A Matter of Life and Death

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Rom 5:15-17

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

NIV

This is a matter of life or death. Adam who was supposed to bring us life failed and instead he brought us death. We have to believe God knew that would happen in advance because the word tells us in the revelation given to John that the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the earth. Some would use this verse to indicate election, that is God already picked who would be in the book of life and who would not, because, before the foundation of the earth, Jesus was slain, it was predetermined the grace of God would be foremost over his wrath. Those who use this to defend the doctrine of election believe even the Old Testament people were picked to be saved through grace. However, the point is that each man has a choice to make as it is left up to whosoever believes, such as Abraham believed, so his believing was credited to him as righteousness. However, Adam still caused death to reign on earth, and thus we have that relocation picture in our heads. The scene is a city of darkness and death, and we once had a home there. We lived in that darkness, blinded by our own passions. We had some awareness of this religious thing, but our blindness overshadowed us, and hatred filled our hearts, even toward anything remotely connected to some god who people talked about. Then without warning a bright light was shown upon us, and we were called to come into that light. We were able to find our way across a great chasm as we followed that light, over a bridge made from a wooden cross, into a city of light and life. We moved from death to life. The death that Adam brought was voided out by our faith in Jesus Christ who brought us abundant life. It was a gift that we did not warrant, but God’s grace is an abundant provision, and we received his life and his righteousness as it reigns in us. We can never go back to the darkness with death reigning in us, for his gift of life and righteousness are eternal. All men have a choice to make between death and life. We are so blessed to have the light reigning in our lives. We are exceedingly thankful for the light that brought us out of the darkness and transported us from death to life. 

The Reign of Death

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

THE REIGN OF DEATH

Rom 5:12-14

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

NIV

Here is a theological question. Did God know in advance that Adam would disobey his command about not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil before he formed Adam from the clay of the earth and breathed life into him? Nevertheless, Adam was supposed to be the perfect man created in the image of the perfect God. Paul says that Adam was a pattern of the one to come, who would be the Christ, Jesus, who was perfect because he was God incarnate. Now, as we are first and foremost, we are descendants of Adam because we are the human form that God created in Adam. However, even in this fleshly form, we have the knowledge of God within us as he put it there from the beginning. This brings us to the fact that we also, like Adam, have the knowledge of good and evil, and thus we can choose and because we are like Adam, we have sinned, we have engaged with evil, so death has been reigning in all of mankind from the time of Adam to the time of Moses. It is interesting that the point is made that even though there were some who never broke a command of God like Adam did, death still reigned in their lives, because they were descendants of Adam, as we are. Therefore, we can only conclude that death reigns in us, in our bodies because we, like all men, have sinned. It is also interesting, like what Paul said in chapter 3, that sin was in the world before the law was given to Moses, and because sin was before the law, God did not take into account their sin. However, their sin still caused death to reign in them. But we live after the law, so what does that mean for us? It would seem the main difference between those who lived prior to the law, and us is that we have the evidence of what sin is because the law exposes our corruption. What appears to be the truth is that before the law, even though man had the knowledge of good and evil and chose evil over good, sin, or disobedience to God, even some suppressed the truth about God. Yet, God did not hold that sin against them. We have to conclude that there was no perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sin. We also should note this was the case all the way up until the time of Jesus. When Paul uses the phrase from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, he is simply saying from the time of creation until the time the law was given. Death reigned in all of us until the time of Jesus. Here is where we get freed from the reign of death and now life reigns within us. We have been given life through faith in Jesus Christ, for he is the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Are we perfect yet? No, sin is still within us, simply because we are human, unable to attain perfection no matter how much we try to live according to the word of God. The difference between us believers and those who have yet believed in the focus of our lives. They focus on sin, although they refuse to acknowledge sin, and we focus on Jesus. We want to do good, but do not always do good, and we do not want to do evil, but we still do that which we do not want to do. It is a conundrum. How can we say we love the Lord, and we want to do good, and still do not? How can we say we do not want to sin, and yet we do? The only conclusion we can come to is we will never be perfect on this side of heaven. However, we have Jesus, and we live under the grace of God, rather than under the law of God, for Jesus fulfilled all the laws, even if he did not cancel them. The law still shows us our need for the grace of God, for Jesus is our redeemer and Savior. 

Reconciled

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

RECONCILED

Rom 5:9-11

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

NIV

Since we have been rendered just or innocent by the blood of the Lamb, which is certainly an excitingly wonderful thought. To simply ponder on the fact that no matter how rotten of a person we were, the blood of the Lamb has been applied to our lives and God has rendered us innocent. That is he does not count any of our sin against us, we are free from any penalty whatsoever, we have been acquitted of all charges. Although God’s wrath is going to be poured out on the sinful world at some point, we do not need to be concerned because we have been saved from God’s wrath through our faith in Jesus Christ. Paul makes this statement about the fact that we were reconciled to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word translated as reconciled can have two meanings, both of which could be applied in this context. First, it means to change, which if we only took that part of the definition, we could say that God changed our status from enemies of God to friends or children of God. The rest of the meaning of the Greek word carries the idea of exchanging, such as a coin for another of the same value. This would mean to us that we, being the creation of God, that is the whole of mankind, have always been of value to God. Yet while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Our value has not changed in the sight of God; however, he has exchanged us for another person of the same value. He has changed, or exchanged, our lives that were destined for destruction to lives destined for eternal life in the paradise of God. How can joy not consume our being? We have so much to be joyful for because we are now in the right relationship with God because we have been saved through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have the promise of eternal life. It is interesting this Greek word Paul uses for us having now received reconciliation is a different form of the Greek word, he used for us having been reconciled. The base of this word is still the same as to exchange something of equal value, however, this word also can be applied as restoration to favor in the sense of an adjustment of a difference. Having kept a checkbook at one time, we had to reconcile the difference between us and the banks' amount in our account, thus we reconciled to the bank. Now our account has been reconciled with God. Our lives have gone through an adjustment of the difference from being in debt to being in favor with God. We once owed our debt, and now through our faith in Jesus Christ, we are in favor with God, reconciled to God, by God. 

