September 11, 2020 Show with Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington on “A New Series on the Book of Romans” (Part 2)

Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation, to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions, and now here's your host,

Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet

Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Friday. On this 11th day of September 2020, obviously

I think that every Christian today should set aside a portion of the day, even if it be just a brief prayer, on behalf of the family members of victims who perished during the most infamous attack of American citizens on American soil in the history of our nation's existence.

Of course, I'm referring to the horrific 9 -11 attack upon the

World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001 on this date, and also the crashing of an airliner in Pennsylvania that was believed to be headed towards some other very important landmark in our nation before brave passengers took down the terrorists in the plane with it to prevent that from happening, even though they realized they were bringing themselves to a certain death.

So we ask of you to pray for the survivors, the surviving families of the victims of that horrific event today.

But today we are not going to be discussing that. I'll be announcing our guest and topic momentarily, but I also wanted to ask my listeners for special prayer today for somebody who's going to remain anonymous, a friend of mine, finally after a year of my nagging and the nagging of other brothers and sisters in Christ who are hounding this individual to admit himself into a

Christian drug and alcohol recovery program. Finally, this individual has done it and has admitted himself into an organization that I cannot, singing the praises about,

Hebron Colony Ministries in Boone, North Carolina. One of the reasons I can't stop singing the praises about that ministry is that I myself was a resident there somewhere in the neighborhood of a decade ago after falling back tragically into the damnable sin of alcohol abuse.

And I thank God that after leaving that wonderful ministry in Boone, North Carolina, Hebron Colony, I have never even once had the inclination or the desire to have a drink.

Now, I'm not saying that that is what happens to everyone that goes through the program at Hebron Colony or any other

Christian rehabilitation and recovery program. It just so happens that God had mercy on me in that particular way.

I'm a sinner in many other ways, but that, for now, is not one of them. And I know that I have to always be wary of the truth that he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

So, I cannot let myself be prideful over this, but I could just say that I just sing the praises of Hebron Colony.

And I ask of you all to pray for this individual who will remain nameless, that he successfully goes through the entire program, and when he has graduated from there, as they call it, they actually have a graduation ceremony if you successfully complete the program, that he returns home a new man and no longer has that sin in his life.

And unfortunately, some that leave there have even overdosed and killed themselves from drugs and alcohol even after going through this program.

So, we pray that that is not the case with this individual. But please pray for this individual who is in Hebron Colony now.

I spoke to Don Holder, I believe it was yesterday. Don Holder is the executive director of Hebron Colony and he told me this individual is very well acclimating, if that's grammatically correct, acclimating very well to the program so far.

And he is very pleased with everything he has seen and heard from this individual. So, we pray that it continues in that vein and even gets better than that.

For anybody who wants to either financially support this wonderful ministry or if you yourself or someone you know or someone you love has an addiction problem, go to hebroncolony .org.

The recovery program for men is in Boone, North Carolina, the really gorgeous mountains of Boone, North Carolina.

And they have a facility for women in Santee, South Carolina as well.

So, hebroncolony .org, that's h -e -b -r -o -n -colony .org.

So, either go there for your own needs or the needs of your addicted friends, family, loved ones and neighbors, or go there to support them financially because I'm sure they could use every penny they can get.

They are strictly supported by the donations of individuals and churches and parachurch organizations.

They do not accept any money from the government or the United Way or anybody else that would have sway in to what they do there.

And it's also the oldest continuously running drug and alcohol recovery program, from a

Christian point of view anyway, in the United States. So, it began during or perhaps after some time in the vicinity of World War II when the conservative

Presbyterian pastor who founded Hebron Colony witnessed GIs returning home from the war who were alcoholics.

And he had a burden on his heart to reach out to them and see them brought to not only sober lives, but infinitely more important into a saving relationship with Christ.

So, it's hebroncolony .org, hebroncolony .org. Now, let me introduce to you my guest today who is a dear friend, a man whose church where he serves as the pastor.

And I got to actually, let me correct that. As our mutual friend Bill Shishko would say, it's not his church, it's the church of the

Lord Jesus Christ. So, I better correct that. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ where my guest serves as under shepherd.

I always look forward to opportunities to spread the word about this church, Faith Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania, where my guest recently accepted the call and was installed as their pastor,

Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington, who I've had on this program many times even before he accepted the call at Faith OPC in Fawn Grove.

But if you listen to Iron Trip and Zion regularly, you will know that we have begun recently a new series on the

Romans that Dr. Waddington is leading. And this is the second installment of that series on the

Book of Romans. And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Trip and Zion Radio, Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington.

Well, brother, thank you for having me on on such an auspicious occasion as the 19th anniversary of the attack on the

World Trade Towers and the Pentagon, and as you mentioned, the flight, I think it was flight 93 that went down to Shanksville.

Yes, right, right in very close vicinity of very dear friends of mine who were once, before moving to Pennsylvania, they were once members, long -time members of the church where I was saved on the

Isle. I had the privilege a few years ago to visit what is now a monument, if you will, or a combination of a national park and a privately run memorial to the downing of flight 93 in Shanksville, which is north of, well, in the greater,

I guess, the greater Pittsburgh region of Pennsylvania. Beautiful area of the state now permanently scarred by the pathway that was dug by the plane that landed upside down, if I remember correctly.

And it's a moving site. It's a place where you go. It's like going to ground zero.

