Creation Reveals… Romans 1:18-23 (part 1)

Romans 1:18-23
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

This scripture is so full that even though we will only glance through it, it is going to take 2-3 posts to cover it! The main bit I think we can cover today is creation.

It’s simple really, and pointed out here – God has revealed himself through his creation. Anyone who takes some time to look closer and closer at creation, can’t but marvel at it. Not just creation, but the order of creation, and the intricacy and balance of all of creation. The deeper you look, the more obvious it becomes! I can’t remember the person who said it (if you know, please tell me!), but they said it very similar to this ‘I know there is a God just by looking at my thumb. It’s position, that it is opposed, and the intricate details alone in it prove to me God’s existence’. It’s true, the closer we look – be it our thumb, the delicate balance of nature, God’s creation as a whole, Gods power in storms and the sea, or just a wonderful sunset – the more we can see that there must have been a creator of these things – they didn’t just all appear as they were out of some ‘grey matter’ – which happened to be lying around……

Also, this is the answer (along with the start of Romans 2) to people who haven’t heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or even of Judaism or the Creator God of the universe – God has revealed himself to everyone – and they then have the choice or ability to honor him as God. They may not know his name – or they may not know how to worship Him, but they will do the right thing as it is evident around them and their heart will guide them right (again, we will cover in more detail as soon as we hit Romans 2 – not long now…).

Tomorrow, we will look closer at what man has done with God’s creation, and what He thinks of that……

Lord Jesus, as we read further into Your Word, and look deeper into the meaning of it, I pray you would continue to give us both understanding and wisdom. I also pray you would continue to remind us of You, every time we see your creation. In Jesus name. Amen.

Live by Faith – Romans 1:16-17 (Part 2)

Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

If you haven’t read Part 1 of this study, you can here.

Yesterday we looked into ‘For I am not ashamed’. Today, let’s move a little further. Firstly, ‘for the Jew first, and also for the Greek’.

What does this mean? Greek here means ‘Gentile’ – or one who is not a Jew. The Jews were first as they were chosen by God to show his Love, and bring about His plan in the world. Not because they deserved it either (Deuteronomy 7:7-8), but simply because God chose them. This is the order of God’s plan in the world – first to the Jews (and if you look closely, to anyone who wanted it, but through the Jewish Law and custom), then to everyone through Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the Law. So there is no favoritism of God here – it is simply the order of God’s plan. You will see Paul uses this phrase quite a bit.

Lastly, we come to ‘The Just shall live by faith’. This is true of old, as it is of now. Despite this being a quote form the Old Testament (Habakkuk 2:4), we still are called to live by our Faith in Jesus Christ. It is through our faith in Jesus we are saved (Ephesians 2:8), and through our faith that we continue to live our lives (Galatians 2:20).

Lord God, I pray for revelation through your Holy Spirit as we continue to study through your word. Teach us how to live by faith in you. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Not Ashamed! Romans 1:16-17 (Part 1)

Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Wow. What a great message is contained just in here! This is the last of the ‘introduction’ to Paul’s letter to the Romans, and yet, I think we have gleaned plenty already!

For I am not ashamed! Paul is not ashamed why? Because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…. This is the part I hinted at last time – are we ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I know at times I have been in some way – usually through pride or being too self conscious. I know for me – one of the biggest things in my life has been thinking ‘what will this person think of me if….’ NO! That is not the way we need to be – we need to be not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – because it is this gospel that is the power of God to salvation! What will Jesus think of us? And really, what does it matter often what a person thinks of you?

If people don’t hear – they can’t know. If we don’t preach the message – who will? At the very least, if the opportunity arises for us to share our faith – it doesn’t need to be a well crafted message, a sermon to ten thousand, or handed out with a tract. It just needs to be an honest, from the heart, through the spirit sharing of what is appropriate at that time – that is all. As long as we are willing to do this, the rest will be follow. And truly, it is the Holy Spirit working in a person’s life that brings salvation – not us. We are not the Gospel – we are just called to share the Gospel!

I think that is well enough for one post! Tomorrow, we will look more into these verses, because there is much more we can glean from this small section…

Lord God, I pray for revelation through your Holy Spirit as we continue to study through your word. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Ready to Preach – Romans 1:8-15

Romans 1:8-15
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established—that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

Welcome back to our study on Romans! In a ‘normal’ breakdown of Romans, the introduction is generally considered to go through to verse 17 – and the ‘topical’ writing starts from there. But I still think there is plenty we can gain just from his introductory words!

Straight up, the first bit I glean from here is that Paul is giving thanks to God for the Roman churches. I guess in this context Rome was the ‘center’ of the civilized world to many, certainly the head of the empire – maybe we should be giving thanks for the churches in Washington DC or Brussels! Moving along though, there are many people that God puts in our lives – for better and for what seems to be worse. We should be thankful for all these people – some provide friendship, some encouragement, some challenge, and some offer plenty of opportunity for spiritual growth (patience, longsuffering, you get the picture).

