Romans 23: To Have...And To Be

[Rebbe]

PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMAN CHRISTIANS (23)
Analytical Commentary on Romans

TO HAVE... AND TO BE

Copyright © BRI 2017 All Rights Reserved Worldwide by Les Aron Gosling,
Messianic Lecturer (BRI/IMCF)

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"In whatever way a person chooses, therein is he led" (Makkos 10b). We tend to disown those thoughts, feelings, and actions that we dislike. Something we saw, read, or heard upset us, we like to think, and caused us to think, feel, or act in a certain way. We forget that we have considerable say in what we choose to see or hear. Psychiatry and psychology have contributed to this abdication of responsibility. Their emphasis on the impact of early-life events on our emotions has been taken to mean that these factors determine our psyche, and that we are but helpless victims of our past. We forget that if someone puts trash on our doorstep, we do not have to take it in; even if it was put into the house and filled it with an odor, we have the option to throw it out and clean up. Similarly, even if early-life experiences have an impact, the effects are not cast in stone; we can take steps to overcome them.

"A man once complained to his rabbi that alien thoughts were interfering with his prayer and meditation. The rabbi shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know why you refer to them as alien," he said. "They are your own." If we stop disowning feelings and actions, we may be able to do something about them. Today I shall... try to avoid exposing myself to those influences that are likely to stimulate feelings and behavior that I think are wrong" -- Rabbi Abraham Twerski

"If a man hasn't got something worth dying for, then his life isn't worth living"
-- Martin Luther King, Jr

Some have wondered along with the Jews "Well, there was a righteousness that Abraham did have because it is written that Abraham was circumcised, and that must have helped towards his righteousness or justification." But we answered that objection in our past lecture. But so strong is that belief it again has raised its head.

Back in the Second Temple period Paul anticipated the argument from the rabbinic sector. Did circumcision have any place in the obtaining of Abraham's righteousness? Paul says absolutely not! "How then was it reckoned? When he (Abraham) was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? NOT IN CIRCUMCISION but in uncircumcision!" (Romans 4.10). And why is this the case? While I have already approached this subject let me state the facts in another manner so the matter will be cleared up once and for all.

Look at Genesis 16.16. Abraham was "fourscore and six years old" when his Egyptian concubine Hagar (Sarah's Egyptian Princess) gave birth to Ishmael. Back in Genesis 15 we read of Abraham receiving his righteousness. Then further on, after Genesis 16, in Genesis 17.25,26 it is recorded that he was 99 years old when he was circumcised. That's a full 13 years after Ishmael was born! Alva McClain rightly observed, "Abraham already had his righteousness thirteen years (according to the Jews' own Scripture), probably fourteen years before God required the rite of circumcision."

He adds, "Because the rite [of circumcision] was not what secured righteousness for the man did not mean that it was excluded from any place in the plan of God. "And received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised" (Ro 4:11). Though circumcision does not secure righteousness, it is a seal of righteousness already received" (McClain, op.cit., 115).

Abraham believed God. Abraham believed against hope. Abraham believed in spite of circumstances. Abraham believed without staggering. And Abraham believed God could perform. As a consequence of this faith, this belief, this trusting Abraham freely received justification, God's own righteousness. Abraham most certainly was and IS a representative of all humanity. There is only ONE way God saves human beings in all ages -- it is by trusting, apart from works.

Now, I have personally had objections raised to me concerning the receiving of justification as a major blessing from God received by faith. The mentality seems to be that some of us are programmed to acknowledge blessings from heaven only by effort exercised in cooperation with the Ruach HaKodesh -- a sort-of "cause and effect" mindset. Obey God in "this" and God will give you "that." And we are assured in this argument that this stand takes FAITH. And of course, I readily admit, there are innumerable Scriptures to back up such a position. There are also very important self-help books available which can aid us in our pursuit of material blessings. The works by Napoleon Hill come readily to mind ("Think & Grow Rich" (1937) and his The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons (1928) in two volumes) as well as The New Master Key System (1916; updated 2008) by Charles F. Haanel. There is little doubt that "patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success."

