By Robert Flynn on
4/28/2009 7:56 AM
It is a glorious day in the life of the Christian when he or she realizes that God’s children are not under the Law, that God does not expect them to do “good works” in the power of the old nature. When the Christian understands that “there is no condemnation,” then he realizes that the indwelling Spirit pleases God and helps the believer to please Him. What a glorious salvation we have! “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage!” warns Paul in Gal. 5:1 (NKJV). Wiersbe's expository outlines on the New Testament)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/27/2009 7:28 AM
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation - Either for things present or past. Now he comes to deliverance and liberty. The apostle here resumes the thread of his discourse, which was interrupted, Romans 7:7. (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/23/2009 7:31 AM
This is the true perfection of those that are born again, to confess that they are imperfect. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/22/2009 7:01 AM
The body serving as the seat of the death into which the soul is sunk through the power of sin. (Dr. Marvin R. Vincent, Vincent's Word Studies)
May we be enabled to shake off that lethargy which is so apt to creep upon us! For this end, a deep practical conviction of our natural depravity and weakness will be found of eminent advantage. (William Wilberforce)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/21/2009 6:59 AM
The law of the mind in this place is not to be understood as referring to the mind as it is naturally, and as our mind is from our birth, but of the mind which is renewed by the Spirit of God. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/17/2009 8:00 AM
But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. (1 Corinthians 2:14 NLT)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/16/2009 10:46 AM
Sensual gratifications and illicit affections have debased our nobler powers, and indisposed our hearts to the discovery of God, and to the consideration of his perfections; to a constant willing submission to his authority, and obedience to his laws. (William Wilberforce)
Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. (Tocqueville, Charles Alexis Henri Maurice Clèrel de)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/16/2009 6:13 AM
'Now we have found the prize, and how to be revenged on King Shaddai for what he hath done to us.' So they sat down and called a council of war, and considered with themselves what ways and methods they had best to engage in for the winning to themselves this famous town of Mansoul,... (John Bunyan, The Holy War)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/15/2009 6:40 AM
The conclusion: as the law of God exhorts to goodness, so does the law of sin (that is, the corruption in which we are born) force us to wickedness: but the spirit, that is, our mind, in that it is regenerated, coexists with the law of God: but the flesh, that is, the whole natural man, is bondslave to the law of sin. Therefore, in short, wickedness and death are not of the law, but of sin, which reigns in those that are not regenerated: for they neither wish to do good, neither do they do good, but they wish and do evil: but in those that are regenerated, it strives against the spirit or law of the mind, so that they cannot live at all as well as they want to, or be as free of sin as they want to. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/14/2009 6:22 AM
But sin that dwelleth in me - the principle of sin, which has possessed itself of all my carnal appetites and passions, and thus subjects my reason and domineers over my soul. Thus I am in perpetual contradiction to myself….This strange self-contradictory propensity led some of the ancient philosophers to imagine that man has two souls, a good and a bad one….(Dr. Adam Clarke)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/13/2009 2:26 PM
It is not the Will that leads men astray; but the corrupt Passions which oppose and oppress the will. (Dr. Adam Clarke)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/10/2009 11:29 AM
If we remain in our beds of apathetic comfort then we hold our manhood cheap (Shakespeare, Henry V) and in doing so change the most beautiful, the purest, the most divine things into excrements because we fail to recognize that we are the filthy stable that Jesus entered so that we might be reborn!
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/9/2009 6:58 AM
To accomplish this amazing feat of aviation they turned off the engine and propeller anti-ice systems to squeeze out the last available Bernoulli (pound of thrust). About twenty minutes later the grand silence befell them as three of the four engines flamed out (quit running).
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/9/2009 6:48 AM
A man walks in quiet indifference, doing his own will, without knowledge of God, or consequently any sense of sin or rebellion. (Dr. John Darby)
There is no principle by which the soul can be brought into the light; no principle by which it can be restored to purity: fleshly appetites alone prevail; and the brute runs away with the man. (Dr. Adam Clarke)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/8/2009 5:58 AM
That natural corruption, which adheres strongly even to those that are regenerated, and is not completely gone. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/7/2009 7:08 AM
How can we journey forth into a new day with a new destination until we first know where we are?
