Romans 13

1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

from the Orthodox Study Bible: Paul calls Christians to submit to good government, to obey both God and man. The Kingdom of Heaven and earthly kingdoms are called to work together. The Church and state for Paul are certainly distinct, but they are not separated or isolated from one another. On the other hand, a government that upholds evil, forcing it on her people, is an abusive authority and in such cases, “we ought to obey God rather than men.”

This is a rather unpopular statement, especially for the Kingdom of Heaven and earth to work together.  I’m not sure that the commentator is talking about the separation of Church and state, but I’m going to talk about that a little.  I think there might be a problem when people start to think of their country as a representation of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Certainly people thought that about the Byzantine empire, and some even of the Russian empire, at least before the rise of communism and marxism.  It might not be such a good thing to equate your national status with the Church.  We’ve seen this happen in the Byzantine empire, the Russian state, Greek Churches, etc.  One needs to be able to distinguish between Church and state so that when another country attacks another for non-religious reasons, you won’t take it as an attack on your entire way of life.  The Mongols, for example, were pretty tolerant of Christianity when they were taking what are now Russian lands, even though they were Muslim.  The Greek civil war, from what I understand, had a lot to do with the Church and a lot of people in the Church were killed during that time.  In America, it’s easier for Orthodox Christians to not identify the Church with the state because it’s pretty secular in the first place.  However, this is a  real danger for protestant christians.  Pray, take heed that you avoid civil religion.  Indeed, take heed that you know what is good and what is evil… as the government seems to not know…. and obey God rather than men.  Don’t take your cues for what to do in the church from advertising or legislation, but rather from the word of God and from Christian history.

8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,”^[a] “You shall not covet,”^[b] and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”^[c] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

This is very difficult to do, and I make no pretentions to say much about this.  It’s pretty self-explanatory.

11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

This is an amazing application of the principle of theosis.  How indeed can salvation be nearer than when we first believed?  It’s because salvation is a process.  We need to continually put on Christ.  Sometimes we forget and we sin and we don’t act like Christ, but it is time (indeed it’s always time) to repent and walk as Christ walked.  Let us become like Christ by grace through working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Romans 10

1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel^[a] is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

I think this may have something to say for knowing God.  If a person does not know God, then they won’t know how or what to conform their will to, or what to participate in.  Right belief is essential.

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”^[b] 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”^[c] (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’”^[d] (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”^[e](that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”^[f] 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”^[g]

The way of the law and the way of faith are contrasted. Whereas mere obedience to the law has always failed, faith in Christ as Lord always succeeds. For: (1) Faith does not doubt, though righteousness is beyond human possibility without Christ. (2) Faith is not a distant accomplishment but is near, having a vision of Christ as present and easily accessible. (3) Faith transforms the whole person; the soul working with the body makes it real. (4) True faith is accessible to all equally, as even the OT prophets teach.

Romans 9: part 2

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”^[f] 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”^[g] 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As He says also in Hosea:

“ I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”^[h]
26 “ And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘ You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”^[i]

27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:^[j]

“ Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.”^[k]

29 And as Isaiah said before:

“ Unless the LORD of Sabaoth^[l]had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”^[m]

I was reading a note on these verses, and was surprised to find something I had never thought of before.  The vessels of mercy are the believing Jews and Gentiles, and the vessels of wrath are the unbelieving Jews.  Now that I think about it, that makes a whole lot more sense than thinking that each individual person is elected to go to heaven or hell (vessels of mercy and wrath respectively).

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.^[n] 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law.^[o] For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:

“ Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”^[p]

“The first answer to the paradox of Jewish unbelief is from God’s standpoint: His sovereign will. The second answer to the paradox is from humanity’s standpoint: faith. For “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith”, equally for Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles, who had been unconcerned about righteousness, now attain it by their faith in Christ. God mercifully overlooks their former unrighteousness practiced in ignorance. By contrast the Jews fail to attain even the righteousness of the law, for they do not pursue the law by faith but by works. Seeing only the letter of the law, not its spirit, they miss Christ in the law and try to keep the commandments apart from Him. They substitute what was “shadow” for substance. Jesus Christ becomes their stumbling block.”

Romans 7

1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”^[a] 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

If we were held knowledgeably under sin by the law, then by the fulfillment of the law and the Incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ, we are freed from it.  So that we may participate in the life of God.

13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

This passage I think is often quoted with confusion, probably because of the play on words that St. Paul uses and its translation into English.  I also find that verse 18 is commonly used to support the belief that there’s nothing good inside a person, however, that’s complete nonsense.  The passage is depicting a contradiction within the person to will good and to do good or evil.  The task is on our part to strengthen our will so that we may overcome our fleshly desires and act on our will, which is what God wants. This is really just a summary of the Christian life.  We constantly battle against ourselves and our passions to become more Godly and participate in the life of God, the life of the Church, etc.  Indeed, we need to thank God for his grace and mercy in helping us along this path.

By the way, the word mind, in the greek, I just looked up and it’s the word Nous.

