RELS 213 NEW TESTAMENT: FINAL REVIEW:
SPRING 2012
This final review and your mid-term review are to be a guide to help you prepare for the final exam which is cumulative. The exam may include true/false, matching, and/or multiple choice.
1. Know the outlines for every book of the Bible we have covered in this course (e.g., Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts).
2. Know the thesis statement for every book we covered as well.
3. Know the major terms and definitions we’ve discussed in this class (e.g., Federalism; Seminalism).
4 I’ve reduced the chapters from DA Carson & Douglas J. Moo that I would like for you to review (I hope this helps you out):
a. Chapter 9 on Paul: Apostle and Theologian:
b. Chapter 10 Romans
c. Chapter 11 1 & 2 Corinthians
d. Chapter 12 Galatians
e. Chapter 15 Colossians
f. Chapter 16 1 & 2 Thessalonians
g. Chapter 17 The Pastoral Epistles
h. Chapter 18: Philemon
i. Chapters 21 and 22 on 1 Peter and 2 Peter
j. Chapter 23 on 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John
k. Chapter 24 on Jude
l. Chapter 26 on The New Testament Canon
. Look for what is emphasized, repeated, related, and compare/contrast comparisons in each chapter.
Know the following from class lecture:
1. Know my chart on Book of Romans (see website) .
2. Know three theories on Original Sin and how it relates to Romans 5:12
Pelagianism: Man’s soul is created by God (typically at birth): Man’s soul is created without corruption; The influence of Adam’s sin is that of an example; Man has free volition; God’s grace is universal since all men have free will; adults may obtain forgiveness through baptism; Thus, Adam’s sin does not directly affect others; there is no such thing as original sin; man is not depraved; Since man is not born in sin, it is possible for him to be preserved and to never need salvation.
Arminianism: Man receives from Adam a corrupted nature but does not receive Adam’s guilt. This nature is corrupted physically and intellectually, but not volitionally. Prevenient grace enables one to believe. Thus, people are not totally depraved but are still able to retain the volition to seek God.
Calvinism (two views: Federalism and Seminalism):
Federal headship contends that that the union between Adam and his posterity is due to the fact that God appointed him as the representative head of the human race. What Adam did is charged to his posterity. Adam’s sin was imputed to every person (Immediate direct imputation). All people were tried in Adam our representative and declared guilty. So, Adam was our representative, as ordained by God. This representation parallels man’s being in Christ unto righteousness.
On the other hand, seminalism contends that the union between Adam and his posterity is biological and genetic such that Adam embodied all human beings in single collective entity and thus all people are co-sinners with Adam. People have a corrupt nature imputed to them—the effect of Adam’s sin. Thus hereditary depravity is imputed. All sinned because all have inherited natural corruption from Adam.
Understand the detailed outline we gave to Paul’s arguments in Romans 6, 7, and 8. Here is an outline of our detailed examination of these chapters:
D. Understand Romans 5:12 regarding seminalism and federalism.
E. Understand the doctrine of identification: The doctrine of identification is the teaching that believers are identified with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and glorification whereby believers died with Christ (Gal. 2:20), were buried with Christ (Rom. 6:4), rose with Christ (Rom. 6:4-5), ascended with Christ, and glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:30; Eph. 2:6).
One of the most important words regarding this identification is found in Romans 6:5: “For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be united in the likeness of his resurrection.” We word "united" is from the Greek word, “sumphutos.” Only used here in the New Testament, the word means “grown together”, thus implying that Jesus Christ and believer is "fused together." The result is that the believer’s union with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection is the basis for future resurrection. Lastly, it is very important to note that the phrase, “in Christ,” and its equivalents, “In Christ Jesus,” “In Him,” “In the Beloved,” “In Christ Jesus,” “Through Him,” and “With Him,” appear in the New Testament no less than 130 times.
F. Understand the following outline from our detailed study we gave to Romans 6-8:
Deliverance from the Power of Sin: Paul’s Argument in Romans 6
Antecedent: Where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 5:20.
First Issue: Does grace give Christians a license to sin? 6:1-13.
Question: If grace super abounds where sin abounds, shouldn’t we continue in
sin so grace can abound? 6:1
Answer: Definitely not! How can we who died to sin continue to live in sin?
6:2-3.
Implication: We died with Christ to sin so that we could also be raised with
Christ to live a new life, 6:4.
Transition: Union with Christ includes participation in His resurrection life as
well as in His death to sin, 6:5.
Application: We know we died to sin, and now, to live free from sin’s control
we must consider (believe) it to be true and act on what is true by presenting ourselves to God, 6:6-13.
Transition: We are not under law, but under grace 6:14.
Second Issue: Does freedom from the law give Christians a license to sin? 6:15-23.
Antecedent: The law exposed and thus increased sin, but grace abounded and
freed us from both sin and the law. 5:13, 20; 6:14.
Question: Does freedom from the law give Christians a license to sin? 6:15
Answer: Definitely not! Freedom from the law means freedom to serve God not
freedom to commit sin, 6:16-18.
Application: Since you have accepted God as your new master, present your
whole self (body parts) to serve righteousness. 6:19-23.
Paul’s Argument in Romans 7
Antecedent: The law was added so that the trespass might increase (5:20), but
we are no longer under the law (6:14).
First Issue: What is the role of the Law in the believer’s life (are we under it)? 7:1-6.
Question: (Implied) how do I know we are not under the Law? 7:1
Answer: The Law controls only the living, 7:1.
Illustration: The law of marriage is binding only for the living, 7:2-3.
Application: Since we died with Christ, we also died to the Law in order that we
might now belong to another, 7:4-6.
Second Issue: What is the nature of the Law (is it sin?) 7:7-12.
