Romans 9:14-29

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” (v. 20) I feel like Paul is channeling Job here: Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said, “Now gird up your loins like a man; I will ask you, and you instruct Me. Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified? (Job 40:6-8, NASB) We simply cannot question God! We can ask Him, “Why is this thing happening to me?” But as we ask, we are seeking His will, His wisdom, His guidance; we’re not being rebellious.

In channeling Job, Paul is actually responding to an unasked question: So then He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who can resist His will?” (vv. 18-19) The unasked question has to do with God doing whatever He wishes and the questioner asking how God can find fault in someone if He chooses to do this thing or that thing and we have no say in the matter. And the simple answer is that we respond to whatever God puts in front of us, again fully seeking His will, His wisdom, His guidance. It’s really straightforward and simple – and difficult!!

Slava Bohu!

Romans 9:1-13

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. (vv. 4-5) To the longer listing Paul wrote, at the very end he added that Jesus was also Jewish. Very nice touch. He could easily have added Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel; Moses and Joshua; David; Isaiah; Jeremiah; Daniel; and a host of others, including himself! What a heritage.

Slava Bohu!

Romans 8:31-39

Today – one of my all-time favorite Bible sections! How can it not be one of everyone’s favorite Bible sections??!! Look at some of these questions!

If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? Who is to condemn? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (vv. 31b, 33a, 34a, 35a, respectively)

And look at the ultimate response: For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (vv. 38-39) That’s all, folks. GLORY, GLORY!!

Slava Bohu!

Romans 8:18-30

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (vv. 20-21) I’ve been reading the book, Heaven, by Randy Alcorn. He makes a convincing argument that our “permanent Heaven” will be our very own Earth – restored to its original glory. (Please forgive my interpretation of what I’ve read thus far.) Paul appears to be saying the same thing here, that creation itself will be set free and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. As to the phrase, Him who subjected it, my guess is that Paul is referring to God’s casting Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, thereby effecting His judgment of them upon the whole Earth. See Genesis 3:17-19.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (vv. 26-17) These are comforting verses – that we can pray, not knowing exactly what we are praying about, but God knows through the Holy Spirit within us and around us. I have often wondered if those groanings too deep for words are actually believers speaking in tongues. I’ve also imagined those “groanings” as our own deep longing for the Lord to intervene in some situation, when we don’t know what to pray and our prayer is something like “Oooohhh… Lord, help!”

Verses 28-30 bring up the issue of predestination. I am not at all versed in the arguments around that topic. What I can believe, however, is that God has known us even before He created us and that He has wanted all of us to follow His Son. Thereto He calls us – the question is whether we answer His call. The rest follows – called, justified, glorified! GLORY, according to Scripture!! (v. 30)

Slava Bohu!

Romans 8:1-17

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (vv. 5-6) There is an obvious question here: “What have we set our minds on?” Or, what does it mean to set our minds on things of the flesh? What are some of these “things of the flesh”? A simple short list might include money, belongings, a bigger house, a nicer car? Or non-tangible things like power, success, recognition? But by contrast, what are some of the “things of the Spirit”? Prayer, Bible study, fellowship, service… I’m drawn back to Joshua 24:15b, But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Slava Bohu!

Romans 7:13-25

Paul’s section today hits home for me. His thoughts that I read today sound a lot like addiction – not necessarily alcohol or drug or sex addictions to which (I trust) most of us cannot really relate, but to other common addictions “out there”, like gambling, pornography, computer games – even everyday behaviors like shopping or eating or watching television.

I’ve been attending Freedom Road, our St. Andrew’s 12-Step program, for a couple of years now. I brew beer, I like beer, and I began to wonder if I might be an alcoholic. Over time the people attending Freedom Road with me have agreed that I am not an alcoholic. But I do have something of an addiction – to food, in general, and to sweets in particular. So my “beer problem” is essentially a food problem. I find that I am almost always “hungry”. Not true!! In fact, I am not truly hungry, but I have more of a food habit, and if I’m not really busy with work or leisure of some sort, I’m regularly looking for something to snack on. So my beer problem is really a special case of a more general food problem.

All of which brings me to today’s reading… The behavior that Paul describes fits my and others’ addiction patterns: I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (v. 15b) I am tempted to eat. Occasionally I resist the temptation, but all too often I just let it fly and have another snack. And Paul’s response is exactly my response some time later: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (v. 24) And we know the answer. Paul gives us the answer: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (v. 25) Then why is it still so hard??!!

Slava Bohu!

