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!

Romans 7:7-25

Dear RTB’ers,

Even before I started reading today, knowing that we were reading to the end of Chapter 7, I had in mind: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (v. 24) Maybe the rest of you don’t have this feeling of occasionally hating yourself for what you’ve done or what you are doing. But me, it’s there: For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (v. 15) Wretched man that I am! This ending of Romans 7 and in two days the ending of Romans 8 have long stood out for me as favorite sections of Scripture. They are so opposite one another, yet that contrast makes them stand out. However, we get a hint of Chapter 8 in today’s final verse, Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (v. 25a) It’s probably that half-verse that makes verse 24 stand out for me.

Looking forward to the ending of Chapter 8!!

Blessings!

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!