Romans 2:1-5

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.(Romans 2:1-5)

Verse 1 of Romans 2 is perhaps the biggest gotcha verse in the Bible. It turns out that Romans 1:18-32 was a kind of set up. Paul is writing to a mixed congregation in Rome, partly Jew partly Gentile. The Jews, along with most Jews of Paul’s day, would have read the last part of chapter 1 with some relish. “Get’em Paul,” would have been their thought. “Idolatry, homosexuality, a total decline in moral standards, those Gentiles justly reap the repercussions of their sin.” Then comes chapter 2:1, “Therefore you have no excuse.” “No excuse” like the pagan who suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. Only this time it is not the pagan Paul is addressing: “You have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges.” If you happened to be reading verses 1:18-32 and thinking certain groups of people (i.e. American culture, western society as a whole, Hollywood, the gay community, etc.) justly deserve God’s retribution, that is you were cooly judging them, then you too have no excuse. You too stand condemned before God.

In fact, you are the very one who condemns yourself, for you condemn what you practice. Envy, strife, deceit, gossip, slander, boasting, disobedient to parents, faithless, heartless, are you innocent of these? We hold that God rightly judges such practices, so does he not also judge you? Paul’s logic here is devastating. There is really no escape.

But there is one more path to possibly get us off the hook, the path of God’s mercy. Jews could easily conclude, “Yes, well we are God’s chosen, and he is a God of mercy and compassion.” They even had some historical precedence for such a hope. God did put up with a lot of garbage from Israel. Of course, this objection comes to us today in various forms. It is the “God is love” objection. If God is a loving God will he really judge us severely? We too have some historical, biblical, and theological precedence for the belief. God is declared by and demonstrated in Scripture to be gracious, patient, and long-suffering. But there are two ways to look at God’s patience. One is to say that God is just over-looking our disobedience. Most assume this option. The alternative is what Paul agues: “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.” Mercy is meant merely to give you more time to repent. God is passing over your sin. He is just delaying your judgment. Therefore, the longer you fail to repent the more wrath you “store up” for yourself. Thus, in this small passage Paul has leveled the paths of self-righteousness (“those people over there deserve God’s judgment) and indulgence (“God will tolerate my failures because He is a God of love”). But more on that later.

Christmas Gift Ideas

The Reason For God - This is a great book for those more intellectually minded. Keller is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC. He is known for his ability to reach those of a more secular, yuppy, and liberal culture. This books is both for the unbeliever and the believer. In the first part of the book Keller answers some of the toughest questions that people are asking about Christianity (e.g. "Does science contradict the Bible," "Aren't all religions equal," etc.). The second half is devoted to a sort of new spin on the gospel. It's all very orthodox, but Keller has a way of describing the gospel to modern people that both deeply convicts and excites.



The Prodigal God - Yes, another Keller book. I first heard his sermon upon which this little book is based and it opened up the gospel in a whole new way for me. For those of you in our church's small groups, know that we will be doing this book next.



ESV Study Bible - See the post below



To The Golden Shore - A rich, lively biography. Judson's story is truly amazing, and this book is very hard to put down. It reads almost like a novel, only it really happened.



Sir Gibbie - For kids and adults alike. George MacDonald's classic is delightful and convicting. My daughter and I couldn't stop reading it. The chapters are extremely short, which makes it more accessible for those lacking in attention span.



Keeping Holiday - Another great book to read with your children. Star Meade is able to weave an allegory of the gospel into this intriguing story in vein similar to that of C.S. Lewis.



Do Hard Things - Written by teenagers, but the Harris brothers are not your typical teenagers. The subtitle pretty much sums up the book: "A teenage rebellion against low expectations." Young or old, you'll find yourself wanting to do hard things after reading this book.




When Sinners Say, "I Do" - My wife and I have used this book in marriage counseling. This is not merely some good advice on relationships, nor a manual for marriage. This book does what most Christian and non-Christian books fail to do, point to the gospel. It is a book filled with hope and grace.