There are spiritual blessings that are available from God Himself through the exercise of our FAITH. We must direct our confidence toward Him. There is no other way, certainly not by works, to receive them. Paul makes that fact candidly clear indeed. BUT to receive material blessings we are dealing with another kettle of fish entirely. There is a cause for every effect. By utilising a working knowledge of biblical principles, they can work for us and give us rich dividends in a variety of beneficial ways. But spiritual blessings (such as justification) can only ever be received by faith (Rom 3.28). Consider also, that we have access to Grace only by faith (Rom 5.2). When there are a variety of options we can take, and only ONE will suffice, "whatsoever is not of faith is SIN" (Rom 14.23). God wants that we should take this life very seriously. I cannot help but wonder how many of us really do.

THE TEXT
"Therefore, since we are justified by faith, let us continue to have shalom with God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom as an entree we have obtained permanent access to this Grace in which we permanently stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our turbulent troubles, knowing that turbulent troubles produce endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts flooding them through the agency of the Ruach HaKodesh that has been given to us."  

"For while we were still helpless, at the right strategic time the Messiah died for the ungodly. Indeed, very rarely will anyone die for an individual who is legally exact and precise in his observance of the customs and rules of the society in which he lives -- though perhaps for a person who is generous of heart always accomplishing good for other people someone might actually dare to die. But God constantly proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners the Messiah died for us.

"Much more certainly then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by the life he possesses. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have now received the reconciliation" (Romans 5.1-11).

BLESSINGS THAT ACCOMPANY JUSTIFICATION
I have often resorted to lecturer Alva McClain's fine works as collected, compiled and edited by Herman Hoyt (1973) and admit free access to the studious works of Kittel, Vincent and Wuest among others in a pursuit of the truth relating to Paul's Letter to the Roman Christians. I make no apology for it. Of course, the conclusions I arrive at are peculiarly my own -- and those of the holy Spirit.

There are immense blessings that accompany Justification by Faith. These are not physical blessings or accoutrements but spiritual advantages. What are these spiritual blessings concerning which we already have in our possession? You need to know what they are so that you can take immediate advantage of them!

McClain states: "A good many people think of justification as the first or initial blessing of the Christian life, its value ending at that point. But while justification is the initial blessing, it is more than that in the Christian life. Justification is not only the first or initial blessing, but justification carries with it every other blessing of the Christian life, and when a man is justified, he has everything that God has to give.

"So, let us never think of justification as being a small thing. It is the greatest thing in the Christian life, because it carries with it everything else. There are a great many Christians who are not enjoying every blessing. There may be some Christians who do not know what they received when God justified them and of course can't enjoy what they are ignorant of. But that does not change the fact that when God gives justification by faith, He gives with that justification everything that He has to give" (Romans: The Gospel of God's Grace, 1973, 121).

With Alva McClain, I can count TWELVE blessings associated with the receipt of justification. But before we look at those twelve spiritual blessings we need to consider two vitally important things.

Firstly, justification by faith was poured out onto the world 2000 long years past! The world was justified at the bloody death of Messiah. The Greek for "justified" indicates it as a past event -- it is an accomplished fact. When it is activated by our faith it is something that takes place instantaneously. None of us therefore can ever grow into justification! This was the great Roman Catholic error! It was a gross absurdity which Martin Luther combated with ferocious intensity. None of us can experience justification as something that can be perceived as a continuous process or a work in progress. Such a conception is an utter impossibility.

Secondly, Paul writes in such a way as including two key phrases which occur twice in this section of Romans 5.1-11... "We have" which orients around the present and is indicative of the fact that we possess something of value RIGHT NOW, and "we shall be..." or "we will be" which clearly augments something THAT WE SHALL BE in the future.

What are the twelve spiritual blessings we possess as a consequence of our activating our justification by faith?

THE TWELVE SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS
[1] Being justified by faith WE HAVE "peace with God."  Justification is the ground of peace or shalom. Sin no longer has the power to prevent us from experiencing and ENJOYING the intimate Presence of the emanation of utter holiness before God. There are books in Christian book outlets that are written on just this subject of having peace with God, and they mostly concentrate on our feeling (emotion) of peace or tranquility as a psychological STATE of mind. But this is not what the apostle Paul had in mind. After all, I have known -- and YOU have also known -- folk who work with self-hypnosis at creating a peaceful, tranquil state of mind and who believe they are ONE with God in their experience of physical and psychological calmness and they are not even converted! [N.B., I am not saying that I believe self-hypnosis is wrong to engage in or to practice, as both the Rebbetzin and myself have utilised similar, if not the same, PMA techniques like auto-suggestion which we have found to be most helpful.]
Having said this, such persons certainly APPEAR to have peace within themselves yet do not actually have peace -- shalom --  with God. Contrariwise, as McClain rushes to articulate, "A Christian who is untaught and does not know the truth may have peace with God [in actuality] and yet not feel at peace in himself" (ibid, 123).

