A Study In Romans: Instructed In Righteousness, Complete, Equipped For Every Good Work

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,

and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,

for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

that the man of God may be complete,

thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2Timothoy 3:15–16

            Having completed a series of blogs on the Trinity and covering some of the various understandings of each Person of the Trinity and comparing those understandings with Scripture it is my hope and prayer that there were of some aid to you and an answer to your possible questions. I now turn my attention, and yours, to the Book of Romans. I will attempt to cover the entire book and how what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans is an apologetic and his most doctrinal book that applied then to the Christians and has application in our present age. I welcome your thoughts, opinions, as a way to sharpen one another as iron sharpens iron.

            The Book of Romans placed first, above all other epistles, not due its date, for it was written about the winter 57–58 A.D. on his third journey and written from Corinth, rather due to its superlative excellence in the areas of doctrine and salvation. This Book is a long and full Book written to the Christians at Rome a place of much dignity and the capital of the Roman Empire. Paul stayed in Corinth a short time for he was on his way to Troas, an ancient Greek city situated on the Aegean Sea, (Acts 29:5–6). A woman, Phoebe, a citizen of Cenchrea, a suburb of Corinth, (Romans 16:1), was preparing to go to Rome and Paul to this occasion to send this letter to the Roman Christians with her. Paul was preparing to go to Jerusalem taking money for the poor saints there (Romans 15:26), this being his third journey. Paul was not sure after going to Jerusalem he would be able to go to Rome, a place that he so desired to go and it is said that he even desired to go into what we now call Spain (Romans 1:8–11). At the end of his letter to the Roman Christians that applies very much to us today is: “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple” (Romans 16:17–18). This then sets the backdrop for our study of this Book.

            The Church at Rome included many heathens who brought into the Church as also happened in other Churches, especially the Corinthian Church, who carried with them into the Church false understanding. Paul in this Book addresses not only that but also those dispersed Jews who attended the Roman Church and held fast to many of the old Jewish traditions and teachings. Therefore, many great mysteries are treated in this Book, that have need for clear, and Scriptural, understanding. Peter said: “…and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation––as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures” (2Peter 3:15–16). Things have not changed in regard to the twisting of Scriptures by men and women who teach what seems to be Scriptural and yet under the microscope of Scripture we will test what they teach and determine whether or not they are twisting Scripture or are actually teaching sound doctrine. Paul in this letter which is very doctrinal and addressing many serious concerns does so with a methodology that we can observe: the first part is doctrinal and found in the first eleven chapters; and then in the latter part of the Book are found the practical; then the last five chapters addresses the judgment and to reform to life. How is it best for our understanding and study of this Book? First and foremost; abide in the practices written in the latter part for this is the will of God: “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, wither it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority” (John 7:17).

            This study will aid is and instruct us in doctrine. Furthermore, this Book will aid us concerning the way of Salvation. The foundation first laid out for us is justification, not by works of nature (Chapter 1), no by works of the law (Chapters 2,3). Only by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21; chapter 4), and then Paul outlines the steps of our salvation; peace with God (Chapter 5), Sanctification (Chapters 6,7), glorification (Chapter 8). The fact that a person(s) who are saved, belongs to those elected by grace (Chapter 9). Paul found need to write in this manner for many, especially the Jews, stumbled at justification by faith, that is justification without works of the Law. They felt a need for “works,” and, is this not the case with many today, those claiming to be Christians? Yes! Paul wrote to clear and vindicate the truth. We can learn and assimilate that truth(s) he wrote in our lives.

            The practical part of this by Paul, teaches us through several exhortations what is proper for all Christians (Chapter 12). Paul gives direction for true godly behavior, even in regards to civil authority (Chapter 13). Rules of conduct, with our brothers, and sisters in Christ as all are members of the Christian Church (Chapters 14, 15:1–14). In Paul’s conclusion he draws upon an apology for writing to them (Chapters 15:14–16) and gives and account of himself and his own affairs (vs. 17–21). He promises them a visit (vs. 22–29), and asks for their prayers (vs. 30–32). Paul sends salutations (Romans 16: 1-16). Paul, as I gave above, gives a warning and then ends with a benediction to them and a doxology to God (vs. 24–27). 

            The groundwork now laid for this study. Once again, it is my prayer that this study will increase your faith and drives you to live according to Scripture and be the ambassador all Christians are called, in personal witness, and in everyday life. Read the first chapter of Romans.

