By the Spirit

In last Sunday’s sermon, I preached through Romans 2:25-29. The most basic conclusion of that text is that nothing eliminates our need for Jesus. Outward ritual does not do heart work. Presumption prevents salvation. 

What I didn’t lean into was the reference to the spirit in verse 29. 

But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. (ESV)

If I were to do a Marrtyn Lloyd-Jones style, 350 sermons through Romans, I would spend a whole sermon on them and the following 4 words. 

As a long-time convinced Calvinist, I am immediately drawn to those three words “by the Spirit.” I went to great lengths (some might say too great of lengths) to define circumcision as identical to salvation, and thus to baptism, in terms of the spiritual reality to which it pointed (Col 2:11-12). 

The next logical step would be to point out that the Spirit works sovereignly, which I didn’t do, but I will now. God doesn’t fight fair. When he wants to make you say “uncle,” he makes you (Gen 32:25). In this way, and in this way only, the independence and sovereignty of God are maintained and man is banned from any boasting whatsoever. If we attribute the cause of our salvation to ourselves and our choice, we steal what is rightfully God’s. And yet we cannot deny that we make choices, nor that we must choose to repent and believe. The instrument of that choice is faith, and that itself is a gift of God (Eph 2:8).

We are not bound to a materialistically fatal universe. God is beyond it and acts as He wills. We are free to make choices. Our nature determines those choices to the extent that God allows it. This should leave us in a state of mystery. It is only by further explaining that we can go wrong. Either we will make humans into automatons, or God less than God. Either of these choices would be internally logical, but neither are biblical. Both are tempting because we can understand them, but neither align with God’s self-revelation.

So, there you have it. Don’t come to me saying that Calvinists are cold scholastics, that they take the mystery out of everything. We are not! We leave the mystery right where God left it, unmolested, and unexplained, only wondered at.

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This Saturday morning at 7am the men’s study will continue through Schaeffer’s “How Should We Then Live.” The next chapter, the rise of modern science, is fascinating and ends with a monumental statement that is highly applicable to AI.

Also, I am planning on Starting the next Sunday School series in a few weeks with a broad overview of the Bible, talking about each section, the context of different books, the process of inscripturation, the idea of biblical inerrancy, etc. Stay tuned!

SDG

Keith