Paul is speaking from the point of view of what God has done for the sinner. It is penned from a God-perspective in relation to man and not the other way around. In Romans 5.10 Paul notes "When we were enemies." A sinner unrepentant is an ENEMY of God and an ENEMY of the cross of Christ. How can it be otherwise? Unsaved men and women have hearts that are hostile toward God: "They are not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be" (Romans 8.7). They have "enmity toward God" (same verse). When at last that enmity is curtailed and broken there happens a result of PEACE between sinful man and God. And when that person realises he is forgiven there is an experience of peace that floods the soul and spirit within. Yes, THAT is a foregone conclusion. HOWEVER an emotion of peace deep inside ought not be confused with "the external relationship of peace with God, which is the subject about which the apostle is now talking" (McClain, 124, emphasis mine).

Concerning this peace or shalom with God, Professor Wuest assures us: "The context [of Romans 5.1] is didactic. It contains definite statements of fact. It is highly doctrinal in nature. It has to do with a sinner's standing before God in point of law, not his experience... Furthermore, there is a difference between having peace with God and having the peace of God in the heart. The first has to do with justification, the second with sanctification. The first is the result of a legal standing, the second, the result of the work of the Holy Spirit. The first is static, never fluctuates, the second changes from hour to hour. The first, every Christian has, the second, every Christian may have. The first, every Christian has as a result of justification. What sense would there be in exhorting Christians to have peace when they already possess it? The entire context is one of justification..." (Wuest's Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, Vol.1, Romans., 76f, emphasis mine).

Yes! The ENTIRE context is one of justification. Sanctification -- and I mean positional sanctification (which is a term I will explain when we get to it) -- is pursued by Paul from Romans 5.12-21 and further in Romans 6.1-8.27 where he deals extensively with progressive sanctification.

Greek scholar Vincent agrees when speaking of this peace of Romans 5.1. "Not contentment, satisfaction, quiet [which is what Philippians 4.7 concentrates on]; but the state of reconciliation as opposed to enmity [referencing Rom 5.10]" (Marvin Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, 1887, Vol.III, 57).

Certainly in Romans 5.1ff Paul has the writings of the prophet Isaiah in his mind. Isaiah had written, "He was wounded for our transgressions... the chastisement of our peace was upon him" (Isa 53.5). He suffered for our sins. He was punished for our sins. He died for our sins. The result was PEACE between us and God the Father and as a consequence God is no longer angry at this time -- He certainly is not angry with us!

Paul takes up this same theme when he pens the Messianic Community residing in Ephesus. He writes, "He IS our peace" (Eph 2.14). Christ is not interested in making us "feel" peaceful, but rather Christ brought peace between us and God. In other words what Christ has done for us is to make peace in our relationship with God. He took away the enmity and then -- as a consequence -- made peace. For, "having slain the enmity, He came and preached peace to you that were near [the Jews] and to them that were afar off [Gentiles]" (Eph 2.17).

When we all stand before the Messiah Yeshua at his second Advent there will be no need to experience a subsequent trembling with horror in the Presence of such awesome and extreme HOLINESS because we have peace IN Him!

[2] Being justified by faith WE HAVE "access, by faith, into this Grace."
Knoch has well written that "peace is a favour infinitely beyond justification. God's affections are not satisfied with clearing us from all guilt. He craves our love and our adoration. Righteousness alone does not give us a passport into His presence, but this further grace of reconciliation urges us into full and affectionate fellowship with Him. And we are aware that He will not rest in having us clothed in forensic righteousness only, but will make us all that He desires, to satisfy His own love. His way of winning our response is to pour His own love into us first, as exemplified in the death of Christ for us while we were most undeserving of His favour. The grace of it lies in the entire lack of anything in us to draw out His affections toward us" (A.E. Knoch, Concordant Commentary on the New Testament, 1968, 234).

