The purpose of this lesson: (1) To generate thought about the concept of God’s justification; (2) to emphasize that the person in Christ is “okay” because God through Christ makes the person “okay”—the foundation of our being “okay” is God and His acts through Jesus Christ, the foundation of our being “okay” is not based on human performance.
In the above text for today, you are asked to especially focus on verses 31-34. The incredible things God has done for weak, imperfect us in the crucified, resurrected Jesus Christ are stated by Paul in this way: (1) God is on our side in support of us. Who is superior to God in opposing us? (2) God proved His commitment to sustaining us by sacrificing His son for us. (3) No one [including Satan] can find fault with us on the basis of our weaknesses because God declares we are okay in Christ. (4) If God says we are okay, we are okay! Our suffering does not prove otherwise! (5) Christians belong to a living Savior who [as a part of his post-resurrection role] speaks to God on our behalf.
Scripture places much emphasis on God’s work in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. One of the reasons too many Christians carry with them on a regular basis the burden of guilt for a past they cannot change is focused in their attempt to “earn” God’s kindness through human acts instead of “responding” in loving appreciation to God’s kindness to us in Jesus Christ.
The vehicle for Paul’s “adequacy of God” concept involving the reality of human sufferings is based on the concept of justification. Because of wrong doing (or transgression of that which is absolutely right as defined and sanctioned by God), there is an enormous separation between human beings and God. This gulf or separation exists because of the actions of human beings, not the actions of God. There is nothing within the power of the human being (of himself or herself) that can be done to span that gulf or bridge that separation. The human is justifiably guilty, and nothing within his or her power can make him or her innocent. All the human can do is respond to actions done for him or her by God. The human can never make himself or herself innocent by any human course of action or by any expression of human power.
The concept of justification is based on the enormous separation between us and God generated by human rebellion against God. We, of ourselves or of human acts, cannot make ourselves just before God. Something beyond human acts must make us just before God. While we cannot be just (we have done what we did—our own human failures exist), we can be justified. God’s work in Jesus justifies us. Thus our acts of obedience are a loving, trust-filled response to what God did and continues to do for those in Jesus. Repentance, confession, baptism, and transformation service to God have power because of what God did for us in Jesus. Please read Romans 3:21-30 and note that God’s acts of kindness prior to the birth and sacrifice of Jesus are vindicated by God’s sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus.
That was (is) the impossible dilemma people who wanted (want) to re-establish relationship with God faced (face). Human desire expressed in human effort of itself was insufficient to bridge the separation. People through transgression had destroyed relationship with God. Being guilty, they could never again (of themselves) be in the position of being innocent. Humans could be justifiably condemned because of their own mistakes and weaknesses.
Paul’s point: people cannot be justified before God through human acts. People can be justified before God through God’s action in Jesus Christ.
The solution to this human dilemma was found in God’s acts through Jesus’ death and resurrection. God did for people what they could not do for themselves. What God did for us in Jesus is seen in this: (1) Jesus was God’s son and came to earth directly from God (Romans 8:32; John 1:1-13; Philippians 2:5-11). (2)The sinless Jesus was executed on the cross as God’s sacrifice for our sins (Romans 6, especially note verses 12, 13; 2 Corinthians 5:20, 21; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Peter 2:21-24); (3) God proved He was more powerful than physical death by raising Jesus from death (1 Corinthians 15:1-19, 50-58; Ephesians 1:18-23). Therefore those who believe [place their trust] in what God did in Christ have the God-given right to clothe themselves in Christ (Galatians 3:27) because Christ wore their sins (1 Peter 2:24). The dying Jesus was made to be sin so they could be righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). God in Jesus spanned the gulf or bridged the separation! People can respond to God’s acts in Jesus’ death and resurrection! We can respond to God’s initiative!
Note the emphasis in our salvation deliverance from sin and sin’s consequences focused in God’s acts in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Must we respond through obedient acts? Yes! However, we must understand those acts are a response to God’s Kindness (mercy and grace) expressed in God’s sacrifice and resurrection of His son. Our obedience is a response to God’s kindness. Human obedience is not the foundation of our salvation.
However, it is God’s initiative that provided the solution. Our acts of obedience are merely a believing response to God’s initiative in Jesus Christ!
The key: human salvation exists and is available to people because of God’s initiative.