Humility - Written by a very humble guy, at least comparatively, Mahaney has written another deeply convicting book. His thesis is that pride is the root of all sin, so if you nip pride you getting the whole gamut. A very small and easy to read book.



Culture Making - If you are struggling as to how you can glorify God in your "secular" employment or hobbies, this book will be a great help. Culture making is what humans are meant to do, and Andy Crouch provides some deep insight on how we can do it better.

ESV Study Bible

The ESV Study Bible has been out for some time now, but I thought I would post this introduction as well as a few thoughts about it. I'm not typically a big fan of study Bibles. My man beef with them is that they tend to become a sort of Bible answer book. As a teacher and preacher, I've gotten quite tired of pouring in hours to study a text only for someone to comment, "That's not what my study Bible says." Perhaps, this notion goes back to the Schofield Study Bible, perhaps even further back. What often seems to happen, though, is that the study Bible becomes the interpretative key of Scripture. Rich, deep, complex themes are reduced to a few lines in a footnote, and the reader takes no more effort than that. Of course, there are many who use their study Bibles well, but the message sent by the various study Bibles as a whole is, "This is clearly what this text means. You need to look no further." What I have always dreamed about is a study Bible that gives cultural, geographical, and theological background to texts in order to aid interpretation and not provide all the interpretation. In other words, a Bible that gives the reader the tools to understand the text for themselves. The ESV does just this. I've been using it for a couple of months now, and it is everything that I hoped it would be. So for all of those seeking to dig deeper into Scripture, this would be a great Christmas gift.

Romans 1:24-32

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:24-32)

Up to this point, Paul had been describing why exactly God has cast his wrath upon mankind, but this section describes what that wrath is, what God’s judgment looks like. The theme of these verses, repeated three times, is “God gave them over.” God’s wrath is coming against humanity, and what that means is this giving over. Three things God has given humanity over to: “the lust of their hearts . . . and dishonoring of their bodies(1:24),” “dishonorable passions(1:26),” and “to a debased mind(1:28).” Here are some of my observations.

First, sin is the judgment. You constantly hear Christians talking about the judgment that is going to come against America because of its perversion and evil. God is going to condemn us because of homosexuality, abortion, pornography, etc. But Paul is saying that these are the judgement. Homosexuality is the judgment. God is giving men and women over to unnatural and unhealthy patterns of life that separates them now and forever from everlasting joy. Pornography is not going to bring more judgment in the sense of terrorists attacks or more natural disasters. It’s going to breed more sexual addiction, degrade more women, ruin marriages, incapacitate men from being productive, permeate the society with sexual abuse, and so on. The sin is the judgment. You can translate this principle, I think, into eternal condemnation as well. Hell is when God abandons you to the “lust of your flesh” and to a “debased mind.”

Second, there seems to be an escalation of judgment. First God abandons men to themselves to exchange the truth of him for “the lie”(that’s the way it read in Greek). That in turn leads to unnatural and dishonorable passions, which then leads to a debased mind and the whole gamut of evil that follows (i.e. the list in 1:29-32). A good and helpful meditation might be on how this all plays out on an individual level and a societal level, because I think it is applicable to both. What is striking about this escalation is that those sins with the greatest stigma, at least in our society, like sins of lust or homosexuality are lower level judgments than more socially acceptable sins. For example, Paul seems to consider “gossips,” the “boastful,” the “disobedient to parents,” the “heartless,” etc. as deeper entrenched in evil than a man who gives in to “unnatural relations.” For many Christians this is quite radical. Let me say that none of these sins are acceptable, and all are examples of God’s wrath. Nevertheless, if we take this text seriously, and if you believe that the Bible is God’s Word then you have to, there are patterns of sin in our own lives and churches just as destructive as say homosexuality, if not more so. Paul presents sins of lust, like pornography, homosexuality, etc., as stepping stones on the humanities moral decline. But it makes us no better people if we skip step one and two and jump immediately to step three. Unbridled lust does lead to further sins of deceit, strife, gossiping, boasting, heartlessness, etc., but you cannot be too proud if you didn’t need the sins of lust to ease you into the sins of envy and deceit. You’ve simply chosen not to mess around with the marijuana and went straight for the heroin. I often hear Christians complain about the greater acceptance of gay and lesbian lifestyle when the Scriptures are so clear in condemning it. But is God less clear about our pride, judgmentalism, unforgiveness, gossip, deceit, anger, lack of mercy, sins which we are too often more than willing to tolerate in our own life? It’s something to think about.

