You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Delantis, and welcome to another fun-filled day in the Clearview Today studio. We are here with our host, Dr.
Abadan Shah, who's a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and of course, the host of today's show, Dr. Shah. Welcome, my friend. Welcome, welcome. I like that shirt.
It's a Tickner shirt. Tickner shirt, it is very nice. And got the crosses. Yes. It's very nice.
I like it. This is a Robert Graham shirt. And what I like about Robert Graham shirts, and I have no idea what their faith is, but on the You'll find it inside this area. Three words. Can you all read those three words?
From here, I see, I see truth at the end. Oh, Ehro. Knowledge, wisdom, truth. Yeah, I like that.
So, I don't know what their purpose is in writing that, but I love those shirts because, of course, the shirts look and feel good. Yeah. But they have these three words in all of their shirts. All the shirts have the same three. Same three.
Knowledge, wisdom, truth. I like that. I mean, he's putting his values on the show. I like that. Yeah, so this is Robert Graham shirts, but you find them at Tickner's.
Yeah, yeah. And we go to the Tickner's in Raleigh at Crabtree Mall, but there's another one at South Point as well. Top one people. I didn't know that. Yeah, there's there.
And I mean. Claude Uh, s you know. Buying clothes for men i is is Kind of like, you know, just go in there, just get what you want, let's get out. And I did that for years until I. Came across Tickner's.
So I'm with you. I think that I had that attitude for a long time, and it was your daughter, your oldest daughter. Who kind of got me out of that? Because there was one time where I think you had encouraged me to go buy something. And it was like a shirt or like a nice jacket, like a sports coat.
And I wore it, and she was like, hey. That looks really nice. And I was like, oh, you think so? She was like, yeah, you should buy more stuff like that. And I was like, that's all it is.
I remember I went through that year. I went through my wardrobe and just upgraded my wardrobe. And I think men are like that, where it's like, I'm going to really overhaul my wardrobe and then I probably won't do it again for another five, 10 years. But it feels real good when you actually do it. Here, going here, I went, I was looking to make some changes in how I wore my clothes.
And I mean, I had clothes like 10 years old, 15 years old at the time. And so walked by Tickner's many times. Just felt like, I don't know, is it for me? I don't know. And then one day I just walked in there and man, those guys are like Long lost friends.
Yeah, they treat you good. Yeah, they're very good at what they do. They treat you real good. They treat you very nicely. They make the clothes buying experience painless and just easy, and they take good care of you.
This episode is not sponsored by Tickner's. That doesn't mean that it can't be in the future. It can be. But we would definitely recommend it.
So for your. Other daughter's wedding, we went through Tickner's. We went to get both we went through tickner's. I remember I remember doing it for through Abigail's. Yeah, I think you're right.
Yeah, both times.
So I. The first uh, that was actually the first time I'd ever gone in there and I was getting fitted for the suit. And uh, one of the guys, I don't know if we should say his name or not, but one of the guys, he was like, All right, he's like, I'm gonna go ahead and get you fitted. And he was like, He was like, Oh, You work out, don't you? I was like, I just started working out.
He's like, Yeah. Yeah, he work out this dude strong. This dude's strong, like patting me all over. Like, yes, this dude's strong. He was like, Hey, hey, Vinny, hey, this guy's strong.
I was like, part of me was embarrassed, but part of me was like, I think you like this guy. Yeah, that complimented me. You know exactly what I'm talking about. He was a good guy.
Well, they're all super, super people. That's right. That's right. Hey, quick update before we go on with the show. We do want to remind you that Dr.
Shaw's new book, 30 Days of Seeing Christ in Judges, is coming out sometime this fall. We're going to let you guys know exactly when that date is, but we want you to go ahead and start getting excited about it. Start talking about it. We're going to release the artwork very soon so we can be sharing it on social media. But it will be the fourth in our 30 Days devotional series.
