Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 15-16.

Today’s passage begins with Paul writing that the strong should bear with the failings of the weak.  He is restating what he wrote at the beginning of chapter 14, that we should accept the one whose faith is weak without quarreling over “disputable matters.”  With that context, Paul tells us that we should please our neighbors for their own good so that we might build them up in their faith.  We should accept one another just as Christ accepts us.  We should serve each other.  Paul also writes in his conclusion that we should watch out for those who cause divisions and keep away from them.  So, we should not argue over disputable matters and stay away from those who do.  Further, we should bear with and serve those whose weak faith leads them to follow certain rituals designed to remind them of their faith.  Our purpose in doing so is to build them up in their faith so that they can serve God better.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I have created a Patreon page for those who would like to support me in writing these blog posts every day: https://patreon.com/AttilaSoldus

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 11-14.

Many use the rejection of Jesus by Jews, which Paul references here, as an excuse to be hostile to Jews. or are hostile to Jews for other reasons.  Paul warns against that in today’s passage, reminding us that God chose them as His people.  Paul repeatedly tells us that we should not think of ourselves as better than others.  Here he warns us that while the rejection of Jesus by Jews opened the way for Gentiles to be welcomed into the family of God, Gentiles should not think that makes them better than those Jews who reject Jesus.  If the rejection of Jesus by some Jews resulted in them being cut off from God so that we could be adopted into His family, then, if we begin to believe that we are entitled to be in God’s family, we can be cut off to make room for them if they turn to Him.  There are other things to be learned from this, but the take away which I want to remind people of today is that there is no room for the followers of Jesus to be hostile to Jews.

In light of what God has done for us, Paul tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God.  In doing so, we invite the Holy Spirit to transform us by renewing our minds.  I am not sure I ever noticed that Paul refers to the transformation of our minds as “renewing”.  Renewing means returning it to what it was when it was new, before sin entered our lives.  So, let the Holy Spirit transform your mind, as I strive to let Him transform mine, into the likeness of God.  In light of the fact that it is the Holy Spirit which is transforming us into the likeness of God, not our own effort, we should not take attempt to take credit for our goodness.  We should not think of ourselves as better than others.  Each of us has been given gifts from God so as to fulfill His purposes in this world.  Which means that we also should not think of ourselves as less than others.  Whatever gift God has given us we should diligently employ it to accomplish His purposes in this world.

There is a lot more worth writing about in this passage, but I am going to end with one last thing which Paul writes here: live at peace with everyone, as far as it depends upon you.  Paul is not telling us that we have to live at peace with everyone, just that we should not be the ones who initiate the hostilities.  And, even if someone else initiates hostility with us, we should seek bringing those hostilities to an end.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I have created a Patreon page for those who would like to support me in writing these blog posts every day: https://patreon.com/AttilaSoldus

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 8-10.

In today’s passage Paul expands on his commentary about on living by faith.  Here he talks about how we must choose to live either by the Spirit or by the flesh.  If we set our minds on the desires of the flesh then we are living according to the flesh.  On the other hand, if we live according to the Spirit, we will set our minds on the desires of the Spirit.  One of the ways in which the Adversary attempts to draw us back into living according to the flesh is by causing us to focus on the fears of the flesh.  Those fears all too often distract us from pursuing the desires of the Spirit.  That is why we must allow God’s Spirit, which lives within us to pray for us.  We often do not know for what we should pray, but God’s Spirit does and will do so.  Further, Paul tells us some things which will help us resist the distractions of fear which the flesh uses to distract us back into serving its desires.  First, if God is for us, who, or what, can be against us?  Obviously, the problem with taking that to heart is that how can we know that God is for us?  Paul addresses that by reminding us that God loves us and nothing can separate us from His love.  The same power of God which assures us that nothing can overcome us if God is for us assures us that nothing can separate us from His love.  Paul gives us a list of things which he is convinced cannot separate us from God’s love: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, death nor life, angels nor demons, neither height or depth, nor anything else in all creation.  None of these things can separate us from God’s love, neither in the present nor in the future.

