Living by Faith - Romans

Benediction

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Living by Faith

Lesson: 62-64

Genre: Talk

Track: 062

Dictation Name: RR311ZF62

Location/Venue:

Year: ?

Let us worship God. Grace be unto you, a peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. He that dwelleth in the secrete place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. Let us pray.

Almighty God our heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee that Thou art ever mindful of us, even when so often we are not mindful of Thee. We thank Thee that we live and move and have our being in Thy government, in Thy providence, and in Thy loving kindness. Forgive us our sins and our trespasses; strengthen us by Thy grace and make us strong in Thy Spirit, unto the end that we may serve Thee with all our heart, mind and being, that Thy kingdom may prevail in our lives, and through us in the world around us. Grant us this we beseech Thee, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

Our scripture is Romans 16:19-27, our subject: Benediction. We shall return next week to the first two of these verses, 19 and 20. Romans 16:19-27.

“19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

21 Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.

22 I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.

23 Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus the chamberlain of the city saluteth you, and Quartus a brother.

24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.”

Paul very often used a secretary, that is, he dictated the letters he wrote. 1st Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, and 2nd Thessalonians are examples of this. In verse 22 we have a reference to a secretary, in fact his secretary adds a note; he personally sends his greetings to the church in Rome, writing from Corinth: “I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.”

Moreover, we have other references, again, of note; Paul not only had relatives in Rome, but he had relatives in Corinth who were Christian. And then in verse 21 he refers to “Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen.” So that he has three relatives in Corinth, as well as several more in Rome.

We have a reference then to Quartus, whom we do not meet elsewhere, but we meet the name Gaius in 1st Corinthians 1:14, and Acts 20:4. We meet Erastus in Acts 19:22 and 2nd Timothy 4:20. These were men who at times worked with Paul. Gaius is host to Paul and the whole church, that is, his church was available not only as a meeting place, but to travelling Christians. Now these greetings are important. It is not a case of the church in Corinth wishing the church in Rome well, but persons in Corinth greet the Roman church as personal friends, either because they had lived there for a while, or had visited there, or possibly because the Roman Christians had come and visited them.

In those days it was especially easy for Christians to become very well acquainted, for the simple reason that when you travelled, if you were a Jew or a Christian, you did not go to an Inn in the Greco Roman world. Inns in those days were also houses of prostitution, it was taken for granted that any man travelling would want a girl, and so she came with the price of the room. As a result, Jews and Christians when they went to a community, immediately sought out fellow believers who then provided housing. This is why when Paul in Acts would go to a city where there were no Christians, he would go immediately to the synagogue, and in the synagogue await the invitation of someone to stay at their home. There was no other way for Christians and Jews to travel.

In Corinth, as in Rome, we see prominent persons who are believers. Gaius was obviously a man of means. Erastus was the chamberlain of Corinth. This word can mean either city manager or treasurer, one who managed public properties or funds. Archeologists uncovered in Corinth a marble, or rather--- yes, a marble block, a paving block, on which was the inscription in Latin: “Erastus, commissioner for public works, laid this pavement at his own expense.” This was a block that dated back to the first century. Erastus, thus, apparently at one time was either the treasurer or manager of public properties, and another time the commissioner for public works. He was apparently a man of considerable means, sufficient means to pave part of Corinth at his own expense.

Again, as in Romans 1:8, Paul expresses his appreciation of the Roman church. In Romans 1:8 he declares: “Your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.” Now Paul is not given to hyperbole. When he makes a statement like this he is calling attention to the fact that the Roman congregation was a very important one. We see, as last week we noted, that Phoebe was going from Kenchrea, a suburb of Corinth, to Rome; and that her function was to be a public defender of resident aliens. Paul asked the Roman church to help her. This help would be in the legal defense of Christians. There is no reason to believe that Paul was the only Christian who was a Roman citizen, there were enough important people in the various churches, as well as slaves and very ordinary people, but there were enough important people who were citizens who could therefore make a personal appeal to Caesar if they were being persecuted.

Now, we have obviously a situation where more people than Phoebe went to Rome to make an appeal for a Christian, and the Christians in Rome quite apparently gave assistance on a number of occasions. We know from Philippians 4:22, Paul sends greetings from the church in Philippi from Rome, from whence he wrote that letter, and he says: “All the saint are with you, especially those of Caesars household.”