That's right. Very excited about that. Every one of these devotional series installments has been, it's impacted people, it's met people where they were at that season in life. And this one will be no different. It's going to be an exciting journey through the book of Judges.
That's right. Absolutely. What's very important is. That in this series, kind of like a sub-series under the 30 days, we're focusing just on the Old Testament. Yes.
Right. And in this sub-series, and every one of them, the goal is to see Christ in that book. That's right. So, Judges is just the beginning. I mean just keep Waiting, we'll have Exodus.
We're going to have the minor prophets, Psalms, Proverbs. Psalms will be a good one. Proverbs is like a no-brainer, but Psalms, we might have to do two or three versions, two or three volumes. Oh, easily. I would say more, but yeah.
That's awesome. Very cool. Our verse of the day today is coming to us from Romans chapter 12, verse 9. Let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. Oh, it's obvious I do that, Dr.
Shah. I mean, like, everybody else in the world is a hypocrite except for me. And I think, just as the only non-hypocrite on the planet, you know, I think it really gives me this level of insight and wisdom. You know, it's funny because we say that let love be without hypocrisy, and it sounds so easy. It sounds like, yeah, of course, yeah, I'm not a hypocrite.
Everybody else is a hypocrite, but not me. Right. And then you start to realize, like, man, the more I read the book of Romans, the more I feel like Paul was looking through time and writing it just to me. Yeah. If you think that your love is pure, undefiled, Then you really are delusional.
You're lying. You're not being honest with yourselves. None of us in this world, none of us. Can truly love others. Without hypocrisy.
That's right. That's right. Our love is twisted. It's tainted by our sinful nature. There's no way we can accomplish a love that is not selfish on some level.
And somebody may then say, well, then why did God call you to love people if he knew that your love was going to be hypocritical? Correct. You do not love people. Out of your own resources, you're using the new resources that have been given to you through Christ to now love people or serve people or give or be gracious or be merciful or be forgiving. All of that is coming not from your own selfish, self-centered, sinful old self.
This is coming from your new life in Christ. You're right. I used to be really ashamed about the fact that I struggled to love people. Like it seemed like it came naturally to everyone else to just care. You should care about others.
And for me, it was always something I had to work on. And once people found that out, I would feel kind of embarrassed about it. Until, like, growing up and maturing and just kind of watching how you lead and watching how people have sort of shown their. I don't know if this is if I'm saying it right, but you know, the older you get, the more you learn, people. That what a lot of Christians call love is really just.
Emotion. It's really just pity. I feel bad for this person, so I'm going to speak to them and comfort them and be a... Uh shoulder to cry on for their bleeding heart. And that's love.
And I always felt like since I don't have that, and since I don't feel that, I'm a bad Christian. And it's only been these past couple of years that I've started to, in fact, it was really when you said some of the things that you said from the pulpit, like some of these things that you struggle with, you might struggle with your whole life. I've sort of been reconciling that and saying, you know what, maybe this is a journey that God is going to keep me on for life. And that's okay. Right.
You know what I mean? Because life should be lived depending on God. That's right. Christian life was never one and done. That you come to Jesus, get saved.
Now do the best you can to live in this world for Jesus. No. It's coming to Jesus, being saved. Of course, your sins are forgiven. You're on your way to heaven.
But now, in this life, your life now belongs to Christ. He begins to. not just empower you, but indwell you. And He begins to live through you as you submit to Him. Instead of doing things your way, your selfish way, your old way, your old habits, you submit to Christ and say, How do you want to live?
What do you want me to do? How do you want me to do to react in this situation. And so his life is coming through you. As the Holy Spirit Makes it possible. I think we talked about this on another episode recently.
It might have been yesterday's episode about living with a healthy understanding of being indebted, being indebted to others around you, being indebted to those who are alongside you, but ultimately being indebted to Jesus, to Christ, and what He's done for us. And when we understand that, it makes sense to say, It's not about how I want to live. My life is yours, Jesus. You paid the price for it on the cross, so it belongs to you. How do you want to live?