Ask, and it will be given to you;

            Seek, and you will find,

Knock, and it will be opened to you.

            For everyone who asks receives,

And he who seeks finds, and to him who

            Knocks it will be opened.

                                    Matthew 7:7–8

Study to show yourselves approved

Richard L. Crumb 

The Love Of God Has Been Poured Out In Our Hearts By The Holy Spirit

Now hope does not disappoint,

because the love of God

has been poured out in our

hearts by the Holy Spirit

Who was given to us.

Romans 5:5

            This subject, the Trinity, is important for Christians to come to an understanding, as there are many, who teach and preach another gospel. I personally have not taken this subject lightly because I have been led away in the past to another teaching in regards to God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. I had to take the time to study and think upon this doctrine as to its truthfulness in Scripture and not some man–made doctrine. It is my prayer that these blogs have given you understanding and led you to Scripture for you to examine, study, and pray, so you too have peace and security and have the ability to defend your faith. How important is this doctrine on the Holy Spirit? Paul makes this very clear: "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." (Romans 8:9-11). Here is an important fact: If you are not indwelled by the Holy Spirit, that means you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit; you are not saved! How much clearer do you need for you understanding? Paul adds: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Romans 8:14). Paul further adds: "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16). To the Corinthians who were abusing there understanding of the Holy Spirit by introducing things that were not of God: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19)? In Paul’s second letter (possibly the third), said: "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a deposit" (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). Much of what is being taught and preached by those who are steeped into miracles, and works; i.e., running through tunnels of fire, going about looking to heal someone, speaking in gibberish noises, as though this is being “Christian” have this from Paul: "This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain? - if indeed it was in vain. Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (Galatians 3:2-5)? What is lost by such things that are not Scriptural is the fact that none of this is Scriptural and the fact that the Gospel is what people need to hear, and to experience, to be sealed, to know that their redemption is secure. How? "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory" (Ephesians 1:13-14). Some will reject these blogs, and remain in ignorance due to the fact that they “feel” godly, as though they were doing things for God, this is wrong: "Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 4:8). The Holy Spirit that indwells a believer teaches us as we read what God has revealed to us in His word: we know and are assured of our destiny to be forever with God, not from what we do, rather by faith; "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." (1 John 2:20).

            It should be settled, the matter corrected where the matter is not found to be Scriptural. The Bible corrects, and settles the matter those false teachers. Scripture is plain, and clear, and we should be peaceful in our understanding that all believers have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and are permanently indwelled by Him and their conversion: therefore, there is no “Second Baptism.” How then can the Pentecostals, and the Charismatics say that the faith of the children of God are not baptized by the Holy Spirit and do not have God’s blessings? How far, and how dark, and removed, from the truth in Scripture and how mistaken they are, and telling us to pray and to seek what we already have. How much more evidence does one need to understand the Holy Spirit and His work in the children of God? Christians everywhere testify to the power and the work that God has done by His indwelling in them by the Third Person of the Trinity; the Holy Spirit. Not by some outward, and so–called manifestations, rather by the change in their lives, and the changes in their priorities.

            How discouraging it is to be told that when you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ that you need more, a “Second Baptism” of the Holy Spirit; that you need to speak in some gibberish noises, and to be told that you are fully empowered by God, by the Holy Spirit. If you are caught up in some group that teaches false doctrine, in error, leave. Find a Church that teaches the Bible.

Final note: I am not saying that a person caught up in error are not saved; salvation comes God. I am not saying that their experiences are not real to them and that they honestly believe that it is from God. Yet, the New Testament does not support their claims. Nowhere in the Bible are believers instructed to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. A Christian, one who is truly converted to Jesus Christ has: "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."  It is be the grace of God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and a change in our personal lives that is our assurance that we are one of God’s children: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1-2)

                        But God be thanked that

                                    Though you were

                        Slaves of sin, yet you obeyed

                                    From the heart that

                        Form of doctrine to which

                                    You were delivered,

                        And having been set free from sin,

                                    You became slaves of

                        Righteousness.

                                                Romans 6:17–18

                        You are loved by God: Go in peace

                        Richard L. Crumb

Walking By The Indwelling Of The Holy Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self–control.

against such there is no law.