From Powerless to Powerful

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

FROM POWERLESS TO POWERFUL

Rom 5:6-8

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

NIV

Just to consider the fact that without being in Christ, all men are powerless. Before we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we were undoubtedly powerless. Jesus even said that apart from him, we can do nothing. Of course, that was in the context of bearing fruit, and that he is the vine, and we are the branches. However, that truth applies the same to our life in general. As far as one person daring to die for another, we think that has happened in the sense of war, and men have given their lives for others. As one who served, those we served in the Army with had that sense of being willing to die for our country and those who live in it. It is as though we gave the people in this country of ours a blank check up to and including our lives. However, even then would not have given anyone any power, they would have remained powerless. There is no power in the blood of man, but there is power in the blood of the Lamb. That power is what gives us life and sustains our lives. The truth is all about the love that God demonstrates to all of us by sending his Son to pay the penalty for our sins. Even if it had been required for us to give our lives for our family and friends, it would not have any effect on their sins, as in for their forgiveness. Even within the band of brothers, it might have been necessary to die for one another, it might have saved their lives, but it would not have given them any power or eternal life. The truth is that Jesus gives us eternal life, and he gives us power, for if we were powerless when Christ died for us, then once he died, we would have power. But what power we have is all wrapped up in the name of Jesus. Because we are in Christ and remain in him, we will bear much fruit. In addition, we can ask the Father for anything in the name of Jesus and we are told it will be done to us. Of course, because we are in Christ, we will only ask for that which is in the will of God. We would not ask God to give us material riches, although he has done that of his own choice for some believers, for he has said that he would provide all our needs. We can look to Jesus for all that we are, all that we have, and all that we do. If we are not looking to Jesus, then we are looking to ourselves and that has nothing to do with our faith in God. That type of living is strictly self-serving and humanistic. The other point here is that we should not look to God for power, but the fact is because we have faith, we have power. Once we were powerless, now we are powerful. 

At Peace with God

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

AT PEACE WITH GOD

Rom 5:1-5

5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

NIV

The, therefore, is following all that was just said, about being justified through faith, or being declared or rendered innocent, or the word justified could be seen as being declared righteous, such as Abraham was because he believed God. This translated directly to us for because we believe God, we have been rendered righteous. The icing on the cake is that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. As we have researched many times regarding the Greek word eireenee which means peace we are always in awe of our relationship with God. We are in a tranquil state with God, which is the opposite of rage and the havoc of war. However, as the word peace relates to this tranquil state, it has been seen as relating to Christianity, it has been defined as the tranquil state of our soul, assured of our salvation through Christ, thus fearing nothing from God and content with our earthly lot, whatsoever that is. The fact is that because we believe God, which means we believe every word within the holy scriptures, leaving nothing out, not cherry-picking just certain truths, but believing everything God has said and is saying through the power of the Spirit, we are entirely at peace with God, and he is at peace with us. This puts to rest any thoughts about God punishing us because we disappoint him, or do or say something that may not be appropriate for us as a believer. This peace with God through Jesus gains us access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. To have access to that which affords us joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, good-will, loving-kindness, and favor leads us directly to the result of all those characteristics of God, which is our spiritual condition because we are governed by the power of divine influence, or that could be said that grace is the divine influence upon our hearts and how that is reflected in our lives. How well do we reflect the loving-kindness of God? How well do we reflect God's joy, delight, charm, and sweetness? If we are at peace with God and we are standing in his grace through our faith in Jesus Christ, then we should be filled with the Spirit and our lives should reflect the glory of God within us. The wonder of all that we cannot manifest with our power. We cannot make it up or pretend to be holy and righteous by following any pattern established by the rules and regulations of man. Our joy does not come from us, but from the Spirit within. He is the one who manifests his joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, and even self-control within us. It is not by our might, but by the might of God that we are saved, justified, sanctified, and blessed beyond all measure. What we can do is have faith, we can believe God, and we can live in this peace and grace of God with confidence, assurance, and with joy. 

Non-weakening Faith

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

BELIEVING GOD

NON-WEAKENING FAITH

Rom 4:18-25

18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."   19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead — since he was about a hundred years old — and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." 23 The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

NIV

What is impossible with man, is always possible with God. The question is whether we believe God for the impossible. Abraham knew full well, that, the promise that  he would be the father of many nations was absolutely impossible in the natural sense, in the human realm, as he was well past the ability to father children, as well as Sarah, being well past childbearing age, her womb was far too old and her ovaries were unable to produce any eggs for fertilization. This was going to be impossible, however, Abraham did not waver in his believing God to fulfill the promise, and his faith did not weaken. How many times have we received blessings from God that were far beyond our own abilities? When we count those blessings, the number is staggering. Our entire life has been filled with God promising us he would do this or that, and all we could do is believe him, and low and behold, his promise was fulfilled time and time again so we must admit that we have lived a life of faith because, for one thing, we were never going to be able to accomplish that which we lived with the means that were available to us. Certainly, this concerns our salvation, for God promised that to all who believe. Of course, it also refers to our resurrection into eternal life. It is also interesting the word justification in Greek carries the meaning of the act of God declaring us free from guilt and acceptable to him. Jesus was raised to life for our justification. However, even as fantastic as all that is, God also has promised us things in this life, through our life, over and over again regarding this physical realm that we live in. He has given us so much, again the number is astronomical. It would almost take a book to record all the promises that God has made to me personally and fulfilled every one of them. My testimony can only be that of living with faith. Again, we can be certain that we have no righteousness other than what comes through faith in Jesus. We can be sure that we are not worthy of the many times God has fulfilled his promise, for in our humanity we are not perfect. Yet, with faith and faith alone, believing God when all the odds were against him Abraham was considered righteous because he lived by faith. Can we do any better than Abraham? No, but we can do the same and simply believe God. However, we must ensure that our faith never weakens.

 