It's hard to have a dry eye when you're visiting that place.

So, it's a privilege to be back on the program with you, Chris, and to be able to delve into Paul's letter to the church at Rome, as we mentioned, a letter that's had significant influence in the life of the church over many, many, many years.

And if you could, before we delve into that glorious book, to let our listeners know about Faith Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania, where you now serve as their undershepherd.

Yes, and thank you for the reminder that Bill Shishko passed along that the church is the

Lord's. It happens to be where I thankfully serve.

Lovely, beautiful location, and you've been here, so you know. Yes, beautiful rural area of Pennsylvania.

Yep. Right on the one -half, we're one -half mile from the Mason -Dixon line, the state line of Maryland.

Probably the least half of our congregation or more are either present -day

Marylanders or former Marylanders who have relocated to the immediate area in and around Fawn Grove.

So, we regularly cross the line on a regular basis, so we do that, but I'm prayerful that my ministry is one built upon the proclamation and the manifestation of God's Word and the grace of God in His Son, Jesus Christ, and the power of the gospel to save and to change lives both here and in eternity.

Amen. The church does, as I've mentioned before, this congregation goes back to the fundamentalist modernist controversy of the late 1800s, early 1900s.

1936, it separated from the mainline Presbyterian church nearby, was independent as a

Presbyterian church for its first 28 years, and then in 1964, it aligned with the

OPC and was for many years a part of the Philadelphia Presbyterian until about 12 years ago, 13 years ago, the

Presbyterian of Central Pennsylvania was formed, and that's the Presbyterian which this church resides.

A wonderful fellowship of pastors and elders and members as we support one another in this region, and of course, in this day of the ongoing coronavirus and all sorts of other things going on, the fellowship is great, and it's an encouragement to be serving the

Lord in this part of the country. We're a small congregation, but a congregation that loves the

Lord, loves His Word, and seeks to be a witness in the greater community, of course, in Fawn Grove itself and then in the region beyond.

Amen. If anybody wants to find out more about Faith Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania, go to faithopc .net,

faithopc, for Orthodox Presbyterian Church, dot net, faithopc .net.

Well, if you could, since we left off on our last discussion on the

Book of Romans, we left off on Romans 1, verse 7, if I'm not mistaken, and therefore, if you could pick up where we left off and read for our listeners

Romans chapter 1, verses 8 through 13. Okay, we'll do that.

Before I do that, just to remind ourselves that we are in the introduction to Paul's letter to the church at Rome, and as is typical of letters written at that time, the introduction, which technically are verses 1 through 7, that's typically how it's understood, but even beyond that, as we'll see here in verses 8 through 13,

Paul is continuing what I would consider to be, you know, introductory matters, and you'll see, so here is

Romans 1, 8 to 13, from the pen, or from the mouth tongue of the

Apostle Paul, transmitted through the quill or the stylus of Tertius, I believe, was his secretary.

So, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing

I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow, by God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest among you, as well as among the rest of the

Gentiles. So, Paul, here in these verses that we are looking at, of course, is explaining to the people how he wants to meet them, he wants to worship with them, get to know them.

Now, as we know from the last chapter, chapter 16, while Paul did not plant the church in Rome, and there are, of course, ideas that people, scholars, banter about back and forth about how the church was planted at Rome, and one,

I think, reasonable explanation is that converts from Rome who were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost returned, having been brought to faith in Christ, they returned to Rome and then the church got planted that way.

So, Paul here is saying, you know, while he did know some of the folk who were currently members of the church, he had not planted it and didn't know the group as a whole, and so he's wanting to explain to them that it had been his desire for many years, no doubt, to get to Rome, but had been prevented in God's providence for various and sundry reasons, and later in the letter he'll come back to this issue and explain how he had, it was now he felt time to come to Rome because he had covered his bases by planting churches throughout the

Mediterranean world, including into Europe, and so it was now time to make his way to Rome, albeit not as the last thing, but as an opportunity to establish a base of operations to to launch an evangelistic and church -planting effort, missionary effort, in other words, into Spain.

So he had these plans to meet the Roman Christians, to get to know them, and hopefully to establish there among the

Christians in Rome a base of operations so that he might begin to do in Spain what he had done in so many other places, in other words, to make at Rome what he had in Antioch earlier in his apostolic ministry.

Now can you give us whatever insight you may have or your theories on what

Paul was referring to by the spiritual gift that he wanted to impart upon the saints at the

Church of Rome? Well, most commentators simply suggest or assume that he meant to do there what he had done in the other churches, which was to build them up, to encourage, to exhort, to correct things that we actually find him doing in the letter, right?

Prior to his actually anticipated arrival amongst them.

Now we understand that he thought he would get there one way, he ended up getting there by a longer, more circuitous route, but he did, as you probably know, he did finally get to Rome.

Yes. But I don't think there's any special, in the sense of unusual gift that he wanted to impart.

Not a supernatural one. Yeah, well, it would be supernatural, certainly in the sense that he's an apostle, and yes, as an apostle in this foundational era of the

Church, there are miraculous things that happen in his ministry, and of course miracles were a way, among other things, to attest to the divine appointment that he had.