How do you want to live through me? That makes so much more sense when you think about it that way. Submission, or a better word, is consecration, being consecrated to you. Submission is just like, I give up, I give, you know, I lay down. Consecration is like, this is now dedicated to you.
This is something holy. Consecration involves a sense of. Sanctified surrender that this is something very special and holy. Not just like, okay, I'm dead now. You just got up.
Good. I am dead. I'm lying on the ground flat. Good. That's not it.
Because even enemies can submit. An enemy, you can be like conquered and subjugated, and they'll submit and say, Okay, I give up, you won. But they can resent you the whole time. Exactly.
So that's not the Christian life. Yeah, they'll resent you. They'll plot against you. They'll lie and wait until you fall. But it takes a changed heart, just like you were talking about, to consecrate.
That's really cool. I hadn't thought about the difference between those two before. You know, talking about the book of Romans, we've been in Romans for a long time and we sort of took a break. From Roell, we didn't really take a break, but we went kind of. Jumping around Romans a little bit, but here in verse in chapter 12, where Paul is saying this: you know, let love be without hypocrisy.
Was that something that the Roman church was dealing with? Like the church in Rome? Absolutely. You've heard me say this many, many times while we've been talking about the book of Romans: that the church in Rome was divided, divided between Gentile background, Jewish background, believers, who were really. Having Issues regarding the law.
Does the law still apply?
So you had these two groups in the church, and how do you know that?
Sort of by reading the last few chapters of the book of Romans and then using them as a grid to understand the first few chapters of the book of Romans. What you find is that there are two groups in the church: one is known as the strong. and the other is the weak.
Now, who are the strong? The strong are those who say, We can handle it. We are free To Take part in eating meat or drinking wine or whatever, we can do those things. Weak are those Okay, uh, who say, No, we have certain limits. We cannot do this.
We cannot like, oh, I can't handle it. No, it's more of a there, the law is still applicable that we have certain boundaries. By which we live.
So, strong would say the law does not apply anymore. Weak would say, no, we still need to live by these tenants. The weak will go a little step further and say that this is a must.
Okay. This is a must that you have to do. Strong are like, hey, we're led by our conscience, and our conscience is submitted to the Holy Spirit. We are fine. Mm-hmm.
We can do those things. And the weak are those who are saying, no, conscience or no conscience. We're going to keep these boundaries whether we feel it or not, whether we are free or not. Is there an implication in the text or just in the larger. Theological conversation is the implication that the strong is that's what you want to be, weak is bad, don't be like them.
No, it does not say that at all. Gotcha. It simply says the strong should bear with the weak. Those who feel like I am free to do this in Christ, all those things have been abolished. Should bear with those who say, No, they're not, and they are for our good.
Where is the answer? Of course, right there. We're no longer under the law, but the principles still apply. The principles are not gone.
So you know, I don't want to re-preach some of those earlier messages.
So We don't keep the law in the sense of when I wear this cloth this this shirt, is it like mixed between polyester and cotton? Oh, well then I can't wear it. No. I understand the principle. The principle is.
We cannot mix with the world. We need to make sure that you cannot copy the world's values. and still claim to be a Christian, so you have to decide.
So I'm keeping the principle, but I can wear a shirt that is a mix between cotton and polyester or whatever. Right, right, right. That makes sense. And in seeing the law in its proper place and what it truly represents, it's not just like. Follow point A, point B, point C.
There's larger truths that are principles at work. The strong ones were saying We're keeping the principles. The weak ones were saying, no, there are certain boundaries as well. Paul says, just bear with them. Mm-hmm.
Especially if your brother is struggling, bear with them. Um So In this situation what is happening here? Paul is giving them some principles to now Um Apply what they've been learning in the context of Community. And they've been divided. These two groups are being divided.
I'm guessing that Paul is writing Romans to bring them back together. That's right. Right. Often, you know, what people have done, scholars and pastors, they divide the book of Romans into Romans chapter 1 through 11 and then chapter 12 through 16. And we say, no, there is no such division.