As Paul completes his commentary about righteousness being given to us by God through our faith in Jesus, he discusses his desire that all of the people of Israel would accept salvation through that faith.  He desires for this to happen with all that he has, to the point that he is willing to be separated from God for all eternity if that is the price required.  However, he points out that, when it comes to salvation, there is no difference between Jew and Gentile.  God is Lord of all and will bless everyone who calls upon His Name.  Paul then tells us something which we should all take to heart.  First, Paul tells us that no one can call upon God unless they first believe in Him.  Second, no one will believe in God unless they had heard about Him.  Next, Paul points out that no one will hear about God unless someone preaches to them.  Finally, no one will preach about God unless they are sent to do so.  So, there is place for all of us in that.  Those of us who are not yet called by God to preach should do what we  can to support, and to send forth, those who have been so called.  Those who have been sent forth to preach about God to those who do not know Him should do so with all that they are.  Those who hear about God should believe in Him.  Those that believe in Him should call on His Name.  Which brings us back to the beginning.  I want to note that all of us should be prepared to preach about God when the opportunity presents itself.  Not only prepared, but we should seek those opportunities in the activities to which God has called us.  At the end of Matthew Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission.  Paul reiterates here that we should all follow that command to go and make disciples of Him in all nations, whether that is the one we are in, or another nation.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I have created a Patreon page for those who would like to support me in writing these blog posts every day: https://patreon.com/AttilaSoldus

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 4-7.

Today’s passage begins with Paul telling us that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  He goes on to explain that God justifies the ungodly.  Abraham was credited as righteous before God gave him the command to be circumcised, so clearly Abraham’s righteousness was not the result of him obeying God’s command.  Rather it was a result of his faith.  However, because God had made him righteous, Abraham followed the command of God.  Abraham became the father of many nations and all who believe are heirs to the righteousness which God credited to him.  While we were powerless to do God because we were enslaved to sin, Jesus died for us to free us from that sin.  As we were slaves to sin, let us now be slaves to righteousness.  If we continue to sin, we become slaves once more to sin, which leads to our death.  On the other hand if we enslave ourselves to righteousness, we will do the works of righteousness, which leads to eternal life.  Yet, as Paul points out, as much as we desire in our own will to do good, we all too often end up doing wrong.  It is only by putting our faith in Christ and turning control of our lives over to the Holy Spirit that we can overcome the desires of this body to sin.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I have created a Patreon page for those who would like to support me in writing these blog posts every day: https://patreon.com/AttilaSoldus

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 1-3.

After greeting the Believers in Rome, Paul begins his letter to them by saying that he would like to see them so that he could impart to them some spiritual gift which would make them strong.  Then, realizing that this implies that he is somehow better than they are, he says that he hopes that they and he would be mutually encouraged.  This reflects an important element of our interaction with other Believers.  We need to recognize that we have much to learn from others, even from those who have only entered into a relationship with God very recently.  Paul actually shows us why that is true as he begins to get into the meat of what he wants to write, even though that is not the point he is making when he writes it.  Paul writes that God has made plain to everyone that which may be known about Him.  So, even those who until recently were far from God, know much about Him, more than they realize.  On the other side, we need to realize that when Paul says about people that they suppress the truth by their wickedness, that applies to us to at least some degree.  To varying degrees we all suppress what God has revealed to us about Himself in order to excuse our wickedness, even if only to ourselves.  Those who persistently seek to do good, will receive glory, and honor, and eternal life, while those who are self-seeking and reject the truth will receive anger and wrath.

If you (and I) rely on your knowledge of God’s law and will, but break His law and fail to follow His will, you(I) dishonor Him.  Each of us must ask themselves, “Is God’s name blasphemed because of me?”  It is not by relying on written code, or even a set of unwritten rules, that we enter into a relationship with God and gain eternal life.  Instead it is by allowing His Spirit to transform us into a better reflection of who He is.  It is not by following a set of rules, it is not by our actions, that we will be declared righteous.  Rather, God grants righteousness to all who put their faith in Jesus.  As a result, none of us can boast that we are better than anyone else.  Also, this does not mean that God’s Law and His will are irrelevant for us.  The fact that God grants us righteousness through our faith does not mean that His Law and will are nullified.  Instead, we are made better able to fulfill and follow His Law and will by our faith.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I have created a Patreon page for those who would like to support me in writing these blog posts every day: https://patreon.com/AttilaSoldus

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 15-16.