And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh

with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit,
let us also walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22–25

            History is important to our understanding as in secular events, and events within the Church. To ignore history is to be ignorant of the facts and reasons for why things exist; the perception of the people, and pragmatically carried out in life, and in the Church. History at the beginning of the Church will tell us that things were different then and in contrast to the present. This fact must not be overlooked and passed by with only a glance: those who came into the early Church and became part of the Church were for the most part: Jewish believers. These believers saved saints of God, however they were not at first, before the founding of the Church, in the Church. Why? Pentecost had yet to come and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in all believers. As the Church grew, more and more Gentiles became part of the Church, believers indwelled with the Holy Spirit and this by receiving the Gospel. The Jews, as do many in this present age, reject the Messiah Jesus Christ, His Gospel and lost in their sins. This is true for many of the Gentiles, they too are lost in their sins and in need of the Gospel to quicken the faith in them that God implanted in them by His election, and become the Bride of Christ. As the Gospel spread to other nations and those people heard the Gospel and saved they became part of the early Church both Jews and Gentiles and in time the Church was filled with more Gentiles than Jews. After the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem in 70A.D. the Jews were scattered and they fled to the surrounding nations and did not become a nation again until 1848A.D. Judaism with all its ceremonial laws were abolished leaving only intact the Ten Commandments which all believers are to follow. Today when we hear of a Jewish person becoming a believer, we rejoice with great joy as they are of the nation elected by God and have the promise of God to restore them once again to His favor. This being accomplished by their believing in the One whom they rejected: Jesus Christ.

            Few Jewish people believed in Jesus Christ as their promised Messiah, their Savior. The offer to them by God to restore the Kingdom of God that was His promise to them, this offer would not be given to them any longer as they rejected the King whom He sent. Not until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would the Kingdom of God be installed and not in some “Rapture” as some teach, rather as the Bible clearly points out: on the LAST DAY! In God’s economy, His dispensation towards this earth and especially towards His children Who indwelled each child of God with the Holy Spirit which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the promise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gave in Acts 1:5, and began in Acts chapter 2. Nowhere in the Bibles is there an inference of a “second blessing,” or that anyone been given as proof an experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is not that there is not an experience as anyone who believes in Jesus Christ has, that knowledge, that feeling that the Holy Spirit gives as He indwells the Christians and bringing peace and love as never known before. We have assurance that our faith is secure, our salvation is secure, we are going home to heaven when we pass from this life into the life eternal with our Lord and Savior in heaven. It is not as some teach and preach, and say, they experience: a revelational emotional experience. An experience that is driving them to submit their souls to such as speaking in some gibberish “tongue.” or jumping up and down in a frenzy of emotion, or that they are to go out and heal, and to pray with those who are of this world (John 17:9). It is not what we desire to have, some thrilling and enticing emotion, rather it is that we as His children, saved, elected by God, and as His ambassadors to show the “Fruit of the Spirit” and there is no law against this indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the fruit derived through experiencing the “Fruit of the Spirit.”

            Here is another fact: If you do not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; you do not and cannot experience the “Fruit of the Spirit.” The “Fruit of the Spirit,” does not come from our carnal nature, rather it comes by our submissiveness to our spiritual nature that comes only to a believer when he/she saved and receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Never is there even a hint in the New Testament of a class of believers who have not had the baptism of the Holy Spirit and still serve God and demonstrate the “Fruit of the Spirit.”  We are told to “walk in the Spirit” and if we do then we well not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Here is a question to ponder: Would God expect us and tell us to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh if not give us a way to overcome that sinfulness of the flesh, if we are not able to do so? NO! God commanded us to do so and this is based on the fact we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, once, absolutely, completely, and now we are able to “walk in the Spirit.” You cannot receive the Holy Spirit partially. The Holy Spirit is a Person and you cannot receive partially a person, this must be received fully and permanently. Allow then the Holy Spirit to control you, and me and this cannot be done unless the Holy Spirit indwells us.

Blessed by the God and Father

            Of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Who has blessed u with every spiritual

            Blessing in the heavenly places

In Christ just as He chose us in Him

            Before the foundation of the world,

That we should be holy and without blame

            Before Him in love, having predestined

Us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself,

            According to the good pleasure of His will.

To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which

            He made us accepted in the Beloved.

                                                Ephesians 1:3–6

Today, demonstrate the Fruit of the Spirit

Richard L. Crumb