It's like the lady in our church who would start zipping up the Bible when I would say, in conclusion, or.
So I say all that to say this. She would think, oh, the message is over. And she would very loudly zip her Bible. She had one of those little, those little ones that zipped all the way around, so they zip it three times. Yeah, exactly.
Start putting the pens away. I mean, she would take notes. It was not like she was like, you know, sleeping in the church or just goofing off. No, she would take notes. But then, moment I said, you know, as we go into our time of invitation, zip, zip, zip.
Means I'm good to check out. I'm ready to go. I'm checking out. Did students do that in school when you were a teacher? Like, they know that they see the clock on the wall.
They're like, start putting all their stuff in the bag. My teachers used to hate that. Yeah, oh, yeah, we got in trouble for it. You are not dismissed until I dismiss you. Bill does not dismiss you.
I dismiss you. Don't pack up until I tell you to.
Sometimes people think that starting in Romans 12, Paul is dismissing them. But the bell hasn't rung, you know.
So, let me give you a couple of things that may help those who study the book of Romans or they like to study. you know, deeper than in an average sermon. When you compare Romans chapter twelve with Romans chapter one, you find. A lot of similar words and if not concepts. The first one you find is the Mercy of God.
The idea of the mercy of God is mentioned in Romans chapter 12. But if you look back, you also find it in Romans chapter 1.
So, Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Paul says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
Now very important to remember, what is a mercy? of God. Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve. Right? I don't deserve God's grace.
What is mercy? Not giving us what we do deserve, which is judgment and wrath. Right, right.
So God is showing us mercy. Grace and mercy are sort of cousins, they're related. And yet there's a distinction. Right. Yeah, you're right.
If you go to Romans chapter 1, verse 17, what does it say? It says, for in it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall be. Shall live by faith.
Okay, in it means in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. The whole revelation of the righteousness of God is due to the mercy of God. Mm-hmm. He doesn't have to show us his righteousness. He doesn't have to give us his gospel.
But he did it anyways. That's mercy.
Now, I wish I had time to get into chapter 2, 3, 4, where it also talks about the mercies of God. Ooh. What we're saying here is that. Romans chapter 12. And Romans chapter 1 are still connected.
They're not just.
Okay, now there's invitation. Right, so people will treat 12 through 16 as the invitation time of a sermon, which is like a second-class part of the message. He's just going to give us the application. This is the cleanup. Got you, got you, got you.
Let me give you a couple more words. Can I do that? Yes, please. Here's another word: Romans chapter 12, verse 1: present your bodies, a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God. Bodies.
Mm-hmm. Uh once you are A believer, your physical body. belongs to God. Uh destroy your body. Other places, Paul says, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Talking about sexual immorality, nonetheless, keep your body sacred unto God. Mm-hmm. Well what we find in Romans chapter one and verse twenty four. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. Yeah.
Two related thoughts and chapters apart.
So because those cultures and civilizations who were so advanced and yet they turned away from God, God's wrath came upon them and God gave them over to dishonor their physical bodies among themselves. Of course, we're talking about sexual immorality, but also homosexuality and all of that. Right, right.
But now that you are In Christ you are to present your bodies. To God. Right. There's a purpose for it, and there's a holy purpose for it as well. Yeah.
Here's another one: worship. Romans chapter 12, verse 1. It says, present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God.
Okay, a living sacrifice, that's an act of worship. What we find in Romans chapter 1, verse 25. Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Ah, here we go. There's worship misdirected.
So Paul is intentionally harkening back to the very beginning of his letter, to chapter one. He's doing purpose. Again, one more I'm going to give, but what I'm trying to reiterate is that Romans chapter 12 is not just a mop-up. This is very important what we're going to learn here. Right.
Here's one more. Romans chapter twelve and verse two. and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. What do we find in Romans chapter 1, verse 28? And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind.
Ah, so your mind needs to be renewed. But earlier, we find that your mind has become debased.