Romans 1:21-23

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things (Romans 1:21-23).

“Although they knew God.” Many of the leading minds over the last several decades have predicted that as modern people get a better grasp of the world through science and technology that belief in God will dwindle. The obvious assumption behind this claim is that belief in God is a mere crutch to make sense of the unpredictable and unknowable. Once those unknowables are explained by science and harnessed by technology, there will be no need for the crutch. But the theory has not panned out. In fact, many scholars have noted that this is one of the most “spiritual” generations in American history. Poles indicate that the vast majority of Americans have faith in some god. So why is belief in God so difficult to budge? In this verse, Paul offers a different theory, a much more radical theory. Belief in the divine lingers on because it is deeply woven into the consciousness of all people.

“They did not honor him or give thanks to him.” The problem with humanity, says Paul, is not an information problem. It is a heart problem. I remember having a conversation once with a friend who at the time was uncertain about the existence of God. We had some pretty deep discussions, and one day I was asking him about the reality of death. “How would you feel if you found out you were going to die tomorrow,” I asked. He responded, “I think I would be thankful for my life.” I interrupted, “Thankful to who." I wasn't trying to be smart, but the question begged answering. We all walk through our days either thankful or not so thankful. But in either case, the question is same. “Thankful to who?” “Angry with who?” “Treated unfairly by whom?” You can’t escape the sensus divinitatis(sense of the divine). So why aren’t we asking that question? The problem isn’t the head. It’s the heart.

“They became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Failure to give God his rightful position has massive systemic effects upon humanity. You cannot understand your life, your meaning, your responsibilities, your value, your purpose, nor the value, meaning, purpose of the world around you. Belief in God or lack of it is the rock upon which your entire life is built.

“Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” Enter into almost any higher education institution and suggest that you believe in the supernatural, and you are certain to be greeted with snickers if not outright guffaws. The “wise,” the “informed,” the “intelligent” would never give themselves over to a belief in God anymore than they would to belief in the tooth fairy. Proponents of this position often think themselves to have a very new approach to the question of God. Paul, writing two thousand years ago, says this is always the way. Men believe rejecting the true God is the wise and informed thing to do. If there is no God, they are indeed wise. But if they are wrong, there cannot be bigger fools.

All Life Is Sacred

Thanks Doug for sharing this video with me. I think it provides a powerful illustration of how sacred any life is.

Romans 1:18-20

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse"(Romans 1:18-20).

The gospel is the “power of God for salvation,” for the “righteous live by faith.” From here until chapter 12, Paul is attempting to flush these thoughts out, and he begins with the wrath of God. That is not surprising, since explaining salvation requires an understanding of what you are saved from. This text is so important that I’m just going to try and explain it.

First, I notice that God’s wrath is revealed against “all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” It is not wrath against the really bad stuff. In fact, notice what the “unrighteousness” is. Unrighteousness is revealed in “suppressing the truth.” It is not breaking a law or doing something shameful. Sure it comes to those things, but that is not where it starts. It starts with suppressing truth. To suppress means that you possess. You cannot suppress what you don’t have. When someone “suppresses” evidence in a trial it means that they possess the evidence and hide it. Stunning point here: all men possess the truth, and at the root of their sin is a suppression of it. Let that sink in for a moment, because that is a monumental statement.

