SUPERABOUNDING GRACE AN EXPOSITION OF ROMANS 5-8 FOR MEN: Spiritual Growth for Men

By G. Brian Christie

This book is intended for Christian men who want to grow in their faith by understanding, knowing, and applying God's Word to their daily lives. It is a solid exposition of Romans 5-8, in which the apostle Paul sets out the benefits of justification and God's superabounding grace, which include reconciliation, salvation from God's wrath on that Final Judgment Day, eternal life, new life in Christ, serving in the new way of the Spirit, freedom from the old realm of sin and death, and the benefits and blessing of being indwelt by the Spirit. But the thrust of these chapters is God's unstoppable purpose to bring us justified sinners to glory--resurrection bodies on the restored earth with Christ forever. This book is not written by a seminary professor, pastor, or full-time Christian worker. It is written by a businessman to businessmen, as a fellow traveler, who has spent a lifetime immersed in the hurly-burly of the business world. So the application of the exposition directly addresses the issues men in the business world face on a daily basis like greed, pride, sexual temptation, anger, patience, priorities, humility, lying (exaggeration), and perseverance. It is heavy on grace, forgiveness, and restoration.

Each chapter can be read in about ten to twelve minutes. Ideal for busy men. Recommend reading one a day for forty days or as part of a men's Bible study group--a chapter or two a week.

G. Brian Christie (ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary; JD, University of Texas), a transactional (deal) lawyer, business executive, and company director, has taught men's Bible studies in churches in Texas and California for over the past forty-five years. He is the author of 12 Marks of a Man of God and Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, an Exposition of the Gospel of Mark for Men.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 31, 2024
• ISBN: 9798891301627

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SUPERABOUNDING GRACE AN EXPOSITION OF ROMANS 5-8 FOR MEN

Spiritual Growth for Men

G. Brian Christie

ISBN 979-8-89130-161-0 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89130-162-7 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by G. Brian Christie

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1

ASSURANCE OF GLORY

CHAPTER 2

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

CHAPTER 3

BENEFITS OF JUSTIFICATION

CHAPTER 4

REJOICING IN OUR SUFFERINGS

CHAPTER 5

THE LOVE OF GOD

CHAPTER 6

SAVED FOR SURE

CHAPTER 7

CHRIST THE SECOND ADAM: REVERSES AND OVERTURNS THE CCONSEQUENCES OF ADAM'S SIN

CHAPTER 8

SIN AND DEATH COME FROM ADAM, OUR REPRESENTATIVE HEAD

CHAPTER 9

JUSTIFICATION AND LIFE COME FROM JESUS CHRIST

CHAPTER 10

GRACE TRIUMPHS OVER SIN

CHAPTER 11

DEAD TO SIN

CHAPTER 12

UNION WITH CHRIST

CHAPTER 13

SET FREE FROM SIN

CHAPTER 14

COUNT ON IT

CHAPTER 15

PRESENT YOURSELVES TO GOD

CHAPTER 16

SLAVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Chapter 17

OBEDIENT SLAVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

CHAPTER 18

THE FRUIT OF OBEDIENCE

CHAPTER 19

SUMMARY OF ROMANS 6

CHAPTER 20

DIED TO THE LAW

CHAPTER 21

THE NEW WAY OF THE SPIRIT

CHAPTER 22

THE IMPOTENCE OF THE LAW

CHAPTER 23

THE MALEVOLENCE OF SIN

CHAPTER 24

NEW COVENANT VS. OLD COVENANT

CHAPTER 25

THE IDENTITY OF THE I IN ROMANS 7:14–25

CHAPTER 26

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND MY OWN ACTIONS

CHAPTER 27

IT IS SIN LIVING WITHIN ME

CHAPTER 28

WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM!

CHAPTER 29

NO CONDEMNATION

CHAPTER 30

INDWELT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

CHAPTER 31

ASSURANCE OF FUTURE RESURRECTION

CHAPTER 32

KILL YOUR SIN!

