T A K E H E A R T
Romans analysis #3
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 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, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 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.
After Paul explains the power of the Gospel, he starts to explain the consequences of ignoring it. He gives the complete antithesis of the obtainment of the Gospel through faith which is consequently the receiving of the wrath of God. Because God has displayed His power and divine nature, men would have no excuse to ignore or reject Him. Instead, they chose to live in sin and unrighteousness and refused to glorify or give thanks to Him. Mankind was “like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. They are far too easily pleased.”
- The Weight of Glory
A Time For Everything
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3
Romans analysis #2
Romans 1:8-17
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
After Paul’s greeting, he gives a statement of thanksgiving. He gives thanks to God because the faith of the Roman populace is being reported all around the world. Paul also makes an audacious claim by establishing the supreme authority of Jesus Christ. He emphasizes his thanks to God through Jesus Christ. Jesus is now the mediator between God and men and everything is given and received through Him and through Him alone. Paul then gives a clearer statement of his goal which is the spreading of the Gospel. He invokes the omnipotent God as his witness for his constant remembrance and prayer for the Romans. Paul’s prayer and desire is to meet and join with the Romans. He wishes to bestow a spiritual gift to them so that both parties may become mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. Paul stresses that his chances of joining the Romans has always been prevented in some way. He states that he is obligated both to the Greeks and the non-Greeks to preach the Gospel. Perhaps it’s because of the debt that he owes Christ for his death on the cross. Because the “obligation to Him who died produces obligation to those for whom He died” for. Paul’s eagerness to preach is because of his unashamed belief in the Gospel. He is not ashamed because of God’s supreme sovereignty and grace. His foundation is the love and mercy of God and these alone are enough for him to strive forward. Paul finally states that in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed by faith alone. Not by works but by faith alone.
