Romans

Book Of Romans

Summary: The heart beat of the Empire. The seat of government and now the Vatican. Rome a place of man stories, tragedies and the foundation for modern thought. Paul's letter address both Hellenistic and Jewish thought towards the believers of the church in this mighty city. With tones of correction and those of edification Paul's makes a clarifying arguments on faith, practice and belief. Take a look with me.

Things I Noticed:

1. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
2. The righteous shall live by faith.
3. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. (Take a look at an orange some time. Peel it and stare in wonder at the packaging that goes back to the beginning of the cosmos. Yep perfect individual slices of Orange wrapped in a skin to keep it from dirt.)
4. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Movie Stars and Pets and Sports Teams and Stuff.)
5. God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.
6. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
7. We have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.
8. Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!
9. So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
10. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
11. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
12. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
13. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
14. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words (Prayer Tongues)
15. If God is for us, who can be against us.
16. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
17. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
18. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
19. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
20. I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! (Yep the Jewish people are still the apple of his eye.)
21. For the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. (No one can steal the or tack them or lose them.)
22. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
23. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
24. Let love be genuine
25. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
26. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve The Lord.
27. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
28. Repay no evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
29. Beloved never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.
30. Pay to all what is owed to them; taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respected is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed.
31. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  (We really need to teach this one in church.)
32. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. (This is ignored a great deal. I am just as guilty but I have made progress.)
33. If we live, to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
35. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
36. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.


Finished delivering my first letter to Rome, I am now off to Corinth. Nothing better the delivering encouragement to the saints. Barnabas has met up with Luke and I. The discussion on our journey has moved into the tabernacle, which, is great since I am still reading Exodus. Well more next time. Till then, Read up, Post up, and Shalom.