Romans 1:1-17
Dear RTB’ers,
I’m back!! Thank you, John, for covering for me these past three weeks during Carol’s and my transition to Slovakia. I loved reading your comments; I could have and should have commented on a number of occasions, but as is common among us, I failed to do so. Also, by way of confession to you all, I did fall behind a number of times during these three weeks. I’m used to being up-to-date every day, but it happens… But now I’m caught up and pushing ahead!!
Welcome to Romans! The first/lead epistle in all of our Christian bibles, probably the epistle more often referenced by scholars and preachers than any other. Commentators suggest that Paul wrote Romans from Corinth during his third missionary journey (Acts 20:2-3). He had never been to Rome and wanted to go there (Rom. 1:10); he finally got his wish, arriving as a prisoner. (See Acts 28, which we read a few months back.)
I have mentioned before that Paul often writes long, wordy sentences, sprinkled generously with adjectival and adverbial phrases and parenthetical expressions. Today’s introductory sentence, the first !!seven verses!! beats them all! But when we get beyond that sentence (and the theology contained therein), we begin to get to the meat of his letter. Today’s reading can be succinctly summarized: I am under obligation … to preach the gospel… (vv. 14-15a) That’s where Paul is headed the next sixteen chapters.
Paul follows up his stated purpose with a personal proclamation: 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. (v. 16) I’m sure many of you have heard of Josh McDowell, a Christian author (Evidence That Demands a Verdict; More Than a Carpenter, etc.) and popular speaker. Years ago (1976, I believe), in my early born-again years I had the pleasure of serving as his driver when he visited the University of Illinois campus. Back then very few students had cars, but I was older and lived off campus, so it fell very nicely to me to chauffer him. I got to know him better than most and bought ETDAV and asked him to sign it. His signature was “Josh McDowell, Romans 1:16”. I remember that every time I read this verse! Sweet!
So, we continue with Romans for the next four weeks. Enjoy!
Welcome back!
“Encouraged by each other’s faith”. What a wonderful blessing it is to be brought to St. Andrew’s to be encouraged by all y’all.
Speaking of blessings, I’ve got a word for yesterday’s reading; Charly. God gives me life better than I deserve every day.
Hm. Guess I’m feeling blessed today. Hope y’all are feeling it too.