Douglas Jacoby Podcast

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Listen to the 16th podcast (23 minutes) in our series on Romans. Verses referred to are 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; 2 Timothy 4:18; Hebrews 7:25; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; Jude 21; and Psalm 44. For more no "already, but not yet," listen here. The word Paul seems to have made up is hypernikomen -- "we overwhelmingly conquer" or "we are super-victorious."

Paul has now made his case. Lost humanity (chapters 1-3) can be justified by faith (chapters 4-5). As a result of our death with Christ (chapter 6) we can escape frustration (chapter 7), increasingly sharing in his glory (chapter 8). All of this is from God.
 Having completed his argument, Paul turns next to consider the place of Israel (chapters 9-11).

Suggested for memorization: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose" (8:28).

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

The 15th lesson in our series (16 minutes) is Romans O, covering the middle section of chapter 8. Verses referred to include Galatians 5:18; Psalms 40:8; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Acts 5:32; and 1 Chronicles 4:10. The Aramaic word with which we may approach God in prayer is Abbá, meaning daddy. The error of cross-less Christianity, which seems to be advocated in the bestselling The Prayer of Jabez, is addressed in this article.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Lesson N (12 minutes) begins the second half of the series Romans A-Z. Listen carefully for the many connections to the concepts Paul has developed earlier in the letter. The Greek words for condemnation and flesh were katakrima and sarx, respectively. Verses referred to outside Romans include Jeremiah 8:4; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:18; Acts 2:38.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Other biblical passages referred to in this lesson include Acts 15 (the Jerusalem Council); Galatians (the whole epistle); Matthew 26:31 (Mark 14:38); and James 1:6-8.

Suggested for memory: "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!..." (7:24-25)

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Some passages referred to in this podcast: 1 Peter 4:1-3; 1 John 2:15-17; Jude 4; Titus 2:11-14.
Terminology:

• Justification — becoming right with God. Usually refers to initial salvation. See Romans 4-5.
• Sanctification — being transformed inwardly by the power of the Spirit to take on the character of Christ. Usually refers to ongoing change. See Romans 8.
• Edification — viewing the church as the body of Christ, we strive to build it up through love and using the gifts God has given us. See Romans 12.
• Glorification — being exalted with Christ as biblical hope is consummated. See Romans 8.

Suggested for memory: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (6:23).

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

In chapters 1-3 Paul reasons that all are hopelessly lost, and in chapters 4-5 that they are justified freely by grace, not works. In chapters 6-8 Paul will describe what the new life in Christ looks like.  The old is obliterated by the new. Grace radically transforms our world!

Notes:

• Antinomianism is the idea that there is no law at all for spiritual persons — that they are above the law, or even that they should flout the law to show their superior position. (Nomos is the Greek word for law, hence anti [against] + nomian.)
• Passages on baptism and death: Romans 6:3,6; Galatians 2:20, 5:24, 6:14; Colossians 2:12, 2:20, 3:1-3, 3:5.
• Two resurrections are in view: our rebirth (at baptism) and our transformation at the last day (the general resurrection). For more on the general resurrection, please listen to the relevant podcast in the Last Things series.

Suggested for memory: "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (6:3-4).

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Sin came into the world through Adam (v.12), and salvation also comes to the world through one man, Christ. Sin spread through personal contact and personal choice. No one is born damned (Augustine's view); we separate ourselves from God by our own will. By God's grace--provided we are willing to receive it--all have the chance to be made right with God.

Warning: The following material is quite dense. Try to hang with Paul, as he develops his contrast between the First Adam (Genesis 3) and the second Adam, Christ (Romans 5; 1 Corinthians 15).

Note: The doctrine of original sin was formulated by Augustine (354-430 AD), bishop of Hippo (in North Africa). It is a central tenet of Reform Theology, though difficult to justify biblically. It rests on a mistranslation of one phrase in Romans 5:12, eph' hō, which means "because." And yet Jerome, in his Latin Vulgate (tr. by 384 AD), had mistakenly rendered it in quo, meaning "in whom." For more on this, please hear the podcast/read the article on Original Sin.

Suggested for memory: "Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all" (5:18).

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Passages referred to include Acts 23:6; Ephesians 4:4; Titus 3:5; and Galatians 4:6. The sequence mentioned in the lesson is: weak--godless--sinners--enemies.

Suggested for memory: "... We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produced hope" (Romans 5:3-4).

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

While I referred to a number of biblical passages, here are the extrabiblical texts cited (extra = Latin for outside; hence, "outside the Bible):

• “…You, O Lord… have not appointed repentance for the righteous, for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against you.” Pr. Man. 8
• “For Abraham was perfect in all his actions with the Lord and was pleasing through righteousness…” Jub. 23.10.
• “And we find that Abraham our ancestor had performed the whole law before it was given.” Qidd. 4.14.
• “The faith with which their ancestor Abraham believed in me merits that I should divide the sea for them.” Mek. Exod. 14.15[35b]

The discussion of justification by faith continues...

Suggested for memory: "For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham, believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness'" (Romans 4:3).

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

This is the seventh lesson (20 minutes) in our series, Romans A-Z.  There is some overlap with the previous podcast, is it ended with 3:10-18. Here we return to 3:10-18 for some deeper interpretive spadework, then complete the chapter. Some passages referred to in this podcast (not all--sorry!) are Genesis 19; Judges 19; Psalms 10-12; Job 28:18; Romans 7:12, 16, 21; 1 Timothy 1:8. The Greek word I cited was nomos -- the usual word for law, though some versions render it "principle" in v.27, perhaps because the translators are uncomfortable with Paul's positive allusions to law.

After these three chapters on sin (Romans 1-3), the foundation will have been laid for Paul's key chapters on justification by faith (Romans 4-5).

Suggested for memory: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23-24).