Bible Study on Romans Session 10

Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans;

A Bible Study Based upon the Homilies of St John Chrysostom (SJC)

Study Guide – January 15, 2019 – Romans 4.23-5.11 – Homily 9

Prayer before reading of the Holy Scriptures: Shine within our hearts, loving Master, the pure light of Your divine knowledge, and open the eyes of our minds that we may comprehend the message of Your Gospel. Instill in us also reverence for Your blessed commandments so that, having conquered sinful desires, we may pursue a spiritual life, thinking and doing all those things which are pleasing to You. For You, Christ our God, are the light of our souls and bodies, and to You we give glory, together with Your Father who is without beginning and Your all holy, good and life giving Spirit, always now and forever and to the ages of ages.

Chapter 4, Verses 23-25

  • Paul establishes that are equal in honor to Abraham since we too were/are reconciled when we believe in the same God and about the same thing.
  • Paul shows the resurrection as proof of our justification. SJC “For if Christ were a sinner, how did He rise from the dead? But if He rose from the dead, it is obvious that He was not guilty of sin. But if He was of guilt of sin, why was He crucified? He was crucified for the sake of others.” (Pg 167, #3)

Chapter 5, Verses 1-5

  • Paul urges us to be at peace with our way of life. SJC “‘Let us have peace,’ that is, let us sin no more, let us not return to our former ways, for that is making war against God.” (Pg 167, #6)
  • Acquiring peace is harder than keeping it – SJC “Therefore, if Christ gave us access when we were far away, much more will He keep us now that we are near…It is the grace of being deemed worthy of the knowledge of God, the grace of being freed from error, the grace of knowing the truth, the grace of obtaining all the blessings that come to us through baptism.” (Pg 168, #8-10)
  • Grace is spoken of in present AND future. It has no limit, it has not end. SJC “For neither man, nor time, nor circumstances, nor death, can come and cast us out of these blessings.” (Pg 169, #12)
  • We must feel certain of what has been given, and what will be given by God.
  • Exult in the struggle for endurance sake – SJC “For not only are tribulations not destructive of such hope, but they are well suited for providing it.” (Pg 170, #18)
  • Since God made the promise, we can rest in hope – SJC “We all know that God is willing because we all know that He can grant them, that He keeps His promises, and that He lives. ‘But how do we know that He is willing?’ From the things that He has already done…For God gave this love, which was the greatest gift – not heaven and earth and sea, but that which was more precious than all these. God gave a love that has made men into angels, sons of God, and brothers of Christ. And what is this gift? It is the Holy Spirit.” (Pg 171-172, #21-22)

Chapter 5, Verses 6-11

  • Blessings were poured out in abundance
  • Paul offers a guarantee of future blessings:
    • He saved
    • He justified
    • He made us immortal
    • He made us sons and heirs
  • SJC “Consider this: Paul wishes to give his audience a guarantee about the future blessings. First he reproves them by the statement of Abraham, the just man, when he said that Abraham was fully persuaded that God could do whatever He promised. Nest his guarantee rests on the grace that has been given; then on the tribulations, because they could lead us to hope; and again on the Spirit whom we have received; and finally on Christ’s death and the wickedness of our former lives.” (Pg 172, #26)
  • Nothing compares to God’s love – SJC “Nothing we can claim matches the glory and confidence the fact that we are loved by God and that we have a friend in Him who loves us.” (Pg. 174, #32)

Life Application – Glory is God’s presence and love

  • Be like the angels – “Let us not only be eager to stand close to the throne, but also to have Him who is seated upon the throne dwelling within us. For He loved us even when we hated Him.” (Pg. 174, #34)
  • God punishes us because He loves us – “How does a God who loves us threaten us with Gehenna and punishment and vengeance? He does so for this very reason, namely; because He loves us. he does all this in an effort to cut out your tendency toward evil. he frightens you as if this fear were a kind of bridle to restrain you from rushing on to a worse way of acting. He gives blessings and pains to send you up from your downward path, to lead you to Himself and away from all evil, which is a worse state than Gehenna…But those with a discerning mind know that the sickness is worse than the pain of the scalpel’s cut, just as being wicked is worse than being punished. For the one leads to cure and a return to health; the other destroys one’s health and leaves the patient continually ailing. Surely it is clear to everyone that health is better than sickness.” (Pg. 174-175, #35-37)
  • We often choose what is bad for us – “Many men are pleased with what is worse and choose it, while they turn aside from what is better. And we can see this in the case of foods, government, of this life’s desires, of the enjoyment of pleasure, of wives, of houses, of slaves, of fields, and of everything else.” (Pg 175, #39)
  • Punishment is for a cure to sin – “For if the punishment were an evil for the sinners, God would not have added evils to evils, nor would He have wished to make the sinners worse men. For God, who does everything to quench evil, would not have increased it. Therefore, punishment is not an evil for the sinner. But it is an evil for one in the state of sin not to be punished, just as not being cured is an evil for one who is sick.” (Pg. 176, #41)
  • A life of labor keeps us focused on God – “This is why God made our present life one of labor. He did this so that He might free us from slavery and bring us into genuine and perfect freedom. This is why God threatened punishment and made toils our lot in life by putting bonds on our conceited minds. So too, when the Jews were bound to the mud and the making of bricks, they lived moderately and constantly called upon God. But when they got their freedom, they murmured and provoked the Master and pierced themselves with countless evils.” (Pg. 176, #43)
  • We must endure what afflicts us – “And how will I be able to avoid being changed for the worse when tribulations comes? You will be able to do so if you realize that, whether you wish it or not, you will have to endure what has afflicted you. If you bear it with gratitude, you will reap the greatest profit. But if you bear it with impatience, with passionate rage and blasphemy, you will not in that way make your misfortune less, but you will make the waves of pain greater.” (Pg 177, #45)
  • Love conquers all – “But if you are weak and in pain, how will you be able to feel grateful to the Master? You can if you truly love Him. for the three boys who were thrown into the fiery furnace, and others who were imprisoned and faced with countless other trials, nefer stopped giving thanks. Much more will those who are in the grip if disease and feeling the pangs of sickness be able to do this. For there is nothing – surely there is nothing – that love cannot conquer. When the love is the love of God, it is the loftiest of all loves. Neither fire, nor sword, nor poverty, nor sickness, nor death, nor any other such thing will seem terrible to the one who possesses such love as this.” (Pg. 178, #49-50)

Send-Off – Love the love of God“Let us, therefore, love this love of God (for there is nothing that can match it) both for the sake of things of this world and those of the world to come. Rather, more than this, let us love it because of the nature of this love itself. for it will free us from the punishments of this world and those of the ages to come, and we shall enjoy God’s kingdom. Yet neither freedom from Gehenna nor enjoyment of the kingdom is anything in comparison to what we are going to say. For it is greater than all these to have Christ as our beloved and our lover at the same time. When this happens with men, it is loftier than any pleasure.” (Pg. 178, #51-52)