So I don't want to underplay that, but you don't want to overplay it as well. Certainly he's, and you notice how he, at that point, he almost, it looks like he corrects himself and says that we would be mutually, a mutual blessing to one another, not just the one way, you know, he comes and he brings his blessing so that the

Roman Church can benefit from it, but that he would benefit from fellowship with them as well.

And I thought that, and I think that's a really beautiful reminder that Paul understood that the

Christian life was not lived in solitary confinement, at least not on purpose, right?

The Christian life was meant to be one lived in fellowship with brothers and sisters in your local setting.

And of course that's why you have so many of his letters, and now very often his letters are circular letters, right?

They're written to one church, but they're intended to be shared with others, and that's of course how, in God's providence, the letters of Paul were preserved.

They were circulated, you know, amongst more than just the original recipients of the letter.

In fact, we see in here, I think, a wonderful Romans 8 .28 example that all things work together for the good for those who love

God and are the called according to his purpose, because things were delaying

Paul's arrival to the Church in Rome, and because of that, he wrote this letter that has been blessing the

Church for centuries, for millennia. Yep. So that while Paul thought that he would get to Rome simply by dropping off his collection that he had been raising among the

Gentile churches to bring to their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem, and of course he did that, but in the process of doing that, he got himself arrested, and then eventually, after a few years, he appealed to Caesar, and eventually, and we have this recounted for us in the book of Acts, of course, his travels from Caesarea to Rome, and all the various stops in between.

By the way, I do want to give a shout -out to two of your colleagues who have emailed me.

Graham Dugas, I don't know if I'm mispronouncing his name. Yeah, Graham Dugas. And also

Ryan Noah. Yep, Ryan Noah is a colleague of mine at the

Reform Forum. Yes, they both have sent their greetings, and thanked me for conducting this interview with you.

Well, they're good brothers. Graham and I are working together on a project regarding the recordings of the late

Dr. Greg Bonson, the wonderful theologian, minister,

OPC minister, and apologist, pretty well -known, I suppose, in our circles, for his defense, tireless defense of the

Christian faith. And the project is to raise money to, called the

Bonson Project, to raise money to bring those recordings out from behind the paywall, so that they can be offered free of charge to all those who would benefit.

And we trust there would be many who would benefit by such availability of the resources.

Yes, I intend to do a number of interviews in the not -so -distant future on the life and legacy of Greg Bonson.

I did, not long ago, interview Gary DeMar on the life and legacy of Dr.

Bonson, because Gary has brought into print for the first time some teaching transcripts of Dr.

Bonson that are available in book form now through American Vision.

But I intend to do a, I might even do a week -long series in tribute to him in December, during the anniversary of his death.

But before that, I intend to do at least several interviews to assist in the fundraising of this work that you're talking about.

Yeah, it's a worthwhile project. And yes, one of the, you know, only

God knows at this point, you know, it might be that one of the fruits of this kind of work would be the availability of some of his teaching that's only available, say, by way of audio, could be transcribed and made into book form.

The kinds of things that over the years have been done with Martin Lloyd -Jones and Donald Gray Barnhouse and Dr.

Boyce, all, you know, so those kinds of things are not uncommon. It's what was done with the sermons of John Calvin, right?

There was a secretary or transcriber that sat in the services in Geneva who transcribed the sermons that Calvin preached, and we benefit from that labor, and a labor it was, but a labor of love.

And even Paul's letter, you know, as I mentioned, he has a secretary or what is typically referred to as an amanuensis, but that's just a fancy word for a secretary, and there's all sorts of discussion on how much freedom the apostles would allow the secretary, how much freedom they would give them in composing the letters.

But in this instance, the secretary chimes in,

I think, at the end of the letter, indicating by his name that he's, well, perhaps

Paul's third secretary. I don't know if it's a proper name. Trish, it could be a proper name, or it could mean the third secretary.

But Paul used secretaries. You can imagine, we can imagine

Paul pacing back and forth in the room where he's dictating his letter, and as we often think of great leaders doing that, you know, we hear stories of, for instance,

Winston Churchill. That's often how he wrote his books. He would transcribe to a secretary, and so we know

Paul did this, and even perhaps other apostles did it as well,

Peter perhaps using John Mark as that kind of a secretary.

Paul, as you know, had traveling companions. He was typically not on his own.

The one instance where he was on his own, I think, was Athens, where he was waiting for his colleagues to arrive before continuing on on his missionary travels.

So here, Paul is wanting to convey the strength of his desire to meet the saints at Rome, and you notice he begins by saying, thanks the

Lord for the reputation of the saints at Rome, that the strength of their faith is conveyed in all the world.

In fact, let's pick up right where you left off there, because we have to go to our first break. If anybody would like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

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We understand that, but if it's not personal and private, please give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the

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Call 1 -800 -669 -4878. Welcome back.

This is Chris Arnson. If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the entire show is Dr. Jeffrey C.

Waddington, pastor of the Faith Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania.

He's also the vice president of the board of directors for the Reformed Forum, and articles editor for the

Confessional Presbyterian Journal. I failed to do so at the beginning of the program, but before you delve back into Romans, Dr.

Waddington, why don't you tell our listeners about the Reformed Forum? Sure. The Reformed Forum is an online

Christian education ministry outreach to assist the church in her calling to strengthen the saints, to call sinners to faith in Christ.

I mean, that's the big picture. It grows out of table talk conversations that some colleagues of mine and I had over the years, and it dawned on us 12 years ago now that these other people might benefit from our conversations.