CHAPTER 33

SONS OF GOD AND COHEIRS WITH CHRIST

CHAPTER 34

CREATION SET FREE

CHAPTER 35

THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODIES

CHAPTER 36

THE SPIRIT INTERCEDES FOR US

CHAPTER 37

GOD'S UNSTOPPABLE PURPOSE

CHAPTER 38

THE CERTAINTY OF NO CONDEMNATION

CHAPTER 39

NO SEPARATION

CHAPTER 40

ROMANS 5–8—FINAL THOUGHTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PREFACE

The purpose of this book

This book is an exposition of Romans 5–8 and is intended for Christian men who want to grow in their faith. We envision that our readers will be businessmen who desire to follow Christ more earnestly and who want to live out their faith more consistently in their marriages, families, churches, neighborhoods, and especially in their careers. Our readers will range from those who have been in the faith for many years to those who are new in Christ. Most, but not all, will have college degrees, but all will be trying to live out their faith in their business arenas. Some will be lawyers and doctors, some will be real estate developers and home builders, some will be computer programmers and high-tech innovators, some will be in sales and marketing, and some will be electricians and plumbers. But all will have a desire to grow spiritually in their Christian faith.

The author

Your author is a businessman who has practiced law and been involved in various businesses over the past forty-five years. He is not a seminary professor or pastor or full-time Christian worker telling you how to live in a world he has not really experienced. So my perspective is that of a fellow traveler who has spent a lifetime immersed in the hurly-burly of the business world. As we expound the truths of Romans 5–8, we address the issues that men face—greed, pride, sexual sins, anger, impatience, responsibilities, priorities, lying (exaggeration), and so on. We are heavy on grace, forgiveness, and restoration.

However, in addition to his law degree (JD, University of Texas) your author has a seminary degree (ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary, majoring in New Testament Greek). So this study will be soundly exegetical and theologically solid and, we trust, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The context

This study was originally sent out in 2018 and 2019 in forty weekly emails to the men of Grace Fellowship Church in Costa Mesa, California, and about two hundred fifty other men from my various men's ministries over the years. I have not done much editing. I wanted to keep the style, circumstances, and energy of those emails written while I was daily deeply committed to my business—as a transactional (deal) lawyer, business executive, director of two companies (one public), and an investor. Since I was born and raised in South Africa, you will see some occasional South African/British expressions and sentence structure. I have also not updated the time references for fear of losing the power and relevancy of each email at the time. So for instance, last year will mean 2017 or 2018 and not 2022.

Each chapter can be read in about ten to twelve minutes—designed for busy men. They can be read one a day for forty days or as part of a men's Bible study group, a chapter or two a week. Or they can be read all in one go like a regular book. Since I am anticipating that most men will read one chapter a day or one a week in a men's Bible study group, there is significant repetition so that you don't have to keep flipping back to previous chapters to grasp the context. Also, repetition is, of course, a key to learning.

The purpose of those earlier emails—and this little book—is to encourage and strengthen Christian men in their walk with the Lord. Hopefully, the Holy Spirit will take the words of this book and use them to produce spiritual growth in all you men who take the time to read them.

My teachers

I came to faith in Christ as a teenager in Durban, South Africa. I was introduced to the apostle Paul's letter to the Romans by my first pastor, Pastor McPherson at Bulwer Road Baptist Church in Durban. At Prairie Bible Institute, I was taught Romans by Mr. Maxwell (in 1968), and at Dallas Theological Seminary, I was taught Romans from the Greek text by Dr. S. L. Johnson (in 1974). All three have influenced my understanding of Romans.

Since graduation from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1975, I have read most of the major commentaries on Romans, and I have taught Romans many times in churches, home Bible studies, and particularly in men's Bible studies. The commentaries that I referred to most while writing these chapters were The Epistle to the Romans by Douglas Moo (part of the New International Commentary of the New Testament series), Romans by Thomas R. Schreiner (part of the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series), and Romans by C. E. B. Cranfield (part of the International Critical Commentary series). Commentaries by John Murray, Leon Morris, and N. T. Wright. Tim Keller, S.L. Johnson, along with other online resources, my old notes, sermons, and Bible studies were occasionally referred to. The underlying Greek text I used was The Greek New Testament, Fifth Revised Edition, edited by Aland et.al. and published by the United Bible Societies in 2015. Other resources that helped me are referred to by name in the book.

My process

I have clearly stood on the shoulders of all these teachers as I wrote these emails. At times I will quote from one of these or other resources giving them appropriate credit. A careful reader might see a concept, thought, or allusion coming from one of these resources that I do not properly attribute. This is not intentional, but simply that this particular insight has over the years become so much a part of my understanding that I do not always know when or where it came from. The same careful reader will see that I often disagree or diverge from some of the interpretations contained in these resources, even the ones I consider to be the best. But I have tried to write these chapters based on my own study of the Greek text and English translations. I diagram each text in English, overlay the Greek text, and do my own observation, interpretation, application process (which I first learned from Prof. Howard Hendricks at Dallas Seminary) before I consult a commentary or other resource.

