Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
September 1, 2019
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: It is "through" (as though looking through a specific reality/set of realities) the mercies of the God that Paul summons the Roman believers to take the step of a "presentation" of one's "body" to God as a "living sacrifice".
Introduction: In our last study we focused our attention upon the issue of a "view finder" as the primary basis for Paul's "summons" to take the step of a "presentation" of one's "body" to God as a "living sacrifice", and we saw that there are two elements to the "view finder". The first, which took up our entire study, is the issue of Paul's identification of his readers as "brethren". I find this significant because of the impact that existence as a "brother" has. It's fundamental
meaning is that a "brother" is one who comes from the same father, but it's fundamental
significance in this context is its relationship to a very large problem: in
11:25 Paul uses the term to introduce the "problem" of believers who are drifting into an anti-grace attitude of superiority to others, and in
12:3 he returns to the same "problem" as it relates to both "grace" and "faith" as grants from God for Life, not self-exaltation. Paul's point is that because we have received both "grace" and "faith" from God, we are "brethren" who need to adopt the "grace/faith" perspective (view-finder).
It was because of this that I decided last time to deal specifically with the "Reformed" doctrine that a person is regenerated before he believes. This doctrine is both unbiblical (it rests upon human reasonings, not biblical revelation) and a block to Paul's basis for his summons. Paul's basis for his "summons" is his readers' "faith" in God's grace and truth. If a person is a "brother" before he/she "believes", this basis is destroyed. It is precisely because a person is regenerated by faith and given a great identity before God, that Paul calls for a higher level of commitment than he has observed so far in the Roman believers who are "drifting" from the Father in their "pride". In other words, it is because the Romans had already experienced (by the outworkings of "faith" as God responds to it) the goodness of the Father in His "generating them as sons" that they have the necessary basis for a deeper commitment to Him.
This evening we are going to look into the second aspect of Paul's "view-finder": the Roman believers' already-experienced participation in "the mercies of God". Without this experience, the phrase carries no weight. With it, "faith" carries one further into the "submission" issues that are inseparable from the very identity of "faith" and are the roots of a greater participation with God in His Life and Eternal Plan of a coming Kingdom of Righteousness, Peace, and Joy.
- I. The Reason For Paul's Focus Upon "The Mercies of God".
- A. No matter who the person is, or how long he/she has been a "believer", there is yet a "residue" of Adam's narcissistic rebellion against knowledge (Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:14, declares that Adam's rebellion was not brought on by ignorance of the truth so that his departure from God was clear-eyed and deliberate, just as was that of "that old serpent, the devil"; Revelation 12:9 and 20:2).
- B. Behind this "residue" remains the old challenge of Genesis 3:4 that God is a liar and, thus, not nearly as "good" as He represents Himself to be.
- C. Thus, Paul resoundingly demands that one "go to his/her 'hole card'": experience of reality.
- 1. That old serpent, the devil, made a totally unsubstantiated claim that was completely debunked by every detail of previous experience of God in His goodness.
- a. The "only" thing Adam had "experienced" from God that was declared to be "not good" was his "aloneness".
- b. This "not good" thing was so quickly rectified that the sense of an experience of a "not good" was fleeting at most.
- 2. The landscape, by the time Paul wrote to the Romans, was splattered by so many lies and so much disbelief that the originally pristine setting was highly compromised.
- a. When such a magnitude of extreme deception exists, there is only one place to go: personal experience of the details of the revelation of God, given by Him to us (John 9:25 and 30-33).
- 1) There is no experience of man that is not addressed by God's revelation to us: 1 Corinthians 10:13 and 1 Peter 4:12.
- 2) When divine revelation and human experience dove-tail, Truth is established (Deuteronomy 18:22); and when false claims dove-tail with human experience, faith in the truth is being challenged (Deuteronomy 13:3).
- b. Jesus addressed this "problem" in His interaction with Thomas in John 20:29.
- II. The Roman Experience of The Mercies of God.
- A. What is it that Paul is calling "mercies"?
- 1. The word Paul chose, translated "mercies", is not a widely used word in the New Testament (twice as an adjective [Luke 6:36; Jas 5:11]; five times as a noun [Romans 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:3; Philippians 2:1; Colossians 3:12; Hebrews 10:28]; and twice as a verb in a single text [Romans 9:15]).
- 2. The two most illuminating uses, in terms of meaning, are Luke 6:36 (because of the extended context of 6:27-36 where multiple "mercies" are mentioned) and Hebrews 10:28 (because of the severity of the absence of "mercy").
- 3. Thus, Paul is referring to "kindnesses" defined in terms of their opposites in Luke 6:27-35 so that we understand "mercies" as clearly undeserved, good treatment (Hebrews 10:28).
- B. What are some examples of these "mercies"?
- 1. In Romans, Paul only refers to "mercies" in two texts: 9:15 and 12:1.
- 2. Thus, the 9:15 context is very clear about one issue: it is God Who decides who gets to experience His "mercies".
- a. This is significant for our study in that if a person has experienced the mercies of God, it is a clear indication of God's intention, in goodness, to that person.
- b. Obviously, therefore, anyone who has no experience of these mercies will be incapable of yielding to the "summons" of 12:1.
- 3. In this text/context, there are several identifiable "mercies": the Adoption, the Glory, the Covenants, the Giving of the Law, the Service, and The Promises (all given in 9:4).
- a. Additionally, there is the fact of God's activity to fulfill promises the He made without "legal" necessity, an activity that was absolutely necessary because of "the purpose of God according to election" and its need to "stand" (this is a "harmonic" of 4:16 where Paul declares that God cannot "root" the extensions of "mercy" in the behavior of men or there will be no such extensions and the "promises" will go begging because such "rooting" would have to be "legal" and "the Law works [only] wrath" when it is applied to "sinners": Romans 4:15).
- b. In the larger context of Paul's use of "mercies" in 12:1 we also find some "mercies".
- 1) In a more detailed explanation of The Adoption in chapter 8, Paul calls for another "theological conclusion" (8:31) to the truths laid out in chapter 8 and identifies what that "conclusion" ought to be: "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
- 2) This is expanded by multiple "mercies" laid out in 8:32-39 the chiefest of which is the last: nothing can separate us from the Love of God.
- 3) Then, in 10:13 a clear "mercy" from God is His willingness to be "rich" toward any/all who do nothing more than "call upon Him" for salvation.
- 4) And in 11:5 another clear "mercy" from God is His "production" of the remnant that is required for the promises to be fulfilled by Grace.
- 5) And in 11:25 there is an explanation of the "secret" mystery Plan of God to extend "mercies" to Gentiles as well as Israel.
- C. The point: Given all of these details about how God has determined to show "mercies" to "sinners" as special objects of His Plan, Paul can now call for those "special objects" to recognize their high privilege and to present themselves to the Initiator of "The Plan" so that He may use their "bodies" and the "members" thereof to pursue That Plan.