The Law or Grace

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

THE LAW OR GRACE

Rom 4:13-17

13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

NIV

What strikes us first is that it is impossible to legislate a promise. In other words, we either live under legislation or a promise. The law can never bring us righteousness, but it does reveal our need for the promise. It is interesting that if there was no law at all, there would be no transgression. When we consider this Greek word translated as transgression, it has a direct meaning of going over, which implies going over to sin, because we know the law reveals sin as no one is able to perfectly follow the law. They will always fall short and if we attempt to live under any portion of the law, we will be judged by the law, and that means being subject by the wrath of God. Trying to live by any portion of the law means that we have no value in the promise and consider the promise worthless. How can we ever hope for eternal life without putting all our value on the promise and rendering the law as only serving to prove we need the promise. What we do not understand is why so many believers want to refer to the law as a means to find a way to live in pleasing God. Even the Ten Commandments which were first written on stone by the finger of God, are the basis for all the law that was given to Moses, are the law that reveals our need for the promise. Those commandments do not bring us righteousness and so we wonder why we want to include them in our faith. Did not Jesus fulfill all the laws, or did he only fulfill the law given to Moses? Yet, Abraham lived before the law, however, the greatest testimony about him is that he believed God. Because Paul makes it clear that Abraham is the father of many nations, we are one of those nations, and because we believe God, as Abraham did, we are his offspring through our faith in the promise. We are children of the promise, and so we should live with that being our focus rather than attempting to abide by the law, or in our modern times, the rules and regulations that some would want to impose on us. What we think is that if we live by faith in the promise, we show God that we love him with all our being, our mind, spirit, soul, and body, and we love each other as he loved us. Jesus said that all the law and all the words of all the prophets are wrapped up in that simple truth. If we love God and others, we would never do anyone any harm in any way whatsoever, because we are in Christ who fulfilled all the law. Therefore, let us shed off the yoke of bondage the law imposes on us and live according to the promise, the grace of God, for it is by grace we are saved, and it is by grace we have been transposed from dead to life. The law brings death, and the grace of God brings life. we chose grace over law, we choose truth over tradition. 

Faith is What Counts

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

FAITH IS WHAT COUNTS

Rom 4:9-12

9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

NIV

It is certain that the Jews, who received the covenant of circumcision, are not the only descendants of Abraham. Although it has been customary from a medical point of view, that most boys were circumcised in this post-modern age within our country. This is not a mandate, so it is possible many male infants did not receive a circumcision. Either way, because we are not of Jewish lineage, although they are some of us who live in this country are, we are mostly considered Gentiles. However, because we have faith in Jesus Christ whether we have been circumcised or not, we are still sons of Abraham and therefore our faith is credited to us as righteousness. This seems to be a little different than referring to Jesus as our righteousness, although in essence that is still true. However, Abraham did not have Jesus to have faith in as he believed God, and his faith was credited to him as righteousness. This could lead us to think that as long as we believe God, then our faith in God, our believing in God is all that is needed to be credited as righteousness. Still, what is it that we believe God about? First, that he is God, the creator of all that is created, however, it is God the Father, who sent Jesus at the appointed time to redeem all of mankind and so believing God means we need to accept Jesus as our redeemer, our savior, and our Lord. Therefore, in that sense, it is our believing God that he credits to us as righteousness. We walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. However, this also requires that we walk in faith, rather than in work. Yes, our faith will produce works, that is a natural outpouring of our believing God. However, it does not matter the amount or the quality of our works that count toward righteousness, but only the fact that we believe God is what counts. 

Being Blessed

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

BEING BLESSED

Rom 4:4-8

4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."  

NIV

Paul is continuing his argument about the righteous will live by faith, and it is faith alone in Jesus Christ that brings us this righteousness from God. We just gathered the fact that we can boast about nothing about our lives or the works that we do and, that the only one we can boast about is God. It is true that as we work for our living, doing that which is required by our employer, we are compensated with wages, they are not a gift, and we must work to receive them. But this same principle does not apply to our relationship with God. We cannot work for righteousness, or employ our skills, in order to have God obligated to pay us with righteousness. We cannot work for it, we can only trust in God who renders us innocent and all our righteousness is in Christ whom we accept as our Lord and Savior. Paul quotes David regarding the result in someone’s life who trusts in God and that faith has been reckoned to him as righteousness. David spoke of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. The Greek word translated blessedness, and later as blessed, mainly means exceptionally well off, or very fortunate. There is no question that we are exceedingly well off because our illegality, i.e., our violation of the law or in a sense, our wickedness, as this word blessed carries that meaning, is forgiven. Our sins have been covered and they have been covered by the shed blood of Jesus. We are overwhelmed that God will never count our sins against us, he will never bring it up to us ever, because he has forgiven us and we are exceedingly well off due to his forgiveness. With people, we will never be such fortunate, as they might say they forgive us, but at some point, perhaps within weeks, or it could take years, in fact, many years, they will remind us of our past transgressions. It seems that man’s memory is far longer than God’s. People might even hold that transgression against us for a long time. Some might tell us they have to work through it before they can come to the place of forgiving us. We might have even also been guilty of that position. But  God does not have to work through it, as when we come to him, trusting in him, he forgives and does not count our sins against us. This also means that God will never bring our transgressions up to us, never remind us of our failures, our sins. There is no guilt associated with God’s forgiveness, People would inflict that guilt every time they remind us of our past mistakes, or sins, in which case we are not blessed. Therefore we conclude that if we are to even attempt to be Christ-like or reflect his likeness, we must forgive and forget, never to bring up any sin of our fellow believers, ever. Of course, within ourselves, those transgressions might linger in our memories, but that is when we remember Jesus said to forgive seven times seventy, which can apply to one singular transgression someone did. Every time we remember it, we forgive them again, and again, which includes not bringing it up to them. What we know for sure is God will always make us blessed.

 

Believing God

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

BELIEVING GOD

Rom 4:1-3

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about — but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."  

NIV

There is still more about this righteousness from God. Paul continues to talk about this idea of boasting before men because we have absolutely nothing to boast before God about. Abraham was not rendered innocent, or “justified” because of any works that he did, however, Paul says that if he had anything to boast about it would not be before God. So what good does it to boast at all, except to look good in the eyes of men? For any of our works are meaningless when it comes to being rendered innocent. Abraham did not even have the law that was given to Moses, for he lived far before Moses. So what was so special about Abraham that he was considered righteous? It is so simple because the reason was that he believed God. Which time that he believed God was it that caused him to be credited with righteousness? Was it when he left Ur? Was it when he left Haran, leaving his family behind? Was it when he gave his nephew Lot the choice of which way to go? Was it when the Lord and two angels visited him in his old age and told him he and Sarah would have a son? Was it when God changed his name from Abram to Abraham or when he made that covenant between those animals Abraham had to cut in half? Many of us believe it was when God told him to take his son Isaac up onto a mountain that God would show him to sacrifice his son Isaac. It is interesting that the mountain is Mt Moriah the place God told Abraham to take Isaac to, and there is where Isaac questioned his father about the sacrifice and Abraham told Isaac that God would provide the lamb. Jerusalem is built upon Mt Moriah, and it is where God sacrificed his Son, the Lamb of God. This had to be the time that God rendered Abraham’s belief in Him as righteousness, but considering it appears Abraham spent most of his life believing God, we wonder if it was not everything that Abraham believed God that was credited to him as righteousness. Of course, there were times it did not look like Abraham trusted God, in the early days of their travels because of the beauty of Sarah. Still, the fact remains, Abraham was rendered righteous not by any works, but simply because he believed God. We get it, we understand that none of our works, our “Good deeds” have anything to do with our salvation, for that comes to us through faith in Jesus Christ, and faith alone. Yet, we want to do works because we love God and want to either show him how much we love him by our works, or we feel compelled to do works out of an obligation to God, or we just want others to see how spiritual we are and look for their affirmation. What we know for sure is that all we want to be known for is that we believe God. Men may say a lot of things about God, and some of their words may well be true, but God is the only one who is true, and so he is the only one we can believe, and it cannot be just once for our salvation, but it must be a life of believing God. 

