Romans 13

Dear RTB’ers,

Another election is upon us, less than four weeks away, and Paul’s words in today’s first seven verses should be in every Christian’s mind and in every heart as we honor Paul’s words: For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (v. 1b) Just now I went back to the reading to look for Paul’s exact words as to praying for our authorities. I was surprised that Paul, who writes “Pray without ceasing” (I Thess. 5:17) “Pray about everything” (Philippians 4:6, edited), did not mention praying for our authorities. However, our church leaders have clearly urged us on in that direction and it’s a worthy practice for all believing Christians.

Blessings!

Romans 12

Dear RTB’ers,

Yesterday’s last verse seemed like the ending to a letter: For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. (v. 11:36) However, we begin Chapter 12 with a “…therefore…”, so Paul must have picked up his “pen” again, offering a number of “do’s and don’ts” for daily Christian living. The lines that jumped out at me today were echoes of what I posted yesterday: …I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think… (v. 12:3b), and Never be wise in your own sight. (v. 12:16b) Repeating yesterday: “Do not be arrogant!”

Carol and I had morning coffee on a balcony overlooking a river in Mostar, Bosnia. As I looked down the river over the city I could see six minarets, places of Moslem worship. Truly, I was sick at heart. Over the past many days we’ve been reading about Paul grieving over his Jewish brothers. We can also grieve today over these millions of people who are worshiping one God, but not our Savior, Jesus. Our host here is truly a wonderful man, very warm and welcoming. So we can love the people and pray for them, but still be saddened for the message that they are missing.

Praying for my brother and my sister and Courtenay’s brother and caregiver and millions of others, all in Hurricane Milton’s path…

Blessings!

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See also: December 13 (2023) / Romans 12:1-15:13

Romans 11:25-36

Dear RTB’ers,

Lest you be wise in your own sight… (v. 25a) These few words spoke to me immediately – don’t be wise in your own eyes! Paul’s words are timeless. In this epistle his audience is Gentiles in Rome, but we hear him loud and clear today and forever. Right now Carol and I are foreigners in a strange land, and our really special blue passports define our U.S. citizenship, but we need to be careful not to be that “ugly American” that we occasionally hear about (and some of whom we’ve met!). By grace we were born in the USA, nothing we did to earn that citizenship! I also wrote a few years back about us not making too much of ourselves as being Anglican and being arrogant toward those in other denominations who do not align themselves with what we follow as traditional, historical Christian beliefs. Do not be arrogant…! God is God, I am not!

Blessings!

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See also: December 12 (2023) / Romans 9-11

Romans 11:11-24

Dear RTB’ers,

I’ve always enjoyed this section of Romans – the grafting in of the Gentiles into the Jewish root, and some of the original branches (Jews) breaking off from the root and then being grafted back in. Each of these types of grafting (in this text) is successful because God can do what God wants to do. Years ago, back in the church where we worshiped in Northern Virginia we heard a sermon from a guest preacher (who I recall was a bishop). His sermon was on this passage and as he spoke he actually demonstrated this grafting process, building his sermon as he performed the grafting. It brought this passage to life!

We, too, were grafted in, as an entire Christian church, beginning on that first Pentecost, when God took those wild branches (the apostles and others in the upper room) and filled them with His Holy Spirit, grafting them fully into the faith of Abraham. And billions more over the years – you and I included! Wild branches grafted onto our Jewish root… Awesome!

What a great passage!

Blessings!

Romans 11:1-10

Dear RTB’ers,

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened… (v. 7) I am thinking of Paul’s “elect”, as to who they were. Paul is writing Romans around 55 A.D., some twenty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Paul had met a number of the apostles – Peter and James, in particular as we saw mentioned in Galatians, plus (probably) a number of the other of Jesus’ followers who knew Him personally. These were obviously among Paul’s “elect”; they were Jews who were now believers following Jesus’ message. But I think that Paul is really thinking of the Jewish religious leaders who knew the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms, who were among those he included as hardened in the Scripture he quotes in verse 8: God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day. (Paul referencing Moses’ closing speech from Deuteronomy 29:4.) In much of his ministry Paul is doing battle with these Jewish leaders, trying to prove to them that Jesus was/is their promised Messiah. He sees them as hardened, unwilling to accept the many “proofs” that he offers them as to Jesus being their Messiah.