Secondly, the faith of the Roman churches was spoken about throughout the world. Just as now we might speak of the faith of the Chinese church, or the church in Afghanistan, or maybe Turkmenistan. Certainly – I have lived in Australia and the USA, and we really don’t have many problems at all – except for our own timidity and pride (and we will come to that tomorrow when we hit vs 16). What does it mean in these days to have our faith spoken of ‘throughout the world’? I am truly not sure – but I know that it means that we would have to have a total reliance on Jesus, and be totally in His will, that we were making such a difference in this world that people would stand up and take notice…. Something to think upon……

Another short message we get from verses 11 and 12 is that of the importance of fellowship – see Hebrews 10 for more on that one. I will get there one day on this blog!

Moving to verses 13-15. It is obvious that Paul wanted to visit Rome much earlier – but that it was not the Will of God yet. Paul also mentions that he is ‘ready to preach the Gospel to you who are in Rome also’. To me I read a couple of things here – Paul is ready to preach the Gospel – not just to the Romans, but to anyone – but he specifically wanted to go to Rome to do that. Are we ready to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Secondly – God prevented Paul from visiting Rome up until this point – despite his desire there ‘to do good’. It would be very easy to justify this trip to ourselves ‘I am going to Rome to do God’s work, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all those in Rome who need to hear!’ You can see here how easy it would be to create that justification in our own minds, and then begin to act on it. But until this point – it has not been God’s will. Paul has been ‘hindered’ until now to visit Rome. I am sure he could have gone off and done his own thing – and preached in Rome – but that would have been outside God’s will and timing, and whilst God could have used it anyway, it would not have been as effective as Paul going when the time was right.

Next we move onto Verses 16 and 17, which will be plenty for another post!

God, I pray you continue to give us understanding and revelation into your word, speak to our hearts through your Holy Spirit, in Jesus Name, Amen.

Foundations – Romans 1:1-7

Romans 1:1-7
Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome to Romans! Starting from the top, I think we can instantly gain some real insight into the Word of God with Paul’s opening remarks.

Firstly, about Paul, he considers himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ. What is a bondservant then? A bondservant is one not free to do as he chooses – in other words, a slave. He is totally under the ownership and control of Jesus – not ‘free’ to do his will, but to do the will of Him who he is slave to. This doesn’t imply that he is not ‘free’ to make his own choices (as we will see later in Romans), but that he has chosen to submit his life totally to Jesus. If we are to then read through a little, we read ‘among whom you are also the called of Jesus Christ’. So…… I know you can see where I am going here – we are also called to be a servant of Jesus – whole heartedly, like one who is a slave!

Secondly, Paul calls himself an apostle. There are many definitions of this word these days, but to try and look back on what it was defined as back when this was written, it was someone who was called to share the Gospel of Jesus. Paul was directly called by Jesus (see Acts 9 for the original account) – to preach the Gospel and share his name to the Gentiles. Moving forward in time then to us – are we not called to do the same? We might not run around with the title ‘apostle’, but we are certainly called to share the message and gospel (literally – Good News) of Jesus Christ to our world – in whichever manner God has called us.

Lastly, in the shortest possible space, Paul summarizes that Jesus was first promised to the world through the scriptures (Old Testament), came to the world born of the seed of David (as promised in the Old Testament), was crucified (implied by the next bit), and was resurrected from the dead – proving his place as the Son of God. And that it is through Jesus we have received Grace and mercy – through our obedience to him. Talk about a concise summary of the key points! Jesus is Lord, we need to be obedient through our Faith in Him.

I could almost stop now! Through the Holy Spirit, Paul has covered the basic foundations of our faith in the introduction of his letter – even before he has addressed it (vs 7)! If this is the introduction, then our expectation for the rest of the letter to the Romans should be high – and I know we won’t be disappointed.

Lord God, thank you for your Word which you have given us, I pray that you will continue to give us insight to it through your Holy Spirit, as we delve further into the book of Romans. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Romans – An Introduction

Romans 1:1

Before we jump into Romans, Lets take a quick look at a little of the known history and context surrounding this book – some of which will help us understand it better, and give a preview of what is to come.

First of all, we know this book was written by Paul, as a letter to the Roman churches (Romans 1:1,7). As it is addressed ‘to all who are in Rome’, we can inference that there was more than a single church in such a large city – estimates vary, but it is believed the City of Rome had close to a million people in it around the time this was written (around 58AD). The letter was then designed for ‘distribution’ – which is no doubt part of the reason we still have copies with us today in the New Testament.

The central theme, or purpose, of the book of Romans is to provide almost a complete overview of Christianity and it’s central doctrines. This ranges from the sinfulness of man to the redemption of God through Jesus Christ His Son. Therefore, it’s position in the New Testament straight after Acts (the last of the Historical accounts), is logical, as it does provide one of the most complete overviews in one place.

The reason it is so complete, rather than a letter addressing a specific issue or set of issues, is that we know Paul had yet to visit Rome (Romans 1:11,15), and so in his absence appears to want to provide a detailed overview of all doctrine – remember, at this point there was nothing but some written accounts of Jesus, and some letters sent to and from various people – the compiling of the Gospels and Epistles really didn’t begin in earnest for over 100 years, and it was not until around the time of this letter that scholars believe many of the gospels were written – another 10 years later for Luke!

Our goal then is to gain a greater understanding of Jesus and our salvation in Him through this Gospel – God’s divine grace and it’s place in our life.

Lord, give us insight through the Holy Spirit into Your Word, as we take time to look through the book of Romans. In Jesus name. Amen.