It doesn't mean that we had all the answers. We've been at this too long to think that.

You discover very quickly that we're all still learning. We're all still on the way.

But the Lord has blessed us. I have a lot of colleagues.

We're a 501c3. We're incorporated as the nonprofit organization in the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The executive director is the

Reverend Camden Busey, Reverend Dr. Camden Busey, and who lives out in Illinois.

And those who listen to the Reformed Forum, we have a podcast, which is the center, called

Christ the Center. That's our flagship, I think that's the expression we use, a flagship program.

And there are other, both text -based, which you read, and audio and video programs, very much like this one.

Some that are aimed at a higher theological level, basically because a lot of the listeners are guys and gals who've had some college and seminary training, and we seek to bring honor and glory to the

Lord. And that's something you can easily find on the web at reformedforum .org. And most of the resources are free.

There are a few that we charge for, but most of them are free. And we do, typically, around the

Columbus Day weekend, we usually have a theology conference out at HOPE OPC in Grayslake, Illinois, which is about 35 or so miles to the northwest of Chicago.

But because of the pandemic, it was decided that we would postpone and then pick up, the

Lord willing, next year with the conference. We haven't decided whether we're going to stick with the same topic or go with a different one.

The topic this year was going to be the attributes of God. But anyway, we've been at this for about 12 years, doing this, and we love it.

We love doing it. We love being of service to the Lord and to His Church. That's the only reason why we exist, is to assist the

Church in her calling. And if anybody wants to find out more information, go to reformedforum .org,

reformedforum .org. If you could now pick up where you left off, we were entering into Romans 1, verses 8 -13, picking up where we left off the last time during our first episode on Romans.

So if you could pick up where you left off before the station break. Sure, absolutely.

Paul is not, what's the word

I want to use? He's not afraid to commend the saints at Rome, to thank, he thanks the

Lord for their faith. As I mentioned earlier, it's been reported throughout the world, presumably the

Christian world in particular. So he commends them for that.

He's not afraid to compliment or commend them for an attribute, which of course is a manifestation of God's work in their midst.

And so he does that. So there's nothing in God's Word that's, you know, to say when the

Scriptures in Paul himself said that we ought to be sober -minded and not think more highly of ourselves than we ought, that's not the same thing as saying that the leaders in the

Church should never commend or compliment those who are in the

Church. That, I think, is going too far. It's a different thing, of course, if people use commendations or compliments as a way of trying to curry favor, that's a different thing altogether.

But he encourages them, right? He's encouraging them here. And he reminds them that he prays for them on a regular basis, as Paul does the other churches that he writes.

So that when he thanks the Lord, of course that's in the context, no doubt, of prayer. He thanks the

Lord for the saints who are at Rome, and he really does want to be in their midst to, as he says here, to reap a harvest among you as well as among the rest of the

Gentiles. He's been reaping a harvest among the Gentiles for the last 20 -some years in his ministry as an apostle, and now he wants to do the same thing at Rome, even though he typically, as he will say later in the letter toward the end, he does not interfere in churches that are planted by other people, which gives rise to, which may be an indirect evidence of what

I said earlier, that the Church here was not planted, as I believe the

Roman Catholic Church says it was planted by Saint Peter, that it was planted by unknown converts to the

Gospel who may have been at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and then returned to Rome and brought their faith back to Rome with them.

Paul has desired for a long time to visit Rome, and by God's providence he has not been able to do that, and as I've already said, the way he gets there will not be the way that he envisioned,

I think, as he wrote this letter. And as you had already raised the issue,

Paul longs to be of benefit to the Church at Rome, and he longs for there to be mutual encouragement, mutual benefit.

He is not above being encouraged by the brothers and sisters in Rome. It's an amazing thing to be at this point in the history of the

Church, to be the Church in Rome, you know, the center of the world in that day and in that part of the

Mediterranean, North Africa, Europe, Italy, Greece, etc.

Rome was the capital of the world, and in Luke's book of Acts, Rome has,

I think, also a symbolic value. When Jesus says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Samaria, Judea, and the outermost parts of the earth,

Rome represents the outermost parts of the earth known at that time in this part of the world.

But remember, the Church is a minority, definitely a minority in the seat of power, in the city where the

Emperor and the Senate and all of those in power and authority politically and militarily, this is where they come and go if they don't actually reside.

And it is here that Paul longs to visit the Christians in this city, and he tells us that he wants to have a harvest among them, as well as among the rest of the

Gentiles. And of course, that includes those he's already been involved with bringing to Christ, and it also involves those he anticipates to bring to faith in Christ, especially the intended evangelistic outreach to the people of Spain.

Paul tells us that he is under obligation to preach the gospel. So there in verse 14,

I am under obligation both—actually, I'm jumping ahead—but

Paul clearly wants to, is desirous of sharing the gospel.

He not only has been commissioned to proclaim it, but he is a recipient of that same gospel.

He is a recipient of the grace of God manifested in the sending of the

Son, who in the fullness of time was born of a woman, born under the law, as Paul will say in Galatians.

This gospel is what drives him as a

Christian, is the gospel that drives him, that fuels him as an apostle. And so he desires to be able to see a harvest from the proclamation of the gospel, especially among the people in the city of Rome.

So that brings us to the next section, which would be verses 14 to 17.