Our word "access" is from the Greek prosagoge which is made up from two words pros or "facing" and ago "to bring." From secular documents of the time it speaks of a person who brings another into the presence of a third party. Moulton and Milligan in their Vocabulary of the Greek Testament refer to a second century ms in which we read, "Cronion, who now happens to be in Alexandria, will bring them before his highness the high-priest."

Marvin Vincent tells us that literally "access" is "the act of bringing to." Hence, introduction. He thoughtfully adds, concerning Paul's wording "access into this Grace," that Paul is picturing "Grace... as a field into which we are brought. Compare Gal I.6; v.4; 1 Pet v.12. The state of justification which is preeminently a matter of Grace" (Vincent., op.cit, 58 emphasis mine).

Kenneth Wuest reflects on his understanding of pros'agog as speaking of a person who secured for his friend an audience with a king and who brought him properly attired into the Royal presence and favour. The French have a word for this, entree. Wuest utilises this term in his expanded translation of Romans and I have done so as well. For that is precisely what Yeshua has done for each of us. Yeshua clothes us with His own righteousness, cleanses us in his own previous blood, and ushers us into the FULL favourable presence (Grace, charis) of FatherMother God.

Therefore, due to ALL that Christ has legally accomplished on our behalf it remains that we are the beneficiaries of a complete and continuous access to the Throne of God's Grace. We are very welcome to be there. McClain shares with us that "peace and access in the Bible always go together." Or, as Paul would put it (and did so in Ephesians 2.18) "We both have access by one Spirit unto the Father."

[3] Being justified by faith WE HAVE a standing in Grace.
How can any sinner stand in the Presence of a HOLY God? The Psalmist asked the same question: "If you, LORD, should mark all our iniquities, O LORD, who shall stand?" (Ps 130.3). Its a very appropriate question indeed, for WHO can stand righteously before the Throne of God's immeasurable Grace? The answer is one that brings us to our spiritual senses: Those forgiven by God can. God's "Firstfruits" can. The "just" can. The "righteous can." We can. And how is this possible? Because we have been justified by the Faith of Christ. And we have personally activated our faith in God's righteousness and judgments and loving acceptance of us in His Son Yeshua, and we KNOW God has applied the life of Christ directly to us.

But there are some who cannot stand before God. Again, the Psalmist utters terrifying words of warning to those who rebel against God and who have not known His ways to Life. "The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment" (Ps 1.5). The ungodly cannot hope to STAND before God on the Last Day -- they will be reduced to wrack and ruin before Him and His Messiah. (See also Rev 6.17: "Who shall be able to stand?")

But on a very positive note "being justified by faith, we have [a standing]." Let us recognize once and for all, that we stand IN Yeshua the Messiah! As McClain stresses so accurately, "We stand, and our standing is in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus is the only place any man will ever be able to stand. How is that standing maintained? By Grace. Any man who tries to stand in his own works, his own character, his own righteousness [and sense of inner purity] will fall. Grace is the only thing that can maintain his standing. I praise God for His Grace this day, and you ought to, too" (McClain., op.cit., 126).

[4] Being justified by faith WE HAVE joy ("we rejoice") "in the hope of the glory of God."
When we were promised eternal life we were promised "the glory of God." Look up any Concordance of the New Testament! Look at how often "glory" is mentioned in direct connection to our future inheritance of everlasting life. We are promised GLORY. And not mere glory, but the GLORY OF GOD. We are promised eternal life (and yes, we already possess that everlasting life in essence but we are yet still flesh and blood) so the full complement of LIFE which we will all embrace ("be clothed upon") will be GLORIOUS SPIRIT. And the Scripture says "flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15.50). Therefore, our Tripartite Being -- our "spirit, soul and body" -- is destined to be CONVERTED from this temporary vessel into PURE SPIRIT AS GOD IS SPIRIT. Yes, we surely can REJOICE.

