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Introduction to My E-Book, "Righteousness, Holiness, and Victory Over Sin," and Romans 1:16, 17, Part 1
by Karl Kemp This e-book is listed in the E-Book Store on this site and is available at amazon.com. I'll quote part of the introductory material at the beginning of the book, including the Contents of the twenty-eight articles included in the book. I'll quote part of the content of Article #1 where I give some background information, and I'll quote the teaching on Romans 1:16, 17, which is included in Article #9 of the e-book. Romans 1:16, 17 are of key importance in that it is widely agreed that these two verses give the theme of the apostle Paul's epistle to the Romans, which (it is widely agreed) is one of the most important epistles in the New Testament. This e-book, which deals to a large extent with the interpretation of passages of the Bible (especially the New Testament) that deal with the super-important topic of righteousness, holiness, and victory over sin is packed with good news, very good news! The New Testament clearly, and consistently, teaches that God calls, and enables, us to walk with the victory over sin, by grace through faith. No true Christian wants to sin! God hates sin and He paid an infinite price in the Sacrifice of His Son to set us free from spiritual death and bondage to sin. We will never walk in the righteousness and holiness of God with the victory over sin BY FAITH until we are convinced in our hearts that God has called us to such a walk and provides the grace for us to do what He has called us to do. The New Testament makes it quite clear that the victory over sin is far from being automatic or always easy. We have powerful enemies against us: the world, the flesh (the old man that wants to continue to sin), and the devil and his hosts, but the saving grace of God in Christ is far more powerful for those who appropriate His grace BY FAITH (a faith that is based on God and His Word). The saving grace of God in Christ includes all the work of the Holy Spirit, the infinite Spirit of God, who dwells in all true Christians. We don't want to repeat the error of the people of Israel at Kadesh (Numbers chapters 13, 14), where they believed in their hearts (and spoke and acted accordingly) that they could not do what God had called them to do. Of course God did not expect them to defeat the Canaanites by their strength; he did, however, expect them to trust Him and keep walking by faith. We must make living in the righteousness and holiness with the victory over sin through the saving grace of God in Christ BY FAITH a top priority. WE MUST AIM AT THAT TARGET! WE CERTAINLY WON'T HIT THE TARGET IF WE ARE NOT AIMING AT IT! God knows our hearts! Also, it is good to know that He has promised to forgive us IF we should sin, when we repent. The twenty-eight articles in this e-book were taken, with some modifications (including adding bold, underlining, italics and improvements in content) from the written text behind my twenty-eight half-hour radio broadcasts titled "Holiness and Victory Over Sin." (You can hear some of these broadcasts or purchase CDs of the broadcasts on my internet site: karlkempteachingministries.com.) These articles cover this super-important topic rather thoroughly, and they serve as a good introduction for my paperback book, "Holiness and Victory Over Sin: Full Salvation Through the Atoning Death of the Lord Jesus Christ." I quote extensively from the book in these articles. If you like this e-book, which is available at amazon.com, you will also like the paperback book, which is available at amazon.com and on my website. The paperback book contains a large amount of information that is not included in this e-book, and the e-book contains quite a bit of information that is not included in the paperback book. I highly recommend reading the e-book first. Like I said, it serves as a good introduction for the paperback book. I always quote from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), 1995 edition, unless I mention otherwise, but some quotations in this e-book were taken from the 1977 edition, which was used in my paperback book. Based on what I have observed, the differences between the 1977 edition and the 1995 edition are typically very minor and do not change the meaning of the verse. Contents, Including the Primary Content of these Twenty-Eight Articles: Abbreviations and Other Such Information Acknowledgements Article #1. Introduction; start Galatians 5:16-25 (meaning of "the flesh" in these verses and many other verses). Article #2. Galatians 5:16-25 (meaning of "the flesh" in these verses and many other verses). Article #3. Finish Galatians 5:16-25; Galatians 6:7-9. Article #4. Romans chapter 6 (discuss repentance). Article #5. Romans chapter 6 (meaning of justify/justification). Article #6. Romans chapter 6; start Romans 8:1-18 (should we fear sinning against God?). Article #7. Romans 8:1-18 (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27; Romans 