“Each element is significant. God will crush Satan, he will crush him under the feet of the faithful, and he will do it speedily. The promise of a victorious issue undergirds the fight of faith.” (John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, Vol. 2, p. 237).
“[I]n Paul (as in the whole of the Scripture) ‘peace’ refers not only in the first place to disposition, but is the declaration of the all-embracing gift of salvation, the condition of shalom, which God will again bring to unrestricted dominion. It is the peace that is to reign when ‘the God of peace will soon crush Satan under the feet’ of his people (Rom. 16:20.” (Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology, p. 184.)
“[T]hen only [at the coming of the Messiah] were opened the treasures of celestial wisdom, when God appeared to his ancient people through his only-begotten Son, as it were face to face, all shadows having been done away.” (John Calvin, Commentary on Romans, at 16:26).
Quotes used preparation for the 101 Bible Study meeting in Astoria on June 22. This will conclude our study of Romans. See the Study Notes page for a copy of the handout.
The 101 Bible Study explores these and other questions as we study Romans 12. The study meets this Friday, 6:30 p.m., in a home near Astoria. Call 971/238-6101 for more details. You are invited. Questions are welcome!
“But this is the great mystery: that God is rich in mercy; that he gathers his elect from every nation, also that of the Jews who rejected him; that he imprisoned all in unbelief that he might be merciful to all. That mystery sends the apostle into ecstasy and causes him to marvel at and adore the depth of God’s wisdom and knowledge ([Romans] 11:33-36).” (Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 4, p. 670).
“If grace is conditioned in any way by human performance or by the will of man impelling to action, then grace ceases to be grace.”
“The Lord Jesus Christ became in himself the sacrifice for your sins. In other words, he was the sacrifice of sacrifices, the sacrifice toward which all the others pointed, the original sacrifice, next to which all other sacrifices were mere imitations.” (William F. Snodgrass, “He Offered Up Himself” in Resurrection and Eschatology: Theology in Service of the Church, p. 567).
Sin increased, but God grace has increased even more. Paul adds a prefix (from which we get our term hyper–as in hyper-drive) to the verb increase. God’s grace is super increasing, or super-abounding. The act of righteousness of the God-man, Jesus Christ, declares us just, and gives us life. Parallel to Adam, but in contrast to him, the righteousness of Christ is placed on your account as you trust in him. 