Paul goes on to explain. Men suppress truth in that “what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” And what has God shown them? “His invisible attributes” (read power, love, goodness, beauty, infinite value, greatness, etc) and especially his “eternal power” (i.e. He is all-powerful and can do whatever he wants) and “divine nature” (i.e. the fact that He is God). How are these things clearly seen? They have been “perceived . . . in the things that have been made.” Here is an illustration of what I think Paul is saying. You take a little flower, just a flower. You see bright colors, symmetry, soft, silken petals, and it’s living. It grows from a tiny seed in the dirt and becomes this radiant bloom. It’s so beautiful that artists attempt to photograph it, paint it, draw it. Some are very good, and the art is beautiful. But never, never is the art as exquisite as the flower itself. And it’s smell is so transfixing that companies attempt to mimic it, bottle it, and sell it to wealthy women, so they can have the aroma of a flower rather than their own natural body odor. Where does such beauty, such order and symmetry come from? It’s very existence shouts the overflowing power and goodness of the one who designed it, and it shouts that that One is worthy of our gratitude, homage, and praise. All men naturally suppress this. To bolster the point, here are a few interesting quotes.

“Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door” (Atheist Richard Lewotin in New York Review of Books).

“ I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and, naturally, hope that I'm right in my belief. It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that. . . . My guess is that this cosmic authority problem is not a rare condition and that it is responsible for much of the scientism and reductionism of our time. One of the tendencies it supports is the ludicrous overuse of evolutionary biology to explain everything about life, including everything about the human mind. Darwin enabled modern secular culture to heave a great collective sigh of relief, by apparently providing a way to eliminate purpose, meaning, and design as fundamental features of the world”(Thomas Nagel in The Last Word).

The way in which all men live their lives is by assuming that there is a kind of order to the world, that the world makes sense, that there lives have some sort of meaning and purpose. You don’t need a religion to feel this. It is universal in every culture. Even those who reject such things must admit that they live as if they are true. And all of this assumes a God. God is the elephant in everyone’s room. He may be the subject constantly ignored, but not because of lack of information. Paul’s conclusion, then, is that all men are “without excuse.”

Romans 1:16-17

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

These two verses really set the stage for this whole book. Here Paul gives the grounds for why he is eager to preach the gospel in Rome (Romans 1:15). Not only is he not ashamed of this gospel, but he sees it as the “power of God for salvation.” Paul says something very similar in 1 Corinthians 1:18: “For the word of the cross . . . is the power of God.” The gospel is a message. It is by definition “good news.” But Paul speaks of it as a power, a force, a cause. It isn’t just a neutral piece of information. It is message that does something to its hearers. It moves upon them, effects them, and changes them. This statement helps explain why Paul spends so much time breaking down this gospel message in Romans with such intimate detail. He does it because the gospel is the “power of God for salvation.”

I’ve been thinking about how a message is a power, but in some respects it isn’t that difficult to figure out. This message reveals our desperate need, our evil hearts, our utter hopelessness. It declares a God who willingly crushes his Son in our place so that we can become the righteousness of God. It opens up to us a future in which the entire creation is renewed, a glory that far outweighs the pain and suffering of the present time. There is simply too much at stake in such a message to not have an effect upon the hearer. A message like “You just inherited one million dollars from your deceased uncle Filbert” is too powerful not to affect you. Either you say, “Filbert? I have no uncle Filbert. You’re a liar,” or “Filbert left me a million dollars! Are you serious? Thank you uncle Filly.” It creates either disbelief and doubt or joy and excitement. In fact, most messages are not benign. They bring about some emotion, thought, and reaction from us. But a message as massive and embracing of all of reality like the gospel, a message that exposes such darkness but also gives such hope will always cause a response.