Romans 2

Illumine our hearts, O Master Who lovest mankind, with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge. Open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of Thy gospel teachings. Implant also in us the fear of Thy blessed commandments, that trampling down all carnal desires, we may enter upon a spiritual manner of living, both thinking and doing such things as are well-pleasing unto Thee. For Thou art the illumination of our souls and bodies, O Christ our God, and unto Thee we ascribe glory, together with Thy Father, Who is from everlasting, and Thine all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

— Prayer before reading the Holy Scriptures

Romans 2

1 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:^[a] 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.

We all know that Christians aren’t perfect.  Once I was told that Christians are all hypocrites. I don’t think that’s true.  If a person confesses to be a Christian but denies God constantly by thought, word, and deed without repentance, that is when a person would accurately be called a hypocrite.  That being said, I’m tempted to believe that not many Christians know what it is to live a life of repentance. Recognizing and admitting to sin is probably the main problem that a lot of people have.  There aren’t a whole lot of people who have committed what they call grievous sins: no murder, no stealing, no adultery, etc.  But they don’t realize that even a little white lie, gossiping, having an attitude not conducive to Godliness are all sins.  Really it would be accurate to say that anything that God wouldn’t do and doesn’t possess in himself the capacity for is sin.  The other problem is for those who have conquered those little bitty sins, etc. is that people don’t know who God is.  How are you supposed to imitate someone you don’t talk to?  Someone you don’t understand how they relate to you?  This is the reason why knowing what you believe is so important, especially what you believe about the core issues of faith, basically everything addressed in the Nicene Creed.

12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

There is a huge misunderstanding of the works vs. faith dialectic in Scripture.  I was raised to believe that works don’t matter.  I don’t believe that now.  As in Romans, chapter 1, faith is obedient and faith is always working.  There is no faith without works.  When Scripture says we’ll be judged according to our works, it gets a little confusing for some.  “God’s judgment will be: according to our deeds: The “doing good” referred to in v. 7 is not trying to gain merit with God.  Rather, it is the unity of intentions with actions, faith with works.  Even unbelievers are rewarded for good works, apart from spiritual understanding.  But note the following: (a) “Doing good” means seeking God’s glory, not one’s own glory; God’s honor, not one’s own honor; the eternal reward of immortality, not reward here and now. “Doing good” is seeking first the Kingdom of God. (b) Good intentions alone, or faith without works, will not save. Simply to hear and not do is religion without reality.  Those with true faith, “the doers” of the truth, practice virtue from pure and repentant hearts. (c) “By nature” people are inspired by and cooperate with God’s grace. Therefore, good deeds are natural to us, whereas evil deeds are contrary to nature. Because we all fail, we need God’s mercy.  The presence of God’s law in our conscience condemns anything we do which is contrary to true human nature.  Therefore, even Gentiles – people not under the Law of Moses, those who do not know Christ – have an internal law from God, the natural law written in their hearts, according to which God will judge them…. (d) Those who are condemned choose to reject God.  There is no automatic, fated condemnation: God’s judgment of us is based on our exercise of free will. Although sin impairs our powers, it does not destroy God’s image in us or our free will.” – from the Orthodox Study Bible

17 Indeed^[b] you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, 18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. 21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,”^[c] as it is written.

Again, this is a warning against hypocrisy.  Christians are a reflection of God, no matter what they do or say.  From this, spiritual fathers have a huge role to play.  They must be leaders in living a life of repentance and shirking the sins of this world and the ones they have particular weaknesses for.  Don’t give anyone cause to say bad things about God or the Church, if you do, apologize, and repent.  That is the true test of every Christian.

25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

The Apostle Paul is urging the Christians at Rome to make their outward expression of faith work in their inner being.  In the past a lot of people have used these verses to support the view that outward expressions are superfluous and that Christians don’t need them.  I completely disagree with that, that circumstance does not make the outward expression of faith wrong.  Their inward reality may not match, but I think it’s better to use outward expressions even when the inside faith is not there. Eventually, it might happen that the outward expressions will work themselves down into the body, but not using them at all leaves very little chance that they will ever come back to faith.  We strive to make the things we do real in our spiritual lives.  We don’t need to separate the physical from the spiritual in this sense because… well, gnosticism is a heresy.

Laws

Natural laws, yes, there are laws of gravity, laws of action and reaction, laws of science.  But why, then, should we reject a natural law of morality or the way in which human beings are meant to act.  Maybe it’s because these laws can be broken, but that only contributes to our free will.  If I chose to fly, could I do it?  Would that not conflict with the law of gravity?  Yet it says that if you have faith you can move mountains – that transcends natural law.

Onto civil laws and the difference between war and murder:

“Could there be anything more absurd than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of the water, and his prince has picked a quarrel with mine, though I have none with him?” Pascal, Pensees 60.  It seems that the difference is only in politics and the laws that civil governments make.  Laws are a reflection of the people.  People are corrupt, so the laws will be corrupt.  Therefore, an argument for moral relativity on this basis (that the laws of men vary according to custom and heritage) is not convincing.  We all know people are corrupt.  There is no more truth in all of this than the laws.  The only sense in which we have the truth revealed in our laws is to that extent that we are united with God – in his image and likeness – because God is truth.