In fact, that's a perfect place for us to pick up when we come back from the midway break. Okay, very good.

And always, folks, remember, because I don't want you to be wondering why we're taking such a long break, this is the part of the program that we allow

Grace Life Radio, 90 .1 FM in Lake City, Florida, to take advantage of a longer break in the show so that they can abide by FCC regulations and localize

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We need the financial support that they provide to exist. We love all of you who donate to Iron Trip and Zion Radio, especially those who regularly donate, but the amount that we take in through donations could not nearly be sufficient to support this program completely, to remain on the air with all the bills that we have.

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Always tell them that you heard about them from Iron Sharpens Iron. Before we return to my guest,

Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington, I just have a couple of important announcements to make. Make a note on your calendar this

Monday, we have a first -time guest. I'm really excited about this interview. Gordon Runyon, who is an author and pastor of Emanuel Baptist Church of Tucumcari, New Mexico, he's going to be addressing the theme of his new

Resistance to Tyrants, Romans 13, and the Christian Duty to Oppose Wicked Rulers.

That's this Monday, and that is the 14th of September.

So, I hope that you make a note to tune in and send in your questions to Pastor Gordon Runyon.

We'll also be giving away free copies of Resistance to Tyrants to those, the first among you, who submit good questions, good enough to be read on the air.

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I have helped many people in our audience find churches that they didn't even know existed, sometimes right around the corner from where they live, all over the world.

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That's also the email address to send in questions to Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington on the book of Romans, our topic for today.

This is the second in our new series on the book of Romans. That's chrisarnson at gmail .com.

And Dr. Waddington, before we go to your continuation of the exploration of Romans as we will be picking up in verse 14 in Romans chapter 1, we have an anonymous listener who says,

I am from a Roman Catholic background and the biggest claim to the primacy of Peter as the first pope is the fact that Jesus made the claim that Peter was the rock upon which the church was founded.

They exegete this to mean that he was the first pope. How do

I break my Catholic family, friends, and loved ones free from this delusion?

I need your help. Well, okay, no pressure. Well, I mean, you'd have to go to, um, let's see,

Matthew chapter 16. Yes, it is

Matthew chapter 16. So if you, uh, our listeners, uh, and especially the, the folk who sent that question, which is a very important question, we can look at that and see, okay, well, what, what was going on?

And it's beginning at verse 13 of Matthew 16. Jesus and his disciples, his close band of disciples, the 12, have come into the district of Caesarea Philippi, and he asks his disciples, now

I'm quoting here, who do people say that the son of man is? You'll remember that in the gospel of Matthew, our

Lord often refers to himself as the son of man. In fact, we could say that it's his favorite expression for himself.

Uh, and, uh, so the disciples answer, uh, some say John the Baptist, others say

Elijah and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. And he said to them, but who do you say that I am?

Uh, obviously our Lord is wanting to get feedback from his own disciples, not merely passing along what they've heard from the crowds of people who've come to see

Jesus and benefit from his teaching and miraculous healings. Uh, Simon Peter, beginning verse 16 says, you are the

Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you Simon Bar -Jonah or son of John for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father, who is in heaven.

And I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock,

I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound on, uh, uh, bound in heaven.

And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the

Christ. So you have here, uh, the confession by, uh,

Peter that Jesus is the, is the Messiah, the Christ that is the anointed one, the one who is, who has come to save his people from their sins.

Now, of course, in, in that day, there were many false notions of what the

Messiah would be to typically. And I think it's the reason why at the end of the chapter, there, or the end of the passage, he says, don't be charged as disciples to tell no one that he was the

Christ. Well, why does he say that? Well, because of the misunderstanding of being the

Christ, uh, to be the Christ, uh, in the mind of our Lord, it is not to be a political or military leader, but to be the one who would come and give his life as a ransom for many.

But Peter says to him, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus says to him, blessed are you,

Simon, son of John or Barjona, uh, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven.

So this is, uh, Jesus is saying that Peter, you, you gained this insight from, from revelation by the father.

It is not merely you heard someone else echo this thought, but that you have, you have, you have recognized who

I am because of the ministry of my father, who is in heaven.

Now that's okay. I, that's, you know, that's, uh, completely, fairly straightforward.

Right now we come into what I would call the Dicey section verse 18. And I tell you, you are

Peter that that's of course, his name, uh, that, that Jesus called him, uh,

Simon is Simon Peter. That's what he's often referred to. Sometimes you will see him may refer to by the name

Cephas, which is simply the, uh, the Aramaic form of Peter or rock.

And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And then he goes on to say that he will give to him the keys of the kingdom. What does it mean to say that I will, uh, that on this rock,

I will build my church? Well, the Roman typical traditional

Roman Catholic exegesis of the passages that Jesus is making a statement, a pronouncement about Peter himself, his person.

Uh, whereas typically of Protestants and I myself would argue that it's, that it's, uh, that it's not

Peter himself as it, as an individual. Uh, some have argued that it could be

Peter as a, as, as the, uh, apostle, a soon to be apostle, uh, in that function, an official function as a, uh, a super, uh, natural or extraordinary officer in the church.

Apostles and prophets were referred to as extraordinary officers as over against pastors and elders and deacons who are called ordinary officers in the church.

So as Jesus is saying, uh, on you personally, Peter, I will, uh, and, uh, you are the rock.