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/7/2009 6:58 AM
Christians may here find a test of their piety. The fact of struggling against evil, the desire to be free from it, and to overcome it, the anxiety and grief which it causes, is an evidence that we do not love it, and that there. fore we are the friends of God. Perhaps nothing can be a more decisive test of piety than a long-continued and painful struggle against evil passions and desires in every form, and a panting of the soul to be delivered from the power and dominion of sin. (Dr. Albert Barnes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/6/2009 7:27 AM
I once had a the opportunity to view the stereotypical man-woman conversation in progress. The wife, in exasperation, told her husband, “You never listen to me!” He replied, “Of course I listen to you, I can repeat back every word you said!”
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/1/2009 8:45 AM
What if, as a Christian, I spend too much time and energy on my exterior?
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
4/1/2009 8:35 AM
The deeds of my life, he says, are not in accordance to my will, rather they are contrary to it. Therefore by the consent of my will with the law, and repugnancy with the deeds of my life, it plainly appears that the law and a properly controlled will induce us to do one thing, but corruption, which also has its seat in the regenerated, another thing. (Geneva Bible Translations Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/31/2009 11:59 AM
We cannot tear out a single page of our life, but we can throw the whole book in the fire. —George Sand, Mauprat
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/31/2009 11:47 AM
The law is the cause of this matter because the it requires a heavenly purity, but when men are born, they are bondslaves of corruption, which they willingly serve. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/27/2009 6:38 PM
The real leader has no need to lead—he is content to point the way. —Henry Miller, The Wisdom of the Heart
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/27/2009 6:32 PM
Thus it appears that man cannot have a true notion of sin but by means of the law of God….The law, therefore, is the grand instrument in the hands of a faithful minister, to alarm and awaken sinners; and he may safely show that every sinner is under the law, and consequently under the curse, who has not fled for refuge to the hope held out by the Gospel: for, in this sense also, Jesus Christ is the End of the Law for justification to them that believe. (Dr. Adam Clarke)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/26/2009 3:23 PM
G5513 χλιαρός
chliarós; fem. chliará, neut. chliarón, adj. from chliaínō (n.f.), to warm, make warm. Lukewarm, tepid. In Revelation 3:16 the church at Laodicea is likened to lukewarm water, an emetic, something good for little more than inducing vomiting, and is censured for this blighted condition. God expresses His desire that they be cold or hot. This has been frequently misunderstood to mean that God would rather they hate Him or love Him than remain indifferent. However, it would be contradictory for God to rebuke the Laodiceans for not hating Him and to prefer that they recede from indifference to hatred. Rather, hot and cold represent beneficial qualities just as hot water soothes the body and cold water slakes one's thirst. God cannot find any redeeming feature in this church; it is spiritually bankrupt. (Complete Word Study Dictionary, General Editor: Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D.)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/26/2009 3:03 PM
The commandment - That is, every branch of the law. Is holy, and just, and good - It springs from, and partakes of, the holy nature of God; it is every way just and right in itself; it is designed wholly for the good of man. (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/24/2009 6:05 AM
Deceived me - The word used here properly means to lead or seduce from the right way; and then to deceive, solicit to sin, cause to err from the way of virtue, Romans 16:18; 1 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 11:3, “The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,” 2 Thessalonians 2:3. (Dr. Albert Barnes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/23/2009 7:30 AM
Faith, as Paul saw it, was a living, flaming thing leading to surrender and obedience to the commandments of Christ. (A.W. Tozer)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/23/2009 7:22 AM
"Paul’s focus in these verses was not on whether the person is regenerate or unregenerate. The power of sin is present in any person who tries to keep the law on his own. (Tyndale concise Bible commentary)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/21/2009 9:49 AM
He had been engaged in a firefight and had inflicted casualties and had for the first time taken a human life.
