Romans 14 - 15

Anyone who has or has had young children will be well aware of the tendency of this age group to want to correct faults they perceive in their peers and they get very frustrated when the adults in the room don't lower the boom on the supposed offender. Parents get to be the parents. It is important to get past this tendency as maturing Christians. Lets let God be God while we focus on learning how to share our toys and not hit or bite. I understand this is more difficult than it sounds. I am not sure that Jonah ever got past it, and he was a prophet. (Then again I am probably judging him unfairly.)


The second half of Romans 14 is some of the most difficult for me. I know I will be devastated if I ever discover that a Christian has lost faith because of some action of mine. However, world wide nearly all Christians continue to eat meat, most continue to drink wine, and of course, all do “anything else”. I believe that Paul wants us to be aware of each individual's beliefs. Unfortunately, I am not really satisfied with my understanding. No coffee around Mormons? No meat when hangin' with Seventh Day Adventists? I just don't know, and would love to hear (and by hear I mean read) what others think.


 I don't have much to say in reference to Romans 15.  Perhaps after the emotion of Roman 14 I don't give Romans 15 its due.  It truly reads as a letter written to a select group, being friendly and discussing travel plans.  Sorry I don't have more.  Perhaps I should read it again, separately from Romans 14.  As always I would love comments from them who have been blessed with something from chapter 15.

Romans 12 - 13

For most of my Christian youth (which lasted much longer than my physical youth), I always got frustrated and lost with what I refer to as church "platitudes".  ( I in no way wish to denigrate scripture with that term, just illustrate my frustrations.)  Romans 12 begins with an oft repeated verse that I struggled to understand.  We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God.  OK.... Clearly we are not being asked to do as those who worshiped baal and bleed ourselves over the alter.  So here are my thoughts on living sacrifice (with a big thanks to some of the clarifying bible translations that are now available.)  Place your life morning, noon, night; simple things (sleeping and eating), complex (working and relating) and your physical body (keep it healthy) before God as a live offering.

Paul follows up with don't "conform with this world".  I have no doubt he was clear to the recipients of this letter, and I am certain Paul was not trying to trip me up, but I really didn't understand what this meant.  We have to continue to eat, work, socialize ( yes we do) and exist in this world.  I personally could have been a hermit living in the high Rockies and been happy, but I know this is not God's will for me.  Changing the word world to culture helps me immensely.  I do get to choose what cultural environment (or at least sub-culture) I spend my time in.  Also I can focus on being an uplifting aspect (salt and light) of that culture.

Big day for me today, since Paul really comes at me and my rebellious libertarianesque  nature (just ask my parents, or now my wife).  Paul clearly dictates that we are to submit to those placed in authority over us.  If God gives authority, who are we to take it away.  At least we here in the United States have it easy.  At times we gripe like we live in an oppressive country, but Paul appears to be telling those who are living under truly harsh regimes to obey those in authority.  That is some tough reading, but if we refer back to the book of Acts, we see that Paul (even as a Roman citizen) was not treated well by those in authority over him.

Romans 10 - 11

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.

Romans 8-9

Everyone has a choice, live in accordance to human desires resulting in bondage to sin, followed by death.   Not the choice I would recommend.  The other option is to live according to the Spirit, gaining the supernatural ability to to live free from sin. If we live according to the will of the Holy Spirit who joins with our spirits, we live as a child of God and will be blessed as a father blesses his child. (I love this knowledge, it is amazing to know when we hurt so much we don't even know what to pray, God himself prays for us, using the Holy Spirit.)

Paul moves on to remind us that if Jesus (God's own Son) was allowed to suffer, that we will suffer at times as well. Our suffering will be incomparable to the glory that is yet to be revealed to us. Also, even while suffering we are blessed with hope. What hope we have! In the final section Paul appears to allude to (probably unintentionally, but the impression I get nonetheless) the story of Jesus asking the innocent (there were none) to accuse (and execute) the adulter. Nobody is left to accuse us, God the Father has declared our innocence, and Jesus died to pay for the sins we so deserved convictions of.

