"Friends, ROMANS, countrymen, lend me your ear"

Hello, Friday! I hope you had a great week and are looking forward to a nice weekend. Today we begin Romans so I'm including a little intro in this posting. I hope it helps.

Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Thur, Mar 19: Why did the people on the island of Malta think Paul was a god? (Acts 28)
Acts 28:3-6 3 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live." 5 But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6 The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

And here's the question of the day:
Fri, Mar 20: What will happen if the Israelites turn away and worship and bow down to other gods? (Dt 11)


And here's the reflection of the day:
NT Wright, a biblical scholar, calls the book of Romans Paul's "masterpiece." It is a masterpiece that no one can ever fully understand. And if one claims to, then one is a fool!

The best way to understand a whole book is to understand its parts and basic themes. The basic shape of Romans is this:

Section 1, chaps 1-4: The gospel unveils the fact that, in Jesus, Israel's God has been true to his covenant with Abraham and "has thereby brought saving order to the whole world" (Wright, NIB Commentary on Romans). In the face of rebellion, God has, "through the surrogate faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah, created a worldwide--that is, a Jewish and Gentile--family for Abraham, marked out by the covenant sign of faith" (Wright).

Section 2, chaps 5-8: God did what the covenant was meant to do: to address and solve the problem of sin. "All this is the result of God's astonishing, unchanging, self-giving covenant love expressed completely and finally in the death of Jesus" (Wright).

Section 3, chaps 9-11: Wrights writes that this section highlights the tragedy of God's righteousness, specifically that Israel fails to believe in the Messiah. In God's plan, the rejection of Jesus by Israel is still used for the good by the extension of salvation to the whole world. Paul hopes that his Jewish friends will see the blessing the Gentiles are enjoying and will come to share in covenant membership. Therefore, Gentile Christians are warned against anti-Jewish arrogance.

Section 4, chaps 12-16: The community that is created by this gospel "must live as the true, renewed humanity, in its internal and external life" (Wright). Paul seeks to bring together Jews and Gentiles into one worshiping body in Christ.

Wright identifies the major theme of Romans as God's righteousness. "God's gospel unveils God's righteousness"--Paul's own summary 1:16-17. Paul explores God's righteousness in the context of Judaism as well as Paul's own exploration of God's righteousness in the Gentile world.

As you begin to explore Romans in the upcoming weeks, I hope this post will be helpful.
Allison