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/20/2009 6:43 PM
“We must do everything we can to enhance the transformation of young men and women into the marines that our corps needs to win battles. I firmly believe that unit cohesion is an integral part of the transformation process. Marines must possess and feel the absolute trust, subordination of self, the intuitive understanding of the collective actions of the unit, and the importance of teamwork.” General Krulac, Commandant of the Marine Corps (former)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/19/2009 7:43 AM
We must not use the power which comes from us, rather we must use the power which proceeds from the Holy Spirit. (Watchman Nee, The Latent Power of the Soul)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/17/2009 7:00 AM
He sets himself before us as an example, in whom all men may behold, first what they are by nature before they earnestly think upon the law of God: that is, stupid, and prone to sin and wickedness, without any true sense and feeling of sin, and second what manner of persons they become, when their conscience is reproved by the testimony of the Law, that is, stubborn and more inflamed with the desire for sin than they ever were before. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/16/2009 7:36 AM
Though sin is in us, yet it is not known as sin, neither does it rage in the same way that it rages after the law is known. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/13/2009 7:09 AM
Paul’s point here is that the law reveals what sin is and must be distinguished from the sin itself. The law is not sin (5:20; 7:4–6), just as light is not that which it illuminates. (Tyndale concise Bible commentary)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/12/2009 7:24 AM
But now we are delivered from the law - We, who have believed in Christ Jesus, are delivered from that yoke by which we were bound, which sentenced every transgressor to perdition, but provided no pardon even for the penitent, and no sanctification for those who are weary of their inbred corruptions. (Dr. Adam Clarke)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/11/2009 7:36 AM
The illustration in this verse and the following is designed to show more at length the effect of the Law, whenever and wherever applied; whether in a state of nature or of grace. It was always the same. It was the occasion of agitation and conflict in a man’s own mind. This was true when a sinner was under conviction; and it was true when a man was a Christian. In all circumstances where the Law was applied to the corrupt mind of man, it produced this agitation and conflict. (Dr. Albert Barnes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/10/2009 7:16 AM
Philanthropist
PHILAN'THROPIST, n. A person of general benevolence; one who loves or wishes well to his fellow men, and who exerts himself in doing them good. (Noah Webster)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/9/2009 7:12 AM
An application of the similitude of marriage. "So", he says, "it is the same with us: for now we are joined to the Spirit, as it were to the second husband, by whom we must bring forth new children: we are dead with regard to the first husband, but with regard to the latter, we are as it were raised from the dead." (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/4/2009 8:38 AM
Another point remained to be treated of by the apostle — the effect of this last doctrine upon the question of the law. The Christian, or, to say better, the believer, has part in Christ as a Christ who has died, and lives to God, Christ being raised from the dead through Him. What is the force of this truth with regard to the law (for the law has only power over a man so long as he lives)? Being then dead, it has no longer any hold upon him. This is our position with regard to the law. Does that weaken its authority? No. For we say that Christ has died, and so have we therefore; but the law no longer applies to one that is dead. (Dr. John Darby)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/3/2009 7:34 PM
But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. (1 Corinthians 2:14 NLT)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
3/2/2009 9:53 AM
This is a simple illustration and one should not engage in puerile fantasy when gleaning its very upfront meaning—that death dissolves all those things that bind us to the law in life.
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/28/2009 11:10 AM
As the poet says, “Do this and live, the law commands, but gives me neither feet nor hands. A better word the gospel brings. It bids me fly and gives me wings.” (As quoted in, Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/25/2009 9:05 AM
At that moment heaven was opened. (Matthew 3:16b) New International Readers Version)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/24/2009 8:29 AM
But the gift of God. God gives to those who turn from sin, life eternal. It is his gracious gift, conditioned on refusing to be the servant of sin longer, and is through Christ. (Peoples New Testament)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/23/2009 11:37 AM
Rom 6:21-23
The pleasure and profit of sin do not deserve to be called fruit. Sinners are but ploughing iniquity, sowing vanity, and reaping the same. Shame came into the world with sin, and is still the certain effect of it. The end of sin is death. Though the way may seem pleasant and inviting, yet it will be bitterness in the latter end. From this condemnation the believer is set at liberty, when made free from sin. If the fruit is unto holiness, if there is an active principle of true and growing grace, the end will be everlasting life; a very happy end! Though the way is up-hill, though it is narrow, thorny, and beset, yet everlasting life at the end of it is sure. The gift of God is eternal life. And this gift is through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ purchased it, prepared it, prepares us for it, preserves us to it; he is the All in all in our salvation. (Matthew Henry)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/20/2009 10:42 PM
Rom 6:21 (10) What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the (u) end of those things [is] death.
