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Andre

The [...]]]> My parents have been visiting us – their first time in England – what a pleasure to show them the sights, sounds, tastes of England. Yesterday we took them to the Lyceum theater for the Lion King performance. I’m not particularly fond of theater, but I have to admit – this one I enjoyed.

The story has such a beautiful theme of lost & found identity …. in particular as it relates to one’s relationship with one’s father. The point at which Simba re-discovers his identity was so moving. The monkey asks him (Simba) to look into the water. He pulls away and says: “that’s just my own reflection”. She (I think its a she) says: “No, look deeper”. Simba looks again – longer and deeper. Suddenly, he recognises his father, his origin in his own reflection. The words of the song are:

He lives in you
He lives in me
He watches over
Everything we see
Into the water
Into the truth
In your reflection
He lives in you

Wow – for such truths I’ll sit through a three hour theater performance again!

It reminded me firstly of James where he said: “Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror; for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts—this person will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:24&25

Can you see how the word reveals the face of our origin … and then encourages us to live out our true identity. A while ago I translated verse 25 as follows:

Look and continue to look,
the perfect, complete, and eternal freedom.
Listen; listen intensely;
listen in such a way that you are able to express it as a poet; able to perform it like an actor…
then act; act in the full conviction of what you have seen and heard,
and you will find delight and affirmation in your action.

Another passage that sprang to mind was Psalm 23:

He leads me beside still water (water in which I can see my reflection … and recognise more than just myself)

He restores my soul. ( Restore means to bring back to the original )

So like the monkey in the Lion King, I want to encourage all of you to look again; to look longer and deeper into the still water. At first it might simply look like your own reflection, but keep on looking until you behold Him in this mirror. Discover Him in yourself and discover yourself in Him afresh. He is the truth about your identity – not your career; not your achievements; not your disappointments; not even a criminal record can make the faintest mark on the image of you that God preserved within this eternal realm – the still waters that reveals your original image and likeness.

3:1 Having said all that, you might ask whether there is still any advantage in being Jewish? Is there any significance in circumcision?

3:2 Everything only finds its relevance and value in the original intention of God realised by faith.

3:3 The question is, how does someone’s failure [...]]]> Chapter 3 (translation by Francois du Toit)

3:1 Having said all that, you might ask whether there is still any advantage in being Jewish? Is there any significance in circumcision?

3:2 Everything only finds its relevance and value in the original intention of God realised by faith.

3:3 The question is, how does someone’s failure to believe God affect the integrity of God? Would their unbelief reduce God’s faith to zero? 

3:4 God’s Word is not under threat! In fact if all of humanity fails, truth remains intact. Truth is rooted in God; it is neither challenged nor vindicated by man’s experience. (Truth doesn’t become true only if someone believes it.) Contradiction does not intimidate or diminish the faith of God. (What God believes about man, does not change through man’s unfaithfulness. God remains convinced about us.)

Scripture records that God stands justified in His own Word; it confirms that God’s promise and purpose are not compromised through man’s failure; neither is God’s reputation threatened by man’s behaviour.

3:5 We could argue then that God doesn’t have a right to judge us, if our unrighteousness only emphasises His?

3:6 That would make God an unfair judge of the world.

3:7 This almost sounds like I am saying that it is not really wrong to sin, if our cheating only serves to further contrast the truth of God.

3:8 Because of my emphasis on God’s grace, some people slanderously make the assumption and accuse me that my teaching would give people a licence to sin. “Let us do evil that good may come!”

I strongly condemn such foolish talk!

3:9 It has been proved again and again that sin holds the sway over both Jew and Greek alike.

3:10 Scripture records that within the context of the law, no-one succeeds to live a blameless life.

3:11 Because there seems to be no sincere craving and desire to know God there is no spiritual insight. (While man remains casual and indifferent about God, his heart remains calloused)

3:12 Their distraction has bankrupted their lives; that goes for the mass of mankind, without any exception.

3:13 “When they open their mouth to speak they bury one another with destructive words. They snake each other with lies and corruption.

3:14 With sharp tongues they cut one another to pieces, cursing and cheating; their every word is inspired by the wearisome effort to survive in a dog-eat-dog world.

3:15 Murder has become a regular ritual; without any regard for another’s life.

3:16 Their path is littered with broken lives.

3:17 They have lost the art of friendship.

3:18 They have completely lost sight of God.”

