Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. We got four whole chapters to get through of Romans. Romans, if you haven't realized this yet, is dense. All right, so we split up chapters one, two, three, and four into, like, chapters one and two, then chapters three and four. But we are going to attempt to get through four chapters of some dense content. I just want to throw out our nerdy nugget first. Okay, we'll get to context in a bit, but I want to throw out our nerdy nugget. Hey, if you haven't done the reading for today, go ahead and pause this and do the reading so that you can really get the most out of this daily content. I. I just need you guys to know this. You can write this down if you're taking notes. The word law is used 78 times in the book of Romans. The word righteousness is used 66 times in the book of Romans. The word faith is used 62 times in the book of Romans. So just those words, right? Alone, law, righteousness, and faith. If you just take those words alone, you could kind of realize, like, those are the top three most repeated words in the entire book of Romans, which tells us this. How do I attain righteousness? It's not through the law, but it's through faith. Okay. If you just look at the top three most used words in the entire book of Romans, you kind of get a sense of what the book of Romans is about. One more nerdy nugget. Paul uses the word justification a total of 30 times throughout all of his writings. And 15 of those 30 times can be found right here in Paul's letter to the Romans. So justification is gonna get used 15 times. So the word law, 78 times. The word righteousness, 66 times. The word faith, 62 times. The word justification, 15 times. But the thing that's important is that it's half of the amount of times that he's gonna use that word in his body of writings. All right, so there is a very popular. Here's. Now, let's get into context. Okay? There's a very popular rabbinical style of teaching called cal v omer. It means how much more? I kind of want us to wrap our minds around this by first going to Luke's Gospel. Cause Jesus is gonna use this rabbinical style of teaching called call Va Omer a lot in Luke's Gospel. He's going to use it in Luke chapter 11. It says this. Which of you fathers, if your son asks you for a fish, will give him a snake instead, or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more? Call Va Omer. Call Va Omer. How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? So it goes like this. You give a really bad example. Like you're evil. You're flawed and frail like you as a human. You do this. So if this is true in the worst case scenario. Of course it's true in the best case scenario. Okay, so Jesus does this in Luke chapter 11. Okay, which of you fathers who are evil, if your kid asks you for a fish, will give him a snake. Okay? You wouldn't do that. And you're evil. You're depraved. How much more would God, who's awesome and freaking great, act in the same way? Okay, Luke chapter 12. Same exact thing. Kalva Omer. Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds. Okay, so, hey, God cares about birds, okay? How much more does he care about you? Here we go. Consider how the wildflowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God closed the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow's thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you? Okay, Kal va Omer. How much more? You can see this again in the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge. Okay? You got a persistent widow and you have a judge who's evil. He's unjust. We're not supposed to think God's like him. The Kava Omer is saying, even if this wicked, foul, terrible person knows how to give justice to a widow because of her persistence, how much more is God, who's not wicked and not evil, will give justice to those of us who pray? Kava Umer, okay? This is a very, very popular rabbinical practice. And this is what Romans chapter five is built on, okay? Chapter five, verse nine says this. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more? How much more? Shall we be saved from God's wrath through Jesus? Next verse. For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? Okay, if his death was did this much, what about his life? Now there's debate on whether or not life there means the 30 years that Jesus actually lived on the earth or his resurrection life. It could mean either or. Or both. Either way, Calvo Mer how much more if his death has done this much, how much more is his life going to do in terms of benefit towards us? Romans 5:15. But the gift is not like the trespass. These are not equals. Okay, this is Kavalmer. The gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, Adam, how much more? Okay, Kaval Mer. How much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many? Romans 5:17. For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more, Calvin, will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign and life through the one man, Jesus Christ? If this, then how much more this. Okay, Romans, chapter five is there to overwhelm you with the goodness and the grace of God that man. How much more will God bless you and keep you if. If sin did all this? How much more will God's abundant provision come into your life through Jesus? Okay, if Adam was able to jack this up this much, how much more is God able to fix this through another representative named Jesus? And then kind of climaxes in verse 20 of chapter 5 it says this. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased not how much more? But all the more. Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. And now you would maybe thinking to yourself, wow, if God's grace is this effective and this incredible and this grand and this powerful, then I guess I don't need to act righteously, right? I don't need to obey. And wrong. How does Paul now begin chapter six? Chapter six starts with this. What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? So what Paul is going to now do from chapter five all the way to chapter eight is create balance. And he's going to do it through these objections. I know you would Think that because I said this that the pendulum should now swing and go all the way over here. But no, this extreme is wrong. I call this Paul's threading the needle. Every time he goes this way, he then comes up with an objection that's an extreme. And then says how that objection is ridiculous. Paul is essentially arguing to keep things in tension, to use wisdom to hold truth in tension. What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. ARMA is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people, everyday people, learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody, anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing, and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community, A