2:26-29; 3:9; Galatians 3:21). Article #8. Finish Romans 8:1-18 (Romans 5:18). Article #9. Romans 1:16, 17 (Isaiah 32:15; 45:8; 46:12, 13; 53:11; 56:1; 60:21; 61:1-3, 10, 11; Romans 3:21, 22; 1 John 3:7). Article #10. Romans 3:9, 20-24 (meaning of justify/justification; redemption; 1 Corinthians 6:18-20; Galatians 4:4-7; Colossians 1:12-14; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 1:14-19). Article #11. Romans Chapter 5 (through verse 17; meaning of justify/justification). Article #12. Finish Romans Chapter 5 (verse 18 to end of chapter); start Romans Chapter 7 (Matthew 5:27, 28). Article #13. Romans Chapter 7 continued. Article #14. Finish Romans Chapter 7. Article #15. Start "1 John 1:5-2:6 and 2:28-3:12 with the Emphasis on the Meaning of 1 John 1:8" (also discuss 1 John 2:19, 26, 22, 23; 4:1-6; 5:3-6). Article #16. Finish 1 John 1:5-2:6. Article #17. 1 John 2:28-3:8. Article #18. 1 John 3:9-12; "What is Sin?" (Matthew 5:28; Romans 4:23; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17; 6:19, 20; 10:13; 1 Timothy 1:12-16 and Paul the chief of sinners). Article #19. Start a study on the meaning of the Greek noun aphesis; start discussion of Colossians 1:9-14 (verse 14 uses aphesis; also discuss Luke 4:18 with 4:16-21 and Leviticus 25:9, 10; Isaiah 61:1-3). Article #20. Finish study of Colossians 1:9-14; study of Ephesians 1:7 (this verse uses aphesis); start study of Ephesians 1:3, 4 ("holy and blameless"; this article includes a discussion on redemption). Article # 21. Finish Ephesians 1:3, 4; start Ephesians 4:17-32. Article # 22. Finish Ephesians 4:17-32; start study on three Hebrew nouns for sin, iniquity, transgression, guilt of sin, and PENALTY for sin (including the major penalties of spiritual death and bondage to sin) that will help us understand Christ's all-important atoning death and new-covenant salvation (discuss Genesis 4:8-13). Article #23. Continue study on three Hebrew nouns; includes a study on Leviticus 16:20-22 (includes "Azazel"); start a study on Isaiah 53:4-6, 11. Article #24. Finish study on three Hebrew nouns and the study on Isaiah 53:4-6, 11 (for one thing, the Righteous One makes Righteous the many); start "Hebrews 10:8-18 with Special Emphasis on the Meaning of Aphesis as it Is Used in Hebrews 10:18." Article # 25. Finish the study on Hebrews 10:8-18; we also discuss Hebrews 8:6-13; 10:26-31; 11:39, 40; 12:23 in this article; start a study on the topic of holiness (holy, saint, make holy, sanctify, sanctification) through the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ that is based on the last chapter of my book, "Holiness and Victory Over Sin: Full Salvation Through the Atoning Death of the Lord Jesus Christ"; all the emphasis in this study is on the ideal state of Christians actually being set apart from sin and living for God in an abiding state of holiness. Article #26. We discuss 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2; 6:8-11; 2 Corinthians 11:2-4; and Ephesians 5:22-33 on the topic of holiness. Article #27. We discuss Romans 1:7; 6:19, 22; 12:1-3; 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13; 4:1-8; 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; and 1 Timothy 1:21 on the topic of holiness. Article #28. We discuss Ephesians 5:3-8; Colossians 1:21-23; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:13-19; and Revelation 22:12-15 on the topic of holiness. Abbreviations and Other Such Information. cf. compare e.g. for example f., ff. following verse or verses I typically quote the primary Scripture passages we are discussing in bold throughout this e-book. I frequently make comments in the middle of quotations in brackets [ ] or [[ ]] to make them more obvious. Acknowledgements. Greg Holtzmann produced the cover for this book. Norma Wagner proofread the manuscript, which enabled me to remove quite a few typos. I want to thank all of the students I have had dealing with the topic of righteousness, holiness, and victory over sin for the past more than forty-five years. They encouraged me and many of them helped support my ministry, which enabled me to have the time and resources to do the things I have done. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge my infinite debt to God (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). Apart from the Father's saving grace in Christ Jesus and all the work of the Holy Spirit, I would still be lost and spiraling downward. I readily acknowledge that my Christian life and ministry is totally dependent on the sufficient grace of God in Christ Jesus, which includes all the work of the Holy Spirit. The triune God must receive all the glory forever! He is the ultimate source for truth, righteousness, holiness, victory over sin, life, peace, order, and everything else that is good! May God's will be fully accomplished in the hearts and lives of His people through this e-book! In Jesus' name! Holiness and Victory Over Sin #1. Since this is the first article, I'll give a little