Paul says more than this, though, for the gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” The power of the gospel is not just that it causes a response, but that it actually brings about salvation. It is a message that brings life from death. How does it do that? Part of the answer lies in the next verse. I think the NIV rightly translates the phrase “from faith for faith” as “by faith first to last.” Salvation from the very beginning to the very end comes by faith, for “the righteous shall live by faith.” A large reason as to why a message can be a power to salvation is because salvation comes through faith. Salvation does not come by law-keeping, by national identity, by personal effort. It comes simply by the reception of a gift, which is told in the message of the gospel. But of course, for this all to make sense, Paul has to mean that in some sense the message of the gospel has the power to make faith happen. For now I just want to observe that fact. I think Paul will explain it later.

So application wise this text gets me excited about communicating the gospel message to others. We don’t need gimmicks. We don’t need to win an argument. We just need to tell the world the truth about Jesus. And as we proclaim that truth in conversations, in teaching, in our small groups, we are proclaiming a power that affects faith and leads to salvation. The gospel is the greatest power that we have. It is the greatest power on the planet. Let us wield it with confidence and not be ashamed of it.

Words Are Not Our Own

Some great thoughts from Paul David Tripp. This video was part of the promotion of The Power of Words and the Wonder of God Conference held by Desiring God this past September. There was a lot of great content in that conference, so if your interested check it out here.

Roman 1:8-15

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 13 I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (Romans 1:8-15)

Paul makes clear his appreciation for the Roman church, his constant prayer for them, his deep desire to come to them, and the fact that he has tried several times to visit. Mostly, though, Paul communicates the reasons behind his desire to visit them. It looks to me like there are basically two reasons, and both are challenging. The first reason is that Paul wants to “impart . . . some spiritual gift to strengthen” the Roman Christians (Romans 1:11). Now that may come across a tad arrogant. Kind of like here is Paul to save the day. So Paul explains further, “that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine”(Romans 1:12). In other words, Paul wants to come to see these Christians both to give and to get. Personally, I expect the give part. He is after all the apostle Paul. It is the get part that shocks me. This is Paul, and he longs for relationships with other Christians to get strength from their faith.

Honestly, I think the get aspect is often more difficult than the give. Let me explain. Of course, in a consumer driven culture, we automatically think “get” all the time. But that is a selfish sort of get. We feel we need some kind approval, kindness, appreciation, to feel like we have some worth. Of course, with this kind of “get” you don’t really need the church of Jesus. You can get, or at least try to get, those things from any group of family or friends. But when it comes to our faith, we tend to diminish the “get.” At least, the “get” from other people. You need God. You need Jesus. You need the Spirit. You need the Bible, and you get a lot from them. But do you get all you need? That is a trick question. The answer, of course, is “Yes, you get all you need from God, Christ, the Spirit, and God’s Word.” But without interacting with the faith of others, you don’t get all you can, or dare I say all you need, from God and His Word. Christianity is not and was never meant to be a solo sport. Even Paul the apostle needed the church to sustain and build his faith. That’s kind of why I’m asking others to join this discussion. I think we can all get a lot more out of our Bible study in the context of community. We need one another to get more of God.

It is this kind of mentality that seems rare among Christians. It is more common and certainly easier to accept that people need me to give, to serve, and to help them. I after all do have a lot to offer. It is kind of scary, but the desire to serve can be a subtle cloak of our arrogance. True service desires to give and to get. In true service our service isn’t an act of manipulation to receive a need, but we are humble enough to see the benefit we are getting in the relationship. And we are humble enough to know that we need relationships to grow in our faith.

Well, I spent enough time on the first reason. The second reason for Paul’s desire to visit Rome is that he longs to proclaim the gospel. I’ve already written enough, so perhaps some of you can comment on this one.