And that's of course, Peter means rock or stone. And on this rock,

I will build my church. Uh, or is he saying that on you, Peter, I will build my church.

That would be the traditional Roman Catholic understanding. Uh, but there's no, there's no reason to think that, uh, that that is the proper understanding of the passage.

In fact, I can refer people to an outstanding refutation of that Roman Catholic view that Peter was the first Pope.

Uh, the Matthew 16 controversy, Peter and the rock by Dr. William Webster, who's a dear friend of mine.

And, uh, you could go to the former Catholic priest. No, you're thinking of Richard Bennett.

Oh, okay. All right. In fact, uh, William Webster at one time was a colleague of Richard Bennett, but, but, but, but no, well, uh, he was not a priest, but, uh, you could go to christiantruth .com

christiantruth .com to order that nearly 400 page refutation of the, uh, the,

I would call it the heresy of Rome on Peter being the first Pope. Now I'm not saying it's a heresy to believe that Peter was the rock that Jesus was speaking of because even

DA Carson and others have believed that, but not with the other weight that Rome gives it, not to a succession of infallible

Popes, not to a primacy of Peter and the other, uh, alleged Popes.

In fact, one of the reasons this is relevant to our discussion today on Romans, from what

I understand, the scriptures never mentioned Peter ever being in Rome. And we don't even get the idea that he was in Rome until near the late second century, right?

I don't remember off of, uh, it's of course part of tradition that he did visit

Rome, but that's tradition, right? So it's, it's not to be invested with a divine authority.

But the thing is here in this text, Peter, it's the face that Peter exhibits.

That's the rock, not Peter himself. It's the faith that Peter exhibits given by the father that is supernaturally given upon which the church will be built.

The church is built upon a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

So there is, Jesus is saying something about the church and the power of those who serve in the church when he talks about the keys of the kingdom.

The whole idea of a Pope, of course, is something that develops over time subsequent to the

New Testament, and to see Peter as the first Pope, frankly, is a reading back onto the scriptures what is not present in the scriptures.

And I'm sure the book by William Webster, I have several of his books in my library as well, is a solid, you know, thorough refutation of this.

And I'm sure, I would imagine that Dr. James White also has some helpful material on this topic.

The Roman Catholic Controversy would be the primary book that would contain something about, and of course, he's debated on the very issue of the existence of Popes and so on.

Well, we know, for instance, that St. Augustine refers to, who was a bishop himself, right, he refers to the bishop at Rome as a colleague, not as a superior.

And that's in the 400s. Right. So historically, I think it's untenable.

Especially with Athanasius. Right. They don't call him Athanasius Contramundum for nothing, he was

Athanasius against the world, which meant the vast majority of those in magisterial leadership in the

Catholic Church. And he never bowed to any insistence or mandate of a bishop in Rome to formulate his teaching, and made it clear he was deriving his beliefs from the scriptures.

Right. So in other words, the text in Matthew 16, 18 and following in particular, is not a basis for the primacy of what we call the

Petrine Office. You may, every once in a while, if a Pope visits, you may even actually hear that expression in the news.

So what is the Petrine Office? Well, that's another name for the papacy. But what's interesting is that the faith that Jesus refers to is the faith that Paul is talking about in the

Book of Romans. In fact, if we were going to invent an office of Pope, the

Bible gives us more ammunition to choose Paul, a lot more information to choose

Paul over Peter. I'm not saying that we should do that. I'm just saying that if someone were to choose a biblical figure to have primacy above anyone else on the earth other than Christ, it would be

Paul, in my opinion. Yeah, I mean, if you think about it, and you may have even had this in the back of your mind,

Chris, that Paul, he rebukes Peter, and that's recorded in the

Book of Galatians. Oh, yeah. So, and Peter now...

For his anti -Gentile bigotry. Yes. Peter does receive that rebuke properly, because later in the

Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15, he's clearly got the message.

And Paul's rebuke, of course, is that you know better, right?

You don't withdraw from table fellowship with Gentiles because these so -called colleagues of James in Jerusalem come and you're scared, you don't want to offend anybody, but you just offended your brothers among the

Gentiles by withdrawing from table fellowship. Anyways, the faith that the Lord commends or refers to in Matthew 16, 18 is divinely given faith, right?

He's professing, and you see there in Matthew 16, 18, you see, well, prior to that, you see

Peter's confession that Christ is the Son of the Living God.

That is both his personal faith, but it's also the faith that he professes that has become, we might say, public property, right?

It's what we talk about the faith by which we believe and the faith that is believed.

So there's two different senses among many others that we often talk about.

When we say the faith, we're usually referring to the faith that we confess or profess.

Now, coming to verses 14 to 17, we come,

I think, to the heart of Paul's gospel, although in our day this is challenged by many scholars, including

Protestants. It's part of the disputation surrounding the new perspective on Paul, but let's hear these words from the

Apostle Paul. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish, so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

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, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.

As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So you have there kind of a summary of, if you had to choose verses that summarize the real issue in the book of Romans, it would be verses 16 and 17.

But before we look at that, just a few observations about 14 and 15.

What does Paul mean when he says he's under obligation to Greeks and barbarians? And by the way, those would be, in the

Greek mind, the two categories of people. In other words, barbarians are non -Greeks.

The Jews would be classified under that category. And then Paul says both the wise and the foolish.