Now this is a very significant phrase, because the term ‘Caesars household’ can refer to slaves, but it also encompassed everyone from the top officials, those men whom we would today say were cabinet members, say in the presidents household, were referred to as ‘members of the imperial household.’ Thus, Paul in sending this statement to Philippi was telling the Philippians: ‘The situation is in hand here. We have men in Caesars household who are Christians, and who are working in my behalf, and in behalf of all who are persecuted.’

We find for example. Almost to the very last in Diocletian’s household, there were prominent Christians, and only late in the stage of his persecution did he turn on these, because he, like others, knew that the Christians could be trusted to be the best officials. In fact, centuries later this is what destroyed the church in China, and Turkestan, and Mongolia, and elsewhere. The Church of Armenia had extensive congregations and Bishoprics throughout that area. Genghis Khan felt that these were the most trustworthy men, and so he drafted them to be his tax collectors and treasurers. As a result, when the Mongol dynasty was overthrown, the people turned on the Christians because they had been the tax collectors and treasurers, and Christianity in that area was wiped out.

But high placed Romans regularly used Christians, Emperors used them, even as they hated them and persecuted them. Thus we can say that the congregation in Rome was an important one. Out of far greater proportion than their numbers, they in Rome exerted an influence, apparently, for the defense of the faith. Paul however, stresses the fact that he wants more of them than merely this kind of political influence; he wants them, he says in verse 19: “but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.”

This last statement is an important one because we encounter it more than once in scripture, and particularly in Revelation 2:24, where we have our Lord’s letter to the churches. And he declares there in his critique of a particular church, that he condemns them for studying the depths, or the deep things of Satan. That has reference to a fact that is very much with us. The people were overly given to studying conspiracies, the conspiracies of Satan. There can be no doubt that at that time there were men conspiring against Christians, men conspiring towards power, we know that more than once Rome had problems with the mystery cults because they were working to overthrow Rome and to establish their power; and we know that more than one highly placed Roman had his own conspiracy going. Conspiracies have been prevalent throughout history, and certainly we have conspiracy plots in our day. In fact, one contemporary journal, being written from the left, is given entirely to the analysis of conspiracies. Over the years I have had such a tremendous amount of material, books and periodicals and leaflets sent to me, that I have I think a couple of book cases full of this donated material about conspiracies; all of which is ridiculous. Conspiracies are not overthrown by knowledge, but by justice, by righteousness, by faith.

And so Paul tells these Christians in Rome, who as they defend Christians can see a pattern in these things, that he would have them wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

In these few verses, verses 19-27, Paul gives us three benedictions. We have one in verse 20, another in verse 24, and then verses 25-27 give us still another benediction. No man in the New Testament is more prone to bestowing benedictions then Saint Paul, and this is very significant. A benediction is pronounced, it is the blessing by someone in authority under God upon those in his care. In the Old Testament we find it is men like Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, the Patriarchs, who pronounced blessings. It was the high priest who pronounced blessings, and in some sense, every church believes in apostolic succession, although they may differ as to its nature, because in every church, benedictions are pronounced. Most of them are Pauline, taken from Paul’s letters.

In fact, in some churches only ordained men can bestow a benediction, others can only invoke it. To illustrate, the benediction: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all, evermore, amen.” In many congregations, many churches, can only be pronounced by an ordained pastor, functioning in his office under apostolic power.

Others, laymen, deacons or elders, can only say instead of ‘be with you all,’ ‘be with us all evermore.’ Now Paul as I said pronounces more benedictions than anyone else in the Bible, and he does this knowingly, deliberately; because Paul who gives us a very large part of the New Testament, a very large part of the Bible as a whole, knew his authority; knew his place in Christ and under God, and therefore in pronouncing these benedictions he is saying: “I speak in the power of God, and under God’s authority.” He writes as a Biblical patriarch second to none. However respectful Paul was, very often, to the leaders in Jerusalem, he knew his special calling and he was right of course. Paul was not only an apostle of Jesus Christ, but a patriarch of both the Old and the New Testaments in his faith and power. He writes with a full sense of his authority, and his benedictions reflect it.

