Romans 6:15-18 - Love is Not Weak (Conciliation Series, Part XV)

 Part IV: God’s Conciliation, Confirmed

In almost every single movie I’ve seen, the villain of the story sees friendship, family, or love for another, as a weakness. Whether the villain calls it “compassion,” “love,” “the power of friendship,” or simple “care,” the villain usually frames it as though desiring, caring, or loving another person is a character flaw that reveals frailty, fragility, feebleness. Humility reveals an ability to be manipulated, whether it be Sauron, The Joker, Voldemort – all hate the fruit of love.

As such, they cannot be peaceful. Try as they may, peace is impossible if you do not care. Without care, you cannot will yourself to make peace. Care – that is, love – comes first, and peace is established in effect.

This has been evident in the book of Romans itself – care comes first (Rom. 3:21-4:25,) and peace is established in effect (Rom. 5:1-8:39.) Without the source of justification by faith, being grace, we could not learn peace. But the beginning of our evangel is not the only place that this pattern is evident. See, without love, Jesus could not establish peace through obedience unto death. Notice, Christ’s ministry to the Jews came first. He showed them love first, and then established peace through His death.

During His ministry, Jesus revealed His humility. This hit me hardest in the book of John. In John 13:1-17, Jesus washes His disciples’ feet. These idiots, that knew little, if anything, of what Jesus was talking about – these tax collectors, fishermen, general asshole-type people, were completely shocked when Jesus does this. Who loves like this? It would be like a stranger coming up to you today and offering you $100 bucks, no strings attached. This is the Son of the living God, as they very well knew (Matt. 16:16.) How on earth is this One washing their feet?

What’s greater is the way John sets this up, in writing. Watch:

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus, being aware that His hour came that He may be proceeding out of this world to the Father, loving His own who are in the world, He loves them to the consummation.

It’s such a simple setup. Very shortly, this One is going to die for the sake of all. Yes, even the villain, who sees His care as weakness. Observe the next verse:

And at the coming of the dinner, the Adversary already having cast into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, that He may be giving Him up… Jesus, being aware that the Father has given all into His hands, and that He came out from God and is going away to God, is rising from His dinner and is laying down His garments, and, getting a cloth, He girds Himself.

What. A. Contrast.

The One Who is a temple of the living God, recognizes that God has given Him all already, irrespective of the Adversary’s dealings. God takes great care to point out that one of the disciples closest to Jesus has already been taken by the Adversary, for the time being. Despite this (or, you could even argue, because of this,) He gets a cloth, wraps it around Himself, and?

He is draining water into the basin, and begins washing the feet of the disciples and wiping them off with the cloth with which He was girded.

As a Son of the living God, this was Jesus’ disposition. In Christian church groups, we would always hear the phrase, “Be like Jesus!” When it came down to it, they were trying to put us under law, without educating us on the Source of Jesus’ disposition, being love. They would act as though, if you did not “be like Jesus,” you would go to hell.

Such is the heart of the Adversary.

The real truth at hand here is not so perverted. Look at this from Paul’s perspective, in the evangel set forth unto us. Paul had no clue of who the living God was, His humility or otherwise. He saw a bright light in the sky and was shaken, nothing more.

And yet, this same man penned the book of Romans. How did that happen?

Paul learned of our evangel, which revealed the power of our Lord’s disposition, here: grace. He recognized, intuitively, that, unlike the great philosophers and storytellers of his day, that grace was truly not a weakness, but the ultimate power. And Paul, the chief of sinners – that is, doubters (Rom. 14:23) – had received a heaping measure of this disposition, enough to write Romans.

I stress that last part heavily. “Chief of doubters,” Paul is. He was a Pharisee. The Pharisees, who were all too familiar with the inability to follow law, had no choice but to put on a show to the masses. Thus, when they experienced Jesus, they did not see a truly humble Man, but a big liar. They charged Him with being self-righteous:

Therefore, then, the Jews sought the more to kill Him, for He not only annulled the sabbath, but said His own Father also is God, making Himself equal to God.

They, in believing a truly humble One to be self-righteous, in turn exposed themselves. Here’s Paul, in Romans 2:1–

Defenseless are you, o man! Everyone who is judging, for in what you are judging another, you are condemning yourself, for you who are judging are committing the same things.

In charging Jesus with self-righteousness, the Pharisees proved themselves self-righteous. Yet we could not have this contrast without the Source of Jesus’ true righteousness, being God’s grace (Rom. 3:21-22.)

What does that have to do with us? Well, I’m sure you’ve put the pieces together by now. We are given a measure of Christ’s faith, through grace, and baptized into His death, which hallows us. These are the first two components of our salvation into the body of Christ (2 Cor. 1:9-10.)