Question: If the Law aroused our sinful passions, does that mean that the Law
itself is sinful? 7:7a.
Answer: Definitely not! The Law is used by sin but it convicts of sin, it does not
cause it, 7:7b.
Illustration: the sin principle in Paul seized on the command not to covet and
used it as a base of operations to bring every kind of covetous desire to life, 7:8-11.
Application: the Law is holy, but sin shows its evil self by using what is good to
bring about my death.
Third Issue: What is the effect of the Law on the believer? 7:14-25.
Question: does the Law cause death? 7:13
Answer: definitely not! The Law causes frustration but not death.
Explanation: my good intentions and best efforts to do good always fail because
they are no match (in themselves) for the sin that is determined to
keep me in slavery, 7:14-23.
Exclamation: what a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this “body
of death?” 7:24-25
Chapter 8 is the crown jewel of Romans
A. Affirmation: we who are united with Christ are not condemned to failure in
our struggle against sin, 8:1.
What is the “condemnation” from which believers have been set free? It is possible that it goes back to the doctrine of justification and our freedom from the penalty of sin (5:1). However, Paul concluded that argument in chapter 5 and does not appear to reopen it here or later in the book. Paul has been dealing with the subject of sanctification in Romans 6-7. He has just issued a plea for deliverance, the counterpart of condemnation. The ministry of the Holy Spirit described in Romans 8 is the answer to the cry of Paul in 7:25. Therefore, Paul’s declaration of “no condemnation” refers to the continuing power of sin from which the Law and self-effort could not bring deliverance (7:14-25). Bruce identifies it as, “penal servitude.”
There is no reason why those who are “in Christ Jesus” should go on doing penal servitude as though they had never been pardoned and never been liberated from the prison-house of sin.[1]
B. Explanation: the indwelling Holy Spirit has set us free by overpowering the
law of sin and death, 8:2-4.
1. Reason we are free, 8:2.
A higher law (even than that of sin, 7:23) is in operation in the believer. Union with Christ set me free from the ruling authority of sin as a principle. The indwelling Holy Spirit sets me free from the controlling influence of sin as a practice. What the Mosaic Law and self-effort could not do (7:1-25) has in fact been made possible by the Holy Spirit. Once again the aorist tense indicates a definitive action that occurred the moment we were united with Christ. Two kinds of laws have faced each other on the battlefield and one, the law of the Spirit, has triumphed. The law of sin and death that was “making me a prisoner” (7:23) has met its match!
2. Result of being set free by the Spirit, 8:2-4a.
a. I have been set free from the controlling influence of sin, 8:2.
Paul has contrasted two kinds of law, now he contrasts two kinds of freedom. He uses a different word here from that used in 6:7. This word is not a legal term as is that in 6:7. In addition, the two freedoms are obtained by different means. That of 6:7 is obtained through death with Christ; while the freedom of 8:2 is obtained through the controlling power of the Holy Spirit.
The sense in which the two freedoms differ is that the freedom of Romans 6:7 involves freedom from a position; the freedom of Romans 8:2 involves freedom from a controlling power.[2]
b. Sin in sinful man has been condemned (not condoned) by God through Christ’s redemptive work, 8:3.
So powerful was the control of sin that only the incarnation and subsequent atonement by Christ could break its grip. Paul is very careful to preserve the genuine humanity of Christ, and yet exclude Him from the sin nature that marked all others in Adam. Thus, he chose the words “in the likeness of sinful man.” All doubt is removed by the addition of, “to be a sin offering.” Paul might well have added a “p.s.” to those who charged grace with granting a license to sin: Christians can hardly continue in or condone the sin that God had condemned through Christ.
c. The righteous requirements of the law can now be fully met in us by the Spirit (something that was impossible by self-effort under the Law) 7:14-25.
Both legalism and license have been put in their place! Liberty in Christ reigns supreme! Deliverance from the authority of sin came through identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Deliverance from the controlling influence of sin has come through the indwelling Holy Spirit. There is no hint of self-effort or bondage to the Mosaic Law.
It is important to note that the passive voice of the verb translated “might be fulfilled” indicates that the believer does not produce this holy life in himself. The Holy Spirit produces it in and for him through His power. Thus, the Holy Spirit produces what the old covenant law demanded but could not produce.[3]
3. Requirement: living consistently (walking) under the control of the Holy Spirit, 8:4b.
4. Freedom from the authority of sin was instant, automatic and universal when we were united with Christ (6:7). But, freedom from the controlling influence of sin is a continuing process of living under the control of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s teaching here accords perfectly with what he has to say about the believer and the Holy Spirit in Gal. 5:6-26.
Paul uses the concept of walking for a purpose. The appropriation of the power of the Spirit is not a once-for-all act which delivers the believer from the controlling power of his sinful disposition forever. Just as walking is a step-by-step procedure, so the appropriation of the controlling power of the Holy Spirit is a moment-by-moment procedure. During those moments when the believer is depending upon the power of his own humanity to enable him to have victory over sin, his sinful disposition will take control of him against his will. During those moments when he is depending upon the power of the Holy Spirit, he will experience freedom from the sinful disposition’s control, and his life will be characterized by holiness.[4]
C. Application: There are two opposing forces vying for control of the
believer’s life and we have the obligation to yield to the control of the
indwelling Holy Spirit, 8:5-17.
1. The Holy Spirit and the sinful nature are vying for control of the believer’s life, 8:5-8.
Each of these forces has its own mindset. They share only one thing in common, the desire to control our lives. Note the importance of the mind and it’s leading role in sanctification (remember 6;3, 9, 11?). This spiritual battle is for control of the mind because that is the key to controlling the actions