So the Greeks are the wise, barbarians are the foolish, in the mind of the typical

Greek at the time. So he's under obligation. What is he under obligation to them for and why?

He's under obligation to pre -preach the gospel to them. And really what he's saying is he's under obligation to God through the people that need to hear the gospel.

So he's under obligation to them because he himself, one, has experienced salvation in Jesus Christ, and two, he is now called to be an apostle to the

Gentiles. So he has an obligation to them because God has placed that commission on him.

And because of that, he's eager to preach the gospel also to those who are in Rome.

And by the way, the church in Rome was made up of both Jews and Gentiles, and there's discussion amongst various commentators and scholars as to the proportion of the

Christians in Rome who were Jewish as over against Gentile. And there is an assumption or there is a belief held by many commentators that the church in Rome tended to be more

Jerusalem -centered, if I could put it that way. So there would be the temptation to want to see things that have passed away because of the coming of Christ, the ceremonies like circumcision that become a means of salvation for folk.

So there might be temptations toward that in Rome that there might not be in other places in the

Mediterranean region where Paul had planted churches. So he goes on and he says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel.

Why would he have been ashamed of the gospel? Now, understandably, before he came to faith in Christ, he would have been, you know, if I could put it that way, he was opposed to the gospel.

That was his career as a Pharisee. He held the garments of those who stoned

Stephen, the first martyr after the crucifixion, and he gave his approval to the stoning of Stephen.

He then, of course, is involved with the general persecution that occurs in Jerusalem after that, and it's of course that circumstance that God uses to drive the disciples out of Jerusalem and the gospel is initially taken to all

Judea and eventually even to Samaria. And then Paul is on his way to Damascus when he gets stopped dead in his tracks by the risen

Lord, and you know, the rest is history. He's not ashamed of the gospel.

He's seen it work in his own life and he's seen it work in lives, countless lives, during the 20 years of ministry that he has had.

The gospel is not something to be ashamed of. I suppose people looking at it might say, well, you know, this gospel is based upon the divinity of this backwoods, you know, area, backwater region of the

Roman Empire, that this man is put to death as a criminal, and you're saying he's the son of God.

Well, you know, so that may be in the background, but the truth is, it is the power of God unto salvation.

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also for the

Greek. Well, gospel is good news. That's what it means, good news.

How is it good news? Well, because it proclaims, it heralds a way for us to be freed from sin, both its guilt and its corruption, or an ongoing power, all to the glory of God.

It refers both to the historical events involving our Lord's life, death, and resurrection and ascension.

It also refers to the proclamation of that, of the account. So both are in view here,

I think. And when he says it's the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the

Jew first and also for the Greek, this is not a reference, this is not an attempt to make first -class

Christians and second -class Christians. It's simply noting that, as a matter of fact, the

Jews were the Old Testament church, and Christ, as to his human genealogy, is a

Jew. And therefore, redemptive historically, the gospel came to Jews first.

And also, it comes to the Gentile population and the

Greek. When Paul mentions the Greek, that's a synonym for Gentiles.

In fact, I think this is a key verse, 16, to obliterate the false and popular practice of what has been called lifestyle evangelism.

Now, I am not saying that our lives should not reflect the gospel.

And our lives, obviously, and our deeds and our activity is crucial in making what we say have integrity.

I mean, in the book of James, if you just speak words and tell people truth, but you don't have love, if you're not demonstrating good deeds, your faith is dead.

But people have adopted this notion, I don't have to preach to people, I don't have to declare the gospel to people, or at least, that's not a high thing on the ladder of importance.

Really, what I need to do is just be a good person and a good neighbor, so eventually these folks will come to Christ because they want to visit my church and so on.

Your activity is not the power of God unto salvation, it's the gospel.

Am I right? Right. And along those lines, you've heard the statement often attributed to St.

Francis of Assisi, preach the gospel and use words if necessary. I hate that quote.

This is nonsense, right? The gospel must be proclaimed verbally.

I mean, there are good pagans who do good things, good deeds, right?

There are pagans that surpass us in their good deeds. Yeah, right, exactly. Right, and so it must be both our manner of living, but also we must share verbally the good news of the gospel.

That must be done. Now, I would say that not every believer is equally gifted with the facility of language to explain the whole gospel, but you can easily say, my pastor could explain this all to you very well, and you lead your friend to talk to your pastor, or another friend who does have facility.

And in fact, that's a good reminder for our listeners to get a hold of as many copies of Ultimate Truth by John Blanchard to pass out, because it's a perfect summary of the most important things that people need to believe.

Yeah, and we do need to, I think, especially,

Chris, you know, in our day where the Christian religion has become, I'll coin an expression,

I don't think anybody else has used it, and if it's silly, it can be forgotten, but hyper -privatization.

In other words, and you know politically that the last election cycle, four years ago, there was discussion about freedom of religion, and it had been turned into freedom of worship, which meant that you can believe whatever you want, as long as it's locked inside the four walls of your house, or the four walls of your church.

And of course, the Constitution talks about freedom of religion, which includes all of life, both public worship and private practice.

In fact, when I was a resident at the aforementioned Hebron Colony Ministry, when

I tragically and shamefully backslid into alcohol addiction, actually it was before that,

I'm sorry, it was before I went to Hebron, I was in a major hospital on Long Island that had a drug and alcohol rehab wing, and I went there to wait for an open bed at Hebron Colony Ministries.