3:19 The fact that all these quotations are from Jewish writings, confirms that their law of moral conduct did not free them from the very same sins the rest of the world was trapped in. Universal mankind stands condemned before God.

3:20 The law therefore reveals how sinful man is, but has no power to present man blameless before God.

3:21 (This brings me back to the theme of my ministry, chapter 1:1, 2, 5,16,17.) Right now the righteousness of God (the fact that God succeeded to vindicate sinful mankind in Christ) is boldly declared in vivid contrast to the ability of man to do it himself (to be righteous by keeping the law.) This restored standing of man is what both the law and all the prophetic writings confirm and anticipate. (God’s dealing with man is based on the fact that man’s conscience continues to bear witness to his original design.)

3:22 Jesus is the embodiment of God’s faith in man. The righteousness of God is now on display in such a way that all may believe, regardless 

of who they are, there is no distinction!

3:23 The same mass of mankind that was once reduced to an inferior identity through their sin,

3:24 is now gifted with acquittal on the basis of the ransom paid by Jesus Christ for their liberation.

3:25 Jesus is the public exhibition of God’s mercy. His blood persuades mankind that God has dealt with the historic record of their sin.

He has done it in such a way that His own justice is satisfied. All along God refused to let go of man.

3:26 At this very moment His act of righteousness is pointing mankind to the evidence of their innocence, with Jesus as the source of their

faith.

3:27 The law of faith cancels the law of works; which means there is suddenly nothing left for man to boast in! No one is superior to another!

(Bragging only makes sense if there is someone to compete with or impress.)

3:28 This leaves us with only one logical conclusion, mankind is justified by faith and not by their ability to keep the law.

3:29 Which means that God is not the private property of the Jews but belongs equally to all the nations. (While the law excludes the non-

Jewish nations, faith includes us all on level terms.)

3:30 There is only one God, He deals with everyone, circumcised or uncircumcised exclusively on the basis of faith.

3:31 No, faith does not re-write the rules; instead it confirms that the original life-quality meant for mankind as documented in the law, is again

realised.

Notes

3:3 God does not stand indifferent to our failure, His love is larger than the sum total of human failure. He remains faithful to us! His faith knows our perfection because of His perfect act, amidst the greatest contradiction. Eph.3:18,19, Eph.2:10, Deut.32:4, James1:17,18.

3:4 See 2Cor.13:5 and 8, “…we can do nothing against the truth!”

David’s sin did not cancel God’s promise Psa_51:4 : “I acknowledge my sin, and condemn myself. I pray that the truth of thy promise (2Sa_7:15, 2Sa_7:16) to establish my house and throne for ever, may be vindicated when thou shalt execute that dreadful threatening, (2Sa_12:10), that the sword shall never depart from my house, which I own I have brought upon myself by my own iniquity. 

Ps 51:4 that thou might be justified in thy sayings, and might overcome when thou art judged

2Sa 7:15  But my mercy I will not take from him,

2Sa 7:16 and his house shall be made sure, and his kingdom for ever before me, and his throne shall be set up for ever.”

3:5-8 Philips translation But if our wickedness advertises the goodness of God, do we feel that God is being unfair to punish us in return? (I’m using a human tit-for-tat argument.) Not a bit of it! What sort of a person would God be then to judge the world? It is like saying that if my lying throws into sharp relief the truth of God and, so to speak, enhances his reputation, then why should he repay me by judging me a sinner? Similarly, why not do evil that good may be, by contrast all the the more conspicuous and valuable? (As a matter of fact, I am reported as urging this very thing, by some slanderously and others quite seriously! But, of course, such an argument is quite properly condemned.) 

3:9 Like any disease would show exactly the same symptom regardless of the person’s nationality

3:10 Psalm 14: 1To the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good.

2The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.

3They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one.

This argument is building up to the triumphant conclusion of the fact that there is indeed no distinction, the same people who all fell short of the glory of God are now justified through God’s work of grace in Christ. :21-24.

3:11 suniemi, a joint-seeing, spiritual insight.

3:13 v13-18 are quotations from Ps 10 and Ps 14.

3:14 Taken direct from the Hebrew text in Ps.10:7 Heb. tok tok from tavek, to cut to pieces. Heb. amal and aven to exert oneself in wearisome effort.

3:25,26 In both these verses Paul uses the word, endeixis, where we get the word indicate from. It is also part of the root for the word translated as righteousness, dikaiosune. To point out to show to convince with proof.