But Paul’s words still speak to us today: The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened… There is nothing special about us that we should be among “the elect”. Somewhere, somehow, maybe somebody, certainly the Holy Spirit spoke to us and we answered God’s call on our lives. And we all have family and friends out there today with hardened hearts, blind eyes, and deaf ears. But the Holy Spirit can soften those hard hearts, open those blind eyes and ears, and bring them to faith. Does He need us? No, He can do what He wills. But I’m guessing that He’d like us to join Him on His many saving missions.

Blessings!

Romans 9:30-10:21

Dear RTB’ers,

How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? But how are they to preach unless they are sent? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (vv. 14-15a, 17) We are all preachers. We have all been sent – maybe overseas to another country or maybe to the USA, to Kentucky, to Woodford and Jessamine and Fayette Counties, to St. Andrew’s in Versailles. We are all missionaries. How are they to believe if they have not heard?

Blessings!

Romans 9:14-29

Dear RTB’ers,

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. So then He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills. (vv. 16, 18) It is comforting to know that, in the end, it is God who wills this or that outcome. What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory… (vv. 22-23). In the USA we have so much emotion associated with our Presidential elections, especially the last two where former President Trump is concerned. But as I read it, for both Trump followers and Trump “haters”, it was God’s will that Trump be elected in 2016 and it was God’s will that he be defeated in 2020. What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power…??!! We had no idea what’s on God’s “mind”!

Blessings!

Romans 9:1-13

Dear RTB’ers,

Another delayed post – a travel day for us. And with that, a brief post. I didn’t have to read far today to know what I wanted to talk about: For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. (v. 3) I am stunned at Paul’s love for his countrymen. After finding fault with their adherence to the Law, their hypocrisy, their unwillingness to consider Jesus as the promised Messiah… With all that, he loves his heritage and wishes only for Jesus’ life in them for his brethren. Impressive! Greater love than this hath no man, that He would lay down His life for His friends. (John 15:13, loosely translated and generously edited)

Blessings!

Romans 8:18-39

Dear RTB’ers,

A delayed post today – lots of activity! First, a morning “travel” meeting, then our classes, and soon a bus to catch to the Vienna airport. Shortly we’ll be on our way to Albania and Montenegro. No, it’s not really “vacation”. Europe has a rule that a tourist can only be in the “Schengen area” for 90 days in any 180-day period. Our arrival and departure dates put us at 97 days, so we have to leave the Schengen area for seven days. Hence, our “vacation”. Yes’, we’ll try to treat it like a vacation, but really, it’s just part of the job for us. 😊!!

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 even before that, some thoughts on the Holy Spirit at work in our lives: Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words… (v. 26)

And finally, today’s reading ends with some of the happiest verses in all of Scripture: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 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. 35, 37-39) Nothing! Period!

Blessings!

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See also: December 11 (2023) / Romans 5-8

Romans 8:1-17

Dear RTB’ers,

A few years back I posted an item from one of my Study Bibles that Chapters 6, 7, and 8 formed 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 on the Holy Spirit and His power in us. It’s good to have Chapters 6 and 7 behind us!

I count thirteen to fifteen mentions of the Spirit in today’s passage, depending on whether Spirit is referring to the Holy Spirit or to our own spirit. There are not many sections in Paul’s letters where he has such an intense focus on the Spirit. What we see most of the Spirit’s work in today’s reading is His indwelling – of the Spirit, in the Spirit, by the Spirit, according to the Spirit. His indwelling is fundamental to our Christian growth. Without that indwelling we are only flesh – and Paul deals with that topic also in this reading. Our sanctification, our growth depends on His living within and working with and for us.

Another one of my favorite verses: If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (v. 11) A powerful indwelling “if” here – IF the Spirit dwells in us, then we will have life in our mortal bodies (here on Earth) and (by association) in our eternal bodies when WE also have been raised from the dead. What a statement!

Blessings!