From Law to Faith

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

FROM LAW TO FAITH

Rom 3:27-31

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

NIV

There is a lot to digest within these words, and we have to remember this is a portion of Paul’s argument about faith. Within the context, we know the Law reveals our sin and thus points us to the justification and redemption by God through faith in Jesus Christ. Now Paul asks the question about where is boasting. Can we boast because we observe the law? Of course, we do not have the law that was given to the Jews. Yes, we have the complete Old Testament which contains the law God gave to Moses for the people. However, as New Testament, new creation believers, we have concluded that if we are in Christ then we have fulfilled all the law that was given to the Israelites because Jesus came under the law and he fulfilled it completely, and perfectly. However, the problem that we might encounter is in our passion to have rules and regulations to live by. We remember some of those we were introduced to in order to be a “Good Christian”. No smoking, no drinking, no dancing, no movies, no roller rinks, no slacks for women, and not too much makeup either. But how is that being a “good Christian” when Paul says that all we can boast about is our faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot boast about our not doing anything, but about what we can do, and that is to have faith in Jesus. The law or any such rules we think we find in the scriptures cannot render us innocent, for it is only by faith that God justifies us, or as the Greek says, render us innocent. This applies to the Jews as well as to us who would be considered Gentiles, although we have already concluded that because God has circumcised our hearts, we are Israel. However, the biggest question that remains is that because we are rendered innocent by God because of our faith, does that make the law useless. It is interesting the Greek word translated here as nullify, carries the meaning of useless, or idle, unemployed. That is not the case whatsoever, as the law is still useful and is not idle and is employed by God to reveal man’s sins so that they will seek out being rendered innocent through faith in Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus said he did not come to cancel the law, but to fulfill it. Therefore the law is good as it serves to point us to faith. 

Innocent of All Charges

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES

Rom 3:21-26

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

NIV

There is no question that we have been justified and redeemed because of faith in Jesus Christ. However, we have often heard questions about all those people who lived before God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement. The answer is given to us as plain as it can be. God presented Jesus at the time he did, but he demonstrated his forbearance and so he left all those sins committed, before Jesus was presented, unpunished. Although we do not know how all that works out for those people on the day of judgment, we are confident about what will happen for and to us because we have faith in the blood of the lamb, for without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin.  There is power in the blood. Would you be free from your burden of sin there’s power in the blood power in the blood, there is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the lamb. It seems there is not a lot of talk within the body of Christ, or at least within some local churches, about the blood of the lamb. We hear talk about the grace of God, the peace of God, and the forgiveness of God because of Jesus. It also seems that only once a year do we hear talk about the passion week of Christ, with many churches making a solemn service on Good Friday. We never understood how if it is Good Friday why we do not celebrate that cross, rather than the usual gloominess that is associated with that church service. It is through the cross that his blood was shed, and that is how our sins are cleansed. Sure, we celebrate his resurrection for it means we too will be resurrected into a glorified body. But the resurrection does not cleanse us of our sins, the cross does. The shedding of blood by Jesus is in fact his justice demonstrated to all mankind and showing his grace freely to all who have sinned. For we have been rendered innocent or justified because we have faith in Jesus. We are innocent of all charges because we have faith in Jesus.

 

To All Who Believe

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

TO ALL WHO BELIEVE

Rom 3:21-26

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

NI

Well, there it is the whole of the gospel in one statement. A righteousness from God has been made known. We have known, through our study, the truth that the Law and the Prophets testified to this righteousness from God, although all we need to do is simply believe what God has said through Paul. It is a fact that we all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. There is not one of us that is righteous, no matter how hard we try to live a good life that pleases God, or how many good deeds we might be able to do, we have absolutely no righteousness within ourselves. It sounds sort of depressing to think there is nothing we can do within ourselves to gain any righteousness at all. But the good news is that we can gain righteousness from God through faith in Jesus Christ. All we need to do is believe, and because we do believe we are freely, which is a keyword, justified by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. Two important words are justified and redemption. The Greek word translated as justified means to be rendered innocent and the Greek word translated as redemption means the ramson has been paid or ramson in full. What more do we need than to be rendered by God as innocent and that he has paid all the ramson to buy us back from the darkness of sin and death. All we have to do is believe. There is nothing more required of us in order to be declared holy and blameless in his sight than to believe. Yes, we would what to do good things for the kingdom of God. Yes, we would what to bring glory and honor unto our God and we might think that our “good deeds” accomplish that, but we might be wrong in thinking in that manner. There are many good deeds done by pagans, or non-believers who perform many humanitarian deeds that help people. Although we want to do those things to enhance the kingdom, unless all that we do is done in the name of the Lord and he is given all the credit for anything that we do, our deeds are no different than that of the pagans. This would mean we cannot boast or brag about our deeds, or our ministries. All that we are, all we have, and all that we do is because of God, who started this good work in our lives and is the one who is going to complete it. Our primary goal in life is to believe. All else will fall into place if we only believe. 