background information. I received BS and MS degrees in engineering from St. Louis University, and I worked throughout the 60s on various space projects. Much of that was very interesting. Very often we were doing things for the first time. In 1964 the best thing that ever happened to me happened. I became a born-again Christian. Thanks be to God! My life began to change, greatly. For the first time in my life I had peace with God. I had an assurance of salvation, and I have had that assurance ever since. Again, thanks be to God! One of the first things I noticed after I became a born-again Christian was that my cussing stopped. I had tried to quit cussing for at least ten years with no success. I would embarrass myself quite often. But God just took it away, with no effort on my part, and there were other things like that. He did some spectacular things, convincing me that the Bible is true and that new-covenant salvation is real. But there was one area, at least one area, where temptation increased, and the spiritual warfare was intense. What was I going to do? As I began to cry out to God for help, I got highly motivated to study what the Bible had to say about holiness and victory over sin. God began to open up Romans chapter 6 to me, which is a powerful passage on righteousness, holiness, and victory over sin. (We will go through that chapter verse-by-verse, starting in Article #4, and we will look at many similar passages.) I began to see that God was clearly saying that we are called and enabled to walk in holiness with the victory over sin. That was good news to me, very good news. I didn't get condemned by the fact that I wasn't fully walking in that victory yet, but I rejoiced in that I could see that the victory was available. I could also see that the victory over sin wouldn't be easy. The world, the flesh, and the devil and his multitudinous hosts are engaged in intense warfare against us, and I began to see that most Christians wouldn't be much help. Most of the Christians I knew were trying to talk me out of the idea that we can have the victory over sin in this life. And I was receiving the same message from most of the Christian literature I was reading. I don't mean that they were saying that sin is OK, but they made it quite clear that they didn't think it was possible for Christians to stop sinning while living in this world. In the fall of 1969 I quit my job as an engineer. I thought it might be temporary, but I never got back to engineering. I liked it (in fact, for a long time it was one of my primary gods), but I found Someone and something that was much better. Of course we have to do what God calls us to do. For one thing, I wanted to go to seminary. I wanted to learn everything I could possibly learn that would help me understand the Bible. It is super-important for us to rightly divide God's Word, to understand it, and to live it. One thing I really wanted to learn was New Testament Greek. I have found Greek to be very helpful. I took all the Greek they offered at seminary, and I studied quite a bit more on my own, and I have taught quite a few classes in New Testament Greek. I also wanted to learn Old Testament Hebrew, and I have found that to be quite helpful too. However, the most important thing I learned as a young Christian is that we are totally dependent on the Holy Spirit to be able to rightly divide, to understand, and to live God's Word. I am interested in every detail that will help me understand the Bible. We can't understand a verse of the Bible until we understand the meaning of the words in the verse. I'm willing to spend ten hours, twenty hours, even a hundred hours to find out what one key word means. I have spent over a hundred hours studying a few key words like righteousness, holiness, and faith. I finally graduated from Covenant Seminary in St. Louis with an MA degree in Biblical Studies in 1972. Since then I have been prayerfully studying and teaching classes in churches, Bible colleges, home Bible studies, etc. My primary topic has always been holiness and victory over sin, but I have also spent a lot of time on topics like faith, grace, and the end times. Most of my study and teaching has involved going through passages of the Bible, or books of the Bible, verse-by-verse. Each verse must be understood in its context. The last twenty years I have been doing a lot of writing. I wrote two books, "The Mid-Week Rapture: A Verse-by-Verse Study of Key Prophetic Passages" and "Holiness and Victory Over Sin: [This is a good sub-title] Full Salvation Through the Atoning Death of the Lord Jesus Christ." "Full salvation" very much includes righteousness, holiness, and victory over sin. