:2; Prov. 6:8; 21:13; 22:22; 31:5, 9; Ezek. 17:14; 34:20;
Dan. 1:10) Below is a use of asthenes in the LXX...
Psalm 6:2 Have mercy upon me,
O LORD; for I am weak (Lxx = asthenes): O LORD, heal me; for my bones
are vexed. (KJV)
Spurgeon commenting on
helpless in Romans 5:6 writes...
IN this verse the human race is
described as a sick man, whose disease is so far advanced that he is
altogether without strength: no power remains in his system to throw off
his mortal malady, nor does he desire to do so; he could not save
himself from his disease if he would, and would not if he could.
I have no doubt that the apostle had
in his eye the description of the helpless infant given by the prophet
Ezekiel; it was an infant — an infant newly born — an infant deserted by
its mother before the necessary offices of tenderness had been
performed; left unwashed, unclothed, unfed, a prey to certain death
under the most painful circumstances, forlorn, abandoned, hopeless. (See
notes
Ezekiel 16:2;
16:3;
16:4;
16:5;
16:6)
Our race is like the nation of
Israel, its whole head is sick, and its whole heart faint (Isaiah 1:5).
Such, unconverted men, are you! Only there in this darker shade in your
picture, that your condition is not only your calamity, but your fault.
In other diseases men are grieved at their sickness, but this is the
worst feature in your case, that you love the evil which is destroying
you. In addition to the pity which your case demands, no little blame
must be measured out to you: you are without will for that which is
good, your “cannot” means “will not,” your inability is not physical
but moral, not that of the blind who cannot see for want of eyes, but of
the willingly ignorant who refuse to look. (Romans
5:6: For Whom Did Christ Die?)
In another sermon Spurgeon
declares...
We were without strength. It
was a bad case altogether, and could not be defended. And man, by
nature, is morally weak. We are so weak by nature that we are carried
about like dust, and driven to and fro lay every wind that blows, and
swayed by every influence which assails us. Man is under the dominion of
his own lusts — his pride, his sloth, his love of ease, his love of
pleasure. Man is such a fool that he will buy pleasure at the most
ruinous price; will fling his soul away as if it were some paltry toy,
and barter his eternal interests as if they were but trash. For some
petty pleasure of an hour he will risk the health of his body; for some
paltry gain he will jeopardize his soul. Alas! alas! poor man, thou art
as light as the thistledown, which goes this way or that, as the wind
may turn. In thy moral constitution thou art as the weathercook (weather
vane), which shifts with every breeze. At one time man is driven by the
world: the fashions of the age prevail over him, and he obsequiously
follows them; at another time a clique of small people, notables in
their little way, is in the ascendant, and he is afraid of his
fellow-men. Threatenings awe him, though they may be but the frowns of
his insignificant neighbors; or he is bribed by the love of approbation,
which may possibly mean no more shall the nod of the squire, or merely
the recognition of an equal. So be sacrifices principle and runs with
the multitude to do evil. Then the evil spirit comes upon him, and the
devil tempts him, and away he goes. There is nothing which the devil can
suggest, to which man will not yield while he is a stranger to divine
grace. And if the devil should let him alone, his own heart suffices.
The pomp of this world, the lust of the eye, the pride of life — any of
these things will drive men about at random. See them rushing to murder
one another with shouts of joy: see them returning blood-red from the
battle-field, and listen to the acclamations with which they are
greeted, because they have killed their fellow-men. See how they will go
where poison is vended to them, and they will drink it till their brain
reels, and they fall upon the ground intoxicated and helpless. This is
pleasure which they pursue with avidity, and having yielded themselves
up to it once they will repeat it again, till the folly of an evil hour
becomes the habit of an abandoned life. Nothing seems to be too foolish,
nothing too wicked, nothing too insane, for mankind. Man is morally
weak — a poor, crazy child. He has lost that strong hand of a
well-trained perfect reason which God gave him at the first. His
understanding is blinded, and his foolish heart is darkened; and so
Christ finds him, when he comes to save him, morally without strength.
Now, I know I have described exactly
the condition of some here. They are emphatically without strength. They
know how soon they yield. It is only to put sufficient pressure upon
them, and they give way despite their resolutions, for their strongest
resolves are as weak as reeds, and when but a little trial has come,
away they go back to the sins which in their conscience they condemn,
though nevertheless they continue to practice them. Here is man’s state,
then — legally locale and morally weak.
But, further, man is, above all
things, spiritually without strength. When Adam ate of the
forbidden fruit he incurred the penalty of death, and in that penalty we
are all involved. Not that he at once died naturally, but he died
spiritually. The blessed Spirit left him. He became a soulish or natural
man. And such are we. We have lost the very being of the Spirit by
nature. If he comes to us, there is good need he should, for he is not
here in us by nature. We are not made partakers of the Spirit at our
natural birth. This is a gift from above to man. He has lost it, and the
Spirit — that vital element which the Holy Ghost implants in us at
regeneration — is not present in man by his original generation. He has
no spiritual faculties, he cannot hear the voice of God, he cannot taste
the sweets of holiness. He is dead, ay, and in Scripture he is described
as lying like the dry bones that have been parched by the hot winds, and
are strewn in the valley dry, utterly dry. Man is dead in sin. He cannot
rise to God any more than the dead in the grave can come out of their
sepulchres of themselves and live. He is without strength — utterly so.