Check the Law

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

CHECK THE LAW

Rom 3:19-20

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

NIV,                          

We are going to get to one of those famous verses very soon which tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but before we get there and enjoy the rest of what Paul says after that, we need to see the use and the usefulness of the law. We know that God gave Israel the law to show them they could not find righteousness by observing the law, however, they made the law more than God intended it to be. It almost seems as though they worshipped the law rather than God, although they professed their worship of God, and it is their worship of God that is the reason they tried to be obedient to the law. Yet they were blinded by their efforts to be obedient to the law from the truth in the law and the words of the prophets. Everything God did for them was to point them to the moment in time when he would send his Son to redeem them, to be their Messiah, their Savior. The purpose of the law is so they would be conscious of their sin. The fact is no one can be one hundred percent obedient to the law and therefore any failure is a sin that sin cannot be forgiven under the law. Paul is going to lead them to the righteousness that comes from God, but in the meantime, we have to consider if we are adapting any of the theology of the Jews. That is have we created a law unto ourselves that we want to observe in an effort to find righteousness? We know that because we love the Lord and want to please him, we have denominationally as well as personally developed a set of rules to live by based on our interpretation of the scriptures in order to show that we are living a holy and righteous life. It seems that we are pleased with ourselves for doing so many “Good works” and in fact, we want others to notice our good deeds. We have even heard a pastor in another church we attended enumerate all the good deeds of the church in the community whenever a local village leader visited. Does not the word of God declare that pride comes before the fall? We cannot afford to be prideful about anything we do out of our love for God. We cannot and should not try to find any kind of spiritual welfare from observing our established rules and regulations for a holy life. We are aware the just will live by faith and it is our faith that gives us the right to be children of God because of His grace. John is clear that to those of us that believe in the name of Jesus, he gave us the right to become children of God. This has nothing to do with being obedient to any law, or any rules or regulations, but totally through faith that we are saved. Yet it is true we cannot go on sinning that God’s grace can increase. We must make some changes in our lives, the largest is to love the Lord our God with all our being, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we live a life of love, then everything else will fall into place, and it is one thing we know for sure, is that love cannot be legislated through any form of law. If we try to live according to any set rules for Christian living, we will only find that we will fail, and failure is a sin and thus we need a Savior. The only way to life is through faith and not by work. Yes, works may follow faith, but works do not produce faith. Let us live a life of faith followed by a life of love. 

Who are Pagans

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

WHO ARE PAGANS

Rom 3:9-18

9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;   11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."   13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips."   14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."   15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know."   18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."  

NIV

It is clear that we all are under sin. That all mankind from Adam and Eve who disobeyed God regarding eating from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, are under the burden of sin. There is no question that we are not righteous. The word of God declares we are not righteous. However, it does seem there are some Christians who either think they are righteous, or give the impression of being righteous, even acting “holier than thou”, or at least appearing they are better than others. No, we cannot allow pride to overrule humility and we must admit that we are not righteous, which means we still struggle with sin. Praise God, we are not condemned for our unrighteousness, for because we accepted Jesus as our lord and Savior and we are in Christ and he is in us, we have been declared holy and blameless in the sight of God. Still, is it also possible that we do not understand? If Paul says that there is not who understands, no one who seeks God, could that be us or is he speaking about the pagan world we live in? Paul will eventually bring all this to the conclusion that righteousness comes from God, who is Jesus, and faith in him bring us from this bleak brink of destruction to life under the grace of God. However, does any of this description by Paul of the pagan world’s ways linger deep within us? Can we say that we seek God with our whole being all the time? Certainly, we would not think that we have turned away for we have turned from our live of evil and turned to God for the forgiveness of our sins and so our heart is no longer bent toward evil, but bent toward God. However, we still struggle with our humanness, our frailty, our weakness to say no to some temptations, perhaps not fully given in to them all the time, but on occasion, we fall prey a few of those things that tempt us. They may not be, what might be considered hardcore sins, such as murder, stealing, adultery, and the such, but pride, arrogance, gossip, self-righteousness, boastfulness and the such are still yielding to temptation and is sin. No, seeking after God is not an act of righteousness, or gives us any claim of goodness, for as sinners our only hope is in God and his grace. We all have fallen short of the glory of God, which Paul is going to tell us later in this letter. However, when we look at this full description of the pagan world that has indeed turned its backs on God and has no fear of God in them whatsoever, we know this does not apply to us, for we both seek to know God more, and at the same time fear him, After all He is God and we are human, He can do all things, and we can do nothing apart from him. Yet there is still a difference between us and these pagans. 

Unrighteous and Righteous

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

UNRIGHTEOUS AND RIGHTEOUS

Rom 3:5-8

5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" 8 Why not say — as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say — "Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.

NIV

We have already concluded that God is the only one who is faithful and right and we understand that we are not always faithful and right. However, Paul continues his argument about the behaviors of those in the church in Rome. We can apply this truth to our lives as well. The fact is that we cannot take advantage of the faithfulness and rightness of God, which includes his forgiveness for our sins through our faith in Jesus. When we read these words, we cannot help but think of what Paul says later in this letter asking that should we continue to sin so God’s grace will abound, and he answers, “God forbid”. This is the same truth here. Because our unrighteousness is unmistakable for, we know and admit that we have absolutely no righteousness within us, in and of ourselves. Christ is our righteousness and as long as we are in Christ then we are declared holy and blameless in the eyes of God. However, if we ever think that we can be righteous, we are sadly mistaken, and we are engaged in a sinful unrighteous attitude. Thinking more highly of ourselves is sinful for we are admonished not to think in that manner, not to be prideful and boastful about all that we do in our own name, for that is the reason for the pride and boasting. The fact is we cannot think that anything we do, any of our unrighteousness is acceptable because it shows how righteous God is. When we fall short of perfection, which is certainly how we live, which includes sin, we cannot say that it is a good thing because it will result in good, that is showing the goodness of God, the grace of God, the faithfulness and rightness of God. Jesus is the exact representation of the invisible God and thus if we are in Christ than we are to be a representative of God to the world. We are transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory. Then we must say that our sin does not cause God to look better, or enhances his glory, as our sin only shows our flawed humanness and enhances our need for Jesus. Just as the law showed the Jews their need for the Messiah; our sin shows our need for the Savior. There is nothing good about sin, except it shows us our needs. It is true that when we repented of our sins the first time and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we were saved from the penalty of sin and were given eternal life. However, that did not mean that we no longer have any sin in our lives. We have a daily struggle with attitudes and behaviors that are not pleasing to the Lord. Our desire is to be right before God, but we fail, yet our reason for failure is not to show how good God is, it is simply our humanness that is the cause, and we must admit our need for our Savior. Our sin does not make God look better; it only makes us look needful. 

Faithful and Right

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

FAITHFUL AND RIGHT

Rom 3:3-4

3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."  

