Re:Verse passage – Romans 2:5-16
(day one)
Join us as Senior Pastor Chris Johnson, Associate Pastor Aaron Hufty, and Minister Megan Langan walk us through Romans 2:5-16 in our New Re:Verse Series: “Romans: Good News for All.”
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Thanks, guys. First for the prayers. I didn’t quit studying; I just got confused near the end of the discipleship training. Romans is intriguing. I was trying to figure out why Paul wasn’t writing to Peter, who I’m guessing was in Rome under Claudius. I mean much time has elapsed between Peter’s and Paul’s initial discussions about Jews and Gentiles by the time Paul hears about the state of Rome while he’s in Corinth on his third journey, and I guessed Peter remained in Rome to minister. So I was surprised, given Paul’s skills at assisting Peter, that Paul didn’t direct his letters specifically to Peter at first because by the time he heads to Rome, both men have openly pastored both Jews and Gentiles. I’m still working through the comparison between Jonah and Romans 1 from yesterday. That was a very enlightening comparison that I never would have considered. Thank you. It forces thoughts about the distinction between obedience and direction first. But as I pursued it further, the distinctions between how God handles a collective and an individual and how Jesus handles the same are really amazing in relationship to God and Christ as individuals and singular entities, themselves. By the time I got to Romans 2 this morning, it sounded as if Paul had reconciled a hierarchy for his community: with or without knowledge of the law, God will judge first the Jew, then the Genntile, not condoning miscreance and rewarding obedience, equally for all, and in Paul’s mind, in a specific racial order. The question I don’t know is what law. Is it the law of Moses or the law of Christ? I guess I mean the original 10 Commandments or Christ’s two commandments. The end of chapter 2 hints at 10, but Paul, at this point, is a seasoned missionary, about preserving Christian churches a mere 50+ years after the resurrection in the wake of Claudius and his assassin, Nero. So I suspect the letter of the law is either to him as long as the church survives.
I promise I won’t bug you guys any more this week, but I have a few minutes right now. In Jonah, as in most of the Old Testament, God has to communicate His parables for man via actions. He thinks about what physical metaphor a human would understand and rather than speak it, He makes it happen (The gourd tree incident; Gideon asking permission through prayer…). But Christ chooses words to explain parables. Same effectiveness; different modality. Is there a book discussing that difference? It’s not necessary to study Romans. I’m just curious.
The NIV and NLT translations are helpful when reading Romans. I don’t use the Message translation because Eugene Peterson wrote it and there are inaccuracies in that translation.
The NIV and NLT translations are good for reading Romans. I stay away from the Message translation because it was written by Eugene Peterson and it has inaccuracies when compared side by side with other translations using the same Bible passage.
“The harvest is plentiful. But the laborers few.”. Happy Labor Day; Happy opening of Autumn also!
It appears Romans is a great place for me to once again after many times becoming reacquainted with the reason we live our Faith: & that’s Jesus example in living & God’s *righteousness (so I again know I am right with Him as if I had never sinned) & *justified (just as if again I’d never sinned, yet i know i still do!)& bound for His Glory one day (but not today dear One because I have tons to do before I Sleep in Him !)
Great series
One Day after a time Romans grows on you. I agree with the pastors and Carol about reading a variety of translations. It is interesting. I actually listen to what you guys say on reblog and read your commentaries as well in the same way I compare bibles. Thanks for all the time and effort you all put into that. It really does serve to help us grow. Chris made a great point when he said, people in the real world say, “We’re pretty good people,” because honestly we do feel pretty good as we ponder scripture and speak in truth to each other. But I agree with Aaron, too. Paul is very much like Wormwood (Not in Mere Christianity — it’s Screwtape Letters here.) As young nephew Wormwood tags along beside Uncle Screwtape, he asks a gazillion really uncomfortable questions. Paul asks 11 rhetorical questions in only 29 verses. He makes us squirm because he says things like “you’re teaching babes. But are you teaching yourself as well?”. He wants people to grow stronger and stronger in their faith. And, honestly, as Megan points out, we had better because if you’re gonna take “an apex predator out back and shoot it,” you need to be really strong in the Lord. (Stephen King lurks among these Roman pages, too.). And so I listen to little David sing Psalm 62 this morning and human kindness is overflowing at my house today. God bless all of you. See you Sunday.