“The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The response of some to that seems odd, doesn’t it? “Well, if grace is God’s response to sin then sin must have the power to inspire grace. More sin ­ more grace. There must be something actually good about sin if it means God extends more than enough grace to cover sin. Something good comes out of it after all.” We talked about the thief who argued…

Last time we looked at what it means to have peace with God. It is not the same as the peace of God. Without the first we cannot have the second. Peace with God comes on God’s initiative. There is nothing we can do to earn it or discover it. We cannot find our way to God. He reveals Himself to us in Christ and it is only through Christ that we have peace with God. Everything else is our imagination or our longing for that peace. That is where we left Paul in Chapter 5: “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the…

Sometimes we have to go back to the original documents to discover the roots of who we are and what we believe. It’s surprising now and then to find out how far we have strayed from the original definition and intentions. I went through a period when I could not read enough history about the founders of our country and realized how little I knew about the original ideas behind America and what it means to be called an American. In the same way, we need to go back periodically to the founders and original documents of our identity as Christians to discover what was in their minds as they…

Several weeks ago when I first asked Caitlyn Mortus if she could be with us I did not know we were going to be in the book of Romans and I had no idea we would be looking briefly at this particular passage this morning. I’ll not say any more about that but as soon as she begins to tell her story you will realize as I did that you just cannot plan things like this. Over the last several weeks we have looked at Paul’s developing case for both Gentiles and Jews being equal in God’s sight. They have different roles and responsibilities but are all included in our…

Last week we looked at Paul’s argument for God concluding all men under sin that he might include them all in grace. There is the law of the Gentiles written on their hearts and the Law of the Jews given by Moses. Both Jew and Gentile are accountable to their own laws but while there can be moral uprightness by obedience to each neither one can bring righteousness. Righteousness and a reconciled relationship with God comes from God alone – apart from both laws – and it comes only through faith. So, as he says in other places, there is no difference now between Gentile and Jew because all have…

1.  This is the defining event in the history of Israel. Through no fault of their own and not due to their sin they are enslaved for 430 years. A new king has no regard for Joseph and the contribution of the Hebrews to Egypt. He is afraid of them and their lack of loyalty to the State religion. It is also the experience that – along with the Babylonian exile – formed their character as a people. In the Exodus we also find some of the literary elements that are present even today. The first several chapters of the book are lasting examples of Jewish humor. It’s not vaudeville…

For most of us, we sketch out what we want to say, edit it, scratch out things, rearrange and reorder and only then do we come up with the final form. Others, like some claim for Shakespeare, write without edits or drafts and so quickly they can produce enormous amounts of material in their lifetime. I would like to know what it was for Paul. Did he draft and edit before sending? Did he practice what he wanted to say before reducing it to writing? Were these sermons and teachings he had given many, many times and it was only when he wrote these epistles that we see them almost…

Last week we left Paul as he described the chilling process of wrath that leads to death. It is not merely a laundry list of sins with each becoming worse than the last. It is a path with gateways that leads in a direction toward a particular destination. Just as there is a journey of sanctification there is a journey of destruction. And what is at the end of the passage that sums up the degree of their sin? What is the thing that completes the cycle? “They not only continue to do those very things but also approve of those who practice them.” What is detestable becomes normal. What…

When we left Paul last week he was in Corinth and had just finished telling the Roman church that he was looking forward to seeing them. He opens with his calling as an apostle even though much of the leadership of the early church thought of him as an outsider and someone pushing his way in. And then he reiterates his special calling to the Gentiles and we looked at all the years he had spent unsuccessfully preaching to the Jews. But, we also said it is often the case that those very things we might consider failure and wasted effort might well be God’s way of keeping us occupied…

When I was in the Navy there was one thing you could count on doing constantly. It was the paint detail. While I was never on a ship I served in a number of hard places that were surrounded by the sea ­ Italy, Bermuda, Key West ­ and every surface was subject to corrosion from the salt air. Yes, there were times when we did paint detail just to keep us busy and out of trouble but, on the whole, it was necessary because of our environment. We added layers and layers of paint to surfaces that were painted over for years. There was never any arguing with the…