NIV

Paul is still in the middle of his very long argument. He begins this portion with the fact that whether a person has faith or not, it matters not, the fact that God is always faithful. We can also say that God has never said anything but the truth, in fact, Jesus is the truth, as well as the light and the way. We cannot say that about ourselves. As humans, we are unable to speak the truth all the time for we are told straight away that we are liars If we say we have never lied, then the truth is not in us, and we have therefore lied. Can we say that we have always been faithful? Here again, God is the only one who can be perfectly faithful all the time, without fault. We, on the other hand, realize that we are not always faithful and without fault. In fact, there may be times when we even question our faith. That is not to say that we lose faith, stop believing in Jesus and turn our back on God, walking off into the sunset to enjoy ourselves in a life of self-indulgence. We will never stop believing and trusting in God and trusting in Jesus. We are fully aware that Jesus said to trust in God and to trust also in him, that he was going to prepare a place for us and that if he did prepare a place for us that he would come back and take us to that place so that we may also be where he is. Yet, the question remains, how much do we trust him. Does our faith in believing God can do anything, remain steadfast and to the fullest, or do we waver just a bit when we do not see God working? Then we have to ask if our faith remains strong when we consider that Jesus told us to ask for anything in his name and it would be done for us. It seems we simply do not ask for everything or all our needs, because our faith is not as strong as it should be. Are we lying to ourselves about how much faith we have? We also know what David said in the Psalm that Paul is quoting, that God is always proved right when he speaks. Once again, we have to say that we cannot always be proven to be right in what we speak, for every man is a lair according to the word of God. That is not to say that we lie all the time or live a lie. It simply means that we cannot be one hundred percent truthful all of the time or for our whole lives. Even in these words which we are recording for what appears to be forever, as once on the web, always on the web, at least until the end of time, is it possible that we are always speaking the fullness of truth? It is not that we are attempting to lie or be deceptive about the truth, it is just that being a man, we are capable of misinterpreting the truth, and therefore what we say could not be one hundred percent right, as it may be our opinion rather than the truth God desires us to know. Even if we have studied for years and learned much, even if we have degrees, we cannot always be right.  However, it is our goal as believers in Christ, to be faithful and to be right in our words,  yet we know that may evade us from time to time, and thus, we could be wrong and our faith could be stronger. What we know as an absolute is that God is always faithful and always right. 

Who Is Israel

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

WHO IS ISRAEL

Rom 2:25-29

25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker. 28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

NIV

Basely, this all boils down to whether or not we have had our hearts circumcised by God. Of course, we know that circumcision of the flesh is done by human hands. We also know that this rite or ritual was a sign of the covenant God made with Abraham and that it was to include all of his descendants. At first, it was just Abraham and his son Ishmael who were circumcised as Sarah had yet to bore Abraham’s son Isaac. However, when Isaac was born, and when he was eight days old, Abraham circumcised his son. It has been the sign of the covenant with God throughout the ages and all the Jews have held to that right of circumcision. However, Paul makes this very clear that this physical circumcision does not qualify a person to be a Jew. Within this context of a covenant with God, Paul says that just because a man has been physically circumcised it does not mean he is one of God’s chosen people, the ones who are the true descendants of Abraham. Abraham could not make himself righteous before God or find righteousness in the covenant of circumcision. We know that because Abraham believed God, it was accounted unto him as righteousness, and he did not have any law to abide by, for the law had not yet been given to Moses. Faith, therefore, is the key to finding righteousness. The works of the flesh including that rite of circumcision have no value toward righteousness, nor being the chosen people of God. It is all about this circumcision of the heart. But what does that mean? First, we note that this can apply to women as well,  as they were precluded from that covenant of circumcision God made with Abraham. However, male circumcision does reveal a truth about how God circumcises our hearts. As there is a covering over the most sensitive member of the male body, there is a covering upon our hearts. As the removal of that coverage in the flesh exposes the most sensitive member of the body, God removes that hardened cover we have had over our hearts thus exposing our inner self to him. What was overshadowing our hearts, no longer is there and so the tender inmost part of our heart beats throughout us in true spiritual covenant with God. This would make us the chosen people of God, the true Jews and we somehow cannot help to think that when Paul, in his letter to the Romans, said that after the full number of Gentiles come to Jesus, then all of Israel will be saved. This cannot apply to all the nation of Israel, because Israel in this context includes the full number of Gentiles. Therefore, those circumcised of the heart are the true Israel, the people of God, those of the covenant through faith in Jesus Christ. 

To Brag or Not

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

TO BRAG OR NOT

Rom 2:17-24

17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."  

NIV

In his argument, Paul turns his attention to the Jews that are among this church in Rome. The main theme here is that although the Jews are the chosen people of God and they think of themselves as superior to the Gentiles, their privileged position, or their better knowledge of God, and their long-lasting relationship with God puts them in greater danger of condemnation by God. This truth which is being drawn to our attention includes hypocrisy because Paul says that although they talk about that great game of being God’s chosen people, they do not walk that talk and the Gentiles see their hypocrisy. This becomes twofold or maybe threefold. First, the idea of superior knowledge brings greater responsibility. Second, Boastfulness and bragging should never belong in the community of faith. And thirdly, what kind of reputation among others do our lives produce. Let us deal with this superior knowledge first. We know that when we first came to Christ, the only knowledge we had was about salvation, about being freed from the penalty of death and that we were going to live forever. Our faith was fresh and exciting. However, as the years progressed, we became more and more aware of the truth throughout the scripture regarding living this life through faith in Jesus Christ. The more we learned the more we became aware of the sinfulness that entraps us. At first, we were thrilled at our newly found life, but that feeling waned as our knowledge increased, for now, we began to see the need for rules to live by and how we could fulfill them without failure. The problem was we could not fulfill any of the rules we interpreted from scripture, all we found in our studies was that we needed Jesus more and more and that it was God who began all this work in us, and it is God who is going to finish that work. So, we came to the realization that all our knowledge brought us into greater condemnation, except it should bring us to see our faith in Jesus as our only salvation, and not how well we can follow all the rules. Second, there is this idea of feeling superior to other believers because of our higher degree of knowledge. Having a braggadocios attitude only reveals hypocrisy. Paul certainly gave the Jews this calling out for their bragging about their higher knowledge of God and yet did not live accordingly. Bragging is in direct opposition to humility, therefore, how would it be possible to brag about how humble one is, however, we must be diligent in not thinking more highly of ourselves than we should, for any reason, whatsoever that is. Thirdly, our lives will always produce a reputation in one way or another. But what is our reputation? Do we think we are better than anyone else because of our amount of knowledge? Do we think ourselves better because of our position either in the world or in the church? What do other believers think of us? What do non-believers think of us? Surely, we are not simply to live in order to please man, but rather live to please God, and we know it is impossible to please Him without faith. Nevertheless, the manner in which we live does create our reputation among all men, and we have to be such that we are representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