So I guess my question is, what is the goal? What is the gain of saying that Romans is broken into two halves? Because Paul would not have written it in chapters, right? He would not have written. He would have written it as if it was one letter.
Yeah, I mean, you're going back to Bishop Langston or Langton, who was Archbishop of Canterbury back in the 13th century, who divided the Bible into chapters.
Okay. So he did that, but scholars will say that Paul intended that. Like biblical scholars will say that Paul wanted that to happen for some reason. Yeah, and that's a mistake. Right.
And I don't think those biblical scholars are necessarily saying that Stephen Langton was right about the chapter divisions, but they're simply saying that in this, first you have the doctrine, then you have the ethics. This is the ethic. Portion, ethics portion of the letter. But the unintended side effect of that is people will tune that out. Or they will think that this is just an extra added-on.
It's not as critical. It does not follow the reason, the logic of the book of Romans. Got it. But here's what's really happening. Here's why we Connected Romans chapter 12 with Romans chapter 1 with all these different words and concepts.
Is that now that you are saved? And as you begin to grow in your Christian life, God begins to reverse the repercussions and the consequences of sin and death in your lives. Mm-hmm. And that is especially so true in the context of relationships.
Now that you are a believer, all that garbage from Romans chapter 1 is being reversed in your life. Especially In the context of relationships and what's happening in the church in Rome. Relationships have broken down.
So he's using chapter 12 as that reversal. As that reversal to say, here's all this stuff that I pointed out to you. You're going through this right now in the church in Rome.
Now, let's reverse that in chapter 12 and see how it's actually supposed to be. You know, what's very interesting is in chapter 12, there are 40 commandments. Wow. 40 commandments. Paul takes that time to go back and circle through the things that he's been talking about, this foundation that he's laid of doctrine after doctrine of these theological principles.
And he says, now here's how you carry that out. Here's how you do this. And 40 different distinct commandments just in Romans chapter 12. Wow. Which means that Christianity is not automatic.
Just because you know a lot of doctrine does not mean your behavior is necessarily going to change. That's a great point. Christianity is not automatic. Yeah. Just because you know it doesn't mean you're actually living it.
Well, that's what people do. I think people do think that. I think Christians think that once you get saved, you live your life, you do the best you can.
Well, what do we say? Yeah, I believe in Jesus. Yeah, and the Holy Spirit's just going to do it for me. And I get what people mean because the Holy Spirit works in your life, but it's not that he's the one that's, it's not like he's going to do it and I just chill out and just let him. You're not passing.
Right. Yeah. David asks, you know, is doctrine the foundation of ethics? Yes, it is, but ethics is no less. Ethics, I would say, is an extension of doctrine, not necessarily a subsetiary.
Yeah, it's an extension.
So it it is going into it, not necessarily like Now, here are some bullet points. We're quick to put hierarchies on things that don't require a hierarchy. You know what I mean? Like, I think about Jesus saying: without the Father, I'm nothing.
Okay, but that doesn't mean that Jesus is lesser than the Father. You know what I mean? Like Him being subordinate or Him being, you know, obeying the Father does not mean that they're any less in value. And I don't know why human beings are that way, but we're so quick to say, All right, what's really important? Like, my time is so valuable.
Let me just give me the important stuff. All the rest of it, I'll figure that out later. Right, and that's just not the case.
So let's begin to look at it. In Romans chapter 12 and verse 3, since we already covered Romans chapter 12 and verses 1 and 2, verse 3, he says, For I say, again, keep in mind, this is in the context of community. This is in the context of reconciliation between the strong and the weak, between the Gentile background and Jewish background. Again, somebody may ask, are you telling me that the strong were Gentile background only? And the weak were Jewish background?
Not necessarily. A very interesting thing that in it's kind of Ironic to even mention this is that sometimes in the early church what we find is, again, but it's not a clear-cut evidence, but what we can deduce is, is that Sometimes Gentile background people were resorting to the law. Do you think they were trying to ingratiate themselves into the culture of the Jewish people? Yeah, they felt like, isn't this the right order? Don't we have to become this and be circumcised?
