Schaeffer The Finished Work of Christ (Paperback Edition)

The Truth of Romans 1-8
1. Auflage 1998
ISBN: 978-1-4335-1693-1
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 240 Seiten

Augustine. Luther. Wesley. These great leaders of the church all traced their spiritual awakenings to the book of Romans. To this day Paul's letter continues to fascinate, amaze, and awaken those who seek to plumb its depths, including one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the 20th century, Francis Schaeffer. In his landmark commentary on the first eight chapters of Romans, Schaeffer expounds on the foundational doctrines that undergird the core of Christian teaching, offering modern readers vital insights into the message of Romans and an arresting perspective on our own times. Redesigned with a new cover.

Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984) authored more than twenty books, which have been translated into several languages and have sold millions globally. He and his wife, Edith, founded the L'Abri Fellowship international study and discipleship centers. Recognized internationally for his work in Christianity and culture, Schaeffer passed away in 1984 but his influence and legacy continue worldwide.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schaeffer, Francis A.

Leseproben

2: THE PERSON WITHOUT THE BIBLE: GUILTY (1:18—2:16) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. (1:18) When Paul says that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation” (1:16), the unsaved person may well ask, “Why do I need salvation?” Luther pointed out that the gospel really includes both gospel and law: There is no use telling men that they must be saved (the gospel) until they feel a need for salvation (a need that the law reveals). Christianity in the Old and New Testament teaching is unique in emphasizing the need for salvation. Other religions stress that you need a guide or some other kind of help to teach you how to live or how to die. But these other religions do not emphasize the need for salvation from guilt. Our problem is not metaphysical, but moral. In 1:18 Paul begins explaining why all people need a Savior. He explains the need for salvation first as it applies to Gentiles (1:18—2:16), then as it applies to Jews (2:17—3:8), then as it applies to all humanity, Jew and Gentile alike (3:9-20). I like to describe it this way: Paul speaks first to the person who does not have the Bible, then to the person who does have the Bible. That, after all, was the main difference between the Jews and Gentiles of Paul’s day, and those two categories will certainly help us apply Paul’s teachings to our world today. Why does everyone in the world need a Savior? To the Gentile (the person without the Bible) who asks, “Why do I need salvation?” Paul says, with finality (v. 18), Because “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness!” You are under the wrath of God—that’s why you need salvation. Mankind needs a real salvation. We don’t need a spiritual guide or the inspiring example of a martyr. We need a real Savior because we are under God’s very real wrath. In mentioning God’s wrath, Paul introduces the first key word of the Christian vocabulary: guilt. He discusses guilt in 1:18—3:20. Then, in 3:21—4:25, he will discuss the second key Christian word: substitution, that is, Christ’s substitutionary death for our sins. People of other religions have no concept whatsoever of the Christian significance of these two words. We need salvation because we are under the wrath of God. We need a real salvation because we are guilty. That wrath of God will come to fruition at the judgment at the Second Coming of Jesus (2:5). The Second Coming in the future is our focus point in the same way as we look back to the day of Jesus’ death. This is parallel to the Lord’s Supper with its emphasis on the death of Christ in the past and the looking forward to the day He will come again. There is another question that the unsaved person without the Bible asks. It has been asked in every generation, though perhaps never shouted louder than in our own generation: If God made me, why am I now under His wrath? If God made me as I am, how can He consider me guilty? Is He not unjust in doing so? Where does evil come from? God is unjust if He made us this way and holds us guilty. This takes us right back to the words of the Bible’s teaching of a historic Fall. If you remove the record of a historic Fall in Genesis we will lose all contact with the Christian message. Without that answer to the origin of evil, the book of Romans would have no meaning, the death of Christ would have no meaning. Why should God hold us under His wrath if He made us the way we are? If He had made us all four feet tall, would He judge us for not being six feet tall? Paul answers that question: Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them [those without a Bible]; for God hath shown it unto them. (1:19) That which is known of God is obvious, even to the person without the Bible—for God has shown it to them. He has shown it, first of all, through their conscience, as Paul explains later: “Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another” (2:15). Everyone has a conscience. Paul will speak later of the fall of Adam and Eve, but he begins by dealing with the individual non-Christian and non-Jewish reader, the lost man or woman. He is dealing with individual man as significant. He is dealing with the individual man or woman standing before him in the Roman world, or with the individual man or woman reading his words in the twentieth century. And he says to that person, “You ask why you are under God’s wrath, but look at you! Don’t you have a conscience? Don’t you know very well that you are not the person you should be?” Paul doesn’t allow the distraction of endless arguments. He keeps it on the level of the individual, a significant man. He says to the Gentile nonbeliever, “Even though you have never seen a Bible, you have a conscience and you know that you have violated it. You’re not a machine. You’re not a robot. You’re not an animal. You can’t excuse yourself by animal psychology. You know you have a conscience and you know that you have violated it.” For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. (1:20) Not only does the nonbeliever have a conscience, he should know there is a God simply by observing the amazing creation all around him. He is not living in a dark cave. He can see creation all around him and surely he must wonder where it all came from. And yet, men would rather believe a gigantic lie that they are really nothing than believe the reality that there is a God. The Bible emphasizes many times that creation is a testimony to God. Even those who do not have the Bible should be able to conclude from creation that there is a God. As the psalmist says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge” (Psalm 19:1-2). Notice it is knowledge that creation reveals. As Paul shows, creation reveals knowledge to the rational person—who can’t escape his rationality even though he is a rebel. “There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (Psalm 19:3). There is one voice that is heard wherever humans live, with or without the Bible. It is the voice of creation. And creation is not speaking to the sticks and the stones, it is not speaking to the animals, it is not speaking to machines; creation is speaking to the rational creature who is a rebel against the Creator, even while he is still a rational creature. In its original language Psalm 19:3 reads, “There is no speech nor language without their voice heard.” It doesn’t make smooth English, but the thought is that you can just feel it. It comes like a great weight against you. “There is no speech nor language without their voice heard.” Paul quotes from this Psalm in Romans 10:18 and expressed similar thoughts about creation’s witness to God when speaking at Lystra: “Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). Here Paul focuses not so much on creation as a past event, but on creation as the present good providence of God. Jesus likewise speaks of the rain falling on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). Paul is challenging nonbelievers, not just on the basis of the creation’s witness as a past event, but also on the basis of the witness of a creation that bathes them with sun and bathes their fields with rain and dew. So often Christians argue intellectually for the existence of God, using arguments such as the need for a first cause, and this has value; but the truth is much deeper than this. It isn’t just that our world had a first cause, but that we are surrounded with the good things of God. He fills our every human need, and this should be ample testimony to His existence. Paul clearly states that even though mankind is fallen, man is still a moral and rational being. He is not dehumanized. He still has a conscience (1:19), and he can still appreciate the wonder of creation all around him (1:20). He hasn’t become a machine, even though he may choose to think of himself as a machine rather than acknowledge the Creator. A book on the Dutch painter van Gogh points out that from the time he arrived in Paris till the time of his suicide, his self-portraits grew less and less human. But the Fall didn’t stop van Gogh or anyone else from being human. Each human is still an image-bearer of God, and we can speak to him or her of the gospel. He is still a person, though he dehumanizes himself. If the Fall of mankind had resulted in men and women being nothing but machines, they would not be guilty before God. Yet whether in this life or in hell, man continues to be a rational, moral creature. He never becomes a machine. We marvel at the wonderful things fallen humans can do—in the arts, in creativity, in technology—even while rebelling against God. And yet because they are still human and still rational, they stand condemned under the wrath of God. They could draw a conclusion from the world around them and they don’t. That is their condemnation....