By Robert Flynn on
6/26/2009 6:53 AM
In Rom 8:19 he uses a wonderful word for eager expectation. It is apokaradokia (<G603>) and it describes the attitude of a man who scans the horizon with head thrust forward, eagerly searching the distance for the first signs of the dawn break of glory. (William Barclay's Daily Study Bible)
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By Robert Flynn on
6/24/2009 12:17 PM
How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure….God’s secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. (Ephesians 1:3-5, 9-10 NLT96)
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By Robert Flynn on
6/23/2009 7:09 AM
“True, we must suffer with Christ, if we would partake of His glory; but what of that? For if such sufferings are set over against the coming glory, they sink into insignificance.” (A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown)
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By Robert Flynn on
6/22/2009 7:13 AM
"When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916)
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By Robert Flynn on
6/19/2009 11:35 AM
“The call is not to be taken lightly. For a person to possess knowledge is not enough. He must be sure that he is properly called. Those who operate without a proper call seek no good purpose. God does not bless their labors. They may be good preachers, but they do not edify. Many of the fanatics of our day pronounce words of faith, but they bear no good fruit, because their purpose is to turn men to their perverse opinions. On the other hand, those who have a divine call must suffer a good deal of opposition in order that they may become fortified against the running attacks of the devil and the world.”
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By Robert Flynn on
6/18/2009 7:43 AM
Joint heirs - That we may know it is a great inheritance which God will give us for he hath given a great one to his Son. If we suffer with him - Willingly and cheerfully, for righteousness' sake. This is a new proposition, referring to what follows. (John Wesley)
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By Robert Flynn on
6/17/2009 7:03 AM
But Paul means, that the Spirit of God gives us such a testimony, that when he is our guide and teacher, our spirit is made assured of the adoption of God: for our mind of its own self, without the preceding testimony of the Spirit, could not convey to us this assurance. (John Calvin)
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By Robert Flynn on
6/16/2009 6:16 AM
In New Testament times adopted sons enjoyed the same privileges as natural-born sons. So, instead of cowering in slave-like fear, Christians can approach God in an intimate way calling Him Abba, Father. Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (2:471). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
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By Robert Flynn on
6/15/2009 6:53 AM
For as many as are led by the Spirit, etc. - No man who has not Divine assistance can either find the way to heaven, or walk in it when found. As Christ, by his sacrificial offering, has opened the kingdom of God to all believers; and, as a mediator, transacts the concerns of their kingdom before the throne; so the Spirit of God is the great agent here below, to enlighten, quicken, strengthen, and guide the true disciples of Christ; and all that are born of this Spirit are led and guided by it; and none can pretend to be the children of God who are not thus guided. (Dr. Adam Clarke)
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By Robert Flynn on
6/11/2009 7:21 AM
Rom 8:12 (14) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
(14) An exhortation to oppress the flesh daily more and more by the power of the Spirit of regeneration, because (he says) you are debtors to God, in that you have received so many benefits from him. (Geneva Bible Translatioon Notes)
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By Robert Flynn on
6/10/2009 1:51 PM
"I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o'clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: ‘Early will I seek thee'; ‘Thou shalt early hear m y voice.' Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God—to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another.” (Robert Murray M'Cheyne)
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By Robert Flynn on
6/9/2009 2:14 PM
Now there is only one rank in God’s army, Lord, and that is thankfully already taken!
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By Robert Flynn on
6/8/2009 6:50 AM
Rom 8:12 (14) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
(14) An exhortation to oppress the flesh daily more and more by the power of the Spirit of regeneration, because (he says) you are debtors to God, in that you have received so many benefits from him.
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By Robert Flynn on
6/2/2009 7:17 AM
If the Spirit be in us, Christ is in us. He dwells in the heart by faith. Grace in the soul is its new nature; the soul is alive to God, and has begun its holy happiness which shall endure for ever. (Matthew Henry)
John 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you. (NET)
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By Robert Flynn on
6/1/2009 1:23 PM
Sins are not a list of petty irritations drawn up for the sake of a jealous God. They are, rather, a description of the impediments to spiritual growth. We are the ones who suffer if we sin, by forfeiting the development of character and Christlikeness that would have resulted if we had not sinned. Muck, T. C. (1989). Vol. 19: Sins of the body : Ministry in a sexual society
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By Robert Flynn on
5/30/2009 8:00 AM
Can we not hear John asking, “Where is your treasure invested?”
