Class Notes: 12/8/2022

The book of Romans part 96; Rom 2:5; The doctrine of hardness of heart part 4

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In our verse-by-verse study of Romans we finished Rom 2:5. Our expanded translation is "Because of your hardness and unrepentant heart, you store up and accumulate for yourself wrath against the day of wrath, even disclosure of just judgment from the God."

The words translated heart, hardness, unrepentant, and judgment in this verse brought up some doctrines to look at and we are presently looking at the doctrine of hardness of heart.

The word stubbornness in the NASB that is translated hardness in the KJV is the Greek word "sklerotes" that is used to describe scar tissue that develops into a hard callous in the heart that causes the heart to become spiritually "hard" and resistant to God's Word of truth.

Last time we noted that God created sex to be an expression of human happiness in the right man-right woman relationship during the entire period of man's innocence in the Garden of Eden.

Before the fall Adam and Ishah derived great happiness from their relationship with each other.

Sex in the right man-right woman relationship in marriage is one of the precedents, that, along with the other divine institutions, survived the fall and continued to function in the devil's sinful world as a basis for happiness and stability.

It is therefore inevitable that people who are frustrated by scar tissue in the soul are going to try to use sex as a form of sublimation. However we see in Eph 4:19; a warning that with scar tissue in the soul, promiscuity will only build up greater frustration, insatiability and a more desperate frantic search for happiness.

The pattern is always the same: when the person tries some form of sexual perversion scar tissue builds up on scar tissue; and it does not produce the desired happiness that was expected so the frustration and pressure from scar tissue in the soul increases and the frantic pursuit of happiness becomes more and more desperate in the attempt to find something that will satisfy but nothing does and nothing will.

Often the person will pursue other more deviant forms of sexual perversion, criminal activity or substance abuse in pursuit of happiness but the death spiral continues until the ports of the soul are completely plugged with scar tissue and the person is on track to come under the sin unto death category of divine discipline.

If this continues and affects the souls of a the majority of the people in a national entity God destroys that entire generation or the entire nation under the cycles of discipline. Num 26:65; 1Cor 10:1-11;

God always provides a solution for every situation. Eph 4:20; explains God's solution for the believer with the phrase "But you did not learn Christ in this way."

Any solution to a spiritual problem in this case, scar tissue in the soul must be dealt with using God's Word of truth. "Learned" means that the believer has information communicated on a categorical basis. This means learning theology from God's Word of truth because theology is categorical doctrine.

The aorist tense refers to any point of time when Bible doctrine is communicated and the believer receives it under the true function of the grace apparatus for spiritual perception (GASP).

"Christ'' here does not refer to the Person of Christ, it refers to His relationship with the Church, as illustrated by the right man, right woman relationship in marriage.

As the right man is the aggressor toward his right woman, so Christ is the aggressor toward the Church through doctrine. "Ho Christos" ("the Christ") is used in this case to refer to the "mind of Christ'' (1Cor 2:16).

Since Christ is absent from the earth he left something of Himself behind for the Church, and He has done so through the canon of Scripture that is the Word of truth. John 1:1;

Eph 4:20; emphasizes the communicator, Eph 4:21; emphasizes the believer priest who is the receiver: "Since you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus."

"Heard him" is referring to Christ's thinking that is contained in God's Word, the Bible. Believers who have positive volition toward doctrine are described as being those who "have heard'' because this is how Jesus Christ communicates to the believer today.

The next phrase explains how this happens, "have been taught." "Taught" is in the passive voice indicating that the believer who has heard is the target audience or receiver, in the same way that the woman is the receiver or responder to the right man.

The pastor-teacher who is doing the teaching represents Jesus Christ who is the right man in the communication of doctrine. "The truth (doctrine) is in Jesus."

Bible doctrine in its entirety is the "mind of Christ." So the ingredients for the inculcation of doctrine include the provisions that God provides for believers under His GASP system.

The next two verses, Eph 4:22,23; describe the function of GASP, and verse 24 concludes with the erection of the edification complex in the soul, that as we have seen, is the only effective permanent remedy for scar tissue, because scar tissue and the edification complex cannot coexist.