community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire ARMA team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd. Okay, now we're going to go all the way through chapter six and talk about how we're not under the law. Why are we no longer under the law? Because we have died, okay? And you can't hold someone accountable in a contract once they die. But not only are we dead to the law, but we're also dead to sin, okay? Because we've identified with the death of Jesus, which gets us to chapter seven. Paul teaches that we are no longer bound by the law because death releases all contractual obligations to the law. And then we died with Christ. So here we go. Another objection. So was the law bad? Okay. Would naturally cause someone to ask, so was the law bad? No, the law's good. The law's great. The law is from God. The Torah was revealed from God. All the rules in the Old Testament, the first five books of Moses, revealed by God. Okay, Then, then, then why doesn't it make us righteous? Romans, chapter 7, verse 14 and 20 is gonna tell us why it doesn't make us righteous. We know that the law is spiritual, but I'm unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do for what I want to do. So the law tells me what I. The law reveals to me what I should want, and then I do want it, okay? For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. Verse 16. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good, okay? The law is good because it's creating within me a desire to do something. But then I don't have the power to actually do it. And now I'm trapped. Verse 17. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. So this is where we get to a very Jewish perspective on total depravity. Now, the Reformation, Martin Luther, John Calvin. I really strongly dislike how they talk about total depravity. I don't agree with that view on total depravity. What Paul is saying is a better word. Sometimes the NIV translates sarks flesh as sinful nature. I would translate it as the beast, the animal appetite that lives on the inside of us. But Paul is saying, but that's not me. It's something that's living in me. It's not me. It's almost like a tumor that's growing on the inside of me. But that's not me. I actually want to do what the law is saying to do. So now we get to the end of chapter seven, and the problem's not the law. What is the problem? It's the beast in me. It's the sinful part of me. It's the sin that's living in me. It's the flesh that lives within me. So now we get to chapter eight, and we finally get to the place where Paul is saying the law was never the issue, but the lack of the Spirit poured out was the issue. So now what is the gospel? The gospel is this process whereby God in his grace, has appointed Jesus to die as an atoning sacrifice for me, to cleanse me so that I can receive the Holy Spirit. And when I received the Holy Spirit, now the same law is still in effect. But before I had the Holy Spirit, I knew that the law was good, but I was unable to do it. But now when I've got the Holy Spirit, I not only know the law, but I'm empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey the law. No one in the Old Testament was empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey this stuff. But we, you and I, New Testament believers, the difference is not the presence of the Law. The difference is the Holy Spirit that empowers me to obey the law. So the Old Testament says to fast, but then the Holy Spirit doesn't actually empower anybody in the Old Testament to fast, whereas the Old Testament in the New Testament tells me to fast. But the Holy Spirit gives me the grace to do it and the power to do it and, and the ability to do it. So now God's given me a spirit, a Download. Acts chapter 2. The Spirit is descended upon all flesh. And not only do I have an ability to see that the law is good, but the Spirit then enables me to do what's impossible. The same way that if I'm in a church service and there's someone who needs healing and I lay hands on them for healing, I believe that it's the Holy Spirit that healed, not me, but the Holy Spirit enabled me to have faith for healing and enabled me to lay hands. Well, that same Spirit that works the miracle of a healing is the same Spirit that works the miracle of me being able to do the righteous requirements of the law. Man. So Now Romans chapter 8 is all about what life in the spirit. Romans chapter 8, verse 4. Do not live according to the flesh, but live according to the Spirit. Romans 8:5. Those who live according to the flesh have their mind set on what the flesh desires. But those who live in accordance to the Spirit have their mind set on what the Spirit desires. Now see, I'm. Now I've got the Spirit. So I'm no longer just bound to doing what the animal instinct in me wants to do. Romans chapter 8, verse 11. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of the Spirit that lives in you. Romans 8:14. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Romans 8:26. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. This is why we should pray in the Spirit. That's why we should pray, pray in tongues. Because the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. Man, this is a game changer. The game changer is not. Now we move from a testament of law to a testament of grace. That's not what the Bible's ever saying. We're actually moving from the testament where no one has the Spirit living in them, to a testament where we now have the Holy Spirit. The thing that has changed is that the blood of Jesus Christ covers me so that I can get filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. With our timeless truth. I am completely dependent on the Holy Spirit. The grace of God and the blood of Jesus has cleansed me so that I can be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit so that I can live the life that I actually desire to live and that pleases the Lord. Without the Holy Spirit, we are absolutely powerless to do any of the righteous requirements of the law. And how do I have access to the Holy Spirit? Through faith Man. We just got through four chapters and I was flying through them, but I hope that it helps you to understand Romans chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8. Now we probably are going to turn our attention to what's the most difficult to understand passages of scripture in the book of Romans. That's Romans 9, 11. I'm proud of you for getting through today's content, for doing the reading and for being on this journey. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. So proud of you. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department Podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.