Living in the Spirit: Paul’S Timeless Message to Christians

By Ron Andrea

Building understanding and confidence in Gods plan, Living in the Spirit offers insights into the book of Romans and outlines the role of todays believers.
Author Ron Andrea discusses the richness of Pauls message to help modern Christians grasp and apply it to their lives by considering how Paul and all Christians are called to respond to and represent the good news of Jesus; showing how modern Christians feel Gods wrath like those of Pauls day because of idolatry, hypocrisy, and pride; and outlining Gods loving provision of Jesus as the answer to sin. He also describes how God provides a righteousness to restore us to the relationship to God which Adam enjoyed before the fall and reveals why faith is basic in believing in God but also to relating to God.
Including a helpful study guide, Living in the Sprit exhorts you to explore a closer relationship with God.

Praise for Living in the Spirit
Many helpful (if sometimes uncomfortable) insights.
Wallace Gray, PhD, Emeritus Kirk Chair of Philosophy, Southwestern College

This is prime reading for those who truly want to grow spiritually and desire to get closer to Jesus. The material is succinct, straightforward, and easy to read, yet filled with insights that will help fulfill Gods calling for your life to walk with him in the spirit.
Gary Garner, senior pastor,
Prevailing Word Ministries

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490892245

Ron Andrea

Ron Andrea majored in Bible, religion, and philosophy at Southwestern College in Kansas. He is an elder of Prevailing Word Ministries and teaches Bible studies at Glen Allen Christian Fellowship in Virginia. A veteran with thirty years of military service, Andrea and his wife, Treva, live in Elmont, Virginia.

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Copyright © 2015 Ron Andrea.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Unless otherwise marked, all Bible references are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture marked NASB taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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WestBow Press rev. date: 09/25/2015

CONTENTS

Pastor’s Page

Introduction

Chapter 1   Called to Jesus

Chapter 2   Under Wrath

Chapter 3   Forgiveness

Chapter 4   His Blood is Sufficient

Chapter 5   Faith not Works

Chapter 6   Dead to Sin

Chapter 7   Re-Born

Chapter 8   Wretched

Chapter 9   Spirit Poured Out

Chapter 10   Spirit In-dwelling

Chapter 11   Others

Chapter 12   God’s Plan

Chapter 13   One Body

Chapter 14   Satisfying the Lord

Chapter 15   Relating to the World

Chapter 16   Our Neighbors as Our Burden

Chapter 17   Having the Same Attitude

Closing

Acknowledgements

Prevailing Word Ministries

PASTOR’S PAGE

IN THE book of Psalms the scriptures state that if the foundation is lost, what will the righteous do.

In this book Ron offers tremendous insights on the foundational book of Romans.

The importance of the cross, baptism, living in the Spirit, and other foundational areas that are essential to moving forward in Spirit are discovered and expounded upon.

Whether you are a new believer in Christ, or one who is looking to go further in the faith, the truths revealed are sure to deepen your walk with the Lord and spiritually advance those who have a willing heart.

Gary Garner

Senior Pastor, Prevailing Word Ministries

Glen Allen, Virginia

INTRODUCTION

IMAGINE IT IS 1962—just over fifty years ago. You are an African-American pastor living in Atlanta, Georgia, planning to visit the capital of your nation. Suppose this visit will be your first and, while you know many people who live in Washington, D.C., you’ve never been there yourself. This visit is important because this is a time of racial ferment in America, and you have something important to share with the Christians living in there.

So you write a letter to the Christians in Washington—black and white, man and woman, sympathetic and hostile—to introduce yourself and your ministry. More, since you plan for this letter to be read in public, you want to give a good account of what you believe and what you intend. Most of all, you want to persuade the readers of your love and your hopes—of God’s love and hopes for them.

That, my friends, is exactly the challenge faced by the apostle Paul in approximately AD 56 when he wrote to the Christians in Rome. To raise the stakes of his letter, Christians were then a minority and starting to suffer persecution by their neighbors and their government.

Paul knew how the Roman Christians suffered from the Edict of Claudius in AD 49, which evicted all Jews, including those believing in Jesus, from the city of Rome. When the decree was repealed after Claudius’ death in AD 54, returning Jewish Christians found fellow believers among the Gentile population. During the absence of the Jewish believers, the Gentile believers in Rome had of necessity assumed leadership of the church. The two groups may have found each other’s beliefs and practices strange, perhaps even blasphemous.

Paul very likely wrote to readers hostile to him and each other.

His letter to the Roman Christians departed from Paul’s usual practice of writing only to communities or individuals to whom he had personally ministered—usually believers whom he had personally evangelized. The Roman believers he addressed, having picked up their faith second hand or perhaps in Jerusalem, might have followed varying, even conflicting versions of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul’s message addressed that heterodoxy. Also the Holy Spirit may have moved him to write at this time to prepare for Paul’s eventual ministry and martyrdom in Rome. This was a really important message, and Paul knew it. We should believe that he prayerfully did his best.

Modern Christians may forget that Paul wrote to Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome before most of the New Testament as we know it was written. In fact, the letters of Paul were among the first New Testament writings. So, he couldn’t refer to the gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Hebrews or other epistles. His writing meshes so seamlessly with later, independent writings due to the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit.

In Romans, Paul built his message on the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in the existing Jewish scriptures. Trained as a Pharisee, Paul knew what we call the Old Testament inside and out. In fact, his Letter to the Romans may be the most Old Testament dense book in the New Testament.

Paul also knew what he had preached and written previously. He had attended the first church Council in Jerusalem, which decided that most Old Testament practices and rituals did not apply to Gentile converts to Christianity. And he had lived as an evangelist for a dozen years—praying, proclaiming and defending the good news, often literally in the marketplaces of the Roman world. Each time I quote a New Testament source supporting Paul’s argument, remember that the Holy Spirit hadn’t inspired the writers of those gospels or epistles yet, making other New Testament agreement with the letter to the Romans that much more weighty—even supernatural.