In Romans 8, Paul said suffering’s existence did not prove that God failed to justify the person. Human suffering did not disprove the reality of God’s justification. Human sinfulness produced the problem! Human sinfulness perverted God’s good (free from sin) creation (Genesis 1:31)! Human sinfulness destroyed relationship with God! Human sinfulness produced the clash between God’s values and Satan’s deceit in this physical world! Not all people believe in God’s justification in Jesus Christ—not even the majority of people. The clash between God’s values and Satan’s deception continues in this physical world.
The continuing problem in each generation is, “How should the Christian understand human suffering?” In a society that powerfully embraces the concept of quick or instant gratification, that is a huge question. Also, in many societies people tend to comprehend things in only physical terms. Paul stated all matters also include the clash in this physical world of God’s forces and Satan’s deceit. Consider Ephesians 2:2 and 6:12. Not all answers only include a physical logic and a physical cause and effect. There is a spiritual component to human realities, and spiritual reality cannot be completely comprehended in physical terms. That awareness can be extremely unpopular!
However, there is an enormous difference for those who live by placing their trust in what God did in Jesus. There is nothing those in Christ cannot express to God in a way understandable to God. God’s Spirit makes understandable anything those who suffer say to God. God will use everything that happens to those in Christ for their eternal salvation. Because those in Christ believe in what God does through Jesus, those in Christ belong to God. They are His. In Christ, in spite of their weaknesses, God says they are okay. They are okay because of God’s mercy and grace, not because of their accomplishments (see passages like 1 Corinthians 1:31 and 2 Corinthians 10:17, 18; 11:12-15).
Note that the Spirit can translate human prayers and groans to God. God cannot misunderstand us, and God is aware of our struggles and concerns! Paul, the sufferer, saw this truth as powerfully encouraging.
Will any force or experience external from ourselves separate us from this enormous love God has for us? Paul said, “No!” Will suffering in the physical world remain? Yes. However, the pain a believer endures never means the believer who is in Christ is not heard and understood by God, never means he or she loses any aspect of salvation, never means he or she does not belong to God, never means that God sees him or her as less than okay, and never means he or she has been torn away from God’s loving relationship.
No matter how powerful or discouraging, nothing external of our own wills/choices can separate us from God. Paul saw this also as being a powerful encouragement to suffering Christians.
In some way, agony exists because Satan continues his clash with God in this physical world. However, the believer who is in Christ should never view agony in any form as evidence of separation from God. In Christ we are forgiven, and pain does not prove we are not!
Two wars are involved: (1) the Christians’ struggle against the physical; (2) God’s clash with Satan in God’s physical creation which Satan perverted through deception. Consider Ephesians 2:1-3, and note the sources of attacks which produced spiritual death.
FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
1. Name four things God accomplished for us through Jesus Christ.
a. God is on our side in support of us.
b. God proved His commitment to sustaining us by sacrificing His son for us.
c. If God says we are okay, we are okay!
d. Christians belong to a living Savior who speaks to God on our behalf.
2. What was the vehicle for Paul’s “adequacy of God” concept?
The vehicle for Paul’s “adequacy of concept is the concept of justification.
3. There is an enormous what between God and human beings?
There is an enormous gulf or separation.
4. There is nothing within the power of the human being to do what?
There is nothing that humans can do of themselves to bridge that gulf, span that separation.
5. Because the human being is justifiably guilty, he or she can do nothing of self to become what?
People can do nothing of themselves to become innocent.
6. All the human being can do is what?
All the human being can do is respond to what God has done for him (or her) in Jesus Christ.
7. What was the impossible dilemma?
The impossible dilemma was for the human of self to re-establish relationship with God.
8. What was the solution?
The solution is what God did for us in Jesus Christ.
9. Name 3 things seen at work in Jesus that made human salvation possible.
a. Jesus is God’s son who came directly to earth from God.
b. The sinless Jesus was executed on the cross as God’s sacrifice for our sins.
c. God proved He was more powerful than death by raising Jesus from the dead.
10. In Romans 8, Paul said the existence of suffering did not prove what?
Suffering does not prove (did not prove) that God failed to justify us.
11. Why does suffering continue in this physical world?
Among other things, human suffering involves a clash between God’s values and Satan’s deception.
12. Discuss the enormous difference for those who live by trusting what God did in Jesus.
The discussion should include (1) God’s ability to understand our suffering/discouragement/inability to understand; (2) our inability to be separated from God’s love by external forces; and (3) our escape from guilt.
13. The believer who is in Christ should never view agony how?
Christians should never view agony as evidence of separation from God.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 6