Romans 6:15-7:6

Dear RTB’ers,

John’s comment on death yesterday stays with us today. There are at least nine references to death and dying in today’s passage. Paul paints a good picture of marriage and life and death. We are bound to our spouses by law as long as they are alive. But if they die, we are no longer bound by that law, but are free to re-marry. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead… (v. 7:4) Continuing, But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (v. 7:6) We who are reading this today are not Jews bound by their old Law. However, we do have our own old thoughts and ways and habits – our old “self”, if you wish. If we have truly died to whatever we were before, that old “self”, we should not still be living in any of those old thoughts, ways and habits. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (vv. 6:22-23) Period. GLORY!

Blessing!

Romans 6:1-14

Dear RTB’ers,

The message that I see in today’s passage is from death to life – Jesus died and rose from the dead; likewise, we who are dead to sin can live a new life: …just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (v. 4b)

Paul makes such a compelling plea for us to live in that newness of life. It’s a simple two-step process: avoid sin and seek God. First, avoid sin: We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (v. 6) So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin… (v. 11a) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. (v. 12) Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness… (v. 13a) Paul is begging us, just avoid sin. But why is that so hard?

Step two – seek God. Period. It’s not that complicated. But it’s also not easy.

Blessings!

Romans 5:12-21

Dear RTB’ers,

Thirteen times we see the word “one” in today’s reading – one man, one who…, one trespass, one act, one man’s sin, one man’s disobedience, one man’s obedience. Always the “one” is referring to either Adam or Jesus or their activities. And those one activities by both men have been passed down to us.

Paul is repeating himself a number of times is today’s passage, but this repetition is for emphasis. Of the many possibilities I was trying to pick out one “summary” verse. (You all might have your own.) I chose: For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (v. 19) Awesome!! And I can’t help but add on another of my favorite Bible passages, …but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more… (v. 20b). Again, awesome!!

Blessings!

Romans 5:1-11

Dear RTB’ers,

Another sentence with faith and grace together: Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand… (v. 2). That pairing is probably much more common than I had realized.

Another oft-quoted verse, regularly used in sharing our faith: …but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (v. 8) Our sins, His death. The prelude to that verse is also strong: For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die… (v. 7). Thinking of one person or a group of people or entire armies dying for a good cause, being here in Europe, reminders of WWII are everywhere. Yesterday one of my Ukrainian students corrected me. Earlier in my lecture I had mentioned the USSR, the former Soviet Union. Then in a later comment about Germany’s “eastern front” in WWII, I noted that “Russia” deserved a lot of the credit for defeating Hitler because of how they withstood him on that “Russian front”. After class this young lady clarified to me that it was the USSR, the Soviet Union, including the Ukrainian SSR, not Russia alone that defeated Germany. I stood corrected. Much of the fighting between the Soviet Union and Germany was on Ukrainian soil. Good Ukrainian men died.

Suffering…(v. 3) More to say on that in a later post.

And so much more in these verses…! C’mon, y’all, weigh in!!

Blessings!

Romans 4:16-25

Dear RTB’ers,

More history and theology today, with Paul (seemingly, to me) repeating his few main points. A different item popped out to me, however – the words “faith” and “grace” in the same sentence: That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring… (v. 16). How common is it that faith and grace appear in the same sentence? Probably the most famous Bible verse where they appear together is Ephesians 2:8a: For  by grace you have been saved through faith. I will leave it to you to look up the rest of that verse, plus Ephesians 2:9 since people typically quote 8 and 9 together. And while you’re at it, give a look to Ephesians 2:10 also, which tends to get ignored when people quote Ephesians 2:8-9. Interesting!

Sorry, folks, nothing earth-shattering today!

Blessings!

Romans 4:1-15

Dear RTB’ers,

Paul makes a strong case that Abraham was found righteous by faith while he was still uncircumcised. That is, Abraham did nothing (works) to earn God’s granting righteousness to him, only that he believed. Then Paul makes the case for Abraham being the father of both the Jews (the circumcised) and the Gentiles (the uncircumcised). One verse says it all: He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. (v. 11) I believe that is the essence of today’s reading.

Blessings!

Romans 3:21-31

Dear RTB’ers,

Summarizing yesterday’s reading (and my post), one of the more oft-quoted verses in all of Scripture, especially in the context of sharing one’s faith: …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… (v. 23, formally known as Romans 3:23), one of the first memory verses for believers in evangelical denominations.

Verse 23 is meant to establish our guilt. Verse 24 then gives us “a way out”: …being justified … through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus… – Jesus is our “way out”, our ONLY “way out”! Essentially Paul lays out the essence of our Christian faith in these two verses: …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus… Paul then adds another thirteen chapters to help us understand what he means in these two verses. We read on!

Blessings!

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See also: December 10 (2023) / Romans 1-4

Romans 3:1-20

Dear RTB’ers,

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. (vv. 10-12) Paul, the universalist? In this case, yes. Everybody, all, the entirety of humanity – you and me included. No, not one. Not even one!!

Except for Jesus…

Blessings!

Romans 2:17-29

Dear RTB’ers,

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter…

Romans 2:28-29a

Paul is talking to Jews in today’s reading, even though most of the people in Rome who will receive this letter are Gentiles. He is comparing Jews and Gentiles, by focusing on what he knows as an educated Jew – well trained as a rabbi before meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus. For me, today’s key verse is 27: Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. The Jews had received from the Lord both the sign (circumcision) and the word (the Law). The Gentiles had nothing except their idols and temples to the Greek and Roman gods. But Paul is saying that these Gentiles (who may even worship strange gods) could put the Jews to shame by their behavior: So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? (v. 26) Not knowing the Law, these Gentile unbelievers keep the spirit of the Law. And in that sense, the Gentiles are better off than the Jews who behave self-righteously. It’s a lesson we all need to keep in mind.

Enjoy!

Romans 2:1-16

Dear RTB’ers,

We pick up today on the heels of yesterday’s last verse, reflecting back to all the evil practices mentioned in Romans 1:28b-31: …although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. (v. 1:32) Our reading begins today with Paul still speaking to that same “audience”, those who “do the same” and “also approve of those who practice them”. These people “have no excuse, … every one of you who judges…” (v. 2:1a). Oops. I need to stop reading. Paul is talking to me! I am one person in that audience!! When I judge someone else, I am condemning myself, because I practice the same things. (v. 2:1b) I stand condemned. Period. But thankfully, that’s not the end of the story. Jesus paid that price to free me from that condemnation. And there will come a day when God will judge the secrets of mankind (v. 16b). Again, thankfully Paul closes that verse with “through Christ Jesus”. Without those last three words, we are all condemned! Thank you, Jesus!!

Enjoy!