Thus, the key benedictions of scripture come to us from Paul, who by this fact is telling us: ‘Unless you place yourself under the authority of my word, you will miss the blessing and power of God in your life.’ And so when the church to this day uses the benedictions of Paul, it is echoing the confidence and centrality of Paul’s ministry of the word. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God, we give thanks unto Thee that Thy word is truth, and that the benedictions of the Patriarchs of old and of Paul are with us if we walk in Thy word and in Thy Spirit. Give us a life oh Lord, always under benediction, under Thy power, under Thy authority; to the end that the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. In Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now, about our lesson first of all?

[Audience Member] The logical implications down there in verses 25 and 26, in which Paul says: “according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest…”

[Rushdoony] Yes, yes. We will be touching on that next week as we deal with verses 19-20, because Paul very definitely is saying the world now is going to change. It is now on course, and the purposes of Christ shall be accomplished.

[Audience Member] You are going to go into that next week?

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience Member] One of the interesting things about what you said today is that there are an awful lot of people for whatever reason, cannot make up their minds how far Christianity had permeated in the first century; it seems to me like the (?) are not being determined on the basis of what scripture said, but on the basis of other considerations. But each time we go through this it seems like more and more comes out, that at Jerusalem, at Rome, in Corinth, in Johns ministry, it seems like there were far more churches of greater importance than anyone really wants to believe.

[Rushdoony] Yes. What we fail to appreciate is the fact that Rome was entering into a crisis. Its culture was becoming very decadent, it was breaking down; you were seeing the proliferation of perversions, homosexuals for example were becoming very prominent, the Roman family was in a state of growing decay and collapse. And the result was that it was the thoughtful person who was very concerned; whether that person was a slave or a very powerful figure, the thoughtful person was concerned and especially interested in knowing: “What is the meaning of life? What is the truth about things?” And therefore, they especially came to the faith. So they were drawing out the very best. It is also interesting that there were so many young couples that were coming to the faith, especially young mothers who were pregnant; we see this in the persecutions, so many of them were young, pregnant women. Suddenly as they were thinking about bringing a child into the world, they were thinking: “Oh no, not into this snake pit, this is a horror!” And they wanted answers, and they would go to the home bible studies, and become converted.

Well, we have seen something like that in our time as I have said before. In the fifties when I spoke at university campuses, it was so painful that after a while I only did it as a favor to someone, because the Christian group would be so childish; they were unwilling to come to grips with any of the issues on campus, and one of my most painful experiences with people who were simple minded and stupid, and did not want to hear anything serious, and got upset because I upset them with what I told them about Stanford, took place at Stanford in the fifties. But by the end of the 60’s it was the most intelligent students on campus who were beginning to come to the faith.

So that there was a steady change in the climate. The campus was even more militantly anti-Christian by the late 60’s, 70’s, 80’s; but the best students were now beginning to break with the humanistic culture. And we are seeing a growth today precisely in that sector. Yes?

[Otto Scott] Well, there was one thing that struck me about the conservative students at Stanford that had me speak, and that is when the radicals were dumping on me the conservatives sat there silent, they didn’t rise to my defense, and they didn’t rise to help me. And I think that although we are having a revival in the United States today, a very strange revival because these new Christians are still relatively silent.

[Rushdoony] Yes they are, and I’ve encountered that. One of the problems sometimes that I have encountered is that there will be faculty members present, and if they identify themselves they are as good as dead. I know at Stanford some few years ago, a graduate student who was an A student right down the line, was clobbered and given a failing grade on the day before the semester ended when his position became apparent. Now that is the problem. They are dictatorial and vicious very often in their attitude; the more powerful the school, the more savage the hostility.

Any other questions or comments?

Well, if not let us bow our heads in prayer. Our Lord and our God, we give thanks unto Thee that thou art on the throne, and that Thy benediction is upon Thy people, and power and authority in this world are not with the people of darkness, but with Thy people; and it is Thy counsel, Thy will that shall prevail. Give us therefore a holy boldness as we face the problems and the powers of this world, that we might be more than conquerors in Christ.

And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.