But most Christians have no idea of what awaits them when that change comes with the advent of Yeshua and our appointment with heavenly Destiny. God's GLORY happens to be precisely WHAT God is in FACT. God's very own glory is what God happens to be in CHARACTER -- in essential POWER -- in APPEARANCE. Why haven't biblical teachers emphasised this great TRUTH? And why is it that over the last century this knowledge has been LOST to the masses of believers who wonder what their calling has been all about?!? The reason they have not heard THIS Gospel of what pertains to our eternal life WITH Our Lord Yeshua is that there has been a defection from right knowledge in the churches of this world, and a true, authentic, trustworthy and genuine Teaching Ministry is extremely rare to locate! Oh, there are some teachers with the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh alright, but you have to journey miles (or spend untold hours on Google) to find them. And then one has to be cautious, discerning, questioning. A Messianic Christian is not spelled "MUG." There are false lying spirits abounding in our society today, and they are linked directly to the world of the Occult from which they proceed to beguile and deceive as "angels of light."

Remember, we are assured by God Himself that we are called to become "conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8.29). Yeshua is the "brightness of God's glory" in Hebrews 1.3 and that "brightness" is from a Greek word meaning "OUT-SHINING."

We are commanded to rejoice in that which we are destined to become.

Make no mistake! There are believers who are so woefully and negatively transfixed on their own sense of destitute being, their own worthlessness, their weariness, body size, their little stature (or oversized growth) and other defects illustrating that which nature has granted them, that they are so stuck with their nose in their navel they cannot see what is being offered by God. But this is not something that is being offered -- it is in fact THE REALITY THEY WILL INHERIT. THE ACTUAL GLORY OF GOD.

Some of us really need to use our creative imaginations more wisely.

Indeed REJOICE!

[5] Being justified by faith "WE GLORY in trials."
When Paul uses the word "tribulations" or "trials" in Romans 5.3 the Greek word is thlipsis -- meaning "a pressing, pressing together, pressure, oppression, affliction, distress, straits" (See W.E.Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, 1940). Professor Wuest tells us that thlipsis is preceded by the definite article "marking these out as things naturally expected in a Christian's life." We can ONLY enter the Kingdom of God through MUCH tribulation and MANY severe trials (Acts 14.22). McClain is even more pointed: He notes,

"Let me emphasise the verb, we rejoice in them! The unbeliever is unable to do that. To the unbeliever this life is all he has. He has no prospect of joy or happiness hereafter. He doesn't even know whether there is another life. If, in this life, his joy and happiness is marred by tribulation and affliction, he is miserable, because he has lost all he had.

"But it is not thus with the Christian. No matter how dark it may be, he knows the morning still comes. There is not an experience nor a tribulation, no matter how hard it is, that will take away his hope. He can actually take a tribulation, look it in the face and say, "I thank God for this! I rejoice in it!"

"(But what Paul wrote is often mistranslated to mean) we rejoice in spite of tribulation. But it does not mean that "I thank God in spite of my tribulations." Paul says in effect, "I thank God for my tribulations" (McClain, op.cit., 127).

I well recall my wife and I attending for a short period an Anglican Church -- this was many years ago. One Sunday morning service the rector was giving his ordinarily dull meatless sermon when he asked his parishioners to participate in it by publicly thanking God for blessings they had received in the last month. Some timorously put up their hands and offered, when they were chosen, to articulate that for which they were thankful.

"I'm happy to have received a blessing of a new Bible."

"I got from my doctor a clean health report when I thought all was lost."

"My dog ran away from home but he was returned by a kind lady who lived a mile away."

"My hubby discovered his college ring he thought he had lost. It was in my underwear drawer. I don't know why it was in there."

It came to be my turn. My hand had been up for about five minutes. "I thank God for trials we have been enduring."

There was an instant gasp, and the Rector nearly fell out of his elevated pulpit. After he recovered from his own shock, he choked out a response of disbelief in my audacity.

But biblically I was correct in my attitude to trials. Oh, I know full well that when the floor falls out from beneath you there is a compelling initial sense of being well and truly gutted. Of course there is. We would not be human if we were continually stoic in our feelings and observations concerning life and all it has to offer. We live in a Wild Kingdom of our own. We worship a Wild God, too. Never forget that fact. Don't believe me? Take a close look at our chaotic universe, ordered in some ways and extremely untamed and wild in others. And take a glance at nature here on our planet's Wild Kingdom. Take a look at some cable channels if you have cable TV. Discovery channel or any wildlife channel and you will see what I mean.