The Poor

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the church's role in helping the poor. I just read this in N.T. Wright's Surprised By Hope

The future hope held out to us in Jesus Christ leads directly and, to many people, equally surprisingly, to a vision of the present hope that is the basis of all Christian mission. To hope for a better future in this world--for the poor, the sick, the lonely and depressed, for the slaves, the refugees, the hungry and homeless, for the abused, the paranoid, the downtrodden and despairing, and in fact for the whole wide, wonderful, and wounded world--is not something else, something extra, something tacked on to the gospel as an afterthought. And to work for that intermediate hope, the surprising hope that comes froward from God's ultimate future into God's urgent present, is not a distraction from the task of mission and evangelism in the present. It is a central, essential, vital, and life-giving part of it. Mostly, Jesus himself got a hearing from his contemporaries because of what he was doing. They saw him saving people from sickness and death, and they heard him talking about a salvation . . . that would go beyond the immediate into the ultimate future. But the two were not unrelated, the present one a mere visual aid of the future one or a trick to gain people's attention. The whole point of what Jesus was up to was that he was doing, close up, in the present, what he was promising long-term, in the future. And what he was promising for that future, and doing in the present . . . [was] that renewal of creation which is God's ultimate purpose.

The question I have is how do we go about bringing the spiritual, physical, emotional, psychological hope that is ours in Christ into the present hurting world? How do we go about helping the poor? That's where these videos come in. The first gives us some helpful ideas about what not to do. The latter, which comes from that conversation between Piper, Carson, and Keller that I posted earlier are some ideas on what to do.

Roman 1:5

"Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations"(Romans 1:5)

This verse captures me. It is in one brief statement the whole purpose of the church. We exist by the grace ours in Christ to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all nations. Let’s break it down.

“To bring about the obedience of faith.” The “obedience of faith” seems a rather strange phrase. “Faith” is, we think, just believing in something, trusting in something. Obedience is doing something. So how do these connect? We could put these together in at least two ways. One way would be to say that faith is a form of obedience to God. God commands, “Believe in Christ,” and to do it is to obey him. The second way would be to say that true obedience is an expression of faith. You only have the power to truly obey God when you are living by faith in Christ. Given what is yet to come in Romans, I think the later of these is the correct choice (See Romans 3:20; 6:15-22; 7:21-25; 8:1-4). So here is the bottom line. Paul’s mission is not simply to bring about a single response to Christ, a simple act of the will, a “yes” to Jesus. He’s not looking for a mere prayer. He wants a world living in total obedience to the will of God, a new humanity, which is only possible by faith. To Paul, real faith in Christ leads to total life transformation. We’ll leave the “how” faith transforms to be flushed out later. For now, maybe we should consider the possibility that our definition of faith may have to be revamped.

“For the sake of his name.” Faith is the means to obedience. Obedience is the means to God’s glory. The ultimate aim is not moral conformity to God’s rules. The ultimate aim is the spread of joy and delight in God.

“Among all the nations.” This is the climax of Paul’s vision. The grace that enables worship, that crushes sin, that awakens our dead hearts streams from the cross of Christ. That grace is expressed in us through our faith, which is the reception of that grace. It then moves us, changes us, and drives us to true worship of God. And as the faith and delight grow, it unavoidably spreads to others. But Paul is not content that it should spread to just neighbors and friends. God is worthy of the worship of the nations. So Paul longs for the “obedience of faith” to grip the whole globe. Sound like a pipe dream? Just remember that as Paul wrote this Christians only existed in a relatively tiny portion of the world and accounted for such a minute percentage of the human population that they wouldn’t have even shown up in the statics on world religions. Now thousands of miles from where Paul wrote, in a land Paul had no idea existed, from a people group Paul had never seen, sit you and I reading his letter to Rome

Romans 1:1-7

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:1-7)

This is just Paul’s formal greeting to the church of Rome, but he has already spoken with more content and depth than what many of us will speak in this whole day or in a hundred emails. Here are few things I noticed.