It is a terrible case, but this is what the text says, “
When we were yet without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Putting all these things into one,
man by nature, where Christ finds him, is utterly devoid of strength of
every sort for anything that is good — at least, anything which is good
in God’s sight, and is acceptable unto God. It is of no use for him
to sit down and say, “I believe I can force my way yet into purity.”
Man, you are without strength till God gives you strength. He may
sometimes start up in a kind of alarm, and say, “It shall be done,”
but he falls back again, like the madman who after an attack of
delirium, sinks anon to his old state. It will not be done. “Can the
Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? “If so, then he
that is accustomed to do evil may learn to do well. Not till then, by
his own unaided strength can he perform any right and noble purpose.
Nay, what am I talking about?
He has no strength of his own at
all. He is without strength, and there he lies — hopeless, helpless,
ruined, and undone, utterly destroyed; a splendid palace all in ruin,
through whose broken walls sweep desolate winds with fearful wailings,
where beasts of evil name and birds of foulest wing do haunt, a palace
majestic even in ruins, but still utterly ruined and quite incapable of
self-restoration. “Without strength.” Alas! alas! poor
humanity!...
The glory of the remedy proves the
desperateness of the disease.
The grandeur of the Savior is a
sure evidence of the terribleness of our lost condition.
Look at it, then, and as man sinks
Christ will rise in your esteem, and as you value the Savior so you will
be more and more stricken with terror because of the greatness of the
sin which needed such a Savior to redeem us from it. (Romans
5:6 The Sad Plight and Sure Relief - Pdf)
AT THE RIGHT TIME
CHRIST DIED FOR UNGODLY: eti kata kairon huper asebon apethanen.
(3SAAI) :
(Gal 4:4;
Hebrews 9:26;
1Pet 1:20) (Ro
5:8;
4:25;
1Thes 5:9) (Ro
4:5;
11:26;
Ps 1:1;
1Ti 1:9;
Titus 2:12;
2Pet 2:5,6;
3:7;
Jude 1:4,15,18)
At the right
time
(2540)
(kairos)
(Click
in depth
word study)
means a point of time or period of
time, time, period, frequently with the implication of being especially
fit for something and without emphasis on precise chronology. It means a
moment or period as especially appropriate the right, proper, favorable
time (at the right time). Kairos can refer to the time when
things are brought to crisis, the decisive epoch waited for or a
strategic point in time.
The thought is that there is nothing
delayed about Christ's death on the Cross of Calvary. In other words,
the sacrificial atoning sacrifice of God's Son was not an afterthought
but was the manner in which God from eternity past had determined He
would deal with man's sin and which was accomplished when He chose to do
so.
Vine writes
that at the right time (KJV "in due season") is...
Literally, “according to season,”
that is to say, a time divinely appointed as opportune for the
manifestation of God’s love in Christ. (Vine,
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
or
Logos)
When was the
right time? "When we were powerless to escape from our sin,
powerless to escape death, powerless to resist Satan, and powerless to
please Him in any way, God amazingly sent His Son to die on our behalf."
(MacArthur)
Haldane
adds that this is ...
At the time appointed of the Father,
Galatians 4:2, 4. The fruits of the earth are gathered in their
season; so in His season, that is, at the time appointed, Christ died
for us, (Haldane,
R. An Exposition on the Epistle to the Roman. Ages Classic Commentaries)
Paul writes
that...
when the fulness
of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under
the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the
Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Gal 4:4-5)
(EBC "The law had operated for centuries and had served to expose the
weakness and inability of man to measure up to the divine standard of
righteousness. No further testing was needed. It was the right time."
Gaebelein, F, Editor: Expositor's
Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament. Zondervan Publishing)
The Gospels
repeatedly allude to the right time...
Then He
came to the disciples, and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and
taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man
is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. (Matthew 26:45)
These words He spoke in the treasury,
as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour
had not yet come. (John 8:20)
"Now My soul has become troubled; and
what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this
purpose I came to this hour. (John 12:27)
These things Jesus spoke; and
lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come;
glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee, (John 17:1)
Click
for all 10 verses in the Gospels that mention the right time
("the hour")
Guzik sums up the right time explaining that...
The world was prepared spiritually,
economically, linguistically, politically, philosophically and
geographically for the coming of Jesus and the spread of the Gospel.
(quoting Matthew Poole) “The Scripture everywhere speaks of a certain
season or hour assigned for the death of Christ" (Romans 5)