My goal

As I wrote these chapters, I always had my readers in mind—busy businessmen who wanted/needed spiritual strengthening and encouragement to face the challenges of that day. So while the exposition of each text is central, the end goal was always the relevant application of the text to the challenges and circumstances men face in their homes, businesses, neighborhoods, and sports. I constantly asked the Holy Spirit to lead and guide me as I wrote, and I am trusting that he will strengthen you with power in your inner man (Ephesians 3:16) as you read this book.

CHAPTER 1

ASSURANCE OF GLORY

Romans 5–8

An overview

Message of Romans

The letter to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul from Corinth (southern Greece) to the churches in Rome (probably four or five house churches) in about AD 58. Paul had never been to Rome, but as the apostle to the Gentiles, he had apostolic oversight of the churches in Rome. He was planning to visit Rome on his way to Spain to encourage their faith and to request their help for his proposed mission to Spain. The first thirteen chapters of Romans are general in nature and set out in a logical way the gospel Paul had been preaching in the eastern Mediterranean over the previous twenty-five years. The last three chapters are more specific and address certain issues in the Roman churches—primarily the tension between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians.

Rome was the largest and major city in the world at that time and Paul knew that this letter would be copied and sent to many of the churches in the Roman Empire. So his main purpose in Romans was to set forth clearly and logically the Gospel, the good news of Christianity. In many ways, Romans sets forth the fundamentals of Christianity.

A look back

Message of Romans 1–4

The thrust of the first four chapters of Romans is the message of justification by faith. After making the case that all men (Jews and Gentiles alike) are sinners, justly deserving of God's condemnation and wrath (Romans 1:18–3:20), Paul sets forth God's gracious provision of deliverance from his condemnation and wrath. Jesus the Messiah became the atoning sacrifice for our sins (Romans 3:25). That is, he took our sins upon himself and, on the cross, paid the just penalty for those sins (death) as our substitute, thereby justly satisfying God the Father's holiness and justice. The penalty for sin was paid in full on the cross. All who believe (trust and rely on) this are justified. Justification is God's legal declaration that we are forever righteous in his sight or conversely that we are forever not guilty of the sins we have committed and will continue to commit. Paul (as God's messenger) makes plain that this gift of justification is received by faith. It cannot be earned. The unambiguous message of verses 3:21–4:25 is that faith alone in Christ alone is the only basis for justification.

Message of Romans 5–8

The message of Romans 5–8 is the assurance of full and final salvation on that last day and the expectation of a godly lifestyle while we await glory. The implied question between chapters 4 and 5 is this: Is a simple and seemingly tenuous faith in Christ sufficient to get a believer to eternal life and glory? Or do we need to do something extra to make sure we get to glory? Paul's answer is clear—we who have been justified (by faith alone in Christ alone) can be confident and certain that we will one day share in God's glory. God's love and superabounding grace as demonstrated in Christ's substitutionary death on the cross are the foundation upon which our assurance of glory is based.

A brief breakdown of the chapters looks like this:

Chapter 5 assures us that our justification, which is based on God's love and Christ's death, will result in our certain deliverance from God's wrath on that Final Judgment Day. The second half of the chapter teaches that Christ's death on the cross forever reversed the consequences of Adam's sin (eternal death) and will result in eternal life for those who receive God's free gift of justification.

Chapters 6 and 7 are a little bit of a digression where Paul addresses two key issues that arise out of his preaching of the gospel of God's grace.

First, if justification is a gift of God's grace (and not something we earn by good works), does that mean that we can just keep sinning and God will keep forgiving? In response to this objection, Paul explains in chapter 6 that believers have died to their old sinful way of life and now have a new life in which godliness is the only logical and congruent response to grace.

Second, if justification is by faith alone (and not by obeying the Law), then what is the role of the Law of Moses, which had controlled Jewish life in the Old Testament since 1440 BC? Chapter 7 informs us that the purpose of the Mosaic Law was to make sin known, to make clear that all men are sinners deserving of God's condemnation. But more important, the good news in chapter 7 is that we Christians have died to the Mosaic Law and are released from its requirements. We now live by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit who indwells all Christians takes the place of the Mosaic Law. We are now led by the Spirit, we serve by the Spirit, and we are transformed by the Spirit.