It is this calling that entreats us to humility.

Now, this is a very difficult thing to say to many in Christ, because when you say this, many of them immediately hear, “Be like Jesus!” and charge you with self-righteousness (the question I’ve most-oft received is, “You think you’re humble?”)

This is a self-defense mechanism that I’ll break down in a bit; yet here is the truth, which is oft looked over by our brothers:

Jesus, then, answers and said to them, “Verily, verily, I am saying to you, The Son can not be doing anything of Himself if it is not what He should be observing the Father doing, for whatever He may be doing, this the Son also is doing likewise.”

This answers the question to a tee. It is not you who are humble; it is God. This is the effect of your salvation, and your understanding of it. It is an active state of being. Because you have been given a measure of Christ’s faith, and because you are hallowed to God, it follows that love has been poured in your heart (Rom. 5:5, implying that it was not previously poured in your heart.) Through this, as we will study, it becomes clear that you are being conformed to the image of His Son. Observe Rom. 8:29–

Whom [God] foreknew, He designates beforehand, also, to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be Firstborn among many brethren.

This is proven in the fact that our blessings reflect Christ’s blessings:

Let no one be boasting in men, for all is yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or the present, or that which is impending - all is yours, yet you are Christ's, yet Christ is God's.

And,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who blesses us with every spiritual blessing among the celestials, in Christ…

In this, our disposition matters, because, it is what our brother Paul explains to us, in Philippians 2:5–

Let this [humility] be in you, which is in Christ Jesus also…

Now, many in Christ will say, “If God is in control of all, what does our disposition matter? It’s His job, not mine.” I have found that there are a few reasons for this question.

The first is, simply, that it’s difficult, being truly humble. Many are ashamed of themselves or their past actions, and as a result ask this question. They cannot perceive themselves as able to be humble, having committed whatever action they’ve committed in the past. The response to this is that, yes, being truly humble is indeed a tough calling, and yet it is the only antidote to shame. You may find, in resting in humility, that your shame dissipates, as shame is the effect of the body of Sin, and it is directly contrasted with God’s power for salvation, in Romans 1:16–

For not ashamed am I of the evangel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who is believing…

The second reason for this question is more stubborn. It stems from an active desire to not offer divine service to Christ, though our apostle states directly that he does (Rom. 1:9,) and requests that we imitate him (1 Cor. 11:1.) They compound on their first objection with, “If God loves me, then He’ll let me be me and won’t complain!”

The issue with this objection is revealed by Paul in Romans 6:15-18–

What then? Should we be sinning, seeing that we are not under law, but under grace? May it not be coming to that!

Should you rest in sinning (that is, doubting Him and His requests,) knowing full well that you are under grace? This objection assumes that grace tolerates sin, which in effect means that the believer assumes that sin is so powerful, that grace cannot beat it; thus, grace must make exceptions. Obviously, this is not the case, and the truth is that the believer should not want to sin, nor should they try to sin, but the evangel allows you to rest with your past actions, and reckon yourself as dead to the past, and enjoy the expectation in your future. Paul elaborates on this, saying,

Are you not aware that to whom you are presenting yourselves as slaves for obedience, his slaves you are, whom you are obeying, whether of Sin for death, or of Obedience for righteousness? Now thanks be to God that you were slaves of Sin, yet you obey from the heart the type of teaching to which you were given over. Now, being freed from Sin, you are enslaved to Righteousness.

The world is a stage (1 Cor. 4:9.) A theater. It is reflective of the spiritual world around us. If you are sanctified to God, committing sin will abhor you. Moreover, trying not to sin will be just as abhorrent, if you are penalizing yourself with feelings of guilt or shame. The only solution is grace (Rom. 7:24.) We receive grace, and our commission, for faith-obedience. The goal of the evangel is obedience, but not to law – to faith (Rom. 3:28.) In resting in the grace of the One Who created and reconciled Himself to you, you are committing faith-obedience, which is the point of Romans at all (Rom. 1:5.)

The faith-obedience leads to a proper understanding of your Father, which further builds your faith, wages, and solidifies your expectation for your sake. Our conduct, then, as Paul said, reveals what is written in our heart.

The third and final reason that I can find for the objection, “If God is in control of all, what does our disposition matter? It’s His job, not mine,” is in a desire to be God. That may sound weird, but the truth is that the question is rooted in a desire to only care about the absolute perspective, and disregard the relative. Obviously, the only One Who actually is absolute is God, and every other living thing (Christ included) is relative, becoming absolute over time.