This was a secular drug and alcohol program that was based on the

Twelve Steps, and by requirement, I had to go to group therapy with a secular psychologist, and she was talking about how you can put your faith in a higher power, and it could be anything that you want it to be, and I said to her, well,

I just have to speak up here, I'm a Christian, and that is utter blasphemy to say that you could do that.

And she said, well, you know, I understand that you may have your cherished

Christian beliefs that you hold dear, but why can't you just keep them to yourself? Why do you have to bring them up everywhere, like in a setting like this?

And I said, my forefathers in the faith, which would include not only men, but women and children, many of them were tortured and executed because they wouldn't shut their mouths over the gospel.

I'm not going to do that just because it makes you feel more uncomfortable. Yeah, so yes, you know, when we speak up, people might be mailing copies of How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie's little book there.

But I have to go to our final break right now, and you can pick up where we left off when we return. This is our final break, and if you have a question, send it in immediately, because we're rapidly running out of time.

Chris Arnson at gmail .com. Chris Arnson at gmail .com. Chris Arnson, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio here.

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This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our

Sovereign Lord God Savior and King Jesus Christ today and always.

Welcome back and Dr. Waddington, we only have a few minutes left so perhaps you should summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners regarding the passages that we've addressed.

In fact, I realized that we went further in our first episode on Romans than we both initially thought because some of those verses we had you exegete today were also a part of our first broadcast, so we did some overlap, but I think you brought out some new insights that we didn't have in the first program, but if you could.

Sure, just basically in verse 17, and as you know, Chris, 16 and 17 are at the heart of the

Protestant Reformation. They're part of the breakthrough or the insight that Martin Luther had.

He says in verse 17, Paul does, For it is the righteousness that is in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is in the righteous shall live by faith, and that's a citation of Habakkuk chapter two.

The righteousness of God, what does that mean? There are,

I think, three possible meanings of that expression, and of course the one is it's

God's inherent righteousness as character. The second would be his righteous deeds in history, and then the third would be his gift of righteousness, and it is

Luther's rediscovery of what Paul is teaching here, that the righteousness of God that is revealed in the gospel is the gift of the righteousness of God as revealed in the life and death and resurrection of the

Lord Jesus Christ, and belief in the Christ of that gospel that enables us to be just in the sight of God, that is to be forgiven all our sins and also to be provided with the righteousness that God requires in terms of obeying his law.

That is what I would want people to go away with, that is the nub of the issue, and that is what the

Confirmation was a contention about, and it wasn't a tempest in a teapot, it was a battle over what is the gospel.

In Galatians, Paul anathematizes, curses those who preach another gospel.

Remember what he says, if an angel comes and preaches another gospel, or even I come and preach another gospel in the gospel that I have proclaimed to you, then let him be anathema.

This is how important understanding this is, that in the gospel we are not given a new law.

There is an expression that sends shivers down my spine is for the New Testament to be called a new law.

It is a gospel, it is a provision of righteousness that is not our own.

It is a provision of what Martin Luther called an alien righteousness. It is a righteousness that belongs to the

Lord Jesus Christ as the obedient servant of the Father, and that righteousness is shared with all those who trust in him and therefore are united to him by faith.

That is the gospel, that is the gospel that Paul is not ashamed of, that is the gospel that is the power of God.

So the gospel must be shared from the pulpit, from the pew, in church, outside of church.

That way people hear the gospel, and the gospel is not just what Jesus has done for you.

As important as that is, and good as that is, the gospel is what Jesus has done. That is the gospel.

And if you never get around to that, then you haven't shared the gospel. You may have done something really nice, you may have done something that is some humanitarian deed, but you have not shared the gospel.

Period. That's right. There are many people who far surpass us in humanitarian deeds that will be in hell, because they neither believe in nor do they share the gospel.

There are people clothing and feeding the poor in many inner cities that leave or allow those folks, those poor folks, to leave with full bellies, but who are still headed for hell, because they've never heard the gospel proclaimed at these places that are otherwise doing very wonderful things.

But I want to make sure our listeners have all of the information they need to contact you.

They may have heard something that they want some clarification on. First of all, the website for Faith Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania is faithopc .net,

faithopc .net. Don't forget about the Reformed Forum that has a podcast and many other things that they do, including conferences and so on, reformedforum .org,

reformedforum .org. That's where our guest, Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington, serves as vice president of the

Board of Directors. And also, let's not forget about the Confessional Presbyterian Journal, which is also...

It's cpjournal .com, I think, or .org. Yes, that is a fine publication for which our guest serves as the articles editor.

And that website, again, is... No, it's not .org. It's cpjournal .com, cpjournal .com.

And I want to thank you again, Dr. Waddington. I want to let our listeners know that he will be returning to continue his series on Romans, God willing, just in a couple of weeks on on Thursday, the 24th of September.

Yeah, looking forward to that. Yeah, me too. And I hope that everybody has a safe and blessed weekend.

I hope that you all have a Christ -honoring and God -honoring and joyous Lord's Day.

And I look forward to you folks returning to the program this coming

Monday, again, when we have our first -time guest, Gordon Runyon, on the program to discuss

Resistance to Tyrants, Romans 13, and the Christian Duty to Oppose Wicked Rulers.

And I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far, far greater