What's in Your Heart

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART

Rom 2:12-16

12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

NIV

This passage seems somewhat convoluted at first, but then if we consider what Paul just said about God does not show favoritism, or in other words, God is not a respecter of persons as he judges all just and righteously according to their deeds. Paul is therefore making the point that God will judge the Jews according to the Law because they try to find righteousness through the law. God will judge the pagans, or Gentiles according to how they think they should live according to their own brand of law. However, there are those who live as though the law is written on their hearts and live accordingly and will be judged accordingly. It is right to think that law had but one purpose and that was and still is to show mankind that no one can find righteousness apart from Jesus Christ. In essence, all who live in unforgiven sin will perish. However, there is no reason to live in unforgiven sin, as first, the Jews had the law to show them their need for the Messiah, who came to them as Jesus, whom they also rejected and thus will be judged guilty by the law. But the Gentiles never had the law of God, yet some lived as though they had a law unto themselves, doing by nature good things, however, they are without the knowledge of the grace of God and will be judged by the knowledge they have and will still perish because they are apart from Jesus Christ. This all goes back to the fact that God will judge everyone equally and fairly according to the deeds they do in the flesh. Apart from God man will perish and Paul has already told us that no man, not a single human who has ever lived upon this creation of God, the earth that is within the whole of the universe, has any excuse not to know God, for through creation it is plain to all men, that God is real, and therefore a search for and of God will reveal the declaration of the gospel, the salvation is a free gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Any man who insists on living according to his own ways, seeking not after God, will be judged according to his ways. Those who see the creation of God as just that and seek after God will find Jesus Christ and will be judged holy and blameless in the sight of God, thus living for God and receiving the reward of eternal life. However, the twist to all this comes down to the secret within a person’s heart. This would make it clear it is not by our actions or good works that we will be judged, for none of those deeds, nor good works that we do, matters in comparison to what is within our heart. In order words, we can put on a good show for the benefit of other men, thus we might even receive some praise from men, but if our heart is not completely dedicated to God and we are fully assured our salvation is totally dependent on our faith in Jesus Christ, then we will be judged according to our good works, and that will result in perishing. So, we live with the same words of David, when he asked the Lord to search him and know his heart, test him and know his anxious thoughts and see within the heart if there is any offensive way in him. But he also asked that God lead him in the way everlasting.  This is the man that God testified about saying of David, that he found a man after his own heart. A credit card company asks, “what is in your wallet”, but God need not ask, for he knows what is in our hearts. So we must ask ourselves, “What’s in my heart?” 

No Favoritism

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

NO FAVORITISM

Rom 2:5-11

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done."   7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.

NIV                    

Although we considered the sweet reward of glory, honor, and peace because of doing good by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior and gaining eternal life to boot, we did not spend much consideration about the reward for those who do evil, by rejecting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. What we know is that trouble and distress is not the desired outcome as a result of a person’s life. It does seem rather strange that many people work so diligently at storing up for themselves to enjoy their golden years of life trying to gain as many creature comforts as they can, only to end up with trouble and distress. We would think as those who rejected Jesus stand before him on the last and dreadful day of judgment and find out their names were blotted out of the book of life and their trouble and distress will be upon them as they receive their reward of being cast out of heaven into the lake of burning sulfur. We, on the other hand, finding our names have not been blotted out, will be ushered into God’s rest. The amazing part of this is that there can be no distinction between all of us that have our names in that book of life. It will not matter what ethnic or national background we come from. All of us who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior will stand united before him. Praising his name forever and ever. It is going to be the greatest worship service we will have ever attended with perhaps millions of voices singing all in perfect harmony, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. However, the greatest mystery that should be a life lesson for us is that God does not show favoritism. This means that those whose names have been blotted out from the book of life, all receive the exact same reward, none will perish any more than any other in the lake of fire. It also means that we whose names have not been blotted out of the book of life will all receive the exact same reward of being ushered into the eternal kingdom of God. There will not be anyone with any more of a reward than another. There will be no one with more jewels than anyone else, and if there were such a thing as jewels in our crown, although there is no scripture proof of that, no one would have any more jewels than another, no matter how many “good deeds” they think they have done on the earth. Yes, there are all sorts of crowns, but no jewels are associated with the various crowns that all who accepted Jesus and believed unto the end will receive all those crowns, such as the crown of life, the incorruptible crown, the crown of rejoicing, righteousness, and glory. All of us will receive all those crowns equally because God does not show favoritism. Once again, this should be a life lesson for us in that if God does not show favoritism then we should live our lives free of any favoritism, which means we should love everyone equally. 

The Sweet Reward

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

THE SWEET REWARD

Rom 2:5-11

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done."   7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.

NIV

As we have thought about making that choice of either doing good or evil, which boils down to either accepting or rejecting Jesus, we want to take a look at some of the benefits of doing good or making the good choice of accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We know that God will give, and some translations use the word reward, however, the Greek word can be seen as to render, or payback, thus what God does is in response to whether we do good or do evil. Whichever we choose, we will receive the just reward, and God will pay us back for whichever we have chosen to do. Because we made that decision to accept Jesus, which is doing good, we will receive eternal life, and in addition, if indeed anything equals eternal life, or can be added to that reward, we will be given glory, honor, and peace. It is interesting that in several applications with the context the Greek word translated as glory can be used to depict, preeminence. As we saw before it can mean a judgment of view and splendor and brightness, which points to God. But in this sense, God gives us glory or preeminence. This can mean superior, or supremacy, but it also carries the same meaning as surpassing all others, distinction. This is what we believers are given, as we will reward eternal life over those who will perish. That is a great distinction between us, we have glory, and they have none. We will also receive honor. This Greek word has the direct meaning of valuing by which the price is fixed. We know God fixed the price, Jesus, on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. That is the highest fixed price God has placed our value on. This means God has placed the highest value on us, his creation. The third reward is peace. In the most direct sense peace is the opposite of war. This could be the direct meaning of this reward, to be at peace with God instead of being at war with him. We are sure waging war against God is a losing proposition, anyone who tries will lose and they will lose their lives. However, we are a peace treaty with God through faith in Jesus Christ. In addition, there is always that concept that peace means the tranquil state of our soul, assured of our salvation through Christ, and thus fearing nothing from God and content with our earthy lot, whatsoever that is. All in all, the reward for the believer, who did good by accepting Jesus, is far more than we could ever imagine. When considering the alternative, doing evil by rejecting Jesus, there would be absolutely no reason not to choose to do good, thus receiving that sweet reward. 

Making the Choice

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

MAKING THE CHOICE

Rom 2:5-11

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done."   7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.