3:27 See 2Pet.1:1 “Through the righteousness of God we have received a faith of equal standing.”

Chapter1

1:1 Paul, passionately engaged by Jesus Christ, identified in Him to represent Him. My exclusive (marked out) message is to announce the news of the goodness of God to mankind.

1:2 This news is what the scriptures are all about. It remains the central prophetic theme and content of inspired writing.

1:3 The [...]]]> ROMANS 

Chapter1

1:1 Paul, passionately engaged by Jesus Christ, identified in Him to represent Him. My exclusive (marked out) message is to announce the news of the goodness of God to mankind.

1:2 This news is what the scriptures are all about. It remains the central prophetic theme and content of inspired writing.

1:3 The son of God has his natural lineage from the seed of David,

1:4 however, His powerful resurrection from the dead by the Holy Spirit, locates and confirms His beginning in God.

1:5 The grace and apostleship we received from Him, is to bring about the obedience of faith in all the nations. All the nations are identified in His name.

1:6 Jesus Christ gives definition to your design!

1:7 I am addressing this writing to you Romans, convinced of God’s love for you, He identified you in His son, as being separated unto Him. His grace gift in Christ secures your total wellbeing. The Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is ours also, He is our God.

1:8 My greatest joy is to realise that your faith is announced throughout the entire world. The total cosmos is our audience!

1:9 My spiritual worship is occupied with this one theme, the declaring of the goodness of God revealed in sonship, this inspires my prayers for you. God has every one of them on record!

1:10 I am already knitted to you in my prayers and how I long to also see you face to face!

1:11 I yearn to see you, knowing that my spiritual gift to you will benefit you greatly; it will cement and establish you.

1:12 And so we will be mutually encouraged in the reflection of our common faith.

1:13 Until now I have been prevented from coming to you, even though I have frequently desired to reap some harvest in you as much as I anticipate the full fruit of this gospel in all the nations.

1:14 I am so convinced of everyone’s inclusion; I am indebted both to the Greeks as well as those many foreigners whose languages we do not even understand. I owe this message to everyone, it is not a matter of how literate and educated people are, the illiterate are equally included in the benefit of the good news.

1:15 Because of this compelling urgency I am so keen to preach to you Romans also!

1:16 That is why I am not at all modest about the good news of Christ, I make no apologies! The powerful rescuing act of God becomes evident in everyone who believes. This salvation which was first declared to the Jews is now extended to the Greeks on equal terms.

1:17 The secret is out, God did it right in Christ; He is convinced about mankind and now persuades us to believe what He knows to be true about us. The prophets wrote in advance about this life of righteousness which would be based on faith and not on personal performance.

1:18 (The law) revealed God’s wrath from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness because mankind foolishly suppressed and concealed the truth in their unrighteousness,

1:19 even though God is not a stranger to them, for what can be known of God is already manifest in them. He is in their face.

1:20 God is on display in creation; the very fabric of visible cosmos appeals to reason. It clearly bears witness to the ever present sustaining power and intelligence of the invisible God, leaving man without any valid excuse to ignore Him.

1:21 Yet man only knew Him in a philosophical religious way, from a distance as it were, and failed to give Him credit as God. Their taking Him for granted and lack of gratitude veiled Him from them; they became absorbed in useless debates and discussions which further darkened their understanding about themselves.

1:22 Their wise conclusions only proved folly.

1:23 Loosing sight of God, made them loose sight of who they really were. In their calculation the true image and likeness of God became reduced to a corrupted and distorted pattern of themselves. Suddenly man has more in common with the creepy crawlies than with his original blue-print!

(The Message Translation)1:24 So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out.

1:25 And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them-the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!

1:26 Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn’t know how to be human either-women didn’t know how to be women, men

didn’t know how to be men.

1:27 Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men-all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it-emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.

1:28 Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose.

1:29 And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous,

1:30 fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way.

1:31 Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded.

1:32 And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care-worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!