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By Robert Flynn on
5/29/2009 7:08 AM
It is the highest activity of the human soul, and therefore it is at the same time the ultimate test of a man’s true spiritual condition. There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christian people so much as our prayer life. . . . Ultimately, therefore, a man discovers the real condition of his spiritual life when he examines himself in private, when he is alone with God. . . . And have we not all known what it is to find that, somehow, we have less to say to God when we are alone than when we are in the presence of others? It should not be so; but it often is. So that it is when we have left the realm of activities and outward dealings with other people, and are alone with God, that we really know where we stand in a spiritual sense (Martin Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)
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By Robert Flynn on
5/28/2009 3:33 PM
“No foreign power or combination of foreign powers could by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up from among us, it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die of suicide.” Abraham Lincoln
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By Robert Flynn on
5/28/2009 6:18 AM
This does not mean that the unsaved person never does anything good, or that the believer never does anything bad. It means that the bent of their lives is different. One lives for the flesh, the other lives for the Spirit. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament")
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By Robert Flynn on
5/26/2009 2:39 PM
Rom 8:8 (10) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
(10) The conclusion. Therefore they that walk after the flesh cannot please God: by which it follows that they are not grafted into Christ. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
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By Robert Flynn on
5/22/2009 3:16 PM
SUX, a Naval Aviation weather term (invented for the Simoom—A strong, hot, sand-laden wind of the Sahara and Arabian deserts) describing a brown cloud with an indefinite ceiling, visibility fully obscured in blowing sand; a bad day to fly)
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By Robert Flynn on
5/20/2009 2:08 PM
The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new—the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent in its promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy neighbor’ will be finally achieved.” John J. Dunphy, “A Religion for a New Age,” The Humanist (January/February 1983), 26
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By Robert Flynn on
5/20/2009 8:06 AM
To be carnally minded: To be under the dominion of the fleshly impulses of the body. (The People's New Testament)
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By Robert Flynn on
5/15/2009 10:53 AM
“Be humble, thinking others as better than yourself…In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing….” (Phil 2:3b, 14)
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By Robert Flynn on
5/14/2009 8:37 AM
Whatever the flesh savors, that brings about death: and whatever the Spirit savors, that is conducive to joy and everlasting life. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
"Then I realized that God allows people to continue in their sinful ways so he can test them. That way they can see for themselves that they are no better than animals." (Ecclesiastes 3:18 NLT)
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By Robert Flynn on
5/13/2009 3:30 PM
“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ?...put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. (Philippians 2:1a, 12b)
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By Robert Flynn on
5/11/2009 3:34 PM
Complaining: goggusmos {gong-goos-mos’} The early instances yield the sense “to be dissatisfied,” “to grumble because of disappointed hopes.” A murmur, murmuring, muttering; a secret debate; a secret displeasure not openly avowed.
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By Robert Flynn on
5/11/2009 8:46 AM
The man is as the mind is….Which way do our thoughts move with most pleasure? Which way go our plans and contrivances? Are we most wise for the world, or for our souls? (Matthew Henry)
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By Robert Flynn on
5/6/2009 3:29 PM
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” (Ecclesiastes 3:1b KJV)
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By Robert Flynn on
5/5/2009 1:11 PM
"This transformation, it must be conceded, rather than representing the greatest thing impotent man can do for God, represents the greatest thing the infinite God can do for man; for there is nothing to be conceived of beyond the estate to which this salvation brings one, namely, ‘like Christ’ and ‘conformed to the image of his Son.’” Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, D.D., Litt.D., Th.D., Salvation
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By Robert Flynn on
5/4/2009 7:54 AM
Thus satisfaction was made to Divine justice, and the way of salvation opened for the sinner. By the Spirit the law of love is written upon the heart, and though the righteousness of the law is not fulfilled by us, yet, blessed be God, it is fulfilled in us; there is that in all true believers, which answers the intention of the law. (Matthew Henry)
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By Robert Flynn on
5/1/2009 6:55 AM
He does not use an argument here, but expounds the mystery of sanctification, which is imputed to us: because, he says, the power of the law was not such (and that by reason of the corruption of our nature) that it could make man pure and perfect, and because it rather kindled the flame of sin than put it out and extinguish it, therefore God clothed his Son with flesh just like our sinful flesh, in which he utterly abolished our corruption, that being accounted thoroughly pure and without fault in him, apprehended and laid hold of by faith, we might be found to fully have the singular perfection which the law requires, and therefore that there might be no condemnation in us. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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!
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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).
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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)
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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)
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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?
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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)
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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!”
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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?
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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)
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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
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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)
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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
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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)
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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.)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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.
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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.
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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)
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By Robert Flynn on
2/25/2009 9:05 AM
At that moment heaven was opened. (Matthew 3:16b) New International Readers Version)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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.”
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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.
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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.
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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)
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