Chapter # 10 Paragraph # 3 Study # 2
September 9, 2018
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: The completely irrational reaction to the Gospel has been going on for a long time.
Introduction: In his defense of his apostleship, Paul argues that the promise of God found in Joel's prophecy to make the "good news of good things" available to "all flesh" actually
required that God produce a herald who would take that good news to the Gentiles.
This the Jews were absolutely
not going to do. So, God, to keep His word, simply by-passed them and appointed
the "favorite son" of the Jews, the leading light of the move to stamp out the truth about Jesus Christ, to be His apostle to the nations. This fully explains all of the opposition that Paul faced from the Jews regarding both his apostleship and his message of "good news of good things".
Now, in the text before us, Paul is going to further his argument that the Jews have no case.
- I. The Beginning of His Argument.
- A. But...
- 1. This is the strongest word in Greek to put forth an "about face".
- 2. The "about face" is rooted in two issues.
- a. There is the clear logic that people cannot "call" upon the Lord for salvation according to the promise of Joel 2:32 unless they are given an opportunity to hear what Paul calls "the good news of good things".
- b. There is the clear declaration of the "beauty" of the feet of those who bring that good news.
- 1) This is a metaphor of the desirability of the good news (it is so desirable that the dirty feet of those who bring it are considered "beautiful").
- 2) This is a declaration of just how wonderful it is to have someone tell of "good news of good things".
- B. Not all...
- 1. Paul's readers were "set up" for an expectation that the Gospel would be so desirable that people would fall all over themselves to be able to hear it and embrace it.
- 2. But.
- 3. Not all responded in the way expected.
- 4. In fact, in relative terms, not many did.
- II. The Continuation of His Argument.
- A. They have not given heed (Authorized Version says "obeyed").
- 1. The word so translated is used in 21 texts of the New Testament with four of them being in Romans and its roots are found in the idea that "doctrine heard" is received as "guiding truth".
- 2. Paul's meaning is illustrated quite well.
- a. Romans 6:12 uses it to indicate what it is that allows "Sin" to rule as a king in the mortal body: a "hearing" that leads to a "surrendering" to the thing heard.
- b. Romans 6:16 makes it the kind of "surrendering" that results in "yielding" (literally, "standing alongside" as a loyal servant).
- c. Romans 6:17 argues that such a "yielding" can actually alter one's loyalties if it is the "heart" that does the yielding.
- B. This refusal to "give heed" is so contrary to "truth" and "reason" that it needs some explaining.
- 1. The thing "heard", so as to call for a loyalty commitment, is defined as "good news of good things".
- 2. What could possibly keep a person from abandoning themselves to "good things"?
- a. The fundamental answer is this: when "good things" are seen as "bad things" people refuse to embrace them (Isaiah 5:20).
- b. What is "bad" about the "good"?
- 1) The assumed "bad news" centers upon the "good news" claim that a Redeemer has come and has been raised from the dead.
- a) The entire notion of a "redeemer" is built on the foundation of at least four things.
- i. There is no need for a "redeemer" if there is a way for human beings to qualify themselves for the "good things" contained in the message of "good news" (10:5).
- ii. There is such a thing as "infinity" in the question of "Justice" that makes finite human beings incapable of meeting the basic bottom line of its demand for equivalent recompense (even only one sin puts men beyond the pale).
- iii. But there is the more profound fact: there is nothing that an unredeemed person can do that is not an expression of The Sin and, thus, is sinful (men never do only one sin because everything that they do outside of redemption is sinful; note Matthew 12:34).
- iv. Men who have drunk deeply of the wine of arrogance hate to be told that they are incapable of even recognizing the truth of their wickedness, not to mention their total unwillingness and inability to do anything good about it.
- b) The attending concept of "death" (so that resurrection is necessary) is also repugnant to "some" because it highlights and insists that the need for redemption is not because of "minor" mistakes and failures (nothing minor could explain the eternal lake of fire).
- c) The consequent "resurrection" is also disliked because it forces the identity of the Redeemer to the surface along with everything He says and does.
- i. There were many who were offended and embarrassed by some of the Redeemer's words.
- ii. There were many who were stymied in their own agendas by some of the Redeemer's actions.
- 2) The assumed "bad news" actually boils down to one truth: God is God and He will never turn His creation over to anyone else because any who would accept it would be evil to the core and if God were to do it, He would be evil also.
- a) Man's core issue with God and His "good news" is this plain fact: men lust after, and will sell their souls for, control (especially over others, but most especially over the outcomes in their own experiences).
- b) God's objection to granting the fulfillment of those lusts is one: the wickedness of such desires automatically means real damage to everyone as they fight and war against each other to be the "one" who gets control (God is the only genuinely loving person in His creation and His love is rooted in wisdom, goodness, and power).
- c) To sacrifice the "good things" of the rule of such a One simply because someone else lusts after it would be neither "good", "wise", or even "possible" because God cannot communicate omnipotence to another (not even God can create God and that is what is required for a creature to obtain an "infinite" quality such as "power").
- 3) Bottom line: creature control invariably leads to creature damage and anyone who genuinely "loves" will eventually squelch any and every intention to dominate by a created being (every house divided against itself will fall: God is going to bring His "house" to perfect unity and love).
- C. This resistance has been going on for a long time: Isaiah 53:1.
- 1. Here Paul makes "yielding to the news" equivalent to "believing".
- 2. He uses a handy verse from Isaiah, but it is by no means a surprise.
- a. Genesis 18:32.
- b. Jeremiah 5:1.
- c. Luke 18:8.
