Prairie View Christian Church Norway, Iowa PastorTeacher Bill Wenstrom www'prairieviewchristian'org

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Prairie View Christian ChurchNorway,
IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.prairievie
wchristian.org
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Sunday April 26, 2009Romans Romans
932a-Israel Did Not Pursue The Law On The Basis
of Faith But On The Basis Of Meritorious
WorksLesson 325
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Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 930.
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In Romans 930, Paul presents a paradoxical
conclusion based upon what he taught in Romans
96-29 that the Gentiles who did not pursue
righteousness like the Jews, obtained it by faith.
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Then, in Romans 931, he teaches that in contrast
to the Gentiles even though the nation of Israel
zealously pursued righteousness that is based
upon obedience to the Mosaic Law, they never
measured up to the Law.
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This morning we will note Romans 932a and in
this passage Paul teaches that Israel never
measured up to the Law because they never
zealously pursued it on the basis of faith but
rather as if it were possible, on the basis of
meritorious actions.
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Lets read Romans 930-33 and then concentrate on
verse 33 for the rest of the morning.
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Romans 930-33, What shall we say then? That
Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness,
attained righteousness, even the righteousness
which is by faith but Israel, pursuing a law of
righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why?
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Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as
though it were by works.
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They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as
it is written, BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF
STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO
BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.
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Lets now concentrate on verse 32.Romans 932,
Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith,
but as though it were by works.
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Why is composed of the preposition dia (diaV)
(dee-ah) and the accusative neuter singular form
of the interrogative pronoun tis (tiv) (tis),
which together introduce a rhetorical question
that asks why the nation of Israel could never
measure up to the Law.
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Because is the conjunction hoti (oti)
(hot-ee), which introduces a causal clause that
presents the reason why the nation of Israel
never measured up to the Law.
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They did not pursue it indicates that the
reason why the nation of Israel never measured up
to the Law is that they never zealously pursued
it on the basis of faith.
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By faith is composed of the emphatic negative
adverb ou (ou)) (oo), not and the preposition
ek (e)k), by and the genitive feminine singular
form of the noun pistis (pivsti), faith.
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The noun pistis refers to the non-meritorious
system of perception of placing ones trust or
confidence in the merits of the Lord Jesus
Christ as Savior.
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He is the object of faith for salvation and
justification since His spiritual death on the
Cross as an impeccable person redeemed sinful
mankind from the slave market of sin, satisfied
the demands of a holy God that human sin be
judged, reconciled the entire human race to God
and fulfilled the righteous requirements of the
Law.
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He is also the object of faith for salvation and
justification since His physical death dealt with
the problem of mans sin nature, which is the
source of personal sin.
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That He is the object of faith is indicated in
Romans 322 and 26.
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In Romans 932, the preposition ek is used with
the genitive form of pistis as a marker of cause
with focus upon source.
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Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates
that the nation of Israel never measured up to
the Law because they never zealously pursued it
on the basis of faith as constituting the source
of justification.
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Romans 932, Why? Because they did not pursue it
by faith, but as though it were by works.
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But is the adversative use of the conjunction
alla (a)llav) (al-lah), which introduces a
statement that presents a concept that is in
total contrast or is totally antithetical to
zealously pursuing the Law based upon faith as
the source of justification.
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It indicates that zealously pursuing the Law on
the basis of faith as a source of justification
is totally antithetical to pursuing on the basis
of meritorious actions as a source of
justification since faith in Christ will result
in justification since Christ perfectly fulfilled
the Law.
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On the other hand, performing meritorious actions
will not since the Law requires perfect obedience
which sinners do have not capacity to do.
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As though is the relative adverb of manner hos
(w() (hoce), which functions as a comparative
particle introducing a comparison between
zealously pursuing the Law by means of faith with
doing so by means of works.
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With this word Paul is saying that the nation of
Israel never measured up to the Law because they
never zealously pursued it by means of faith as a
source but rather as if it were possible by
means of meritorious works as a source.
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By works is composed of the preposition ek
(e)k), by, which is followed by the genitive
neuter plural form of the noun ergon (ergon)
(er-gon), the works.
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The noun ergon is used in the plural form and
means, meritorious actions since we are
speaking in the context of Israel attempting to
be declared justified by God by zealously
pursuing to measure up to the Law by being
obedient to it.
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The preposition ek functions with the genitive
form of the noun ergon, works as a marker of
cause with focus upon source.
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Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates
that the nation of Israel never measured up to
the Law because they zealously pursued it on the
basis of or because of meritorious actions as
constituting the source of justification.
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Romans 930, Therefore, what is the conclusion
that we are forced to? That the Gentiles who,
customarily and characteristically do not
zealously pursue righteousness obtained
righteousness, in fact a righteousness, which is
by means of faith as a source.
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Romans 931, However, even though Israel
customarily and characteristically zealously
pursues a legal righteousness, they never
measured up to the Law.
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Romans 932, For what reason? Because they, as
an eternal spiritual truth, never zealously
pursue it on the basis of faith (as constituting
the source of justification) but rather as if it
were possible on the basis of meritorious actions
(as constituting the source of justification).
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In Romans 932a, Paul poses a rhetorical question
that asks for the reason for the nation of Israel
never measuring up to the Law by zealously
pursuing righteousness that is based upon
obedience to the Law.
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He answers this question by teaching that Israel
never zealously pursued it on the basis of faith
as constituting the source of justification but
rather as if it were possible, on the basis of
meritorious actions as constituting the source of
justification.
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The Jews zealous pursuit of the Law was not the
problem it was the way in which they went about
that pursuit, which was wrong.
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Instead of pursuing the Law on the basis of faith
they went about pursuing to justify themselves
before God by performing a meritorious system of
works from it.
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Galatians 216, Nevertheless knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the Law but
through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have
believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be
justified by faith in Christ and not by the works
of the Law since by the works of the Law no
flesh will be justified.
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They failed to understand the purpose of the Law.
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The Law was given to shut man up to faith, i.e.,
to exclude the works of the Law (or any system of
works) as a system of merit for either salvation
or sanctification and thereby lead him to Christ
as the only means of righteousness (Galatians
319-20, 20-24 1 Timothy 18-9 Romans 321-24).
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