We’re considering God’s righteousness and seeing how it works with mercy specifically in the case of the Jews. Thus far Paul impressed on us his sorrow that the Jews are not presently believers of the revealed Christ. Paul has been showing us how important a people they truly are and has taken us through history showing how and why God’s Word of Promise was established. We saw how they were kept from Edom’s fate only by God’s mercy.
Category: romans
The Voice completely changed Noah’s life. One moment he’s heading to market the next God is telling him that everything is about to die.
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XVIII. Romans: Back Down to Ground Level
Big deal, right? I’ve just illustrated the comparisons and
contrasts in the different movements in the book of Romans—what’s the big deal.
I mean, sure it all winds up proving (somewhat) interesting and I had some pretty
architectural illustration as well as a pic of Beethoven’s ninth—but what does
it matter? Rey, are you saying the verses in Romans have no value when they’re on their own?
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XVII. Romans: A Peek at Mirkwood
Let’s take a lesson from Mr. Bilbo Baggins when his company
was wandering around old Mirkwood. That little hobbit screwed up his courage
and scrambled up one of those dark trees to have a look about—seeing where they
were, where they had come from and hopefully where they were going. Trudging
along the path, the party might’ve lost focus of the point of the trip just the
fact that they were getting nowhere fast. So, at this point in our study, it
would perhaps be beneficial to take a look at where we are in the book of
Romans and simultaneously study some similarities in the lay of the land and
some differences. Perhaps we might even find out where we’re going.
In this portion I will keep using the Hebrew names for continuity.
We get to a verse now that is largely taken out of context. I don’t know if you’ve heard it but it goes something like “A person who doesn’t believe God can’t personally believe God and can’t even please God because they are in the flesh. They are carnal and the carnal mind is hostile toward God for it does not subject itself to the Law of God (Rom 8:8).” Thing is, Sha’ul is still defending God’s righteousness in the believer’s mind and is currently dealing with the death wrought by sin through the power of the Law versus the newness of life found in the Spirit. The carnality spoken of here is still in context of that which is wrought through the law, which pertains to the flesh.