That the circumstances of this writing are unique was underscored by his closing list of supporters many of whom might have been known to the Romans and therefore confirmed Paul’s genuineness.

Because Paul employed a diatribe writing style—reproducing the give and take of an open discussion—his writing doesn’t have the logical flow modern readers expect. Many readers tend to pick succinct quotes from Paul’s letters but avoid them overall because his style seems so dense. Nevertheless a close and thoughtful study of this text reveals much good news for modern readers.

More important than its historical setting, Romans proves itself relevant to all Christians at all times. It is as though Paul and the Holy Spirit wrote it personally to you. Therefore, this study looks at Romans as a living document, relevant to our lives today. It progresses from theme to theme rather than strictly verse by verse. Living in the Spirit attempts to open the riches of Paul’s message to modern readers.

This book is called Living in the Spirit drawing from both Paul’s text and J. N. Darby’s translation of Hebrews 11:1, that Faith is the substantiating of things hoped for, not the substance or a similar noun found in many translations. The point is that our walking in faith (continually) brings into being in our lives what God has already accomplished on our behalf.

For that reason also much of this book is written in the present tense to capture the feeling of the Greek: action started in the past but continuing through the present into the future. This message of faith and our walking in it must be current and continuous to be real in our lives.

My principal sources are Paul’s Letter to the Romans and other Biblical books as well as later Christian resources including Hans-Werner Bartsch’s The Historical Situation of Romans, Martin Luther’s preface to Romans, Rick Joyner’s There Were Two Trees in the Garden, A. W. Tozer’s Life in the Spirit and Man: The Dwelling Place of God, Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place, Andrew Murray’s Abide in Christ, and especially Watchman Nee’s books The Normal Christian Life, Release of the Spirit, and Sit, Walk and Stand. The serious student will want to read all these books.

Paul outlined the basics of Christian transformation and life. In his letter he proclaimed the Christian basis for salvation: a righteousness from God is revealed that is available to everyone—Greek or Jew, man or woman, slave or free. He quoted Habakkuk 2:4, the righteous will live by faith. From first to last Romans is about righteousness. Not the external righteousness of the worldly—even worldly Christians—but an inner transformation reflected in outward behavior. A righteousness from God.

Paul wrote to the Romans seeking a relationship with them which would impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong (Romans 1:11). God has worked through Paul to save Christians across the ages and the world. God saved, is saving, will save you.

Join me in seeing what God may be saying to you through the pages of Paul’s Letter to the Romans.

Before reading this book, I suggest you read Romans through. Just the text; not the notes or footnotes. Keep your Bible handy, so you can re-read the pertinent portions in context. Context is important. I have quoted the Bible and other sources liberally and at length that you may understand the context, but in some cases you’ll want to read more.

Living in the Spirit exhorts you to a closer relationship with God. If these ideas don’t work for you, seek others. Truth is not found in books but in Jesus Christ.

A few study questions follow each chapter suitable for individual or group study. Think about them. Write your answers down and look at them again later. Is that what you really think? Is that what you want to think?

One last clarification: Romans was written to Christians. Paul’s opening negativism was not directed at the lost, but to those who thought they were saved. Jesus’ whole ministry was about bringing mankind back into relationship with God. He loved the sinner, but likewise he was very short with the religious professionals of his day. And in Matthew 7:22-23 (NASB) Jesus warns that they will cry, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’ We don’t want to be among those shocked people.

This book is written to help you know God better and live a fuller life in his Spirit.

CHAPTER 1

CALLED TO JESUS

Romans 1:1-17

PAUL OPENS HIS letter by introducing himself to the Christians in Rome. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God (Romans 1:1). The Roman Christians know him only by reputation, if at all. Both his calling and his separation underscore his qualifications to boldly address his readers.

As conveyed in Acts 9:3-6, the Lord Jesus Christ called Paul directly:

As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And he said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do. (NASB)

Immediately afterward, the Lord sent Ananias to tell Saul that he was his chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel (Acts 9:15).

Before his conversion Saul was a Pharisee, which means one who is separated. As Paul, he felt himself separated to preach the gospel to those who had not yet heard it, specifically to the Gentiles. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. (Romans 15:20)

The good news Paul proclaims is still available to and needed by all people. Many who already claim Jesus Christ as Lord don’t know him or all that he did for them any more than those who haven’t heard or who have rejected the gospel. Paul argues that God supernaturally provides for us—for all fallen humans through Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection and the continuing presence of the Holy Spirit.

Because he doesn’t know the people in Rome personally and they may not know him, Paul starts by detailing his relationship to Jesus and his office in the church. He especially reaches out to those of Jewish heritage by connecting the good news of Jesus Christ with the historical scriptures of the Jewish faith.

In fact, Paul doesn’t even make it through his introduction before he introduces the core of his message of Jesus’ lordship—and Paul’s ministry—based on Christ’s death and resurrection:

The gospel [God] promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. … And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:2-4, 6)

Paul declares his goal of coming to Rome encourage and enlarge the group of believers there. He proclaims (Romans 1:17) the good news of Ezekiel 18:9 and Habakkuk 2:4 that the righteous will live by faith. He then reminds his readers that the entire world needs this good news of salvation.

Okay, the righteous will live by faith, but what is faith? We’ll explore a positive definition of faith—the one the Holy Spirit gave us—later, but for now let’s establish what faith isn’t.

Faith isn’t something we do. It’s not a work; it’s a state of being—an active state of being.

• We "put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the