The second half of chapter 7 morphs into an intense discussion regarding the power and malignancy of indwelling sin. Even though we have been justified and indwelt by the Spirit, there is within all of us this sinful evil power that rebels against God and is totally self-centered! This power is usually referred to as the flesh (or in some newer translations the sin nature). Here Paul describes it as sin living in me (verse 7:20) and details his intense and ongoing struggle with its power. Our indwelling sin will be with us until we go to be with Christ. Like Paul, we struggle against its evil power every day.

Chapter 8 then circles back to the theme of assurance of glory. The Holy Spirit takes center stage. His indwelling of Christians is the basis for our future resurrection and adoption as sons of God. As sons of God, we are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ. We can be assured that we will inherit future glory with Christ. We will be raised from the dead, as Christ was, and we will enjoy glory with the Trinity in our resurrection bodies on the restored perfect earth forever. We can be assured that there is no slippage between justification and glorification! The chapter ends with that great climax—nothing can separate us from God's love in Christ and our certain experience of future and eternal glory!

CHAPTER 2

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

Romans 5:1

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith. (Romans 5:1)

This first verse in Romans chapter 5 is a summary conclusion of chapters 1 through 4. The therefore and the since show that it is also the prerequisite for the blessings and benefits of chapters 5–8. So understanding justification by faith is an essential building block for our study through chapters 5–8. But more important than understanding is experiencing our own personal justification by faith.

Justification

Justification is the legal declaration by God the Judge that a believing sinner (that is us!) is now righteous in his sight. Conversely, the believing sinner (again that is us) is now declared to be forever not guilty of the sins he has committed in the past and will commit in the future. This is sometimes referred to as the Great Exchange (based on 2 Corinthians 5:21) by which our sins are transferred to Christ and his righteousness (perfectness) is transferred to us. Historically Christ paid the just penalty for our sins (death) on the cross over two thousand years ago. We receive his righteousness when we believe. In God's sight, we are as righteous as Christ since it is his righteousness that we have received. And we are forever acquitted of our sins. Pretty awesome!

In Romans, justification is the preferred term that the apostle Paul uses to describe the spiritual transaction, which takes place when we trust Christ for our salvation. At other times, he and the other New Testament writers use other terms such as saved, forgiven, reconciled, redeemed, and born again.

Justification is by grace

Grace means undeserved blessing. The key concept is that it is a benefit, gift, or blessing that is completely undeserved. Verse 3:24 states that we are justified by his grace as a gift. The earlier verses in chapter 3 made it clear that all people (religious and nonreligious alike) are sinners in the sight of a perfectly holy God, and that his justice demands that we be judged accordingly. Verse 3:20 provides the summary conclusion that we cannot be justified by works of the law, that is by our virtuous deeds. Justification cannot be earned by good deeds. It is a gift of God's grace.

Justification is through faith

Verse 5:1 highlights the emphasis of chapters 3–4. That is, that justification cannot be earned like wages. Rather it is a free gift that is received by faith. Chapter 4 uses the OT examples of Abraham and David to show that justification and forgiveness were not, and cannot be, earned by good behavior but have always been a gift received by faith. The power and effectiveness of faith depend on the object of the faith—the person, event, or thing on which we depend. So depend, trust, or rely probably better convey the concept of biblical faith.

Justification is based upon Christ's substitutionary death on the cross

Romans 3 states that justification is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (verse 3:24). The next verse continues with this explanation, Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith (verse 3:25). Redemption means deliverance as the result of the payment of a price. The deliverance is our justification and the benefits and blessing that follow, and the price is Christ's propitiation by his blood. That is his death on the cross (blood in the New Testament means violent death).

Propitiation means satisfaction and may include the resulting notion of expiation. Christ's death on the cross satisfied God's holiness and justice in justly punishing mankind's sin by punishing Christ (to whom our sin had been transferred) instead of us. Expiation is the wiping away of our sins, which God can justly do because those sins have been paid for in full by Christ. To be received by faith again reemphasizes the main point of the Gospel. It is a free gift of God's grace; it cannot be earned or merited in any way.

My dad's story

My dad was a great husband