My part in the discussion of Romans 9 will be short since I don't understand it. I find it difficult to read, just as I struggle through Job, lamentations (or pretty much any of the books regarding the prophecies regarding the Babylonian exile and Israel's punishments). It is clear that Paul is anguished over the Jewish denial of Jesus as the Messiah. Paul is trying to understand through his own study of scriptures, which he shares with us. Basically this section boils down to “God is God, and (we) are not”. Any comments for those with a better understanding of this text?

Romans 5-7

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Patience, I am getting there. Just seein' who actually read Romans 5. What I got most out of this chapter is the fealty of trying to clean yourself up prior to accepting Jesus. Do you really think you still get an opportunity to make a good first impression? Jesus is ready now, and is fully aware of your spots and wrinkles. Secondly, after accepting, through faith, God's grace, don't look back through doubt. (We are supposed to be the salt and light, not a pillar of salt). If God made your worthy while dead and worthless, you certainly have nothing to fret about now that you have been reborn.


In the beginning of Romans 6, Paul answers his rhetorical question from chapter 3 that he began this discussion with. Should we keep on a sinnin' to magnify God's grace. Of course not, why would the living want to live as the dead? (My paraphrase.)


Paul changes tact a bit and discusses salvation as freedom, but not freedom to live a life of sin. I look at it like this. Would a prisoner receive a Governor's pardon, and then decide to hang out in the prison for the rest of his life?




In Roman's 7 Paul passionately defends the law. Paul wants us to understand that salvation through grace was by no means a replacement for the law. I think that Paul was concerned (as a good Jew) that Jews would think that all of this talk of “freedom” from the law would lead people to think that somehow that the law was imperfect or had failed.  The law did not fail, it served (and continues to serve) its purpose of demonstrating God's will, and man's shortcomings in comparison.  However, fallen man got his hands on the law and turned it into a club. After reestablishing the intention, and continued need for the law, Paul admits that he cannot avoid sin without help, (and clearly neither can we.) Jesus was that help, he came to free us from our failures while validating the need for the law's guidance.     Today's discussion question:  How do we continue to teach God's "right from wrong" without allowing our fleshly desire to "shape" the law to fit our personal opinions, and worse, as a way to get others to behave as we see fit.

Apology

A personal failure of mine was pointed out to me this morning.  It turns out that I've been blogging to the beat of a different drum (trust me, I have the same problem musically).  If I could develop a good punch line I would try to write this off as April fool's satire.  My sincere apologies to those that have been faithfully reading.
To get me back on schedule, tomorrow will now cover Romans 5-7.  This is a now a three chapter day, so buckle down and take solace in the fact that Paul's writings are pleasant reading.

Shayne

Romans 3-4

The beginning of Romans chapter 3 always makes me think of Grigori Rasputin, a Russian Orthodox fellow occasionally referred to as the “Mad Monk”. Rasputin lived in the late 19^th century and is known for his whole hearted endorsement of the precepts of these few verses. I wonder if he bothered to continue reading? If you are ever curious about the dangers of taking scriptures out of context, google a picture of Rasputin (shudders....).

As Romans 3 progresses Paul repeats one of his core themes; all, Jew or gentile are miserable sinners and all would pay the price for living in constant sin had God not sacrificed his Son Jesus to provide the ultimate gift of grace and love. (Sidebar: I sometimes wish I could say I have “fallen short of the Glory of God”, but I know that that is a bit of an understatement. I have missed by miles and miles and miles).

It seems to me that Paul invested a lot of time trying to get the Jewish people off of their pious pedestal. I believe that Paul knows that if the Jewish people (of which he was one of) failed to give up their pride in being God's chosen people, they would not have the meekness and humility to truly accept and serve Jesus as Messiah.

In chapter 4 Paul (actually Paul is writing a letter, somebody else put in all of these silly chapter and verse things) expands on his discussion regarding the Jewish as God's chosen. Paul  asks how people were identified as belonging to God prior to the physical act of circumcision started under God's covenant with Abraham. Paul also reminds all that Abraham didn't go to God with this great plan, God came to Abraham.

I really appreciate Paul's desire to reason and logically explain his arguments, rather than “laying down the law” or relying on nurturing a sense of fear to get people to listen to his teaching. Do you think that the Christian church has moved more towards this method of sharing the “Good News” in the past decade or so, and is there ways this can be further developed. Or, has the church already gone to far; think “Emergent Christianity”. Comments?