Review and application to Reformed Christian Beliefs. TULIP in Romans.


6. The P is for “Perseverance of the Saints” Means that those whom God has called will, in the end, be saved.

What have we seen so far in Romans that speaks to this?

Review and application to Reformed Christian Beliefs. TULIP in Romans.

5. The I is for “Irresistible Grace” (“effectual calling”) Means that all whom God chooses will eventually come to faith.

What have we seen so far in Romans that speaks to this?





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Review and application to Reformed Christian Beliefs. TULIP in Romans.

4. The L is for “Limited Atonement” (poorly named, “particular redemption” is better) All believers (except those who think everyone will be saved) limit the atonement. Reformed believers limit to whom it is applied, non-reformed limit it’s effect (salvation was not accomplished at the cross—human must do his part).

What have we seen so far in Romans that speaks to this?



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Review and application to Reformed Christian Beliefs. TULIP in Romans.

3. The U is for “Unconditional Election” This means that God chooses those who will be saved based on nothing other than his own sovereign will (free choice/good pleasure).

What have we seen so far in Romans that speaks to this?





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Review and application to Reformed Christian Beliefs. TULIP in Romans.

2. The T is for “Total Depravity” This means everything that a human does and is, outside of Christ, is tainted by sin. (Not utter depravity… even Hitler didn’t kill his mother …)

What have we seen so far in Romans that speaks to this?



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ESV Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

another name for the Spirit:

ESV John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. [emphasis added]

Notes:
1 Gr., Paracletos, one called alongside to help; or, Intercessor
a Joh 7:39; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7; Rom 8:26; 1Jo 2:1

Literally, by deconstructing the word, para (beside) cletos (helper)

1. When you consider the prayers of the Helper.

• What will the content/quality be?

• How will they be received?

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ESV Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

3. Do you believe it is pleasing to God when someone repents and professes faith? (not a trick question)



4. According to Paul here, can a person profess faith in Christ if they have not first received regeneration (a spiritual heart transplant)?



5. A great majority of Christians believe that faith precedes regeneration (new birth). Which comes first?

ESV Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

1. What is this “law of sin and death” that believers have been freed from?


2. Review some important doctrinal terms by pointing them out (how do they appear/how are they demonstrated)?

a. atonement


b. justice

ESV Romans 7:15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with
the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

(remember the chapter divisions are not inspired ... and are sometimes unfortunate)

We see in Romans 7:15-8:1 a struggling Paul. Look carefully at what Paul has said here for the following questions.

1. Notice the things Paul wants to do, and those things that he hates. Does this give you a clue as to whether he, at this point, has been regenerated (received new birth/saved)?



2. People often slam Christians who believe in justification by faith (alone) and claim it is a license to sin. For example, some one might say: “So you believe you can just believe in Jesus and then do whatever you want?” To answer this you really need to understand the question and clarify by asking questions:

a. What do you think they (the unbeliever/skeptic) mean by believe? (so make sure you ask!)



b. What is biblical belief?



c. What do you think they (the unbeliever/skeptic) mean by whatever you want? (so make sure you ask!)



d. What does a regenerated person want?

ESV Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let’s look at contrasts:

5. “wages” vs. “free gift” – Which is owed, death or eternal life?


6. Why is it owed?

ESV Romans 6:11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

It’s easy to treat our “life in the body” and “life in the Spirit” as two different lives. We see God’s plan here for the body. Your life on this earth is but a vapor… and eternity is a long time (actually timeless and without end).

2. When you reflect for an eternity what you did while “in the body,” will you have a different perspective on the way you should have used your body?



3. How will you view the times you blew it and used your body as an instrument of immorality?



4. How will you view the times you submitted your body to God’s higher purposes?

Gnostics (a very early heresy… present in Paul’s day) believe that basically the body is bad and the spiritual is good; material world bad/spiritual world good. Because anything flesh couldn’t be good… since Jesus was good he couldn’t have really come in flesh …

Side Note: This is what prompted John to write:

ESV 1 John 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

1. Does Paul view the body as necessarily bad?