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't die just so we could be forgiven and have right standing with God, as important as that is. It is equally true that His atoning death dethroned sin, Satan, and spiritual death and enables us to be born again and to walk in the righteousness and holiness of God. For example, 1 Peter 2:24 says, "and He Himself bore our sins [He bore our sins with the guilt and with the penalties (including the major penalties of spiritual death and bondage to sin)] in His body on the cross, SO THAT WE MIGHT DIE TO SIN AND LIVE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS [my emphasis]; for by His wounds you were healed." As I mentioned, I will always quote from the NASB unless I mention otherwise. I have also written quite a few articles and papers. The primary emphasis has been on holiness and victory over sin, but quite a few papers deal with the end times. One paper is titled "Once Saved, Always Saved?" Another is titled "A Paper on Faith," and another "The Christian, the Law, and Legalism." Many of the papers are over 100 pages. I recommend you take a look at them. Most of my papers are posted on karlkempteachingministries.com (Google to Karl Kemp Teaching). Now I'm going to turn to the Preface of my paperback book, "Holiness and Victory Over Sin," and read four paragraphs. (I won't read the four paragraphs here in this Introduction to My E-Book.) I'll be reading from the book quite a bit in these radio broadcasts (articles). For one thing, I would like to get you motivated to get a copy of this book AND TO STUDY IT. The book is not light reading, but the topic is extremely important, and I believe the book is quite accurate. The primary goal for this book and for these radio broadcasts (articles) is that we rightly divide God's Word and understand the gospel of new-covenant salvation, and then live it, by grace, through faith (faith in God and His Word). The book gets into a lot of details, but details are necessary, important, and good if they help us understand the Bible. Holiness and Victory Over Sin #9. Holy Father, we humble our hearts before you; we want to understand the gospel (the full gospel); we want to live the gospel; for your glory; for our good; and for the good of the people we can be a blessing to. In Jesus' name! Amen! We have the great privilege to turn to ROMANS 1:16, 17. For one thing, there is widespread agreement that these two verses give the theme for the apostle Paul's Epistle to the Romans, which is a very important book of the Bible. All of the quotations will be taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), 1995 edition, unless I mention otherwise. ROMANS 1:16. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Again, For I am not ashamed of the gospel [The Greek word behind the word "gospel" is "euaggelion"; this Greek word is made up of two Greek words; "eu" means good and "aggelion" means message or news; the gospel is "good news" indeed.], for it is the power of God for salvation [[The Greek preposition translated "for" here is "eis"; we will come across this preposition again as we continue. It could be translated "for salvation"; "unto salvation"; "to salvation"; or "resulting in salvation." Salvation from what? Salvation from being in spiritual death and being in bondage to sin; and salvation from the wrath of God that will come against those who are committed to sin at the end of this age.]] to everyone who believes [[(This double bracket goes on for two paragraphs.) To everyone who believes in God and His Son and His gospel. To believe in God and His Son and His gospel includes a commitment from the heart to live for God and His Son and to live in line with the gospel (by God's enabling grace, which includes His "power"). In English we often use the verb "believe" in a very shallow way, but in the Bible to believe in God and His Son and His gospel includes living for God and His Son and living in line with His gospel, from the heart, by grace through faith. If we believe God's Word, we will live God's Word. There is no difference between believing in God and His Son and His gospel and having faith in God and His Son and His gospel. And faith without works is dead. It isn't real faith. It isn't saving faith. We must submit to God and appropriate His saving grace in Christ Jesus, by faith, on a continuous basis. In the Greek it is easy to see that the verb translated "believe" and the noun translated "faith" are closely related. The Greek verb translated believe is "pisteuo," and the Greek noun translated faith is "pistis." The Greek verb was derived from the noun.]], to the Jew first and also to the Greek." "Greek" here means Gentile. ROMANS 1:17. (We'll spend a lot of time here; this verse is extremely important, and we need to discuss several important details. I'll quote the entire verse before we get into the details.) "For in it [by it] the righteousness of God is revealed [is manifested] from faith [by faith] to faith; as it is written, "but the righteous man shall live by faith [he who is righteous by faith shall live]." "For in it [by it] the righteousness of God is revealed [is manifested]...." I would translate "For in it [by it; by the gospel] the righteousness of God is manifested...." We'll spend a lot of time discussing the meaning of these words before we get