Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 15-16.

Today’s passage begins with Paul’s conclusion to what he wrote in chapter fourteen.  Those who are strong in faith ought to bear with the failings of the weak in order to please the weak and thus build them up.  As we do so we should seek to imitate the way in which Christ did so.  I always struggle with explaining my understanding of this, but there is a story about my father from my childhood which sums it up.  I grew up in the Mennonite Church.  When I was very little, the Mennonite Church taught that men should wear a “plain coat” rather than a more standard suit.  While I was still little it moved away from that teaching, but many men continued to wear a plain suit.  My father was one of the last in our part of the Mennonite Church to stop doing so.  When asked by one of my siblings why he still wore it, he explained to us that as long as there were men in the local church (and for him that was somewhat broader than just our congregation) who felt that it would be a sin to not wear the plain suit, he would continue to wear it so as to not encourage them to do that which they thought was wrong.

Now, I have written the above and one could easily see it as obligating us to keep silent when others teach objectionable things.  However, in Paul’s conclusion to his letter, he tells us that we should keep way from those who cause divisions and teach things contrary to the teaching we have learned.  Paul writes that the people he is warning us against use smooth talk and flattery in order to deceive naive people.  Throughout my life I have seen those who take advantage of Paul’s teaching about maintaining unity in the Church in order to undermine his teachings about human sexuality and holding our fellow believers accountable.  And not just Paul’s teaching, but Christ’s (as recounted in the Gospels) and other New Testament writers.  So, combining the two, we should not seek to convince people to do that which they think is a sin, and we should keep away from those who seek to convince us to do that which we believe it is a sin for us to do.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 11-14.

My title for today’s blog highlights what strikes me as a needed reminder for Christians today and I will discuss its implications.  But first there are a few other important points I want to touch on.  Chapter eleven explains why one cannot be a faithful follower of Jesus while harboring hate against the Jewish people.  In fact, we should pray that they come to salvation and, in the meantime, lovingly engage with them.  Paul tells us that we have been blessed because of their rejection of Christ, but that we will be doubly blessed when they turn to Him.  In chapter twelve Paul tells us not to conform to the patterns of this world.  We must strive to avoid allowing the world around us to shape the way we think about people and issues.  We must not allow the world around us to shape our thinking.  Instead we should seek the transformation of our minds which the Holy Spirit is constantly implementing.  We can recognize the transformation inspired by the Holy Spirit by the way it encourages us to humbly value others above our own desires.  This will lead us to resist the efforts of the world to cause us to lump individuals into groups where we stop viewing the worth of the individual, only valuing them as a member of whichever groups they are a part.

Which brings me to what Paul writes in chapter thirteen.  He tells us that we should submit to the governing authorities because they have been established by God, that no one holds the authority of government unless God gave it to them.  Ultimately those who wield the levers of power do so only because God has chosen for them to do so.  Despite the fact that some leaders are chosen by the election of the people and some leaders are chosen by military might, all of them serve at the pleasure and will of God.  So, those who were worried during this recent election that the wrong people would end up governing us, their worries were in vain.  Those who are governing us, and those who will be governing us, have that authority because it was given to them by God.

I am not going to write about chapter fourteen, but I humbly ask that you read it for yourself and think about what it means for you.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 8-10.

I do not fully comprehend the message which Paul has for us in today’s passage.  As I have said previously, Paul is trying to communicate the truths about an infinite God to people with finite minds, and Paul himself had a finite mind.  However, there is one point about which I am sure.  I have no basis to claim to be better than anyone else.  I was not saved because of anything I have done.  I have been reconciled to God because of His mercy, not because of my desire or effort.  My action can bring me no closer to God, only by God drawing me to Him can I approach Him.  Which brings me to another point which I see in this passage. We, who love the Lord, need to tell others about what He has done for us so that they also might come to know Him.  In today’s passage, Paul writes that God has mercy on who He would have mercy, and hardens those whom He wishes to harden against Him.  Yet he ends today’s passage by telling us that held out His hands to those who were disobedient.  As I said, I have no basis to claim to be better than anyone else, because all that I do with any good to it results from what God has done in and to me.  And if I were to pursue sin and wickedness I would have no basis to claim to be worse than others because there also I would be constrained by what God chose to make of me.