NOTES:

v1 apostelo, an extension from Him, a representative

doulos, slave from deo, to be bound or knitted together like a husband and wife

kletos from kaleo, called, to identify by name, also the 2nd part of the word ecclesia, Math.16:17,18

eu + angellion good news, the official announcement of God’s goodness.

v 2 Math 22:41-45 and 23:9

v 4 apo + horizo, to mark out beforehand, to define or locate, lit. horizon, same word translated exclusive in v 1. Also in his preaching in Acts 13:32,33, Paul links the resurrection to Ps 2, …Today I have begotten you…He has come to locate us and confirm that we have our genesis in God!

v 5 obedience lit. accurate hearing. Every family in heaven and on earth, Eph 3:15. Note that Paul immediately sets out to give new definition to obedience, no longer by law, but of faith.

v 7 Gal.1:15,16 He separated me from my mother’s womb when He revealed His son in me, in order that I may declare Him in the nations

v  10 beseech, deomai, from deo to tie together, to be knitted together

v  11 metadidomi the kind of giving where the giver is not distanced from the gift but wrapped up in it!

The apostles, prophets, preachers, pastors and teachers are gifts to the believers to establish them in their faith and to present them in the full and mature stature of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-16. There is such a vast difference between a gift and a reward! We are God’s gifts to one another. What we are in our individual expression is a gift and not a reward for personal diligence or achievement. These gifts were never meant to establish one above the other, or to become mere formal titles, but rather to identify specific and dynamic functions with one defined purpose, to bring everyone into the realisation of the fullness of the measure of Christ in them!

v 14 to be indebted, to have to return something to someone that belongs to them in the first place.

v 17 In it (this gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed, from faith to faith. He is the Author and finisher of our faith. Heb.12:1.

The gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God; it declares how God got it right to put mankind right with Him. The word righteousness comes from the Anglo Saxon word, rightwiseness, wise in that which is right. In Greek the root word for righteousness, is the word dike, which means two parties finding likeness in each other. The Hebrew word for righteousness is the word tzadok, which refers to the beam in a scale of balances. If God is the standard measure, then that which reflects His likeness and image alone will balance the scale.

Habakkuk 2:4…”the just shall live by faith.” The Hebrew word for faith means a total dependence like a child upon the breast of his mother.

v 18 The law reveals how guilty and sinful man is, while the gospel reveals how forgiven and restored to his original blueprint man is.

Summary notes

Understanding the wrath and judgement of God in context:

From chapter1:18 to 3:20 Paul proceeds to give a graphic display of distorted human behaviour. Being a Jew, and therefore to know the law, offers no real advantage since it offers no disguise from sin. It is the same ugliness and deserves the same judgement.

His triumphant statement in v 16,17 of chapter1 and again reinforced in chapter 3:21-24, is set against this backdrop. The good news declares the power of God to rescue man from the ‘guttermost’ to the uttermost.

He brings the argument of the ineffectiveness of the law to get man to change his behaviour, to a final crescendo in Chapter 7. He states in 7 verse 1 that he is writing to those who know the law. They have first hand experience therefore of the weakness of the rule to consistently govern the conduct of man.

The best that the law could offer was to educate and confirm good intention; but the more powerful law, the law of sin introduced to universal mankind through one man’s transgression, has to be challenged by a greater force than human willpower.

Because sin robbed man of his true identity and awakened in him all kinds of worse-than-animal-like conduct, a set of rules couldn’t do it. The revelation of God’s righteousness has to be far more effective and powerful than the revelation of man’s guilt.

Paul’s argument is that it is evident that because of man’s corrupt behaviour, mankind deserves nothing less than God’s wrath and condemnation. Yet within this context the grace and mercy of God is revealed, not as mere tolerance from God’s side to turn a blind eye and to put up with sin, but as God’s triumphant act in Christ to break sin’s spell and dominion over man.

For salvation to be relevant it has to offer mankind a basis and reference for his faith to launch from. It has to offer a conclusion of greater implication than the stalemate condition man finds himself in under the dispensation of the law.

“Even though my inner man agrees that the law is good and desires to obey its requirements, my best intentions leave me powerless against the demands of sin in my body! Oh, wretched man that I am!”

Woe be unto us, but for the revelation of God’s righteous intervention! The wrath and judgement man rightfully deserved fell on Christ; He was made to be sin who knew no sin. “He was handed over because of our transgressions, and triumphantly raised because of our acquittal.” (4:25)

For his act of obedience and sacrifice to carry more weight and significance than the act of Adam’s disobedience and sin He has to qualify, like Adam to represent the same mass of humanity that stood condemned. Also, His act on mankind’s behalf must be recognised in the highest courts of universal justice, superior to any contradiction or condemnation. His judgement and death has to fully represent man for it to be of any relevance to man’s faith. If He didn’t die our death we would be presumptuous to reckon that we also co-died with Him.