(10) An exhortation to the study of righteousness and hatred of sin, the contrary results of both being set down before us.
(u) The reward or payment. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/18/2009 11:52 AM
Since no servant can serve two masters, much less where their interests come into deadly collision, and each demands the whole man, so, while ye were in the service of Sin ye were in no proper sense the servants of Righteousness, and never did it one act of real service: whatever might be your conviction of the claims of Righteousness, your real services were all and always given to Sin: Thus had ye full proof of the nature and advantages of Sin’s service. (A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/17/2009 1:13 PM
Every man is the servant of the master to whose commands he yields himself; whether it be the sinful dispositions of his heart, in actions which lead to death, or the new and spiritual obedience implanted by regeneration. (Matthew Henry)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/13/2009 9:33 AM
Righteousness — The case is one of emancipation from entire servitude to one Master to entire servitude to another, whose property we are (see on Romans 1:1). There is no middle state of personal independence; for which we were never made, and to which we have no claim. When we would not that God should reign over us, we were in righteous judgment “sold under Sin”; now being through grace “made free from Sin,” it is only to become “servants to Righteousness,” which is our true freedom. (A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/12/2009 8:09 AM
The apostle rejoiced now they obeyed from the heart the gospel, into which they were delivered as into a mould. As the same metal becomes a new vessel, when melted and recast in another mould, so the believer has become a new creature. And there is great difference in the liberty of mind and spirit, so opposite to the state of slavery, which the true Christian has in the service of his rightful Lord, whom he is enabled to consider as his Father, and himself as his son and heir, by the adoption of grace. The dominion of sin consists in being willingly slaves thereto, not in being harassed by it as a hated power, struggling for victory. Those who now are the servants of God, once were the slaves of sin. (Matthew Henry)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/9/2009 8:11 AM
Whom ye obey: "...such who obey sin, are the servants of sin; they are at the beck and command of sin; they give up themselves to the service of it with delight and diligence, and are perfect drudges to it: this is a very unhappy situation; their service is very unreasonable; and they are rendered incapable of serving God, for no man can serve two masters; they are hereby brought into the drudgery of the devil; into a state of bondage, out of which nothing but grace can extricate them; into a very mean and contemptible condition..." (Dr. John Gill)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/5/2009 8:00 AM
To be under the law and under sin signifies the same thing, with respect to whose who are not sanctified, and on the other hand to be under grace and righteousness is in harmony with those that are regenerated. Now these are contraries, so that one cannot agree with the other: therefore let righteousness expel sin. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/4/2009 6:59 AM
Rom 6:14 Sin shall not have dominion over you - It has neither right nor power. For ye are not under the law - A dispensation of terror and bondage, which only shows sin, without enabling you to conquer it. But under grace - Under the merciful dispensation of the gospel, which brings complete victory over it to every one who is under the powerful influences of the Spirit of Christ. (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/2/2009 2:25 PM
The Association for Christian Conferences, Teaching & Service, (ACCTS), Christian Military Fellowship (CMF), Officers Christian Fellowship (OCF) and other Christian organizations invite you to help us “pray our military forces through the war on terror.”
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
2/2/2009 8:25 AM
One of the best books you could ever read is "The Holy War" by John Bunyan. There is even a version that has been updated into the modern English. Inside this wonderful text you will find the best manual on warfare ever penned.
