Categories
romans study

The Book of Romans Part 8 (3:1-9) Crime and Poetry

This portion in Paul's argument is coming to its pinnacle. Paul has
deftly drawn the reader into the court-room where God is the wronged
party and His defense is being offered. Paul started the argument by
highlighting the point that God is righteous in that He judges.

Not missing the beat, Paul quickly illustrated how
God judges the guilty heathen?no mention of hidden counsels or any such
thing of the sort, but guilty men willfully against God, suppressing
His words and finally embracing their sin, exhorting those who do the
same.

Lest the moralist listener "tut-tut's" these wicked heathens, taking a stand
on the side of God by judging those horrid sinners, Paul makes sure to
point out that they are just as guilty. That by standing on God's side
and judging the sin about them (and not the sin in their own hearts),
they effectively store up wrath for themselves for a future day. These
moralists can be found in the Jews who were given the Law but by their
repeated sin, the Gentiles blaspheme the very name of God.

Paul now does concede a point, as mentioned in our last
(and so very long ago at that) session. It's not that to be Jewish is
worthless, not at all. It would almost seem that Paul has proved his
point too well by leaving off in the middle of this thought-flow with
such an idea that Circumcision is actually of the heart (if we read it
as such, although we've already discussed what Paul was referring to).

Categories
romans sin study

The Book of Romans Part7 (2:16-3:1) The Jews Treachery

We left off
seeing the thought flow of this first major theme, namely that the
grossest-sinner-and-unbeliever is in the same exact boat as the
moral-and-upright-unbeliever. This category of moralist includes, of
course, the Jew (as aforementioned). The Jew stood on the side of God
judging the sins of the people around him, clamoring at the evil found
therein.

This Jew found comfort, Paul would point out, on the fact of the Law
and the special relationship the Jew had with God (v17). The moralistic
Jew would boast in this relationship and in the knowledge of God’s will
regarding morality because the Jew received instruction from the very
Law itself.

Categories
romans study

The Book of Romans Part 6 (2:1-16) Being a Good Person

Although the person Paul is addressing has changed,
the argument is still continuing underneath the same thought flow. The
thought-flow being how God is found just, in this particular case, by
the fact that He judges. God’s righteousness, it said in chapter one
was seen in the fact that He judges all unrighteousness.

In the previous chapter, Paul showed God’s progressive judgment of men
who suppress the knowledge of God within them, ultimately reveling in
their own darkness and rejecting the light. This sink into depravity
was so bad, that ultimately these unbelievers would uphold and admire
those who did these wicked things and taught others to do the same.
Mind you, this depraved man is not so bad that he can’t do “good” as if
he’s incapable of it. This depraved man knows that he can do “good” but
won’t! This depraved man is guilty, not because of something outside of
himself but out of his own choosing.

Categories
romans study

The Book of Romans Part 5 (1:18-32) Progression of Rejection

We broach today’s subject with our continued reliance on the Lord for guidance and wisdom in our studies.

This portion may very likely be one of the most powerful passages in
scripture delineating the wrath of God and also often misused. It has
been used to show how God hates homosexuality and also used to support
that men can be saved by looking at creation. I’ve seen this portion
used for teaching that the only way to preach the gospel is to start
with creation. It has been used to illustrate the pre-flood conditions
(and subsequently limited to that time period) and a few times I have
seen it used to support homosexual relationships.

I am not supporting these views, simply mentioning them in a
tuning-fork format. Perhaps you have heard the hum of today’s passage
in one of the tone’s mentioned in the previous paragraph. Yet, an
interesting feature about each of these arguments is that they
sometimes focus so wholeheartedly on the point they’re trying to make
that they ignore what the passage is actually saying.

Categories
romans

The Book of Romans Part 4 (1:8 – 17): Living by Faith

Continuing
our topic at hand we will see three things in particular today: 1)
Edifying each other in the church; 2) What does it mean to not be
ashamed of the gospel of God; and 3) What does it mean when Paul writes
that "The just shall live by faith"?

Still in Paul’s introduction, we start to see the basis for his
letter and yet also the great care he takes in executing the letter to
the Roman believers. We’ll see this great care repeated in the final
chapter, but for now we see the amount of praise and love he has for
the Roman brethren in that their faith is being proclaimed (1:8)
throughout the whole world. Indeed, the fire of the gospel, which was
sparked in Jerusalem , burned outward at such a tremendous rate that
the entire world was set ablaze with the message of good news from God.
Elsewhere Paul mentions that the report of the Roman obedience to the
gospel has reached all ears and this is where he finds great rejoicing
over these brethren?and yet he wrote to them so that they would be wise
in what is good and innocent in what is evil (16:19).