https://youtu.be/eHFnnalH54g
In our verse-by verse study of Romans last time we did a short review of the doctrine of evangelism because of Paul's focus on it in Romans 1:14-16;
v14; Expanded translation: "I am under obligation both to the civilized and the uncivilized (unbelievers); both to the wise (mature believer) and the ignorant reversionistic believer."
v15 Expanded translation: "So, I am eager to proclaim the good doctrine, also to you; those who are in Rome.
v16 Expanded Translation: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the capacity and ability of God for providing salvation to anyone who believes in Jesus Christ; both to the Jew foremost, and also to the Greek (Gentile.)"
This brings us to verse 17.
Rom 1:17; "For in it is the righteousness of God revealed." Again we have postpositive conjunction "gar" used in the inferential sense. It can be translated "for" or "because."
With this is the subject "dikaiosunh," one of the most important words in the book of Romans because God's righteousness and God's justice operate in tandem. It is a word that comes from two ancient Greek words: "dikh" and the adjective "dikaios."
The word we have in the verse has the suffix, "sunh" that is the suffix used for abstract concepts. "Dikaiosunh" refers to the thinking of a righteous judge who is allotting to each what is due is what the word actually means.
It is describing the righteousness of a judge in making righteous judgments. The word is not only referring to God's righteousness but because of the judgment being rendered it is also addressing God's justice.
It is a reference to God's justice that is free to vindicate mankind under salvation, rebound, and maturity adjustment to His justice. "Is revealed" is translated from present passive indicative from the compound verb apokalupto (apo means away from; kalupto means to hide or to veil), it means to be away from being hidden, therefore to reveal, to uncover, to make visible.
This is a perfective present tense that expresses the continuation of existing results. The fact that God's justice has been revealed in the past but is now in the Roman era it is to become a present reality.
This is an idiom and is comparable to something in the English: we say when we have learned something, "I have learned it." We put it in the past tense. But we use the words "I learn," in the present tense, for information that we have learned in the past that we are using at the present time.
The Greeks had a comparable idiom. They used a present tense when it was a perfective present. They learned it in the past, as it were, and now they are going to use it. The passive voice: the God's justice receives the action. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal action from the viewpoint of reality that is asserted dogmatically
"From faith to faith" refers to the perpetuation of God's justice of God: "ek pistuo eis pistin," two prepositional phrases. Both prepositions have the object "pistis." The first phrase is "ek" plus the ablative of "pistis."
"Pistis" is used in the active sense; it refers to faith in Christ as the initial adjustment to God's justice. The second prepositional phrase is "eis" plus the accusative of "pistsj."
In this case "pistis"j has a slightly different meaning. Rather than the active sense it is used here in the passive sense.
It means that which causes faith or trust, hence faithfulness, reliability, proof, pledge; but in the passive sense it means what is believed, the body of faith or doctrine. Therefore it refers to maturity adjustment to God's justice that comes from believing doctrine.
Believing doctrine is the story of our life from the time we are saved by believing in Jesus to the time we depart from this life. Initial adjustment to God's justice at salvation demands perpetuation of that adjustment to God's justice through the daily function of God's system of GASP. What we have here is persistence in perception.
The reason our life is continues on earth in the devil's world after salvation is for us to have the opportunity to perpetuate our adjustment to God's justice through consistent and persistent inculcation of Bible doctrine. Doctrine resident in the soul is the means of spiritual growth from spiritual childhood to spiritual maturity.
Spiritual momentum from doctrinal perception results in spiritual maturity. This adjustment creates capacity for God's justice to provide maximum blessing for the believer.
Next Paul provides OT documentation for the concept of adjustment to God's justice in Habakkuk 2:4; From the Hebrew it is translated, "Behold, regarding the arrogant his soul is not right within him; but the righteous "tsadiq" believer will live by his faith (faithfulness to doctrine) the preposition; "emunah" means firmness, security, faithfulness, truth or doctrine.
This is the key to the pivot, and the survival of a nation. In this second half of the verse we have the basis for Romans chapter one. When a nation starts to go down it is only the believer's attitude toward doctrine that can save that nation. This is precisely where we are in client nation USA right now.
Client nation USA is failing because believers have rejected God's Word.
John Adams said that our constitution was made only for a moral religious people it is completely inadequate to the government of any other.
Too many believers in client nation USA have become amoral and irreligious so the freedoms provided by our constitution no longer work because believers in client nation USA are not living by faith.
Rom 1:17; "as it is written" The perfect passive indicative of the verb "grafo," means to write. The perfect tense is rhetorical so it is a dramatic perfect, that emphasizes the results of the action of the verb.
Paul documents the new epistle that will become part of the canon of Scripture from the Old Testament Scripture. It is interesting that he is writing to a church that is predominately Gentile because just before Nero came to the throne his stepfather Claudius had banned all Jews from Rome, and only recently had Jews been coming back to Rome so it is primarily a Gentile church.
The principle Paul is illustrating is that mature believers of the Jewish race have been the source of blessing to every generation of history, and so we have a quotation from the Old Testament.
The dramatic perfect tense that means finished in the past with results that go on forever means that this passage in Habakkuk has been written in the past, it is a part of the Old Testament canon, and it is just as much for us Gentiles today as it was the Jewish believers when it was written by Habakkuk.
The passive voice: the Old Testament Scripture receives the action of the verb, being written with the result that the canon of Scripture continues to exist forever and continues to have application in every generation. This also says that the Old Testament is just as much the Word of God as the New Testament. The indicative mood is declarative of a dogmatic and unqualified statement of fact. So we translate: "As it stands written."
Most translation translate it "But the righteous shall live by faith" but we will translate it " But the just shall live by faith" The adversative use of the conjunctive particle "de" sets up a contrast translated with "but." This is equivalent to the Hebrew adversative "waw" in Habakkuk 2:4.
Reversionistic believers fail because they reject doctrine but they have no excuse for their failure. No one has to fail because another believer fails; you do not have to neglect doctrine because other believers do. Your volition determines your reality.
The word for "just" is the nominative adjective "dikaios." It is often translated "righteous." And it does mean "upright" or "righteous" but here it is referring to adjustment to God's justice.
We need to understand that the words commonly translated "righteous" often mean much more than that. We learn this from Josephus who used this adjective extensively, and he used it for vindication of his judgment.
This is not unreasonable in view of the fact "dikaios" not only connotes righteousness as a concept of virtue but it also explains how God made it possible for fallen man to stand before God's perfect justice.
"Dikaios' means to fulfill one's duty to God. This is compatible with the maturity adjustment to God's justice. Therefore it is concluded that "dikaosunh" and "dikais" are often interrelated.
They have the same meaning except that one is a noun with "sunh" as the abstract suffix, and the other is an adjective. There is also a future middle indicative from the verb "zao", translated "to live."