Chapter # 14 Paragraph # 1 Study # 8
April 4, 2021
Humble, Texas
(112)
1769 KJV Translation:
11 For it is written, [
As] I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
1901 ASV Translation:
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, And every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.
- I. Paul's Understanding Of The Written Declaration of Coming Judgment.
- A. The backdrop issues.
- 1. The general backdrop.
- a. "Problems" of disunity in the Church.
- 1) The "problem" is disunity; the "problems" are the roots of that absence of harmony.
- 2) Some are using their true knowledge to lead them away from "the Love of The God" into a kind of self-indulgent separation of mind from "brothers and sisters", members of the Great Household of The God. They consider their "better understanding of Grace" to be a basis for a haughty superiority complex.
- 3) Others are attempting to make up for their lack of understanding of "Grace" by looking at their "brothers and sisters" through the eyes of "judges", exalting themselves over those who regard them with contempt by returning the "favor" and criticizing them for their self-indulgence.
- b. Paul's insistence in the larger context of these "problems" to consider "Love" as the only recurring "debt" that is to be met as it comes due.
- 2. The specific backdrop.
- a. There is a day of judgment coming in which "The God" will take His seat upon His "bema" and bring every believer into His evaluation and subject him/her to His final decisions about their places in His Great Household, the Kingdom of The God.
- b. Paul's rationale is Isaiah 45:23.
- 1) The declaration of this day of "Judgment" has its roots in...
- a) The incomparable uniqueness of God (45:21b, and d and 45:22b) identified by His demonstrated ability to prophesy the future with accuracy (45:21a).
- b) The insistent characterization of Himself as "righteous" and "a Savior" (45:21c).
- c) The summons to mankind scattered into all the ends of the earth to "Turn to Me and be saved" (45:22a).
- d) A "oath-accompanied" word "that has gone forth and will not turn back" (45:23a) [Note Hebrews 6:16-17].
- e) A double pronged "T"heological foundation in the minds/hearts of those who are "saved" (43:24-25).
- i. The first "prong" is "Only in the Lord [is] righteousness" (43:24a) and "In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be justified" (43:25a).
- ii. The second "prong" is "Only in the Lord [is] strength" (43:24b) and "In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will glory" (43:25b).
- iii. It is the second "prong" which forms the roots of Paul's declaration regarding the coming, and outcome, of the "bema" of The God (the first "prong" is the root of the presence of those before that "bema").
- 2) Paul's use of this truth includes his greater understanding of its application to the "mystery" of the Church.
- a) The call of Isaiah 45:22, at a minimum, opens the range of "salvation" to "the ends of the earth", which makes the inclusion of "Gentiles" at least "possible".
- b) The clarity of "only in the Lord are righteousness and strength" is greatly enlarged by the New Testament record of the death of Jesus so as to provide for "the righteousness" (1 Corinthians 1:30) and the gift of the Spirit so as to provide for "the strength" (1 Peter 4:11).
- c) The reaffirmation in Isaiah 45:25 that "In the Lord all will be justified and will glory" is emphatic: men only stand in the day of the "bema" by means of the righteousness of God granted to them by grace through faith, and men are only able to glory after the conclusion of that "bema" by means of the workings of the Spirit of God in and through their bodies so as to possess unburned gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
- B. The actual terms of the text.
- 1. Every knee shall bow.
- a. In Romans 11:4 Paul uses the "bowing of the knee", in another quote from the Old Testament in the context of Elijah's complaint, to refer to "worshipping" a god/The God. This has to do with the particular issues of a "willing" and "compliant" bowing of the knee, not a forced one.
- b. In Ephesians 3:14 Paul uses the "bowing of the knees" in respect to "going to God in prayer"; another instance of voluntary, uncompelled interaction with God.
- c. In Philippians 2:10 the fact that every knee is defined in terms of "in heaven and on earth and under the earth" strongly implies a larger context of "bowing" in that even unbelievers will be so engaged even against their will.
- d. Thus, Paul's "every knee shall bow" (to refer to the acknowledgment that the name of Jesus will, one day, be acknowledged by all creation to mean that He is God's "highly exalted One") means those yielding to that acknowledgment will do so willingly or otherwise.
- 2. Every tongue "shall give praise" (NASB; not the best choice of translation possibilities) to God.
- a. In the Philippians 2:10-11 context, this "praise" (NASB in Romans 14:11) is a "confession" (Authorized Version; this is a better translation of the Greek word) that "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father".
- b. The Greek word is "exomologesetai". It typically means "to speak out a confession of some reality". The idea of "praise" is, perhaps, a down-line deduction from the notion of an outspoken statement.