That's why the Judaizers were becoming so successful in Galatia. Because they were being like leaning toward that line of reason. Yeah, so I guess we need to. And. Many of the Jewish people were not necessarily going back to the law.
They were like, we're free. Mm-hmm. So don't immediately think that the strong were the Gentiles and the weak were the Jewish.
Some of them were actually Gentiles who were the weak going back to the law.
Some of them were actually Jewish background who were the strong, who said, Hey, we're done. We know we're done. I mean, where would you put Paul? Yeah. Paul himself says, It's true.
I'm no longer under the law, yet for your sake, I am doing these things so that I can win some of you. That's right. I can imagine how hard that would have been. I mean, maybe not hard, but how unpopular that would have made Paul among a lot of those Jewish leaders. Yeah, absolutely.
So now listen to what it says here in Romans chapter 12 and verse 3: For I say, through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly. than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. I love that word there, to think soberly. You know what I mean? He doesn't say, hey, don't think highly of yourself, think low of yourself, treat yourself terrible.
No, he's like, no, just be like, there's no false humility here. That's right. No, oh, forgive me for living, because that's fake. All you gotta do is. You know, go to them and the real self comes out.
That's right. Yep, absolutely. It's just pride in a different flavor. Yeah, that's a good way to say that.
So. Think of yourself the way you're supposed to. And that's very important in the context of family. You know, I said that in the message, and I say that to people. and to myself, That You know, think about yourself coming home.
At your workplace you are A big boss. You have 300 people at your beckon call. Um you say Jump and they ask you how high. You may be Uh let's say In the law enforcement world. Where you are a person of authority, or in the military world, where you bark a command and people do, and if they don't, there are consequences.
Or you are a pastor where people look to you for great wisdom and counsel. But when you come home In the context of home, especially if your home is going through a turmoil, you are not the big boss man. You are not the boss. The the the chief Or the You know, the lieutenant, you're not the senior pastor or. The student pastor.
You're simply. Dad. Mm-hmm. Okay. And you're simply mom.
You don't have, you should not think of yourself too highly. In the family context. Yeah. Sometimes people do that and there are bad consequences. I had a lady stop me after church Sunday morning.
And she said, Just won't let you know what you said about When you come home to leave that behind you, and she started crying. She said, I I just wish. I had known that before because that is The source of so many problems. Yeah. So many problems.
That's a good point. How often, when people come to see you because of some strife or turmoil in the family, it's because they've gotten this wrong. Oh, a lot, a lot, because we don't know how to turn it off. There's a balance that is there where you do still expect them to. To strive for excellence or to be obedient.
And you don't have to have an answer to every question, you just need to do it. There's a place for that. And then there's a place for, well, I don't need to treat them like I am their boss, or they are my church family or church members. And in the context of church family, that can also apply. Because if your church family is having struggles, Um is because someone is trying to be What they are out in the world, they're trying to be in church.
That's right. And it is making others Frustrated? feeling lowly. feeling hurt. Feeling insulted?
And Maybe even feeling unneeded. I think you're right. And that's not a good thing. Relationships, and we're going to continue this conversation on tomorrow's episode with how to begin that process of reconciliation and what that looks like. If you enjoyed today's episode or was beneficial to you, write in and let us know.
We love hearing from you guys 252-582-5028. Thanks to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes if you want to re-listen. And you can always support us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash give. John, what do you want to leave listeners with tonight?
We definitely want you guys to follow Dr. Shaw on Prey.com. We are really, really, really inching our way towards 50,000. We're going to pass it in the next couple of days. I want you guys to be part of it.
We're going to have a special. Celebration episode when we hit 50,000. But until then, if you're listening on Prey, go ahead and give Dr. Shah a follow, Dr. Avadan Shah on Prey.com.
That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow and clear you today.