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/30/2009 8:33 AM
By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
(Hebrews 11:3 NLT)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/29/2009 2:49 PM
What is the nature of true religion? And wherein do lie the distinguishing notes of that virtue and holiness that is acceptable in the sight of God?... (Jonathan Edwards)
"So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. (1 Peter 1:6-7a NLT)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/29/2009 7:38 AM
Rom 6:12
Reign (βασιλευέτω)
The antithesis implied is not between reigning and existing, but between reigning and being deposed. (Dr. Marvin Vincent
Rom 6:12 Let not sin reign even in your mortal body - It must be subject to death, but it need not be subject to sin. (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/28/2009 8:30 AM
Rom 6:11
Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead - Die as truly unto sin, as he died for sin. Live as truly unto God, as he lives with God. This seems to be the spirit of the apostle’s meaning. (Dr. Adam Clarke)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/27/2009 12:31 PM
Rom 6:10 He died to sin - To atone for and abolish it. He liveth unto God - A glorious eternal life, such as we shall live also. (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/26/2009 8:00 AM
This is certain because, Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more. He now lives eternally, and we who are in him, having shared his death, must share his eternal life. (The People's New Testament)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/25/2009 9:54 AM
We be dead (ἀπεθάνομεν)
The aorist. Rev., correctly, we died. The death is viewed as an event, not as a state. (Dr. Marvin Vincent)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/21/2009 10:30 PM
"Many do not recognize the fact as they ought, that Satan has got men fast asleep in sin and that it is his great device to keep them so. (Catherine Booth)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/20/2009 8:00 AM
For he that is dead is freed from sin. When a slave died he was freed from his master's service; so when one has died to sin, he is no longer the slave of sin, and is freed from his service. His power over the bodily members should be destroyed. (The Peoples New Testament, 1891)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/19/2009 12:49 PM
Knowing this - We all knowing this. All Christians are supposed to know this. This is a new illustration drawn from the fact that by his crucifixion our corrupt nature has been crucified also, or put to death; and that thus we should be free from the servitude of sin. (Dr. Albert Barnes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/19/2009 8:00 AM
I suppose that if one believes that their final destination lay six feet beneath the prairie sod, and that their lies within them no soul capable of life beyond the splendors of this life, then the thought of eternal bliss or eternal torment would be beyond the pale.
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/18/2009 8:00 AM
The seers of the splendid Gospel radiance are faced with a choice whether to enter into the obedience of its precepts and enjoy the affirmation of eternal life or remain outside its protective ramparts and be held captive in the darkness of eternal punishment (George Whitfield, Eternity of Hell — Torments; paraphrase mine). For it was Jesus Christ who said, "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46 NLT)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/16/2009 8:00 AM
Rom 6:5 For - Surely these two must go together; so that if we are indeed made conformable to his death, we shall also know the power of his resurrection. (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/15/2009 8:56 AM
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead (d) by the glory of the Father, even so (e) we also should walk in newness of life.
(d) So that Christ himself, being released of his infirmity and weakness, might live in glory with God forever.
(e) And we who are his members rise for this purpose, that being made partakers of the very same power, we should begin to lead a new life, as though we were already in heaven. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/14/2009 2:00 PM
Baptized into his death? - That, as Jesus Christ in his crucifixion died completely, so that no spark of the natural or animal life remained in his body, so those who profess his religion should be so completely separated and saved from sin, that they have no more connection with it, nor any more influence from it, than a dead man has with or from his departed spirit. (Dr. John Gill)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/13/2009 8:00 AM
Dead to sin - Freed both from the guilt and from the power of it. (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/9/2009 8:00 AM
Rom 6:1 The apostle here sets himself more fully to vindicate his doctrine from the consequence above suggested, Romans 3:7-8. He had then only in strong terms denied and renounced it: here he removes the very foundation thereof. (John Wesley)
"But," someone might still argue, "how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights His truthfulness and brings Him more glory?" And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, "The more we sin, the better it is!" Those who say such things deserve to be condemned. (Romans 3:7-8 NLT)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/8/2009 8:00 AM
Rom 5:21