That you put off your former manner of life you lay aside the old self, that is corrupt in accord with deceitful lusts (verse 22). The "old self" is one of the concepts that God's Word uses to describe the old sin nature.

As unbelievers, we lived according to the pattern of our old sin nature. But as believers, we have the means of laying aside that former manner of life, and that is done first of all by rebound.

Rebound is the starter for the grace apparatus of perception and is the means by which we are filled with the Spirit. It is impossible to build an edification complex in the soul apart from two principles: one, the filling of the Spirit; and two, a constant exposure to correct isagogical, categorical and exegetical teaching of doctrine through the function of GASP.

This is why there is a negative purpose to denote that the objective is to bring the old sin nature under control so that the Holy Spirit can engage the Christian life and begin to erect an edification structure in the soul.

(Verse 23). "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind" The previous verse tells us how to get out of the state of carnality so that GASP can function. In this verse we have the actual function of GASP.

"Renewed" means "to be restored again and again," or to start building again and keep on building. The believer receives restoration (passive voice) through the daily function of GASP. The "spirit" here is the human spirit that God the Holy Spirit targets with GASP.

The human spirit is the port that connects the soul to the Holy Spirit for doctrinal communication using the GASP protocol.

"Be renewed by means of the human spirit from the source of your mind," literally. Renewal comes from the process of transferring doctrine from the human spirit to the mind as "knosis" and then into the heart where it becomes "epignosis," that is the building material for the edification complex in the soul.

The problem of scar tissue with the believers in Ephesus began when they failed to advance to spiritual maturity. Paul brings us back to the original premise they must move on to maturity by growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and the he explains how is this done.

First, there must be rebound and the filling of the Spirit, followed by the function of GASP as doctrine is consistently learned. Learning doctrine causes, the believer to advance in doctrine and develop confidence in God from His Word.

This confidence develops the characteristics of maturity in the soul the grace orientation, the mastery of the details of life, the relaxed mental attitude that is free from mental attitude sins, the development of capacity for integrity love, and ultimately the possession of God's happiness.

This is the result of the construction of the edification complex in that soul, that is called the 'new self." In Eph 4:24; And put on the self who God has created in righteousness and holiness of the truth

"New" refers to a "new species" indicating that that the actual person that exists in the soul is new therefore, to fulfill the objectives that God has for that new person, something must happen on the inside.

The soul puts on the "new self" that is created to God's standard." That standard is Bible doctrine because God's GASP system uses Bible doctrine to create the edification complex in the soul of the believer.

The soul without doctrine is in chaos being cast about by all sorts of lies. The old sin nature constantly throws up lust signals; scar tissue is accumulated on the banks of the soul, and the vacuum that sucks in satanic viewpoint.

Under the function of GASP Bible doctrine creates order out of chaos, and the process of constructing the edification complex that is the remedy for scar tissue in the soul of the believer begins.

This brings us to the unbeliever. The solution to scar tissue in the unbeliever is to believe the Gospel.

(1Cor. 15:1-4). Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand.

v2 By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory the word that I preached o you, unless you have believed in vain.

v3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

v4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

Scar tissue is developed in an unbeliever every time there is rejection of the gospel. It is possible for a person to reject so many times that the apertures of their soul are so completely blocked up with scar tissue so that they can't believe as described in the case of Esau and the Pharaoh of the Exodus generation.

But God is "not willing for any should perish ' (2Pet. 3:9). Jesus Christ was judged for the sins of every person who ever lived or who ever will live on the cross. "For when we were helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly'' (Rom. 5:6).

Salvation and eternal life are freely offered to all who will believe because he who believes on the Son has eternal life: and he that does not obey the Son will not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36).

This brings us back to our verse in Rom 2:5; Our expanded translation is "Because of your hardness and unrepentant heart, you store up and accumulate for yourself wrath against the day of wrath, even disclosure of just judgment from the God."

The next word we are going to look at is "unrepentant" that is translated from the Greek word "ametanoetos." "A" means not and "metanoetos" means repentant that means to change your mind so an unrepentant unbeliever refuses to change their mind about Jesus.

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