Today’s passage begins with Paul’s conclusion to what he wrote in chapter fourteen.  Those who are strong in faith ought to bear with the failings of the weak in order to please the weak and thus build them up.  As we do so we should seek to imitate the way in which Christ did so.  I always struggle with explaining my understanding of this, but there is a story about my father from my childhood which sums it up.  I grew up in the Mennonite Church.  When I was very little, the Mennonite Church taught that men should wear a “plain coat” rather than a more standard suit.  While I was still little it moved away from that teaching, but many men continued to wear a plain suit.  My father was one of the last in our part of the Mennonite Church to stop doing so.  When asked by one of my siblings why he still wore it, he explained to us that as long as there were men in the local church (and for him that was somewhat broader than just our congregation) who felt that it would be a sin to not wear the plain suit, he would continue to wear it so as to not encourage them to do that which they thought was wrong.

Now, I have written the above and one could easily see it as obligating us to keep silent when others teach objectionable things.  However, in Paul’s conclusion to his letter, he tells us that we should keep way from those who cause divisions and teach things contrary to the teaching we have learned.  Paul writes that the people he is warning us against use smooth talk and flattery in order to deceive naive people.  Throughout my life I have seen those who take advantage of Paul’s teaching about maintaining unity in the Church in order to undermine his teachings about human sexuality and holding our fellow believers accountable.  And not just Paul’s teaching, but Christ’s (as recounted in the Gospels) and other New Testament writers.  So, combining the two, we should not seek to convince people to do that which they think is a sin, and we should keep away from those who seek to convince us to do that which we believe it is a sin for us to do.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 11-14.

My title for today’s blog highlights what strikes me as a needed reminder for Christians today and I will discuss its implications.  But first there are a few other important points I want to touch on.  Chapter eleven explains why one cannot be a faithful follower of Jesus while harboring hate against the Jewish people.  In fact, we should pray that they come to salvation and, in the meantime, lovingly engage with them.  Paul tells us that we have been blessed because of their rejection of Christ, but that we will be doubly blessed when they turn to Him.  In chapter twelve Paul tells us not to conform to the patterns of this world.  We must strive to avoid allowing the world around us to shape the way we think about people and issues.  We must not allow the world around us to shape our thinking.  Instead we should seek the transformation of our minds which the Holy Spirit is constantly implementing.  We can recognize the transformation inspired by the Holy Spirit by the way it encourages us to humbly value others above our own desires.  This will lead us to resist the efforts of the world to cause us to lump individuals into groups where we stop viewing the worth of the individual, only valuing them as a member of whichever groups they are a part.

Which brings me to what Paul writes in chapter thirteen.  He tells us that we should submit to the governing authorities because they have been established by God, that no one holds the authority of government unless God gave it to them.  Ultimately those who wield the levers of power do so only because God has chosen for them to do so.  Despite the fact that some leaders are chosen by the election of the people and some leaders are chosen by military might, all of them serve at the pleasure and will of God.  So, those who were worried during this recent election that the wrong people would end up governing us, their worries were in vain.  Those who are governing us, and those who will be governing us, have that authority because it was given to them by God.

I am not going to write about chapter fourteen, but I humbly ask that you read it for yourself and think about what it means for you.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 8-10.

I do not fully comprehend the message which Paul has for us in today’s passage.  As I have said previously, Paul is trying to communicate the truths about an infinite God to people with finite minds, and Paul himself had a finite mind.  However, there is one point about which I am sure.  I have no basis to claim to be better than anyone else.  I was not saved because of anything I have done.  I have been reconciled to God because of His mercy, not because of my desire or effort.  My action can bring me no closer to God, only by God drawing me to Him can I approach Him.  Which brings me to another point which I see in this passage. We, who love the Lord, need to tell others about what He has done for us so that they also might come to know Him.  In today’s passage, Paul writes that God has mercy on who He would have mercy, and hardens those whom He wishes to harden against Him.  Yet he ends today’s passage by telling us that held out His hands to those who were disobedient.  As I said, I have no basis to claim to be better than anyone else, because all that I do with any good to it results from what God has done in and to me.  And if I were to pursue sin and wickedness I would have no basis to claim to be worse than others because there also I would be constrained by what God chose to make of me.