back to the words that follow in Rom. 1:17. What does it mean that the righteousness of God is manifested by the gospel? Well, briefly for a start, the primary thing that it means for this age is that the righteousness of God is manifested in the hearts and lives of those who submit to the gospel by faith. God imputes (in a legal, positional sense) and imparts (in a transformational sense) His righteousness to believers, just like He said He would do in many Old Testament prophecies. Every Christian should manifest the righteousness of God in everything they say and do. That is the Christian ideal; and what a privilege; what a blessing! We need to always aim at that target instead of making room for sin. God's righteousness is manifested in our hearts and lives as we walk by faith (in accordance with God's Word) and walk by the Holy Spirit on a continuous basis, which we are called to do. Galatians 5:16 says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you [most certainly] will not carry out the desire [the sinful desire] of the flesh [of the old man]." "For in it [by it; by the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed [is manifested]...." THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. I'M GOING TO TURN TO QUITE A FEW PASSAGES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT WHERE GOD PROPHESIED THAT HE WAS GOING TO MANIFEST HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH NEW-COVENANT SALVATION IN THE ATONING DEATH OF HIS SON, AND BY HIS OUTPOURED SPIRIT, WHO DWELLS IN ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS. Let's start with ISAIAH 32:15, "Until the Spirit [the Holy Spirit] is poured out upon us from on high [[As we have discussed, God's pouring out His Spirit on believers is a big part of what new-covenant salvation is all about. God pours out His Righteous, Holy Spirit of life, and we are born again and are enabled to walk in the very righteousness and holiness of God.]], And the wilderness becomes a fertile field, And the fertile field is considered as a forest. (16) Then JUSTICE WILL DWELL IN THE WILDERNESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL ABIDE IN THE FERTILE FIELD [my emphasis] [[Where God pours out His Spirit, His righteousness is manifested. During this age God's righteousness is manifested in the hearts and lives of Christians. In His new heaven and new earth, with its new Jerusalem, His righteousness will permeate everything in full measure.]] (17) And the work [or, the fruit] of RIGHTEOUSNESS [my emphasis] will be peace [Righteousness yields "peace" (Hebrew "shalom"); peace with God, peace in the heart; peace with one another; etc.], And the service of RIGHTEOUSNESS [my emphasis], quietness and confidence forever. (18) Then my people [God says] will live in a peaceful habitation, And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places...." The main point I want to make here is that God pours out His Righteous Spirit and His Righteousness is manifested. During this present age His righteousness is manifested in the hearts and lives of Christians, as they walk by the Spirit (by grace through faith). I'm turning to ISAIAH 45:8, "Drip down, O heavens, from above, And LET THE CLOUDS POUR DOWN RIGHTEOUSNESS [my emphasis; God pours down His righteousness through new-covenant salvation.]; Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, And RIGHTEOUSNESS SPRING UP [my emphasis] with it, I, the LORD [Yahweh], have created it." We are part of God's new creation. Our righteousness is part of His creative work, but we have to appropriate these things by faith (on a continuous basis). God gets all the glory: His righteousness is imparted to us through the Sacrifice of His Son and by the Righteous, indwelling Holy Spirit. ISAIAH 46:12, 13. God is speaking, "Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded, Who are far from righteousness. (13) I BRING NEAR MY RIGHTEOUSNESS [my emphasis], it is not far off; and My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, And My glory for Israel." God's righteousness and His salvation go together. A big part of what His salvation is all about is His solving the sin problem through the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ and making those who submit to His salvation righteous with His imputed and imparted righteousness. Nothing works right until we are made righteous. Sin always destroys divine order, starting with our all-important relationship with God. We will continue this study with Isaiah 56:1 in Part 2 of this two-part article. This e-book, "Righteousness, Holiness, and Victory Over Sin," is available at amazon.com. Copyright by Karl Kemp http://www.karlkempteachingministries.com Karl Kemp worked as an engineer in the space field throughout the 60s. He became a born-again Christian in 1964. He received an MA in Biblical Studies in 1972. He has been a Bible teacher for 45 years. See the website for more info on his books, papers, etc. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |