Chapter # 10 Paragraph # 2 Study # 1
July 8, 2018
Humble, Texas
(058)
1769 Translation:
5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down [from above]:)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, [even] in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
1901 ASV Translation:
5 For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby.
6 But the righteousness which is of faith saith thus, Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down:)
7 or, Who shall descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach:
9 because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved:
10 for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame.
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same [Lord] is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him:
13 for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
- I. The Essence of "Law-Righteousness".
- A. It is declared by Moses (Leviticus 18:5 and repeated in Nehemiah 9:29).
- 1. Paul says Moses was actually addressing "righteousness which is out of Law", but his quote of Moses says nothing about "righteousness" per se. Rather, Moses wrote of how a man might "live". Thus, in Paul's mind, "living" was completely dependent upon whether God considered a man "righteous". Therefore, we can only conclude that Paul has no use whatever of any notion that "life" is possible apart from a healthy relationship with God; which, in turn, means that he was not writing about man's so called "life" while in his deadness in trespasses and sins. For Paul, "life" apart from God is not "life". It is, rather, an on-going conscious experience of Death.
- 2. It is, according to Paul's earlier text (Romans 3:20 -- "...by the works of Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight..."), only a "hypothetical" righteousness since it is impossible for any man to obtain it. James makes this impossibility extremely clear by declaring that it only takes one violation of "Law" to make one "guilty of all" (James 2:10).
- 3. Moses was clear that his issue was "...the righteousness which [is] out of Law...". Moses was, actually, quoting God (Leviticus 18:1) and His meaning is clarified in that context. Israel is under a divine mandate to refrain from the behaviors of Egypt and Canaan and to implement the judgments and ordinances of "Yahweh your Elohim". It is clearly a conditional promise that men "shall live": IF a man DO them [judgments and ordinances], he shall live BY them. Nehemiah 9:29 is set in a context wherein there is a clear declaration that Israel "dealt proudly...hearkened not...sinned against...withdrew the shoulder...hardened their neck, and would not hear". Thus, Yahweh Elohim gave them into the hands of their adversaries in a limited way so that many were killed by them.
- 4. Paul, who here quotes from Moses to make his point, created a possible misunderstanding in his letter to the Philippians wherein he claimed that his "performance of Law" was "blameless" (Philippians 3:6).
- a. To properly understand this text, one must be clear on what Paul was addressing: some man's personal opinion of his own qualifications to "trust in flesh" (Philippians 3:4). This assumes all of the misguided "opinions" that are rooted in the pride of accomplishment.
- b. This also assumes a uniquely "human" perspective that is completely absent the truth as God knows it to be as revealed by his earlier characterization of the true "circumcision" as those who "have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3: 3).
- c. This also assumes the inevitable human arrogance that arises from "comparing ourselves among ourselves" ("If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more...": Philippians 3:4), which behavior Paul denounces as "not wise" (2 Corinthians 10:12).
- d. This, therefore, has to mean that "blameless" is a term that only a fool applies to himself when he is indulging in self-righteousness through a competitive contrast of himself with regard to others.
- B. The issue of "living".
- 1. There is a very clear demarcation between "Living" and "living". The capital letter has to do with experiencing the Life of God; the small case letter has to do with what every human being can experience whether, or not, he/she has any personal relationship with God. "Living" means experiencing the quality of experience that arises directly from having a harmonious connection with God; but "living" simply means the quality of experience that arises out of a viable connection between the spirit of man and the physical body of man.
- 2. The Scriptures present "life" as having three significant "domains" of experience.
- a. There is physical "life" that exists as long as the "spirit" is united to the body (James 2:26). This "life" can be physically robust because of a heathy body, or it can be extremely limited because of a seriously ill body.
- b. There is "life" in the "soul" that exists as long as the "soul" has healthy connections with others (Matthew 26:38). This "life" is rooted in relationships between "persons" that are harmonious and non-antagonistic and is "felt" most prominently in the realm of emotions.
- c. There is "life" in the "spirit" that exists when that "spirit" has status in the eyes of others for whatever reasons. The most prominent "reason" is normally a person's abilities to "do" some, or many, things well. This is most easily seen in every venue wherein people applaud the performance of someone who has done something unusually well.
- 3. Contrarily, the Scriptures present "Life" as having on one significant domain of experience: a harmonious relationship with the Living God. This kind of "Life" can be one's experience without regard for physical health/ill health; without regard for harmonious relationships with other people; and without regard for human exaltation/humiliation. This is the kind of "Life" that Jesus said can result from "drinking of the water that He gives" so that there is no "thirst" ever again.
- 4. Thus, Moses' use of "shall live" had everything to do with being able to "Live" in the land because of having a legitimate relationship with God rooted by him in the "doing of Law". Moses' point is that the ordinances and commandments foster "Life" so that if a man follows them they will make "Life" possible for him. The commandments insist upon "Life producing" practices and forbid "Death producing" practices on multiple levels. The dietary code protected Israel from major health issues; the temple service code provided for Israel's harmonious relationship with the Living God; and the Justice code provided for Israel's harmonious relationships within the Theocratic Kingdom's human inhabitants.
- C. It's essence is "performance".
- 1. The critical words are "having done" and "shall Live by (means of)".
- a. The "having done" views a man's actions as "a complete accomplishment" [as we said above, this is completely hypothetical; an actual impossibility for fallen man].
- b. The "shall Live by means of" means that the hypothetical man will be declared "righteous" by an all-knowing God so that the man may be extended the experience of "Life" that then bleeds over into "life".
- 2. The bottom line is that "Law" requires complete accomplishment and God, Who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, is fully aware of every man's (excluding Jesus) failure to achieve that complete accomplishment. Any "Life", therefore, that disobedient men were able to experience came, by Nehemiah's words, out of the "grace" and "mercy" of God because it was not coming out of "Life" through obedience.
- II. Paul's Point.
- A. He declared that Christ [is the] end of Law in terms of a view toward coming into possession of a righteous standing in the presence of God for every one who is believing.
- B. One of the reasons that He is that end is that His "performance" of all that Law requires was without fault at any point or any time and that His "performance" was not for Himself but for all who would enter into a "believing" frame of heart/mind/mouth in respect to receiving a grace-grant of "righteousness" from God on the basis of Jesus' absolutely perfect performance and God's willingness to attribute that righteousness to sinners who are "believing".