Really, there are two messages in today’s passage.  First, we are saved by God’s mercy and the faith which it inspires within us.  Second, that faith comes from hearing the message, so once we have been brought to God through the faith He gives us by His mercy, we are obligated to preach that message to others so that they too might come to put their faith in Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 4-7.

I really like the first three chapters of Romans, but starting with chapter four I often find it difficult to follow Paul’s logic.  I am not saying that it is not logical, just that the case he is making is convoluted enough that I struggle to follow it.  And for all the difficulty I have following the logic arguments which Paul makes, I am pretty sure I understand the conclusion which his logic is designed to support.  Part of the reason it is so hard to follow the argument which Paul is making here is because we, as humans with finite minds, are trying to wrap our heads around God’s infinite wisdom.  Which brings me to what I want to write about from today’s passage.  At the end of chapter three Paul had made the claim that our righteousness, our reconciliation with God, comes through faith, not through any action of which we may boast.  Here in chapter four he begins to make the case supporting this claim starting with Abraham.  Paul argues that the Old Testament told us that Abraham was considered righteous, not because of anything he had done, but because of his faith.  In the same way, we have righteousness solely because of our faith, not because of anything we have done.  As part of the case he is making, Paul illustrates Abraham’s faith by telling us that Abraham’s faith did not weaken when God made the promise even though he was already almost one hundred years old, and Sarah was already past her childbearing years.  Paul tells us that Abraham’s faith did not weaken and was sufficient to be counted as righteousness, even though Abraham had taken Hagar to his bed in order to have a child with her, despite the fact that God had told him the promise would be fulfilled through a child he would have with Sarah.  And earlier, Abraham had, on two separate occasions, told people that Sarah was his sister because he was afraid that if they knew she was his wife they would kill him in order to take her for their own.  Despite these things, Paul tells us that he did not waver in his faith.  Which puts in perspective what it means to have faith in God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 1-3.

After introducing himself and laying out his desire to visit the believers in Rome, Paul lays out his theology.  I find it interesting that he segues into it from talking about the faith of the believers in Rome.  Paul tells us that the gospel, the good news, is the power of God which brings salvation to everyone who believes.  The gospel reveals the righteousness of God, a righteousness which exists solely through faith.  That leads Paul to write that God’s wrath against wickedness is being revealed.  In particular, God’s anger is directed at those who suppress the truth in order to hide their wickedness.  Paul tells us that they suppress the truth because God has made His eternal power and divine nature plain to be seen and understood from what He made.  When it comes to knowing God we have no excuse.  One thing that struck me as I read this is that while Paul says “they” about those who knew God but chose not to glorify Him as God, he really means all of us, a point he makes later when he references where David in Psalms said that everyone has sinned, that all have turned away from God.  Paul writes that we exchanged the truth about God for a lie and instead of serving and worshiping God we worshiped and served created things.  So, since we did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, which He made plain in His creation, He gave us over to our depraved minds, leading us to do that which ought not be done.  If we condemn others, we judge ourselves because we have made the same mistake.  Just like those who we see wallowing in wickedness, we too rejected knowledge of God, but somehow, through His grace, we have been led to repentance.  We are in position to condemn others because we are just as guilty.  Our salvation results from our faith.  That faith will be credited to us as righteousness, and God will work through that to cause us to good works.  We have nothing to boast about because everything we do of value comes because God reached through our depraved minds and redeemed us.  It is through God’s grace that we gain understanding and learn to love, have mercy, and live with fidelity.  Before God’s grace we were full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice, with God’s grace we learn to love and have mercy, and gain understanding.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.