That - even so grace might reign (hinȧ̇houtos kai hē charis basileusēi). Final hina here, the purpose of God and the goal for us through Christ. Lightfoot notes the force of the aorist indicative (ebasileusen, established its throne) and the aorist subjunctive (basileusēi, might establish its throne), the ingressive aorist both times. “This full rhetorical close has almost the value of a doxology” (Denney). (Robertson's Word Pictures)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/7/2009 8:00 AM
A preventing of an objection: why then did the law of Moses then enter? So that men might be so much more the guilty, and the benefit of God in Christ Jesus be all the more glorious. (a) In addition to that disease which all men were infected with by being defiled with one man's sin, the law entered. (b) Grace was poured so plentifully from heaven that it did not only counterbalance sin, but beyond this it surpassed it. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/5/2009 8:00 AM
The foundation of this whole comparison is this, that these two men are set as two heads or roots, so that out of the one comes sin by nature, and from the other righteousness by grace springs forth upon others. So then, sin enters not into us only by following the steps of our forefathers, but we receive corruption from him by inheritance. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/4/2009 8:00 AM
Rom 5:18: Justification of life - Is that sentence of God, by which a sinner under sentence of death is adjudged to life. (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/2/2009 8:00 AM
The emphatic point of the comparison. The effect of the second Adam cannot fall behind that of the first. If death reigned, there must be a reign of life. (Dr. Marvin R. Vincent, Vincent's Word Studies)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
1/1/2009 8:00 AM
The sentence was by one offence to Adam's condemnation — Occasioning the sentence of death to pass upon him, which, by consequence, overwhelmed his posterity. But the free gift is of many offences unto justification - Unto the purchasing it for all men, notwithstanding many offences. (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
12/31/2008 8:00 AM
Adam and Christ are compared together in this respect, that both of them give and yield to theirs that which is their own: but the first difference between them is this, that Adam by nature has spread his fault to the destruction of many, but Christ's obedience has be grace overflowed to many. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
12/29/2008 8:54 AM
Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die!
Would he devote that sacred head
for sinners such as I?
Was it for crimes that I have done,
he groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!
Well might the sun in darkness hide,
and shut its glories in,
when God, the mighty maker, died
for his own creature's sin.
Thus might I hide my blushing face
while his dear cross appears;
dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
and melt mine eyes to tears.
But drops of tears can ne'er repay
the debt of love I owe.
Here, Lord, I give myself away;
'tis all that I can do. (Issac Watts)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
12/22/2008 9:55 AM
For until the law sin was in the world - As death reigned from Adam to Moses, so also did sin. Now, as there was no written law from Adam to that given to Moses, the death that prevailed could not be the breach of that law; for sin, so as to be punished with temporal death, is not imputed where there is no law, which shows the penalty of sin to be death. (Dr. Adam Clarke)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
12/18/2008 7:57 AM
But whence is it that men are so disingenuous? The reason seems to be this: The promise of eternal happiness is so agreeable to the inclinations and wishes of mankind, that all who call themselves Christians, universally and willingly subscribe to the belief of it: but then there is something so shocking in the consideration of eternal torments, and seemingly such an infinite disproportion between an endless duration of pain, and short life spent in pleasure, that men (some at least of them) can scarcely be brought to confess it as an article of their faith, that an eternity of misery awaits the wicked in a future state. (George Whitfield, Eternity in Hell)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
12/15/2008 9:05 AM
Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also glory - The whole sentence, Romans 5:3-11, may be taken together thus: We not only "rejoice in hope of the glory of God," but also in the midst of tribulations we glory in God himself through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation. (John Wesley)
“The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
12/10/2008 8:23 AM
If - As sure as; so the word frequently signifies; particularly in this and the eighth chapter. We shalt be saved - Sanctified and glorified. Through his life - Who "ever liveth to make intercession for us." (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
12/9/2008 7:35 AM
It is much more reasonable to expect it. There are fewer obstacles in the way. If, when we were enemies, he overcame all that was in the way of our salvation; much more have we reason to expect that he will afford us protection now that we are his friends. This is one ground of the hope expressed in Romans 5:5. (Dr. Albert Barnes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
12/3/2008 4:36 PM
But God recommendeth - A most elegant expression. Those are wont to be recommended to us, who were before either unknown to, or alienated from, us. While we were sinners - So far from being good, that we were not even just. (John Wesley)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