NIV

The Good, bad, and the ugly is the theme here. Well, maybe not the ugly, but then how else do we describe wrath, anger, trouble, and distress? It is also interesting how Paul uses the phrase, storing up. Jesus was clear about not storing up things for ourselves on earth, but storing up treasures in heaven. Here, Paul tells the church in Rome, and we must see he is telling the church, not non-believers, that because of their stubbornness and unrepentant heart they are storing up something which is most undesirable. In life, we have two choices, and two only, it is either one or the other, and there is no other alternative. We can decide to do good or evil. If we are persistent in doing good and we are seeking glory, honor, and immortality we will gain eternal life. We think we need to explore this further as this translation makes it sound that salvation or eternal life is dependent on our doing good, thus the doctrine of “Good deeds” many believers seem to feel is the way to show our spirituality of how “Good” a Christian we are. This may not be an attempt to show people, but to show God, how good we are by the amount or number of “Good deeds” we do. However, we are saved by grace and not by our good deeds. Still, we know what James says about faith without works is dead, but again we would think that works without faith are just as dead. But the question is about seeking glory. After an inspection of the Greek, we discover this word can be used in three ways. First to describe the judgment, opinion, or view, second an opinion of someone, whether good or bad, and third as brightness, splendor. It would seem right to think Paul was talking about the third use, seeking he who is full of brightness and splendor, the Lord God. For we are told to seek the Lord and he will be found, and that we are to be humble and that would go against seeking fame and glory for ourselves. The second would also go against humility as we would be living to impress others so they would have a good opinion of us, rather than a good opinion of God. Yet, the point of this whole thing is the choice we have, to do good and live or to do evil and die. This brings us to the choice, the only choice we have in doing good, or the only doing good that we can do which brings us eternal life is to choose to follow Jesus. Anything else that we might do that is good, is only a response to his grace toward us, and not for any purpose of salvation, or proving our obedience before men. Any good that we do for the purpose of praise from men is both boastful and prideful, which is the opposite of doing good. So we have a choice, do good, accept Jesus, or do evil, rejecting Jesus. 

Admonish Without Judgment

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

ADMONISH WITHOUT JUDGMENT

Rom 2:1-4

2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

NIV

It is interesting that in the very beginning of this letter Paul says their faith is known all over the world, yet here he is giving them a real scolding about their judgmental attitudes. We would think that among believers whose faith is so well known, their behavior would follow their faith. However, even as we made that statement, we are guilty of judging them. Although it appears Paul is judging their behavior while telling them they should not judge each other. But is what Paul said a judgment or is he simply admonishing them regarding their actions. We are told that if a brother is catch in sin, which judging someone would be sin, we are to go to them and tell them for the purpose of their repentance, which again is changing the way they think. However, Paul is not going to a person privately, he is writing a letter to the church as a whole, and because this letter is preserved as part of the canon, we would think this letter is relevant for our learning. The point being that we should be very careful about passing judgment on anyone, for in doing so, we are being judged by God. Of course, he forgives all our sin, but then is it right to just go on willfully being judgmental of others? Perhaps some believers think it is appropriate to correct another, which is a result of judging either their attitudes or behaviors, believing we are helping them. One of the life lessons we learned many years ago, when we first started being able to preach the word, was to never preach problems in the church, but merely preach the word, and let the word do it work in the lives within the sound of our voice. This would also translate into our personal interactions with everyone we encounter. We should always be about the good news, and not about giving a scolding, yet that is exactly what Paul is doing, at least it sure looks like that. When we take on the role of judge, Paul says we show contempt for the riches of God's kindness, tolerance, and patience. We would also think that if we say that we want to be more like Jesus, then we should be exhibiting kindness, tolerance, and patience with each other rather then looking for the speck in another’s eye, while there is a log in our eye. This judgementalism could be a result of thinking more highly of ourselves than we should. On one hand it seems to be a live-and-let-live scenario, on the other hand, we should assist each other in our faith, but that is done through building up, and not tearing down. We do know that ultimately this letter to the Romans is one to build their faith, to assist them in their walk with the Lord, and it appears that includes some admonishment, but without judgment. That does seem impossible, yet with God all things are possible. Let is always be in tune with God and not with our own feelings, then maybe we can admonish without judgment.

 

The Perishing Wicked

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

THE PERISHING WICKED

Rom 1:26-32

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

NIV

This type of behavior, Paul says is due to suppressing the truth about God. Paul is saying that when someone who has the knowledge of God within them, as all mankind does and can see the truth of God through all creation, but rejects that truth, suppressing with their evil deeds, he just turns them over to their depraved minds. It is interesting the Greek word translated here as ‘gave them over carries the raw meaning of surrender, to yield up. This gives us some trouble because we cannot help but think of what John the Apostle said about God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes should not perish, but have everlasting life. Yet, these people who have suppressed that truth will perish, even with all the love God has for the world, or for all his creation. This Greek word also is translated as delivered, turned over, or gave them over, as it is here. If a person is going to be so determined to blind themselves, suppressing that truth, then God simply allows them to live in their sinful, wicked way that will lead them to perish. This isn’t much different than what he did in the time of Noah. The wickedness was throughout the world, man had indeed suppressed all the knowledge of God that He put in them, with one exception, Noah. He did not suppress his knowledge of God, or perhaps Noah might have called him the Creator. Nevertheless, God judged their wickedness and they all perished, save Noah and his family. This is a beautiful example of how this world will come to an end. Those who suppress the truth and became inflamed with their wickedness will be judged according to their deeds. We who have only not suppressed the truth, but allowed that truth to blossom within us, nurturing it so that it grows within, will also be judged by our deed of accepting Jesus. If we are in Christ all our sin has been washed away and therefore, we will stand holy and blameless before God, and we will live forever. However, we are back at this troubling thought. When we look at the list of attitudes and behaviors, all the wickedness man did, and most likely still does, we wonder if we, who are still captive to our humanness, are capable of such things, even if we have not suppressed the truth and have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Although we would think this gay lifestyle has not invaded the church, however, we cannot be absolutely sure of that, of this lust for unnatural ways, there are other actions that bother us. This evil, which Paul includes greed, envy, strife, deceit, gossip, and even murder which Jesus compares to hatred. Even arrogance and boastfulness are on the list of those who do depraved things. How can any of that be in our hearts? How can any of that be present in the body of Christ? We think we must be in consistent self-examination to insure that we have not allowed evil an open door, but have willingly allowed the Lord to search our hearts, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. However, because we are in Christ, we are convinced we have not thrown our hat in with those who have suppressed the truth and thus will perish, but we have turned from our wicked ways to living for Christ and thus will inherit eternal life.