Romans 7:1-12

I knew when we started Romans that it would be a difficult book. But these shorter readings have certainly helped my (our?) understanding of some of these confusing passages. Still, however, we have a section today that makes me wonder: What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. (vv. 7-8) It’s not hard to simply read these words and understand what Paul is saying. The only confusion for our simple understanding is between “commandment” and “Law”, and I presume Paul is implying that “commandment” is one of the specific mentions in the Law and that “Law” is the comprehensive listing of all that Moses received from God at Mt. Sinai. At least that’s how I read it.

However, it’s confusing to me. Is Paul saying that sin did not exist before the Law? I recall already asking a similar question, thinking of Sodom and Gomorrah, Judah and Tamar, Joseph’s brothers, the Flood, etc. Paul seems to be saying the he did not covet until he learned through the Law that coveting was wrong. But surely he had consciousness before he knew about the Law, that there was some covetousness that was wrong. Maybe his introduction to and knowledge of the Law amplified what was already there? I think I understand his basic point, that the Law pointed us to sin and our need for a Savior: The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. (v. 10) And it’s not hard for me to read through the Ten Commandments and know that I am a sinner who needs His grace to be saved, especially as Jesus expounded on a few of these Commandments in His famous “You have heard it said…” teaching at the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21, ff.). Still, Paul is confusing…!

Slava Bohu!

Romans 6:15-23

Continuing in chapter 6’s “freedom from sin’s tyranny”… The sentence that hit me most was verse 21: But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? Shame is a horrible thing. We talk about it occasionally at Freedom Road, when we dwell back on our past lives – things we have done, nice people we have hurt, misguided motivations, goals and ambitions that were horribly worldly… What were we thinking??!! Our life in Christ is so much better!!

It helps me to remember that many of the people to whom Paul is writing are Roman citizens – and that their past lives could have been very ugly indeed, with cruel slavery, the brutality of the Coliseum “games”, rampant homosexuality, temple prostitution… Yes, shameful things! Our past lives have different descriptors, but they were nevertheless drawing us further into the world and away from God. Even the good things (e.g., work, ambition, etc.) are less good if they are not drawing us closer to God.

A clarifying point here from my Study Bible… Paul refers to his listeners as “slaves” to impurity and to righteousness. The word “slaves” could well be appropriate in the sense of slaves to impurity, but a better translation of “slaves” to righteousness might be “willing servants”. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. (v. 19b) So where you see the word “slaves” reflecting obedience to God or to righteousness, try substituting “willing servant”.

Slava Bohu!

Romans 6:1-14

My Study Bible just opened my eyes a bit. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 form a unit. Chapter 6 is about the believer’s freedom from sin; chapter 7 is freedom from the Law’s condemnation, and chapter 8 is life in the power of the Holy Spirit. So today the focus is sin and its weakened power on us.

Yesterday I posted that I liked the following verse: …where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. (v. 20b) Now today Paul takes off on that statement as a prelude to his “sin chapter”: Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! (v. 1b-2a) The translation of verse 2 that I like replaces By no means! with “May it never be!” Emphatic!!

Paul still has a lot of triads in his writing – I just don’t point them all out. But here’s one worth noting: We know that our old self (a) was crucified with him in order that (b) the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that (c) we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (v. 6, my own parenthetical letters added) Sin’s power is gone, but only if we claim it and live in Holy Spirit sanctification!

I like Paul’s concept of our “old self”. I’ve heard of people “reinventing” themselves. I did that myself, when I started graduate school at the University of Maryland. I left behind the person most people knew back in Illinois and truly changed some aspects of my personality that I did not like. And it was a good thing. Unfortunately, I fell back into some of the same old traps that I intended to leave behind – and I keep working on those same character faults wherever I go. So while I am not “enslaved to sin”, sin still lurks in the dark and I constantly need God’s grace to continue to resist those temptations. I need to always remind myself that I am dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (v. 11b)

Slava Bohu!

Romans 5:12-20

…for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. (v. 13) This is an intriguing statement. The Law is not given in Scripture until Exodus 20, yet there is plenty of “sin” in Genesis, for example, Sodom and Gomorrah; Judah and Tamar; Joseph’s brothers; etc. But those “sins” are not counted (“imputed” in the NASB). I’m not sure what verse 13 means. That there was wrongdoing, but God would not hold them accountable…? Strange!

One man, Adam	One Man, Jesus
Sin	Grace
Condemnation	Forgiveness, Righteousness
Death	Life, Justification
Judgment	Eternal Life

…where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. (v. 20b) I can’t say that this is one of my favorite verses, but it is a compelling statement. Paul has said the same thing in similar fashion (but less eloquently) in verse 16b: For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. As mankind increased, sin naturally increased. But that grace offered by Jesus is offered to all people for all time. So increased sin and many trespasses cannot equal the infinite goodness, the infinite redemption from Jesus’ sacrifice and His shed blood. Infinite goodness is greater than finite wrongdoings.

Slava Bohu!