Class Notes: 11/2/2008

Rom 12:14-21 Mandates for believers to function in integrity love


We are presently looking at the mandates for the believer to function in impersonal or integrity love inside the PPOG that are found in Rom 12:14-21;

These mandates are in the context of Rom 12:1-2; that show that the believer’s adherence to these mandates is enabled by the Mercies of God (Grace) and is part of their "reasonable (logical) service"NET (verse 1) and is enabled by the transformation that occurs in the believer's thinking that comes from their continuous persistent PMA of Bible Doctrine that results in their performing the will of God. (verse 2).

There are mandates from the imperative mood of the Original Language found in verses 14, 16,19,20 and 21 and we will pick up where we left off in verse 20.

Rom 12:20; is quoted from Prov 25:21-22; The believer who can do this while maintaining total tranquility in their soul has total confidence in God for their provision in life and is not at all concerned that their enemy may be strengthened by their help.

They are totally focused on God as their source and understand the escrow blessings from God are irrevocable.

Heb 10:35; Therefore, do not throw away as worthless your confidence (spiritual self-esteem and cognitive self-confidence in Stage 1 of the spiritual life) which keeps on having great distribution of blessings (conveyance of the escrow account)

v. 36 for you keep on having need of perseverance (habitual inculcation of Bible Doctrine) so that when you have executed the will of God (move through His plan to the point of spiritual maturity) you may receive the deposit (conveyance of the escrow account) which was promised in Eph 1:3;

We have studied this passage before where the Greek verb "poieo" that is translated "when you have done" in the NASB, means; "to keep the will of God obediently" It is an aorist active participle. And the action of the aorist participle always precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb is, the Greek word "komizo” that is translated as "receive" that refers to the conveyance of escrow blessings that were promised.

The first thing God did for believers was to bless them. For those whom He elected to privilege, in recognition of their free-will positive response to the gospel, He provided a perfect plan that if followed through more positive free-will decisions would eventuate in the conveyance of these blessings.

When believers utilize the delegated omnipotence of the PPOG and avail themselves of the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit they will grow in grace and will ultimately arrive at the cognitive invincibility of spiritual maturity. Phil 1:6;

Rom 12:20b; " you will heap burning coals on his head" quotes Prov 25:22; See Net notes 46 and 47

The coals on the head may refer to a ritual in Egypt that was customary at the time where a person showed their repentance by carrying a pan of burning coals on their head.

Rom 12:21;

In verse 21 the words translated "do not be overcome" is the second person singular present passive imperative of the Greek word "nikao" plus the negative particle "me" and the second use of the word "nikao" where the translation reads "overcome evil with good" is also in the present active imperative.

This is a command to stop doing something that you are doing. These believers in Rome were being conquered by evil.

The word translated " by" is the Greek proposition "hupo" that means "by means of" or "under the control of".

There are several Greek words that are translated as "evil" but the word used here, is "kakos", "Kakos" refers to something rotten to the core, harmful, malignant, but at the same time something that may look very, very good.

The Roman believers were being deceived by appearances. They were thinking of some evil things as good. But Paul orders them by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop being conquered or overcome by this illusion.

So we have a dual of mandate regarding the use of the power of spiritual life not only to discern from the PMA of Bible Doctrine what is evil and then "not to be overcome by evil but instead, overcome evil with good.

One of the greatest tests in the lives of believers is the test of evil, and yet most believers do not even know what evil is.

Evil is the policy of Satan. Evil is anything that opposes God's creative intent. The essence of evil is independence from God. Anything that man does on his own is evil no matter how good it appears to be, because man was never intended to function independently from God.

Religion is evil because it through it man believes he can please God apart from believing in TLJC. Religion looks so good to the natural person, and yet is so evil because it distorts the truth and substitutes human good for the righteousness of God.

God's purpose for man is for man to glorify God by appropriating God's grace and continuously living in that grace all the way from efficacious grace to ultra supergrace.

The believer's function in the Royal family Honor Code demands grace orientation and warns against the believer having vindication, implacability, hatred, arrogance, or bitterness toward others.

The Honor Code demands that we stop functioning in the power of the evil of the OSN and function in the power of God the Holy Spirit. This results in the believer overcoming evil instead of being overcome by it.

The Honor Code demands the high standards of grace orientation.

An example of this is Joseph's attitude toward his brothers who had sold him into slavery years earlier. Gen 50:20;

The believer's confidence in God and their personal sense of destiny that enables this grace orientation to life.

Joseph understood that God had permitted his brothers to sell him into slavery in order to pre-position him in Egypt so that he could be the means of the deliverance of his family from the famine. It was also God's purpose to form Israel into a nation under the pressure of slavery in Egypt.

God is very practical with his mandates. We have seen that Rom 12:18; he sets the scope of the application as being "as much as is possible". This shows that there are times when it is not possible to live at peace.

There are some who because of their arrogance from intransigence and implacability will refuse to function in the honor code in spite of any attempt that is made.

In view of this mandate, believers should always be thinking, "What can I do to advance the interests of others? How can I be a blessing to other members of the Royal Family?"

The cognitive invincibility that is empowered by God through his Spirit and his word enables believers to be gracious to their adversaries in all situations.

We have learned that motivational virtues are directed toward God while functional virtues are directed toward our fellow man.

For example, confidence in God is a motivational virtue, which supports the functional virtue of courage toward man.

Worship of God is a motivational virtue, which generates the functional virtue of morality toward man.

The motivational virtue of personal love for God sustains the functional virtue of unconditional love for man.

The principle here is for the believer to have so much confidence in God that they have no fear from people or circumstances regardless of the situation and they keep on functioning in PPOG for their lives and as a result produce Divine Good.

In Phil 1:6; The Lord has promised that when He begins a good work in the life of a believer, He will keep on perfecting it or completing it thoroughly until he returns for the church.

The next series of mandates that are found in Rom 13:1-8 address the believer's responsibility to legitimate government.

Since there are no chapter breaks in the original they are also in the context of Rom 12:1-2; that show that the believer’s adherence to these mandates is enabled by the Mercies of God (Grace) and is part of their "reasonable (logical) service"NET (verse 1) and is enabled by the transformation that occurs in the believer's thinking that comes from their continuous persistent PMA of Bible Doctrine that results in their performing the will of God. (verse 2).

These verses discuss the relationship between church and state and the relations between the individual believer and the various functions of government. \

They discuss such topics as the believer and civil disobedience, the believer and revolution, and other important aspects of the believers life as a citizen and define for church age believers just what TLJC Jesus meant when He said in Matt 22:21; "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's"

These principles are based in the fact that all power belongs to God Psa 62:11;

We see from Jer 24:4–6; that political power and nations are established by God.

These verses address the believer's response to a government that establishes law and order

Rom 13:1; the word translated "be subject" is the third person singular present passive imperative of the Greek word "hypotasso"


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