Brethren, God is the Nature of nature itself. The planet may be ruled over by haSatan, and it may well have been raped and ruined by a stupid humanity, but it belongs ONLY to God.

Paul wrote, "If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we also may be glorified together.  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the GLORY which shall be revealed IN us" (Romans 8.17,18).

[6] Being justified by faith WE HAVE a hope that "makes not ashamed."
Professor Kenneth Wuest writes that "Paul did not exult because of the tribulations themselves but because of their [eventual] beneficial effect upon his Christian life. This the saint must learn to do. He must look at these trials and difficulties as assets that develop his Christian character. Paul says that [trials] work patience. "Work" is katergazomai "accomplish, achieve, to do that from which something results." One could translate "tribulation generates patience" or "produces patience." "Patience" is hupomone "steadfastness, constancy, endurance." Thayer says, "the characteristic of a man who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings." The verbal form is hupomeno "to remain under," thus, to remain under trials in a God-honoring way so as to learn the lesson they are sent to teach, rather than to attempt to get out from under them in an effort to be relieved of their pressure" (Wuest., op.cit.,78,79 emphasis mine).

Romans 5.4 in many versions reads "patience leads to experience." According to Marvin Vincent this is dead wrong. The Greek dokimen, he notes, does not mean "experience" at all. Rather it ought to be translated as pertaining to "the process of trial, proving... or, the result of trial, approvedness... tried integrity, a state of mind which has stood the test. The process has already been expressed by tribulation" (Vincent, op.cit.,58).

So, fiery trials generate patient endurance as we await God's deliverance. That exercise of patient endurance brings forth the result of approvedness which in its turn ushers in a powerful sense of hope -- and this is a hope that is not worldly but rather a hope that never "disappoints" (in our modern English tenor) or in the meaning of ancient Greek, a hope that "does not disgrace or dishonour." (For proof of the latter see Vincent, op.cit., 59.)

How can this be the case?

Allow me to tell you how this can be the case!

Because we already know and are fully convinced that "all things work together for good to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8.28).

Christian scholar Denney stresses, "The experience of what God can do, or rather of what He does, for the justified amid the tribulations of this life, animates into new vigour the hope with which the life of faith begins." And again, "All these Christian experiences and hopes rest upon an assurance of the love of God. That the love of God to us is meant, not our love to Him, is obvious from verse 6 and the whole connection: it is the evidence of God's love to us which the apostle proceeds to set forth."

McClain shares with us these encouraging and enlightening thoughts: Paul starts with hope, "Here is a beautiful circle! It started with hope, "Hope of the glory of God." Then tribulation worked steadfastness, and steadfastness proved to us that we are children of God, and when we were proven children of God, we were encouraged in our spirits and we completed the circle with "hope of the glory of God."... Paul is not talking about hope in any abstract sense. Some of our hopes have made us ashamed. Some of our hopes have disappointed us. How many there have been in my life and in your life! A father may stand by his son, a dissipated wretch, and say, "I had hoped." A mother may stand by the casket of a loved one that has gone and say, "I had hoped." Or a man may look upon the fragments of his fortune when it has been distributed to the winds and is gone and say, "I had hoped" but his hopes did not issue in fruition. They failed, and that failure made him ashamed.

"He is not talking about all hope here, because many a hope there is that has failed utterly. He is talking about a certain, specific hope -- a definite hope. This is the way it reads in the original -- the little article the is before the word hope. "And the hope makes not ashamed!" Not any kind of hope -- not hope in the abstract, but "the hope" -- a certain hope, a Christian hope. That hope will never make you ashamed. It will never fail you. It will never disappoint you. That little article the points back to the second verse. What is "the hope?" Hope of the glory of God!"

[7] Being justified by faith WE HAVE "the love of God... shed abroad in our hearts."
"The hope makes not ashamed: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5.5). What does this mean? Let me tell you what it means -- it means that Christ dwells in our hearts, in our minds, and in our conscience by the Ruach HaKodesh and therefore the Spirit of the living Messiah makes us victorious in all we put our hands to accomplish, even in the selfless sacrificial forgiveness when others oppose us and cause us to stumble. A battered and bleeding Christ nailed to the cross asking the Father to forgive his murderers because they "know not what they do" is the SAME LORD who indwells each of us by His holy Spirit. That same sacrificial unconditional love he had for humankind back then will be the same identical sacrificial unconditional love that will ultimately triumph as a consequence of being shed abroad in our hearts even if and when we try to resist it!!!

