Romans 10 summarizes the salvation message. It does not take long. Step 1: Believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord. Step 2: Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Done; now repeat steps 1 and 2 as often as needed, and then a few more times. Not to difficult is it? However, as Paul continues on, what good is this message if no one ever hears it?
Paul refers back to the teachings of Moses to indicate that it was never God's Plan (old covenant or new) for people to work their way to heaven. Trust in God and God's will and good works become a part of who you are.
Chapter 11 focuses on controlling the tendency of pride. Paul reminds us gentiles not to ever feel superior the the Jewish people. Salvation is open to all equally and without question.
Romans 11 typically ends translated with some version of an emphatic ..to God be the Glory forever! Amen. That is wonderful of course, but this is another area where the Message Bible translation has a little fun that I really enjoyed. "Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes." You can almost see Paul jumping up in down and praising God after writing this.
Was is Pastor Bruce in Berthoud that encouraged us to get as excited for God as we do for sports teams? Imagine what that would look like!
ReplyDelete