This, simply, is ego, because it’s rooted in placing yourself above others. To presume that we can and should only focus on the absolute perspective is to remove yourself of all interaction with the story at hand, which is, literally, the opposite of the care Jesus displayed, and of the humility that we are entreated to hold on to.

In response to that, the objector usually goes, “Free will isn’t a thing, so God will make me offer divine service when it is time!” I’ve heard that phrase more times than I can count. Here’s the thing: free will isn’t a thing. But the will most certainly exists, and it counts. Your will is indeed not free (Rom. 9:16) – it is either enslaved to Sin, or enslaved to Righteousness, per Paul’s statements in Rom. 6:15-18. None of it escapes God’s intention, sure (Rom. 9:19,) but not one of us in Christ (save the Head) has any clue what every detail of God’s intention is at this point in time. To presume that we must remain “in the absolute perspective” and discount the relative simply because it is transient, is to presume that we have the ability to be absolute right now, which, when all is said and done, is exactly what Paul claims that the flesh desires, back in Romans 3:23 (cf. Rom. 3:20):

For all have [missed the mark], and all are wanting of the glory of God.

With this considered, we only need turn to the hundreds of verses in which Paul literally entreats us to act a certain way! If the third objector were correct, then Rom. 1:5 doesn’t have any weight; nor does Rom. 6:15-23. Nor does Rom. 12:1-15:7. Nor does any of 1 Corinthians. Nor does the latter half of Ephesians, or pretty much all of Philippians. Paul spends a lot of time discussing our conduct, and the irony of the objections is sound – the objector wants to have all the blessing, but is evading the various entreaties, that is, the responsibility, that comes in effect of the calling.

Do you see yet why conduct matters so deeply? If you are seeking to conduct yourself properly for your own material gain, then yes, you are self-righteous – like the Pharisees. But this does not automatically make “seeking proper conduct” synonymous with evil, or self-centered nature! If this were the case, Paul would entreat us to stay the heck away from proper conduct all the time.

True humility is not self-centered. Humility understands what has been given, and seeks to please others anyway. Self-righteousness seeks to stand on its own head, and show off to those who have not been given all. Humility takes to its knees, to assist any, irrespective of their allotment.

This is not healthy just for us in Christ, but in general. This conduct educates us on God. We are rescued out of this body of Sin, by grace, and as we dwell on this grace, our conduct naturally begins to align with what Jesus did. If we dwell on what we are or are not doing, then we are not dwelling on what God has achieved, which is self-centered. What is weaker? Dwelling on our actions, leading to a swell head? Or dwelling on Him, leading to true humility, which is the humility of our God? Is God weaker than indifference, or is God always able?

I’ll end with this from our brother Paul, concerning our conduct, in Eph. 4:26-5:2, and how it reveals the greatness of Him in it:

Are you indignant, and not sinning? Do not let the sun be sinking on your vexation, nor yet be giving place to the Adversary. Let him who steals by no means still be stealing: yet rather let him be toiling, working with his hands at what is good, that he may have to share with one who has need.

Let no tainted word at all be issuing out of your mouth, but if any is good toward needful edification, that it may be giving grace to those hearing.

And do not be causing sorrow to the holy spirit of God by which you are sealed for the day of deliverance.

When all of this is said and done, the mature letters concerning our disposition reveal that ignoring His charges for faith-obedience, a right conduct, causes Him sorrow. The spirit of the objector believes that, in being absolute, God does not seem to care about the relative perspective. Yet here, God tells us that He does care, that He does feel hurt when He is ignored. It is the same reason we can watch The Lion King, watch Mufasa die, and feel hurt; though it is only a story, it hits home and causes us grief. Thus also with God. Yet we are entreated to adhere to Him, that we do not cause this grief, relative as it may be.

Continuing,

Let all bitterness and fury and anger and clamor and calumny be taken away from you with all malice, yet become kind to one another, tenderly compassionate, dealing graciously among yourselves, according as God also, in Christ, deals graciously with you.

Anger is replaced with a tender compassion. I am guilty of ignoring this in many ways. So are you. Yet this is the true and proper method of grace. Tender. Compassion. Kindness. As we grow in the evangel, we are asked for this to become our disposition. This is a true power. Not of wealth, or of gold, or of manipulation, or even of knowledge. This is the power of grace, which is sourced in love, which is, literally, self-less (1 Cor. 13:4-7) – something the villain of no B movie could ever hope to understand.

Become, then, imitators of God, as beloved children, and be walking in love, according as Christ also loves you, and gives Himself up for us, an approach present and a sacrifice to God, for a fragrant odor.

- GerudoKing