Really, there are two messages in today’s passage.  First, we are saved by God’s mercy and the faith which it inspires within us.  Second, that faith comes from hearing the message, so once we have been brought to God through the faith He gives us by His mercy, we are obligated to preach that message to others so that they too might come to put their faith in Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 4-7.

I really like the first three chapters of Romans, but starting with chapter four I often find it difficult to follow Paul’s logic.  I am not saying that it is not logical, just that the case he is making is convoluted enough that I struggle to follow it.  And for all the difficulty I have following the logic arguments which Paul makes, I am pretty sure I understand the conclusion which his logic is designed to support.  Part of the reason it is so hard to follow the argument which Paul is making here is because we, as humans with finite minds, are trying to wrap our heads around God’s infinite wisdom.  Which brings me to what I want to write about from today’s passage.  At the end of chapter three Paul had made the claim that our righteousness, our reconciliation with God, comes through faith, not through any action of which we may boast.  Here in chapter four he begins to make the case supporting this claim starting with Abraham.  Paul argues that the Old Testament told us that Abraham was considered righteous, not because of anything he had done, but because of his faith.  In the same way, we have righteousness solely because of our faith, not because of anything we have done.  As part of the case he is making, Paul illustrates Abraham’s faith by telling us that Abraham’s faith did not weaken when God made the promise even though he was already almost one hundred years old, and Sarah was already past her childbearing years.  Paul tells us that Abraham’s faith did not weaken and was sufficient to be counted as righteousness, even though Abraham had taken Hagar to his bed in order to have a child with her, despite the fact that God had told him the promise would be fulfilled through a child he would have with Sarah.  And earlier, Abraham had, on two separate occasions, told people that Sarah was his sister because he was afraid that if they knew she was his wife they would kill him in order to take her for their own.  Despite these things, Paul tells us that he did not waver in his faith.  Which puts in perspective what it means to have faith in God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Romans 1-3.

After introducing himself and laying out his desire to visit the believers in Rome, Paul lays out his theology.  I find it interesting that he segues into it from talking about the faith of the believers in Rome.  Paul tells us that the gospel, the good news, is the power of God which brings salvation to everyone who believes.  The gospel reveals the righteousness of God, a righteousness which exists solely through faith.  That leads Paul to write that God’s wrath against wickedness is being revealed.  In particular, God’s anger is directed at those who suppress the truth in order to hide their wickedness.  Paul tells us that they suppress the truth because God has made His eternal power and divine nature plain to be seen and understood from what He made.  When it comes to knowing God we have no excuse.  One thing that struck me as I read this is that while Paul says “they” about those who knew God but chose not to glorify Him as God, he really means all of us, a point he makes later when he references where David in Psalms said that everyone has sinned, that all have turned away from God.  Paul writes that we exchanged the truth about God for a lie and instead of serving and worshiping God we worshiped and served created things.  So, since we did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, which He made plain in His creation, He gave us over to our depraved minds, leading us to do that which ought not be done.  If we condemn others, we judge ourselves because we have made the same mistake.  Just like those who we see wallowing in wickedness, we too rejected knowledge of God, but somehow, through His grace, we have been led to repentance.  We are in position to condemn others because we are just as guilty.  Our salvation results from our faith.  That faith will be credited to us as righteousness, and God will work through that to cause us to good works.  We have nothing to boast about because everything we do of value comes because God reached through our depraved minds and redeemed us.  It is through God’s grace that we gain understanding and learn to love, have mercy, and live with fidelity.  Before God’s grace we were full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice, with God’s grace we learn to love and have mercy, and gain understanding.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.