First, his emphasis is on God’s work and not ours. Neither in complaint or in boast does he speak of himself. This guy second only to Jesus probably changed the world more than any other person in history. And yet his words all emphasize God’s activity. Just take the words “called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” There are a lot of ways that Paul in essence could have said the same thing without putting God’s role front and center. He could have just said, “It’s me, Paul, the apostle (you know the one with direct divine authority), who is taking the gospel to the Gentiles because nobody else would do it, and somebody had to step up and get it done. The one who promoted this whole movement of Christianity going into all the world including Rome. The one who is largely responsible for your salvation and your church.” No, the gospel has spread through him because he was “called” by God, “set apart” for the task, and later “received grace and apostleship”(Romans 1:5).

Furthermore, this gospel is all of God’s doing. God promised it throughout the Old Testament (By the way, he says, “Through his prophets,” but first century Jews considered anyone whom God spoke to and through a prophet. Abraham, Moses, David, etc. were prophets). What God promised, he delivered in the form of His Son who descend from David (see 2 Samuel 7:12-13) and thus is the Messianic King, and whom God declared to be His divine Son through the power displayed in his resurrection from the dead. In other words, the only reason Paul has any meaning or purpose at all is because God has been working out his grand plan of salvation throughout the history of the world, and has now brought the climax to pass in Jesus the Messiah (i.e. Christ) our Lord.

Even when he speak of the Romans, he refers to them as those “who are loved by God and called to be saints.” He does not say, “Those who had the faith to call on God and love God.” Certainly, he believes that they have faith in God and love for Him. But always in Paul’s eyes it is God’s call and God’s love that takes priority. “You are,” he says to the Romans, “people whom God called to Himself, whom God pursued, whom God bathed in His love. That is who you are. That is your identity.” The bottom line is that Paul grounded what he thought of himself, his mission, and of others first and foremost in God.

New Study: Romans

Perhaps the most treasured book in all of the Scriptures, Romans is absolutely vital to understanding the mission and achievement of Jesus the Messiah. Romans is also one of the most difficult books to understand and has drawn more study then maybe any other book. So I think it is more than worthwhile to spend a good while soaking in its message. I have a very personal attachment to this book. When I was in high school, I began questioning the faith that I had been raised in. I turned to Romans. Not because I knew it could answer my questions, but most likely because I was taught so many verses from this book. Surely, there had to be something of importance in this oft quoted book of the NT. I was not disappointed. Rather than the fuzzy, warm-hearted mush typical of the Christians that surrounded me, I found deep wells of fiery logic. I didn’t fully comprehend all that I was reading (I still don’t, though I have come a ways), but I did see that this Paul guy thought, and he thought deeply. What’s more is that he felt what he thought. It burned in him. It was in Romans that I first came to realize that it’s all about God. Life is all about God. I can’t point to the exact text, but suddenly it all became clear. Reading this book at the formative point in my life changed the course of my life.

So it is no surprise that I would find myself wanting to spend some more time in Romans, even though the years after that first soak in the book has been filled with many additional and frequent soaks. But I want to try something new with this blog in order to utilize the full power of the blogosphere. When I was youth pastor, I began leading my youth group through Romans. We spent a lot of time just discussing it. I was amazed. These teenagers, many of whom I had to explain almost every word, brought up new courses of thought and application that I had not touched. I learned something that I now hold very dear. Truth is most powerful in the context of community. So here is my proposal. Rather than just me writing some thoughts about each section of Romans, I want to ask some of you to commit to reading the text and adding your comments as well. How is the text impacting you? What are some nuggets that you perceive? How are you applying the text to your life? You can interact with me and with each other. In this way, we can have sort of an e-discussion over some of the richest Scripture in all the Bible. My goal is to post something on Romans three times a week, and usually the sections will consist of less than 10 verses. If you’re game (even if you can only get in once or twice a week) please shoot me an email at dstrong@lebanonbbc.org. I will continue to post my favorite videos on weekends.

Fight Club

This is a great article by Jonathan Dodson on fighting sin.