12/2/2008 8:08 AM
An amplifying of the love of God towards us, so that we cannot doubt it, who delivered Christ to death for the unjust and for them from whom he could receive no useful thing, and, what is more, for his very enemies. How can it be then that Christ, being now alive, should not save them from destruction whom by his death he justifies and reconciles. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/28/2008 9:57 AM
Christ died for sinners; not only such as were useless, but such as were guilty and hateful; such that their everlasting destruction would be to the glory of God's justice. Christ died to save us, not in our sins, but from our sins; and we were yet sinners when he died for us. Nay, the carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself, Rom 8:7; Col 1:21. But God designed to deliver from sin, and to work a great change. While the sinful state continues, God loathes the sinner, and the sinner loathes God, Zec 11:8. And that for such as these Christ should die, is a mystery; no other such an instance of love is known, so that it may well be the employment of eternity to adore and wonder at it. (Matthew Henry)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/27/2008 8:00 AM
The foundation of hope is an assured testimony of the conscience, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, that we are loved by God, and this is nothing else but that which we call faith, from which it follows that through faith our consciences are quieted. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/26/2008 8:00 AM
And patience experience,.... As tribulations tend to exercise and increase patience, so patience being exercised and increased, enlarges the saints' stock and fund of experience; of the love and grace of God communicated to them at such seasons; of his faithfulness in fulfilling his promises; of his power in supporting them; and of their own frailty and weakness; and so are taught humility, thankfulness, and resignation to the will of God:
and experience, hope; hope is a gift of God's grace, and is implanted in regeneration, but abounds, increases, and becomes more strong and lively by experience of the love, grace, mercy, power, and faithfulness of God. (Dr. John Gill)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/25/2008 8:00 AM
Tribulation itself gives us different and various occasions to rejoice, and more than this it does not make us miserable. Afflictions make us use to being patient, and patience assures us of the goodness of God, and this experience confirms and fosters our hope, which never deceives us. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/24/2008 8:00 AM
Remark here also the difference of Abraham's faith and ours. He believed God could perform what He promised. We are called to believe He has performed. (Dr. John Darby)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/23/2008 8:00 AM
THROUGH false emphasis by many religious leaders, Christianity has become in the estimation of a large part of the public no more than an ethical system. The revealed fact, however, is that the supreme feature of the Christian faith is that supernatural, saving, transforming work of God, which is made possible through the infinite sacrifice of Christ and which, in sovereign grace, is freely bestowed on all who believe. Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, Grace
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/22/2008 8:00 PM
Who was delivered up to death as a sacrifice for our sins; for in what other way, or for what other purpose could He, who is innocence itself, be delivered for our offenses? (Dr. Adam Clarke)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/21/2008 8:00 PM
...that we might have an example of the way in which people may be accepted of God. It is recorded for our encouragement and imitation, to show that we may in a similar manner be accepted and saved. (Dr. Albert Barnes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/20/2008 8:00 AM
The record of this extraordinary faith was not made on his account only; but it was made to show the way in which men may be regarded and treated as righteous by God. If Abraham was so regarded and treated, then, on the same principle, all others may be. God has but one mode of justifying people. (Dr. Albert Barnes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/19/2008 8:00 AM
His faith was so implicit, and so unwavering, that it was a demonstration that he was the firm friend of God. He was tried, and he had such confidence in God that he showed that he was supremely attached to him, and would obey and serve him. This was reckoned as a full proof of friendship; and he was recognized and treated as righteous; that is, as the friend of God. (Dr. Albert Barnes)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/18/2008 8:00 AM
And being fully persuaded - πληροφορηθεις, his measure: his soul was full of confidence, that the truth of God bound him to fulfill his promise and his power enabled him to do it. (Dr. Adam Clarke)
Read More »
|
By Robert Flynn on
11/17/2008 8:00 AM
Giving honor to God by the firmness with which he believed his promises. His conduct was Such as to honor God; that is, to show Abraham’s conviction that he was worthy of implicit confidence and trust. In this way all who believe in the promises of God do honor to him. They bear testimony to him that he is worthy of confidence. They become so many witnesses in his favor; and furnish to their fellow-men evidence that God has a claim on the credence and trust of mankind. (Dr. Albert Barnes)
Read More »
|