It is said by the same apostle, "Christ in you is the hope of GLORY" (Colossians 1.27).

McClain exclaims, "If God loved us so much as to come into us and live in us, and if our body is the temple of the holy Spirit, can that hope ever be disappointed? Certainly not! There is a hope that makes not ashamed!"

That love is "poured in and still floods our hearts" is the perfect Greek tense of "is shed abroad." Carnality in us runs deep, but in our tribulations and sorrows we are reminded of the words of Yeshua through Paul that continue to live in us and which penetrate into our consciences to the effect that "the love of God is poured into us and still floods our hearts." When that love is recognised and released outward in a torrential flood toward others who have harmed and wronged us we can identify in an experiential way God's own love for sinners.

[8] Being justified by faith WE HAVE the holy Spirit.
In Rom 5.5 we have the first mention of the holy Spirit in Romans, and it is the same verse in which we find the love of God also first mentioned by Paul in this letter. If we have the holy Spirit we must do the works of the holy Spirit. "Greater things than I have done, shall you do," said Our Lord Yeshua (Jn 14.12-14). We have failed to take him seriously.

[9] Being justified by faith WE HAVE proof of God's love because "Mashiach died for us."
Why did God the Father raise Yeshua from the dead? Was it because Yeshua was His Son? Was it because He was sinless? Was it even because God had prophesied through the prophets that Christ would see life after dying for the sins of the world?

It was none of these things. God raised Yeshua from the dead precisely BECAUSE he went to his own death on our behalf and paid the supreme penalty for our transgressions and sins on our behalf. Because he paid the penalty of death in full on our behalf God raised him from the dead AND "because he lives we shall live also" (Jn 14.19). If Christ had not paid the full penalty on the bloodied tree of Golgoleth, on our behalf, he would have remained DEAD.

"He that spared not His own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall He not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8.32).

Now THAT'S security!

[10] Being justified by faith WE WILL BE "saved from wrath [to come]."
Please note now that we have passed from the phrase "WE HAVE" to the "WE WILL BE." None of us need fear the Day of the Lord. We have immunity from wrath at the conclusion of the age. In the "Day of the Lord" God has promised to provide shelter for His saints. But there is also coming a period of Satanic wrath and we need to be prepared for that time. The only issue will be with those of us who have become more worldly minded than we ought to be. It will be Christians (Messianic believers) who are ONE WITH SATAN'S KINGDOM during the "end of days" and whom God Himself labels "Laodecians" who will face that dreaded wrath of Satan -- the three-and-a-half-years of the rule of Antichrist -- and we should be reminded of this promise of travail that some of the saints will have to endure in order for them to get their heads right with God (Rev 3.14-22).

All of us need to take hold of ALL of the accompanied blessings of justification by faith.

[11] Being justified by faith WE WILL BE "saved by his life." We were saved when we first believed. We shall be saved when Mashiach returns and glorifies us into SPIRIT as God is SPIRIT. A dead Christ never saved anybody. The Saviour is no longer on a cross (or impaled on a tree) -- he was resurrected to GLORY and he is coming again to receive us to himself. "Because I live," he said, "you shall live also."

[12] Being justified by faith WE (WILL) "rejoice in God."
We are no longer "afraid" of God in the sense of being terrified. We see God, and we know God, as our AB'BA -- our Dearest Darling Daddy and even more so as FatherMother God Anochi I-Source.

In closing this section of Paul's writing we are reminded that he began with "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through Our Lord Yeshua the Messiah," and now he concludes this section of his letter with the same emphasis: "We rejoice in God, through Our Lord Yeshua the Messiah."

"No man has any hope apart from the Son of God. There is no approach to God the Father, save through the Son of God" -- Alva McClain.

So we now know what the twelve blessings are that accompany justification by faith. We may all know them, but some of us may be new to their availability for them personally.

As McClain has put it so succinctly, "If any one of them is new, may this be the day you begin to enjoy it. It is yours, so enjoy it, and especially your tribulations."

THIS CONCLUDES LECTURE 23

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